Which BRP-kin are Most Dissimilar?

[VonKatzen]

I own a majority of the games made on the BRP model, from RuneQuest to OpenQuest2, with the exception of MRQ1 and some versions of Pendragon. I have not done a detailed comparison of their magical and combat rules side-by-side (I haven't even played a few of them) but I do notice a lot of similarities: characteristics, the general skill system, the use of funky dice for damage. Mythras' Animism is not far off from the later editions of Stormbringer!/Elric when the emphasis was shifted to summoning and binding magic.

It's not too hard to tell which systems are close to each other; MRQ2/Legend/RQ6/Mythras probably being the most similar to one another, for obvious reasons. Call of Cthulhu and RQ2/3 have very different rules for many things (though CoC spells aren't too far from RQ common magic). Which systems do you think are the most distinct from each other, or the most unique in themselves, among the BRP-related family?

[g33k]

Many folks suggest that Eclipse Phase is so mechanically-similar to BRP (though clearly not "compatible" without a *LOT* of work) that it's an almost-BRP game.  That may qualify it as "most-dissimilar among the BRP-related family".

Ringworld is genuine Chaosium-branded BRP, but AFAIK has rolling Strike-Rank-like "impulses" but no "rounds" -- if your DEX and weapon combine to give you an every-6-impulse action, you attack every 6 impulses... on 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, etc etc etc.  Another person with an every-8-impulse action will go on 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, etc etc etc.  There are no "rounds" where counts reset to 1.  They also have a branching skills-tree effect, which is pretty different from other skills-list based versions of BRP.  But this is all what I've gathered from discussion; I'm not lucky enough to own a copy.  😞

Superworld is of course the BRP superhero game, though now TDM has Agony&Ecstacy; just HAVING 4color superpowers makes each of them rather dissimilar from other BRPS!

[VonKatzen]

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Ringworld is genuine Chaosium-branded BRP, but AFAIK has rolling Strike-Rank-like "impulses" but no "rounds" -- if your DEX and weapon combine to give you an every-6-impulse action, you attack every 6 impulses... on 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, etc etc etc.  Another person with an every-8-impulse action will go on 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, etc etc etc.  There are no "rounds" where counts reset to 1.

 

That sounds much like the combat system in Hackmaster '5th edition'. I actually quite like it, though Hackmaster is a rather strange beast overall.

[rsanford]

Revolution D100 has a completely (well maybe its similar to RIngWorld - I don't have that) different skill system and narrative controls. That probably makes it the most different.