Editing Chaosium (section)

===1980s: Growth and licensing with Avalon Hill===
In 1980, the company officially incorporated as Chaosium Inc. That year, Stafford and Lynn Willis simplified the ''RuneQuest'' rules into the 16-page [[Basic Role-Playing]] (BRP). These [[GNS Theory#Simulationism|simulationist]], skill-based generic rules formed the basis of many of Chaosium's later [[Dice notation#Percentile dice|"d100"]] RPGs, most notably ''[[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'', first published in 1982.

Chaosium entered into a licensing agreement with [[Avalon Hill]] in 1983 to produce a third edition of ''RuneQuest''. Avalon Hill manufactured and marketed the game, while Chaosium was responsible for acquisitions, design, development, and layout. [[Ken Rolston]]  managed the line as "Rune Czar".

One of the first RPGs by a female lead designer was published by Chaosium: [[Kerie Campbell-Robson]]'s  1986 release [[Hawkmoon (role-playing game)|Hawkmoon]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Appelcline |first=Shannon |title=Designers & Dragons: The '70s |publisher=Evil Hat Productions |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-61317-075-5 |edition=2 |volume=1 |page=267}}</ref> 1986 also saw the release of ''[[Ghostbusters (role-playing game)|Ghostbusters]]'' with [[West End Games]]. Designed by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, and Greg Stafford, it was the first RPG to use the [[dice pool]] mechanic. West End would also use the system as the basis of ''[[Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game]]'' and, eventually, the [[D6 System]].<ref name="DD80-89">{{cite book |last1=Appelcline |first1=Shannon |title=Designers & Dragons. '80-'89 : A history of the roleplaying game industry |date=2014 |publisher=Evil Hat Productions |location=Silver Springs, MD, USA |isbn=978-1-61317-081-6 |edition=2nd}}</ref>{{rp|249–250}}