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BASH! Fantasy Edition
by Ron M. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/10/2009 11:54:54

BASH! Fantasy Edition From: Basic Action Games Reviewed by:  Ron McClung BASH! Fantasy Edition is a new RPG Core Rulebook (PDF format) from Basic Action Games.

Like the Hero System, BASH! is a system that started out as a Super Hero system and has grown into a multi-genre system. I have not had a chance to actually look at the BASH! super hero version so I can not compare and contrast. 

From page #2:  “The BASH! system was a product of my attempt to invent a role-playing game that would appeal to kids.”

Content: The full PDF (non-printer friendly) is 79 pages. It contains the basic rules of character generation, an advantages & disadvantages system, rules on powers and magic, a complete skill system, and chapters with equipment, weapons, armor, and adventuring gear. There is also a chapter on minions and monsters. All that you would expect from a RPG core rule book is included. The character in the game lies in the system and the details. 

The game has some very specialized terms, being that the general idea is that you are role-playing a graphic novel/comic book. For instance, in combat you have pages and panels (combat round and turns). The introduction includes a short glossary for these terms.   There are more than 10 pages of creatures available to the GM, from basilisk to zombie. All are more or less the standard creatures from fantasy. The PDF ends with a sample adventure, sample characters, and an appendix that guides the GM in creating his own fantasy world.

System: Character generation is simple and straight forward. It is a class-less point-spend system with suggested race packages if a player wants to be something other than a human. There are three ability scores - brawn, agility and mind - and they range in value from 1 to 5. They act as multipliers to the 2d6 dice roll that is core to the system. The races given include your standard elf, dwarf and halfling, but also include birdmen, catfolk and wolfkin. Races are basically lists of suggested advantages and disadvantages for that particular race and can be customized as the player (with GM approval) sees fit.  

All characters have a Energy Pool, which feeds certain abilities and all magic. It is a fixed number of points at character generation, but the system provides a variety of ways to get more points, to recover points and to push for more points during play.

There is only a short list of advantages and disadvantages. There is a lot of room for expansion and customization here. Supernatural powers start out with a list of mundane powers, which are basically those powers applicable to the fantasy setting carried over from the super hero genre.  Most are reminiscent of feats from d20. Like everything else, these are bought with points. Following this is the magic powers list. Tied into the superpower system, the key difference is all spells cost energy, where only certain powers cost energy. Magical powers are defined in different categories: Movement Powers, Perception Powers, Mental Powers, Combat Powers, and Bio-Manipulation Powers.  

In BASH!, one can have pretty much any kind of magic you can imagine. From low magic worlds to magic-is-as-common-as-water worlds. There are some ways to customize one's world for the type of magic he wants. One way that is suggested is the use of colleges of magic. Under each college are spells. Each spell is basically defined in terms of Magical Powers. For example, Wall of Wind is defined as the magical power force field. The Magic Colleges include Air College, Earth College, Fire College, Water College, and a few others. It is a fairly simple system with lots of room to be flexible and customize.

Skills are straight forward and simple. Of the three ability scores the character has, only two apply to skills - Agility and Mind. There are no levels to skills and there are no combat skills. One either uses the skill by rolling the associated ability score, or tries untrained at a penalty. There are also specialty skill options which allow re-rolls on attempts at that particular specialty.  

Combat is handled by straight opposed agility or brawn rolls and sometimes supernatural abilities apply. Brawn determines the number of wounds and hits are the damage system, which are calculated after armor values "soak" what damage it can.

The Game system comes across initially like a version of d6. But as I read further and got an understanding of the nuances and the subtle elegance of it, I realized it was a little more than that. It is truly not a bad system. I am surprised that this is not a hard-covered book somewhere. It has some influences from d6 as well as Hero System and GURPs.  A friend who looked at it for me said it reminded him of Fusion somewhat. The core dice for task resolution in and out of combat is two six-sided dice. As said above, ability scores act as multipliers to those 2d6. However, the Rule of Doubles say that if you roll doubles of any kind, you get to add another die. If that die comes up with the same number as the doubles, you keep adding another die - kind of like the d6 wild die.

