Balancing?

[Rosisha]

I don't really worry about balance, but that's also because I don't worry about how the players overcome challenges. I'm as happy as a clam if my players go through an entire module without a single fight. I'm also happy if they turn dungeons into grueling mosh pits. At the end of the day, it's whatever makes them happy.

If you want to have an army of orcs encamped in a valley - do so. If the four first level characters in your party are stupid enough to charge into them... well, that's a learning opportunity. If they try to get clever, let them run with it. Maybe they try digging pit traps and then "attacking" before running away to lure the orcs into the pit traps. Maybe that works once or maybe even twice. But don't give them ideas, let them tell you.

Maybe, instead of combat at all, they talk to the city and raise a "ransom" of gold and trade goods. They bring it to the orcs and negotiate for the army to leave. Or maybe they hire the orc army to attack an even bigger threat.

I'm happy with any of those. The game is incredibly dynamic. "Balance" is only the concern if everything is going to be a battle, and you want to play it like a video game. BFRPG - despite being fantasy - is pretty realistic in that you can and will encounter challenges that you cannot overcome through pitched battle. You have to be prepared for that.

I find another nice thing about this is that it gets rid of "optimization". You can't "optimize" a 1st level wizard build to handle three large companies of orcs wielding spears.

[Saltmarsh]

Rosisha is right on the money one of the best things about Basic Fantasy is the fact you dont have to worry about is the encounter to hard or dangerous, they arnt ment to hack their way through everything they meet its something they need to learn and learn fast if they want to make it to 2nd lvl .