This game and it's setting have reminded our group why we loved RPGs in the first place. Easy to learn, but with subtle depths, it is all you could want in a rules light system. In fact, because it is rules light and the setting is broad brushstrokes, everyone at the table has ownership of the world and how it can develop. I would but anything DwD publishes for this game!

Covert Ops is a rules-light game of espionage and intrigue that is a great choice for quality and value. In a day and age when basically everything has been released as a supplement, it packs a surprising amount of content, it includes not only a hundred-and-change page core rulebook but a similarly long GM's guide, as well as a bulky portfolio of pre-made characters and a ton of additional goodies, such as printable initiative cards, to round out the deal.Of course, having a lot of content doesn't necessarily make something good. Fortunately, that is of little concern here; while there are some small issues in the game's presentation (for instance, how skills work is a little unclear until well after you've first seen them, which had me scratching my head until all was made clear), it is by and large incredibly solid. While it doesn't necessarily have anything spectacular and unique to earn it the title of being a highly original work, it's still a collection of many features that come together to feel like a good espionage game.

My main caution to people looking at this is that it is rules-light, with all that entails. If you're looking to handle things down to a minute detail, you won't necessarily enjoy this, though its d00 system uses percentile dice and can be easily expanded upon to add more granularity if that's a necessity for you and your group. There's a couple things that are notably lacking; social skills are intended to be resolved by roleplaying (the GM's guide contains an extended ruleset that codifies this), though since skills are so intrinsically linked to the players' attributes this isn't a huge issue, as it's generally going to be sufficient to just use attributes in their place (Will and Logic, as well as the Detective skill, being the obvious stand-ins).

Typesetting wise, there's not a whole lot of innovation, but the book is solid and legible. There's enough art to keep one's eyes from beginning to doze off, but not so much that it becomes distracting, and it's of generally high quality. There's a couple typos (most egregiously "Weinmar Republic"), but these don't detract too much from the quality of the game as a whole and are rare enough to make them pretty negligible in the context of the whole game.

As far as the GM advice goes, Covert Ops includes a lot of contingencies and guides for being a rules-lite game, and includes random generation for basically everything you could need to use; while it's not going to compete with hand-made content, a GM short on time or pressed by a plot twist can pretty readily find whatever they need even if they're suffering from writer's block. The advice to GM's both is great from a general roleplaying perspective (for instance, covering how to keep the table organized and moving forward) and assisting with the espionage/spycraft genre, literary conventions, and other things that will prove invaluable for those who really want to craft a good game with an eye to detail and meaning.

I'd have no problem recommending Covert Ops to anyone. With a lot of content for $10; a great focus on the genre; and a quick, fast, and fulfilling system, Covert Ops is a solid entry in the market, though I'd caution prospective modders and remixers that the CC BY-NC-SA only covers the text (the URL in the book, as of my writing, is wrong, but you can find the full text of the license on the site) and not other parts of the book.

Once again, DWD Studios has brought us one of the best values in gaming. COVERT OPS is a game of modern day paramilitary and espionage action, using the d00Lite rules found in their previous blockbuster "BareBones Fantasy." And, once again, don't be fooled by the "lite." The game plays quick, the rules are tight and the character creation is fast. But, boy oh boy, did they deliver on content.

Fans of BareBones Fantasy will be completely at home in this d100-based system. Professions as Skills, streamlined combat and open advancement are still the foundations of the game. What's been added is tons of content for the modern setting: weapon and gear payouts, background options for character origins, martial arts fighting styles, vehicle chase rules... everything you'd need is here.

For the GM, DWD does not fail to deliver on the awesome tools and tables they're known for. Go in with just an idea of what you want, roll some dice and before you know it... an entire adventure, stocked with baddies, traps and sinister villains (and their organizations) are ready for your agents to topple.

