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Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine

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Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine

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Chaosium

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$24.99

Create. Explore. Play.

Basic Roleplaying (BRP) is a system of core rules for tabletop roleplaying. Whether you’re a seasoned roleplaying veteran or new to the hobby, Basic Roleplaying has everything you need for years of entertainment.

Female Vitruvian Warrior

"A definitive update of a definitive game system... one of the simplest, most flexible, most customizable engines in the tabletop gaming business."
— Andrew Logan Montgomery, Exploring the Otherworlds of Fiction, Magic, and Gaming.

"Sleeker and more beautiful while maintaining all of the best components of the original. Designing products for it should be a snap!"
— RPG Imaginings.

"Chaosium has put their best foot forward ... providing a familiar and well-regarded mechanical platform for a whole new swathe of game design talent."
— Cannibal Halfling Gaming.

"I've learned so much from this book... a must buy for game designers."
— J-M, Iconic Productions.

"BRP is in a perfect place for creators and GMs who want a stable mechanics for their own creations… I can’t wait to start creating with it."
— Never Mind the Dice Rolls

What's Inside

Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine is the complete guide to BRP—the same system that powers Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Rivers of London, and countless others.

BRP’s Universal Engine is available royalty-free for personal and commercial use under the ORC license. Use these rules, and focus on creating your worlds, scenarios and even books to sell!

This book contains the core system rules, as well as character creation, advancement, monsters and antagonists, as well as GameMaster advice.

A Seamless Core Mechanic

In BRP, success and failure are always determined by the roll of a D100. Comparing that roll to the relevant Skill, Characteristic, Ability, or Power, you succeed if you roll under the target number.

This means every stat on your character sheet clearly indicates to you the likelihood of success.

An uneven arm wrestling contest with the better person drinking while playing

Natural Character Growth

Characters in a BRP game evolve based on what they do in-game. If you fire a gun, that skill may increase.

If you want your character to learn magic, get better at driving cars, lassoing horses, or even repairing a spaceship, then your character will do so by using those skills!

A Bear Shaman with a Torch

Deadly & Tactical Combat

A pair of gun-toting men shooting in the snow

The core BRP rules present easy-to-learn and equally easy-to-teach combat mechanics that allow players to react to attacks—you don’t just have to wait for your turn in order to have an impact on combat!

Conflict in BRP can be deadly, and every roll (attacking, fighting back, dodging or otherwise) is integral. This makes for a thrilling, high-octane experience with a system that does not slowdown the overall flow of play.

A bloody bare-fisted boxer who is still willing to continue the fight

Build The Game You Want

A two-katana wielding warrior leaping out at some terrified opponents

With mechanics for magic, psychic powers, mutations, superpowers, weapons, equipment, and vehicles applicable to any setting and genre, Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine is adaptable to any world of your choosing—either previously established, or created from scratch.

A barbarian warrior in the far north

Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased

Reviews (4)

Discussions (29)

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Michael O June 02, 2023 12:32 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

We've just added a new BRP Handouts Pack and Character Creation chart to the downloadable files:

– The 21 page Handouts Pack booklet contains helpful tables and references for GMs and players alike.
– The Character Creation chart is tabloid-sized (17" x 11") and outlines the ten steps to create a Basic Roleplaying character.

James W May 30, 2023 2:19 pm UTC

I am sad to see that the resistance table is alive and well. I was hoping for a generic version of the system used in Call of Cthulhu 7e which removes the need for the resistance table altogether. If this BRP had removed the resistance table, it would be nearly be THE perfect universal system. I would pick it up in a heart beat. Maybe in 10 more years we will finally see that.....

Darren L May 23, 2023 7:03 am UTC

Will Chaosium come out with a soft cover of this updated version?

Rory H May 23, 2023 10:18 am UTC

They will be releasing a hardback soon - if it is anything like their recent releases. Not sure about softcover.

Michael O May 28, 2023 4:10 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

The physical book will be a hard cover. There is no soft cover planned.

