Mini Review - Trouble Brewing (Barebones Fantasy)

Barebones Fantasy is one of those games I really need to play. It's simple and flexible, and has the rare ability of being one of the few non-OSR games that I actually can grok.

Trouble Brewing is a BBF adventure that takes place in the Town of Tenkar. Let that settle in for a minute. Yep, same town that was detailed in the Keranak setting supplement. Any world with a Town of Tenkar that is full of taverns and dwarves has to be good ;)

So, Trouble Brewing also has the party being deputized to investigate the source of the acts of violence in town. Man, this adventure really was made for me.

This isn't a huge adventure - most likely it will wrap up in a session or so.

It does look like it should play pretty well, but if I have any complaint it seems a bit linear. Still, that's fairly common with shorter adventures. A good GM can easily work around that but I figured it was worth mentioning.

I'm personally having second thoughts about having a beer tonight after reading this ;P

From the blurb:

Relaxing at a tavern in Tenkar, shedding the dust of the trail from your boots and clothes, you stumble upon a danger that threatens the peace of this town. The local constable and his deputies are too busy dealing with its symptoms to address the cause. Are you and your friends ready to deal with the sinister secret beneath Tenkar?  

This is a rank 1 adventure for the BareBones Fantasy™ role-playing game. It is set in the Keranak Kingdoms™, but could be placed anywhere in any setting. Written by Michael Wall, this is the first in a multiple part story arc which is continued in Slimy Trail of the God-Snail.

Free RPG Product of the Week - Decahedron Magazine #1

Yeah, I know I don't always update this weekly - sometimes it lasts over 2 weeks. What can i say? I'm not a very good calendar watcher ;)

Today we swap in a new freebie into the Free RPG Product of the Week slot - Decahedron Magazine #1 for BareBones Fantasy RPG.

Bill Logan and Larry Moore put together an excellent RPG and now they've put together an excellent magazine to support it.

From the blurb:


Decahedron is a magazine designed to support the BareBones Fantasy RPG.  It contains articles written by gamers like you. Originally, this was intended to be a paid-for publication containing material DwD Studios produced, along with some fan-generated content in a profit-sharing model. However, due to the popularity of the game and the ever-growing community, we wanted to continue our roots of community development like we have done with our other fan-based products and sites.

This magazine is something we can all develop together and be proud of. Designed to be small, lite, but full of fun content, we hope you enjoy this issue, as we plan on many more to come. As long as gamers are contributing content they’ll have a place within the pages of Decahedron.


Within issue you'll find:

    a great cover by Joe Calkins.

    A spotlight on Jim Alcala Sales, an active member of the forums at dwdstudios.com.

    The Gaming Table: we all love d100 tables, and this issue gives you 100 imaginative descriptors for when you're stumped during character creation.  Assembled by various authors in the forums at dwdstudios.com.

    Grimoire: a regular article series containing more magical goodness for your game.  In this issue you'll read about the Commune spell, by Bill Logan.

    Game Options: N. Harrison Ripps walks us step-by-step through the process he took to come up with a balanced approach at two-weapon fighting.  It's a great article to give YOU the tools to create more balanced game options.

    Cavern of Kul'Thoru: Matt Jackson takes us on a tour of the lair of a hydra and his lizardman minions.  Complete with three different story hooks in case you're stumped how to drop it into your campaign.

    Creature Corner: our own Larry Moore gives us the Drop Horror, a low-rank creature ready for you to... ahem... drop on your unsuspecting players.

    Character Races: not all campaigns are based on Tolkein's works.  Mike Wikan gives us the Hriffani Nomads, a cat-like constructed race unloved by the gods but surviving despite all odds.

    The Undertemple of Eleroth: one of our goals is to give you a new map on the back cover of every issue of the webzine, a ready tool for able GMs to stock and build a story around.  This issue's map by Bill Logan.

Keranak Kingdoms Fantasy Setting Released - Includes a Tenkar's Tavern Location! ;)

The Keranak Kingdoms Fantasy Setting was just released by DWD Studios. While intended to be used with DWD's Barebones Fantasy RPG it's generic enough to used easily with any Fantasy RPG System of your choice.

I'll be posting a review of this sometime over the next few days, but in the meantime I wanted to draw your attention to a location found within the pages of the Kernak Kingdoms Fantasy Setting:

The border town of Tenkar, named after the dwarf Reik Tenkar and the establishment located just outside the town limits known as Tenkar's Tavern. It gets 5 paragraphs in total.

How frickin' awesome is that?

