Q&A with the new BRP Author

[Jason Durall]

Hey everyone -

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.

So, fire away. I'll check this page every day or so to see if there's anything new, and will try to answer to the best of my ability.

I look forward to providing information if you're interested.

Thanks,

Jason Durall

[threedeesix]

ooh, your gonna be busy now.

Rod

[Atgxtg]

Jason,

If you have a stroke answering all our questions, whose gonna finish the book?

Questions:

1) What the same?

2) What's new/different?

3) What do you think is the cool stuff that will surprise us?

4) When do you think the game will be released?

5) Is there an official character sheet that we could get a peak at?

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

1) What the same?

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

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

2) What's new/different?

Characteristic rolls for each characteristic. Adding the CoC skill modifiers to all skills. All weapons get special effects when you roll 1/5 the total. Support for multiple genre/settings. Tons of optional rules. Support for heroic, epic, and superhuman levels of characters.

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

3) What do you think is the cool stuff that will surprise us?

Seeing the magic system from Magic World, mutations from the old Hawkmoon, sorcery from Stormbringer/Elric!, super powers from Superworld, and psychic powers inspired by those from ElfQuest in one book.

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

4) When do you think the game will be released?

Either the end of this year or within a few weeks of it. They're doing everything they can to get it out ASAP.

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

5) Is there an official character sheet that we could get a peak at?

That'd be up to Chaosium.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

If you have a stroke answering all our questions, whose gonna finish the book?

The book's already done being written. I'm just floating around hyping it, and already formulating the next few BRP things I'm working on.

[Lord Twig]

You already stated your opinion about the cover in another thread. How about interior art? Have you seen any? If so, is it all new or is some borrowed from other books?

What type of creatures are covered in the book? How many are usable as playable races?

You mentioned that the powers will surprise us. So there is new stuff in there? Not just a copy paste from the other rulebooks?

Do you know if any settings books are planned?

Any planned adventure modules?

[badcat]

Are any modules/adventures included in the book (it's a big book, 384 pages!). If so, which genres?

Any rules for enchantment and alchemy? For modifying spells on the fly?

Effects for weapons by type...hmmm, would that be the slash/crush/impale of RQ or something more expansive?

Is it true that the base rules system is similar to Elric!/Stormbringer5?

Are you sure you want to answer all the questions we are probably going to come up with over the next ten weeks or so?

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Lord Twig

How about interior art? Have you seen any? If so, is it all new or is some borrowed from other books?

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.

Originally Posted by Lord Twig

What type of creatures are covered in the book? How many are usable as playable races?

Here's a list of the creatures in the manuscript I submitted:

• Natural Creatures: Alligator (or Crocodile), Bear, Brontosaur, Dog, Gorilla, Hawk, Horse, Insect Swarm, Lion, Rat Pack, Shark, Snake (Constrictor, Venomous), Squid (Giant), Tiger, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Wolf
• Fantasy Creatures: Centaur, Dragon, Dwarf, Elf, Ghost, Ghoul, Giant, Griffin, Halfling, Mummy, Minotaur, Orc, Skeleton, Troll, Unicorn, Vampire, Werewolf, Zombie
• Supernatural Creatures: Angel, Demon (Greater, Lesser), Elementals (Air, Earth, Fire, Water)
• Science Fiction Creatures: Alien (Grey, Xenomorph), Blob, Robot (Giant, Killer, Utility)

There's no guarantee all of them will make it into the final book (some may get cut for space), but that's what went into the layout process.

As for usability as PCs, there are guidelines at the beginning of the chapter for adapting any race for use as a PC race, but nothing so sophisticated as the RQIII system. It didn't make much sense for a generic core book to go into details about what races can be PCs. If you want to make a giant robot PC and the GM is cool with it, go to town.

Originally Posted by Lord Twig

So there is new stuff in there? Not just a copy paste from the other rulebooks?

Yes and not really. The most unchanged are the sorcery rules. The rest have been extensively revised and expanded, though made more generic to suit the role of the book.

Originally Posted by Lord Twig

Do you know if any settings books are planned?

I think a few have been announced, some on this very website.

Originally Posted by Lord Twig

Any planned adventure modules?

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.

[Enpeze]

Thanks for joining and for answering some questions Jason.

Mine is:How did you solve the close relationship of the strombringer spell system to the moorcock universe if it is ought to be rather generic? Are the sorcery rules from Stormbringer complete? (spells system and demon/elemental summoning) Whats with rune magic of the bronze grimoire? Did you include it? Did you rename spells?

One more please:
which base chances of normal skills and weapon skills did you choose? More along the line of CoC or any other edition of BRP? Or completely new?

best regards

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by badcat

Are any modules/adventures included in the book (it's a big book, 384 pages!). If so, which genres?

No adventures. Sorry. Didn't seem like a valid use of space for a generic book.

Originally Posted by badcat

Any rules for enchantment and alchemy? For modifying spells on the fly?

No. But if someone did a magic expansion, those would be great!

Originally Posted by badcat

Effects for weapons by type...hmmm, would that be the slash/crush/impale of RQ or something more expansive?

Slash is now bleeding, impale is the same, crushing is the same, and we've added entangling and knockback.

Originally Posted by badcat

Is it true that the base rules system is similar to Elric!/Stormbringer5?

Yes, as well as Call of Cthulhu's. It's a hybrid.

Originally Posted by badcat

Are you sure you want to answer all the questions we are probably going to come up with over the next ten weeks or so?

We'll play it by ear.