Colton L May 22, 2023 2:44 pm UTC

Haven't played a Chaosium game yet but is this the book I need to play call of Cthulhu 7th edition?

Florian R May 23, 2023 4:32 am UTC

For CoC 7 you need „Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition - Keeper's Rulebook“ and maybe the „Call of Cthulhu Investigator Handbook 7th Edition“. There is also a starter set

Michael O May 17, 2023 3:28 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

The PDF has been updated with all current corrections. It is V1.02.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback!

Py R May 18, 2023 7:56 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Is this latest version the final version that is going to print? Or will there be further errata and iterations?

Michael O May 19, 2023 6:18 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Very likely; the book will be going to print very soon.

Py R May 20, 2023 4:18 am UTC

PURCHASER

Understood. In that case I won't provide any more feedback. There are still a number of errors remaining in the current version (those that were already pointed out on the BRP forums and many that were not). I hope that those get ironed out at least.

Michael O May 20, 2023 11:48 am UTC

PUBLISHER

If you identify typos or errors in the most recent version of the PDF, we'd appreciate you noting them in the thread at BRP Central. We will review, and update the PDF and any printings of the book to come as needed.
https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/18748-basic-roleplaying-universal-game-engine-2023-corrections-thread

Michael O May 14, 2023 3:13 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

Please note, we have updated the downloads for Basic Roleplaying Universal Game Engine with a new BRP character sheet that includes hit locations. There is a blank version and a fillable version.

Jason M May 11, 2023 1:31 am UTC

I absolutely love that I can make underwater stuff with this. Good ruleset. I'm tinglin'

P F May 08, 2023 11:31 pm UTC

Is this anything more than a shinier imprint of the rules with flashier layout and graphics? I don't fundamentally object to having nice looking roleplaying books, but they inevitably end up costing a lot more.

Michael O May 14, 2023 3:15 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

"Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine—7 changes in the new edition" - https://www.chaosium.com/blogbasic-roleplaying-universal-game-engine7-changes-in-the-new-edition

Gareth J May 02, 2023 3:31 pm UTC

I have owned multiple editions of BRP, from when it came with first edition Call of Cthulhu and other games as a small stapled pamphlet in the early 1980s, to a couple of more recent editions over the years. I have always liked the system - my problem has always been that it doesn't really have an application that has not already been explored. Runequest and CoC (and more recently RoL) all use it to spectacular effect, but I don't see a reason to transpose it onto a fantasy or sci-fi setting (for example). A bit similar to Ultramodern - I bought it in order to transpose Traveller campaigns to a d20 setting but then realized that the standard d6 Traveller rules work so well that there is no need.

I think BRP will be great for a homebrew campaign set anywhere in any era, but I simply don't have the time anymore to be able to make that kind of committment. The system is excellent and flexible, but its default applications have already been fully addressed in Chaosium's wonderful stable of established...See more

Rory H May 02, 2023 6:31 pm UTC

Chaosium do have a lot of good titles although some of them are not in print. One thing you can do with BRP is create superheroes and have a multiverse spanning campaign - which is what I am mainly thinking of using it for.

Gareth J May 02, 2023 11:47 pm UTC

Agreed - Worlds of Wonder tried this but never really caught on. I browsed the Chaosium ad in White Dwarf (maybe #28 or 30?) back in 198(2?) and almost bought it, but they had another new game that looked intriguing - Call of Cthulhu. Needless to say I bought that one instead, and still have the original copy. :)

Pauli K April 30, 2023 2:46 pm UTC

Looking forward to a POD of this one!

Soon, i hope!

Michael O May 01, 2023 2:21 am UTC

PUBLISHER

A print edition will be available later in 2023.

Alain F April 29, 2023 4:01 am UTC

Not worth it...

