The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I’m sure that most of the readers have heard about BRP. Most probably you know that it is supposed to be the game-system that underlies Call of Cthullu. You may also know that it is the game-system on which is based Sotrmbringer/Elric!. But how many of you know what ‘BRP’ means? And what exactly is this game-system? And, more important, how many of you have actually seen and read BRP? I guess not many. That’s the reason for the present review.

First things first: BRP means Basic Role Playing. It refers to Chaosium’s house system that was used in most games published by that company (but not all). Yet BRP was more than just a bunch of guidelines and principles on how to design Chaosium-like games. It existed as a product and was on sale long ago.

It’s interesting to notice that BRP always had a problem of poor public perception. Let me quote Greg Stafford (the author of BRP, then President of Chaosium) from the Spring 1984 Chaosium Games Catalog: “I was startled recently to learn that many of our fans are unaware that all our games are based on the Basic Role-playing system. If you learn to play one, you have learned the basics of play for all of them”. More on this latter. The issue is that BRP existed as an independent product but not even the fans realized it. Today a lot of people talk about BRP but I guess that it’s even less likely that they know what it is all about. I hope this review will set the record straight.

BEFORE BRP

BRP has an interesting history. You see, the first BRP game was there even before BRP. In the middle of the 70s Greg Stafford was approached by two young men (Steve Perrin and Lynn Willis) that proposed a fantasy role-playing game of their making to be used with Greg’s fantasy world Glorantha. The game was called RuneQuest. It was a success. Greg Stafford realized the potential of the basics of RuneQuest to be adapted into other settings. In fact, there was other staff of Chaosium willing to do it, people like Sandy Petersen that designed Call of Cthullu. So, Greg decided to produce a simple and short role-playing game based on the basics of RuneQuest that could be adapted to any setting with minimal effort. That was BRP.

BRP was published in 1980. It would branch into many games published by Chaosium (the mentioned Call of Cthullu – horror –, Stormbringer/Elric! – more fantasy –, Superworld – supers –, Ringworld – sci-fi –, ElfQuest – even more fantasy –, Pendragon – a more distant variant of BRP, fantasy again) and countless other companies and freelancers. Without the need for an OGL, BRP underscored games like Skyrealms of Jorune, Malefices, Nephilim, Aquelarre, just to name a few from three different countries.

BRP proper was published as a booklet that I’ll review in a moment. It was marketed in three ways: First, it was incorporated with other Chaosium games. That’s how I got my copy: it was included in the RQ boxed set I acquired in 1983. Second, it was sold in the Worlds of Wonder generic game box that expanded BRP into fantasy, superheroes and sci-fi, the first generic game system I’m aware of. Finally, it was sold on its own with cardboard fold-and-glue dice (!) and other counters. The last version was intended to function as an introduction to role-playing. It was the first iteration I know of a ‘lite’ game.

Unfortunately, as you can see by the above quote, it wasn’t very successful as a stand-alone product. Yet, it fulfilled its role: to provide a foundation for Chaosium’s RPG development efforts.

FORM

BRP is a 16 pages booklet in heavy paper. Of the 16 pages one is the cover, one is for character sheets, one is for tables, two are for a solo mini-scenario and other stuff. The remaining 11 pages are the rules. Yes, 11 pages. With examples. An exercise in concision, clarity and elegance of design. Mind you, there’s plenty of substance in these 11 pages, as I’ll show in a moment. The text is in two columns with boxed examples written in italics. There is sparse illustration composed of black & white drawings. Nothing breathtaking, but it fulfils its role. (And there’s the dedication “to Steve Perrin and the other authors of RuneQuest”. The Chaosium gang always used to display this commendable fair-play.)

On the overall? 4 4 4m.

SUBSTANCE

I guess it’s time to look at those 11 pages that are supposed to provide us with the basics of role-playing. First, BRP only provides for the creation of human characters. There’s no option for other species. All characters start as average un-experienced youngsters. The examples of play put us in the role of one such teenager coming from a small village somewhere in a low-tech world that looks a lot like medieval Europe.

Characters in BRP have first and foremost characteristics, seven in total: STRength, CONstitution, SIZe, INTelligence, POWer (for magic), DEXterity and CHArisma. This is a direct inheritance from D&D since BRP shares with the first RPG ever most of the attributes and the way they are determined by rolling 3d6. Based on this seven we can determine a set of other attributes: Hit points (based on CON) and characteristic rolls: Ideal Roll (based on INT), Luck roll (based on POW), Dodge roll (based on DEX) and Persuasion roll (based on CHA). As you can see, these rolls are the BRP equivalents of Saving Throws in D&D. The characteristic rolls are percentage rolls against the respective characteristic * 5.

