Q&A with the new BRP Author

[Jason D]

Hey everyone -

I'm the primary author of the new BRP core rulebook, and am perfectly happy to answer any questions you might have about the content and/or the process of writing it.

So, fire away. I'll check this page every day or so to see if there's anything new, and will try to answer to the best of my ability.

I look forward to providing information if you're interested.

Thanks,

Jason Durall

[threedeesix]

ooh, your gonna be busy now.

Rod

[Atgxtg]

Jason,

If you have a stroke answering all our questions, whose gonna finish the book?

Questions:

1) What the same?

2) What's new/different?

3) What do you think is the cool stuff that will surprise us?

4) When do you think the game will be released?

5) Is there an official character sheet that we could get a peak at?

[Jason D]

1) What the same?

The core system. Skill rolls. Sanity. Allegiance. Most skills are recognizable.

2) What's new/different?

Characteristic rolls for each characteristic. Adding the CoC skill modifiers to all skills. All weapons get special effects when you roll 1/5 the total. Support for multiple genre/settings. Tons of optional rules. Support for heroic, epic, and superhuman levels of characters.

3) What do you think is the cool stuff that will surprise us?

Seeing the magic system from Magic World, mutations from the old Hawkmoon, sorcery from Stormbringer/Elric!, super powers from Superworld, and psychic powers inspired by those from ElfQuest in one book.

4) When do you think the game will be released?

Either the end of this year or within a few weeks of it. They're doing everything they can to get it out ASAP.

5) Is there an official character sheet that we could get a peak at?

That'd be up to Chaosium.

[Jason D]

If you have a stroke answering all our questions, whose gonna finish the book?

The book's already done being written. I'm just floating around hyping it, and already formulating the next few BRP things I'm working on.

[Lord Twig]

You already stated your opinion about the cover in another thread. How about interior art? Have you seen any? If so, is it all new or is some borrowed from other books?

What type of creatures are covered in the book? How many are usable as playable races?

You mentioned that the powers will surprise us. So there is new stuff in there? Not just a copy paste from the other rulebooks?

Do you know if any settings books are planned?

Any planned adventure modules?

[badcat]

Are any modules/adventures included in the book (it's a big book, 384 pages!). If so, which genres?

Any rules for enchantment and alchemy? For modifying spells on the fly?

Effects for weapons by type...hmmm, would that be the slash/crush/impale of RQ or something more expansive?

Is it true that the base rules system is similar to Elric!/Stormbringer5?

Are you sure you want to answer all the questions we are probably going to come up with over the next ten weeks or so?

[Jason D]

How about interior art? Have you seen any? If so, is it all new or is some borrowed from other books?

I believe that the interior art is a mix of new and old. I've seen the online sketchbook of one artist (http://skook.blogspot.com/), but haven't seen the completed works.

What type of creatures are covered in the book? How many are usable as playable races?

Here's a list of the creatures in the manuscript I submitted:

• Natural Creatures: Alligator (or Crocodile), Bear, Brontosaur, Dog, Gorilla, Hawk, Horse, Insect Swarm, Lion, Rat Pack, Shark, Snake (Constrictor, Venomous), Squid (Giant), Tiger, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Wolf
  
• Fantasy Creatures: Centaur, Dragon, Dwarf, Elf, Ghost, Ghoul, Giant, Griffin, Halfling, Mummy, Minotaur, Orc, Skeleton, Troll, Unicorn, Vampire, Werewolf, Zombie
  
• Supernatural Creatures: Angel, Demon (Greater, Lesser), Elementals (Air, Earth, Fire, Water)
  
• Science Fiction Creatures: Alien (Grey, Xenomorph), Blob, Robot (Giant, Killer, Utility)
  

There's no guarantee all of them will make it into the final book (some may get cut for space), but that's what went into the layout process.

As for usability as PCs, there are guidelines at the beginning of the chapter for adapting any race for use as a PC race, but nothing so sophisticated as the RQIII system. It didn't make much sense for a generic core book to go into details about what races can be PCs. If you want to make a giant robot PC and the GM is cool with it, go to town.

