BRP Support

[Ars Mysteriorum]

All right, I love the BRP system and what it's capable of (especially in a heavily stripped down format), but I wonder what plans Chaosium has for this system.

While independent contributors making monograms is fine and dandy, I wish to see this system applied in new and unexpected ways. I want to see it applied to a setting that is enrapturing.

I want this system to be attached to something new that is unfathomably inspiring to me, in much the same way Talislanta was.

This system boasts the capacity to do nigh any genre, I want to see it do what it claims and excel.

So... is there any chance of that occurring in the near future?

[vagabond]

Some of the supplements listed on the Home page of this forum will

be full blown books and not monographs. Whether or not this fulfills

your desires is yet to be determined and out of the authors' control.

-V

[Shaira]

I think Chaosium are flat-out getting Pulp Cthulhu ready right now, but I'm aware that they're aiming to get some BRP stuff out the door and on the shelves early in the new year. With a man down (Lynn Willis) I reckon it might be all hands to the pumps there at the moment, but I'm optimistic we'll be seeing some BRP goodness shortly!

Whether it rings your bell, however... well, you'll have to let us know

Cheers,

Sarah

[RosenMcStern]

Historically, this system's success is due to it being linked to licensed supplements about the fictional works of two authors: H.P. Lovecraft and M. Moorcock, with Moorcock's Multiverse being currently portrayed by a BRP-cousing, Mongoose RuneQuest.

A further step would be finding some other licenses about other genres, neither fantasy nor horror, and using them for new and stunning RPG products. A fantastic idea with no franchise involved (Fractured Hopes is a good example of this) will not do the trick. I am still convinced that an anime setting could be something to try. But this has a drawback: it requires a lot of money, something that both fans and Chaosium (I suppose) lack, I fear.

So what is left to do is putting out Real World settings like Rome or Mythic Iceland, hoping they will attract some attention. Good timing is of the essence here: a Rome setting that is out the exact week that the Gladiator is in the theatres has a good chance of being a hit. One that is out when, say, Star Wars is the movie of the week is doomed to marginality.

Anyone has some idea about a setting that does not require a license?

[Shaira]

Anyone has some idea about a setting that does not require a license?

Three ideas for "license-free settings".

1. Fantasy Swashbuckling

I still want to play in a pseudo-late 16th century / early 17th century (1660-1710? Ish?) setting. Musketeers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Voyages of Discovery, Nippon, Cathay, Wars of Religion, black powder and melee weapons, plus of course lots of lovely baroque magic. You could centre it where you liked for the core book - say, Restoration England, the Sun King's court, or German(ia) in the Thirty Years' War, then produce all manner of "license-free" setting books for:

The Three Musketeers

Pirates of the Caribbean

Shogun

Master and Commander

The Great Embassy to China

Robinson Crusoe

Inca and Aztecs

Salem Witch Trials

Alchemists

Pre-Petrine Russia

The Ottoman Empire

Siege of Vienna

Sort of, say, the Fantasy Europe of RQ3, but a thousand years later, and doing the whole world!

2. Pulp Sword & Planet

Second, Jason's Interplanetary is a killer setting which could spawn all kinds of settings books a la John Carter and Flash Gordon, but again without requiring a license. I think the scope for beautifully crafted worlds and "sub-settings" here could really let you go to town. "Witch-Queen of Venus" and "Nightmare Men of Jupiter" here we come!

3. Foundation / Space Opera

This is "the scifi trope everybody knows". There's this huge galactic empire, run by humans but with gazillions of alien races, sufficiently large that there is no "one true world" viewpoint. There are spinoff civilizations, wars, explorations, lost worlds, the whole shebang. You just write a world (or a few) and plug it in. Stick it a few thousand years in the future, and you can have your Star Wars, Galacticas, Buck Rogers, and Star Treks all rubbing shoulders with minimum hassle.

Cheers!

Sarah

[Dredj]

Three ideas for "license-free settings".

1. Fantasy Swashbuckling

I still want to play in a pseudo-late 16th century / early 17th century (1660-1710? Ish?) setting. Musketeers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Voyages of Discovery, Nippon, Cathay, Wars of Religion, black powder and melee weapons, plus of course lots of lovely baroque magic. You could centre it where you liked for the core book - say, Restoration England, the Sun King's court, or German(ia) in the Thirty Years' War, then produce all manner of "license-free" setting books for:

The Three Musketeers

Pirates of the Caribbean

Shogun

Master and Commander

The Great Embassy to China

Robinson Crusoe

Inca and Aztecs

Salem Witch Trials

Alchemists

Pre-Petrine Russia

The Ottoman Empire

Siege of Vienna

Sort of, say, the Fantasy Europe of RQ3, but a thousand years later, and doing the whole world!

