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
Famous quotes containing the words rules and/or system:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way. Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary masterplan, as a degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people’s own failure as individuals.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)