Basic Roleplaying (BRP) is Chaosium's generic house TTRPG system, on which most of their percentile/D100 games are based. It has a long history and many variants. Some of the TTRPG world's richest world building, settings, and games have come from or are related to BRP.

These reviews, initially focused on BRP monographs, are an homage to the incredibly creative people involved in BRP gaming.

Chaosium retired its monograph series in 2022.

Monograph Imprints

Chaosium monographs were published under different imprints, depending on the system and sometimes the era they're intended for.

BRP Monographs

BRP monographs are adaptations and/or expansions of BRP rules, with a specific setting or settings in mind. BRP monographs are usually sourcebooks; they provide settings, adventures, and new rules (and spells, powers, etc.), but still require the main BRP rulebook.

BRP monograph covers usually include the monograph imprint which shows the BRP Vitruvian Man (featured prominently on the cover of the Big Gold Book, as the main BRP ruleset is often called), a BRP monograph number, and a statement describing BRP monographs.

Some BRP monographs have second lives, being republished by the authors or by subsequent licensees. Some of these are explicitly repurposed for other systems (generally D100 BRP relatives).

BRP Games

BRP games are kind of like BRP monographs. However, they're not labeled as such, and their covers do not show a monograph imprint.

Like BRP monographs they provide settings, adventures and new rules, and require the main BRP rulebook. They're sometimes called supplements, sourcebooks, or adventure packs. Many were published by Alephtar Games.

I assume that BRP games are/were not published as monographs because they were more commercially focused and often produced by a game publisher (e.g., Alephtar) rather than a single author.

BRP Rulebooks

These are official BRP publications.

BRP Relatives

These are games or game systems that have BRP ancestry or lineage, which they may or may not acknowledge.

 

The reviews on this site are Copyright © 2022 Robert Prince unless otherwise noted.

BRP (Basic Roleplaying) is Chaosium's D100 house system, on which many of their games are based. Please refer to their trademark and copyright information for information on trademarks and copyright for BRP, Call of Cthulhu, and any other referenced Chaosium property.