Basic Fantasy (Old school style D-20)

Jekkio

http://www.basicfantasy.org/main.html

This is a really cool and free Pen and Paper RPG, it's much more relaxing than standard 3rd Edition D&D as it is quite simple.

Zeehat

Link
Links you can click on always make people happier

Alex

"Old school" in this case means they grafted much of the arbitrariness of 1st and 2nd edition D&D onto the d20 system.

They gain simplicity by removing many of the special-case rules of 3rd edition (an understandable impulse), then lose part of what they gained by introducing their own. It doesn't look any better than playing normal D&D (2nd or 3rd, your choice) and ignoring the supplemental books, unless the only thing you care about in a game is dungeon crawling (because it removes the rules for everything else).

Jekkio

I am using this as a sort of "warm up" before I introduce them to 3rd Edition (I am not shelling out dough for 3.5) which is slightly more complex in terms of skills and what not.

I have found that when I tested it out the reactions were all positive, so I hope that enthusiasm carries over when we do decide to move into official D&D territory.

Rym

D&D's primary strength is that most people are already familiar with it and that it's fairly simple to learn.   We use it in our current game almost entirely for that reason.

Jekkio

3rd Edition is indeed simple, but none of my current party can really afford the handbooks and it leans on myself to teach them.

I am just using a "baby steps program" that gradually shows them new aspects instead of throwing it at them all at once.

Alex

If you haven't heard of it already, I'd suggest checking out d20srd.org.

Covers the Open Gaming License portion of the d20 system, which is most of it. The big caveat, however, is that the rules in the SRD are the most bare-bones version of the system. There's little to no descriptive text, which makes it less useful for someone who isn't already familiar with the game. That said, it's a way to stretch a few books over your entire group, as it's certainly sufficient if all someone needs to do is look up the exact rules for fireball (or whatever).

Apreche

If you haven't heard of it already, I'd suggest checking outd20srd.org. Covers the Open Gaming License portion of the d20 system, which is most of it. The big caveat, however, is that the rules in the SRD are the most bare-bones version of the system. There's little to no descriptive text, which makes it less useful for someone who isn't already familiar with the game. That said, it's a way to stretch a few books over your entire group, as it's certainly sufficient if all someone needs to do is look up the exact rules forfireball(or whatever).Yes. The only time I have found d20srd to be insufficient is when I am creating a new character or leveling up an existing character. At all other times, it is equal to the PHB. Somtimes it is even superior to the PHB because it contains some tables that are only present in the DMG and other books. But really, every D+D player should own a copy of the PHB. It's only $19.77 on Amazon. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Jekkio

If you haven't heard of it already, I'd suggest checking outd20srd.org.

Covers the Open Gaming License portion of the d20 system, which is most of it. The big caveat, however, is that the rules in the SRD are the most bare-bones version of the system. There's little to no descriptive text, which makes it less useful for someone who isn't already familiar with the game. That said, it's a way to stretch a few books over your entire group, as it's certainly sufficient if all someone needs to do is look up the exact rules forfireball(or whatever).

Hey this is pretty cool, thanks for sharing!