The layout of the book is simple and uncluttered, making the book (or the PDF in my case) easy to read.
Once you get into the game you will see that this is definitely a first game by the designers. Some of the concepts could have stood to have better explanations, the use of "levels" in the skills is an example of this. Some skills need levels, while others don't. While there are tables on each of the skill descriptions that tell you the skills level, and what the "rank" of those levels are (much in the same way as classes are often ranked in older editions of games like D&D), since all of the skill scores are converted into percentile ranks it seems a bit puzzling as to why skills need levels (outside of giving a hook to those who are used to more class and level-based games). There is also a couple of steps that go into generating the percentage scores for skills, and it does seem that process could be a bit further streamlined.
That, I think, goes to the core of things with this game. BareBones Fantasy is intended to be a rules-light sort of game, but it is definitely on the more complicated end of rules-light. It is certainly not as light as a game like Risius, or even a game like Over The Edge. This is not a negative thing, it is just that I think that some of the processes could have been further streamlined to make BareBones Fantasy closer to what some think of traditionally as a rules-light game. I like the idea of using the classic classes of most class-based fantasy role-playing games as skills, This is a great idea, and something that I have toyed around with myself. I think that taking this approach cuts out a lot of the complexity of traditional class-based fantasy role-playing games.
Mechanically this game is pretty simple, and things boil down to a percentile, roll low system. There are various situational modifiers that can be applied to various situations, but the previous sentence sums up how you do things in this game. Whether it is a skill check, or an ability check, everything uses the same mechanic.
The section of the game dealing with the bestiary has all of the monsters that you would expect from a fantasy RPG, if you were coming from other, already established, games. I think that from precedence some of the creatures could have been broken down into greater specificity. The dragon entry, for example, could have been further broken down into various types. I like a lot of monster, and I like unique and interesting monsters that help give players an insight into a games world. The monsters in BareBones, while serviceable, are a bit more generic than what I personally like. The simplicity of creature writeups in the game, however, make it easy enough for a game master to personalize creatures to better fit their world. My main issue, I guess, with generic monsters, is that they do not have a sense of awe that allows players to turn creatures into adversaries rather than just a set of statistics that have to be fought against. This could very easily be something tackled too by the game master in an individual game, but it is something that I would have like to have seen.
I do like random tables in my fantasy games, and of the two offered up in the rules (Adventure Idea Generator and Random Dungeon Generation), the Random Dungeon Generation tables are the stronger of the two. Probably not as good as others that I have I seen, but they are good starting points for the game master to use in creating adventures for the character, while they are getting used to the game and the rules.
There is the starts of a setting in the Keranak Kingdoms. This is fairly traditional fantasy and could easily be further fleshed out by most fantasy game supplements. I don't know that it is enough to really start play entirely on its own, but I think that it can be used as a starting point. Expecting a fully fleshed out setting in a game this brief is probably asking a bit more than what is intended, so this is not something that I would consider to be a fault of BareBones Fantasy. Since most people are probably likely to plug in their own, existing, home-brewed setting, I doubt that the brevity of this section would be an issue for most of those interested in picking up this game.
So, is this a good game? I would definitely say that it is. Yes, there are flaws, but they aren't serious ones, and many of the things that I would probably have issues with would probably be easily handled with a house rule or two, something that a lot of gamers do with their games anyway. Coming in at just under $10 for the PDF this game is probably priced a little too high to be considered an impulse buy (I know it is for me at least), but it definitely would be worth the price. The commercial version sold at the link of the beginning of this post also has a low ink, printer friendly version with the fact that people will have to print this out in mind. While I would not call BareBones Fantasy an innovative game, it is rooted in simple and solid mechanics that will allow players and game masters to get to the game that they want to play quickly and easily. I definitely recommend checking this game out.
