CLASSIC FANTASY - A Return to the Dawn of Roleplaying

[threedeesix]

I've got about half the Content Table done (I've been doing it on my phone in my scant free time, so it's taking longer than expected), should have it up early next week after I get back from an impending roadtrip.

First two play sessions went great, and players seem to be pretty happy with the system. We've converted a few spells over from 1e, 2e and HM and made race conversions for my campaign world. I'll probably post that stuff as well.

The first session they weren't too keen on hit locations. The second session, one of the Fighters lopped off a thug's arm with one stroke, causing his four friends to drop their weapons immediately. Now I'm pretty sure they'll love hit locations until I score a crit on one of their limbs, then we'll see what happens.

Awesome, I know hit locations aren't for everyone, I've tried to not use them on several occasions, but all my players just love that extra D20 as everyone waits to see if a head is gonna roll.

I'm not gonna say that everyone will have the same luck that my group has had, but with the Total Hit Point method and Fate Points, they should have just enough advantage to keep things edge of the seat exciting, yet mostly survivable. :thumb:

My group lost only one character more than two years ago, and purple worms swallow whole, no hit locations necessary. Sorry to bring it up Greg, I know it's a sore subject. >:->

Rod

[Blackwolf79]

Awesome, I know hit locations aren't for everyone, I've tried to not use them on several occasions, but all my players just love that extra D20 as everyone waits to see if a head is gonna roll.

I'm not gonna say that everyone will have the same luck that my group has had, but with the Total Hit Point method and Fate Points, they should have just enough advantage to keep things edge of the seat exciting, yet mostly survivable. :thumb:

My group lost only one character more than two years ago, and purple worms swallow whole, no hit locations necessary. Sorry to bring it up Greg, I know it's a sore subject. >:->

Rod

Yeah Yeah, least I have the distinction of being the only member of our current group to be killed in our games lol.

[p_clapham]

Well now, this book is sounding quite interesting...

The profession / class rules sound like they'd work nicely in non-fantasy games as well. As Pulp Cthulhu has been stuck in the pipeline, I've been collecting my own rules for BRP pulp adventures. Basic Fantasy sounds like it has quite a bit for me to consider / plunder.

[threedeesix]

Well now, this book is sounding quite interesting...

The profession / class rules sound like they'd work nicely in non-fantasy games as well. As Pulp Cthulhu has been stuck in the pipeline, I've been collecting my own rules for BRP pulp adventures. Basic Fantasy sounds like it has quite a bit for me to consider / plunder.

I say plunder away. :thumb: And let me know what yah come up with.

[Chaot]

I finally got this book in the mail. It positively oozes fun. I've only breezed through it yet and certainly haven't let things gelled yet. As soon as I have a chance to do a more solid read I'll have some questions/comments.

I will say this though, it had me reaching for my old books to see if I could rig up some PC kits.

Well done Rod!

[Natural Twenty Games]

As I continue to read and get my arms wrapped around BRP in general it's got me wanting to do a BRP/Classic Fantasy conversion for my as of yet unreleased FantasyCraft and Savage Worlds adventures.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the cartography and redesigning the stat-block in BRP to a more gui-friendly format that'll fit on the adventure cards I'm making but man has it been fun so far!

Cartography WIP below (tools used - CC3 by Profantasy and Adobe Elements 7.0 with a Bamboo graphics pad)

[Thalaba]

Those are some nice looking maps! :thumb:

[threedeesix]

I finally got this book in the mail. It positively oozes fun. I've only breezed through it yet and certainly haven't let things gelled yet. As soon as I have a chance to do a more solid read I'll have some questions/comments.

I will say this though, it had me reaching for my old books to see if I could rig up some PC kits.

Well done Rod!

Thanks so much, it was a long road. I'm glad to see it so well received. I have to admit I was so nervous when I found out it was available, I almost didn't want to turn on my computer.

