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What's BRP really good at?


PoppySeed45

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BRP is the only system i'll use anymore, it handles everything I need. We've done high fantasy, space opera, post-apocalyptic, wild west (historical and horror), superheros, dark ages, ... It works for everything. I agree that its best aspect is its versatility, with the optional rules you can tweak it to your liking. We used the BGB for all of the above mentioned games.

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BRP is the only system i'll use anymore, it handles everything I need. We've done high fantasy, space opera, post-apocalyptic, wild west (historical and horror), superheros, dark ages, ... It works for everything. I agree that its best aspect is its versatility, with the optional rules you can tweak it to your liking. We used the BGB for all of the above mentioned games.

BRP is perfect for me, with the addition of a scaling mechanic for damage. Once I added that, I can play seamlessly any setting from Redwall to Robotech.

-STS

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The main reason the mechanics in BRP are so utterly, impossibly, and powerfully versatile is the fact that you can easily create or use rules to expand it into any type of game,

while the game remains internally consistent.

This is why it works.

I fully do agree with that! BRP, with its simple percentage system, makes everything so easy to understand and chance of success are so intuitive that it is simple to change a rule without unbalancing the odds. When you want to modify something, you can immediately evaluate the repercussions on the game.

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As the title says, what is BRP really good at?

Getting out of the way. It's there when you need it and it hides when you don't.

It has a solid intuitive skeleton to hang the flesh of the game on. It's modular, so you can adjust powers to fit the needs of whatever sort of campaign you are running.

It's praised for doing 'gritty' but I prefer to use it to run 'high powered' or 'heroic' games. In my Elric! games the heros could wade through a sea of rabble before coming up against opponents who were terrifying. Combats that took hours in D&D took half an hour in BRP.

70/420

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To expand a bit on my previous comments...

BRP does an OK job of character creation: simple, quick and easy to understand if somewhat vanilla characters.

BRP does excellent an job of making the game flow fast with the quick task resolution, simple opposed rolls, easy to use modifiers for combat and equipment. It is simple and elegant.

I agree with Chaot about how BRP is there when you need it as a GM or player, and hides itself when you don't need it when running a good story.

What I have recently found myself doing is making characters in other systems (Traveller, Star Trek, Star Wars, various D20 games, D&D, Rifts, Robotech, Heroes Unlimited, old Marvel Super Heroes, and old World of Darkness) to make sure the flavor of the setting is present, converting the characters to BRP and running it that way. It works remarkably well so far.

The changes I have made are a scaling mechanic for attributes and damage since I like my scales to run linearly, even if I do get really big numbers.

-STS

Edited by sladethesniper
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  • 3 months later...

I'm going to answer the question on a more abstract level. There's an approach to play that most people would find some variation of in the core of many RPGs. It goes something like this:

1 - GM describes a situation that either requires or invites the characters to respond.

2 - Players describe the actions and words of those characters in response to the situation

3 - GM (primarily) applies the rules system as needed to resolve those described actions.

4 - GM describes new situation that results from their described actions.

5 - Go to step 2.

It's an ongoing cycle of description and resolution. A system works great for this type of play when the resolution system keeps pointing you back at the description. A system works poorly for this type of play when the resolution systems keeps pointing you to further resolution system elements and takes a long time to get back to the description.

BRP is the kind of system that keeps pointing you back to the description. The percentile system is intuitive and even the more complex options for combat keep pointing back to description elements rather than rules subsystems.

I hope that made sense.

Edited by NathanIW
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I'm going to answer the question on a more abstract level. There's an approach to play that most people would find some variation of in the core of many RPGs. It goes something like this:

1 - GM describes a situation that either requires or invites the characters to respond.

2 - Players describe the actions and words of those characters in response to the situation

3 - GM (primarily) applies the rules system as needed to resolve those described actions.

4 - GM describes new situation that results from their described actions.

5 - Go to step 2.

It's an ongoing cycle of description and resolution. A system works great for this type of play when the resolution system keeps pointing you back at the description. A system works poorly for this type of play when the resolution systems keeps pointing you to further resolution system elements and takes a long time to get back to the description.

