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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game $9.99
Average Rating:4.7 / 5
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Ian S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/06/2014 01:21:09

For anyone interested in an original and extremely well made fantasy RPG, grab this. Many people call it a light game, but in reality it is actually a medium complexity game that is written so intuitively that it feels rules-light. It is almost as complex as Savage Worlds, but it is more compact and excellently organized.

The system itself is a straightforward, but unique, roll under d% game. The unique part is that classes (warrior, cleric, spellcaster, etc.) are skills. In order to be better at fighting, you raise your warrior skill. In order to learn more spells, raise your spellcaster skill. It is quite ingenious and a hell of a lot of fun.

The magic system is also unique. There are only a handful of spells, 17 I believe. However, each spell is flexible in effect based on the caster's desires. Spells also increase in power and effectiveness as the caster gains levels in his spellcaster (or cleric) skill. Another unique touch is the enchanter class/skill that allows you to make potions, magic items, and use rune magic.

The races are the standard Tolkien inspired Human, High Elf, Halfling, and Dwarf. Their statistical adjustments have a moderate impact on the character and an important choice during character creation. There is another book for this game, called Flesh and Blood I believe, that has many more races if you need more.

To top it off, the book contains a random idea/adventure generator and the skeleton of a setting for GM's to use as the frame work for a campaign. There is a separate setting book that expands it a bit further if you find it to your liking. The monster section is fairly small, but it covers all the basics and gives some templates to help create some critters if you need more. Monster stat blocks are not complicated.

All in all, it is an excellent book for a decent price. It has just pushed out Savage Worlds for my favorite in the fantasy genre. I must note, that due to how print-on-demand books are produced I would recommend the softcover rather than the hardcover version.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Andrew S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/27/2013 12:47:57

This game and it's setting have reminded our group why we loved RPGs in the first place. Easy to learn, but with subtle depths, it is all you could want in a rules light system. In fact, because it is rules light and the setting is broad brushstrokes, everyone at the table has ownership of the world and how it can develop. I would but anything DwD publishes for this game!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by William M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/18/2013 08:45:49

BBF does a remarkable job being both rules lite and very complete. Honestly, you could indeed play with nothing more than this slim tome alone for years. The skill system is very complete and easily tweaked for personal campaigns. Everything is rather straight forward mechanically, adding your own rule options and sub systems is a breeze. I really hope to see the system makes its transition into other genres too.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Josh L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/07/2013 14:08:54

So. Much. Fun. ...And so simple! I can recommend this product to veteran gamers as well as to any GM wishing to obtain new players in order to introduce them to the world of Pen&Paper RPGs.

I must say I live and play this game in Germany. Yes, you guys made it over the pond!! I was able to get a newbie gamer to play this game who isn't good at English at all. She understands and likes the system and she keeps asking me to GM more and more adventures using this system.

You should really have this translated to several languages!

Thank you for this wonderful system and all the great time it gave us.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Kyrinn E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/27/2013 13:40:16

I had the honour of playing this while it was still in playtest, and I have played it since, as well as GMing a session. So much of the system is a brilliant distillation of core Fantasy gaming concepts into a really smooth and fast-playing rules set. The Class es keyed to each of the Ability Scores makes creating a non-confining character which still has the convenience of class-construction and even faster than anything outside of Microlite20 or WMR.

The creature construction guidelines make for very simple, low to no-prep encounter fine tuning, and coupled with a very exciting combat system, the 'meat and potatoes' of Fantasy gaming is held up to a high standard for other systems to aspire.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Keith P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/22/2013 04:00:19

This is a great buy. The game is very well designed and is a very complete system despite its brevity. Even though it is called barebones, that does not mean more work for the DM/GM. Everything you need to run a complete campaign is right in this little book.

I am running a Pathfinder campaign Rise of the Runelords while waiting for D&Dnext. That was the plan at least, but honestly, I think BBF will be our next game. Next might never be next...



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Tim H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/16/2013 18:35:22

