#basicfantasy — Public Fediverse posts

Prepping for SaltCON 2026 where I'll be playing #StarTrek Adventures, #StarWars, #BasicFantasy, #DungeonsAndDragons, #Paranoia #EverydayHeroes and more #TTRPG.

Prepping for SaltCON Spring 2026 – TardisCaptain's Blog of Holding
https://tardiscaptain.com/2026/03/07/prepping-for-saltcon-spring-2026/

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game turns 20 on January 20th. Here was Chris Gonnerman's announcement in 2006.

https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15740

#TTRPG #OSR #BX #BasicFantasy

RPGaDAY2025 – Day 30 – Experience – XP in the OSR

What’s #RPGaDAY2025 ? See the details here.

Day 30 – Experience

I’ve recently started running an OSR West Marches game using the Basic Fantasy rules. It’s going pretty well so far, but I think I’m having issues with awarding Experience Points (XP)

Basic Fantasy is mostly a retro-clone of B/X. Here’s how the current (4th) edition explains how to reward XP.

Experience points are given for monsters defeated, and for other challenges as the GM sees fit.

Every monster has an XP value, and some extra points are given if players use their class abilities.

Here’s the problem I’m having. Since I’m running a West Marches game, and I don’t have the same players each session, XP gains are very slow. I’ve run five sessions and none of my players are anywhere close to getting to level two.

The issue for me, as GM, is that since the players are staying at 1st level, it’s limiting what adventures I can run. I can’t give them any higher-level adversaries without risking a TPK. Which can be fun once, but I can’t have it happening every session.

So I’ve been looking at some of the other methods of awarding XP that other OSR games have tries, and worked out which might be best for my game.

XP Methods

Treasure: A pretty common one. I don’t care for it. It forces a GM to have to plan treasure hoards a little too carefully to avoid

Individual Feats: Giving XP every time a player does something cool. I think this would work well in a ongoing campaign with a set roster of players. I’m running a West Marches, and many of the players are entirely new to me, so this seems a little unfair. I don’t want to be perceived as favoring or disfavoring anyone in particular.

Goalposts: Set XP reward for accomplishing certain things in a setting. This is the one I’ll probably go with. It seems to make the most sense in a West Marches.

Here’s my initial ideas for general goalposts. I’ll also have specific goalposts for each scenario. The point totals are per player, and aren’t set in stone. They’re just my first estimates for good values.

• Exploring a new place – 200 XP
• Saving an innocent life – 100 XP
• Discovering a new bit of lore – 150 XP

#BasicFantasy #HouseRules #OSR #RPGaDAY2025

RPGaDAY2025 – Day 30 – Experience – XP in the OSR

What’s #RPGaDAY2025 ? See the details here.

Day 30 – Experience

I’ve recently started running an OSR West Marches game using the Basic Fantasy rules. It’s going pretty well so far, but I think I’m having issues with awarding Experience Points (XP)

Basic Fantasy is mostly a retro-clone of B/X. Here’s how the current (4th) edition explains how to reward XP.

Experience points are given for monsters defeated, and for other challenges as the GM sees fit.

Every monster has an XP value, and some extra points are given if players use their class abilities.

Here’s the problem I’m having. Since I’m running a West Marches game, and I don’t have the same players each session, XP gains are very slow. I’ve run five sessions and none of my players are anywhere close to getting to level two.

The issue for me, as GM, is that since the players are staying at 1st level, it’s limiting what adventures I can run. I can’t give them any higher-level adversaries without risking a TPK. Which can be fun once, but I can’t have it happening every session.

So I’ve been looking at some of the other methods of awarding XP that other OSR games have tries, and worked out which might be best for my game.

XP Methods

Treasure: A pretty common one. I don’t care for it. It forces a GM to have to plan treasure hoards a little too carefully to avoid

Individual Feats: Giving XP every time a player does something cool. I think this would work well in a ongoing campaign with a set roster of players. I’m running a West Marches, and many of the players are entirely new to me, so this seems a little unfair. I don’t want to be perceived as favoring or disfavoring anyone in particular.

Goalposts: Set XP reward for accomplishing certain things in a setting. This is the one I’ll probably go with. It seems to make the most sense in a West Marches.

Here’s my initial ideas for general goalposts. I’ll also have specific goalposts for each scenario. The point totals are per player, and aren’t set in stone. They’re just my first estimates for good values.

• Exploring a new place – 200 XP
• Saving an innocent life – 100 XP
• Discovering a new bit of lore – 150 XP

#BasicFantasy #HouseRules #OSR #RPGaDAY2025

Which of these #TTRPG games do you think I should try to run?

#ryuutama #mutantsandmasterminds #basicfantasy #osr #startrekadventures

It's National Dice Day, here in the US.

