07 December 2015

Entropic News

the beloved BGB
A few weeks ago, I asked, somewhat rhetorically and jokingly: Is D100 Dead?, because of the news from early this autumn that Chaosium would be scrapping the 2008 incarnation of the Basic Role-Playing system, fondly known amongst aficionados of the BRP system as the “Big Gold Book” (BGB), and the only one currently available.

[Yes I know about OpenQuest and Legend.]

Well, it now seems we're soon going to experience quite the opposite of the death of the D100, i.e., a plethora of D100-based systems! For those of you who do not follow G+, the gaming forums, etc., here are the latest news:

  • The BGB will indeed be scrapped, and replaced with a new generic product called BRP Essentials, itself based on the classic RQ2 rules and “incorporating 30 years of progress”.
  • The Design Mechanism isn't working on the new Gloranthan version of RuneQuest any longer (see announcement here); as a result, RuneQuest 6 will continue under a new name.
  • Alephtar Games' Revolution D100 has successfully funded.

It hence appears that we will soon have three simultaneously in-print D100-based engines: BRP Essentials, the as-yet-unnamed generic D100 system by The Design Mechanism, and Revolution D100 by Alephtar Games.

These are the generic D100-based role-playing games; I'm not even mentioning that there are going to be two in-print Gloranthan D100-based FRPs in 2016: RuneQuest Classic and the “new” RuneQuest! An embarrassment of riches...

3 comments:

  1. I am not that thrilled. This is really a splitting of the fan base, which I see nobdoy benefiting from. The last few years we have seen so many RQ versions I no longer care...

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  2. Well, the news have been quite contradictory since the summer (hence the title Entropic News). I can read both good and bad reactions on the various forums and blogs... My position is rather a cautious Wait And See. Chaosium/Moon Design have been quite harsh to other companies (Alephtar Games, The Design Mechanism) but their latest products rock. Also having Sandy and Ken back in the driving seat for the next version of RuneQuest is a positive piece of news.

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  3. I'm also hoping for the best. Does that mean we are fanboys? :-/

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