As you can see, there are some things that BRP clearly inherited from D&D. But it built on it to grow in a completely different direction. It went classless and level-less. It centred action in % skills that grow by usage: The difference between characters is not pre-ordained but determined by how they use their skills either in the field or by training/study. Unlike D&D, character development is to result from in-game, setting-based considerations, not by rules constrains. BRP presents a limited list of skills that cover most mundane situations in pre-modern settings: A couple of athletic skills, a couple of perception skills, some dexterity skills a knowledge skill (first aid) and combat skills. Notice that skills are not organized into these categories, this is something of my making.

This leads to my first criticism of BRP: It combines two different approaches to action, characteristic rolls and skills, while there’s no real connection between skills and characteristics. I personally like tidy rules based on uniform principles. I understand the need to map characteristics into action but the way it is done in BRP is not logical.

Action is the result of skill rolls (or, in some cases, attribute rolls). Standard, unopposed situations only require a straight roll. More complex situations where there’s an opposition or where there are complications may call for a more complex – if I may use such an imposing word – resolution mechanic. In fact, BRP has two ways to handle it: · Simple percentile roll. In this case both the active and the passive party roll for success. The end result is based on what they rolled. · The Resistance Table. Well, in fact the table is just a facilitator for the mechanic that consists in rolling [ actors skill % - subject skill % 50% ].

Both systems are straightforward. Personally, I just never liked the Resistance Table. It works poorly at the extremes, so it does not model very well the realities it is supposed to handle. (I always used Simple percentile rolls instead.)

Combat is simply an exchange of blows and defensive moves (using either the dodge roll or a parry skill) handled through simple percentile rolls. DEX determines initiative. In the case of combat there’s a limited provision for qualified successes through the Impale rule: On a roll lower than 20% of the skill thrusting weapons do extra damage (and gets stuck in the enemy’s body).

Dangerous situations may call for damage rolls. These determine a loss of hit points that, if they drop to 0 or lower, mean death. At 1 HP the character falls unconscious. To counter weapons’ damage one can attempt to parry the incoming menace or use armour. Both deduct from damage.

Experience is skill-specific. Each time one uses successfully a skill one is entitled to a roll % against [ 100 – skill % ]. If successful the skill increases by 5%. There are no rules for previous experience.

Furthermore there’s no furthermore. That’s it for the system. There’s no magic, no advanced technology, no religion, no higher-than-life something, no non-humans. Just ordinary people in an ordinary world.

What have I to conclude in terms of substance? BRP provides the basics… but that’s all that it does. To be fair, that’s all it promises to provide. Character creation is minimal and doesn’t allow for variety either in terms of races/specimens/character types/backgrounds or levels of maturity/development. Yes, it does not give much but – mind you – it is not supposed to give much. It is a “basic” game. Seen through this perspective, I would give it a 5 if it wasn’t for the criticisms I pointed before (specially the dreaded Resistance Table). Because of that, I give it a 4.

THE FUN FACTOR

BRP is fun to read and fun to play. You get a minimal character and face menial challenges. That’s its charm. You are not pretending to go for High Fantasy. You are not to start with a super-human or an expert in this or that. You are just required to get the principles fast and start playing. Even today this is a refreshing departure from countless games that pretend to turn you into a hero by rules design. In BRP you can be a hero, but you’ll have to deserve it.

From the perspective of the GM, BRP is an excellent device to introduce role-playing to new players. Since characters are young upstarts, it can be used in almost any setting. Latter the GM may move to other BRP-derived games that provide all the bells and whistles, thus making the learning of those games a progressive and painless experience.

THE REST IS HISTORY

When I look back I cannot fail to think: what if Chaosium realized 20 years ago the value of what they had in their hands? What if they had done and promoted a true generic game system based on BRP? Would BRP be the GURPS, the RIFTS or the Hero System of an alternate future? Would it be a true, well-supported generic game system? It didn’t happen that way. The Chaosium gang were too enamorated with settings to value their system on its own. And this is the irony of it all: they had one of the best game systems, one of the few that could be truly and easily adaptable to any setting that could be thought of. Yet they never valued it on itself. They always looked at it as a tool to allow them to fulfil their love for their settings of choice.

If you are interested in BRP, there’s a web page containing it and the Worlds of Wonder booklets. Unfortunately I don’t have the link to that page but, since I’ve seen it here in RPGnet, there will be a good soul that will provide it for you.

