Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Promotions/Press
[Chaosium] 'Good old Burly Bob' - a basic history of Basic Role-Playing ('Out of the Suitcase' with Chaosium president Rick Meints)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Michael O'Brien" data-source="post: 9251368" data-attributes="member: 6807727"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/burly-bob-brp.png" alt="Burly Bob" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>-- "Good old Burly Bob" - art by William Church --</em></p><p></p><p><em>Chaosium President <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/rick-meints" target="_blank">Rick Meints</a> shares stories from a life-time as a collector of all things Chaosium.</em></p><p></p><p>A few weeks ago during a podcast I answered a number of questions about the fabled “lost” manuscript for Chaosium’s <em>Dark Worlds</em> project (the ill-starred precursor to Call of Cthulhu). The short answer to the reason it failed lies with the creation of <em>Basic Role-Playing </em>around the same time.</p><p></p><p>As usual, to help with my answer I went looking for something in the archives and while doing so happened upon the cut-and-paste layout of an early edition of <em>BRP:</em></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421484122-10161684104902743-6808868909463656098-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>-- The individual pages were combined into spreads on much larger cardboard. -- </em></p><p></p><p>While I’ll speak about <em>Dark Worlds</em> in another future 'Out of the Suitcase' post, I thought I might as well share some pictures from BRP along with a bit of history first.</p><p></p><p>The success of the <em>RuneQuest</em> RPG in <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-1st-edition-softcover-pod/" target="_blank">1978</a> and <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-classic-hardcover/" target="_blank">1979</a> caused Chaosium to begin its pivot from publishing wargames to publishing roleplaying games and supplements. As Greg Stafford succinctly put it many years ago, RPGs took half the time to make, cost half as much to print, and sold twice as well.</p><p></p><p>Despite <em>RuneQuest</em> being set in the fantasy world of Glorantha, the potential for adapting its rules to other worlds and genres quickly emerged. Greg often heard from fans who were using the rules for their home brewed game settings. So in 1980 The Chaosium quickly distilled the <em>RuneQuest</em> rules into a succinct and elegant 16 page ruleset. The working title of <em>Basic RuneQuest</em> gave way to the more universal title of <em>Basic Role-Playing</em>.</p><p></p><p>The first printing of <em>Basic Role-Playing</em> debuted in the <em>RuneQuest</em> boxed rules set in the fall of 1980. It focused on people brand new to roleplaying games as its target audience.</p><p></p><p>Constant small refinements and additions led to two new editions of <em>BRP</em> within the span of a year, yet it remained at 16 pages in length.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421598344-10161684104952743-7092657582021654809-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>-- This is the cut-and-paste layout from the third edition. --</em></p><p></p><p>Chaosium started including it in many of its boxed games, most notably in the first edition of <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/call-of-cthulhu-classic-2-deluxe-boxed-set/" target="_blank">Call of Cthulhu</a>, which actually required it for character creation. It stands out as the only booklet in the <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/call-of-cthulhu-classic-2-deluxe-boxed-set/" target="_blank">2" box</a> not printed in brown ink.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421655855-10161684105182743-3709367174150059234-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>-- The first, second, and third editions from left to right. --</em></p><p></p><p>Chaosium also allowed other publishers to use it in their products. Board-Craft Simulations, another San Fransisco Bay area company, included it in its three dungeon tiles boxed supplements: <em>Fantasy Paths</em>, <em>Village Paths</em>, and <em>Castle Paths</em>. Chaosium even tweaked the cover a bit for them, and surprisingly we had that updated cover layout in the archives as well.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421492208-10161684105307743-7399473632776015278-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>-- Boardcraft Simulations also featured the beautiful artwork of Lisa Free, who also illustrated a number of Chaosium products in the 1980s. --</em></p><p>While Chaosium referred to all of their games as being in the BRP family, the <em>BRP</em> rulebook itself disappeared for almost 20 years. It quietly re-emerged from its slumber in 2002 with an updated layout and cover, but was still 16 pages in length and with much the same contents. However, BRP's transformation into the product we see today was poised to begin...