This is billed as a companion for Bare Bones Fantasy and focused on player characters. The cover looks nice and the interior uses the BBF fanwork template to good effect. The layout is OK if simplistic with several illustrations. Sadly they are BW images on a white background placed in black borders within the text. This I find rather jarring and really brakes up the text to hard. And makes it look cheaper than it is. The writing is concise and easy to read.

First is a chapter on expanded character creation. It begins with rules for 0 level characters. Something I like since running a DCC funnel. Due to the nature of BBF the characters can`t be totally blank slates and start with their primary skill already.

Next are random tables for starting professions. Each gives your character some background as well as some items specific to the profession at game start. Otherwise there is no mechanical effect.

What follows are several tables for your characters age, body type and height/weight. After that are more tables to help you flesh out characters background with family, friends, enemies and special events during your upbringing. There are even omens and portents on your birthday! All strictly optional but can help you to kick start your imagination.

Next is a section that deals with characters that begin the game higher than rank 0 or 1. The tables here deliver some background of what the Character may have done in the past to get him where he is now. As they mention in the text, this is also really useful to flesh out NPC and great for replacing dead characters.

Following this are 2 new races, first the Deep Dwarf. They are living deep underground, gathering forgotten knowledge and are capable of casting “low wizardry”. And they have their own profession table! The same goes for the Satyrs, the second race in this PDF. Additionally they also have their own age/body type /height/weight tables. Both races are fleshed out in the normal BBF way and usable right away. I especially like the Deep Dwarfs as they go against some of the usual dwarf tropes. In contrast the Satyrs are exactly what you may expect.

After the two races follows a short, general treatise on the skills in BBF. It aims to clear up some confusion and misconceptions about them and their use. This contained nothing new for me, but may be useful to you. But they do not stop there. They also represent two new skills, the unarmed combat specialist aka Brawler that is pretty much what it says on the tin. Their unique ability is to appraise an enemy’s abilities and fighting dirty. And there is a skill called Mentalist. They have the unique ability to increase they STR or DEX for one turn. Additionally they are spellcasters, a kind of mage/cleric hybrid. Both have their place and will find players.

The new skills are followed by another short treatise, this time on spells and magic. The unbalanced power has been a point of critic in regards to BBF for a long time. At its heart BBF is an old school game where spell casters where indeed much more powerful in later levels then a fighter type for example. This lack of any balance may offend modern sensibilities somewhat. What you find here gives you some options and ideas on how to handle this in your game if you feel the lack of balance is an issue. They also give some suggestions on specific spells and how you can alter some of the really flexible spells in BBF.

The next chapter deals with “Legacy Items”. These are magic items that start as mundane gear but are imbued by a character spending some of their own DP. They then have a basic power but can unlock more and more abilities as time goes on. There are only 2 example items here. They are interesting and useful but for me not enough to get a good feeling for a baseline. More of them please, and if they come in their own little PDF! Items that grow in power with their wielder have always been something I wanted to implement in my games and the way they are done here is good. However I would have liked more mechanical guidance in setting up "unlocks".

Then there is a rules expansions for BBF. The first is about splitting the single Body Points pool of BBF into two new pools, physical and mental health. An approach I can appreciate, as it allows for “mental attacks” against characters, a place where they usually are not armored. And with this you can have a whole new way to make enemies exciting.

Finally there is another short rules discussion, this time about multiple actions and why you should or should not use them. Definitely interesting and something to keep in mind as the ability to use multiple actions in a turn is one of the ways characters get more powerful in BBF.

In closing, the 34 pages are filled with useful stuff for your BBF game. At 4,95 USD I think it is well placed and well worth your consideration. The mix of new content and thought on BBF rules in general is great and makes this truly a companion to the core rules. If this is the quality we can look forward too I can`t wait for the next issue, “Combat and Encounters”.