I'm curious what you guys are up to now that the rule and setting books have been released. I know there was mention of a rules supplement that took skills up to rank 10 and mass combat. Is that being actively worked on? Are you guys actively working on anything at this point? Just curious =)
BareBones Fantasy RPG is not associated with Skaldcrow Games' Bare Bones Multiverse, despite similar names. Check out Glenn's products by clicking here.
Believe me. They're always actively working on something. They're like ants!
Well, there's another adventure for BBF that's supposed to be out today, an 'official' GM's screen, plus other minutiae.
Pretty sure this one is on hold unless fan interest peaks.
I'd love to see a new adventure! I hope you're right =D
Flesh and Blood
20 new races for BBF is in the art stage. Hopefully ready by Christmas.
CrossedBones is in the writing stage, and I believe I heard that a Monsters/Critter type book is also in the works.
I wish somebody would start work on a massive class book. Monster/critter books are always popular. I very much look forard to the new races book =D
What would you want in a class book? Lots of skills? Player options? Alternate magic systems?
Well... our schedule for release is believe it or not pretty full. We are trying to release a product every 2 weeks. We're always adjusting our release schedule since we're just a couple of guys with limits on our budgets and time (commissioning artwork takes a long time sometimes), so we won't commit to any release schedules at this time.
However, we can say that we have 5 adventures already written, three of which are small in size like the ones published so far, and 2 are larger affairs with commissioned covers and interior art. We have an excellent product called BareBones Fantasy: Flesh & Blood (with 20 playable character races, artwork being commissioned now). We have enough material for the first quarterly webzine we're planning, called Decahedron, which will support the product line and serve as outlet for smaller pieces by the creative masses (like YOU). We have a couple other adventures in various stages of completion/testing. We have plans for an Epic Adventures supplement (mass combat, skill levels 7-10, more creatures, rules for creating strongholds, etc.), though this is still in development stages and will require a lot of play testing. We have a deck of very attractive cards for quick reference during game play (spells, creatures, races, skills, and conditions to smack down on your players). We have lots of plans, lots of products, and no end in sight. Especially if folks like YOU keep submitting stuff... we want to keep this product alive forever.
The basic premise of each game was simple: You command a dungeon and its hellish minions, and must take them to glory. The player took control of an anonymous entity known as The Keeper and built a subterranean complex of Rooms, Traps and Doors, and used fiendish creatures to kill the invading Heroes. It is one of the few games that has the player take control of Evil beings. You must use your gold to build a fortress and weapons to attack. For each dungeon you successfully created and defended, a city would be destroyed.
You moved through a happy and thriving land. The great thing was when you moved between cities there was this dark narrative about how evil viewed the happy folks in the next city they were about to overtake. It was phenomenal and I've always wanted to try and game it out at the table. Each minion served a purpose, themed well for a specific task, and they felt like "skills" to me. I'd love to see something dark themed like that.
More importantly I'd love to see a well documented and advice strewn system and/or guide to creating skills and races. This would be fantastic! Everybody has their own ideas and needs for their homebrew games. Proper advice and a plethora of examples would go a long way to giving players like myself a real handle on doing it right. If these examples had sidebars on the thought process of why X is better than Y or why Z was used instead of A in the creative process, all the better.
I'm a huge fan of the magic system just the way it is. I love how it gets the creative juices flowing. What I don't like so much is how small it is. The examples of what you can do with it are there and are awesome. For example;
What I would like to see is an expanded magic system. Just like with the skills suggestions above I would like to see advice on really getting the most out of the system. More spells, more ideas, more possibilities. Maybe a new system would be awesome (I don't know what you have in mind) but if that new system is the standard list based D&D approach, I'm more than capable of coming up with that myself.
What exactly did you mean by "player options"?
For player options I definitely think you need to add Talents, as Ascent described here! Just WOW!
UPDATE
I think something like Talents are a fantastic example of the types of things that could/should go into a Players Guide or Introduction to Rolplaying With BBF. I know such guides are traditionally just a small subset of the pages of the original work but if a new product were to be released, specifically for players that was full of advice, suggestions, and inspirational material and examples, I think it would go a long way to helping others realize the true narrative and creative potential of BBF in their own games. Something like a cinematic gaming, how to roleplay using your imagination, unlocking the narrative guru within primer. I would be open to writing portions of such a book, but I do not have the time or feel competent enough to do the subject its due justice alone.
I think such a book would go a long way to improving the quality of player's and GM's games. If you go through all of the posts on the forums and look at the different ways so many people here have interpreted the system or choose to handle creativity in their own games, you really begin to understand what the system is truly capable of. Sadly, just by reading the core rulebook alone, I don't think many people walk away with even a hint of the systems true potential. I don't know how well it would sell or how many people would be interested in reading such a thing. But for me personally, I think it would be a tragedy if such a thing were never realized and released.
Hmm...the above is cross posted?
I'm not seeing it. So far, everything in the talents is already in BBF. Ah but if you are talking about something to spark ideas, ok i get it.
I see your emphasis is on a intro to role playing with BBF. Since the main book doesn't even try to explain role-playing are you thinking of a supplement?
Sadly, just by reading the core rulebook alone, I don't think many people walk away with even a hint of the systems true potential. I don't know how well it would sell or how many people would be interested in reading such a thing. But for me personally, I think it would be a tragedy if such a thing were never realized and released.
To each his own, and not looking for a battle, but I don't agree with the above. If players want the Talents, than by all means do it - as a supplement. My personal opinion is that the system's beauty is in its comprehensive simplicity, and my experience is people quickly recognize this. I would be careful of system bloat - a lot of what people are suggetsing can be done with the rules 'as is', and its ability to promote role playing and allowing players to do what they want actually becomes more constrained by adding rules.
Just my opnion ;)
I see your emphasis is on a intro to role playing with BBF. Since the main book doesn't even try to explain role-playing are you thinking of a supplement?
As a gamer, I know of the desire to have a publisher provide every supplement, expansion, module and campaign I desire right now - but as a hobby publisher, I also know how much time, effort and money goes into developing and releasing each product.
BareBones hasn't been out that long yet and DwD is already releasing support material. My advice is to not push them too hard or set up any unrealistic expectations so soon into this new game system. :)
Agreed-quality beats quantity any day.