What are the rule differences between BRP vs CoC vs RoL?

[StaceyUK]

I'm looking to buy the Basic Roleplaying game engine but I've read reviews that state simplifications from Rivers of London are missing. I'm new to Chaosium games so I'm unaware of what these are. Also some character percentile stuff from Call of Cthulu.

What are the rule differences between the three?

[Nick Brooke]

Rivers of London is simplest.

Call of Cthulhu is more complex, with some neat tricks that you won’t find in BRP itself.

BRP is a massive pick-and-mix buffet you can use to roll your own RPG.

Jason Durall, who wrote BRP, has a good post on this site explaining why he didn’t bring various CoC 7e innovations into that system. That’ll help you understand the differences. One minute, I’ll try to find it for you…

[Nick Brooke]

Here you go: CoC vs. BRP.

 

[StaceyUK]

Thank you for this!

[g33k]

1 hour ago, Nick Brooke said:

Here you go: CoC vs. BRP.

That's really the new BRP vs the prior (BGB edition) of BRP, tho.  Not a CoC-specific comparo (other than the one "Sanity" bullet-point).

Nick's own summary -- "BRP is a massive pick-and-mix buffet you can use to roll your own RPG" -- is really spot-on.
Don't think of the BRP:UGE rulebook as "a RPG" that's ready-to-play.  I like the "toolkit" simile, and "build-your-own-BRP;" but the "buffet" idea works well, too.  It's a compendium of BRP rules-variants, with which you can build any RPG from a no-magic / gritty-street-rats, to pulpy-Indiana-Jones, to 4-Color-Supers, to Tolkienesque high-fantasy.

Rivers of London is based upon the novels of that name by Ben Aaronovitch.  The RPG was designed & written with the specific idea that it would appeal to fans of the novels who may never have played any RPG previously, so it leans-in on simplified mechanics (and adds a bespoke magic-system, to better match the novels).
It's still BRP.

As for the CoC "... character percentile stuff from Call of Cthulu" this is most-likely that CoC7 switched the "basic characteristics" (STR, DEX, CON, etc) from the original 3d6 scale to a percentile score like the Skills are.  This makes the "Characteristic x 5" roll (which is mostly the only at-the-table roll) much more straightforward.

Each specific BRP-based game (such as RuneQuest) has its own variations & bespoke subsystems; but they are all minor variations that work smoothly with the core BRP engine they all share.  There's no reason you couldn't or shouldn't take CoC's %Stat over to RQ, or RoL, or your own FrankenBRP game.
 

(edit:  are we being helpful, at all?  If not, can you say something further, to help us help you?)

Edited March 1 by g33k

[StaceyUK]

59 minutes ago, g33k said:

That's really the new BRP vs the prior (BGB edition) of BRP, tho.  Not a CoC-specific comparo (other than the one "Sanity" bullet-point).

Nick's own summary -- "BRP is a massive pick-and-mix buffet you can use to roll your own RPG" -- is really spot-on.
Don't think of the BRP:UGE rulebook as "a RPG" that's ready-to-play.  I like the "toolkit" simile, and "build-your-own-BRP;" but the "buffet" idea works well, too.  It's a compendium of BRP rules-variants, with which you can build any RPG from a no-magic / gritty-street-rats, to pulpy-Indiana-Jones, to 4-Color-Supers, to Tolkienesque high-fantasy.

Rivers of London is based upon the novels of that name by Ben Aaronovitch.  The RPG was designed & written with the specific idea that it would appeal to fans of the novels who may never have played any RPG previously, so it leans-in on simplified mechanics (and adds a bespoke magic-system, to better match the novels).
It's still BRP.

As for the CoC "... character percentile stuff from Call of Cthulu" this is most-likely that CoC7 switched the "basic characteristics" (STR, DEX, CON, etc) from the original 3d6 scale to a percentile score like the Skills are.  This makes the "Characteristic x 5" roll (which is mostly the only at-the-table roll) much more straightforward.

Each specific BRP-based game (such as RuneQuest) has its own variations & bespoke subsystems; but they are all minor variations that work smoothly with the core BRP engine they all share.  There's no reason you couldn't or shouldn't take CoC's %Stat over to RQ, or RoL, or your own FrankenBRP game.
 

(edit:  are we being helpful, at all?  If not, can you say something further, to help us help you?)

This really helps to answer my questions. Thank you.

[Mugen]

On 3/1/2024 at 12:55 AM, g33k said:

There's no reason you couldn't or shouldn't take CoC's %Stat over to RQ, or RoL, or your own FrankenBRP game.

There's one reason : it's a terrible idea, which makes other characteristics rolls more difficult to use, and complexifies other aspects of the game (such as having to divide POW by 5 to get MP maximum).

[g33k]

16 hours ago, Mugen said:

There's one reason : it's a terrible idea, which makes other characteristics rolls more difficult to use, and complexifies other aspects of the game (such as having to divide POW by 5 to get MP maximum).

if you only ever roll the x5, then it's not a problem.
Similarly, the one-time (chargen) POW/5 calculation is FAR much less of a problem than repeated at-the-table x5's of *ALL* the characteristics (one can pregen them of course.. or just use the characteristic score as a rollable, pre x5'ed value).

[sladethesniper]

On 2/29/2024 at 4:36 PM, Nick Brooke said:

BRP is a massive pick-and-mix buffet you can use to roll your own RPG.

I think this is how BRP should be marketed or described.... roll your own RPG! Then have a ton of setting books that go with your new RPG.

-STS

[Greville]

On 3/1/2024 at 11:36 AM, Nick Brooke said:

BRP is a massive pick-and-mix buffet you can use to roll your own RPG.

I love this, it also helps explain the differences in RoL. "Today I only feel like gummies, let's leave the chocolate and hard lollies alone."

RoL is where someone has looked at BRP with a laser focus and jettisoned anything they felt didn't fit the game. I posted a read through of RoL on RPG.net where I list the differences (some of those choices are why RoL has pride of place in my collection).