One gem that seems to be influenced from d20 is the Danger Level of Monsters, like the challenge rating in d20. What? Challenge rating in a non-level based game. It can be done, and with the simple system like BASH! it can be done fairly easily. Because we are basically dealing with low numbers in stats, powers and abilities, a danger level can be calculated pretty quickly. The system provides the numbers for all the published creatures and gives you a simple formula for figuring it out for others that you create. The PDF also includes rules to convert characters from the Super Hero version of BASH! to this one, and it is a simple matter of multiplying and dividing. There is a certain level of scaling between the two.

From page #2: “What I found, however, was that it really worked well as a super heroes RPG for gamers of all ages.”

Layout: The file downloaded includes a printable version as well as a full version. In the full version, the layout is well-done - not too busy, but not too boring either. The art is very good.  The cover art could be a little better but it could be worse also. The layout of the text is as one would expect from a core rulebook, and everything is there that you need to get started.

In conclusion, I can easily see this as a fun system to play. It is not perfect, but what system is? There are several influences from good systems and it brings it together into a system that is simple and very fast to play. There is not a lot of number crunching, although the math is a little more advanced than just adding numbers (but only slightly). Instead of knowing your addition and subtraction, you need to know your multiplication and division. Like I said, I am surprised this is just in PDF format. I have seen a lot worse systems in print - a LOT worse. I take off points for lack of a supporting web site, at least as far as I could find.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
BASH! Fantasy Edition
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Creator Reply:
But we do have a website! http://www.bashrpg.com I'll have to make sure that info gets included in the next printing (which hopefully WILL be in hardcopy)!
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BAM! Basic Action Magazine #3
by Ronald W. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/06/2009 15:37:19

A good product for BASH! keep 'em coming! It's Clobberin' time!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
BAM! Basic Action Magazine #3
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Island of the Forgotten Tomb
by Ronald W. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/06/2009 15:34:03

A good product that can be adapted to other systems but BASH! works just fine.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Island of the Forgotten Tomb
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BASH! Fantasy Edition
by Ronald W. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/27/2009 16:28:31

THe BASH! system is great for allowing quick on the fly games when prep time is a the minimum. Do not overlook this product. It works especially well for younger gamers.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
BASH! Fantasy Edition
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BASH! Sci-Fi Edition
by Christian K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/14/2008 20:26:35

BASH! SciFi Edition is toolkit, first and foremost. If you came looking for a "complete" RPG, you will probably be disappointed, since there is not setting.

That aside, it's a marvellous toolkit. In the span of 138 pages, it covers everything that is needed to run space opera. There's aliens, psionics, cybernetics, a nice helping of guns and sci-fi toys, statblocks for almost every "stock" character type encountered in the SF genre, a collection of beasties and robots, and quite a few starships. You also get genre advice for victorian SF, cyberpunk, pulp-SF, post-apocalypse and sword & planet, along with decent rules for mecha.

Several things deserve special praise: The scaling rules are top-notch. Characters vs. Vehicles is thoroughly covered by the rules, as is attacking large vehicles with smaller craft. And they don't feel tacked on, they work well. The equipment section has a nice selection of addons and gimmicks, and deals with combining items as well. Want a grenade laucher on that blaster rifle? No problem. Collapsible quarterstaff? BASH! SF has you covered. An energy sword that doubles as a pistol? Can be done, and we have an arm-mounted energy shield and a jetpack to go along with it. You can build amazing things that way to keep your players entertained. Finally, the book also has a simple (but working) system for dealing with mass combat, be it in space or on a planetary surface.

There were a few things that irked me, though. One of them was the old cover, which has since been replaced with the one shown here. Also, the PDF isn't optimized for printing; it lacks the empty page between the cover and the first interior page, and the page numbering starts at "2" instead of "3". Most of you will probably just read it on-screen and not be bothered with the page numbering, but it's a bit iffy to get a hardcopy printed that way.

