Chaosium announces The Basic Roleplaying Design Challenge - over $10,000 in cash prizes for independent creators

[MOB]

Chaosium is excited to announce the Basic Roleplaying Design Challenge!

The goal of the BRP Design Challenge is to financially assist new and upcoming creators in bringing their games to independent publication (be that digital or print). Chaosium seeks to empower designers from all walks of life, with original ideas, concepts, and systems, with the goal of seeing all shortlisted entries eventually published independently.

Entry to the BRP Design Challenge is free.

As part of submission, entrants will need to provide:

• A pitch for their game (both in long and short form).
• A production budget for their game.
• An outline on how the winnings from the BRP Design Challenge will help bring their game to life
• A competitor market analysis of their game, showcasing where it fits in the market as a product.
• How the BRP rules have been used in their game.
• What makes their use of the BRP system, their setting, and/or the gameplay experience unique.

All entrants retain ownership of their work in its entirety. Chaosium does not require the signing over of rights of any kind in order to enter the BRP Design Challenge.

Winners and shortlisted entries will also retain ownership and—regardless of what winnings may be received as part of this competition—may still publish their games royalty-free under the ORC license.

“We’re very excited to give a selection of independent game designers a leg-up in making their dreams a reality,” Chaosium Vice President Michael O’Brien said. “Basic Roleplaying is a core system that is so easy to use and tweak to any setting or genre, and we cannot wait to see the imaginative worlds and innovative designs submitted.” 

THE PRIZES

 

Each award will also receive a trophy.

You can submit your game to the BRP Design Challenge here!

Looking for some helpful information on getting started? Check out the Chaosium primer for designing games with BRP!

Submissions close on May 31st, 2024 at 11:59pm Pacific US time.

Questions? Contact us at brian@chaosium.com

[g33k]

I admit to a bit of puzzlement, on a couple of items above...

"A production budget for their game."
If the creators are mostly "new and upcoming" then they don't likely have any reasonable background to estimate such a budget.  If their target is a 48 page manuscript with at least a small color artwork on most pages, plus a half-page piece at each chapter, and a full-page cover... what should their art budget be?  Are they up to 64 pages in total?  If they have no skills/background in layout, what should they budget for?  Etc...

"A competitor market analysis of their game, showcasing where it fits in the market as a product."
Similarly, I'm unclear how much competence the newbie author/dev brings to this element.  I suspect that any of a half-dozen folks @Chaosium will do better at this with a minute or two of thought, than any given "new and upcoming creator" will do after 20-30 hours of research.

Thanks for any assistance in helping me resolve these  puzzlements!

Edited March 7 by g33k

[Ravenheart87]

38 minutes ago, g33k said:

I admit to a bit of puzzlement, on a couple of items above...

"A production budget for their game."
If the creators are mostly "new and upcoming" then they don't likely have any reasonable background to estimate such a budget.  If their target is a 48 page manuscript with at least a small color artwork on most pages, plus a half-page piece at each chapter, and a full-page cover... what should their art budget be?  Are they up to 64 pages in total?  If they have no skills/background in layout, what should they budget for?  Etc...

"A competitor market analysis of their game, showcasing where it fits in the market as a product."
Similarly, I'm unclear how much competence the newbie author/dev brings to this element.  I suspect that any of a half-dozen folks @Chaosium will do better at this with a minute or two of thought, than any given "new and upcoming creator" will do after 20-30 hours of research.

Thanks for any assistance in helping me resolve these  puzzlements!

My thoughts exactly. This isn't for the hobbyists, but small publishers who probably did some crowd funding or released some products already.

[AndreJarosch]

1 hour ago, g33k said:

I admit to a bit of puzzlement, on a couple of items above...

"A production budget for their game."
If the creators are mostly "new and upcoming" then they don't likely have any reasonable background to estimate such a budget.  If their target is a 48 page manuscript with at least a small color artwork on most pages, plus a half-page piece at each chapter, and a full-page cover... what should their art budget be?  Are they up to 64 pages in total?  If they have no skills/background in layout, what should they budget for?  Etc...

"A competitor market analysis of their game, showcasing where it fits in the market as a product."
Similarly, I'm unclear how much competence the newbie author/dev brings to this element.  I suspect that any of a half-dozen folks @Chaosium will do better at this with a minute or two of thought, than any given "new and upcoming creator" will do after 20-30 hours of research.

Thanks for any assistance in helping me resolve these  puzzlements!

IMHO these two shouldn´t be that hard to provide. 
I don´t think that Chaosium wants to see a professional business plan. 


EXAMPLE how this could look like: 

"A production budget for their game."
- $ 1000 for art (cover and some maps; illustrations will be stock art)
- $ 250 for editing and layout (two of my friends have a bachelor in this)
- $ 250 for marketing (Facebook ads, and other social media)
---------------
$ 1500 Total 

I estimate that by book will sell about 250 copies on Drivethru in the first 6 months, with a price tag for the PDF of $ 19.99, with 70% for me. 
Which would get me an income of $ 3498.25. 

