Rules System
BRP was developed from a core set of attributes similar to the original Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Size, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Power, and Appearance (or Charisma) replaced the D&D norms. From that was evolved a structurally simulationist system. Therefore hit points (which increase with experience in D&D) were based on the average of Size and Constitution and were functionally static for the life of the character. Skills, using a d100, rather than the D&D d20, were used to simulate the way that people learn skills. Experience points were replaced by an experience check, rolling higher than your current skill on a d100. This created a learning curve that leveled out the higher a skill was.
Whereas D&D merged armor with defense, BRP treated them as separate functions: the act of parrying was a defensive skill that reduced an opponent's chance to successfully land an attack, and the purpose of armor was to absorb damage. The last major element of many BRP games is that there is no difference between the player character race systems and that of the monster or opponents. This element is shared with and originated in Tunnels and Trolls. By varying ability scores, the same system is used for a human hero as a trollish villain. This approach also led quickly, as it did in T&T, to players playing a wide range of non-human characters and game worlds that were deeply pluralist.
Read more about this topic: Basic Role-Playing
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—Michael Wilson (1914–1978)
“Fear, coercion, punishment, are the masculine remedies for moral weakness, but statistics show their failure for centuries. Why not change the system and try the education of the moral and intellectual faculties, cheerful surroundings, inspiring influences? Everything in our present system tends to lower the physical vitality, the self-respect, the moral tone, and to harden instead of reforming the criminal.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)