Review
BASH! Fantasy Edition is a 79 page (including covers) PDF format eBook released by Basic Action Games. It is an adaptation of that company’s previous Basic Action Super Heroes game system to the cinematic fantasy (and related) genres. The document is small press, and it shows, not only in the homebrew feel to the presentation, but also the enthusiasm it displays. In some ways, it is reminiscent of early 80s RPG books, particularly the 1980 revision of the D&D Basic rulebook, although text is in one long column, rather than the two-column of TSR works of that time.
BASH! Fantasy starts out with an effective table of contents (important because there is no index), followed by an introduction and short glossary. Although it is presented as an entry-level RPG, there is no information detailing how role playing games are conducted, what they’re about, etc. A presentation similar to the D6 Adventure rulebook’s introduction, including a solitaire adventure, might have helped with that goal. As it is, BASH! Fantasy would be a very easy game to teach to others, but it isn’t a game someone with no knowledge of tabletop role playing games could purchase and learn from.
Following the introduction, the book jumps right into character creation. Attributes are known by the more informal name “Stats” in the system, and there are three of these: Brawn, Agility and Mind. This is pretty minimal, but is sufficient to cover any action-adventure genre character and is extremely easy to remember, so suits the game well. A character has seven points to distribute among the three Stats, which can range in value from one to five, and may sell back a couple of points that would later be used for powers to get an eighth point for a Stat. The only issue I have with the stats is that there is no way, by the book, to make a bumbling hero. This makes it difficult to create characters in the vein of Joxer the Mighty or Inspector Clouseau who would probably have a one in all three stats, but through blind luck successfully adventure.
Character races are covered next, including the usual suspect Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings. Not quite so usual are the Birdman, Frog Folk, Cat Folk, Half-Giant, and Wolf Kin. Conspicuous by their absence are Gnomes, Half-Elves, Orcs or Half-Orcs, although is not much of an issue. Races are presented as a list of powers you should and should not buy, rather than being a system of penalties or bonuses. Virtually any species that could be built with the powers and advantages/disadvantages systems could be set up as a race in the game.
Details of sixteen advantages are next. These give the character bonuses to certain situations, or grant access to something the character otherwise would not have (such as the ability to buy magic powers). Advantages are “bought” by taking disadvantages at a one for one trade. Disadvantages penalize the character in some situations, or prevent certain courses of actions from being taken.
The true heart of the BASH! system lies in its powers section, which seems like a simplified variant of the HERO System. Player characters in the fantasy version have seven points to spend on powers, which (like Stats) can range in value from one to five points. My initial thought is “why would a fighter or non-magical thief need powers?” The answer is simple; to buy so called Mundane Powers. These are rather like feats in the current versions of D&D, and cover such abilities as being able to effectively use armor, move quickly, and so forth. It is somewhat surprising that some things are considered advantages (like dumb luck) while others (like rank) are considered mundane powers, coming from experience in other systems that reverse the two. There are system reasons for some of them (such as rank needing a range of levels, while advantages only have one level), but others leave me scratching my head.
After mundane powers are detailed, there is a short discussion of energy which are used to fuel supernatural (read as magic) powers. A character usually spends as much energy to use a power as she had spent points on the power (thus, three point attack powers uses three energy each time). All characters have the same amount of energy (ten points), which is presumably a game balance enforcer. I found no way in the game as written to have a higher energy pool, though an optional system for the Super Hero version was described in Basic Action Magazine #1 (a fanzine for the BASH! games) which might be adaptable. A character can rest to regain points though, and push her limits by expending hits (hit points) to fuel powers further.
Magical powers are split into several categories: bio-manipulation, combat, mental, movement, and perception, which define who can be affected by them. Each category has several powers in them, and these are largely effect based (as in HERO System) so the precise trappings of the power can vary by the user. I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to build most spells I could think of using the system, and without a calculator or computer aid. The only major gap I’ve noticed is the lack of a power to restore life. Granted it is one of the most unbalancing powers ever invented, but it is one that should be restricted at the game master (ahem, narrator) level, rather than being left out.
Further advise is given on restricting magic by level (a four point power would not be usable by PCs on a world with a three-point magic rating), or by college of magic.
The six sample colleges of magic are a nifty collection of pre-assigned trappings that cover a wide range of spell casting. It covers the four classic elements as well as light and shadow (coincidentally corresponding to AD&D 1st Edition’s four cardinal elemental planes and the positive and negative material planes). A sample paladin character later in the book, can only cast spells from the light college.
Skills are presented next. There are twenty of them presented (which from experience with Savage Worlds and Cinematic Unisystem tells me is just about enough to cover the bases in a rules lighter game), and each has several specialties. You’re allowed one specialty per skill for free, and these grant you a re-roll if you fail in using that specialty. Skills are based on either Agility or Mind, and you start with as many skills as you have points in the related Stat. Skills may be used unskilled at a penalty.
A range of equipment, mundane and magical, is presented before moving on to the game’s core rules. BASH! Fantasy uses two six-sided dice exclusively. Actions are resolved by multiplying the dice result by the Stat most relevant to the task. If a player rolls “doubles” (two of the same number) on the dice, she may roll another die and add in the result, if that die matches the original doubles number again, it may be rolled yet again, for an exploding effect. A result after multiplying is either compared to an opponents dice result, or to a target number determined by the narrator. Tangent alert: while some may find multiplying at the game table to be a chore, I see a potential side benefit to this. If you were playing this game with your children, it would probably help them develop multiplication skills faster, more genuinely and with less protest than memorizing tables ever could.
