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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The OSR for the Lapsed Gamer - Free PDFs - Basic Fantasy RPG


Basic Fantasy RPG is pretty much a bridge between 3x and the older editions of D&D. It was the first OGL based game that was meant to emulate Old School play and be used as such (OSRIC was originally written to make it easier for publishers to write old school adventures).
What Is Basic Fantasy RPG
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. 
Basic Fantasy RPG is an Open Source game system, supported by dedicated fans worldwide who have contributed hundreds of pages of rules supplements, adventure modules, and other useful and enjoyable game materials...
It succeeds in this goal of replicating early D&D based RPGs very well, not just in the look, feel and mechanics but in presentation too.

Probably the most amazing thing about the Basic Fantasy RPG is the quality of the supplements and adventures, available for free in PDF and at cost in print.

How inexpensive?


Less than 11 bucks for the rules and two campaigns with multiple adventures in each. Personally, I really like BF1 Morgansfort: The Western Lands Campaign. It has a B2, Keep on the Borderlands feel while still being different

Here's what I'm going to do. One random commenter on this post will get the above three books in print sent to their home. US residents only, as this will be shipping via Amazon Prime. Don't fret, everyone can grab the above and more for free in PDF directly from the Basic Fantasy RPG website.

You need to comment by 930 PM Eastern Time, September 24th, 2014 to be considered.

58 comments:

  1. BFRPG is well done - I'd be happy to give those books a home.

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  2. I have to say that Basic Fantasy is my favorite out of all the OSR games that I've had a chance to try out. It has that perfect 'feel' to it. I've advised many to go grab the pdfs and print copies when they were looking for something old school.

    Also I just wanted to chime in how much I enjoy this system. Please don't put me into the random drawing as I already own those. Let them go to somebody who doesn't.

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  3. Man, those have been sitting in my Amazon Wishlist for so long. Keep meaning to check it out but never get up to it. Always too buy I suppose.

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  4. Right, will give the PDFs a look...or addition to the long list of.

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  5. I've heard good things about this game, so I'll have to take a look at the PDF. Your series of OSR posts is inspiring me to take a second look at many of the games you've mentioned.

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  6. Well this is pretty swell! I'd love to have these in print. Thanks for continuing to spread the word!

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  7. All three have been on my wishlist as well.

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  8. I would like to have those things. You are a generous fellow, Mr. Tenkar.

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  9. This is one of the few OSR games I have not messed around with. I have always been impressed by how much support it has.

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  10. I'm in and need something new to read. Thanks!

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  11. I considered Basic Fantasy for my most recent campaign, but DCC won out. Would love the copies though!

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  12. I'm really glad you're doing this series; the giveaway is a nice bonus. Is it supposed to emulate B/X or Red Box?

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  13. Don't send them to me, I already have too many OSR games on my shelf and live in fear of dying under a torrent of collapsed tomes every day.

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  14. How random does the commenter have to be?

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  15. Basic Fantasy is pretty great. The only minor quibble is its use of Ascending AC, but if your a Descending fan like me its dirt easy to convert.

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  16. Tangential to the Lapsed Gamer series of posts, is there a good reference for the game mechanic differences between the various early editions of D&D (LBB vs Basic vs AD&D vs Holmes vs Moldvay)?

    I have never managed to get my mind wrapped around them because I grew up with my dad's trunk of books and we mixed and matched everything into one amorphous whole.

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  17. I like Morgan's Fort, I need to re-read it.

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  18. There's a boatload of adventures and other supplemental material, for it, too, and it all converts so easily to just about any old school D&D-type game you want. I've never even played Basic Fantasy per se, but I've used quite a few bits and pieces in my B/X game.

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  19. Basic Fantasy was the game to make me take another look at games I had played in my past, both D&D and others like MSH and Alternity.

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  20. I was about to start Basic Fantasy with the kids before deciding on Labyrinth Lord (and then D&D 5e to give it a try). I love the adventures and never quite understood why it seemed to stall out - I guess because it didn't have a corporate backer like LL or S&W.

