BRP:2k3

[Gallowglass]

Originally posted by ninthcouncil:
There was actually a science fiction RPG called Other Suns from FGU many years ago, that bore a startling resemblance mechanics-wise to BRP. I seem to remember the dedications included some thanks to one of Chaosium's then staff, so perhaps the author had even OK'd it with them, though RQ and BRP were never mentioned explicitly. If not, I'm surprised Chaosium didn't issue a "cease and desist" to FGU, as the similarities were absolutely in-yer-face.

If you check the archives of the RQ Rules Mailing list somewhere you'll find that Steve Perrin discussed Other Suns late last year/early this year. Apparently it was originally offered to Chaosium as "RQ Rules in Space" but Chaosium and Niall Shapiro (the author) differed so much over the "furriness" and the rather baroque mathematics employed in places that they had a parting of the ways and Niall re-jigged some key things (such as the hit location chart) and licensed the manuscript to FGU.

The background wasn't up to much, though unlike most it didn't have humans as the main race, but as defeated and assimilated members of a multi-species empire (dominated by ... anthropomorphic foxes ). The general "furriness" of the aliens was a bit off-putting, though at the time I knew nothing of furries (oh, the innocence!).

I liked the L'Doran Hegemony, as far as it went. In particular, I liked the "earth is an irrelevant cinder, you are NOT the dominant species in the galaxy, live with it!", although keeping things balanced with a Bajoran (an anthropomorphic bear) in the party was tricky...

The starship design had some little issues as well. If I remember correctly, the damage caused by starship weaponry depended on the ratio between the "factor" of the attacking weapon and the "factor" of the defending screen. But most non-military starship designs had no screens, so as written, even the lightest of weaponry would do infinite damage to them...

Well, I quite liked the attitude that in this universe, without mil-tech fighting was a bad plan. But I mostly used the spacecraft systems and tech from Space Opera (scientific plausibility nil, playability 8 or 9 IMO) with the OS rules and setting.

The other SF rules set that was BRP derived was Futureworld, the SF third of Worlds of Wonder. No ships (just a Gate system) and it was very basic, but it had a neat section on personal EW systems and, being specifically design for BRP interchangeability, was excellent for doing high tech weapons in multiverse hopping Eternal Champion style-games. And I believe the Blake's Seven RPG has it's roots in BRP as well (although I have yet to fully read my copy of that...).

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

 

[Colin]

Can't say as the BRP rules ever really did much for me, but it's been a long time since I've even looked at them. I only remeber Other Suns from ads in Dragon magazine back in the day. Looked interesting.
I have run 2300 with the Cyberpunk rules, which worked quite well. Used Star Cruiser for ships, CP for everything else.

Later
Colin

 

[aramis]

Originally posted by Jame:
What precisely is BRP (pear with me, I never heard of a lot of this until I joined CotI...)?

Chaosium's Basic Role Playing, which is the core rules engine for most Chaosium games. It also was published as a book (thin and cheap) for those who wanted the Chaosium enginne without the stock settings.

It is a percetage based, "3d6" stat (even tho few stats are actually rolled that way), skill based engine. Character Generation varies by setting.

The BRP experience mechanic is the key: roll a skill check and fail to add 1d6-2 points to the skill. (So yes, you can drop!) To earn the check requires stress use and/or noteable success.

Only one chaosium game diverges notably: Pendragon, which is 1-20 based, rather than 1-100.

 

[TWILIGHT]

For those interested in BRP, I've uploaded my RQ/2300 (Bayern setting) character sheet, My deck plans/cutaway blueprints for the Bayern, and my 'chart of the near heavens' onto the non-canon 2300 yahoo group.
groups.yahoo.com/group/2300noncanon

"How do you get a small fortune in gaming? Start with a large one."

 

[TWILIGHT]

Hi,
Just thought people might like to see my RQ/Cthulhu colonial Marine template. I'm sure there may be disagreements over skills etc and i welcome constructive criticism and hope others add to this.

Marine, Colonial

 

[TWILIGHT]

Oops!
Marine, Colonial

Colonial Marines are the rapid reaction force of any major, and that means space-faring, colonial
power. They may not have the lustre of the Navy, the brute force of the Army, the cache of the Air
Force but they have a reputation as a 'can-do' contingent of a nations military power. Smaller yet
more agile than other parts of the military, the Colonial Marines have a fearsome reputation and
often small scale conflicts and insurrections can often be put down in a very short space of time.

