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Originally Posted by Jason Durall
One aspect that variable armor "simulates" is that even if it is homogeneous across all locations, the material doesn't always protect the same against different types of weapons, or against blows delivered from different angles.
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I tend to agree with the second, but not the first, since a variable roll doesn't really pay attention to the weapon used.
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However, I'd argue that the sheer genius of the BRP system is that one can have random armor values, or one can then use fixed point armor value with variable protection against different attack types (slashing, impaling, blunt, etc.), and the game still works.
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The real virtue of RQ when it came out wasn't its realism (though in contrast to the only other fantasy games of the time, it felt far more realistic in a cause-and-effect sort of way) but its transparency; what was being represented was pretty clear from process. That's still one of BRP's general virtues; you're very unlikely to change a subsystem without being able to see what it means in play and whether its a good idea on game play grounds.