Christopher K April 24, 2023 4:13 pm UTC

PURCHASER

I just wanted to add a few extra points given the comments here and the official forums. Not trying to be any more provocative if I can avoid it, and this is clarifying my review rather than adding to it.
1. I never said it was a new edition, but Chaosium had a golden opportunity to make a new and better edition of the game. They didn't. Rather, they continue to embrace old rules and "bad" mechanics. This is a love letter to old fans, but it's a poor opening for newcomers, and I said as much.
2. Rivers of London is, arguably, the best version of BRP for *newcomers* to BRP. If you're new, start there. Graduate up to this book if you believe the rules need more heft or crunch. The rules in RoL can be used for other things, and if you think you need more, then come here. Really, don't *start* your BRP experience with this book.
3. I can tell you from experience that it's much easier to start simply and build up with optional rules than to try and make optional rules to make a game less...See more

Rory H April 24, 2023 6:20 pm UTC

The first 3 points are purely your own opinion, as is point 5. Some people prefer the rules in BRP to those provided in Rivers of London, would you believe? How you can qualify one set of rules as ‘bad’, in a Word of God manner, is beyond me. They aren’t ‘bad’ rules. They are classic, popular and they work.

Point 4 is addressed by the fact that they release the PDF early, in all their publications, in order to garner errata from the public and make corrections before they release the physical copy. They are currently doing so, and they have already had one update so far. If you have some specific typos in mind, let Chaosium know.

I don’t think we need any further clarifications from you. It was clear enough the first time - just not everybody agrees with you.

Christopher K April 24, 2023 8:47 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Everything about how people feel about a game is a subjective opinion. Some people may indeed prefer BRP to RoL, while others do not. I am not one of them. But that doesn't make me, or others who feel the same, wrong. Our preferences simply don't match your own. I put "bad" in quotes because some people, such as yourself, may feel the rules aren't bad at all, and I even said the game was written for the old fans who will always love them. But that doesn't mean people who don't like them are wrong in that belief.
The rules are classic, this is a fact. But I feel that is part of the problem, and I called out the mechanics I believe should evolve into something better. Of course, that's an opinion. Just as it is your opinion is that there's nothing wrong with them. They work. For you. For some others. But they also won't work for others, and they will never be for everyone.
The point of a review is to share a view and an opinion on what someone likes or dislikes. Some drill down to specifics,...See more

Rory H April 24, 2023 9:43 pm UTC

You are wrong in your last point about myself always disagreeing with critics of BRP but I feel that the angle of expectation you are coming from isn’t particularly empathetic to others.

Rivers of London has only literally just come out and the system used in that game is deliberately bespoke to it. To expect a game system with more than 40 years of history, influence and an accumulated fanbase to radically shift and jettison everything in favour of it makes little sense. Old rules are not ‘bad’ rules if they have been tried and tested over time and people continue to like and use them.

But, yes, you are able to express your opinion as is anybody else on the matter.

David G April 26, 2023 12:09 am UTC

Your review states that you had a copy of Rivers of London and you went in to this book "hoping to build RoL out of it". That is a very idiosyncratic expectation. I think all your points are similarly valid for you, but you should have the self-awareness to realise that not everyone is coming from the same place. I'm aware that this is mainly a cosmetic update of the old BGB, so I'm not disappointed in any way by it (except concerns about the legibility of some font choices that others have mentioned).

Christopher K April 27, 2023 4:54 am UTC

PURCHASER

What I was saying was that I should be able to build on the easier mechanics of RoL as a baseline and build up from there. It would be so much more newcomer friendly. But the base as written is too crunchy and doesn’t offer any suggestions or methods for making the game easier up front. Rather it starts crunchy and can only get more crunchy rather than less. That’s one of my biggest problems with it. What’s wrong with asking for less crunch up front? Directing people to RoL isn’t taking money out of Chaosium’s pocket. And if they do end up getting this later, I’m not sure it’s an issue. But if you like it, cool! This book was always written for and to impress the old fans. I just don’t think it’s going to impress or attract new players that easily. Some of the old mechanics are just going to be a huge issue for some types of players. I’m not saying that to insult anyone, but some of the mechanics have not aged well. I honestly think that this really isn’t for new players in its current state...See more

Rory H April 27, 2023 8:00 am UTC

There are others (plenty of others) who think the mechanics have aged perfectly well, and the use of the word ‘classic’ is well attributed. You keep on ascribing your own perspective as being universally held. I’d be perfectly happy to introduce new players to BRP, and have doubt the’d enjoy their elegance as others do.

