Call of Cthulhu & BRP all at once!? A beginner begs indulgence...

Wow! Foen recently commented elsewhere that a copy each of CoC & BRP plus the 'Eldritch Horror extension' would apparently give FG2 the full functionality of CoC 6th Edition and Basic Roleplaying.
Please correct me if I misunderstood or took that comment out of context; I am after all a complete babe-in-the-woods when it comes to FG2 & VTT gaming....

But if it's true I like the sound of all that potential fun. :)

Would such a combo be a good starting point for an experienced CoC GM (heck, I'm such a Chaosium fan I even have a hard copy of BRP) but who is completely inexperienced with FG2 and VTT gaming in general?

Is BRP better integrated with FG2 than plain old CoC?

What would be 'your ideal starting point' for the novice FG2 GM determined to run fun games of Call of Cthulhu?

Help! I'm so excited!:square:

Thanks in advance from me and my diasporatic gaming cadre,
Thomas in Vancouver

IMHO the best CoC experience comes from running the CoC ruleset, as the ruleset skin/graphics is designed to reflect the CoC 'mood' and the program has all the right CoC skills and options set up from the outset.

If you want to use other BRP options (such as hit points by location) then you need to use the BRP ruleset instead, as the CoC one is 'just' designed to play standard CoC. In that case, if you have both rulesets and the Eldritch Horror extension, you can access all the CoC reference material, Mythos creatures and adventure modules from within BRP. You won't, however, get the CoC skin, just the generic BRP one.

Finally, in addition to game mechanics rulesets also have various utility features. Because BRP is a more recent ruleset it includes a richer set of these features, such as player-to-player chat, group chat, in-game preferences etc.

Hopefully that will help you decide which combo would work best for you.

Foen

Thanks Foen, for the speedy reply! You have indeed provided some excellent grist for the decision-mill.

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Originally Posted by Foen

If you have both rulesets and the Eldritch Horror extension, you can access all the CoC reference material, Mythos creatures and adventure modules from within BRP. You won't, however, get the CoC skin, just the generic BRP one.

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So it is possible, but at a certain compromise to CoC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foen

IMHO the best CoC experience comes from running the CoC ruleset, as the ruleset skin/graphics is designed to reflect the CoC 'mood' and the program has all the right CoC skills and options set up from the outset.

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The game is all about atmosphere. Loosing the skin seems like a big hit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foen

Finally, in addition to game mechanics rulesets also have various utility features. Because BRP is a more recent ruleset it includes a richer set of these features, such as player-to-player chat, group chat, in-game preferences etc.

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Ultimately we are several people in different cities trying to play a game that emphasises problem solving & the personal dynamics of a group. Any feature that enhances communication is a big draw.

How feasible would it be for me to learn how to customise or re-skin the BRP ruleset with the art from my CoC ruleset or art of my own making in order to best suite my needs?

Thomas

Finally have had some time to catch-up on this forum and on the BRP forum. I see I could have answered my question about making a 'thulhu themed skin for BRP if I had just read a bit more widely in the relevant forums. :o

Skinning a ruleset is relatively straightforward, once you get your head around the <frame> tags and the way frames work. Because many different rulesets use different frame definitions, the artwork from one ruleset won't necessarily render well in another ruleset without further modification.

I didn't build CoC and BRP to be artwork-compatible (nor did I build them to be deliberately different, but they are) so you couldn't reskin BRP using the CoC artwork without further effort. You can do this either by re-working the artwork to fit with the BRP frame definitions, or by modding the BRP frame definitions to work with the CoC artwork. If you are starting from scratch and creating your own skin afresh, you'd probably find it easier to go down the former route (build it to fit the BRP frame definitions).

Although not too difficult, a complete reskin is a lot of work: in BRP there are over 40 frames and more than 310 icons. Changing everything can be a bit of a marathon...

Foen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foen

Finally, in addition to game mechanics rulesets also have various utility features. Because BRP is a more recent ruleset it includes a richer set of these features, such as player-to-player chat, group chat, in-game preferences etc.

Foen

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Sorry new to FG as well, could you explain why p2p chat isn't in the CoC ruleset? or why it is a part of the ruleset and not the FG2 core functionality?

Or do you mean the graphics aren't built in for the CoC ruleset?


Also on an unrelated note, does FG2 backup or log the chat/actions/open windows, in case of a crash, or just in between sessions, so you can resume where you left off?

The FG engine provides a platform for ruleset developers and a rich scripting environment to deliver ruleset functionality. While this means that rulesets can be built with very complex features, inconstrained by the underlying engine, it also means that a chunk of the features you might take for granted are actually delivered by the ruleset developer, including P2P chat.

As rulesets evolve, good ideas from one ruleset tend to get rolled up into later rulesets, so older rulesets are less feature-rich than more recent ones.

On your other question, FG keeps a log of the chat window content, chatlog.html, which survives between sessions and after a crash, but this doesn't repopulate the chat window when you restart. Instead, GMs tend to publish the log for players to read between sessions. The state of other windows (such as character sheets) is generally recorded in the campaign database or FG registry but not whether they are open or not.

I hope this helps, and welcome to the forums!

Foen

Thanks Foen!
I get the impression that while I could make a satisfying hobby of learning how to adapt and customise FG2, it would be smarter for me to take the easiest route; participate on the forums and learn what is necessary to get my lost group back to a virtual table for some games.

Better get myself a license...

I appreciate your patience and your commitment to the excellent products Chaosium has created.

Thomas