Basic Fantasy RPG quick overview

I thought I would kick off this new blog with a review/overview of the Basic fantasy core book. Of course I'm a fan, or this blog would not exist.

Basic fantasy is in it's 3rd edition. A game by Chris Gornnerman with contribution from a bunch of talented folks. It's 166 pages with very nice black and white art that feels right at home in an old school role playing game.

Right out of the gate I can say Basic fantasy is great because it is a complete role-playing game in a single volume. Sure there is a lot of additional classes and options online, but you can get a lot of gaming, years worth of gaming with just this book. Nothing shows that more than a quick breakdown of different sections of the core book.
Pages 1-2 is an introduction to the game.
Pages 3-9 cover character creation.
Pages 10-14 cover equipment.
Pages 15-35 covers magic and spells.
Pages 36-53 covers rules for Adventuring.
Pages 54-128 covers monsters.
Pages 129-143 covers treasure and magic items.
Pages 144-163 covers game mastering information.
Pages 164-165 is index and OGL.

The online community and support for basic fantasy is pretty amazing. There is dozens of free suppliment pdfs on their website, Lulu, and RPGnow. Printed core rules, Adventures, and suppliments can be purchased on LuLu and Amazon. The prices are amazingly reasonable, most $5 or under. With only the hard cover rule book on LuLu being over $5.

The best way for me to describe Basic fantasy as a game is to say is at it's core it's a stripped down version of 3rd edition D&D using the OGL. Basic fantasy uses the OGL to emulate earlier editions of the game. I like to say "Basic fantasy is a classic car, with all the style and class that pushes all the right nostalgia buttons. Under the hood it's a modern fuel efficient reliable engine."

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