Wednesday, May 12, 2021

A Little Nod To Basic Fantasy

 Haven't drawn a hot dwarf in a while!

The four books below, 1 hardback, 3 soft covers, cost me a total of $26.45. 

  • Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game
  • The Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign
  • The Basic Fantasy Equipment Emporium
  • Morgansfort: The Western Lands Campaign.

All you need to play D&D, literally, for years

And, the PDFs are all actually FREE to download (along with optional races, classes, adventures, spells, etc.) at: https://www.basicfantasy.org/

I like to reward such efforts with a physical purchase. Plus, I prefer books.

Most of you know Basic Fantasy already, but I make this post on the off chance that you do not.

So, Basic Fantasy's been around for a while, why am I only buying it now? Not sure. It popped into my head recently, as things do... actually, I was thinking about saving throws and different ways to do them and I seemed to remember that Basic Fantasy saving throws followed a different progression than B/X, BECMI, or AD&D.

One thing that bothers me (well, "bothers" is actually too strong a term) about old-school D&D is that your saving throws don't progress more smoothly.

Even if you're aware of Basic Fantasy's existence, you might not know how it actually differs from the game it clones (mainly B/X) and how it differs from other clones. Some things I noticed after a quick glance:

  • Race and Class are separate: 4 races, 4 classes. More options can be found at their website.
  • Turn Undead uses a d20, not 2d6 (but 2d6 is used to determine the number of undead.)
  • Individual initiative.
  • Slightly (and I mean slightly) different spell list.
  • Sleep allows a saving throw.
  • Every 2 levels, 2-4 of your 5 Saving Throws improve by 1, sometimes 2.
  • Class levels are 1-20.
  • Energy Drain gives "negative level" penalties, but not actual loss of levels.
  • Scale Armor is considered better than Chain Mail. (In the Equipment Emporium)
  • Dragon Breath is based off Hit Dice not Hit Points.
  • Demons & Devils are called Infernals. (In the Field Guide)
  • Gold for XP is listed in the optional rules section (as are customizable thief skills.)
  • NO ALIGNMENT. 

A solid clone.

And it's easily the best bang for your buck.


7 comments:

  1. I went all in on BFRPG in 2012 after reviewing the excellent OSR retro clones available at the time; LL, LotFP, OSRIC, etc. and chose Basic Fantasy because it resembled the way I mostly played Basic DnD as a kid. The MU/Cleric spell research and creation rules are solid and remind me how often these rules are generally overlooked in a regular game of DnD. I prefer M-U's and Cleric's needing to earn or find additional spell capabilities and these rules give the clever player excellent ways to customize the game worlds magic "experience".

    I used the rules successfully to run my DnD "experiement". That a DnD fantasy game could do all the things players claim can't be done with the original role playing game. Ground-up homebrew dying earth flavored sword and sorcery city (Rom'Myr and Valla'Tair). The seasoned players which gathered around my virtual table were richly rewarded with a living world which they had as much a hand in shaping as I had in DM'ing.

    Being free online provided a NO-COST entry point for anyone who wanted to play. Quality of game play depends on the enthusiasm and investment the PCs bring to the table. In two years of online play the group of players, and the rules set we used, never got in the way nor let us down.

    We ran beast-racing events (with full paramutual wagering), complex multi-verse travel to different "realms", political intrigue, black magic of the darkest sort, created a rich mythology as the game progressed, not pre-planned, new magic spurred by player ideas and a continuous stream of fully realized NPCs. The only event I was not able to roll out and adjudicate was a mass battle. The players just didn't go in that direction. But the charts and tables created with the OSR spirit I still retain as well as the battalions of vampire-knights ever in their stirrups and anxious to break the enemy's center.

    Long and short, BFRPG gives poor play and bad ideas no place to hide. Simple rules bring the game back to the best part of RPG's, roleplaying your character with shit on the line that matters to you! I like to think BFRPG gave me the opportunity to play a game of sword and sorcery I always wanted to play!

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    1. That's quite an endorsement Jay, Beast-racing, Black Magic, Vampire-Knights, sounds awesome!

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    2. Sounds like a great Campaign!

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  2. Just to clarify, what rpg fans say DnD can't do is create a living world with the focus on what the PCs do and not to restrict PC agency and have their actions and intentions make a difference in the game. OSR-type rules require competent players because the responsibility of a good game falls on them, not the rules. I think the bashing OSR games get are mostly endorsed by objectively bad players incapable of good roleplay. If you suck at being imaginative and creative the rules are not at fault.

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    Replies
    1. Very true. System aside, great gaming almost always comes down to the quality and dedication of the players.

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  3. Thank you for discussing Basic Fantasy. It's one of my all time favourite retroclones together with Old School Essentials and White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.

    I love that the author Chris Gonnerman releases all the stuff for free under an open-source agreement besides the OGL. And he is so kind that he publishes on the website and POD the best material of the community of BFRPG. As well, he supports the teams translating the game and the supplements in other languages. I've worked in the group of the new Italian translation of r107 3rd edition, similarly I'm translating the Equipment Emporium. Chris is helping us under every aspect, and he's doing the same with the French, Portuguese, and German teams. You can see that he is a man who has passion for D&D and B\X, and wants to share it with as many people as possible.

    If you are interested in OD&D as well, I recommend as well Iron Falcon by him. He's a faithful retroclone of the 3 LLB and Greyhawk supplement.

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome LordPerci. Chris Gonnerman sounds like a good guy, an asset to the hobby for sure.

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