Basic Fantasy RPG Core Rules 3rd Edition

[Sir Bedivere]

I generally fall into the 'just fix the bugs' category, but there were a few bits of gear that seemed to be missing. 2nd Ed has ink, but no quills or spell books. I did some research and developed the following:

Item / Cost / Weight
------------------------------
Belt pouch (holds up to 2 lbs.) / 1 gp / *
Cloak / 2 gp / 1
Oilskin satchel (water resistant, holds up to 10 lbs.) / 6 gp / *
Quill / 1 sp / **
Quill knife (for sharpening quills) / 1 gp / *
Ink pot, hard ceramic / 2 gp / ½
Spellbook, traveling (10”x6.5”, leather bound, 64 pages, 1 lvl / page) / 25 gp / ½
Spellbook, reference (12.5”x10”, hard bound, 128 pages, 2 lvls / page) / 100 gp / 2
Vellum, sheet / 4 gp / **

* 10 of these = 1 lb.
** no appreciable weight

Probably not all of this is necessary, but the quill & spell books seem especially useful, I think, and it's hard to imagine a MU w/o a cloak.

[Solomoriah]

Ok I've gone through the threads on DF and here as well. Most of what I sifted through were proposals and personal opinions, while there was actually very little errata/mistakes. Most of the below items are ones that Solo has chimed in on as needing to be fixed/revised/looked at again.

Wow, that was fast. You say you reviewed both DF and this forum, but the links you provided are all to this site. Should I therefore assume there were no errata there that were not also listed here?

ALSO, you aren't in the list of credits, are you? If not, I need to add you to the proofreaders. Please PM me how you want to be credited. Thanks!

Please remember you are the organizer of this information, not the originator... so don't think I'm chiding you when I make any apparently negative comment about the errata you've collected.

http://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopi ... t=10#p1747
Add to Elves' description about less chance of being surprised?

Fixed in R77.

http://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopi ... t=10#p2068
http://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopi ... t=30#p2230
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145#p2231
Read Magic vs. Read Languages spells

Fixed in R76... yes, it's already corrected.

http://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopi ... t=20#p2109
Revise Snake, Sea Snake name?

Fixed in R77.

http://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopi ... t=40#p5604
"I'll agree that the information presented for saving throws might be a bit skimpy"

This will only get fixed if someone volunteers to write the additional material; I'm happy with the section as is, but I'd be just as happy to incorporate extra instructional material if such were to appear.

http://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopi ... t=40#p5645
Location of the savings throws chart

This is just not getting changed. Trying to move that entire more-than-a-page out of the Encounter section, where it benefits the GM during combat, to the Character section is more work than it can possibly be worth.

http://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopi ... t=40#p5604
"Indeed, it's a bit awkward. I'll admit that you are not the first person to ask for more details about thief abilities; I just haven't written text that I like."

Here's a place I'd love to have a bit more explanation, even though it will break the page. Anyone want to have a go at it?

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145#p2159
Troglodyte stench ability?
** fixed in r76, but it says "most character races". Should this be eplicitly stated which races are actually affected? **

I've revised this for R77.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=10#p2704
Monster ACs and Movement

Fixed in R76, refixed for R77 (I had changed Goblins to Bugbear singular in R76, made it plural for R77).

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=20#p2746
Centaur movement should be 50' and not 60'?

Hmm. Must have fixed this in R76, as it seems to be right now.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30#p2779
Various monsters should have Darkvision listed

Done for R77.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=20#p2757
Monster armor listings

Some fixed in R76, some in R77.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=60#p6894
Revise Magic Missle wording

Done for R77.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=80#p7047
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=90#p7075
Listening at doors missing, add to Adventure section

Here's my current wording, added to the Doors part of the Adventure section. I may revise it some before 3rd Edition sees print, as I'm not 100% happy with it.

A careful character might choose to listen at a door before opening it. Thieves have a special ability, Listen, which should be applied if the listener is a Thief. For other characters, the GM rolls 1d6, with 1 indicating success. Sounds heard might include voices, footsteps, or any other sound the GM considers appropriate. Of course, the room beyond the door might really be silent; thus, the Game Master must make the roll, so that a roll of 1 in such a case will not give anything away to the players.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=120#p13505
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=120#p13767
Stunned is not clarified/explained

Fixed for R77. Rather than make it a general rule, I amended those specific creatures.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=150#p18266
Missing section of text in Mapping in 3rd edition but present in 2nd edition

Flow error. I've fixed it, but we'll have many more of them before the thing is done. The layout of the rules is just a bit more complex than LibreOffice is designed to handle.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=776&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=20#p18276
Efreeti missing Create Flame power

The linked post indicates that artikid thought he had provided text for this; his version is a proper spell, but I decided to make the Efreet's create flame a power of its own. So, fixed for R77.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=776&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=50#p18427
Pixie needs * instead of *** and its XP changed to 37

Fixed for R77.