The Core Rulebook alone is great, but with the PDF bundle you get A TON MORE. The GM Operations Manual will help you add and modify the game to your liking, with plenty of optional content to tack on. The Usual Suspects provides dossiers of common NPC archetypes at all levels of play. You're also getting plenty of hand outs and extras in the PDF bundle. Even the Hardcover PDF is a steal, considering you can shell out the same price for an incomplete title from most big name publishers, where here you're getting one of the most solid stand alone products to come out this year.

And the presentation is awesome. Very well edited, very concise rules and the layout is very pleasing to the eyes. PDF moguls will be happy to see these books load quickly and not bog down their preferred reading platforms, as well as to see how well the manual flows and has all the proper book markings you'd expect.

Like I've praised them before with BBF, COVERT OPS is a labor of love from a couple guys, who managed to bring us a title that hands down deserves to sit on our bookshelves among the bigger industry names. If you enjoyed BBF, you'll love this game. If you're looking for a solid modern day action game, you need this title. If you're the GM without much time to prep, this game has you covered (and your players would never know.) If you're the kind of GM who wants to tinker, the rules are released under CC-BY-NC-SA.

TL;DR -- This game rocks, and you won't be disappointed.

BBF does a remarkable job being both rules lite and very complete. Honestly, you could indeed play with nothing more than this slim tome alone for years. The skill system is very complete and easily tweaked for personal campaigns. Everything is rather straight forward mechanically, adding your own rule options and sub systems is a breeze. I really hope to see the system makes its transition into other genres too.

Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2013/06/05/tabletop-review-trouble-brewing-barebones-fantasy/

Trouble Brewing is an adventure for BareBones Fantasy, a simple fantasy role-playing game. This adventure is for 3-5 characters of rank 1, or higher rank characters if the GM ups the strength of the bad guys. The premise of this adventure is that there is a town famed for its drinking establishments that has experienced an outbreak of violence that is not readily explained.

Angry Dwarves

The opening hook for the adventure is that players stumble upon a senseless murder outside of a tavern, one dwarf has murdered another in cold blood. Players will have to decide what to do, whether to chase down the murderer as he stumbles away, etc. After dealing with the crime scene, players will get a chance to talk to the constable who might offer them some cash to figure just what in Tenkar (the name of the town) is going on. This is where the all-too-familiar interrogation part comes in, where the players try to determine where they need to go and what they need to do. What I really like about this section is that there are three tiers of information that the players can retrieve: that which is easily obtained, that which will take some work to uncover, and that which is only learned if the players specifically look for it.

One place the players are sure to start looking is in the tavern itself, partly because the rest of the town is rather absent so this is either an opportunity for the GM to do some town-building or some on-the-fly creation. The module text only covers what is absolutely necessary. So, as long as the tavern is investigated further the characters can advance the story. If they get caught up in exploring the town for whatever reason then the GM is somehow going to have to get them back to the tavern to move the plot along.

Sure, Blame The Little Guys

Spoiler alert, this is where I allude to the twist while trying to avoid outright explaining it. Basically, the characters should discover that the new owner of the tavern became such under mysterious circumstances, and if they follow the rabbit trail of clues they should discover that something not very nice is going in the sewers below the tavern…and it involves ale…and it’s gross. Once the characters get down there they will have a sort of mini dungeon crawl until they discover the whole truth, and hopefully put a stop to whatever is going on.

Overall, it seems like a nice little scenario that shouldn’t take more than one session unless somehow they players really get on a tangent or the GM wants to stretch it out with his or her own efforts. The story is nothing all that special, standard investigate and eradicate procedure, but should be fun for gamers who like BareBones Fantasy. Everything is written and presented well, and the layout is nice with a good background and excellent maps. The only weird thing is that I couldn’t tell if the blocky objects above some sections were just some strange graphic or if they were supposed to be titles that got messed up somehow in the production process. Also, the back of the PDF seems to imply color maps within but everything inside is in black and white. Otherwise, I have no complaints, seems like a good product, although it would have been nice if Tenkar were fleshed-out a little more. It’s cheap too, and if you like this adventure there are more on the way: the next one is Slimy Trail of the God-Snail.