[threedeesix]

As I continue to read and get my arms wrapped around BRP in general it's got me wanting to do a BRP/Classic Fantasy conversion for my as of yet unreleased FantasyCraft and Savage Worlds adventures.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the cartography and redesigning the stat-block in BRP to a more gui-friendly format that'll fit on the adventure cards I'm making but man has it been fun so far!

I love the maps. If you get a finished conversion and need a group to playtest it. I volunteer myself and my players.

Rod

[threedeesix]

After spending the better part of two weeks going over the editable copy that Chaosium was nice enough to send me I have completely gone through it line by line. Many of the changes that were supposed to be included after they finished the layout have now been included. I was able to tighten up all (ok, most) of the "white space" that I found too excessive. This freed up almost 20 pages and allowed me to include the Miniatures Combat chapter that was originally cut do to a perceived lack of space. I included the missing Missile Weapons Table as well as added a Musical Instruments Table so the poor bard wont be standing in the dungeon whistling. Several tables were broken up and/or relocated to a hard to find location. This has been fixed. There have been several other changes to existing spells, skills, weapons and armor.

As I was doing the Index, I decided to take the opportunity to do one up for the edition you all have. It can be downloaded at BRP Central - Downloads - Classic Fantasy Table of Contents

Again I want to apologize for the book going out before I was ready to sign off on it. I will let everyone know when it is available as a PDF download and just what that means for those that already purchased it. I was told in no official capacity, that everyone that purchased the book in either form would be able to download the PDF for free, but until it comes to pass I cannot conform this, but will argue on your behalf.

Also, please don't badger Chaosium for the new edition quite yet. I plan on tweeking it further over the weekend and submitting it on Monday.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and support,

Rod

Edited November 25, 2009 by threedeesix

[Mechashef]

Those are some nice looking maps! :thumb:

They are indeed. I'm very jealous of people who can produce nice maps. I am seriously lacking in such creative ability :-(

[Ombord]

...Additional playtesting has showed that because of the fact that a magic-user has to build up all his spells with skill points in addition to purchasing other skills as well, it was almost impossible for him to be good at anything...

But... but... I thought that was intentional.

I mean, how else capture the experiences we had at the Dawn of Roleplaying?!

Besides, that mistake is exactly what legions of rpg designers did during the 70's and 80's, so you're in good company!

[threedeesix]

But... but... I thought that was intentional.

I mean, how else capture the experiences we had at the Dawn of Roleplaying?!

Besides, that mistake is exactly what legions of rpg designers did during the 70's and 80's, so you're in good company!

Oh, believe me, he still won't have many skills/spells. But at least in D&D, the spells he had he could cast.

[Barliman]

I'm putting the finishing touches on the cartography and redesigning the stat-block in BRP to a more gui-friendly format that'll fit on the adventure cards I'm making but man has it been fun so far!

Really nice job on the maps! :thumb:

[Akrasia]

As I continue to read and get my arms wrapped around BRP in general it's got me wanting to do a BRP/Classic Fantasy conversion for my as of yet unreleased FantasyCraft and Savage Worlds adventures.

...

Any chance you would like to playtest those adventures for BRP in Milwaukee sometime soon?

[Natural Twenty Games]

As soon as I get out of my turkey coma (assisted by plenty of Scuttlebutt 10 Below - Beer Styles ) and good sweet German red wine ) and get done with the 2009 black hole of hours (a service desk implementation for a local college )

I'm thinking of doing something with OpenQuest as well...(more to come).

Any chance you would like to playtest those adventures for BRP in Milwaukee sometime soon?

Edited November 26, 2009 by naturaltwenty

[Thalaba]

As soon as I get out of my turkey coma (assisted by plenty of Scuttlebutt 10 Below - Beer Styles ) and good sweet German red wine ) and get done with the 2009 black hole of hours (a service desk implementation for a local college )

I'm thinking of doing something with OpenQuest as well...(more to come).

Will you be changing your name to "natural-oh-one" anytime soon?

