While I too am waiting to see the new BRP book it is perhaps a little obvious that I am not of the same mind as others about the project. I would like to thank the members here for being tolerant and not lynching me right off the bat.
I can understand that my own opinions could be considered heretical by some.
I have put forward that BRP could use an overhaul. I base that on what I know of various BRP iterations over the years and comparing those to games that are currently in production and in the same niche that BRP wants to be in. So looking through some of the material for GURPS 4e I find that it's combat system now includes new options that bring more realism to the fight. By realism I mean that what has been added to GURPS seems to mirror things that have actually been taught by Ancient and Medieval masters of combat. Mighty blows, flurries of blows, deceptive attacks, feints etc. are the sorts of things that I like to have as options in a combat because my studies on the subject indicate that they work. GURPS 4e hit the shelves in 2004.
In going over the RQIV draft I find things like Feint, Flurry of blows, and more kinds of parries and dodges had been added as well as the Maneuver skill. This was done in 1992
twelve years before GURPS 4e. I am irked that yet again Chaosium was on the track to better, more elegant, mechanics and could not bring them to market.
It has been stated that BRP plays an awful lot like SB5. Does anyone know if SB5 incorporates any of the RQIV advances? IIRC Riposte was mentioned. Any others?
I don't want BRP to have to play catch up to others in the universal rules sets arena and that is what it looks like. In any case I hope that this explains some of my testiness and anxiety about the upcoming release. I am going to try to be a bit more positive about the whole thing. I promise.
Joseph Paul