Q&A's with the new BRP author version 2.0

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

You posted earlier that the Characteristic rolls (Ideal, Luck, Charisma) would play a bigger part in BRP, with roll for all stats included. Can you give some examples ?

Almost all stats. There is no characteristic roll for SIZ, of course.

We wanted a quick characteristic check when no obvious resisting force presented itself. Making characteristics more important in regular play was an important goal. Like using an Agility roll (DEX x 5) when doing something like that "balance an egg on a spoon while walking" game.

For example, here's the text from the description of the Stamina roll (CON x 5):

Based upon CON, Stamina rolls measure endurance. Use a Stamina roll whenever physical or intestinal fortitude is in question. To list a few examples, a Stamina roll might determine whether or not your character can stay awake all night, or endure seasickness, ill-prepared food, or strong drink with no ill effects.

None of them seemed as "important" as determining the POT of an opposing force. For seasickness, do you do a resistance roll versus the POT of the sea's motion? It seemed easier to just call for a characteristic roll.

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

Are there some specific things that the Characteristic rolls are used for, or are they a default roll for when there is nothing else that applies, as in the past?

Pretty much.

[Nightshade]

Well, arguably all a characteristic roll is, in practice, is a resistance roll against a value of 10. So if someone wanted more finickiness, they could use the roll on that basis.

[Agentorange]

Jason,

You've mentioned on a few occasions that it would be a nice idea for there to be a BRP magic book as a supplement, including such things as the spirit magic/divine magic model, fleshed out shamanic rules etc etc. How ( to the best of your knowledge ) would the copyright work on this ? say someone wanted to do such a book and felt that Sandy petersons shamanic rules and sorcery were the best ones out there, would they need to approach Mr Peterson to use them as a basis of such a book, or would the fact that they are posted on the net in numerous places mean they were in the ' public domain' and could be used ? I have no intention of doing so I'm just curious about how the whole thing would work.

As an aside I do use Sandy's shamanry and sorcery rules in my own games as I think they are far better than the ones presented in the magic book monograph.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Agentorange

You've mentioned on a few occasions that it would be a nice idea for there to be a BRP magic book as a supplement, including such things as the spirit magic/divine magic model, fleshed out shamanic rules etc etc. How ( to the best of your knowledge ) would the copyright work on this ? say someone wanted to do such a book and felt that Sandy petersons shamanic rules and sorcery were the best ones out there, would they need to approach Mr Peterson to use them as a basis of such a book, or would the fact that they are posted on the net in numerous places mean they were in the ' public domain' and could be used ? I have no intention of doing so I'm just curious about how the whole thing would work.

The materials Sandy wrote are owned and copyrighted by him, unless he's sold the rights to them elsewhere. Releasing them on the web, even if for free, is in no way shape or form a relinquishment of those rights. The material will enter public domain when Sandy declares that they're in the public domain, or 75 years after his death, whichever comes first.

(Some countries vary on the length of time after death, but it's usually at least 50 years.)

My suggestion for someone wanting to do such a project (using that material) would be to contact Sandy and ask him for permission to use his work as the basis, and come to an arrangement that's mutually agreeable to both of you. This might include sharing some of the monies paid for the work. If Sandy doesn't want the material used, it's his right, and in my opinion, it's not a justification for just rewording his work and passing it off using the "you can't copyright a system, just the words" defense.

Even if you end up rewriting the whole thing from scratch, you should fully acknowledge Sandy's contribution and credit him accordingly.

[Kloster]

Hello Jason,

OK for Sandy's independant work. But what he did for RQIII's magic book belongs to Chaosium, if I have understood correctly. So, can somebody start from this magic book (as present in the BRP monograph)?
If yes, what would be the conditions?

Runequestement votre,

Kloster

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Kloster

So, can somebody start from this magic book (as present in the BRP monograph)? If yes, what would be the conditions?

I don't know the contractual details (you'd have to work them out with Chaosium), but Chaosium owns the rights to the contents of the RQ3 magic book.

If you were interested in working on something related to that, you could contact them (Dustin or Charlie @chaosium.com) and submit a proposal, including an estimated word count and schedule.

They'll likely take a little time to get back to you (they're both extremely busy with the BRP book) and will either accept the proposal or ask for a revised proposal. Then they'll issue a contract.

In the case of BRP, they supplied me with electronic versions of several Chaosium publications (the DBRP/RQ3 monographs among them), as well as some copies of older books that didn't exist in electronic versions.

I handled the playtest recruitment through a few resources (Tom Zunder's The Tavern, rpg.net, some existing BRP/RQ-related mailing lists), and made a Yahoo! group to handle the playtest.

[Agentorange]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

The materials Sandy wrote are owned and copyrighted by him, unless he's sold the rights to them elsewhere. Releasing them on the web, even if for free, is in no way shape or form a relinquishment of those rights. The material will enter public domain when Sandy declares that they're in the public domain, or 75 years after his death, whichever comes first.

(Some countries vary on the length of time after death, but it's usually at least 50 years.)

My suggestion for someone wanting to do such a project (using that material) would be to contact Sandy and ask him for permission to use his work as the basis, and come to an arrangement that's mutually agreeable to both of you. This might include sharing some of the monies paid for the work. If Sandy doesn't want the material used, it's his right, and in my opinion, it's not a justification for just rewording his work and passing it off using the "you can't copyright a system, just the words" defense.

Even if you end up rewriting the whole thing from scratch, you should fully acknowledge Sandy's contribution and credit him accordingly.

Seems fair enough to me, I've never really bought the "you can't copyright a system, just the words" defense. It might be legally ok but it seems a bit shoddy from a moral point of view ( well it does to me anyway ) It'd be nice if somebody did do a 'magic' supplement, that kind of thing always seems to sell well and would provide a welcome expansion of the rules and some nice variety.

[Jason Durall]

As an aside, my wife has just called to inform me that I've received a package from Chaosium with some preliminary tape-bound copies of BRP inside for final checking and proofing.

The cover is a temp one, in case anyone was thinking to ask.

Can't wait to get home!

[Nightshade]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

As an aside, my wife has just called to inform me that I've received a package from Chaosium with some preliminary tape-bound copies of BRP inside for final checking and proofing.

The cover is a temp one, in case anyone was thinking to ask.

Can't wait to get home!

Cool. While they obviously aren't going to make it out in December unless they're faster than any game company I ever dealt with, that might at least mean a late January release if we're lucky.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Nightshade

Cool. While they obviously aren't going to make it out in December unless they're faster than any game company I ever dealt with, that might at least mean a late January release if we're lucky.

The Chaosium Report that just went out said "Winter 2008" (which is to say the 2008 portion of the current winter, not the one in 12 months).

I suspect, based on a comment in the report, that there'll be some sort of advanced look or preview edition, but don't quote me on that.