This is an absolutely fantastic game! I'll write more when I have a chance, but the TL:DR; version is:

Totally intuitive and steamlined mechanics - it all just makes sense and very new player friendly.

Completely customizable characters - make exactly the type of character you envision without burdensome and cumbersome mechanics.

Remarkably complete and deep for a rules light game with all sorts of tables, an extensive bestiary, and easy rules for converting D20 system foes.

The intuitiveness, consistency, and simplicity of the rules makes rulings on the fly a snap.

Just darn fun! Allows players and GM to focus on story and roleplaying.

I can not recommend this game highly enough! Don't let the lack of fancy graphics and non-polished looking production of this game throw you off - it was a deliberate decision by the designer for accessibility reasons. True-d6 is a waaaaaay better game in every respect than 99% of all the slick and glossy products out there. I am really really hoping Lucio will followup with adaptations to other settings. Final words: Try it, I think you'll love it!

I am a systems collector. It’s a problem, I know, but I suspect that there are others of us out there, relentlessly pursuing the unattainable, the Holy Grail, the ‘perfect’ system. I’ve collected over 1400 titles on DTRPG, and have a library of print books dating back to the start of the TTRPG hobby that I count by the numbers of crates they occupy. The search has been a bit of an obsession. I know there is no Holy Grail, nothing is perfect for everyone, but of all those countless titles, from publishers large and small, Eyes Beyond the Torchlight and the Target 12 game system has become hands-down my favorite for many reasons.

The system is simple and elegant, logical and intuitive, easy to explain and understand, with unified and consistent principles. At the same time, it doesn’t feel overly stripped down, or so uniform that every action/encounter/etc feels the same or generic. It plays quickly and easily while still allowing for tactical choices, and somehow manages to feel both familiar and utterly novel at the same time. It's also extremely flexible - So far, I've run it as fantasy, sci-fi, sicence-fantasy, cyberpunk, and modern action (espionage and monster hunters), and it's been performed seamlessly. In short, I think it is simply brilliant.

Here are just a few of the specific elements I think propel this title to the top of my list: 1) The d20 + Attribute dice mechanic mitigates the brutal random ‘swinginess’ of d20 (and other straight percentile) systems; 2) The way that same mechanic eliminates the need for an additional roll to determine damage or other effects; 3) The ease of importing d20 and OSR materials, so all those old books on your shelf or in your closet can be a ready resource for inspiration; 4) Rolls are player facing, allowing the GM to focus on storytelling; 5) The ease with which the system lends itself to table rulings rather than rules lawyering; 6) It’s just plain fun to play! 7) The good folks at at Max HP recently released the SRD for Target 12, making it possible for community creators to add more new content for this fantastic game.

I highly encourage anyone who likes games that allow you to focus on playing, stories, characters and camaraderie, rather than micro-systems and specific rules for every eventuality, to give this title a look. You’ll be very glad you did.

This is a GREAT game! I'm a fan of rules light systems and have collected a lot (too many, its kind of embarrassing) looking for that perfect blend of flexibility and completeness. Every other product has left me wanting in some areas, with Magic systems typically being the most troublesome - too vague and hand wavy, too DnD or 'Vancian,' etc. Others have fiddly bits that can be a little too meta for some groups (Fate/FAE, PBtA, etc.), or mechanics that are overly simplified to the point of all rolls feeling the same (the Tiny D6 series feels a little like this to me). BareBones Fantasy (and the other games in this series) is the only one that to me gets it all right.

Character Creation and Development: Character creation is quick, well explained, flexible enough that you can start your character on the path you envision for them, detailed enough that every character feels unique, and streamlined enough that you're not stuck in a min-maxing analysis-paralysis. Character development is equally flexible, and allows you to tailor your character over time into exactly who you want them to be, all without having to keep track of a dozen different bits (I'm looking at you, Feats, Talents, Perks, etc systems!).

Mechanics: Ever since the first time I played Call of Chthulu a million years ago, I've liked the d100 (roll equal to or under) mechanic because its so easy to grasp - if you've got a 63% of doing something, you know immediately what that means. It also makes it really easy for new players to have an intuitive sense of how good, bad, or meh, they are at something. No curves to figure out, or percentile and mods to multiply by 5, etc. The problem for me has always been that most d100 systems get way too bogged down in minutiae. Hit locations, armor specific to hit locations, strike ranks and strike rank mods and costs, etc. (Not to mention the magic systems....) BBF streamlines everything to where it flows simply, easily and naturally, and yet somehow manages to preserve meaningful options and tactical choices. And it does all of this with one set of consistent mechanics that handles everything other systems have to create subsystems, feats, talents, class level benefits, etc to accomplish.

I'll give you one example from the combat system to illustrate this. Let's say you're in fight and you have the intiative (I also love how BBF handles initiative - simple, brilliant!) and you decide you want to strike quickly and try to take out your opponent before they can hit you. You can choose to attack more than once on your turn. Each action after the first on your turn suffers a cumulative -20 penalty to your score, so for two attacks, the first would be at your skill level and the second would be at skill level -20. Feeling saucy? A third attack would be at -40, but hey, with luck and/or a really high skill rating, you can pull it off. HOWEVER, actively defending against attacks is also an ability roll, so if you commit to multiple attacks, by the time it comes to defend yourself you're going to taking another cumulative -20 to each defense roll. No need for the players or GM to try to keep track of some special class/level/feat benefit that lets someone take multiple attacks and remember the specific penalties associated with those maneuvers. One mechanic, meaningful tactical choices, simple mechanics. Of course you can combine other actions with attacks or defense in combat to create cinematic maneuvers, but it all uses the same concepts. Magic is equally simple and flexible, without being hand-wavy, and the magic-using professions (skills) are different enough to give them each their own unique and distinct flavors, strengths, and limitations, without being cumbersome.

I can't recommend this game, or really any of DwD's products, strongly enough. If you're new to them, I would recommend this one as the gateway game, becuase the others add a little more complexity - but they are built on the same platform, so if you're familiar with BBF, you'll easily catch on. Also, the Keranak Kingdoms, the default setting, is really interesting and rife with adventure possibilities and great lore that get's your imaginitive possibilities flowing. Just like the main game, to me the setting finds that perfect balance of intriguing detail and broad brush strokes that doesn't paint the GM into a canonical box but isn't so vague or generic that it feels like just one of hundreds of fantasy trope worlds.

Recommendation: Buy this product! If you love it like I do, get more stuff and support the publisher so they'll make more great stuff. And spread the word - this small company makes games that are absolute gems and I'd love to see them get the recognition I feel they deserve.