Short answers, pulled from the story.
Greg Stafford named his company Chaosium by combining the word chaos with the nearby Oakland Coliseum to reflect the cluttered state of his apartment in Oakland. This name was chosen in 1975 when the small operation began as a vehicle to publish White Bear and Red Moon.
The game RuneQuest was published by Chaosium in 1978. This publication marked a turning point for the company by introducing a system that prioritized skill and simulation over abstract combat mechanics.
Call of Cthulhu debuted from Chaosium in 1981. The game utilized the Basic Role-Playing system which was distilled from RuneQuest rules into a concise 16-page booklet in 1980.
Chaosium signed a licensing agreement with Avalon Hill in 1983. This agreement allowed the company to expand its reach while maintaining creative control over its games.
The Basic Role-Playing system originated from Steve Perrin's RuneQuest published in 1978. Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis distilled the complex rules of RuneQuest into a concise 16-page booklet in 1980 to make the system accessible to a wider audience.