Basic Roleplaying System

Basic Roleplaying System

The Basic Roleplaying System (usually shortened to BRP) is a roleplaying game made by Chaosium. It originated with Runequest and is most commonly known as the system behind Call of Cthulhu, having grown out of the two to become a Generic system of its own. Despite the name it is anything but Basic in terms of the metric shitton of optional rules available. It is not however as much of a clusterfuck choice-wise as the other generic universal role playing system. If D&D, and GURPS are the jocks of the neckbeard world, BRP is the weird kid nobody really knows. Its not popular, but it has a good amount of extra books if your into that sort of thing, though you can play pretty much any kind of setting with just the corebook.

The System

The system is a roll under, percentile (d100) system. Players start by rolling 3d6 to determine base attributes; Size, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Power, and Appearance (Though Appearance is rarely used and can be the dump stat. Expect a world full of fuck-ugly characters that look like Sloth from Goonies). They then choose their skills by selecting a Profession (read: class, but with no real restrictions) which are basically skill templates, and then throwing points into non-profession skills randomly. Expect people to spend 30-45 minutes explaining why their Ranger needs 'Art' and 'Appraisal'.

BRP is a class-less (Except for the Professions) and level-less system. In place of levels, players make 'experience checks' on skills they've used at the end of a session, and if they roll above the skill number, they get to increase it marginally.

Combat

Combat can be a nightmare depending on which system you choose to use (There are a few). Each round in combat is 12 seconds.

The first method (And easiest for anyone coming out of D&D

Players roll a d10 for initiative, and add their DEX rank and move in this order. Each round you reroll for the new turn order. This is simple. Use this method.

The second method (or Whos Fucking Turn Is It Now?)

Players have Strike Ranks which start equal to their DEX. Players can act on their DEX, and on each rank 5 points lower than their DEX. So someone with a DEX of 16 gets to take an action on 16, 11, and 6 (Nobody moves on 1, for some reason). This can lead to players taking two or three turns before anyone else, and anyone with a high DEX generally dominates combat. The Strike Rank system can be good if you have focused and attentive players, otherwise it becomes a endless parade of roll-offs for second turns when players share a strike rank, and people complaining they haven't even gotten to draw their fucking weapon yet.

Magic is generic spells, each as their own skill that cost power points (PP) which is how many DEX ranks it takes to cast. Simple shit really.

Other Stuff

Chaosium released a free pdf of BRP-lite which is good enough for one-off games or small campaigns. Grab it here. Their forums[1] are generally filled with decent, helpful people and it has a downloads section with a shitload of houserules and fan settings in various stages of completion, like XCOM, Lord of the Rings, Fire & Sword (Like Mount & Blade) and Halo[2]

Check out the RISK system[3], houserules for modern firearms on the forums, if you like simulationist, crunch-heavy and realistic gun combat. Eventually Fatal[4] (No, not that FATAL) is a set of alternate rules for wounds and bleeding out that replace hitpoints and combine really well to make a gritty modern game.