Roll em' if y got em'. 🙂

#TTRPG #D20 #NationalDiceDay #BFRPG #BasicFantasy

https://www.holidaycalendar.io/holiday/national-dice-day

I'm only occasionally dropping into my friends playing #BasicFantasy while I'm in a different timezone to them, but they're on #FoundryVTT now and gosh that's a pretty system module

Sad #DnD news regarding #BasicFantasy being plagiarized AGAIN

https://youtu.be/4iwTFMTIF80?si=5y8QOcI04yIRPqIA

#BasicFantasy4E #BasicFantasyRPG #rpg #ttrpg #plagarism #ttrpgs #rpgs #roleplaying

Art funding. #ttrpg #tabletopGaming Thoughts on this project, Adventures in the Frontier Lands and trying to commission some art. You can check out the update here and download the adventures for Free. And check out my campaign to hire an artist. #BasicFantasyRPG #BasicFantasy

https://junkyardtornado.itch.io/junkyardtornado-fill-the-hex-project/devlog/725824/art-funding

I am itch funding to raise some cash so I can commission art for an adventure I wrote, Adventures in the Frontier Lands. It is a series of hexes and adventures I made for Basic Fantasy 4e and I think some original cover art, and some interior pieces, would really make it amazing. #ttrpg #tabletopRolePlayingGame #BasicFantasy #TabletopGame #itch_io #itchfunding

Check out the page: https://itch.io/s/122266/art-for-adventures-in-the-frontier-lands

I am itch funding to raise some cash so I can commission art for an adventure I wrote, Adventures in the Frontier Lands. It is a series of hexes and adventures I made for Basic Fantasy 4e and I think some original cover art, and some interior pieces, would really make it amazing. #ttrpg #tabletopRolePlayingGame #BasicFantasy #TabletopGame #itch_io #itchfunding

Check out the page: https://itch.io/s/122266/art-for-adventures-in-the-frontier-lands

I am itch funding to raise some cash so I can commission art for an adventure I wrote, Adventures in the Frontier Lands. It is a series of hexes and adventures I made for Basic Fantasy 4e and I think some original cover art, and some interior pieces, would really make it amazing. #ttrpg #tabletopRolePlayingGame #BasicFantasy #TabletopGame #itch_io #itchfunding

Check out the page: https://itch.io/s/122266/art-for-adventures-in-the-frontier-lands

I am itch funding to raise some cash so I can commission art for an adventure I wrote, Adventures in the Frontier Lands. It is a series of hexes and adventures I made for Basic Fantasy 4e and I think some original cover art, and some interior pieces, would really make it amazing. #ttrpg #tabletopRolePlayingGame #BasicFantasy #TabletopGame #itch_io #itchfunding

Check out the page: https://itch.io/s/122266/art-for-adventures-in-the-frontier-lands

Check out this video by Chris Gonnerman, author of the Basic Fantasy TTRPG. Very aggravating. Someone named Madison Brooks copy pasting Basic Fantasy works, calling them Demons and Dragons, and up charging. Scrubbing the credits. #ttrpgs #tabletopGaming #DemonsAndDragons #BasicFantasy

So aggravating to see someone trying to make a quick buck by stealing and taking credit, just because something is CC. And can't even follow the Basic CC guidelines, when an author is generous enough to put their work in the CC. Anyway, good video, worth watching.

https://youtu.be/Rwrswtn4vgo?si=zpqezstm97KWIdEB

Don't steal from the #BasicFantasy #TTRPG community. We helped put this #RolePlayingGame for the benefit of the players, not for someone to put their own name on it and sell it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj7Ojg27HQ0

Having been a but a wee lad in the early #80s my first #DnD was the #BECMI boxed sets. I didn't get to play much, but I read and reread those things constantly.

One thing I still don't really jive with is the demi-human classes. I mean, if you were looking for who stole the gems, well, don't bother with the elves -- they can't be thieves and don't have thief skills!

So, #BasicFantasy is *chef's kiss* for me. Separate classes and races. And also, no alignment?! Woo!

#controversial #opinions

A flip-through of Chris Gonnerman's "Role-Playing Game Primer and Old School Playbook" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMGizZu1iJQ #BasicFantasyRPG #BasicFantasy #BFRPG #OSR #TTRPG

Why did this "Monster Manual of NPCs" stop at Level 9?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE9mn8WobpM
#OSR #TTRPG #BX #BFRPG #BasicFantasy #BasicFantasyRPG

Great to see that Vol. 2 of The Basic Fantasy Field Guide is finally in print, on both Amazon and Lulu (alongside the latest update to Vol. 1). #basicfantasy #dnd #osr https://basicfantasy.org/news.html#printrelease202310

Reflections on writing my "Monster Manual of NPCs." What, how, and why. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTQGuItEmRY #BFRPG #BasicFantasy #BasicFantasyRPG #OSR #BX #TTRPG

Just got a hardcover copy of the 4th edition of the Basic Fantasy RPG

You remember that whole rigmarole about WOTC and the OGL? The people at Basic Fantasy sure as hell do.

