These first few reviews will be focused on games that are print to order through amazon. These are also available on other sites, but I ordered them through amazon.
THE BASIC FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAME IS AWESOME
Basic Fantasy RPG is a great affordable system for all walks of life. The rules are pretty easy to pick up, a great amount of compatibility with other rule sets, and plenty of support. It's an amazing instance of an all-in-one with everything both players and DMs/GMs need.
Art and formatting are well done with an easy to read table of contents and an index is in the back. It was fairly easy to find everything while holding the actual book. Art isn't mind blowing, but the cover is a great abstract dragon. The troll's art was my favorite piece. It grabs a feel of classic gaming back in the day.
The game itself has 4 races, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human. The nonhuman races each have unique abilities, certain ability requirements, and class restrictions. While not a massive combination of variations, it makes the already simple character creation a lot easier with the choices presented. For the most part it's rolling a few dice, following a few simple charts and you're ready for adventure!
There's no alignment which is great for newbies too. All in all, simple with a touch of old school flavor on what you can play.
For the DM/GM there's everything you need. Monsters, treasure, magical items, additional optional rules, travel, adventure building, even strongholds and hirelings. The only thing missing that I personally would have loved to see is a sample adventure for true new players.
Combat is simple. Roll to beat an armor class. Characters have saving throws similar to old editions of fantasy RPG's. There's plenty of great rules in combat for varying scenarios with clear & concise rules. The book can work both with and without miniatures very well. With some basic math you can convert classic D&D monsters & modules and many newer D&D adventures to fit with basic fantasy's system.
While I can't say one particular element of the game is incredibly unique, I can say as a whole it is a rock solid game system. A rock solid all-encompassing game system is amazing when it's absolutely free. Every supplement for basic fantasy, including the game itself, is a free downloadable PDF on the Basic Fantasy Website. There's some amazing supplements including additional classes and races, campaigns, adventures, more monsters, charts. There's also some forums for even more content and discussion on the game. This is a great introduction to RPG's, and wonderful for players used to 3.5 and above to get a taste of what a classic role playing game is like.
If you must have a copy for a shelf(like I do), you can buy it for $5 on Amazon. They even have some of those great BFRPG supplements on amazon as well. Two must haves for the game in my opinion are the Field Guide and Adventure Anthology. I honestly cannot think of a system that is this affordable, this accessible, and still be rock solid for prolonged play.Art and formatting are well done with an easy to read table of contents and an index is in the back. It was fairly easy to find everything while holding the actual book. Art isn't mind blowing, but the cover is a great abstract dragon. The troll's art was my favorite piece. It grabs a feel of classic gaming back in the day.
The game itself has 4 races, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human. The nonhuman races each have unique abilities, certain ability requirements, and class restrictions. While not a massive combination of variations, it makes the already simple character creation a lot easier with the choices presented. For the most part it's rolling a few dice, following a few simple charts and you're ready for adventure!
There's no alignment which is great for newbies too. All in all, simple with a touch of old school flavor on what you can play.
For the DM/GM there's everything you need. Monsters, treasure, magical items, additional optional rules, travel, adventure building, even strongholds and hirelings. The only thing missing that I personally would have loved to see is a sample adventure for true new players.
Combat is simple. Roll to beat an armor class. Characters have saving throws similar to old editions of fantasy RPG's. There's plenty of great rules in combat for varying scenarios with clear & concise rules. The book can work both with and without miniatures very well. With some basic math you can convert classic D&D monsters & modules and many newer D&D adventures to fit with basic fantasy's system.
While I can't say one particular element of the game is incredibly unique, I can say as a whole it is a rock solid game system. A rock solid all-encompassing game system is amazing when it's absolutely free. Every supplement for basic fantasy, including the game itself, is a free downloadable PDF on the Basic Fantasy Website. There's some amazing supplements including additional classes and races, campaigns, adventures, more monsters, charts. There's also some forums for even more content and discussion on the game. This is a great introduction to RPG's, and wonderful for players used to 3.5 and above to get a taste of what a classic role playing game is like.
Rating: 4/5 Gold!
Pros
- Free or Incredibly Affordable
- Solid, easy to understand rules
- Plenty of Support
- Art can be a bit lackluster
- Nothing really stands out within the system itself as unique
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