Looking into Barebones Fantasy. Any thought?

[thefub]

I am looking for something relatively light with decent support from the publisher. Barebones Fantasy seems to fit and I wondered here has played it.

 

[Mankcam]

Barebones Fantasy  isn't a BRP game, so you won't find a large number of people discussing it here. It does use a D100% as its core mechanic, but the similarity ends there. There are a few games that use a D100% as a core mechanic now, but that doesn't make them BRP; hence why there isnt much profile on them here at BRP Central.

I know you posted this in the right section of this forum, but you might find you get more responses to your query if you post it over at RPG.net instead.

However I can tell you that BBF is quite a good little rpg, and in my opinion it is a much better version of classic fantasy than D&D 5E. It is great value for money, such a slim little rulebook with some resources. I quite like it.

I was looking at playing BBF with my children, but found that OpenQuest is just as simple and a tad more flexible; so I ended up choosing BRP OpenQuest over BBF as my kids gateway into tabletop roleplaying.

I'm happier I went with OQ, as BRP is quite intuitive for me, and there was just as much resources for OQ as BBF.

Either option is good however, but if I had to choose out of those two then I prefer OQ over BBF.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Mankcam

[thefub]

9 hours ago, Mankcam said:

Barebones Fantasy  isn't a BRP game, so you won't find a large number of people discussing it here. It does use a D100% as its core mechanic, but the similarity ends there. There are a few games that use a D100% as a core mechanic now, but that doesn't make them BRP; hence why there isnt much profile on them here at BRP Central.

I know you posted this in the right section of this forum, but you might find you get more responses to your query if you post it over at RPG.net instead.

However I can tell you that BBF is quite a good little rpg, and in my opinion it is a much better version of classic fantasy than D&D 5E. It is great value for money, such a slim little rulebook with some resources. I quite like it.

I was looking at playing BBF with my children, but found that OpenQuest is just as simple and a tad more flexible; so I ended up choosing BRP OpenQuest over BBF as my kids gateway into tabletop roleplaying.

I'm happier I went with OQ, as BRP is quite intuitive for me, and there was just as much resources for OQ as BBF.

Either option is good however, but if I had to choose out of those two then I prefer OQ over BBF.

OpenQuest is great and it will most likely be my final choice for this project. I am looking for something with a bit more high fantasy aesthetic and good production value. 

I find that larger/broader forums may get more response but I have to weed through them. Your thoughtful response is just the kind of thing I am looking for. 

[Mankcam]

I found OQ did the trick for me. However BBF is still a nifty little option. 

In my opinion it probably needs its skill list to be broad skills rather than archetype class names. The Thief skill becomes Thievery, for instance; the Priest skill becomes Theology, etc.

I do like how the skills are quick to calculate, and how different ranks in the skills allow you to widen the skill's scope, or grant you more powers.

Of course the D100% works well as a core mechanic, very logical, just like BRP games.

I am amazed that BBF is such a slim little book, yet covers pretty much the same as what D&D does over three decent-sized volumes. The fact that it is a hardcover is a bonus.

If I had a group of old school rpg players who wanted to play something similar to the earlier versions of Basic D&D, then I would definately consider BBF as the one to GM. 

In my situation I was introducing 10 - 12yr olds to the hobby, and I guess whatever worked for me was better. I just found I could cover the same ground with OQ Basic Edition, but I knew the rules better at a 'DNA' level, so that was the one for me in that situation.

Both OQ Basic and BBF are great games, you cannot go wrong with either choice

Edited September 2, 2017 by Mankcam