Tuesday 25 January 2011

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game (Chris Gonnerman)

- This is cross-posted, amended and expanded from my review of the spiral bound copy on Lulu -


One day I'll write a proper review worthy of this game. But for now this will have to do!  Being a "retro-clone" and bound by various licenses, the author is probably not allowed to mention which boxed sets from the 80's this game emulates. This is a lovely rules-set not only because Dungeoneering characters can reach Level 20 (a level at which Dragons are easier to slay) but the rules are selected for fans of Basic and Expert play.

Combat also benefits from a d20-style revision to armour class allowing for instant reckoning of To-Hit rolls without the need for tables. This rulebook is an absolute bargain and there's plenty of downloads to go with these rules (not to mention a friendly online community). Even the font is well chosen for it's nostalgic effect. The black and white illustrations are perfectly evocative of "old-school" games.

Buy the books from Lulu Basic Fantasy Store:  http://stores.lulu.com/basicfantasy

The author, Chris Gonnerman, keeps the cost of the hard copies of this product to a minimum and even encourages people to download the PDF first from his Downloads Page.  
http://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html

The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Site is choc-a-bloc with free goodies and expansions as is the forum on the same site.

Did I also mention that you can play halfing thieves?  You can play goblins as well if you download the supplemental rules.  

You can even buy the T-shirt!  But I'm not posting the link to that because it's just silly.
What? You want to see one?
Here's the link:
http://www.cafepress.co.uk/basicfantasy
- quality cotton, I'm telling you. ;)

Make Mine Basic! :)

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