Rory H May 02, 2023 11:24 pm UTC

You continue to attack with this current post. If you cannot acknowledge where you have chosen to personalise this discourse, then the rest has little merit.

Kenneth C May 24, 2023 6:27 pm UTC

"But they also won't work for others, and they will never be for everyone." - Chrisopher K

The same can be said for ANY roleplaying rule set - any game, for that matter.
Having read your review, it seems that many of your problems with BRP is that it doesn't conform to what you imagine a 'modern' rule system should be. I think the flaw in your review approach is assuming that Chaosium is trying to make BRP a 'modern' rule system and failing. This is not a new edition - it's a rerelease of the existing edition with a few changes thrown in, so expecting a new edition might also have been part of your problem with it. In addition, you noted that BRP has many optional rules that make it more complicated. I completely disagree - having optional rules doesn't make a game more complicated. You can completely ignore optional rules, if you like, because they are, in fact, optional. I think the whole point of making them optional is to allow a group to pick and choose, so they completely control...See more

Rory H April 24, 2023 11:36 am UTC

There seems to be a concerted effort from a few people on this thread towards edition warring at the moment - not something normally associated with the usually friendly BRP family, but here we are. In an attempt to address some points:

1. This is the official new BRP book, based on the tried and true classic ruleset. It has historical significance, as the first generic roleplaying system, but has survived this long because it _works_. No need to redesign the wheel. Evolution not revolution. Radical changes would disenfranchise more fans than it would please and, regardless of anything else, it still has to all hang together on its own merits as a playable game. It does.

2. Different games using their own applications of BRP have naturally gone their own directions. The similarities in basic design means they can be converted to and from the core, nevertheless. The designers of Call of Cthulhu 7E went out of their way to make the game backwards compatible with older editions. The conversion...See more

Giulio T April 25, 2023 6:45 am UTC

There is no edition warning.
I guess as long term fans we can, or perhaps should, have opinions on business practices that we are not comfortable with.
I know we are in a era where free speech is not well taken.

Moreover, I feel many of the criticisms has been made in a polite way and with the underlying idea of improving the product.

Giulio T April 26, 2023 4:38 pm UTC

Providing any type of version numbering for the BRP would make things much easier.
As of now the userbase creates "customs" version "BGB", RQ2 BRP, CoC..., etc.

If the publisher does not clarify what is different from the previous publication, things becomes confusing very fast, don't you agree?
I am not the only one expressing the same sentiment.

Yes, in my previous post I have been direct in my wording.
But, truth is: if I buy the book, out of trust, just to discover it is not what I expected, generally I don't get a refund.

Giulio T April 26, 2023 9:35 pm UTC

You just feel entitled to rebuke everyone that express an opinion that is not aligned.
So much for not being interested...

Christopher K April 30, 2023 7:44 am UTC

PURCHASER

And? I'm not trying to prevent anyone from buying it and I have never said that people shouldn't post good reviews. I'm simply advising against buying it. I am aware of the other reviews, and I have no issues with them, both the 5-star ones and the other 2-star one. I have not said anything for or against those reviews. None of them have changed my opinion or feelings about things. As I told you before, if people agree with my review, that's fine. If they don't, that's also fine. I have my reasons for disliking it and I made them clear. You have yours for liking it and you have made them clear. The only "attack" I made was calling out your behavior as a troll when you decided to make it abundantly clear that you will absolutely lash out at people for having a negative impression. You compounded it by saying you had the absolute right to do so, and you even did it even after you stated you had no interest in an argument you created yourself. I will even say it again. Buy the book if you want to. Teach...See more

Rory H May 02, 2023 11:17 pm UTC

As already pointed out, you are entitled to express your view as others are if they disagree. You are making an argument when you express contentious views on a public forum that others are also able to post on. You, however, crossed the line by personalising an attack, which you still haven't acknowledged.

