Enpeze,
The way Prince Valiant's cions thing worked (to the best of my reccolection)
-Each character had two stats Presence and Brawn, and divided up six points between them.
-Each character had 9 points to assign for starting skills, also on a 1-6 scale.
-When you did something you would toss a number of coins equal to your stat or stat+skill, if applicable, and count the number of heads. If you beat the difficulty, you won. Typically you could add modifers, like bonuses for equipment.
-A roll of all heads was a complete success and let you toss another coin (this was open ended).
-I think all tails had some some of "fumble penalty", usually making a bad situation worse, but I'd have to check.
-For opposed resolution, both sides would toss coins and compare the results. For an extended test, like combat, the loser would take the difference as a loss of coins. When one side was out of coins they were defeated.
Coins were chosen because anyone could play, since pretty much anyone has some spare change in their pocket. And a set of pennies is sure cheaper than a set of dice.
As for BRP being one of the simplest games ever...
I think you might be tinting those glasses a little because you are so familiar with BRP (actually RQ. BRP is a fiction, but that's another topic). I used to run into a similar problem when trying to teach RQ/Strombringer/etc. to D&D players. Character generation took forever, people kept complain how hard the game was, and how AD&D was easier to understand. AD&D is actually one of the most complex RPGs, as virtually every game mechanic was tacked on with it own rules, rather than a unfired sysem, but to those guys, it WAS easier. Especially as each of them had a set of rule books on hand for reference, while we only had one copy of RQ to share among everybody.
I'm a big fan of RQ and it's variants. That said, hands down Prince Valiant is an easier game, and a much better "pick up" game for non gamers to get. Try rolling up a character with your nephew and his friends, and running an adventure in a afternoon
About HeroQuest,
Actually the HeroQuest system is simple. The explaintion of the rules isn't. Glorantha isn't simple either. People who are told that they are playing one of King Arthur's Knights, or a Viking, have some idea of what that means. `People who are told that they are playing a herotland weaponthane and follower of Orlanth Vingot, don't have any thing to go one, UNLESS they are familiar with Glorantha.
Another reason why HQ seems hard to understand isn't that it is counter inuitive, but that it is so differernt from what you are used to.
Storytelling Game,
The big difference is that with stroytelling RPGs the players usually have a lot more input into how the stroy unfolds. In a tradial RPG adventure the GM write (or buys) the adventure. The basic plot is set out and the isn't much the PCs can really do other than roleplay how their characters react to the events.
With a storytelling RPG the PCs have some sort of ability to add or alter the story. For example, in Prince Valiant, the players can occasion GM stuff and ahave certificates that allow them to chage the flow of events or add new elements to a story (i.e. "The villian's girlfriend falls in love with Joes character and unlocks the his jail cell, and gives him his charmed sword!".)
This can make the story more dynamic since it becomes more of a clloaborative effort, and this can enhance the session, since you can get a lot more good ideas from six people then from one.
I'd recommend looking at an RPG called FATE. Especially the Spririt of The Century RPG. Check out the SRD. IMO it actually pulls off what HeroQuest tried to do, but failed.
As for teaching the RPG
I think the point that your missing is that teaching something is a long term thing. Yeah, you give the players the game in increments, if you are expecting them to play again next week.
But what would you do for people you just want to play something "today", and might never game again? That is where Prince Valiant shines. Because there is so little to it, people who haven't played before can pick it up and start playing.
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