Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Hey everyone so i recently got into basic fantasy and sold off all my dnd books save my players handbook. Naturally, there are still a lot of things im not fully understanding having never played an osr or have even seen it being played.

One question I have is what is BF1, BF2, AA1, Etc. Do these relate to difficulty of the adventure or are they just categorized in a way i don't understand.

Secondly, In 5e or pathfinder or any modern role playing game there are rules surrounding things like performance checks, persuasion, intimidation. I see in the system there is not a rule for this. What i was going to do was have do a d20 ability check with charisma for these things and based on reputation, level, who they are talking to adjust the threshold for success accordingly.

Finally, and i'm sure you probably get this alot but with power players coming from 5e they are used to killing everything in their path by 5th level with cheese powers. How should i go about prepping them for the real difference in role playing from what i like to refer to as diablo 3 difficulty to dark souls difficulty.

Experience points are also something that will be new to my players and myself, anything youd recommend to keep track of it easier

Thanks in advance!

Weegeeman256 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:55 am Hey everyone so i recently got into basic fantasy and sold off all my dnd books save my players handbook. Naturally, there are still a lot of things im not fully understanding having never played an osr or have even seen it being played.

Welcome! Glad to have you here!

Weegeeman256 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:55 am One question I have is what is BF1, BF2, AA1, Etc. Do these relate to difficulty of the adventure or are they just categorized in a way i don't understand.

They are traditional, mainly. Original adventures from "back in the day" had codes in the form of one letter, one number; the letter identified the series, the number the position of the adventure in that series. Basic Fantasy has always used a two-letter, one-number code for a similar purpose.

BF series adventures are mine, or mostly mine. JN are JD Neal's, AA is the Adventure Anthology Series, CS is the Contest Series, and so on.

Weegeeman256 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:55 amSecondly, In 5e or pathfinder or any modern role playing game there are rules surrounding things like performance checks, persuasion, intimidation. I see in the system there is not a rule for this. What i was going to do was have do a d20 ability check with charisma for these things and based on reputation, level, who they are talking to adjust the threshold for success accordingly.

Basic Fantasy and other old-school games use the Reaction Roll for this. Really, read up on that before you make up any new rules. Old school systems do not depend on die rolling nearly as much for social interaction, and if you try to make them, they aren't old school anymore.

Weegeeman256 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:55 amFinally, and i'm sure you probably get this alot but with power players coming from 5e they are used to killing everything in their path by 5th level with cheese powers. How should i go about prepping them for the real difference in role playing from what i like to refer to as diablo 3 difficulty to dark souls difficulty.

Tell them the old school will kill them, and you're not sure they are ready for that. It's challenging, not being a superhero right at the start. Becoming that powerful takes time and effort... we don't just give it to you.

If that doesn't work, they aren't ready. Sorry.

Weegeeman256 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:55 amExperience points are also something that will be new to my players and myself, anything youd recommend to keep track of it easier

Sorry, not sure what's hard about it. I keep a running tally on a sheet of paper as the adventure progresses; anything they defeat (whether killed, driven away, or even influenced/controlled) gets tallied there. Whenever they get to town and rest, I divide the points up more or less equally. If the party splits up and then gets back together, it does make my bookkeeping more difficult, but smart parties don't split up. That way lies death.

When I give them points, I remind them to apply any bonus for character race, and they add up the numbers themselves. If they gain a level, generally they are more than happy to take a few moments and update their sheet (especially rolling more hit points).

Then I throw away that tally sheet and start a new one. Rinse and repeat.

Thanks so much for the quick reply! Im super excited to start my journey into the old school!

It's a good point you bring up about the reaction rolls, I hadn't read up to much about it so that clears things up quite a bit. and the point about experience points is definitely a good idea. I havent ever used the EXP system so that's going to be fun.

And to your point about the difficulty i think i'm going to have to sit them down and let them know they aren't in kansas anymore haha

Don't let them spend too much time on character creation, it should be quick and simple, after all, those pc may not live long enough...

Welcome!

When I switched from a more modern game to the OSR, Matt Finch's "Old School Primer" really helped me grasp the big picture. It's short-and-sweet. If you haven't already come across it, see attached.

Matt's is certainly a good first read to get into the OSR mind. But we'd be remise not to recommend Solo's own primer: Amazon | Lulu ebook | Lulu Print

wow these are great resources, definitely something Ill be looking at passing around to my friends coming from 5e!

I like making new players roll up 2 characters. Tell them it's so they have a backup after their first one dies.