[vivsavage]

Is there a place where I can view a preview of this work? Has the pdf edition been error corrected? Thanks!

[threedeesix]

Is there a place where I can view a preview of this work? Has the pdf edition been error corrected? Thanks!

There is no preview of CF online, other than reading the forums here to see it sounds of interest to you. Just do a search for Classic Fantasy. Also Sword & Spell and Chaos & Catacombs as they were all possible titles throughout its design.

I am just finishing up the re-edit of the initial release and plan to turn it in on Monday. But if you are interested in the PDF version, then downloading it now is no problem as you can ALWAYS re-download a PDF. There is even a check box to be notified of updates when they are ready.

I will be happy to answer any specific questions as well.

Rod

[vivsavage]

Rod,

Thanks for the fast response! Will the revised pdf be available next week?

Questions about the game: what kind of "benefits" do various races receive? Attribute and skill bonuses? Does character background play any role in the chargen process? What type of magic system is in place -- it is vancian? Spell points? Fatigue-based? Roll-for-success? Are there schools of magic and clerical domains a la AD&D 2e?

Thanks!

There is no preview of CF online, other than reading the forums here to see it sounds of interest to you. Just do a search for Classic Fantasy. Also Sword & Spell and Chaos & Catacombs as they were all possible titles throughout its design.

I am just finishing up the re-edit of the initial release and plan to turn it in on Monday. But if you are interested in the PDF version, then downloading it now is no problem as you can ALWAYS re-download a PDF. There is even a check box to be notified of updates when they are ready.

I will be happy to answer any specific questions as well.

Rod

[threedeesix]

Rod,

Thanks for the fast response! Will the revised pdf be available next week?

Once I turn it in I have no control on the time it takes them to make it available. I can't imagine it would be longer than a week however. Maybe less.

Questions about the game: what kind of "benefits" do various races receive? Attribute and skill bonuses?

Everything they did in 1st ed. AD&D. One of our members, Naturaltwenty, did up a copy of the Dwarf in a much nicer style than that of the book. Take a look at it here.

http://www.naturaltwenty.com/downloads/basic_page_layout.pdf

The writeup is true to the book.

Does character background play any role in the chargen process?

Not any more so than it does in Basic Roleplaying. I mean, as a supplement to BRP, you can use as much as you like from that core book. But as character background really played little part in early AD&D, it does here as well.

What type of magic system is in place -- it is vancian? Spell points? Fatigue-based? Roll-for-success?

Yes and no. It is based on the base magic system used in Basic Roleplaying. So you do memorize spells. However, these spells are NOT forgotten when cast. You may know 20 spells (eventually) for example, but only be able to memorize 1/2 your INT worth. These spells can be cast quickly. They cost a number of magic points based upon just how powerful you wish to make them. Other spells, those that were not memorized, can still be cast when read from the owners spell book. This is generally much slower, but still cost magic points.

I love this system because it has the feel of AD&D as each magic-user spends time before each adventure deciding which spells to memorize, but doesn't then forget how to cast them.

Are there schools of magic and clerical domains a la AD&D 2e?

No, I really only used 1st edition as source material as it was my favorite. Each succeeding edition started moving in a direction further from my interest. For example, when they removed demons and devils from 2nd edition and then decided to add them again later, they never gave clerics and paladins the ability back to turn them. They made giants and dragons so much larger and more powerful, that normal heroes, those without a boat load of hit points would never be able to defeat them. 1st ed giants and dragons convert so much more nicely for just that reason.

Thanks!

No, thanks for your interest. Just remember, Classic Fantasy is NOT a stand alone game. You need Basic Roleplaying for the core rules.

Rod

[wbcreighton]

Did you make any spreadsheets for building characters ?

When you do conversions of characters and adventures how do you translate AD&D levels ? Increased % to hit, increased skill%, etc

Are you thinking about doing an intro adventure ?

I was looking at some old Classic adventure modules and noticing the similarities from one to the other.