RuneQuest (See note below)

Skills:
Thrust Aircraft, Ground Vehicle, Hover Vehicle, or Space Plane x2, Throw x2, First Aid x3,
Language (any) x3, Conceal x1, Astrogation, Comm., Gunner, Pilot, Remote, Sensors, or
Ships Drive x3, Awareness x3, Stealth x1, Climb x1, P-Suit x3, Native Language x5,
Unarmed Combat x3, Melee x2, Rifle x3, Handgun, SMG, Walker, or Heavy Weapons x2,
Any 2 skills as personal specialties.

Equipment:
Helmet (7 point protection), Ceramic Plate Body Armour (covers chest, groin and abdomen
8 points), Combat Knife (SR-3, 1d6 damage), Fatigues, Assault Rifle (or relevant kit from the
specializations e.g. Heavy Weapons= Type 81 storm gun for example), Lv6000.

This list of skills has been taken from my home-brew RQ system. Identical except for an inclusion of
VAL as a stat (generated on 3d6 usually and serves as a bravery score) and CUF (coolness under fire)
which is VAL x5. The players would roll against this number on 1d100 when faced with a shock
or against overwhelming odds etc.

Call of Cthulhu

Skills:
Pilot, Throw, First Aid, Other Language, Conceal, Astronomy, Computer Use, 'Gunner', Electronics,
Mechanics, Spot Hidden, Listen, Sneak, Climb, 'P-Suit', Native Language, Jump, Persuade,
Fist, Kick, Rifle, Handgun, SMG, 'Walker', or Machine Gun, Any 2 skills as personal specialties.

Equipment:
Helmet (7 point protection), Ceramic Plate Body Armour (covers chest, groin and abdomen
8 points), Combat Knife (1d6 damage), Fatigues, Assault Rifle (or relevant kit from the
specializations e.g. Heavy Weapons= Type 81 storm gun for example), Lv6000.

 

[Moebius]

I raise this thread from the grave with some news...

http://basicroleplaying.com/showthr...nversion-rules-for-Basic-Roleplaying-out-soon!

 

[Starflyer]

Best news of 2011 so far. I've had a hankering for BRP again and had been contemplating Chaosium's new Future earth book...........now that 2300 is on its way looks like I will have to give it a try for sure.

 

[Meteoric Assault]

BRP rocks

Runequest and Stormbringer are some of my favorite old school games. I never tought to apply it to traveller.

 

[DonM]

Actually, my current Pendragon campaign is about 3 years old. They seem to last longer than my Traveller campaigns. (sigh)

 

[Vile]

It's a very cool document, done in the style of the 2300AD book with a lot of the original art (he has permission from the artist). I'd forgotten about a lot of the neat ideas in the basic 2300AD rulebook over the years. I haven't looked at the weapons tables in detail yet - I'll be interested in how they compare to my BRP conversion of Striker! weapons.

 

[pansophy]

Again, raised from the grave

The 2300AD BRP book is out and so is the Mission Arcturus book. Although I cannot put in all the material of the original books, I am allowed to use smaller amounts of it. That means you get the necessary conversation rules and some extra fluff text

The Mission Arcturus book contains some new maps and an updated weapons table. As I can see there is a certain interest, so please let me know if it is to your taste and if you like to see more.

@Vile: thanks for the kind words. I think the weapons table is a bit different as you go with flat die damage and I try to keep some detailed differences for weapons with the same type. But what I can see so far, we both have the same estimation for them :-D

Here are the Links:
Mission Arcturus
2300AD to BRP Conversion

 

[Vile]

Right, I see what you're doing there. I've done something similar in games by giving particular models of weapons quirks (extra accuracy, longer range, lower reliability, etc.), but only when playing with gun freaks. Which happened a lot. My tables are what I consider baseline vanilla weapons, as Striker! didn't have the named weapons that 2300AD did.

Soo ... when's the ship conversion book coming out?

 

[pansophy]

Soo ... when's the ship conversion book coming out?

I was wondering when this question would come up. :-D Let me do the vehicle rules first But honestly, I am doing a neat star system creation thing at the moment, that is not directly related to 2300AD but to any hard Sci-Fi RPG.
Once that thing is out (it is more an excel sheet that creates realistic star data and planets), then I might get to the vehicle rules.

As for space combat, I prefer a fast system called Warcosm made by PIgames. It is fast and fun and 2300AD ships are easily converted to it.

cheers !