Q&A with the new BRP Author

[Chaot]

First off, welcome to the boards!

1) Do you think you'll get sleep anytime soon with all of the questions from this board directed at you?

2) Do you really like the cover of the book? (I kinda do, actually. But I don't think it will play in the current marketplace. I actually like someone's suggestion of a black background with a grey Chaosium dragon logo filling the cover. Also, I acknowledge that this is a loaded question. Feel free to ignore.)

3) Was it worth it? As a playtester, I believe you've provided a great manuscript. From you're live journal, I know there's a lot of change happening in your life. What about the process would you like to have been different?

4) How's your daughter doing? Too bad you're on the other side of the continent. We could set up a play date with my Fiona and your little girl.

[badcat]

I think he has answered that elsewhere. Old thread on rpg.net, unfortunately I don't have the link.

As for GURPS, I once held it in high regard but that was before it became too bloated. It was called 'TFT'...The Fantasy Trip. That was before it, or Steve Jackson, whichever, got delusions of grandeur. I fear it will be hard to find anything with the mixture of resolution and elegance you seek. Me, I'll take elegance over resolution (at least resolution to the extent attempted by games like GURPS or HERO).

Just for the record, I don't think GURPS is a bad system, and I would play it...but I don't want to run it.

But then, I don't want to run most game systems.

[badcat]

Arrgh. Previous post in answer to Joseph Pauls' last post.

[Trifletraxor]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

I'm the primary author of the new BRP core rulebook, and am perfectly happy to answer any questions you might have about the content and/or the process of writing it.

Something tells me this will be a busy thread. Especially after I spread the word to draw more people to the forum!

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

The core system. Skill rolls. Sanity. Allegiance. Most skills are recognizable.

Sanity?? Allegiance?? This is optional spot rules I hope?

Characteristic rolls for each characteristic. Adding the CoC skill modifiers to all skills.

CoC skill modifiers? Do you mean like RQ3?

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

I believe that the interior art is a mix of new and old. I've seen the online sketchbook of one artist (http://skook.blogspot.com/), but haven't seen the completed works.

Those were actually quite good. I really liked those!

There was talk (a long while ago) of a monograph with multiple adventures in it to showcase the breadth of the rules... I'll have to ping Dustin and see if it's still on.

The rumoured scenario pack, which might get cancelled because the sci-fi scenario was not handed in. Would be great if you could get som news on this.

Sverre.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by tal

Will there be rules for space ship combat?

Not detailed. The classic "chase" system from CoC is there, genericized for ships and other vehicles, but a full-on vehicular combat system is outside the purview of what I and the Chaosium guys felt the BRP core rules should encompass.

Originally Posted by tal

For those of us that have the original box sets of products like super world-How compatable will the new super power rules be with the old?

Fairly compatible. They were based off the WoW Super-World rules, so they're a little more, basic, than the ones from the standalone Superworld game.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Simlasa

Any changes to the way automatic weapons work in COC?

Controversially, no. Though the rules aren't beloved, they do work, and I tried to minimize changing rules when they worked.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by badcat

Just for clarification...I am a 1st ed. SB man as well...the base weapon stats are based on 1e Stormbringer, you say?

They're from Elric!, also known as Stormbringer (5th edition)

Originally Posted by badcat

And I am not quite sure from the above, are there demon generation rules, per se?

There are two sample demons (a little implike one and a somewhat Balrogian one), and the spells just provide you to summon "a demon".

A complete demonic creation system was, again, outside the scope of the rules, which was a generic BRP framework. A magic book or a fantasy setting might have more detailed rules about demon summoning, creation, artifacts, etc.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Jason- Thank you for you kind consideration in addressing this forum. You are a brave, brave man. l

No problem. This pales in comparison to the morning diaper routine with my 9-month old daughter, so it's a welcome change. And my experience working for MMOs have hardened me to the roughest of message boards.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

What market is BRP aimed at?

Any gamers, really, but especially those who like a system-light experience, and want to be able to slot mechanics and and out of their games with ease.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Do you expect to compete head-to-head with GURPS and HERO?

I think those games have their audiences, and BRP has its audience. If anything, they're competing against one another and we're sort of on our own.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

BRP seems to have always been weak on gearhead stuff like rules for making things, vehicles, new weapons, as well as breaking , burning, and breaching obstacles. Has this been addressed in the core book? If not are there plans to do so?

There are rules for doing a wide variety of things to environments (remember that BRP is a misnomer... we're actually talking about games as diverse as Superworld, Ringworld, and so on.

There are rules for making stuff using powers, but they're admittedly light. Again, it's generally not a big part of the BRP game, and we were very strongly opposed to trying to make it just another generic rules kit like HERO, GURPS, etc.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

BRP seemed content to operate within a strictly game sense i.e. an abstracted SIZ instead of mass and volume in English or metric measures. Has the system been tied into the real world any better?

SIZ is still abstracted.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Was it planned for the powers to balance against one another so that one does not dominate?

It wasn't planned, and they don't really balance against one another. The expectation is that a GM will only be using one of them in a given campaign. Mutations don't balance against magic, and psychic powers are woefully underpowered compared to sorcery. Super powers are probably the most flexible and powerful of all of the five.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Will the optional rules bring BRP up to the level of other multi-genre games in terms of tactical options and finesse?

Perhaps. But again, BRP has never been about tactical options - it's a core game framework that can be made as complex or as simple as desired. In the past that's been by the designers at Chaosium, but now is in the hands of each GM.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

What parts of it are you not content with as a designer?

Hmm...

I'd have liked to have made Sanity work in the same fashion as HP, power points (formerly magic points), fatigue, etc. But that's too big a change to do in non-CoC rulebook.

I think that given the choice now, I'd have pulled critical successes out of the book entirely and just kept special successes as the default.

I've never been a fan of even using fatigue or encumbrance rules. I tend towards making those things "GM discretion".

I'd have scaled the whole thing back somewhat and gotten it done much earlier. Overlapping three moves, two job searches, a marriage, and the birth of a baby during the course of one manuscript wasn't really ideal.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by badcat

'up to the level of'...you really think GURPS is better. Wow.

I look at it just the reverse, but we have been over that already, I guess.

So whadya think, Jason, is BRP going to be 'brought up to the level of GURPS, err "other multi-genre games"' with the release of this book? I'd sort of like to know, myself.

Because if I thought that was the case, it would be a deal-breaker.

See above.

Having BRP become a substitute for GURPS, HERO, Action!, Tri-Stat dX, d20, etc. was ever a consideration or a goal. It's a different kind of game.

I was heartened during playtesting about the number of people who contacted me on the forum and outside about the ease they'd had changing existing systems over to BRP, and how much more fun they were having. I don't know if that would have happened if we'd gone down the "just another generic rules set" path.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Perhaps Jason could convince the Chaosium staff to authorize some pre-publication sneak peeks?

It's out of my hands, but I suspect there are plans afoot to entice players and GMs ahead of time.