So there is new stuff in there? Not just a copy paste from the other rulebooks?

Yes and not really. The most unchanged are the sorcery rules. The rest have been extensively revised and expanded, though made more generic to suit the role of the book.

Do you know if any settings books are planned?

I think a few have been announced, some on this very website.

Any planned adventure modules?

There was talk (a long while ago) of a monograph with multiple adventures in it to showcase the breadth of the rules... I'll have to ping Dustin and see if it's still on.

[Enpeze]

Thanks for joining and for answering some questions Jason.

Mine is:How did you solve the close relationship of the strombringer spell system to the moorcock universe if it is ought to be rather generic? Are the sorcery rules from Stormbringer complete? (spells system and demon/elemental summoning) Whats with rune magic of the bronze grimoire? Did you include it? Did you rename spells?

One more please:

which base chances of normal skills and weapon skills did you choose? More along the line of CoC or any other edition of BRP? Or completely new?

best regards

[Jason D]

Are any modules/adventures included in the book (it's a big book, 384 pages!). If so, which genres?

No adventures. Sorry. Didn't seem like a valid use of space for a generic book.

Any rules for enchantment and alchemy? For modifying spells on the fly?

No. But if someone did a magic expansion, those would be great!

Effects for weapons by type...hmmm, would that be the slash/crush/impale of RQ or something more expansive?

Slash is now bleeding, impale is the same, crushing is the same, and we've added entangling and knockback.

Is it true that the base rules system is similar to Elric!/Stormbringer5?

Yes, as well as Call of Cthulhu's. It's a hybrid.

Are you sure you want to answer all the questions we are probably going to come up with over the next ten weeks or so?

We'll play it by ear.

[Jason D]

How did you solve the close relationship of the strombringer spell system to the moorcock universe if it is ought to be rather generic?

It was easy to remove the idiosyncratic spells, and it is my opinion that the sorcery system from Elric! was utterly unsupported by the source material. I'm a 1st edition Stormbringer man.

Are the sorcery rules from Stormbringer complete? (spells system and demon/elemental summoning)

No. Just sorcery with a few spells relating to demon/elemental summoning, and two demons and four elementals in the bestiary.

Whats with rune magic of the bronze grimoire? Did you include it?

No. I think it would make a fine source of material for a BRP magic book, though, if anyone wanted to write it.

Did you rename spells?

Yes. Removed Moorcockian names and made them (a bit too) generic. Further renaming is encouraged.

which base chances of normal skills and weapon skills did you choose? More along the line of CoC or any other edition of BRP? Or completely new?

Melee from SB, firearms from CoC, both adjusted as need be. New values devised where appropriate.

[tal]

Will there be rules for space ship combat?

For those of us that have the original box sets of products like super world-How compatable will the new super power rules be with the old?

[Simlasa]

Any changes to the way automatic weapons work in COC?

[badcat]

No included scenarios...384 pages of BRP rules....:eek:

Want. Want.....WANT.

[badcat]

Just for clarification...I am a 1st ed. SB man as well...the base weapon stats are based on 1e Stormbringer, you say?

And I am not quite sure from the above, are there demon generation rules, per se?

[Joseph Paul]

Jason- Thank you for you kind consideration in addressing this forum. You are a brave, brave man.

What market is BRP aimed at?

Do you expect to compete head-to-head with GURPS and HERO?

BRP seems to have always been weak on gearhead stuff like rules for making things, vehicles, new weapons, as well as breaking , burning, and breaching obstacles. Has this been addressed in the core book? If not are there plans to do so?

BRP seemed content to operate within a strictly game sense i.e. an abstracted SIZ instead of mass and volume in English or metric measures. Has the system been tied into the real world any better?

Was it planned for the powers to balance against one another so that one does not dominate?

Will the optional rules bring BRP up to the level of other multi-genre games in terms of tactical options and finesse?

What parts of it are you not content with as a designer?

Thanks

Joseph Paul

[badcat]

'up to the level of'...you really think GURPS is better. Wow.:eek:

I look at it just the reverse, but we have been over that already, I guess.

