Fantasy Earth: Basic Rules

Fantasy Earth: Basic Rules is a role-playing game published in 1994 by Zody Games.

Cover art, 1994

Description

Fantasy Earth: Basic Rules is a 120-page perfect-bound book that describes the Fantasy Earth role-playing game. It is a generic system — there is no world or universe setting, leaving the gamemaster free to create his or her own world.[1]

Character generation

Players assign 10-sided die rolls to 26 attributes such as Strength and Appearance. Over 120 skills are derived from the attributes.[2] The player then chooses a class: Warrior, Sorcerer, Cleric, Shaman or Burglar. The only race available is human.[1]

Skill resolution

To resolve a skill, the gamemaster sets a success level for the task, which the player must then equal or exceed with a die roll added to the character's relevant skill level.[1]

Combat

The combat system uses maneuvers and hit locations to allocate damage that can range from superficial to extreme.[1]

Reception

In the April 1996 edition of Dragon (Issue #228), Rick Swan wondered why any publisher would create a new generic fantasy role-playing game, given the preponderance of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but then admitted that "Michael Zody forged ahead anyway, with surprisingly credible results." Swan found the combat system "number-heavy but manageable." He concluded, "I don’t imagine many folks will be abandoning their AD&D Player's Handbook for Fantasy Earth. But if you’re a supporter of the small press, or if you’re looking for a set of ready-made rules to graft onto a homemade setting, you could do worse than this."[1]

Reviews
  • The Familiar (Issue 2, February 1995)

References
  1. Swan, Rick (April 1996). "Roleplaying Reviews". Dragon. TSR, Inc. (228): 65.
  2. "Fantasy Earth: Basic Rules - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.