1) Need a small village as a base of operations.

2) Some ruins nearby

3) Some threat to the village from evil that has set up in the ruins.

4) A reason or reward for cleaning out the ruins.

5) Some hidden evil force or organization that is behind the problems so that the adventure gets more complicated.

6) A bigger town or city nearby that becomes the new base of operations for the pcs investigating the bigger evil.

7) A bigger dungeon or ruins nearby the city for prolonged adventures.

It is interesting how often this template has been used.

If you had a village and a city fleshed out you could easily convert a Classic adventure to fit the Realm very easily.

Another thing that is helpful is the number of free adventures you can download and convert.

WotC ( lots of 3.5 edition adventures and the complete 4e first adventure), Necromancer, paizo to list a few all have free adventures that can be downloaded.

If I had any time, I would flesh out a village and a nearby town/city and then do some conversion docs that would list all the characters and monsters and magic items converted to Classic Fantasy. All the DM would have to do is download the original adventure and use the conversion doc to run it. Of course that isn't a commercial enterprise.

[p_clapham]

A few of the adventures I've put together over the years seem to follow that formula. :eek:

Did you make any spreadsheets for building characters ?

When you do conversions of characters and adventures how do you translate AD&D levels ? Increased % to hit, increased skill%, etc

Are you thinking about doing an intro adventure ?

I was looking at some old Classic adventure modules and noticing the similarities from one to the other.

1) Need a small village as a base of operations.

2) Some ruins nearby

3) Some threat to the village from evil that has set up in the ruins.

4) A reason or reward for cleaning out the ruins.

5) Some hidden evil force or organization that is behind the problems so that the adventure gets more complicated.

6) A bigger town or city nearby that becomes the new base of operations for the pcs investigating the bigger evil.

7) A bigger dungeon or ruins nearby the city for prolonged adventures.

It is interesting how often this template has been used.

If you had a village and a city fleshed out you could easily convert a Classic adventure to fit the Realm very easily.

Another thing that is helpful is the number of free adventures you can download and convert.

WotC ( lots of 3.5 edition adventures and the complete 4e first adventure), Necromancer, paizo to list a few all have free adventures that can be downloaded.

If I had any time, I would flesh out a village and a nearby town/city and then do some conversion docs that would list all the characters and monsters and magic items converted to Classic Fantasy. All the DM would have to do is download the original adventure and use the conversion doc to run it. Of course that isn't a commercial enterprise.

[Barliman]

Everything they did in 1st ed. AD&D. One of our members, Naturaltwenty, did up a copy of the Dwarf in a much nicer style than that of the book. Take a look at it here.

http://www.naturaltwenty.com/downloads/basic_page_layout.pdf

Looks promising. I have a question for you: SIZ is the hardest stat in BRP for me to wrap my head around, and, looking at the Dwarfs' SIZ of (IIRC) 6-7, they strike me both short and (kind of) weedy, whereas I think of them as short and burly. How do you in your mind translate a SIZ 7 Dwarf into height/weight terms? :confused:

[threedeesix]

Looks promising. I have a question for you: SIZ is the hardest stat in BRP for me to wrap my head around, and, looking at the Dwarfs' SIZ of (IIRC) 6-7, they strike me both short and (kind of) weedy, whereas I think of them as short and burly. How do you in your mind translate a SIZ 7 Dwarf into height/weight terms? :confused:

In my mind, as far as human size characters and smaller, SIZ is height, not weight. I know every BRP player and GM has there own opinion on it, but that would be mine. I feel its not weight because you can look at the SIZ table on page 26, a character that weighs 150 lbs could be SIZ 8 through 17, however a character that is 5 feet tall (60") can only be SIZ 8. Having it based on weight just gives to many variables.

Now before this thread turns into another SIZ thread. I would appreciate it if anyone that wants to pursue the whole SIZ thing beyond how it pertains to CF please start another one. Thats right, I said it. :cool:

Edited November 29, 2009 by threedeesix