Excellent system, very easy to learn and one that doesn’t hold up play. The original skill system works well, defining a character as the player wants. The magic system is very simple and quite innovative – no single spells but catch-all groups such as “offensive strike”. Here the caster chooses a direct magical assault of some sort (e.g. fire, ice, lightning) or charges a weapon / fist for extra damage. The power of the spell is determined by the casters skill. Simple. The book is well organised and very complete – comprehensive kit lists, how to do things, monsters, treasure, adventure and dungeon generation for ideas etc – it really is all here. A neat threat system keeps the game in balance too – very well thought out. Whats bad then? The only really bad thing for me was the random dungeon generator – first it is all hand-drawn (what happened to the ruler), second, well the generator is in a table format; roll a die for rows then columns and there you go. The average of a D10 is 5.5 so what is in this space of the table? A corridor, an empty room? Nope. A trap. The most common encounter generated is a trap. Hmmm. The idea is good, but the execution needs improving.
Along with the pdf, I ordered the print on demand book. I live in the UK, and it was delivered three days after ordering!! Yes, I paid extra for first class postage but even so, thats quick! The pages are slightly out of position when the book was bound but for an extra $4 I’m more than happy with it. The book and system lives up to its claims of being a complete, rules lite system, and is more than capable of keeping a group going for many, many months. A very solid 5 out of 5.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Brian K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/03/2013 20:04:30

I had a great time with BareBones Fantasy. I started making a character, but I'm bad at time mgmt. and was trying too hard to think up a character concept. I had three back-to-back games to play, so I chickened out and made a character with the online NPC generator. Character Gen was easy to follow and I liked that I could pick a blend of a couple different classes from the outset, like warrior- thief-caster. Of the simple systems I've played, BBF seems best at having hybrid characters out of the gate without major penalties in first several levels.

Dungeon World, Warrior Rogue & Mage, Old School Hack, Searchers of the Unknown, are all one-shot type or simple systems I've played. I would rank BareBones Fantasy right up there with Dungeon World as being the most feature-full, simple fantasy system with lots of replay-ability or being campaign worthy.

As with any game system, it helps to have a great GM that knows the rules. I got to play with Larry Moore, one of the authors. Don't ever turn that down!! Even better is a creative GM that can turn a story hook into a fun romp with a cool quickie map. Larry did just that. Maybe that is why he and his co-author were able to create such a system, they've played a ton of games and figured out what they like and don't like in other systems.

The game comes with a well laid out character sheet and a 2-page quick start character creation guide, some nice art work and maps, B/W (printer friendly) and full color versions of the book and first adventure. There are several things that DwD Studios got right in that list, well all of them. :-) I love playing role-playing games and I like being able to pick up a game and quickly wrap my head around the math in the system. It doesn't have to be super complicated to be super fun. One thing I'd like to see is a form-fillable PDF for a character sheet. I actually spent part of my pre-game time that morning trying to make one for BareBones. I think the math is simple enough to make it easy to finish off one lazy Saturday soon.

The previous reviewer did an awesome detailed job of explaining the system and what comes with it, so I won't go on, but do know that I think the $10 is money well-spent if you are into quick OSR gaming.

I can't wait to see your BareBones SciFi. BareBones Star Frontiers? You know you want to.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Zachary H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/11/2013 18:06:38

You might say there are two types of rules-light games. There are those that give you the basic essentials you need to run and play a game--the briefest of outlines, so to speak. Then there are those that manage to remain simple and easy to use, but still manage to give robust support to the Game Master, and an excellent outline for creativity and expansion.

It is precisely because BareBones Fantasy falls into the latter, more elusive category that I can happily recommend it to gamers.

BareBones Fantasy (aka BBF) is by DwD Studios, and comes to you by some of the names responsible for the continued support and revival of the old Star Frontiers RPG. Fittingly enough, the rules borrow some of the conventions of that game, albeit in a neatly presented and updated format.

Let's start with the basics. This 82-page dynamo uses a roll-under percentile system, with doubles (44, 77, etc.) being treated as critical successes or failures, depending on if the roll is under or over the target number. 00-05 is always a success on a reasonable attempt, and a 95-99 always fails.

BareBones has 4 stats, or Abilities, which can either be rolled randomly or assigned via point buy. Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Logic (LOG), and Will (WIL), should be self-explanatory for most any gamer. These Abilities are used for checks (STR check to lift things, resist poison; DEX to jump out of the way of something, etc.), and also play an important part in class/skill, as we're about to see.

There are the 4 basic fantasy races in here (though I understand a supplement with additional races is forthcoming)--Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling. Each of these races gets a bonus to one Ability, and a few other add-ons as well.

The game uses one of my favorite, and regrettably lesser-used conventions in gaming--class as skill. There are 8 skills, which are Cleric, Enchanter, Leader, Scholar, Spellcaster, Scout, Thief and Warrior. The last three of that list can be used unskilled by all characters; the others must be trained. Each character gets a primary and secondary skill to start with, each of which get a corresponding bonus. The starting percentage (before bonuses) for a skill is half the governing Ability. A list of what each skill can do is provided--Spellcaster ties to your capacity to cast spells, Cleric links to your religious knowledge and divine gifts, and so on down the line.