Giulio T April 24, 2023 6:41 am UTC

As a long time BRP fan, I found really not acceptable:
1. This confusion about system versions. Revisions. Editions. Create a damn official versioning to make things easier for your audience and customers.
2. Lack of info on what this "revision" brings. No. Is not acceptable looking at a half done obscure blog post on a website.
3. Publishing another BRP rulebook and keeping modern addition out "because they would not work". That is the purpose of a new edition. You should use a note: "Not compatible with CoC or whatever"
4. All that summed up, feels like a cheap tactic in having fan buying another book. I really don t expect such "missteps" from Chaosium.

Michael O April 26, 2023 4:29 am UTC

PUBLISHER

You can find "Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine—7 changes in the new edition" on the official Chaosium news blog at www.chaosium.com. It's by Jason Durall, principal author of both the new version and the BGB, so clearly he can speak authoritatively about the changes and the design decisions behind them.

A link to that post was also shared here at the time.

Markus K April 23, 2023 1:27 pm UTC

I purchased the pdf through the publisher's site, as I had intended to purchase the hardcover as well. That plan is off the table, however, as the choice of fonts and the size of the fonts make the book almost unreadable for me.
The content, in my opinion, was reviewed very well by Christpher K in his review here on April 17, 2023, and I concur.
Sad as it is: a clear do not buy recommendation.

Rory H April 24, 2023 2:34 am UTC

People can check out the size of the fonts on the Preview here.

I too bought the BRP book on the Chaosium site. People are entitled to their opinions. I do think it is strange that some seem to think that it should operate with the same system as Rivers of London however, rather than being what it is: an excellent update to a classic roleplaying system. Recommended.

Michael O April 26, 2023 4:38 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Font SIZ is the same as other recent Chaosium releases.

Christopher K April 27, 2023 2:38 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Just because you don’t have an issue with it doesn’t mean that others aren’t. You shouldn’t presume that just because you can read it, then others clearly can as well. If it wasn’t a problem, then people wouldn’t be saying there is. Indeed, even Chaosium acknowledged that there is an issue with this. I’m glad they took the issue seriously and are working on a solution to improve the reading experience for everyone.

Rory H May 02, 2023 11:19 pm UTC

The facts are that the font is the same size as other publications and the Preview allows people to see it for themselves. This is the only point Chaosium have acknowledged, themselves.

I haven't commented on other people's ability to read.

Christopher K May 03, 2023 5:51 am UTC

PURCHASER

The issues with the fonts and the tables were brought up directly on the Chaosium forums. On April 8, Jason D posted, "We're looking into replacing the font. It's not a small task, but will be done." The topic in question is "The age of the ORC begins: Chaosium to release a new edition of Basic Roleplaying in April using the Open RPG Creative License." A few people were mentioning issues with the font and the tables and Chaosium responded. You are welcome to look. The issues aren't necessarily due to the size, but the font choice itself. Sure, folks can see the preview, but again, it's not the best indicator. It's still an issue.

Rory H May 03, 2023 6:18 am UTC

This product was released on April 7 and last updated on April 13 where they expanded the Preview size. The comment above from the publisher was on April 26. Chaosium may have looked into the font issues on April 8, but evidently do not see this as a major issue.

As stated, people can see it on the Preview for themselves - and I cannot see how it is not a good indicator, as you can read the text directly as it is on whatever device you are looking at it with.

Rory H May 03, 2023 6:36 am UTC

And also, to be clear, the comments by Jason D appear to be referencing the font used in some tables - not in the general text of the book. Who knows, they may have been adjusted already?

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