BRP as a first game vs. "converting" gamers --

[frogspawner]

Thanks, and thank you for taking the time to have a look at it.

I see the problem with the heading (it just says "BRP BasicRolePlaying BRP" in Batavia font - the closest I had to the Hobo used in Ed.Zero - and it's all Greek to me now I'm on this laptop instead!), but that's just cosmetic. (Solved in pdf?)

Other feedback I have had (from a randomly-selected member of it's target audience, my son the WoW player!) is that it's "a lot of text" (and the fight with the Bear is tough!). So it might be better cut down even more drastically (though lack of a character sheet is a problem).

But, would something like this be useful as an "advertising flyer" to give away free?

[NickMiddleton]

If the model is something that can be given away, take a look at Dream Pod 9's Tribe 8 demo-game . No character generation, but a concise outline of the game mechanics, the game setting, a set of pre generated characters and a solid scenario for them to play through. All in what amounts to four sides of A4.

Something like that (a set of pre-generated characters in a specific setting, with a concise explanation of the core rules and a solid scenario) is what would be best - but, given that BRP is not tied to a specific setting, what might be best is a set of these: fantasy, SF, superhero, perhaps western, espionage and post-apocalypse as well?

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[frogspawner]

Mmm, nice setting! Almost makes me want to use it with BRP...

Yes, I was aiming for 4 A4 sides, so it'd fit on 1 double-sided A3 sheet. (Glad to see theirs was 5 sides too!)

Are compelling settings the key? The original BRP guide seemed to be aiming for the player to feel involved straight away, by creating a character of their own. I don't know which approach is best, but don't know the upcoming settings well enough to do one in that style, so may persevere with the old one. Anyone else care to give it a go...?

[RosenMcStern]

As you questioned a WoW player, try and think of a way to attract his attention to the beauty of BRP instead of just explaining the mechanics in a competent fashion.

a) esthetics. The layout of such a flyer must be attractive. You used a 10pt font with few border room, and it looks like the text for a lecture. Go for a 8pt. font, two columns, and you will be able to accommodate more text and have room for pictures, too. Put a background or other adornments in it. Use grayed lines for tables. Space the paragraphs correctly. Make casual lookers really wish to read it.

b) make the examples intriguing. The last character an adolescent would like to play is a young man killing rats for his mother, or helping old widows. This sort of examples are good to teach GMs how to start a campaign with increasingly challenging, but will bore a teenage after one and a half lines. In a fantasy setting, what a prospective player wants to see is magic, so I would go for a young magician who just graduated at the Magic Academy, a la Rincewind, and have it buy and use some weapons because his magic skill is not high enough to last for a whole combat, or because it is not ethically correct to waste magic against such lowly creatures. But above all, each line in the description should be exciting.

c) make five settings, as suggested, with five different example sets and equipment tables, and appropriate pictures. However, point out that the system is identical for all five sets.

[NickMiddleton]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

Mmm, nice setting! Almost makes me want to use it with BRP...

It's a cracking setting, and pretty easily adapted to BRP, and it's native system (for the first edition, Silhouette) is actually pretty good. I've yet to run it, and thus haven't actually committed to whether I'd convert to BRP. Albeit the After the Scouring campaign I ran last year that was heavily inspired by Tribe 8 was basically RQIII powered...

Yes, I was aiming for 4 A4 sides, so it'd fit on 1 double-sided A3 sheet. (Glad to see theirs was 5 sides too!)

Are compelling settings the key? The original BRP guide seemed to be aiming for the player to feel involved straight away, by creating a character of their own. I don't know which approach is best, but don't know the upcoming settings well enough to do one in that style, so may persevere with the old one. Anyone else care to give it a go...?

I think the key thing is to provide something that can be used immediately, and that demonstrates the range the rule set is capable of. I wasn't imagining tying them to specific settings: more just very generic examples of those genres with good scenarios that can be played with just that demo game.

Cheers,

Nick Middleton.

[rust]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

But, would something like this be useful as an "advertising flyer" to give away free?

Over here, we have a forum dedicated to collecting RPG material for free
downloading. It currently has about 1,300 files in its database and almost
400 registered users:
Fundus Ludi | Startseite

Many of the people who visit this forum are Call of Cthulhu players, and
more than a few of them are quite interested in the new BRP.
It would be very nice if I could put something like your work in this forum's
database and tell the people to take a look at what the new BRP has to
offer...

So, once you think your BRP introduction is ready, could you please let me
know whether I can use it for this purpose ?

Thank you !

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by RosenMcStern

As you questioned a WoW player, try and think of a way to attract his attention to the beauty of BRP instead of just explaining the mechanics in a competent fashion. ...

Good points, thanks. And yes, making space for pictures would be good.

Originally Posted by NickMiddleton

I think the key thing is to provide something that can be used immediately, and that demonstrates the range the rule set is capable of.

Being just a fantasy RP-er, I'm not sure I'm qualified to do even generic examples from other settings, but I'm sure you're right that it'd benefit from that. I think I'll probably just shelve this idea for now.

Originally Posted by rust

So, once you think your BRP introduction is ready, could you please let me know whether I can use it for this purpose ?

Ah, well, I think you'd have to ask the Chaosium guys about that, because it's basically a severely cut-down version of their introductory BRP booklet from 20+ years ago. Not wanting to tread on their toes, I should probably remove it. It's served it's purpose, of proving the 4-page principle and drawing-out constructive comments.

[rust]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

Not wanting to tread on their toes, I should probably remove it.

Ah, you are most probably right - I did not think of that.

Well, in this case I will have to wait for Chaosium's own "BRP Lite" ...