Barebones Fantasy is Released!

I'm sure you've seen numerous posts talking about Barebones Fantasy and the fact that it has released in PDF. I have one serious question - when is the Print on Demand coming?

It's not like you can't print it at home. DWD Publishing was nice enough to include a "printer friendly version" with the purchase of Barebones Fantasy, but a POD option would be nice. Larry, if you're listening, I have spoken!

I need to set aside some time to do an actual review of the system. I'll say this much, it's one of the few systems that my "grognard mind" can wrap around that isn't D&D based. I still need to work on the spell section, but it isn't so big I'll fail my Knowledge Roll ;)

I'm very impressed with the rewrite of the Maidens of Moordoth One-Sheet into a full sized adventure that's included with the Barebones RPG.

Wonderful, more lights flickering...

Damn you Frankenstorm!

From the blurb:


It may be small, but this game is a complete and unique fantasy role playing game. Add pencils and dice and you’ll have everything you need! Create your character and embark on an epic journey wrought with peril and rewards limited only by your imagination. Flip through the pages and you’ll see:

Classic character races: Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, and Human.
Eight character skills: Cleric, Enchanter, Leader, Scholar, Scout, Spellcaster, Thief, and Warrior.
Spells: 17 very flexible magic spells in a unique and simple magic system.
Equipment: a robust equipment list containing classic weapons and armor in addition to animals, gear, and even castles and ships.
Characters: Rules on creating and developing your character.
Rules lite: simple game rules relying on rapid resolution, action, and adventure.
Cool tools to get your creativity flowing: Magic item creation, alchemy, rune craft, spell scrolls, creature creation, traps, treasures, and more!
Adventure generation: we give you the nuts & bolts for developing memorable adventures, you sprinkle with creativity
Random dungeon creation system to help a GM prepare for a night’s fun.
A bestiary of over 45 creatures, ready to spread havoc on the world!
A broad brush-stroke setting, Keranak KingdomsTM, complete with brief history, atlas, and pantheon. A great backdrop for your epic saga.
Portable: fully indexed, e-book friendly, well-organized, and fits neatly in your pack or a large pocket. Take it with you and have it ready for an impromptu game. Try doing that with other fantasy role-playing game’s core rulebooks!
Within this zip file you should have:

BBF-Core Rulebook.pdf
BBF-Character Sheet.pdf
BBF-Player Reference.pdf
Kerenak Kingdoms Map.jpg
Keranak Kingdoms Map (Hexes).jpg
And because we like saving ink:

BBF-Core Rulebook-Print Friendly.pdf
BBF-Character Sheet-Print Friendly.pdf
BBF-Player Reference-Print Friendly.pdf
And finally we've added a free adventure module:

Maidens of Moordoth.pdf
Maidens of Moordoth-Print Friendly.pdf
MaidensOfMoordoth-GM.jpg
MaidensOfMoordoth-Player.jpg

Please join the site over at www.dwdstudios.com/barebones and get involved.  This game was written under a creative commons license, meaning YOU can write stuff too.  We already have several great promising adventure modules submitted, and we're excited to see what you add to the mix.

Just Under a Week to the Release of Barebones Fantasy RPG

I'm beginning to think Larry and Bill from DWD Studios must be insane. They are releasing a new, high quality RPG into the market in a week and they aren't using Kickstarter to do so. WTF guys!?! How dare you use a traditional method to release your game on time. You could have used Kickstarter and nearly guarantee a late product release ;)

I've been following Barebones Fantasy since the springtime and getting peeks at early betas of the rules.  Color me impressed. I'm an Old School / OSR type of gamer. I've tried Savage Worlds, been intrigued by the Ubiquity system, consider running QUERPs for a bit, but time and time again I come back to one of the various D&D clones or illegitimate offspring. So it may be surprising that I'm actually chomping at the bit to run Barebones Fantasy - I just need to free up the time. It doesn't hurt that the setting book being released a bit later has a town of Tenkar and a Tenkar's Tavern in it ;)

I'm actually thinking of using the included tables from the Adventure Idea Generation section to roll up some ideas for adventures. Must be the "Chart Guy" aspect of my OSR-ness. What can I say? I love me some well done random tables.

The monster section reeks of Old School goodness, but Larry - where the rodents? Can't have a dungeon without rodents :)

Maybe I'll kick off a twice a month BBF campaign with the new year. I already have an idea or two rattling around in my noggin.  Hell, maybe I just need to clone myself and send one off to work and keep one self just for gaming :)