So whadya think, Jason, is BRP going to be 'brought up to the level of GURPS, err "other multi-genre games"' with the release of this book? I'd sort of like to know, myself.

Because if I thought that was the case, it would be a deal-breaker.

[Joseph Paul]

Badcat- You are right we have been over that and yes I do think that GURPS currently has a lead on the multi-genre, detailed combat, crunchy systems. If I can't get the resolution that I want for my games then BRP is no good for me. Of course I won't know that until I have purchased my copy.

What I would like to see is the GURPS attention to detail and Chaosium's elegance with rules. I am encouraged to hear that the rules have actually been extensively "revised and expanded" and not just cut and pasted.

Perhaps Jason could convince the Chaosium staff to authorize some pre-publication sneak peeks?

Joseph Paul

[Joseph Paul]

Jason- Further questions if you don't mind.

What were the goals you had in mind when revising and updating the rules?

Just to get them to work together?

Make them model certain types of play better?

Reality testing them?

Other?

Joseph Paul

BTW saw your post on RPGNet of the addition to the family. Congratulations! You will get to sleep again someday.

[Lord Twig]

Here's an easy one.

Charisma or Appearance? Or something else?

P.S. Congratulations on the new baby! At least that is what I assume it is. I have a 2-month-old baby myself.

[Chaot]

First off, welcome to the boards!

1) Do you think you'll get sleep anytime soon with all of the questions from this board directed at you?

2) Do you really like the cover of the book? (I kinda do, actually. But I don't think it will play in the current marketplace. I actually like someone's suggestion of a black background with a grey Chaosium dragon logo filling the cover. Also, I acknowledge that this is a loaded question. Feel free to ignore.)

3) Was it worth it? As a playtester, I believe you've provided a great manuscript. From you're live journal, I know there's a lot of change happening in your life. What about the process would you like to have been different?

4) How's your daughter doing? Too bad you're on the other side of the continent. We could set up a play date with my Fiona and your little girl.

[badcat]

I think he has answered that elsewhere. Old thread on rpg.net, unfortunately I don't have the link.

As for GURPS, I once held it in high regard but that was before it became too bloated. It was called 'TFT'...The Fantasy Trip. That was before it, or Steve Jackson, whichever, got delusions of grandeur. I fear it will be hard to find anything with the mixture of resolution and elegance you seek. Me, I'll take elegance over resolution (at least resolution to the extent attempted by games like GURPS or HERO).

Just for the record, I don't think GURPS is a bad system, and I would play it...but I don't want to run it.

But then, I don't want to run most game systems.

[badcat]

Arrgh. Previous post in answer to Joseph Pauls' last post.

[Trifletraxor]

I'm the primary author of the new BRP core rulebook, and am perfectly happy to answer any questions you might have about the content and/or the process of writing it.

Something tells me this will be a busy thread. Especially after I spread the word to draw more people to the forum!

The core system. Skill rolls. Sanity. Allegiance. Most skills are recognizable.

Sanity?? Allegiance?? This is optional spot rules I hope?

Characteristic rolls for each characteristic. Adding the CoC skill modifiers to all skills.

CoC skill modifiers? Do you mean like RQ3?

I believe that the interior art is a mix of new and old. I've seen the online sketchbook of one artist (http://skook.blogspot.com/), but haven't seen the completed works.

Those were actually quite good. I really liked those!

There was talk (a long while ago) of a monograph with multiple adventures in it to showcase the breadth of the rules... I'll have to ping Dustin and see if it's still on.

The rumoured scenario pack, which might get cancelled because the sci-fi scenario was not handed in. Would be great if you could get som news on this.

Sverre.

[Jason D]

Will there be rules for space ship combat?

Not detailed. The classic "chase" system from CoC is there, genericized for ships and other vehicles, but a full-on vehicular combat system is outside the purview of what I and the Chaosium guys felt the BRP core rules should encompass.

For those of us that have the original box sets of products like super world-How compatable will the new super power rules be with the old?

Fairly compatible. They were based off the WoW Super-World rules, so they're a little more, basic, than the ones from the standalone Superworld game.