Of all the retro clones we tried. My groups and I prefer this one (Okay, Whitebox Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game is our second best!). But Basic has more meat than Whitebox. BF does a great old school job and has everything you need in one book. There are supplements of course, but personally we find the Equipment Emporium to be the best of these as we prefer to keep rules and other books to a minimum.

The bad... (Only my personal opinion or my tastes of course!)

Everything else other than the human has darkvision which IMO kills the dungeon crawling factor, I find darkvision OP and makes the need for torches, lanterns and light spells a joke!

Thief skills instead of % should be set to 1d6 since pretty much everything else is done with 1d6, like... Forcing open a door, roll 1d6. Look for something, roll 1d6. Listen, roll 1d6 etc. You get the idea. I think the universal use of 1d6 for all these tests would further simplify this simple game. What is also strange is that many other tests rely heavily on saving throws or some things such as again dealing with doors may require rolling 1d10 or even 1d20 in some special cases, which is so odd. These rules seem strange and all over the place even though I understand that the goal of Basic Fantasy is to emulate the rules of old.

That being said, the "bad stuff" above is easily corrected with house rules.

The good...

The rules are simple and quick to use. (Even considering my personal nitpicking!) They simulate old school well. It's hard to be an adventurer, you're not super heroes here.

We love that the game stays true to the basics (pun intended!). What I mean by this is... The game just uses the four classic classes (Cleric, Fighter, Thief, Magic-user) and the same with the races (Human, Dwarf, Elf and Halfling). There's nothing wrong with playing with other classes and or races (Everyone has their favorites!), but for the core book it's good to just have the basics so we don't have to remove stuff too much.

There are no setting in this book. (Some may see this as a negative) I don't because it allows us to use whatever campaign setting we prefer. For me, that's one of its biggest strengths.

The book is well formatted and clear, easy to flip through and to find things. After a while, it becomes second nature.

The game is easily accessible, that is, it is easy to find PDFs or physical copies. The PDFs are all free, and the copies are so cheap you can buy them for your whole gaming group and spend less than a single D&D book.

The whole thing shows passion and dedication, it feels like a real labor of love, which is rare these days. This game is not meant to take money from you, it is meant to entertain you with endless fun and adventures ahead. You can't beat that! Other books in the old school fantasy genre may look prettier, get more hype, etc., but they'll never hug you the way Basic Fantasy does.

LOVE this game. It's simple, easy to learn, and best of all SUPER cheap.

Stellar system! It is a lot like classic D&D (AKA Basic, B/X, BECMI) except that classes & races have been separated. However, the human race leaves much for want in my opinion. I decided to give humans +1 to all saving throws instead of the higher numbers for two specific ones you get with other races. This is my attempt to echo my understanding of a Gygaxian humans are versatile & decent at everything while other races are specialized & really good at some things but not others. This rule tweak works for my parents & my friends, but it may not be for everybody. The rest of the rulebook offers everything you need & an incredible assortment of monsters. It also has lots of pictures for most of the monsters while still staying space-efficient, as opposed to the D&D Rules Cyclopedia where it has few photos for every creature. The AC's of all are modified to ascending type, giving the number one needs to roll to hit. This removes the need for a "to-hit" table which can be very handy. I fing it is still easy to quickly convert to the older descending AC system in your head if you prefer. I highly recommend a printed copy. I bought a hardcover from Amazon before I realized I could have ordered it here. They are the same price, though, to my knowledge, so it would be great to add to your cart here so you get the combined shipping if you are picking up a few basic D&D modules like I did! I much prefer BFRPG to 5e & I think it is a wonderful set of simple rules that leave lots of room to player imagination & beginner or expert DM's alike (:

Eu e meus amigos gostamos muito de algumas mecanicas e da facilidade e flexibilidade do jogo.

Basic Fantasy RPG is one of the true gems of the OSR world! It's a great way to get started in tabletop gaming. It's perhaps the first retroclone and still one of the best. Anyone who grew up playing D&D in the late 70s or early 80s will instantly find themselves at home. It keeps the core mechanics of the game while making a few intuitive changes like ascending armor class. The core of the system is very simple and easy to learn, and all you need to play is just this book, a few dice and some friends! Yet the game is strongly supported with dozens of supplements as well as a vibrant, active online community. BFRGP has its own forum and the author posts there frequently. The core book really is a self contained game but you can as much or as little as you like! Supplements add rules for wizards, new spells, new/old classes like the Scout, Paladin & Ranger, or you can run it lean and tight. This book will give you the basic races and classes, the mechanics and combat rules, spells & weapons and enough monsters to get you started. And there's a pretty well developed campaign setting you can get for free!

That leads to the next thing, and this is huge- the book is free! You can download it for free and see what you think of it. If you like it- and you probably will- you can continue to use the PDFs or buy a hard copy. The hard copy is very inexpensive and even the hardcover is only $14!

Mechanically it's very much like the old B/X D&D of the late 70s/early 80s. You have the familiar classes and the races you'd expect. Hit dice, weapon damage, it's all like you remember. The art in the book varies between really nice and cheap'n'cheeful but the entire presentation is clean and professional. A beginner will pick it up easily but there's plenty of material out there to expand the game. Adding all the optional rules will get you pretty close to the pre-UA AD&D 1e.

In case I haven't been clear I love this book! BFRPG is a great game, one which I still play weekly with a steady group. You can't go wrong with it, highly recommended!

Basic Fantasy is quickly becoming my favorite game!

