This has been a passion project that I’ve been working on for a good two years on and off, since the reality of having one of my all time favourite roleplaying game systems, Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying, became available via the ORC license in the form of the Basic Roleplaying Universal Game Engine (BRUGE) book. It was a somewhat obsessive itch that I could not help but scratch.

• Wryd Sword on Kickstarter

NEWT BRP

My first go at this was a quick hacking project I undertook in my Easter break of 2024. Take BRUGE and can if I could do a quick fantasy based game from its text. This very personal version (hence the name) was a very rough edit down, cutting and pasting, and writing a bit of text to glue it together.

So did I get a quick Fantasy BRP out of it? Sort of, with the following caveats.

• I was a bit unhappy with the “normal folks” professions. I know this is a big thing in Call of Cthulhu, but honestly, professions like Farmer and Slave just don’t do it for me.
• I chose Magic out of the many Powers systems for NEWT BRP, and it has gaps as a one sized fits all magic system that does what I want it to do. BRUGE has about 33 spells while the current Wyrd Sword draft has 40+ spells.
• It was still burdened by systems from the 70s like the Resistance Table that don’t meet modern expectations for playability.
• In my opinion, the system, despite being edited down, was still a bit bloated for what is meant to be a “Basic” role-playing system.

So once Easter was over, I put it to one side and got on with other D101 Games projects.

The Inspiration for Wyrd Sword

Using points of concern about the NEWT BRP as a starting point, I took the draft along with me on my summer 2024 holiday.

The aim this time was to produce….well initially I wasn’t sure what? Then inspiration struck!

My gaming youth in the late 80s was made up of a heady mix of AD&D 1st edition, which then advanced into playing the Games Workshop editions of RuneQuest, Stormbringer and Call of Cthulhu, which for the time were lavishly illustrated colour hardbacks.

Here’s the RQ book, equivalent I believe is Avalon Hills Standard RQ box set.

I loved this book when it came out in the late 80s. It was my first real entry into the BRPverse, and even though it was a very short 100 or so pages, it was enough to inspire me to run a campaign in a setting of my own devising (since the Glorantha was not included in this book) for a good six to nine months.

So what I did during these Summer Holiday Sessions was to expand on what I did and move it towards something I could publish. The following blog post expands on this. Note the system was called Legacy then, before I realised that there was at least three other rpg games called that!

• What I did on my Summer 2024 holidays part 2

The Realm and Borderlands playtest

So eventually, I had a playtest worthy draft and decided to take the plunge with my friendly daytime online players, Adrian and Tony. Both were enthusiastic to see what I had come up with, as they were both fans of RQ 3 back in the 80s/90s. We played using Role VTT (playrole.com) the sheets for which will be released along with the book.

Lots of rough edges were filed off. A overly complex Flexible Magic system was sacked off in favour of the Magic system with tweaks to make it more flexible, and I wrote a Martial Arts system, as power system for Tony’s warrior, so they weren’t outshone by Adrian’s Magician every combat. It brought balance to the game, and I’ve found the duo work together in combat smoothly now, which is inspiring.

Big one for me as the GM is my proposed Sandbox, or Toybox, framework for adventures works! No big meandering plotlines, just quick action, using reusable Non-Player Characters, Locations and a system of Quests. A bit like computer RPGs like Fallout and even Borderlands.

Also it turns out its a very different game to OpenQuest (phew!). OpenQuest is a big, rather epic fantasy game that explores how characters relate to the supernatural world and the myths that surround it. While Wyrd Sword is more about the characters and them making their way in the world and becoming Legends in their own right.

The Current Game

So, where am I up to so far?

• Mega Gaming Fun, but with moments of grit and intense focus on the characters.
• A comprehensive array of fun character options. Four playable species, thirty fun professions, 40 plus magic spells, seven martial arts styles and as well as arms and armour, various kits of adventuring equipment for quick pick up and play character creation.
• A streamlined version of BRP that includes modern innovations like the Wyrd point system, yet remains recognisably BRP.
• A setting, the Realm, that is discoverable via play rather than a series of setting supplements, and can easily be reskinned to whatever fantastic style you fancy.

Who will like Wryd Sword?

• If you are already familiar with BRP, through games like RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu.
• If you are a system tinkerer. BRP’s rulings break down into modules that are an easy swap in or out. Even if you don’t play Wryd Sword as written, you can easily swap in your preferred BRP rules variant or use bits from it in your own BRP games.
• If you are a veteran of BRP who wants a game that works out of the box (That’s me)
• If you and your players are coming from 5th Ed and want an instance of BRP that is easy to learn yet offers all the options for open play that BRP is famous for.

What’s Next?

The game is on Kickstarter from Tuesday, 5th May to Tuesday, 19th May (that’s two weeks), with minimal stretch goals and a fast and furious campaign that focuses on the book. I do have plans for if the funding goes ballistic, which adds support for the game, and celebrates its co-creating style of adventure creation, while not delaying the release of the game with me being tied up with rewrites or writing additional material. But these two weeks will be your only chance to get printed signed and sent copies, and even a nice red leatherette version of the book!

• Wryd Sword on Kickstarter