2. Pulp Sword & Planet

Second, Jason's Interplanetary is a killer setting which could spawn all kinds of settings books a la John Carter and Flash Gordon, but again without requiring a license. I think the scope for beautifully crafted worlds and "sub-settings" here could really let you go to town. "Witch-Queen of Venus" and "Nightmare Men of Jupiter" here we come!

3. Foundation / Space Opera

This is "the scifi trope everybody knows". There's this huge galactic empire, run by humans but with gazillions of alien races, sufficiently large that there is no "one true world" viewpoint. There are spinoff civilizations, wars, explorations, lost worlds, the whole shebang. You just write a world (or a few) and plug it in. Stick it a few thousand years in the future, and you can have your Star Wars, Galacticas, Buck Rogers, and Star Treks all rubbing shoulders with minimum hassle.

Cheers!

Sarah

Awesome! Someone else who wants swashbuckling!

I agree with everything in this post, Shaira. I sometimes wonder if the lack of commercial success of BRP is due more to over thinking than anything else. Other systems have done the above to a decent amount of success. But it all depends on marketing.

I really am looking forward to Interplanetary, as planetary romance seems to be the most under utilized of all popular genres in role playing.

And a generic but enticing space opera setting would be awesome. I would rather create my own bizzaro space fantasy than rely on someone else's ideas of what a space opera should be. But I would still like a ton of ideas to pick and choose from!

Maybe Chaosium should just throw much of their weight into becoming the place to go for planetary romance, since that single genre incorporates the primary elements of the above: swashbuckling, space opera, etc.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Dredj

[Al.]

Maybe Chaosium should just throw much of their weight into becoming the place to go for planetary romance, since that single genre incorporates the primary elements of the above: swashbuckling, space opera, etc.

Why not?

Cthulhu is still THE place to go for horror. Success breeds success and Cthulhu had some really well written flavour pieces and genuinely interesting scenarios from day one so people expected to buy Cthulhu horror (even if (shock horror) they hated the mythos)

That seems to my (entirely ignorant of the economics of rpgs) eye a much more likely route to success than over-thinking and not-doing for lots of areas.

Al

[peterb]

The problem with the RPG business is that it's not a very profitable business, very few of the RPG companies generates large profits. The most profitable RPG company (as the rumour goes), Games Workshop, decided to drop it's RPG line when the profits fell.

I think that we, the BRP community, will have to bear the lion part of the burden of making BRP a viable game. Like the Glorantha community did with the Glorantha setting and like the Harn World community is still doing. The key is to produce good quality add-ons and supplements that are available for free over the net. Having a vibrant community that produces game-aids etc is an excellent added-value to any RPG.

So the question then becomes - how could we and Chaosium best cooperate to give BRP a high profile?

A good starting point is to have a look at the Harn community site, www.lythia.com. For example check out the quality (and quantity) of the downloads. What we need are tools that makes it easy to use BRP, easy to switch from other games, we need scenarios, maps and the like and of course one or two good settings.

It's certainly true that the Glorantha and Harn communities have a huge benefit from each having an excellent setting to build upon. We, the community, could however build one (or two) of our own.

Shaira mentioned a Swashbuckler setting. Building on the wealth of information that exists about 16th and 17th century Japan is another example. Expanding the Cthulhu Dark Ages setting, toning down the horror part and retooling it a bit and move it to the 15th century is another option. A steampunk setting would also be cool. In short - create options for using Earth as a setting in different eras and with different mixes of fantasy, horror and science-fiction.

[bobapple]

In short - create options for using Earth as a setting in different eras and with different mixes of fantasy, horror and science-fiction.

Check out the links page. There is a link to Don Ghee's great Val-du-loup medieval Ardennes Forests setting ( Val-du-Loup - a medieval setting for Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying System BRP ) and my own more modest Crusader States campaign ( De Gesta Francorum BRP Campaign )

So I think things are developing, it just takes time.

[RosenMcStern]

Building on the wealth of information that exists about 16th and 17th century Japan is another example.

Nothing would please me more, but with two supplements already available for RuneQuest Japan (old Land of Ninja and new Land of Samurai) I would not call it a priority. It's already there and very easy to adapt, why rewrite it?

A steampunk setting would also be cool.

This one I would love, instead. Either a "classic" steampunk with zeppelins fighting alien starships, or a fantasy steampunk like the Arcanum computer game.

As for the Fantasy Europe settings, I'm certainly in favour of them as I have written one myself (and I am slowly cranking out episode two) but again, there is plenty of them, and we know that 75% or so of gamers do not like them.

[Dredj]

Btw, is there any word on Interplanetary?

[Jason D]

Btw, is there any word on Interplanetary?

Still in development.

An unexpected job change due to a company shutting down, and the death of a family member (father-in-law) after a months-long period of hospice requiring a lot of attention put me way behind schedule.

[Dredj]

Still in development.

An unexpected job change due to a company shutting down, and the death of a family member (father-in-law) after a months-long period of hospice requiring a lot of attention put me way behind schedule.

Sorry to hear that. I wish you the best.