This is the second printing of Basic Role-Playing (1981), with a retail cover. Prior to this in 1980, BRP was a 16-page booklet included in Chaosium box sets and a few other places.

RuneQuest was Chaosium’s first RPG and, at its core, it’s a skill-based percentile system that spins out of Steve Perrin’s “Perrin Conventions,” which we saw on Tuesday. After RuneQuest hit shelves, Greg Stafford wanted to simplify the rules to the point that they could be used as a generic, introductory system. Unlike the Basic box sets for D&D, which act as introductions to D&D, BRP functions nicely as a broad introduction to the general methodology of roleplaying.

It is also, essentially, the first universal system, that is, a system that can be used to play in any genre, or mix of genres (I still personally believe there is a distinction between a generic system and a universal one, but I also think I am mostly alone in caring about that distinction).

BRP forms the foundation of pretty much every Chaosium game. BRP plus a sanity mechanic: Call of Cthulhu. BRP plus rules for over-clocking player power: Stormbringer. Even Pendragon is essentially BRP, even though it eschews percentile for the D20; it gets its core flavor from the Vice and Virtue mechanic. BRP casts a long shadow elsewhere, too. It was used, along with Magic World, to create Drakar och Demoner, from which the entire Swedish RPG scene springs. Although Free League’s Year Zero system is distinct, the philosophy behind it owes a lot to BRP.

The cover is by Rick Becker, I believe. All the interior art is by William Church. Big fan of Burly Bob there, who bears an alarming resemblance to David Bautista. Also, big fan of the silhouette chits. They’re a Chaosium staple through the early ’80s and this might be their first appearance (unless there were some in the original RQ box set, which I do not own).