BRP is the kind of system that keeps pointing you back to the description. The percentile system is intuitive and even the more complex options for combat keep pointing back to description elements rather than rules subsystems.

I hope that made sense.

That's a really good way of putting it, and helps me better understand why my BRP games when I run them just feel smoother and more "involved" than other games I run. Seriously....I don't get to run it often, but every single game I do run for BRP is a fantastic experience, very down in the dirt and detailed, where little details can matter a great deal. That just doesn't happen with certain other game systems that shall remain nameless (but obvious).

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There are definitely players out there that enjoy making decisions based on system elements, but even their preferences will only go so far when the system produces results that require further system based decisions which produce more system based decisions and so on. At some level, it's always good when the whole resolution process gets back to the point: the description of what's going on.

I'm a big miniature wargaming fan, but I've grown away from using maps and miniatures with RPGs. I find they replace description too much. I much prefer sketch maps to get people on the same page when needed and then back to describing rather than moving a playing piece.

I'm confident that if you bolted on a miniature framework to BRP it would work quite well, but one of it's strengths, as is, is that it works so very well without one. As the resolution system is based on resolving what the characters do when the players say they do it.

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Nathan,

I second your opinion about minis and RPGs...I too love minis and wargames, but despise them immensely in RPGs.

I'm split on it as I love miniatures so much and have been enjoying the miniature wargaming rules that take RPG elements and add them back into miniatures. It's probably best to take a miniature game and drift it in an RPG direction than to add miniature elements to an RPG to the point the characters become board game pawns.

Also, the link in your signature doesn't seem to be working.

To bring this back around to the initial post who was more interested in genre and categories than abstract approaches to play or on what level participants make decisions, I'd say that BRP is strong for most genres except when the goal becomes creating fiction in play. Any stories that arise from play will do so naturally and forcing genre stories out of play won't be well supported by BRP. So BRP will work well for any genre expectation where the types of things the characters are, what they do and what they interact with are enough to scratch the itch whereas it will do poorly for any genre where the expectation is more related to story structure or plot. Well, unless the GM/Keeper/Referee is willing to railroad things through, but then that's working despite the system rather than because of it.

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My love with BRP is that I can easily use it in any background. As others have done I write/make characters in other systems and then convert them to keep flavour, mainly Traveller. Some of the guys I regularly run games for have played many RPGs the others are miniature gamers. Having got the guys into the BRP system when I ran a homebrewed WH40K 'Only War' type series of games I can now switch game types but easily use the same rules that they are all familiar with. In my games i have used elements from CoC, RQ, BGB and OQ and my group love it. So far I have used the system for 40K ropleplay, Steampunk, Pulp, Horror and Modern.

I prefer to use miniatures but only on sketch maps, we use a large whiteboard and pens, and these are not always to scale just as tokens to keep a track of positions and ranges for combat.

My only gripe is a lack of vehicle/eqipment design system. I tend to design things in FF&S if able, (I tried GURPS but the crunch aiee the crunch), and convert. Mainly to deduce speeds and ranges etc to keep my narrative consistent.

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Historical is one of the main areas I'm interested in, since I'm quite the history buff. And yes, BRP Rome is on my buying list; just waiting for the next paycheck (it helps I'm re-reading the Masters of Rome series now, naturally).

BRP Rome is fantastic - get it in asap, I haven't used it et but I have found it to be one of my favourite purchases to date, though it's probably worth knowing that there is not a great deal in it about Imperial Rome if that's what you were after - it's almost wholly centred on the era of the Republic with a brief bit at the beginning discussing the kings just prior to the period. It is chock full of great info and is an entertaining read in and of itself.

As to OP, while I am certain there are genre's that could be done better with specific systems, I have never found anything that BRP was truly awful at running - and that's it's greatest strength - it's an amazing toolbox for running more or less anything you can throw at it - without doubt it's my go to system for any home made adventures/campaigns/game ideas that aren't system specific. Which more or less means it's been the only thing I've used in a long time (3 years I think) apart from Shadowrun, Paranoia and All flesh must be eaten.

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