Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game 3rd Edition

I was introduced to roleplaying way back when with the original white box set, and then graduated to Advanced and on to the other systems. Rules sets became more complex, with more options, more detail and on. In some cases, this led to richer gaming experiences and more detailed campaigns. Which is all well and good, but there’s a lot to be said for rules that cut to the chase, keep things simple and allow you to focus on the action.Basic Fantasy Roleplay does just that, providing you with a refined approach to the elegant simplicity of early dungeon adventure rules. Everything you need to play is included, well organized and easy to use. I used Basic Fantasy Roleplay to run a campaign for a group of experience, long-time roleplayers who had a blast playing old school.Highly recommended if you want a fast playing, simpler alternative to the “latest and the greatest” version of that most well-known rules set (which I also enjoy playing).

First, all of these books are free online and the printed books are relatively cheap. There is no denying the value here. That being said, these books are not a reprint, or update to the Basic/Expert rule sets of 1st Ed DnD. This is its own system, that borrows heavily from DnD 1e. For example, building your character is simple with no options and not through a plethora of front loaded character creation options like Pathfinder. Instead, your expected to flesh out your character through role-playing and adventures. Attributes have very little affect on the viability of the class, so low ability scores are more for Role-Play purposes than mechanics. There is no complicated skill trees. Skill success are purely based on attribute roles and role-play.Much like classic DnD, your expected to flesh out your character through clever role-playing and advancement and not have it all upfront during character creation. Similarly, spells are far more powerful and impactful than in Pathfinder and modern DnD. There is no pretense of class balance. Caster's for example have limited resources and are very weak in the beginning levels and reach exponential power as they advance. Fighters are strong in the lower levels but are more likely to survive into the higher levels. Rogues are weaker, but advance much quicker, and have a tool kit of essential skills. Death is unforgiving. You roll all starting hitpoints, and once you hit 0 hit points you are dead. A first level Wizard could have 1 hit point, no armor, a 1d4 dagger and a single first level spell they can cast once a day.The biggest difference between this and 1e is that it uses Ascending Armor Class, rather than the traditional THAC0 from the 1e era. The book only contains the basic 4 classes and doesn't reprint any of the optional classes, but it does contain a considerable number of the optional rules from supporting 1e supplements. There is so many of these unnecessary rules, that they are more likely to be resolved by DM agency than referenced in the book with complicated rule sets. For example, there is rules on how much movement turning consumes and how many people it takes to repair a boat.Still, this isn't why I deducted the point. A GM will litigate the rules as he sees fit anyway. My biggest problem is that there are so many tables required to play, and none of them are centrally located. Its strange that the saving throw and attack progression tables are not in the class creation section, but instead in the combat section. Many of these tables will be referenced often during a game session and they are spread throughout the book. At the very least, there should be an appendix with all the tables.As to the supplement adventure books; they are top notch. They appear to be just reprints of homebrew campaign notes, but the way they are laid out and constructed are DM gold, regardless of what your playing. They contain gridded maps and plot hooks, but lack any Role-Play details. This makes a fantastic resource for DMs that want to inject these adventures in their own campaign and populate it with their own colorful role-playing style and goals. They do contain some errors, as they don't appear to be tech edited from their source material, but its nothing game breaking. For example, in the Chaotic Caverns adventure, there is a set of ruins on the player map, that doesn't appear on the DM map. Nothing that can't be mitigated by the DM at the table.Regardless, these adventure books can easily be inserted into any fantasy game, including DnD 5e. The gridded maps are well worth the 3 bucks they cost and can be downloaded for free online.Overall, the rule book itself could be better laid out with cleaner rules. The adventure books are well worth the price and are absolutely 5, if not 6 stars. Again, it must be emphasized that this is its own system. If your looking for something more similar to classic DnD, I suggest the Old-School Essentials Rules Tome by Necrotic Gnome/Exalted Funeral. Its a bit more pricey, but well worth the price in a well constructed pocket sized book and works seamlessly with the Basic Fantasy Adventures. (it has rules for both Ascending and THAC0, making it fully transferrable from the Basic Fantasy books.)