In conclusion, BASH! SciFi is a great and very compact toolkit. If you need a system for your SF-campaign, look no further.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
BASH! Sci-Fi Edition
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BASH! Basic Action Super Heroes (Original Edition)
by Michele Z. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/08/2008 08:08:10

Ciao. Prodotto notevole in quanto a semplicità di meccaniche di gioco, creazione dei personaggi e scelta dei poteri. Il sistema si basa su 3 statistiche fondamentali (Mente, Muscoli ed Agilità) il cui punteggio viene moltiplicato per il risultato di 2d6. Il risultato viene confrontato con il punteggio dell'avversario o una soglia di difficoltà. I poteri non sono specifici per ogni singolo uso o manifestazione ma vengono descritti come tipologie di potere; al giocatore il compito di personalizzarlo e di rnderlo unico. Tutta la descrizione dei poteri e delle meccaniche di gioco vengono riassunti in poco più di 20 pagine. Il sistema è dunque un ottimo compromesso tra semplicità e giocabilità. Aspetti negativi sono soprattutto legati alla revisione del gioco. In prima battuta ci sono discrepanze tra la versione estesa e quella print-friendly. Altro aspetto che richiede attenzione e "interpretazione" delle regole è che a volte la descrizione dei poteri è un pò troppo sintetica e quindi richiede un certo grado di interpretazione (nulla di eccessivamente complesso, comunque). Per essere un gioco auto-prodotto è davvero riuscito. Consiglio vivamente l'acquisto.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
BASH! Basic Action Super Heroes (Original Edition)
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Creator Reply:
Wow, my first Italian review! Glad to know the game is getting some international exposure!
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BASH! Basic Action Super Heroes (Original Edition)
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/30/2007 15:36:42

I concur with the previous reviewers with regard to the quality of the system and emulation of the genre. The system is not 100% compatible with later products in the BASH! line, but those books, Fantasy and Sci-fi, have conversion suggestions. This book also does not include the sub-genre variation rules that have become standard with BASH!. Pulp, and gritty-style variations would have been nice.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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BASH! Fantasy Edition
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/30/2007 15:26:37

This is the BASH! equivalent of purchasing the first 3 AD&D hard backs plus Oriental Adventures! [Remember pre-'89 AD&D? This book captures that spirit.] The only drawback is that some knowledge of the genre is presupposed. The typical monsters covered in the OGL are statted here but not given descriptions, so new players and GMs could be thrown off a bit. Don't look for fancy art here either, but then again first generation rpgs didn't have much of it, and Basic Action Games doesn't need to pass the cost of commissioned art on to the consumer. A well-formatted printer-friendly version is included.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
BASH! Fantasy Edition
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BASH! Sci-Fi Edition
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/30/2007 13:59:26

OK, here's what I like about this book--the exact same rule-lite system as BASH! Fantasy edition, none of those weird soak roll rules from the supers version. For $15.00, which I still argue is steep for a pdf, you get a highly workable system complete with the standards--aliens, psionics, starships, mecha, etc with solid rules for a good number of genres and random alien species generation, so it's as if you're buying 3 or 4 books of the price in terms of usability of the content. My one complaint, as far as content, is that a "giant transformable sentient robot species" section was not included, though those types of characters could be worked up with the system with a little time. An adventure generator would be nice too, but that's probably pushing it.

As for the documents themselves, I appreciate the print-friendly pdf, but why include pictures in it? The table of contents and index are not hyperlinked, which is a little annoying.

These issues don't bother me so much, but be aware that the book is mostly illustrated with stock art you've probably seen before and that other than named sample alien species emulating sci-fi staples, no setting information is given.

In short if you like the BASH! Fantasy rules set and want the same quality of hidden gems were genre is concerned, you'll love this.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
BASH! Sci-Fi Edition
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for the review-- as to your one major complaint-- Sentient transformable robot species are addressed in the rules of the Mecha section! You can have a "Living Mecha" as a character along with the "Transform" power for said Mecha!
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Megapolis: A City of Supers
by Russell C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/22/2006 00:00:00

The first supplement for BASH! (Basic Action Super Heroes) RPG presents an entire campaign setting for the system in the form of Megapolis: A City of Supers.

The PDF is 81 pages in length with the text formatted into two columns and includes a generous number of illustrations. There is also a printer friendly version included (basically the same text and formatting but without illustrations) and that comes out at 66 pages. The illustrations are all black and white (apart from the cover) and although not as consistently good as those in the BASH! rulebook they are still okay. The small font size, compact formatting and lack of wasted space all ensure that there is a lot of information included here.