A brief word on magic: there are only 17 spells in this game, which might seem like a small amount, but the spells can be customized based on desired effect. For example, the Charm spell can be used not only to magically win folks over to your side, but also to drop them into a deep sleep, intimidate them into fleeing in fear, and so on. A Spellcasting roll is required to cast--and that's the danger to the caster really, the specter of a critical failure. A lucky caster can sling spells all day long--there's no worries of Mana or Spells Per Day here.

From there, you pick out equipment from the provided list, and then derive a couple of secondary stats--your starting Body Points (yep, Hit Points), your Initiative, your Damage Reduction (adjusted by your armor choice), and your Movement (how many spaces you can move in a turn). It's all quite quick and painless.

For a rules-light game, there are some cool aspects of rounding out your character. The Alignment code reminds me of Pendragon, with players defining their character as Somewhat/Very/Totally Kind or Cruel, Focused or Unfocused, Selfless or Selfish, Honorable or Deceitful, and Brave or Cowardly. The player also specifies two Descriptors, one negative ("Drinks too much") and one positive ("Well-mannered") to further flesh out the character. I also appreciate the step-by-step examples and inclusion of sample character to help character creation along. It's all ridiculously simple, but it's still a nice, reassuring sort of feature.

Perhaps the biggest positive takeaway for me on character generation is how you can have an interesting hybrid sort of character without having a be-all and end-all sort of supreme "special snowflake". You can have a character that wears heavy armor and can still Spellcast, but he'd better have a high enough Strength to pull it off. And if you throw all your points in making that work, you're going to kick butt, yet you'll still have your weak areas. Players should have a lot of fun diversifying their characters and find the right balance between specialization, and the siren call of being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

There aren't many pages (barely two) spent explaining the basic mechanics, mainly because a) they're simple, and b) the author, one Mr. Larry Moore (along with co-designer Mr. Bill Logan), has a wonderful penchant for explaining things in a clear, succinct matter. There's a brief description of Contested Rolls between characters, Resistance checks (which are the same as doing an Ability check), and a few words on healing, and then we're ready for combat.

The combat section is short and sweet. First you roll initiative. If you have an initiative rating of 2, you roll 2d10s and pick the best d10 roll of the two. (A bit off the beaten path, but fun). Then you attack, trying to roll under either your Warrior (Melee) or Warrior (Ranged) skill. Your opponent can try to Dodge, using a DEX check. If you hit, you roll damage for your weapon, taking into account any armor worn by your foe and subtracting its rating from the total.

If you want to act more than once in a round, each additional action has a -20% penalty. So, you can try to tumble across the spiked floor, throw your dagger at the high priest, punch the guard square in the jaw, and then Dodge when he tries to headbutt you on his turn, but your chances of success grow dimmer the later in the sequence an action is. Being roll-under percentile, there's always at least a chance of success, but you're also in trouble if you get too carried away.

Leveling up is a matter of earning Development Points (DPs). There's a checklist in here for the Game Master, to reward. DPs are granted each session if the character plays to alignment and descriptors, if they are an active participant, for completing in-game goals, etc. You can spend them on bumping up Skills, learning new languages, or increasing Abilities.

Now, many rules-light RPGs might stop there. If all BareBones did was present a rules-light system, throw in a few monsters and some generic GM advice and call it quits, it would still be an attractive gaming option. But where BareBones Fantasy thrives is in making this light game feel well-supported and full of options and good material.

There's the section on magic items, and magic item creation. There are charts and tables--in abundance, I should say. For the chart-o-phile as well as the harried GM, this game has you covered. There are charts for adventure creations, charts for dungeon creation. There are treasure charts, magic item tables, and even a fun one for alternate rewards--how about a noble title or deific blessing, if your quest was epic enough?

The best part is, none of the above feels hand-wavey or an afterthought. This game is easy, true, but that does not mean it doesn't give the Game Master tons of toys to play with.

A long list of magic items, a very stripped-down, "broad brushstrokes" setting (Keranak Kingdoms, which also has a book all its own), a bestiary, a glossary, and the all-important index round this work out. It's amazing just how much is in this book. I've read 200-page RPGs that offer less and are more impenetrable in doing so. If you want to talk about top page count value, this one just might be it.

If I've heard one complaint, it's that the monster section is too short--there are about 45 creatures presented--but that is mitigated somewhat by a template system to make your own baddies. It's quick, it's smart, and it works. Really, a lot of the game supports tinkering, whether you like running games right out of the box, or tweaking them until they're juuuuust right, BBF has you covered.