They've taken out everything that could possibly linked to the OGL, and placed the book under a CC BY-CA

As always, you can pick up all the Basic Fantasy PDFs for free at https://www.basicfantasy.org/

The physical books are ludicrously cheap on Amazon & Lulu.

The game itself is a solid little BX retro-clone with a few updates (Ascending AC, most notably). All of the core books and supplements are available as ODT files so you can make your own modified versions.

#TTRPG #OSR #BasicFantasy #OGL #CreativeCommons #MailCall

I take my first look at the 4th edition #BasicFantasy #ttrpg book that was just released. #rpg #RolePlayingGame

A look at Basic Fantasy RPG 4th Edition – TardisCaptain's Blog of Holding
https://tardiscaptain.com/2023/07/05/a-look-at-basic-fantasy-rpg-4th-edition/

Two #ttrpg games in two days (#BasicFantasy and #BlackHack in #UltravioletGrasslands). Great start to the week.

Had some theatre of the mind issues that I need think through though. I was describing a situation to my players and we just weren't agreeing on a shared theatre, basically.

@WanderingBeekeeper @twotone

First things first: You should play what inspired you, lest the inspiration vanishes again.

But since you showed interest I'd still like to second WanderingBeekeper's opinion. WotC has been very hostile to small creators, people of colour and queer folks over the last years.

No need to get into the hobby's politics yet and obviously there's no harm in using stuff that's already been bought and paid for, but when it comes to spending money, there are many other options, many of which do not cost any money to start with and less than D&D going onwards.

Some free games suggestions:
#Ironsworn has a lot less rules baggage allowing you to focus on the characters and their relationships and cool specials:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/238369/

#TheFantasyTrip does almost the opposite and the basic "Fighter" version is free too:

https://warehouse23.com/products/the-fantasy-trip-melee-pdf

#GURPS is a time-honoured veteran that can do pretty-much anything, including more realistic fantasy if that's your cup. The Lite version is free too:

https://warehouse23.com/products/gurps-lite-fourth-edition

#BasicFantasy has loads of free stuff and might be feel familiar for your friends that have been doing this for years or decades:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/140455/Basic-Fantasy-RPG-3rd-Edition?manufacturers_id=5146

#FateCore is very flexible and can get pretty close to the feel of movies and over-the-top adventuring. It has a lot of free or pay-what-you-want resources and settings:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/114903/Fate-Core-System

Sorry for the wall of the text. That went longer than I intended. 😂​

#notdnd

We’re trying to revamp some of the monsters in the Basic Fantasy RPG core book for the non-OGL 4th edition. I need to draw short schnauzer-headed humanoids. Here are some test sketches for it. They may have come out a little too cute. Will try to make them scarier later.

#gabeprime #mastoart #fediart #rpgartist #digitalart #monstermonday #sketches #artstudy #bfrpg #BasicFantasy

Here's a neat challenge I thought of: #FreeRPG systems in 2023. To me, the spirit of the #TTRPG hobby is getting together with friends & creating great memories; the miniatures, book collections, & extravagant terrain sets are all just window-dressing.
Can you run multiple campaigns only using open source, free systems, or free versions of systems? Games like #Ironsworn, #OSRIC, #Morkborg, #BasicFantasy immediately come to mind. Or free rules from OSE, GURPS, FATE, or even D&D.

Now that I've got a couple of weeks off for the winter holidays, I'm looking forward to starting a one-on-one #BasicFantasy campaign with my son, as well as continuing my adventures in the #FabledLands and (hopefully) playtesting an original #SoloRPG product I plan to release in 2023.

What's on everyone else's holiday #TTRPG docket?

Last five #ttrpg's I've run or played:
* #DnD5e
* #BasicFantasy
* #Ironsworn
* #EnglishEerie
* #Microscope

Next five #ttrpg's I want to run:
* #ForbiddenLands
* #ScarletHeroes
* #Cairn
* #Knave
* #WorldsWithoutNumber

#TTRPG #5and5

Last five games I've run:

#Mythras (Destined and M-Space)
#Pathfinder2e
#GoodSociety
#TalesFromTheLoop
#OSE

Last five games I've played:

#dnd 5e
#TheOneRing2e
#StarTrekAdventures
#GURPS 4e
#BasicFantasy

Next 5 Games I'm interested in playing/running

#CastlesandCrusades
#13thAge
#WorldsWithoutNumber
#Symbaroum
#BurningWheel