Remember, this is a design room discussion, not a traditional review. You can find those elsewhere, and we will strictly be talking about game design decisions, thoughts, and topics that BFRPG brings to the table. You may think that BFRPG is just another old school game, and we've already covered this with our Labyrinth Lord design room discussion, but there is surprisingly a lot more to discuss here when this game is added to the mix.
What we have here is a pretty standard old-school dungeon game, based on the D&D 3.5 Open Gaming License. The game follows Basic D&D inspiration more than it does anything else, with simplified spells, equipment, and character options. Everything else follows a basic style game nicely, with a nice selection of magic items, monsters, and loot.
Race and Class
Race and class are kept separate, which is an interesting choice based on their design philosophy. Races have class limits, but no level limits - this is an important point. Labyrinth Lord enforces level limits on races in both the basic game, and the Advanced Edition Companion. So if you played Basic D&D and thought racial level limits were silly, Basic Fantasy RPG is a better fit for you. It is a nice design decision, and highlights the advantage of playing Old School games - there is something for everyone out there, and if you have your own idea on what a dungeon game should be, you can write one yourself and share it with the world.
...a D&D 3.5 Like Experience
Basic Fantasy RPG also keeps ascending AC and attack rolls, you do not need to keep an attack chart handy. You roll 1d20, add your attack bonus, and beat the monster's AC rating. This is a nice holdover from the original D&D 3.5 OGL ruleset, and makes the game more accessible to players who may have played D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder. It is a break from tradition, but a good one in my feeling. The entire game has little holdovers like this, and it is more compatible with D&D 3.5 material as a result. Some work will be needed, of course, but these little details matter when converting.
None of the complicated parts of D&D 3.5 are included, so you won't find skills, attacks of opportunity, or any of the other complicated parts of 3.5 in the game. This is a net plus, and keeps the game simple and to the point. They keep the old-school feel to combat and encounters, while keeping D&D 3.5's dicing.
Open Source Community
The Basic Fantasy RPG is more of an 'open source' community project, and encourages fans to write modules, rules expansions, and a bunch of other material available for free over on the website. If you are looking for a simple dungeon game you can mod and build upon, or even alter to make an entirely different game, Basic Fantasy RPG is a good choice. The community more supports free additions than comapnies coming in and selling official support, so it is a more Linux-like experience where everything is shared and put up for free than other games.
An open and sharing community is a nice thing to see, and there is a lot to sort through and add to your game, should you decide to do that. The creators are fans of old-school roleplaying, and do all this out of love for the game. That love extends to selling the books on Lulu at-cost, and making the entire game (with art) available for free. You can even get the gamin in a hardcover, paperback, or a nifty spiral binding that lies flat on the table when opened. This shows a true love for the community and players, and it is appreciated in this day of game books that cost more than most videogames.
vs. Labyrinth Lord
This is a close comparison. I would play LL for the mixed D&D/AD&D feel, and the greater support of content, modules, and stuff in the books. LL is a large game, and also well supported with modules to buy, and other books compatible with the license. LL can also be downloaded for free from their site, so everyone in the group can have a copy of the rules (unlike some of our PF or D&D4 groups). LL also holds truer to the original material and feel, with none of the newer D&D3.5 style optimizations that BFRPG includes.
I would play BFRPG for the openness, mod-ability, and D&D 3.5 style feel to the game. Most every adventure, expansion, and module is free and available to download, so there is no reason for someone not to have a book. The books are even inexpensive to get your hands on, and there is only one book needed, so the game is simple and easy to play with. The D&D 3.5 feel with ascending AC may make this a better sell to some groups wanting the old-school feel without the old-school chart baggage.
vs. Pathfinder
If you are looking for a simple version of a D&D 3.5 style experience that is a lot like Pathfinder, BFRPG is a good place to go. It doesn't have the look or feel of Pathfinder, and is definitely more old school, but it is still close enough that the games feel similar and related. If I were teaching kids how to play a roleplaying game, I would be inclined to teach them with BFRPG first, as the rules and concepts are simpler, and you don't need a 600-page book to sift through. Since there are no skills, and classes have limited powers and options; the game play is simple, and getting things wrong and making stuff up as you go is okay.
Pathfinder wins on quality, artwork, support, and being the cool thing to play at the moment. I love the game, and it is the best option for playing D&D 3.5 right now. BFRPG wins on simplicity, and keeping close enough to D&D 3.5 that the rules and concepts and similar and greatly simplified.
vs. D&D4
D&D4 is a bit of a mess right now, with multiple starting points and a character generation system that requires you to have access to a D&D Insider subscription. You can start with the basic three books, or Essentials, or just Insider and be fine - but there are a lot of rules updates and differences between the books to make starting as a new player troublesome. If you are invested in D&D4 and have players that love the game, you are set. If you are looking for a 3.5-like basic dungeon game that 'gets there from here', then give BFRPG a try.
BFRPG and D&D 4 are worlds apart in feel and game play, but BFRPG wins on simplicity and speed of play. D&D 4 of course, is a 800-pound behemoth of books, worlds, and support. D&D 4 loses on character generation complexity, rules updates, and of course, D&D 5 being right around the corner.
Another Old School Original
I like BFRPG, and I also like its closest "competitor", Labyrinth Lord. They are great games, open and free to download, with books to buy and worlds to explore. They both keep the old school flame alive, and give people options to play both or either. This is the beauty of an open source system, multiple distributions of the game can exist at the same time without really competing, with each serving as an option and flavor of play.
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