The Gist of it Who is this game for? Who is this game NOT for? It's OSR, but... What the GM says, goes A Note About the Shorthand

Characters and All That Jazz Races Roll Your Stats The Stats Classes Hit Die Armor Class Starting Money and Equipment Skills Languages Convictions Getting Experience Points Leveling Up Multiclassing

Turns Movement Saving Throws Saving Throw Effort Item Saving Throws Checks Critical Failures and Successes Debilities Money Armor and Shields Swimming in Armor Melee Weapons Ranged Weapons Poison Hirelings Pets Morale Healing

Initiative Attacking Attacking From Behind If I Shoot My Ranged Weapon Into a Scuffle Involving a Fellow Player Character and an Opponent, Do I Run the Risk of Hurting the Player Character? Combat Maneuvers Sundering One's Own Shield Damage Being Attacked Reaching 0 HP Black Gates and Last Breath We'll All Be Laughing With You When You Die

Magic Schools of Magic Cantrips Storing Spells Casting a Spell from Memory Casting a Spell from a Written Source Mishaps & Dooms When those Without the Gift Attempt to Cast Magic Witches' Magic Witches vs Wizards The Maiden, the Mother, the Crone Crafts Attentions and Losing One's Grip The Cleric Clerics vs Wizards Faith Dice Cleric Dice Chains and You Apostasy Identifying Magic Items Magic Robes

BCPRPG

Beeks' Cherry-Picked Role Playing Game


Part 0: The Gist of it

Y'know, it's funny, you pronounce gist like 'jist', but you apply this logic to GIF and people lose their goddamn mind. Anyway...



Who is this game for?

Well, in the simplest terms, this game is for me. I've amassed so many TTRPG rulebooks (both PDF and physical copies) and I've been exposed to so many amazing systems that I wanted to try my hand at combining the ones I really like into a single game.

The odds are pretty good that you'll read these rules and hate them, or maybe you'll think it's a mess. That's fine! It's completely fine to hate this. This is a totally selfish project, and I didn't set out thinking "how will people run this", I set out thinking "How will I run this?" "How will my group of regulars handle these kinds of rules?"

If you find a rule or a section to be bullshit, mod it yourself!




Who is this game NOT for?

If you're coming to this game expecting to rules lawyer your way into having a good time, this game is probably not for you.

If you are the type of GM who only has fun if the party is dying or pleading with you to show mercy, this game is probably not for you.




It's OSR, but...

I find the Old School Revival fascinating! And I have nothing but love and respect for folks who grew up in a pre-internet world (hell, a pre-personal computer world for some of these old timers) playing their Holmes Basic and their AD&D 1e and so on. But I'm just not of that era. There's a few things that old-school players will absolutely cling to, that I just can't grok. What you'll find inside that might make grognards cry:




What the GM says, goes

There are times where the players and the GM are going to have differences of opinion on what should be happening. While the GM does have the final say on the matter, they should try their damnedest to be fair and see where the player is coming from.

It's not the 90s anymore, no one is beholden to shitty players and GMs because they're the only locals who want to play. The internet is filled with folks on Roll20, RoleGate, and Discord that would love to play TTRPGs with you.




A Note About the Shorthand in BCPRPG

If you see three letters in all-caps, this means the character's stat modifier. The full word means their stat score.

For example, in the phrase "roll d20+WIS", you need to plug in the WISdom stat modifier. Meanwhile the phrase "equal to your character's Charisma" is asking for your character's Charisma stat score.

Basically, small word = small number.
Big word = big number.



Roleplaying and the One Stupid Question

No one will force you to don a silly voice or wacky accent. You don't have to wear a funny hat at the table or prosthetic ears. But you must tell the GM what your character is doing and how! It doesn't have to be overly detailed, even "I swing my sword at the skeleton warrior" will do. Saying something like "I'm rolling to check for traps" will not.

And don't be afraid to ask the GM questions! Have you ever heard the phrase "there are no stupid questions"? For the most part I wholeheartedly agree, but in tabletop roleplaying games there is one stupid question:

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

As in a player asking the GM something like "Why didn't you tell me I could have just gone around the spike trap". The answer is simple: because you didn't ask. Even something as mundane as "is the carpet dirty?" could result in a life-saving answer! ("Yes, you see muddy orcish bootprints on the carpet. The prints are fresh and seem to go up the stairs, but not back down..."). I'm not saying GMs will be vague and unhelpful until you ask the exact right question (this isn't a mid-90s adventure game), but if you have a question about something or you're having difficulty imaging the scene at hand, never be afraid to ask!