Whew. I've added a few monsters from the Field Guide as well. I'll make a cursory pass tonight, with any luck, and get it uploaded tonight or tomorrow sometime.

[Solomoriah]

I generally fall into the 'just fix the bugs' category, but there were a few bits of gear that seemed to be missing. 2nd Ed has ink, but no quills or spell books. I did some research and developed the following:

Item / Cost / Weight
------------------------------
Belt pouch (holds up to 2 lbs.) / 1 gp / *
Cloak / 2 gp / 1
Quill / 1 sp / **
Quill knife (for sharpening quills) / 1 gp / *
Ink pot, hard ceramic / 2 gp / ½

These items are definitely needed. I've added them to the list.

Spellbook, traveling (10”x6.5”, leather bound, 64 pages, 1 lvl / page) / 25 gp / ½
Spellbook, reference (12.5”x10”, hard bound, 128 pages, 2 lvls / page) / 100 gp / 2

I see a "traveling" spellbook as a 2E thing, and I'm not talking about BFRPG here. I'd prefer to present just one spellbook with a standard price and capacity, and leave it to the GM to rule on other types.

Vellum, sheet / 4 gp / **

I realize that paper, made from wood pulp, was first available in the real world in the 13th century, and that vellum would be historically accurate... but for younger and/or less experience players, if we include vellum, we need to be prepared to explain it.

Oilskin satchel (water resistant, holds up to 10 lbs.) / 6 gp / *

This one gets me. It definitely needs an explanation... how is it fastened shut, for instance? And do we really need it?

Gah. Adding items to the equipment list has wrecked the flow of that section. I'll have to do some thinking before letting R77 out the door.

[Dimirag]

There's two things about doing this that are interesting.
1) It makes it easier to remember how difficult it is to turn supplemental undead (such as those in the Field Guide) because one only has to know their hit die, rather than memorize the core undead they are turned as.

2) It makes it easy to extrapolate for other creatures. For example, you might let a druid make turn checks to befriend animals, or if for some reason you wanted to use BFRPG to run an Eberron campaign (and you wouldn't be the first), clerics of the Church of the Silver Flame could turn lycanthropes instead of undead.

My Turning Table (on the Worshop) allows that, it can be used for lots of things, I use it for:
Cleric: Turning Undead
Shaman: Turning Spirits
Druid: Befriending Animals

It works based on HD and a duplication/halving of that value based on special references.

[Joe the Rat]

I generally fall into the 'just fix the bugs' category, but there were a few bits of gear that seemed to be missing. 2nd Ed has ink, but no quills or spell books. I did some research and developed the following:

Item / Cost / Weight
------------------------------
Belt pouch (holds up to 2 lbs.) / 1 gp / *
Cloak / 2 gp / 1
Quill / 1 sp / **
Quill knife (for sharpening quills) / 1 gp / *
Ink pot, hard ceramic / 2 gp / ½

These items are definitely needed. I've added them to the list.

See, and I left them off on purpose. I would be inclined to drop the ink pot for space - when you buy it, it's got to be in something already.

Spellbook, traveling (10”x6.5”, leather bound, 64 pages, 1 lvl / page) / 25 gp / ½
Spellbook, reference (12.5”x10”, hard bound, 128 pages, 2 lvls / page) / 100 gp / 2

I see a "traveling" spellbook as a 2E thing, and I'm not talking about BFRPG here. I'd prefer to present just one spellbook with a standard price and capacity, and leave it to the GM to rule on other types.

How much you want it to weigh? Also keep in mind this is for replacement - MUs already get one for free.

Oilskin satchel (water resistant, holds up to 10 lbs.) / 6 gp / *

This one gets me. It definitely needs an explanation... how is it fastened shut, for instance? And do we really need it?

Gah. Adding items to the equipment list has wrecked the flow of that section. I'll have to do some thinking before letting R77 out the door.