$ 3498.25 Sales 
- $ 1500 Investment 
--------------
$ 1998.25 earnings

"A competitor market analysis of their game, showcasing where it fits in the market as a product."
A) The theme of my BRP based RPG is "XXX". 
I have searched on Drivethru, RPGnet, and Boardgamegeek etc. and found three good selling RPGs already with that theme "XXX". 
But there is no D100 game (or compatible) with that theme, so my game will be the first D100 game to get into that. 

OR 

B) The theme of my BRP based RPG is "XXX". 
I have searched on Drivethru, RPGnet, and Boardgamegeek etc. and found that there are no RPGs already with that theme "XXX". 
"XXX" is special interest, but with no compaditors on the RPG market with that theme, my game will be the first one to adress that theme. 


At least that would be what i would provide Chaosium with (with more details, of course). 

Edited March 7 by AndreJarosch

[MOB]

Thanks @AndreJarosch

1 hour ago, g33k said:

If their target is a 48 page manuscript with at least a small color artwork on most pages, plus a half-page piece at each chapter, and a full-page cover... what should their art budget be?...

"A competitor market analysis of their game, showcasing where it fits in the market as a product."
Similarly, I'm unclear how much competence the newbie author/dev brings to this element. 

We're offering serious money in this design challenge. Entrants absolutely do not need to be existing small publishers, or have released something before. But our expectation is they'll take it seriously. There are plenty of robust and thriving independent TTRPG creator communities and forums online where such advice can be sought and will be cheerfully given. Some good examples close to home include the Jonstown Compendium Creators Circle and Miskatonic Repository Creators Circle on Facebook. Both these groups also have "creators helping creators" databases with rates for artists, editors, layout specialists etc. 

[g33k]

Thank you, @AndreJarosch & @MOB.

Next question @Chaosium:

I know Chaosium doesn't want to see any AI work in product submissions.  What about AI in "mood boards" & "reference images" & the like, when the author can't find good images to show an artist?  I could see it used in place of "found online" art, to help the artist & author communicate better... not in place of paid art.

(I ask specifically because I've got some ideas I've never really seen adequately portrayed -- and wouldn't care to attempt even a rough sketch -- but I suspect could be explored via AI imagery)
 

Edited March 7 by g33k

[MOB]

3 hours ago, g33k said:

Thank you, @AndreJarosch & @MOB.

Next question @Chaosium:

I know Chaosium doesn't want to see any AI work in product submissions.  What about AI in "mood boards" & "reference images" & the like, when the author can't find good images to show an artist?  I could see it used in place of "found online" art, to help the artist & author communicate better... not in place of paid art.

(I ask specifically because I've got some ideas I've never really seen adequately portrayed -- and wouldn't care to attempt even a rough sketch -- but I suspect could be explored via AI imagery)
 

Please do not include AI content (e.g. Midjourney. ChatGPT etc) in your BRP Challenge submission.

[MOB]

 For questions you might have about the BRP Design Challenge, please see our FAQ at this post on Chaosium.com.

[g33k]

13 hours ago, MOB said:

 For questions you might have about the BRP Design Challenge, please see our FAQ at this post on Chaosium.com.

That FAQ is a nice supplement to the original announcement, and very useful.

TYVM!

 

[klecser]

18 hours ago, MOB said:

 For questions you might have about the BRP Design Challenge, please see our FAQ at this post on Chaosium.com.

Hey, I made the FAQ! 😜

My game is well under way!

[smiorgan]

Quote

"pirates who shapeshift into dinosaurs in order to protect Mars from the undead."

I'm sold.

[tooley1chris]

😀

Edited March 11 by tooley1chris

[g33k]

9 minutes ago, tooley1chris said:

 

"You all have a Production Budget?"

We do if we win that contest!
😉

 

[tooley1chris]

3 minutes ago, g33k said:

We do if we win that contest!
😉

 

Too busy with QUASAR to start a new project. Too bad contest wasnt announced last October 😀

[g33k]

2 hours ago, tooley1chris said:

Too busy with QUASAR to start a new project. Too bad contest wasnt announced last October 😀

I haven't picked up QUASAR yet; it's on my "to-buy" list, but I'm unclear on this point:  if you're still basically using BRP core(?), there's AFAIK absolutely no reason you couldn't submit your next(ish) publication to the contest.

Edited March 11 by g33k
conceptual clarity

[tooley1chris]

19 hours ago, g33k said:

I haven't picked up QUASAR yet; it's on my "to-buy" list, but I'm unclear on this point:  if you're still basically using BRP core(?), there's AFAIK absolutely no reason you couldn't submit your next(ish) publication to the contest.

It's mostly BRP Core. I added starship movement ratios, weapon energizing, shield recharge ratios, all based on reactor power diverted to those components, for space combat.

Added like 50 races.

Also changed psionics quite a bit but other than that...

 

I do have a campaign world I was working on awhile back but I've too many ideas for QUASAR rattling around in my pot to turn my attention. Working on an adventure module and Print on Demand for the other three books right now. Have two or three ideas for QUASAR supplements. Its only me over here😀