Basic V System Review
Jay Libby's Basic V system may be downloaded for free from Dilly Green Bean Games' website. The address, as of the writing of this article, is: Dilly Green Bean Games
Presentation
I downloaded Jay Libby's Basic V system as a very small (about 135K), 15 page Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) file. Overall, the presentation of this digital document is very clean and easy to read. The author makes extensive use of tables to quickly and concisely present large amounts of information. There is no artwork.
The document also prints out nicely, with adequate margins for most types of binding.
Character Creation
Character creation is random. All primary attributes (Intelligence, Agility, Spirit, Might, and Movement) are determined by rolling a number of ten-sided dice and rounding the result to the nearest multiple of five. The number of ten-sided dice rolled is determined by the general power level of the campaign: 3d10 for "Real", 6d10 for "Beyond Real", and 9d10 for "Extreme." An attribute of 5 is below human average, 10 is human average, and 30 is human maximum. Because all primary attributes are rounded to the nearest five, there are really only six attribute ranks or 'tiers' available to the average human: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30. This means that the difference in ability between each rank is fairly large.
Secondary attributes are derived from primary attributes. These include:
- Health Bar = Might x 5
- Run = Movement x 2
- Jump = (Might + Movement) / 2
- Damage = No Formula Given. The weapons table makes me believe that Damage = Might, but I may be mistaken.
- Initiative = (Agility + Movement) / 5
- Actions = (Agility + Movement) / 5
- Power Bar = Experience Points
Skills in Basic V are divided into two categories: Basic Actions and Advanced Actions. A character begins with a total of (Intelligence x 5) skill points to spend on Basic and Advanced Actions. Basic Actions (Smarts, Notice, Combat, and Avoid) are rudimentary skills that all characters begin with at level 10. Advanced Actions essentially cover everything else, such as social, professional, and advanced/specialized combat skills. Advanced Actions are broken into seven categories: Advanced Fight, Melee/Firearms Combat, Physical, Advanced Education, Operation, Social Interaction, and Extra-Curricular. Four or five example skills are listed for each category. I saw no mechanic in Basic V for handling skills of different complexity - so it would cost the same number of skill points to learn First Aid, Paramedic, or Doctor at level 50.
Basic V also includes a simple advantage and disadvantage system. Advantages are called Cheats, and cost a flat 20 Primary bonus points each. I couldn't determine what Primary bonus points are, or how to acquire them. Most of the Cheats listed in the sample table are geared toward action-heavy games, but the text mentions that a player can make up whatever they want so long as the Game Controller approves it. Disadvantages are called Syntax Errors, and grant a character additional skill points when taken. There are three levels of Syntax Error: Minor (+5 skill points), Medium (+10 skill points) and Blue Screen of Death (+15 skill points). About five sample Syntax Errors are listed for each level. No rules or guidelines are provided for precisely how strongly each level should impact a character's abilities. A character may be given (saddled with?) a maximum of 40 points of Syntax Errors.
Wealth is determined randomly by rolling 1d100 and rounding to the nearest five. Since a result of 10 in Resource Rank grants average wealth and the average roll on 1d100 is 50, most characters will be quite wealthy. Additional benefits, called Extras, are determined randomly by rolling 1d10. These can range from nothing, to staples such as Contacts and Friends, to "License to Thrill" - which allows characters to pull off outlandish stunts without censure.
Finally, a Persona (Good, Neutral, or Evil) is selected.
Mechanics
Basic V employs a simple action resolution mechanic: roll under the appropriate Action Limit (Primary attribute + Action) on 1d100. The Game Controller can assign bonuses and penalties to this roll according to the situation, and brief charts of these modifiers are provided.
For every five skill points a character has in an Advanced action, they also receive 1 Diamond in that action. These Diamonds can be added to an Action Limit, or subtracted directly from the percentile roll. Each Diamond may be used only once per gaming session. I assume that Diamonds may only be used to augment an Action Limit drawn from their Advanced action, but the rules did not clearly state this.
If a character doesn't have a necessary skill, or their skill level is below 50, the player can invoke the Instinct Rule. This grants the character a flat 50-50 chance (50 or less on 1d100) of success. Nothing may be added to this roll. If the character succeeds, points are added to their Power Bar for the related action.
Melee weapons add to base damage, which I believe is equal to a character's Might. Ranged weapons, on the other hand, inflict a flat amount of damage based on weapon category. Statistics are provided for a number of archaic melee weapons, but no statistics are listed for archaic ranged weapons such as thrown rocks, bows, or crossbows.
Armor subtracts directly from inflicted damage, with any remaining damage subtracting both from the wearer's Health Bar and the armor's base armor class. Because of this, armor ablates to the point of uselessness very quickly during combat.
Prices for all weapons and armor are listed as a two letter code, such as AA, ET, or IE. Basic V states that these codes relate to Resource Ranks, but I could find no table that directly correlated the two.
Character Advancement
A character's abilities can be increased three ways: the Power Bar, education, and aging.
Experience points go into a character's Power Bar when they defeat a foe (XP equal to one half the foe's Health Bar), perform impressive feats (10 to 50 XP), work well together as a team (10 to 20 XP) or complete an adventure or storyline. These experience points can be used to increase primary attributes, improve or purchase new skills, and acquire additional Cheats and Extras.
A character gains 5 skill points (and one Diamond) towards an Advanced action for each semester they spend studying it. Basic V recommends that every campaign setting should offer a number of education packages from which to choose, both to make the characters more useful and to represent the education they received before their adventuring career.
Finally, a character gains 5 skill points (and one Diamond) toward an Advanced action for every five years of age beyond 15. For every five years beyond 40, a character still gains one Diamond (and presumably the associated 5 skill points toward an Advanced action) but also loses 5 points from one primary attribute.
Conclusion
Jay Libby states that Basic V system is intended to emulate the feel of a video game. Overall, I feel that he has succeeded. As it currently stands, the Basic V system presents a workable skeleton upon which a high-action/cinematic campaign or game world could be built with a minimum of work. The Basic V system would, however, greatly benefit from further expansion and polish.
Substance: 3 Style: 2