A short section details experience points. You can use XP to raise stats, skills or powers, or buy new ones. There is nothing listed about Advantages or Disadvantages, so presumably they can’t be altered with experience. Experience points may also be used to grant a bonus roll of one die, and this can be used after seeing the result of the roll. If the bonus die matches either of the original dice, it counts as doubles and the exploding cycle continues.
Combat is resolved using the mechanics presented earlier. Characters with higher Agility go before those with lower Agility; in the case of ties, player characters go before Non-PCs. All heroes (unless they have a disadvantage like age which reduces it) have 100 hits, which is the amount of damage they can suffer. Attacks are usually made by rolling Agility versus the opponents Agility, and if successful the attack does damage. Damage is reduced by armor. If the amount of damage after armor soaks some of it equals or exceeds the victim’s Brawn times ten, the character takes a wound which penalizes further actions. When reduced to zero hits, a character is either unconscious, or mortally wounded (perhaps dead at the narrators discretion), depending on what kind of attack caused the final injury. Additional rules are provided to cover ships, damage to objects, and mass combat, all using the same basic system with some options to cover details. There is no need to learn a secondary set of rules to conduct a war in this game, and that’s a plus in my book.
Traps and other non-combat hazards are covered in the next section, and should help with “dungeon” design, if your game goes that route. Following that, there is a section on minions (i.e. extras or mooks) who have fewer hits than heroes or key villains. In addition to having fewer hits, if a minion is killed in battle, the attacker may attack another nearby minion. If she succeeds in putting the second one down in a single attack, she may strike yet another minion. While it’s not the “one wound kills extras” of games like Savage Worlds, it should still speed up combat and effectively emulate the axe-wielding barbarian mowing down his foes with his great axe. To further speed things along, minions use an average attack and defense roll rather than rolling each time. Full villains still roll their attacks and defenses like PC heroes do.
A sizable section on monsters in next and it uses a formula to determine the danger level of each creature for those aiming for balanced opponents. The monster entries are quite numerous, including most standards and even some serial number filed off D&D classics – got to love the Evil Eye. The listings are, however, a mixed bag in terms of descriptions. Some have full text descriptions; others have none, with no real rhyme or reason as to which ones. Kobolds are described, as are Mummies, but Hobgoblins and Revenants are not, just as examples. It appears as though this section was a work in progress that was just unfinished at the time of release. Hopefully it will be finished up in any subsequent revisions. That said, all the monsters have full game statistics, and most experienced gamers will already know what they are supposed to look and act like. The only caveat I have is that some monsters list weaknesses which aren’t covered by the character creation rules, making it difficult to make player character races for certain undead, even though the unliving disadvantage provides the start of the process.
A sample adventure is provided, as are four sample characters. These are followed by three appendices. The first appendix is a brief section on dealing with priests, God or gods, and clerical magic. To be honest, I see nothing in this appendix which wouldn’t have been of better service had it been integrated into the sections on restricting magic and magical colleges.
Appendix two, however, is a gold mine. It covers six alternate fantasy settings (or more accurately sub-genres). The first, Ancient World, adds quite a bit to the game with new armor types, a skill for chariot driving, a new advantage and couple of new disadvantages, and a few new monsters. Most of the monsters are fantasy standards and probably should have been in the main section, but not a big problem. The second section, Forgotten Age (Dark Fantasy) deals with Swords & Sorcery rather briefly, but adds a summoning ritual power. Not much to S&S that isn’t covered in the main section, so I understand the brevity, though perhaps information on intelligent/spirited swords could have been useful. The next six pages covers Ninja & Samurai, including new weapons, martial arts, and much more, this feels like a free mini-supplement. Nearly four pages deals with Swashbuckling in a similar manner. Four pages then cover Steam Punk, with rules for gadgeteering, and many new powers and more modern weapons. A final page and one half covers Westerns, allegedly as a subgenre of Steam Punk, and dependent on the weapons from that section, if not explicitly stated. As someone who used to play D&D/Boot Hill crossovers with some regularity, I have an appreciation for this section even though some might find it incongruous.
The final appendix covers conversions to and from the super hero version of the BASH rules. I do not own that version of the game yet, so I can’t comment much. My only concern is that if characters from the super version have doubled stats in the fantasy version, you might have a character with a Brawn of 8, which none of the monsters listed have, not even Giants and the like. Perhaps I just don’t fully understand the conversion process on this.
Summary and Findings
In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently test-reading the BASH! Science Fiction Edition rules. I have no other affiliation with Basic Action Games, however, and I purchased the Fantasy Edition through regular channels.
I find the BASH Fantasy Edition rulebook to be an excellent game design. It’s simple enough that I can stat most characters I see in a fantasy TV show or movie in my head before they finish a scene, but it’s detailed enough to allow for spell and item creation, and custom character races. It clearly can handle more than just fantasy, and I was somewhat surprised to not see the Urban Fantasy (ala Buffy) and Pulp genres covered (though I’ve since read some responses by the author indicating that a modern version is also planned which would cover such things).
The artwork is okay, nothing spectacular, but mostly not horrible either. The cover I basically like, although the Basic Action Games logo is a little artifact-y. I do wish it were a proper print product, though, preferably as a hardcover about the size of the RuneQuest Companion. As I mentioned throughout the review, I think the bestiary needs to be fleshed out more, and a more newbie friendly introduction should be added. Other than that, the product is one of the better fantasy role playing games currently available, and is quite affordable. I plan on running any future fantasy campaigns with this system, and that’s the highest recommendation that I can give.
Review Summary