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    1. Stall out? We have five multimodules in print besides the Core Rules, which are in their second edition; the third edition is due before Christmas, along with our monster expansion, the Basic Fantasy Field Guide. J.D. Neal just released the sixth and final part of his Saga of the Giants adventure series on the website, which means that by Christmas 2015 we might have the series in print (as a single multimodule, most likely, since it's way more cost effective that way). I'm hoping to have my Strongholds of Sorcery multimodule released sometime in the spring. The Core Rules sell at a steady pace on Amazon.com. Stall out? Not hardly.

      Just visit our forum and you'll see how busy we are.

      http://basicfantasy.org/forums

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  21. I have somehow skipped bfrpg these last few years. Thanks for the reminding me.

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  22. Not sure if it was mentioned but we just released Adventure Anthology 1 in Print as well.. It as several adventures of various levels that you can throw into any existing campaign!

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  23. I've been meaning to check out BFRPG for a while now.

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  24. Excellent system , easy to run , easy to play , and easy to modify.

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  25. Big fan of Basic Fantasy, remember running across it online even before having heard the term OSR.

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  26. They also recently added an adventure anthology to the list available thru amazon. I've bought many copies of the core book to give as gifts. A complete print rpg for under 5 bucks!

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  27. For me BFRPG was always that sweet spot RPG. It worked, like you said, as bridge between older D&D and 3.0. But it also worked as a bridge between Basic D&D and Advanced D&D circa 1981.
    It was, and many ways still is, my favorite retro-clone.

    (BTW no need to enter me in the drawing. I have those books already)

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  28. I would love to compare this to my Holmes basic set, even if the box has a moldvay book jammed in there as well

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  29. I did some art for their monster book and I gotta say that, while not quite my cup of tea (I tend to avoid anything that has influences of D&D 3x and newer) I admire the look and feel of the game and will definitely be picking up the Morgansfort supplement for possible use in my RC or LL games.

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    1. The only thing influenced by newer additions was ascending AC which to be honest was my least favorite thing about the older editions..

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  30. Basic Fantasy was my preferred OSR before I found Swords & Wizardry. I still think it's pretty awesome.

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  31. This looks amazing! How compatible is it with 3.5 resources? I see all the math is there to easily convert OSR.

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  32. This sounds very interesting. I've only tried OSRIC and Swords and Wizardry.

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  33. Yup, have to admit that BFRPG is pretty decent. The adventures are fairly straight-up adaptable to B/X or LL, too. Be sure to grab J.D. Neal's Monkey Isle pdf.

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  34. I'm running some Basic Fantasy RPG - sandbox campaign. Loving it!

    In the (unlikely) event I get the "win", I'm a-donating the books (since I have all 3).

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  35. One of the great things about BFRPG is the community. Everyone on the forum seems amiable and willing to help with rules questions or content ideas.

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  36. This might be good to give my daughter to try her hand at DMing.

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  37. Thanks for the quick Basic Fantasy write up!

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  38. Looks like a nice presentation; I'd love to DM this for my group.

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  39. Who wouldn't want more BFRPG in their lives?

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  40. I love reading through campaigns, these (and the rules) will be finding their way to my tablet soon, nothing beats having a print copy for use around a table!

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  41. Just picked up BFRPG on Amazon and it is very well done! It may become my goto Basic D&D game.

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  42. Love me some BFRPG! Good to see it gettin' some love in return. Good post.

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  43. Love this promotion! This is the system I use at my table, and I would love to have additional copies to share with my players!

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  44. I've never played the system, but anything that brings people to the old ways is a good thing in my book!

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  45. I've followed Gonnerman's work on BFRPG, and always planned on playing it. I need to get a "round tuit".

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  46. Your return on investment for the Lulu printed rules book is grand! There is very little I need to add or change when I use these rules to run an old school fantasy adventure game.

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