BRP/MRQII similarities and differences

[daddystabz]

I am a HUGE fan of MRQII, having picked up some of the books for it recently and falling in love with the game. My local face-to-face group is getting ready to start a new campaign for this game the week after next. The system is simply awesome, in my opinion.

I have also heard good things about BRP so tonight I picked up the BRP big golden book at my local FLGS. I have a bit of worry though that if I learn BRP as well as I can it might get difficult for me to distinguish between the 2 systems when I am playing one of the other.

Are any of you very familiar with both forms of D100 and if so, do you find it difficult to remember the intricacies of each when playing one or the other? Can you build supernatural creatures like vampires or werewolves with BRP and use them in an urban fantasy game? Can the BRP golden book handle sci-fi, modern, and historical, like pirates, etc?

Thanks in advance!

[RosenMcStern]

I have also heard good things about BRP so tonight I picked up the BRP big golden book at my local FLGS. I have a bit of worry though that if I learn BRP as well as I can it might get difficult for me to distinguish between the 2 systems when I am playing one of the other.

It is the usual matter of how much information the human brain can hold. At some moment, your neurons will overflow (see Johnny Mnemonic).

Are any of you very familiar with both forms of D100

Most of us are.

Can you build supernatural creatures like vampires or werewolves with BRP and use them in an urban fantasy game? Can the BRP golden book handle sci-fi, modern, and historical, like pirates, etc?

Sure. Read the examples in the golden book and you will find exactly that sort of stuff. The usual advice is: pick the setting you like and then choose the ruleset that most fits it. With BRP, this means that you have to select the options you wish to use, too.

[sdavies2720]

I am a HUGE fan of MRQII, having picked up some of the books for it recently and falling in love with the game. My local face-to-face group is getting ready to start a new campaign for this game the week after next. The system is simply awesome, in my opinion.

If you have fallen in love with MRQII, run it. I doubt that other systems will match that.

I have also heard good things about BRP so tonight I picked up the BRP big golden book at my local FLGS. I have a bit of worry though that if I learn BRP as well as I can it might get difficult for me to distinguish between the 2 systems when I am playing one of the other.

Are any of you very familiar with both forms of D100 and if so, do you find it difficult to remember the intricacies of each when playing one or the other?

Having GMed almost every version since RQ1, I find that it's hard for me to remember which was which (and even sometimes difficult to read what's written instead of what I expect to be there -- I think some playtesters expressed similar challenges). With only two systems to keep track of, if I were you I'd use the one I love (MRQII) as reference, and just remember which things in the BGB are different.

Can you build supernatural creatures like vampires or werewolves with BRP and use them in an urban fantasy game? Can the BRP golden book handle sci-fi, modern, and historical, like pirates, etc?

The BGB is really flexible and covers all the ground you are asking about. In some areas that breadth means that it is not as deep -- but it's actually a simple system and the coverage is at least good everywhere.

I ultimately went with MRQII for my campaign because I was running fantasy (which MRQII was specifically written for) and I could just hand the core book to players. I didn't have to give them the book and a list of options and modules that we are using or not. But, I just bought the hardcover BGB and it's beautiful. My fantasy campaign is pretty high powered at this point, so I'm continually going back to it for power ideas and different options. And I miss the Characteristic rolls so much, I just use them ad-hoc when it's appropriate (e.g. a hero is tripped in the pub while carrying drinks and the player asks, "is there any way I can fall so the beer spills on the Fop at the table?" Agility check handles this easily).

One advantage of the similarity of the systems (and past works too) is materials can be used across systems without a lot of work.

Good luck with your new campaign!

Steve

[daddystabz]

Thanks Steve! Is it possible for me to simply use MRQII as my rules basis for whatever I run but pull toolkit parts from BRP to do special things? Fantasy definitely, since MRQII does this straight up. But let's say I want to run a modern day urban fantasy game with creatures of the night like vampires, werewolves, wizards, etc. I could just rip out how vampires, werewolves, etc. are built from BRP and their powers and insert them into a MRQII framework of rules that would still preserve that system's really neat Combat Maneuvers, and be golden?

[soltakss]

Yes, absolutely, that's exactly what I do.

[seneschal]

I'm not Steve, but yes. Critters in one variation of the system are pretty much like critters in another variation. The main differences will be whether they use a Hit Point total or whether Hit Points are broken up by body part; the way movement rates are calculated may vary; and whether your desired combat system uses Strike Ranks. This based on comparing the RuneQuest III critters in Basic Creatures to the critters in the Big Gold Book to the critters in the Mongoose RuneQuest I SRD. There may also be minor variations in Armor values and things like that. You can pretty much rip a monster from one source and run it in your favorite BRP flavor. A vamp is a vamp is a vamp.

Except, Real Vampires don't glow! Bela Lugosi would be spinning in his grave ... had he not already left it!

Edited May 11, 2011 by seneschal
correct spelling

[daddystabz]

Agree with you, seneschal, on vampires. Thanks all!

[daddystabz]

One thing I was just thinking about is let's say I choose MRQII as my basic rules framework to run a modern day urban fantasy game in with vampires and werewolves, etc. A big part of character creation in MRQII is the cultural development part, that gives you bonuses to a lot of skills. It is basically a skill package. BRP does not use this same framework. So if I'm using MRQII as my rules basis should I just have all PCs use the "Civilized" cultural background since we are modern day urban characters?

[Simlasa]

If I was going to do modern urban fantasy I'd be more inclined to go with something like Call of Cthulhu as a base (which I did)... dragging in elements from other BRP sources as necessary.

At least until Tales Of New Crobuzon comes out.

[filbanto]

Personality Type (step 6 in character generation) from BRP is pretty close to the cultural bonus from MRQ2. Your character gets +20% to a dozen or so skills that "fit" with his personality.