Basic Fantasy Role-Playing (Freebie d20 Basic D&D clone)

Posted by Billiam Babble on Nov 22, 2009; 2:33am
URL: http://the-lost-and-the-damned.71.s1.nabble.com/Basic-Fantasy-Role-Playing-Freebie-d20-Basic-D-D-clone-tp4044886.html

I'm really nostalgic for my Basic D&D and Expert sets (it's unfashionable to admit it but the first ones I owned were from the revamped 1983 red box onwards  line)

Ah yes, a well written, simple selection of character classes, and handful of oddly prioritised rules, diversification and specialisms only occur at much later levels. (Sighs nostalgically.) Morale rules? Okay, strange ...

Not a Psionic Druid-Bard mixed class Half-Elf in site (okay, this is a painful flash back to a time when a player in my Basic/Expert campaign told me about the AD&D games he was playing with a friend.  Two months later -or so- I defect to the world of multiple hard back rules - man, the DMG seemed to be the fattest book in the world back then!)

Since the d20 revolution and the phenomena of OGL/SRD-sourced products, the revisionist completist in me is very drawn to "Basic Fantasy Role-Playing"

The full rulebooks are free to download here:

http://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html

Now, I've not played it, but I very much like the idea of playing it.

Sample look-its-old-school-d&d! character:

http://www.basicfantasy.org/sample.html


So it's based on d20 SRD but they've kept the old Saving Throw system - most curious (because Reflex Fortitude etc. seemed to make more sense).  However, no more need for the "To Hit" tables because they're using SRD Armour Class (+10) and the Attack bonus.

Quickly skimming the PDF it appears that the characters can attain 20th level, so it's really not heading past Companion Set in it's comparison with Basic D&D et al. but it looks complete nonetheless.  Lots of spells and monsters.  Not bad black and white illustrations either.  The font and layout is a homage to the 1978 sets - friendly letters, soothing on the eye...

So why use this system? (Hey, I'm not selling this, just looking for insane self-validation...)

Okay, imagine that you're running a youth club or a class or something like that and you want to introduce them to role playing (perhaps just to irritate religious parents), but you don't want your precious contemporary rulebooks or antique game boxes sullied by the ungrateful illiterate urchins... just print out the PDF.  Also you can make numerous copies and lend them out without worry if they become lost of damaged.  Of course you might have to share some dice, but hey, who amongst us does not already have too many dice? *grin*  (Cardboard spinners, anyone?)

In summary, this system is so close to Basic/Expert D&D that it might as well be Basic/Expert D&D - and if TSR/Wizards/Hasbro or whoever were still printing the old system the writers of BFRPG might just have a legal challenge.  

It's free!

(or really cheap on Lulu.com) ;)