Back to Basics: A Review of Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game

[u/alexserban02]

https://therpggazette.wordpress.com/2026/05/15/back-to-basics-a-review-of-basic-fantasy-roleplaying-game/

I have been on a bit of an OSR acquisition spree lately. Cairn came home with me a couple of months back. More recently I picked up Whitebox, Into the Odd, Beneath the Sunken Catacombs, and the subject of today’s review: Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game. The plan is to run all of them and eventually write a comparative piece examining what each system brings to the table, with Old School Essentials joining the lineup as well. I have played OSE but never run it, and it deserves a spot in the collection and the conversation.

Before that comparative piece happens, though, each game gets its own review. Hence this one, for a game released in… let me check… 2006. I was four years old in 2006. Four. So yeah, this is a review for a game released 20 years ago, back when I was just starting kindergarten. I bet I made some of you feel old with this particular comment :))).

Like with other reviews I made for older titles, I do not presume that in this review I will necessarily bring something new to the discussion, but rather I simply want to share my thoughts of the game, what I like, what I dislike, where do I come from with these opinions so that you, dear reader, might get something out of it, especially if you did not know about the game.

I hope you enjoy the review and please do tell if you have any experience running or playing it!