Sérgio

Basic Role Playing
Basic Role Playing Capsule Review by Sérgio Mascarenhas on 01/07/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Did you know it really exists? Product: Basic Role Playing Author: Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Chaosium Inc. Line: n/a Cost: OOP Page count: 16 Year published: 1980 ISBN: n/a SKU: n/a Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Sérgio Mascarenhas on 01/07/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Generic	I’m sure that most of the readers have heard about BRP. Most probably you know that it is supposed to be the game-system that underlies Call of Cthullu. You may also know that it is the game-system on which is based Sotrmbringer/Elric!. But how many of you know what ‘BRP’ means? And what exactly is this game-system? And, more important, how many of you have actually seen and read BRP? I guess not many. That’s the reason for the present review. First things first: BRP means Basic Role Playing. It refers to Chaosium’s house system that was used in most games published by that company (but not all). Yet BRP was more than just a bunch of guidelines and principles on how to design Chaosium-like games. It existed as a product and was on sale long ago. It’s interesting to notice that BRP always had a problem of poor public perception. Let me quote Greg Stafford (the author of BRP, then President of Chaosium) from the Spring 1984 Chaosium Games Catalog: “I was startled recently to learn that many of our fans are unaware that all our games are based on the Basic Role-playing system. If you learn to play one, you have learned the basics of play for all of them”. More on this latter. The issue is that BRP existed as an independent product but not even the fans realized it. Today a lot of people talk about BRP but I guess that it’s even less likely that they know what it is all about. I hope this review will set the record straight. BEFORE BRP BRP has an interesting history. You see, the first BRP game was there even before BRP. In the middle of the 70s Greg Stafford was approached by two young men (Steve Perrin and Lynn Willis) that proposed a fantasy role-playing game of their making to be used with Greg’s fantasy world Glorantha. The game was called RuneQuest. It was a success. Greg Stafford realized the potential of the basics of RuneQuest to be adapted into other settings. In fact, there was other staff of Chaosium willing to do it, people like Sandy Petersen that designed Call of Cthullu. So, Greg decided to produce a simple and short role-playing game based on the basics of RuneQuest that could be adapted to any setting with minimal effort. That was BRP. BRP was published in 1980. It would branch into many games published by Chaosium (the mentioned Call of Cthullu – horror –, Stormbringer/Elric! – more fantasy –, Superworld – supers –, Ringworld – sci-fi –, ElfQuest – even more fantasy –, Pendragon – a more distant variant of BRP, fantasy again) and countless other companies and freelancers. Without the need for an OGL, BRP underscored games like Skyrealms of Jorune, Malefices, Nephilim, Aquelarre, just to name a few from three different countries. BRP proper was published as a booklet that I’ll review in a moment. It was marketed in three ways: First, it was incorporated with other Chaosium games. That’s how I got my copy: it was included in the RQ boxed set I acquired in 1983. Second, it was sold in the Worlds of Wonder generic game box that expanded BRP into fantasy, superheroes and sci-fi, the first generic game system I’m aware of. Finally, it was sold on its own with cardboard fold-and-glue dice (!) and other counters. The last version was intended to function as an introduction to role-playing. It was the first iteration I know of a ‘lite’ game. Unfortunately, as you can see by the above quote, it wasn’t very successful as a stand-alone product. Yet, it fulfilled its role: to provide a foundation for Chaosium’s RPG development efforts. FORM BRP is a 16 pages booklet in heavy paper. Of the 16 pages one is the cover, one is for character sheets, one is for tables, two are for a solo mini-scenario and other stuff. The remaining 11 pages are the rules. Yes, 11 pages. With examples. An exercise in concision, clarity and elegance of design. Mind you, there’s plenty of substance in these 11 pages, as I’ll show in a moment. The text is in two columns with boxed examples written in italics. There is sparse illustration composed of black & white drawings. Nothing breathtaking, but it fulfils its role. (And there’s the dedication “to Steve Perrin and the other authors of RuneQuest”. The Chaosium gang always used to display this commendable fair-play.) On the overall? 4 4 4m. SUBSTANCE I guess it’s time to look at those 11 pages that are supposed to provide us with the basics of role-playing. First, BRP only provides for the creation of human characters. There’s no option for other species. All characters start as average un-experienced youngsters. The examples of play put us in the role of one such teenager coming from a small village somewhere in a low-tech world that looks a lot like medieval Europe. Characters in BRP have first and foremost characteristics, seven in total: STRength, CONstitution, SIZe, INTelligence, POWer (for magic), DEXterity and CHArisma. This is a direct inheritance from D&D since BRP shares with the first RPG ever most of the attributes and the way they are determined by rolling 3d6. Based on this seven we can determine a set of other attributes: Hit points (based on CON) and characteristic rolls: Ideal Roll (based on INT), Luck roll (based on POW), Dodge roll (based on DEX) and Persuasion roll (based on