Presentation of the product is logical, orderly, with clear writing and a well-considered layout. If you were going to give a clinic on how to present an RPG, you could do far worse than to start here. I have no doubt other RPGs offer much of what BareBones does, but BBF just makes it all so concise and straightforward. Mr. Moore and company should be congratulated for what is an all-too-rare feat in gaming on that account.

BareBones Fantasy is available in both pdf and softcover from RPGNow, and I would recommend gamers looking for a smart, rules-light fantasy RPG that manages to be different, clever, and surprisingly thorough start here. I've seen it mentioned in the same breath as neoclassical and Old School Renaissance rulesets, and I suppose there's something to it, given this game's lineage. Yet I think pigeonholing it as such would be a disservice to the game, as it occupies its own ground somewhere in the middle. I've used it with Keep On The Borderlands, but I daresay a group raised on Pathfinder looking for something lighter would find just as much utility here, as well.

This game should appeal to groups without the time to chew through 400-page rulebooks, those who want something light yet robust, fans of good percentile-based systems, and even novice gamers just jumping into a system. I plan on running my 8 year-old daughter through a game of BBF quite soon, and I doubt she'll have any issues with it. For parents, I'd recommend checking into this one, too.

I'm not one to always trust reviews from any site trying to sell me stuff, but BareBones has over 20+ reviews on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG, and they're almost all wildly positive. In this instance, they're right on the money. So is BareBones Fantasy when it comes to delivering a lot of smart fantasy gaming at a good price. Consider this an enthusiastic endorsement of the product, start to finish.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Anthony R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/06/2013 19:21:05

Looking for a rules-light fantasy RPG but the flood of OSR games does not exactly blow up your skirt? You have come to the right place. BareBones Fantasy presents a straightforward percentile-based system with a clever 'class as your skill' mechanic and a flexible magic system. The slim volume (or PDF) contains everything you need under one cover; races, skills, magic, combat rules, bestiary, magic items, GM guidelines, random dungeon generation tables - it's all here.

To top it off, the package contains a short adventure, player aid, character sheets and more! Did I mention it also included prinnt friendly versions of everything? And that it was only $10? How can you go wrong?



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Bryan A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/05/2013 17:51:23

Fast and Simple System that Allows for Broad Range of Character Types

Hard to beat this system for low cost but still more than enough materials to run a full campaign using the system. Ordered the PDF and print copies both of which more than met my expectations. Was debating between this and Dungeon World but felt the production quality and support for BareBones Fantasy was far superior.

Not a prefect book in that some situations are not covered such as if a character wants to use two weapons or rules for disengaging from melee but for the price point that could be expected. Over all the rules are solid enough to handle most events that will come up during play.

The campaign world is basic and open-ended with nice cartography on the maps. Comes with a dungeon crawl style adventure.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Ron B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/03/2013 13:49:39

I like BareBones Fantasy. If DwD can maintain their production values, you'll be getting in on the ground floor of something special. I'm certainly rooting for them. I'd recommend this product to anyone looking for a simplified-but-deep-enough approach to fantasy. I'd also recommend it to anyone looking to learn a thing or two in preparation for their own publishing adventure. I wouldn't recommend this book if your interests lie primarily in the truly crunchy and/or complex.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by adon c. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/15/2013 06:31:02

Normally I'd not give 5 stars, as I find the system lacking compared to Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord or a couple more retro clones I've tried. And not that much easier for new players than any of those, either. But it's got brand new concepts and the best DM section I've seen. It needs serious balancing, as Spellcasters even from level 1 outshadow each and every other class (combat included); each combat became just a turn grinding until the spellcaster could cast offensive strikes to all enemies... It could be the group I DMed (they were very much apprentices in the rpg scene), but still...

But I'll give it the five stars, because it's also extremely good priced for what it offers!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Ward M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/06/2013 20:45:49

Overview: PDF, 84 pages

Includes everything you need to run a game in 84 pages! Chapters are as follows: Introduction, Character Creation, Gameplay, GM Guidelines, Setting Overview.

This book assumes that you know what an RPG is and how to roleplay a character. So, not a whole lot of long-winded explanations. That being said, this would be a great RPG to start new players in.

The good: Some people have derided BBF as a 'beer and pretels' game. I disagree with that assessment. It is decidedly rules-light, but in a good way. More time is spent rolling dice than looking up obscure rules scattered over a dozen books. I call that a positive.

The bad: It could use a few more monsters. More monsters are showing up in the modules, so I guess they are working on this issue.

Bottom line: Best money you will spend on a basic RPG this year.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by loic g. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/03/2013 12:09:46

A very good game, all you need for great rpg fun is packed here ! Try it you cant be wrong with it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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