ORC is a response to Wizards of the Coast’s now abandoned attempt to meddle with the open license aspect of D&D. The project, led by Paizo but open to other RPG publishers, attracted Chaosium’s interest.
Chaosium publishes Call of Cthulhu, Rivers of London, RuneQuest and many others, and the system at the heart of those games is Basic Roleplaying.
Now, as part of ORC, Basic Roleplaying can be used by you or me to build RPGs of our own and sell them.
Chaosium says;
This book contains the core system rules, as well as character creation, advancement, monsters and antagonists, as well as GameMaster advice.
Written by Jason Durall and Steve Perrin, the rules offer character growth based on what the PCs do in the game and have a pretty brutal combat system in which every action matters.
Chaosium adds;
With mechanics for magic, psychic powers, mutations, superpowers, weapons, equipment, and vehicles applicable to any setting and genre, Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine is adaptable to any world of your choosing—either previously established, or created from scratch.