I offer you valid reasons to run a campain with this rulesystem. this game has a nice death rate, it means that even a group of goblins brings some tension to the game table. Each victory becomes a satisfaction and gratification for you as a player and for your character. the fear of even the weakest creatures gives back a certain dignity to the monsters used by the master. Furthermore, the lack of customization capacity is a boost for players to be special and unique In Game and not through opportunistic combinations of classes / races / etc. the power lever of the characters offers new ideas to the Gm to manage the campain that creates. The game is fast and smooth. moreover it has a very high support and expansion (new classes are there if you deem it necessary). it is really easy to modify and adapt the rules to your needs and it is still quite close to a modern game even if it recovers concepts of D & d B / x. on the website there are a lost of great quality adventures and great community.

Hardcover printed in the UK. The book is nicely laid out and there is nice black and white artwork throughout. I have used this role-playing game for solo play and I have also been running a campaign with a group for several weeks. It is very easy to run and play and the mechanics are very streamlined. There is a very nice selection of monsters and spells and everything you would expect from a fantasy OSR game in terms of character classes (magic user, cleric, fighter, thief) and races (human, dwarf, elf, halfling). Basic Fantasy RPG makes running a game very easy. I never feel like I am floundering for rules as it seems to cover everything I need without being rules heavy at all. This is my favourite fantasy role-playing game system due to how easy it is to run and how much material you get in the book. There are also plenty of supplemental materials and adventures available for free from the Basic Fantasy website.

Very nice piece of work. Clear and compact, generic - does not have any added world or political constraints, is totally open to storytelling, which suits me completely.

Best of the old school d&d clones. Especially with the optional rules in this edition allowing your characters to live longer and attempt things not previously allowed for their character class.

I wrote a three part blog post series about BFRPG which is too long to insert it here. http://spacebeyondreality.com/post/basic-fantasy-1 http://spacebeyondreality.com/post/basic-fantasy-2 http://spacebeyondreality.com/post/basic-fantasy-3

Here's a summary:

Basic Fantasy has quite a bland name which doesn't reflect the refined ruleset it presents. Perhaps it is a fitting name as the system is a complete one yet it is basic enough to understand and to build upon with supplements.

As the author states: "The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a rules-light game system modeled on the classic RPG rules of the early 1980's. Though based loosely on the d20 SRD v3.5, Basic Fantasy RPG has been written largely from scratch to replicate the look, feel, and mechanics of the early RPG game systems. It is suitable for those who are fans of "old-school" game mechanics. Basic Fantasy RPG is simple enough for children in perhaps second or third grade to play, yet still has enough depth for adults as well."

I can attest to the fact that the game takes the spirit of the Basic/Expert Set from the 1980's but doesn't shy away from making some changes to suit players with slightly more modern sensibilites. That being said, it still is a straight D&D game that oozes an old-school-flair. It is not a modern reimagining like games as Adventure Fantasy Game or Old School Hack. BFRPG succeeds at creating an OSR ruleset from scratch that evokes the feel of the original game it was modeled after.

The rules are somewhat lightweight. It comes down to what you call rules-lite. I personally think of systems like Risus or Wushu as lightweight and that leaves Basic Fantasy more in the spectrum between rules-lite and medium. Be that as it may, it is certainly lighter than D&D 3e, 4e or Pathfinder.

BFRPG limits itself to the core material, for instance the 4 core classes, but is still complete in its own right. Yet it really shines when the (free) supplements come in. There are many optional rules, classes etc. and they are completely modular. That means, you can tailor the game to your needs. Next to the stuff I would have expected (Druids, Paladins, Rangers, more spells and options for Magic-Users and Clerics, more races...) I found some interesting material which I haven't seen before, i.e. the Tiny Hitpoint Companion which lets you exchange damage points for maneuvers. The community is really a great thing. Its output is amazing as you can see from the sheer amount of additional resources that are available.

Generally, I can see Basic Fantasy as a product for several generations if you like old school roleplaying. Like the original game it can be grasped by young teenagers but will also suffice the gaming needs of adults. The prize is also a selling point especially for a younger target audience which might not have that much cash at hand.

What I like: While old school at its core BFRPG makes some clever rule changes which I as a gamer of a "newer generation" really like and which makes transitioning easier. The rules are clearly laid out and have matured over several iterations. The look is charmingly retro and the artwork is pretty good and especially useful in the bestiary chapter. The author took newer players and Game Masters into consideration and adds advice for them. I like how he doesn't assume that only veteran players with a nostalgic feeling towards old school games will play this game. Basic Fantasy is easily fitted to your needs with tons of additional material. What's more, I welcome the open-source idea and the embrace of the community-driven approach. Best of all, the electronic versions (PDF and .odt format) are free and the print products can be bought cheaply at different sources.

What I would have liked to see/Things that don't work for me: While Chris Gonnerman takes the trouble to be inclusive of novices I am missing concrete advice for how to play the game. Like the original he mostly sticks to the pure mechanics. I would have liked to see an actual play example with advice for a fledgling GM and more. I'd also like some help on converting material from other OSR games. Granted, experienced players won't need this "beginner material" but here I find the the intention of the book a bit at odds. Actually, the resource I'm refering to has already been written and by exactly the same author: RPG Primer and Old School Playbook. I think at least its part about converting material could be useful in Basic Fantasy itself. Finally, a small nitpick: While it's a good thing that the product line of BFRPG is under constant revision it may be a bit annoying to update all downloads every now and then. While the retro old school look may be a plus factor for some it might discourage others.

This product is very much in keeping with old school D&D, and provides everything you need to run a game in that setting without having to collect a bunch of different supplements and so on. All in all, I consider it historically accurate, while at the same time being streamlined enough to be playable. A solid traditional game, complete with monster manual!