Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

By-the-book mermen in BFRPG have legs...

Okay, I'm not really playing BTB then. It was also a BECMI campaign.

New question: What level of magical fantasy? Low, mid or high?

Each choice has it pros and cons.
Low: Warriors and other non-magic users usually are able to stand up to magical threats better. However, the lack of magic can actually weaken a party as a whole in the long run against more and more powerful threats that were designed with higher AC and magical abilities.
Mid: A nice medium between Low and High, I define this as magic items are there, but usually within hoards or crafted by magic users, and all items (in at least the core rule book) are present. This allows the party to advance but good luck trying to find someone beyond a lord or high priest with the means and money to buy your magic loot.
High: Magic is present, if not common. People of any major skill or money usually have at least one magic, and magic users are able to produce items of extreem quality. The downside to this is that it can lead to monty haul games, people seeing their character as a list of items rather than a character, and item bloat. However, a good GM is usually able to adjust for this and make some horrifying encounters as such (zone of dead magic, anyone?).

As for races, I don't mind Half-Elves and Half-Orcs, and a fey-aligned Gnome would be nice. Then again, maybe adding one more race wouldn't hurt?

I personally like the more classic races. I have played in a campaign where fairies were playable.

As to the magic level, I would go with low. In doing so, I would also remove certain magical monster.

Such as these:

Iron Golem
Bronze Golem
Stone Golem
Device Elementals
Staff Elementals.

That's just my opinion though.

Medium, I think. If we're making a setting for Basic Fantasy I think it should be... well, basic. In line with the assumptions of the game. Then experiment once we've got that.

I see what you're saying. Sadly, the overuse of magic has ruined to many campaigns for me.

So, what next?

You could also make it so that magic is in the medium range but it is looked down on and the magic users would have to be careful of who is around when they use magic (like in the BBC merlin show)

I suppose you could do that.