</p><p></p><p>When the Avalon Hill Game Company became a part of Hasbro it ceased publication of publishing <em>RuneQuest</em> 3rd edition. Fortunately though, Chaosium had always retained the copyright on the rules themselves. By slightly tweaking the RQ3 rules to remove all references to <em>RuneQuest</em>, a trademark still owned by Hasbro, in 2004 Chaosium put the four main booklets from the RQ3 boxed set back into print under the title of <em>Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium System</em>. Like most early Chaosium monographs produced during this cash-strapped era, they were tape-bound black and white photocopied books done in small batches at a nearby copy shop.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421553974-10161684105382743-6838026702249298236-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>-- The tape bound monographs. --</em></p><p></p><p>As print-on-demand became cheaper and of a higher quality Chaosium updated the 4 booklets to perfect-bound binding with nicer golden covers in 2009.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421626355-10161684105447743-3997656888220670349-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>-- The somewhat nicer POD versions of the monographs done by Lightning Source. --</em></p><p></p><p>Despite the slight cover design improvements, the real work on expanding the BRP system into a complete and much more comprehensive system had begun a few years prior. The <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-softcover/" target="_blank">Big Gold Book</a> as we know it today first appeared with the Christmas 2007 “advanced reader zero edition” of the playtest rules. Its 420 hand-numbered copies sold well before the regular CHA2020 first edition <em>BRP</em> book debuted in 2008. Its enduring popularity led to a 2nd edition hardcover version (CHA2026-H) being published in 2011.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/420163460-10161684105547743-4908117291562016610-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>-- The true pre-cursor to the Big Gold Book of today. The 2007 "Zero" edition is close to the BRP second edition cover from 1981. We have that Chaosium "Dragon" logo artwork in the archives as well. --</em></p><p></p><p>The current <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-universal-game-engine-hardcover/" target="_blank">Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine</a> hardcover (CHA2036-H) is its latest incarnation.All that history, all stemming from a simple 16 pages of introductory material explaining the wonderful world of role-playing games, a mere 44 years ago... Good old Burly Bob...</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/brpuge-cover.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Michael O'Brien, post: 9251368, member: 6807727"] [CENTER][IMG alt="Burly Bob"]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/burly-bob-brp.png[/IMG] [I]-- "Good old Burly Bob" - art by William Church --[/I][/CENTER] [I]Chaosium President [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/rick-meints']Rick Meints[/URL] shares stories from a life-time as a collector of all things Chaosium.[/I] A few weeks ago during a podcast I answered a number of questions about the fabled “lost” manuscript for Chaosium’s [I]Dark Worlds[/I] project (the ill-starred precursor to Call of Cthulhu). The short answer to the reason it failed lies with the creation of [I]Basic Role-Playing [/I]around the same time. As usual, to help with my answer I went looking for something in the archives and while doing so happened upon the cut-and-paste layout of an early edition of [I]BRP:[/I] [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421484122-10161684104902743-6808868909463656098-n.jpeg[/IMG] [I]-- The individual pages were combined into spreads on much larger cardboard. -- [/I][/CENTER] While I’ll speak about [I]Dark Worlds[/I] in another future 'Out of the Suitcase' post, I thought I might as well share some pictures from BRP along with a bit of history first. The success of the [I]RuneQuest[/I] RPG in [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-1st-edition-softcover-pod/']1978[/URL] and [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-classic-hardcover/']1979[/URL] caused Chaosium to begin its pivot from publishing wargames to publishing roleplaying games and supplements. As Greg Stafford succinctly put it many years ago, RPGs took half the time to make, cost half as much to print, and sold twice as well. Despite [I]RuneQuest[/I] being set in the fantasy world of Glorantha, the potential for adapting its rules to other worlds and genres quickly emerged. Greg often heard from fans who were using the rules for their home brewed game settings. So in 1980 The Chaosium quickly distilled the [I]RuneQuest[/I] rules into a succinct and elegant 16 page ruleset. The working title of [I]Basic RuneQuest[/I] gave way to the more universal