I plan on using this rule set in my new campaign. It has the Old School feel, but is easy for new players to get into. The low price is a definite plus for people just getting into Role playing. I highly recommend this book.

If you are looking for a quick play, rules light fantasy RPG, Basic Fantasy is a great choice.My group has played a great deal of 5E and was looking for a rule set that was quicker and less complicated. Basic Fantasy fits the bill very nicely.

DO NOT LET THE PRICE FOOL YOU!This is a great fantasy system for those interested in starting fantasy roleplaying games or for experienced gamers looking to recapture their Red Box and Blue Box glory days (if you were an ‘80s gamer you know what I mean). Better yet, the creator wants it to be super affordable (seriously, look for the game’s website for loads of content) so your group can all have their own copy. Also, if you are trying to introduce young people to RPGs (like in an afterschool club or even in a classroom) it should be noted the content and artwork in this book is all rated PG.

Basic Fantasy RPG is an old school revival RPG broadly intended to replicate the Dungeons and Dragons B/X edition. The rulebook contains everything needed to run an old school style adventure in just over 140 pages but do note that you can get totally free pdf files of the rulebook and a very large amount of prepared adventure modules and excellent community written supporting documents on the basic Fantasy RPG website (which includes many additional character classes to a whole array of additional spells and character sheets). Clearly a labour of love by Chris Gonnerman, for the price you simply can't go wrong buying this core rulebook. Having paid a small fortune for DnD 5th edition, which is nevertheless a great RPG, if your pocket can't stretch to the £100 or so that 5th edition costs just for the players guide, DM guide and Monster Manual, or you simply fancy getting some old school vibe going at your table get this. It is simply superb value for money, and if money is really too tight just Google BFRPG and download everything for free. It will keep you gaming for decades.

Basic Fantasy is an OSR (old-school revival) tabletop rpg.Having GM'd a sessions for new players looking to get into ttrpgs. The system in itself is easy to pick up and play, character creation is straightforward and simple.Combat is quick and can be brutal, expect some characters to be killed off easily if reckless, I really like this as it makes the characters seem more fragile and less like action heros/gods, combat can sometimes be avoided if the players are careful and smart along with lucky in their dice rolls. ;)It revolves around mostly the d20 for actions like climbing, persuasion, attacking etc...What's more is you can try the game for completely free on their website and have access to all the premade adventures and supplements for no cost in .pdf or .ofd format. I purchased the book as I like to have a physical copy of the Core Rules with me when I GM the games.Would highly recommend this system for anyone wanting to give ttrpgs a go, or are looking for an alternative system from ones they already have.

I cannot praise this RPG enough. Not only is it extremely well put together, their website offers a host of extras absolutely free. Heck, you can even download the rules for free, but at less than a fiver for a complete RPG, who wouldn't want a copy of the book - 36 years ago, the D&D Basic set cost £10. I run an RPG club at the school in which I work and have been able to give every kid in the club their own copy of the rule book.

This is an easy, not over simplified, entry into the world of Fantasy Roleplay Gaming. For me it was a return to the "old school" way of playing a dungeon, wilderness, or town roleplay adventure in the sort of universe that D&D players would be familiar with. Everything is here in one inexpensive, easy to read handbook, from generating your player character through to building a world to adventure in, and designing the adventures you might have. If you have played or considered playing D&D but been put off by the complexity then this is the book for you!Highly recommended

This takes my players and I back to when we played the Red Box set of D&D. We have a great fun creating characters and have started the Morgansfort Adventure (which you can also purchase). The five players that I have are all very impressed with the speed that we are doing the dungeon. The rules are so light that we don't have things holding us back, we are just getting on with it. It's such a refreshing change to the games where we have bit of story and one fight and our 4 hour session is over. Here we have progressed through many sections of dungeon and they are just wanting more.