CHA). As you can see, these rolls are the BRP equivalents of Saving Throws in D&D. The characteristic rolls are percentage rolls against the respective characteristic * 5. As you can see, there are some things that BRP clearly inherited from D&D. But it built on it to grow in a completely different direction. It went classless and level-less. It centred action in % skills that grow by usage: The difference between characters is not pre-ordained but determined by how they use their skills either in the field or by training/study. Unlike D&D, character development is to result from in-game, setting-based considerations, not by rules constrains. BRP presents a limited list of skills that cover most mundane situations in pre-modern settings: A couple of athletic skills, a couple of perception skills, some dexterity skills a knowledge skill (first aid) and combat skills. Notice that skills are not organized into these categories, this is something of my making. This leads to my first criticism of BRP: It combines two different approaches to action, characteristic rolls and skills, while there’s no real connection between skills and characteristics. I personally like tidy rules based on uniform principles. I understand the need to map characteristics into action but the way it is done in BRP is not logical. Action is the result of skill rolls (or, in some cases, attribute rolls). Standard, unopposed situations only require a straight roll. More complex situations where there’s an opposition or where there are complications may call for a more complex – if I may use such an imposing word – resolution mechanic. In fact, BRP has two ways to handle it: · Simple percentile roll. In this case both the active and the passive party roll for success. The end result is based on what they rolled. · The Resistance Table. Well, in fact the table is just a facilitator for the mechanic that consists in rolling [ actors skill % - subject skill % 50% ]. Both systems are straightforward. Personally, I just never liked the Resistance Table. It works poorly at the extremes, so it does not model very well the realities it is supposed to handle. (I always used Simple percentile rolls instead.) Combat is simply an exchange of blows and defensive moves (using either the dodge roll or a parry skill) handled through simple percentile rolls. DEX determines initiative. In the case of combat there’s a limited provision for qualified successes through the Impale rule: On a roll lower than 20% of the skill thrusting weapons do extra damage (and gets stuck in the enemy’s body). Dangerous situations may call for damage rolls. These determine a loss of hit points that, if they drop to 0 or lower, mean death. At 1 HP the character falls unconscious. To counter weapons’ damage one can attempt to parry the incoming menace or use armour. Both deduct from damage. Experience is skill-specific. Each time one uses successfully a skill one is entitled to a roll % against [ 100 – skill % ]. If successful the skill increases by 5%. There are no rules for previous experience. Furthermore there’s no furthermore. That’s it for the system. There’s no magic, no advanced technology, no religion, no higher-than-life something, no non-humans. Just ordinary people in an ordinary world. What have I to conclude in terms of substance? BRP provides the basics… but that’s all that it does. To be fair, that’s all it promises to provide. Character creation is minimal and doesn’t allow for variety either in terms of races/specimens/character types/backgrounds or levels of maturity/development. Yes, it does not give much but – mind you – it is not supposed to give much. It is a “basic” game. Seen through this perspective, I would give it a 5 if it wasn’t for the criticisms I pointed before (specially the dreaded Resistance Table). Because of that, I give it a 4. THE FUN FACTOR BRP is fun to read and fun to play. You get a minimal character and face menial challenges. That’s its charm. You are not pretending to go for High Fantasy. You are not to start with a super-human or an expert in this or that. You are just required to get the principles fast and start playing. Even today this is a refreshing departure from countless games that pretend to turn you into a hero by rules design. In BRP you can be a hero, but you’ll have to deserve it. From the perspective of the GM, BRP is an excellent device to introduce role-playing to new players. Since characters are young upstarts, it can be used in almost any setting. Latter the GM may move to other BRP-derived games that provide all the bells and whistles, thus making the learning of those games a progressive and painless experience. THE REST IS HISTORY When I look back I cannot fail to think: what if Chaosium realized 20 years ago the value of what they had in their hands? What if they had done and promoted a true generic game system based on BRP? Would BRP be the GURPS, the RIFTS or the Hero System of an alternate future? Would it be a true, well-supported generic game system? It didn’t happen that way. The Chaosium gang were too enamorated with settings to value their system on its own. And this is the irony of it all: they had one of the best game systems, one of the few that could be truly and easily adaptable to any setting that could be thought of. Yet they never valued it on itself. They always looked at it as a tool to allow them to fulfil their love for their settings of choice. If you are interested in BRP, there’s a web page containing it and the Worlds of Wonder booklets. Unfortunately I don’t have the link to that page but, since I’ve seen it here in RPGnet, there will be a good soul that will provide it for you. Sérgio