As stated this is a sourcebook for the fictional city of Megapolis. Located somewhere on the East Coast of America - its actual location is left intentionally vague so that GMs can locate it where they please. Information on the history of the city is given, as well as the various boroughs that make up its environs. There is also some more detailed info on various places of interest to be found within the city, including; the local air force base, super prison (and inmates) the other-dimensional realm of Arcadia (for those who want to mix superheroes with fantasy) and various organisations to help or hinder your heroes.

As well as the information on the city, about half of the book is given over to its numerous super-denizens. These include individual heroes and villains as well as teams. Some of the characters have already appeared in the BASH rulebook, but the majority are new.

Finally there is a short section of additional rules and information for the GM. Also included here is a sample timeline of events for the city, outlining a complete campaign year to enable GMs to kick start their own games.

All in all this is a nice supplement for BASH! There is nothing particularly new here, but nothing outrageous either that might prevent it from easily being added to any existing contemporary superhero campaign. You get a setting that is detailed enough to be useful but not so complete that you can't make it your own. The inclusion of the timeline also makes it a great option for time-poor GMs wishing to start their own campaign.

If you are looking for a setting for your BASH! game and don't want to put in the work yourself this is worth getting. Even if you don't need a new campaign city for your games this supplement is probably still worth getting if only for the numerous superhero and villain NPCs included within. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A good solid setting with lots of ready-made supers and the ability to kick off a new campaign with very little effort, plus includes a printer friendly version.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A few typos and no bookmarks, but these are relatively minor problems.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Megapolis: A City of Supers
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Creator Reply:
I am glad you liked this work and hope you get good use from it!
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BASH! Fantasy Edition
by Timothy B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/18/2006 00:00:00

A really neat, elegant system - ideal for short campaigns where you have a brilliant idea but not the time to develop it for a more complex system (Hero system, for instance). Everything is covered - magic, combat, skills etc. Everything is resolved using 2D6 multiplied by the influencing stat.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Everything except its quirky layout.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Quirky layout and odd references to 1 square radius (for example).<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
BASH! Fantasy Edition
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Creator Reply:
Glad you like it, but you know it is good for playing campaigns as well!
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Island of the Forgotten Tomb
by Timothy B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/18/2006 00:00:00

A supplement and campaign background for BASH fantasy. Set in a swashbuckling age, it plays to the strengths of the BASH system to perfection, right down to fencing schools with different styles. Contains a sample adventure (rather deadly looking) and lots more suggestions about naval life.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Everything<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There's nothing to dislike<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Island of the Forgotten Tomb
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Creator Reply:
Glad you appreciate it, Matey!
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Megapolis: A City of Supers
by Timothy B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/18/2006 00:00:00

A campaign background for BASH, complete with places of interest, villainous organisations and more examples of the flexible nature of character creation than you can shake a stick at. Some new powers and (dis)advantages complete the bulk of the work. There is an outline calendar of events for a campaign lasting a game year!<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Everything<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The map of the city of Megapolis could have had more detail, but that is a quibble.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Megapolis: A City of Supers
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Creator Reply:
Originally we were going to use a color map, but that would have made it less "printer friendly".
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BASH! Basic Action Super Heroes (Original Edition)
by Timothy B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/16/2006 00:00:00

This a a really neat and simple system for playing low-power superhero games. There are only three stats - brawn, agility and mind. Almost everything is resolved using 2D6, usually multiplied by the controlling stat. For skills it is vs. a diffciculty number for other powers it might be versus the appropriate defence (again generated by 2D6 multiplied by appropriate stat). Almost any power you can think of is covered. Optional character advancement is included (but not encouraged!). It makes a wonderful system for a one-off or a short campaign.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The elegance and simplicity.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Occasional lack of clarity and peculiar layout (e.g. movement rates are buried under movement powers).<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
BASH! Basic Action Super Heroes (Original Edition)
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Creator Reply:
Thanks.
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The Amazing One Sheet Dungeon
by John D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/29/2006 00:00:00

Does what it says on the tin, i maybe tweaked two areas to suit me better, but aprt from that used it straight out of the , erm, tin.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Price, decent sized dungeon, ideally suited to me and my players<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: where is the next one, should have released more of these by now! Can i write one for you, for free just to get something published!!<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



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[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Amazing One Sheet Dungeon
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Creator Reply:
Sure that sounds like a great offer!
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