Basic Fantasy RPG
| Basic Fantasy | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| RPG | ||
| Authors | Chris Gonnerman | |
| First Publication | 2006 (1e), 2008 (2e), 2013 (3e) | |
A retroclone of the old B/X rules, Basic Fantasy is currently in its third edition. The main book features the classic four classes: Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Magic-User; in addition, adaptations of the monster manual and equipment lists, all in one concise, easy to understand package.
What It Changes
- Races are kept separate from classes.
- It uses a d20 style attack style where you want to roll at or over your enemies AC.
- Speaking of AC, it is now ascending rather than descending.
- All race/class combinations may go to level 20.
What's Good About It
- It is completely free from it's website with steady updates in the form of rule clarifications, supplements, and adventures.
- If you need the book physically, the author sells them at cost through Amazon.
- Being a retroclone, it is almost perfectly compatible with all other old school and retroclone modules.
- Being a community project, the website features a lot of curated player made content, including reintroduction of classes like the Paladin and Bard as well as a lengthy list of gear, spells and magical items.
- The rules are simple enough that a GM and players can skim the book and have a party and an adventure ready very quickly (characters in under 10 minutes, an adventure in maybe an hour).
- There are several free adventure modules for it that emulate a lot of the old adventures (The Chaotic Caves=Keep on the Borderlands, Saga of the Giants=The Giant Adventures, etc.).
Some Minor Issues
- Typical weapons used by clerics are scaled to more closely match more typical fighter weapons and with far more weapons being able to be found that are magical other than swords it makes clerics a bit too powerful for some people's tastes.
- The layout of the book makes you have to flip back and forth quite often to find rules such as what your character's attack bonus and saves are rather than simply looking at your class's page. While this is more in line with the older editions of D&D, its inclusion is a bit of a throwback and can be a bit confusing.
- While many laud the free modules for their hearkening back to modules of yesteryear, that can be a bit of a problem if you're wanting something new as well.
tl;dr: It's a cheap, well written, and accessible way of introducing younger players to how D&D used to be played without losing any of the beardiness.
Iron Falcon
In 2015, Gonnerman released Iron Falcon, an RPG aiming to be for OD&D what Basic Fantasy was for Moldvay Basic. Focusing on just adapting the original rules plus Greyhawk, the game is also free.