Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine

Basic Roleplaying, or BRP, is a generic, universal system for tabletop roleplaying games used primarily by the publisher Chaosium for its flagship games, most notably Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest. At its core, Basic Roleplaying is a skill-based percentile system, meaning players roll a d100, trying to roll under their skill level, which is rated from 0-100%, depending on how skilled the character is in a given area. Characters in BRP have seven stats: Strength, Constitution, Size, Intelligence, Dexterity, Power, and Appearance. They have several other characteristics derived from these, but more importantly, they have skills. What skills are available depend on the setting and theme of the campaign (you might see Library Use and Psychotherapy in Call of Cthulhu, for example, or Energy Weapon and Astronomy in a sci-fi game). These skills have ratings that determine how likely the character is to succeed at the average task in that field, expressed as a percentage. When players roll to use a skill, they roll two d10s to simulate a 100-sided die and aim to roll below their skill level. For a particularly difficult challenge, they might need to roll below half their skill level. Generally, lower rolls are better in BRP! Some versions of BRP also allow players to "push" failed rolls to try again, with the caveat that consequences will be worse if they fail a second time. Characters can occasionally improve their skills by using them, but higher skills are more difficult to raise than lower ones. A campaign can strike a more realistic tone with skill levels generally under 70-80%, or a heroic or even superheroic tone with skill levels up to 100% and above. There are also optional modules for magic and the occult. BRP is probably best known in Call of Cthulhu, Chaosium's most popular tabletop RPG, but it's been used in fantasy, science fiction, and superhero games as well.

Popular RPGs using Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine

Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu is a horror TTRPG that has 3-5 investigators go from normal, everyday people to firsthand combatants of the horrors of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Fans of Locke and Key, Lovecraft Country, and Stranger Things, will love Call of Cthulhu. Everything from the space-traveling Byakhee, to the towering monstrosities known as the Great Race of Yith can be encountered in the tales the Keeper spins. Whether it is reality-bending gods or violent cultists enacting dark rituals; no matter the case: it’s up to the Investigators to stop these horrors and come out of it alive... If they are lucky.

Delta Green

Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green opposes the forces of darkness with honor but without glory. Delta Green agents fight to save humanity from unnatural horrors—often at a shattering personal cost. In Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game, the players are those agents. They fight to keep terrors from beyond space and time from infecting the world and claiming human lives and sanity. The Handler is the game moderator who creates and interprets their world, presents the unnatural horror that they investigate, and describes the awful aftermath of their sacrifices.

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