title of [I]Basic Role-Playing[/I]. The first printing of [I]Basic Role-Playing[/I] debuted in the [I]RuneQuest[/I] boxed rules set in the fall of 1980. It focused on people brand new to roleplaying games as its target audience. Constant small refinements and additions led to two new editions of [I]BRP[/I] within the span of a year, yet it remained at 16 pages in length. [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421598344-10161684104952743-7092657582021654809-n.jpeg[/IMG] [I]-- This is the cut-and-paste layout from the third edition. --[/I][/CENTER] Chaosium started including it in many of its boxed games, most notably in the first edition of [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/call-of-cthulhu-classic-2-deluxe-boxed-set/']Call of Cthulhu[/URL], which actually required it for character creation. It stands out as the only booklet in the [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/call-of-cthulhu-classic-2-deluxe-boxed-set/']2" box[/URL] not printed in brown ink. [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421655855-10161684105182743-3709367174150059234-n.jpeg[/IMG] [I]-- The first, second, and third editions from left to right. --[/I][/CENTER] Chaosium also allowed other publishers to use it in their products. Board-Craft Simulations, another San Fransisco Bay area company, included it in its three dungeon tiles boxed supplements: [I]Fantasy Paths[/I], [I]Village Paths[/I], and [I]Castle Paths[/I]. Chaosium even tweaked the cover a bit for them, and surprisingly we had that updated cover layout in the archives as well. [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421492208-10161684105307743-7399473632776015278-n.jpeg[/IMG] [I]-- Boardcraft Simulations also featured the beautiful artwork of Lisa Free, who also illustrated a number of Chaosium products in the 1980s. --[/I][/CENTER] While Chaosium referred to all of their games as being in the BRP family, the [I]BRP[/I] rulebook itself disappeared for almost 20 years. It quietly re-emerged from its slumber in 2002 with an updated layout and cover, but was still 16 pages in length and with much the same contents. However, BRP's transformation into the product we see today was poised to begin... When the Avalon Hill Game Company became a part of Hasbro it ceased publication of publishing [I]RuneQuest[/I] 3rd edition. Fortunately though, Chaosium had always retained the copyright on the rules themselves. By slightly tweaking the RQ3 rules to remove all references to [I]RuneQuest[/I], a trademark still owned by Hasbro, in 2004 Chaosium put the four main booklets from the RQ3 boxed set back into print under the title of [I]Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium System[/I]. Like most early Chaosium monographs produced during this cash-strapped era, they were tape-bound black and white photocopied books done in small batches at a nearby copy shop. [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421553974-10161684105382743-6838026702249298236-n.jpeg[/IMG] [I]-- The tape bound monographs. --[/I][/CENTER] As print-on-demand became cheaper and of a higher quality Chaosium updated the 4 booklets to perfect-bound binding with nicer golden covers in 2009. [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/421626355-10161684105447743-3997656888220670349-n.jpeg[/IMG] [I]-- The somewhat nicer POD versions of the monographs done by Lightning Source. --[/I][/CENTER] Despite the slight cover design improvements, the real work on expanding the BRP system into a complete and much more comprehensive system had begun a few years prior. The [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-softcover/']Big Gold Book[/URL] as we know it today first appeared with the Christmas 2007 “advanced reader zero edition” of the playtest rules. Its 420 hand-numbered copies sold well before the regular CHA2020 first edition [I]BRP[/I] book debuted in 2008. Its enduring popularity led to a 2nd edition hardcover version (CHA2026-H) being published in 2011. [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/420163460-10161684105547743-4908117291562016610-n.jpeg[/IMG] [I]-- The true pre-cursor to the Big Gold Book of today. The 2007 "Zero" edition is close to the BRP second edition cover from 1981. We have that Chaosium "Dragon" logo artwork in the archives as well. --[/I][/CENTER] The current [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-universal-game-engine-hardcover/']Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine[/URL] hardcover (CHA2036-H) is its latest incarnation.All that history, all stemming from a simple 16 pages of introductory material explaining the wonderful world of role-playing games, a mere 44 years ago... Good old Burly Bob... [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/brpuge-cover.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Promotions/Press
[Chaosium] 'Good old Burly Bob' - a basic history of Basic Role-Playing ('Out of the Suitcase' with Chaosium president Rick Meints)
Top