Quote from: Arminius;834937Otherwise BRP is basically just a system for Cthulhu-heads who don't feel like learning something else to play a different genre.

Well, the original version of BRP was RuneQuest, and the current version of RuneQuest (RQ6) has many of the same core elements as its ancestors.  Anyone familiar with BRP will be familiar with the main elements of RQ6.  Likewise the Legend, OpenQuest, and Renaissance systems.  So 'BRP', broadly understood as those 'd100' games descended from RQ1, is a bit bigger than simply Chaosium's products.

There also is Pendragon, which I believe is still in print.

(Also, there is the Laundry RPG, but given the subject-matter, it clearly is within the 'Cthulhu family'.)

Quote from: Akrasia;834882System-wise, CoC always has been pretty 'basic'.

Ba-dump-Ching!

As a BRP fan, in all its non-CoC incarnations, it just doesn't need much in terms of new products. It's out there, in a variety of flavors. Sure, Magic World could have been handled better, and some supplements have been underwhelming, but there are truly magnificent ones too (Taskan Empire, Rome, Mythic Iceland, anything by TDM, etc.)

Frankly there isn't anything the publisher can do that will cause BRP to surge to a position to contend with Pathfinder or Shadowrun. Those that like it, are happily playing it, and in the last few years they have largely got (or rather, collectively produced, as a community) all the tools they need.

Quote from: Akrasia;834948Well, the original version of BRP was RuneQuest, and the current version of RuneQuest (RQ6) has many of the same core elements as its ancestors.  Anyone familiar with BRP will be familiar with the main elements of RQ6.  Likewise the Legend, OpenQuest, and Renaissance systems.  So 'BRP', broadly understood as those 'd100' games descended from RQ1, is a bit bigger than simply Chaosium's products.

That's exactly the problem--is BRP as a Chaosium product helped or hindered by the fact that it's in the same pool as RQ, Legend, OQ, etc.? I'm afraid it's been weakened, and that in turn may not even be a good thing for d100 as a whole. Sure, RQ has always been the most elaborate version, but now RQ6 is eating up the other juicy fantasy settings including Moorcock's stuff, Age of Treason (yeah, I know it was never BRP proper), and Chronicles of Future Earth.

If someone isn't into Cthulhu, what other introductory "killer app" does BRP offer? (My answer would be to go over Magic World, produce a setting book for the Southern Reaches that punches up its unique qualities and de-genericizes some of its elements--it's fine to keep elves and dwarves, but make them less Tolkien-derivative-cute and more fae--and offers a wealth of play-worthy material in OSR style. Then produce additional adventures that can be used in the setting or modularly with homebrew campaigns, plus maybe some Harn-like close-focus books on one or two major settlements. With the right artwork and approach, by embodying an S&S ethos in Northern European garb, it could appeal to GoT fans without being an overt clone.)

QuoteThere also is Pendragon, which I believe is still in print.

The most idiosyncratic iteration of the system, although maybe it should be applied more widely to other genres instead of trying to use BRP to compete with RQ.

Quote(Also, there is the Laundry RPG, but given the subject-matter, it clearly is within the 'Cthulhu family'.)

Yup.

EDIT: Another idea would be to get Mark Smylie to let the Chaosium have a crack at adapting Artesia, maybe customizing BRP with some of the concepts from the existing game (without overburdening BRP).

Quote from: Brad;834918The same could be said of D&D, T&T, Traveller, etc. I'm of the opinion that a lot of the older rules-sets cannot be improved upon in a meaningful way without creating a whole new game. New games are great, I love new games. But, they're not a replacement for the old games whatsoever. Fact: Blackjack is older than the hills and wildly popular. Hold 'Em is new and wildly popular. Both are fun to play. Why do a lot of gamers seem to hold the opinion that tacking on new rules to CoC somehow makes it a better game?

So, yeah, I agree...leave BRP alone and make up some new shit. There's certainly a market for newer games, but of course, it's easier to sell it as CoC so that's probably the reason.

I disagree.  Almost anything can be improved on, made better, smoother, otherwise we wouldn't have have 60 frame per second graphics, cars that use less fuel and so on.

RPGs are no different, and I'd argue that every iteration of D&D has tried to change parts of itself to make itself better.  Except for 5th edition, which in my opinion is mostly a step back.

The issue I have with Chaosium and BRP is that they don't try to make themselves better, they just keep pumping retreads of the same thing.

Hell, even Exalted originally tried to improve...  Then they let the asylum run itself, but there's a thread for that already.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;834962RPGs are no different, and I'd argue that every iteration of D&D has tried to change parts of itself to make itself better.  Except for 5th edition, which in my opinion is mostly a step back.

You might want to examine whether by making a special case of 5th edition, you're privileging a personal opinion in a manner that undermines the notion that "anything can be improved upon", indeed highlights the difficulty of idea of "improving" things that are largely judged on aesthetic criteria, unlike cars.

True, cars have their aesthetic qualities but I notice you talk about fuel consumption, not say the relative beauty of a 1962 E-Type vs. a Prius V.

I've been satisfied with what I've been seeing out of the 7E Kickstarter so far - it's run overdue, true, but there's been a steady trickle of the promised products coming out and and it seemed like there was steady progress on getting the printed books sorted. That said, if Sandy is going to put that process into high gear then so much the better.

Quote from: Arminius;834961now RQ6 is eating up the other juicy fantasy settings including Moorcocks stuff

News to me.

Chronicles of Future Earth is a Mindjammer Press publication using the RQ Gateway license, but isn't a Design Mechanism book. We have no plans to license any Eternal Champion titles either, although Mark Smylie and I have had some brief discussions about Artesia.

Quote from: Loz;834989... although Mark Smylie and I have had some brief discussions about Artesia.

:cool:

Quote from: Christopher Brady;834962I disagree.  Almost anything can be improved on, made better, smoother, otherwise we wouldn't have have 60 frame per second graphics, cars that use less fuel and so on.

Nahh...

Quote from: Loz;834989News to me.

Oh dear, sorry about that, my bad. I was mixing up the move of stuff from Chaosium (to Mongoose) with the later move of stuff to RQ6 (from Chaosium & Mongoose). My overall point was that Chaosium's non-CoC offerings under BRP just don't strike me as likely to pull in new players.

Quote from: Loz;834989...although Mark Smylie and I have had some brief discussions about Artesia.

Very cool.

Also, if the option to do an RPG about Robotika is on the table, I would be quite interested in that.

Heeeyyy, Jason D.... I wonder if this news moves Interplanetary any closer towards the likelihood of being an actual thing?

Quote from: Loz;834989

Quote from: Arminius;834961RQ6 is eating up the other juicy fantasy settings including Moorcock's stuff.

News to me.

Although Moorcock does like Luther Arkwright!

Quote from: Christopher Brady;834850Chaosium has always been the Call of Cthulu company to me.  Ergo, not all that interesting, in fact, despite their 'claim' of being a boutique/artistic RPG company, they've effectively made the same pair of gaming 'jeans' for the past 40 years.  Is that what gamers want?  The same old stuff with no growth, no innovation, no actual thought into the product?

I don't get it.

You don't get it because your understanding of the company isn't accurate, it's not true that CoC has always been the sole company focus. Chaosium is known for Call of Cthulhu because it was a huge success at the time, and it was the most successful property they had left after the split. Through the 80s their publishing output was much more diverse and people who have been around that long, and interested enough, know them for that. Chaosium stuck to CoC because (I'm supposing) it has enabled the company to survive for 20 years.