Well, you could work from this:

Satchel or Haversack: A cloth or canvas shoulder slung bag, designed to rest on the hip, or slung behind. Generally a satchel is easier to access than a backpack, but displaces most hip weapons (anything larger than a dagger or handaxe)... These bags are large enough to hold a fair sized book (such as a spell book), making them popular among Magic-Users. These bags may be built with internal compartments. The Oilskin Satchel is made from waterproofed leather, providing better protection to its contents.

I'm picturing the large flap-over style, which can be secured with buckles. If you want to add this I can chop this text a bit. (Also, I'd pegged it at 1cu ft, and 15lb capacity for the leather model)

Let me know what else needs explanations, and I'll port over some more EE chatter.


On whips & chains: Charisma check.

Seriously, I would use the grappling rules for grabs and trips, and call it a day.

[Joe the Rat]

Sounds like spreadsheet work.

I'm game.

Alright, XP review done. I found a couple of questionables.

Djinni: 7+1* HD, XP:800. XP calculated 735. The 800 is right if it's supposed to be 7+1**. (the single star matches the efreet writeup, however.)

Whale, Sperm: 36* (+16) HD, XP: 18,000. Calculated XP: 17,850.

[Blazeguard]

Just noticed something as I'm continuing to work on the online SRD.
In the Water Transportation section there is a paragraph detailing a longship but longship is not listed in the Water Transportation table.

[Sir Bedivere]

I would be inclined to drop the ink pot for space - when you buy it, it's got to be in something already.

Currently it's listed as "Writing ink (per vial)". We could just change it to "Writing ink (per pot)". I like the flavor of having a nice ceramic ink pot, but that's all it is - flavor. Best to leave it out if it's in the way.

Spellbook, traveling (10”x6.5”, leather bound, 64 pages, 1 lvl / page) / 25 gp / ½
Spellbook, reference (12.5”x10”, hard bound, 128 pages, 2 lvls / page) / 100 gp / 2

I see a "traveling" spellbook as a 2E thing, and I'm not talking about BFRPG here. I'd prefer to present just one spellbook with a standard price and capacity, and leave it to the GM to rule on other types.

How much you want it to weigh? Also keep in mind this is for replacement - MUs already get one for free.

Well, the description would be the same for their free one, right? The weights are there (1/2 & 2, respectively).

My choice would be:
Spellbook (12.5"x10", leather bound w/ wood covers & locking iron clasp, 128 pages, 1 lvl / page), 25 gp, 2 lbs

Or, we could make it simpler:
Spellbook (12.5"x10", leather bound, 128 pages, 1 lvl / page), 25 gp, 2 lbs [Edit: Let's make it 1 lb; 2 lbs above accounted for the wood & iron.]

EDIT: BTW, in R76, paper is 1 gp / sheet, but no size is specified. For the cost to work out between that and the spellbook above, that sheet of paper needs to be about 25"x20". That's actually a good standard size for the local paper makers to make it in; anything smaller would be cut to size. (For those keeping track, a page is one side of a sheet. Our 128-page spell book would only have 64 sheets in it; it's tall & wide, but very thin.)

Oilskin satchel (water resistant, holds up to 10 lbs.) / 6 gp / *

This one gets me. It definitely needs an explanation... how is it fastened shut, for instance? And do we really need it?

Well, you could work from this:

Satchel or Haversack: A cloth or canvas shoulder slung bag, designed to rest on the hip, or slung behind. Generally a satchel is easier to access than a backpack, but displaces most hip weapons (anything larger than a dagger or handaxe)... These bags are large enough to hold a fair sized book (such as a spell book), making them popular among Magic-Users. These bags may be built with internal compartments. The Oilskin Satchel is made from waterproofed leather, providing better protection to its contents.

I'm picturing the large flap-over style, which can be secured with buckles. If you want to add this I can chop this text a bit. (Also, I'd pegged it at 1cu ft, and 15lb capacity for the leather model)

I don't know if we really need the satchel. If we keep it, though, oilskin is oil-coated canvas (or sail cloth or something similar), not leather.

Let's drop the vellum; I really doubt anyone will miss it.

[Sir Bedivere]

Speaking of layout issues, have you considered moving to Scribus? It's open source layout & design software; works on Linux, too, of course.

[Solomoriah]

Changing to Scribus would be a massive undertaking, and I'm comfortable with the current workflow.

I have posted R77, but reading the last comments above, I realize I now have ink in there twice. Bother. Will fix for R78.