A good mini bestiary of sorts for the Bare Bones fantasy RPG.

It covers 20 species that can be used as playable characters (Dark Elf, Bugbear, etc) . It's 56 pages long, but 52 pages are the actual book, so to speak. Pages 50-52 are the appendix (for the player/for the GM).

Artwork: good. Dislikes: nothing really.

Yet another good product from DWD Studios.

At £4.63, quite a good buy.

Our group is just getting started with this game system, so this accessory couldn't come at a better time. I was very pleased to see a long list of races that players could look at and let their imaginations run wild. The original list of races was fine in the core rulebook, but I felt that more was needed. I just figured I'd have to do it myself, but this has made things way easier.

I look forward to seeing more races in the future, but this gives us a good base to extrapolate for other races if need be. I rarely give anything a perfect score, but I feel very positive about this accessory.

If you are running or playing a Bare Bones Fantasy game, I recommend this product.

An Excellent supplement to the BareBones Fantasy rules!

The original BBF rules has only the 4 basic races for the players to play as characters. With this supplement they give you 27 races to play (this includes the original 4). You get a page of description, preferences, attitudes towards other races and game master tips for each race. This is followed by a page with a nice picture of the race and a quick list of racial bonus.

I highly recommend this for all BBF players and GMs, as well as to any fantasy RPG gamer as a guide to how simple you can layout a game supplement.

DwD Studios continue to impress me on how simple a gaming system, supplement or adventure can be created.

So. Much. Fun. ...And so simple! I can recommend this product to veteran gamers as well as to any GM wishing to obtain new players in order to introduce them to the world of Pen&Paper RPGs.

I must say I live and play this game in Germany. Yes, you guys made it over the pond!! I was able to get a newbie gamer to play this game who isn't good at English at all. She understands and likes the system and she keeps asking me to GM more and more adventures using this system.

You should really have this translated to several languages!

Thank you for this wonderful system and all the great time it gave us.

Let's face it: you've already seen this. You've been around the RPG gaming scene, you've been in the room with the 350 lb. and 400 lb. gorillas, so when you get right down to it, all 20 races presented in Flesh & Blood are ones you've seen before.

What you haven't seen yet, however, is what happens when those races are ported over to DWD's Keranak Kingdoms setting. Or the mechanics of how those races work in BareBones Fantasy RPG. Each of the 20 races is given a 2 page spread, with a look at the races place in the Keranak Kingdoms and GM notes on the left page, and race portrait and mechanical stats on the right. The 'fluff' text provides not only an overview of each race, but also the occasional hook the GM can use to add flavor to their campaign.

As usual with DWD's BareBones Fantasy products, the layout is clear and non-distracting, with artwork perfectly fitting for the setting.

I had the honour of playing this while it was still in playtest, and I have played it since, as well as GMing a session. So much of the system is a brilliant distillation of core Fantasy gaming concepts into a really smooth and fast-playing rules set. The Class es keyed to each of the Ability Scores makes creating a non-confining character which still has the convenience of class-construction and even faster than anything outside of Microlite20 or WMR.

The creature construction guidelines make for very simple, low to no-prep encounter fine tuning, and coupled with a very exciting combat system, the 'meat and potatoes' of Fantasy gaming is held up to a high standard for other systems to aspire.

This is a great buy. The game is very well designed and is a very complete system despite its brevity. Even though it is called barebones, that does not mean more work for the DM/GM. Everything you need to run a complete campaign is right in this little book.

I am running a Pathfinder campaign Rise of the Runelords while waiting for D&Dnext. That was the plan at least, but honestly, I think BBF will be our next game. Next might never be next...

Excellent system, very easy to learn and one that doesn’t hold up play. The original skill system works well, defining a character as the player wants. The magic system is very simple and quite innovative – no single spells but catch-all groups such as “offensive strike”. Here the caster chooses a direct magical assault of some sort (e.g. fire, ice, lightning) or charges a weapon / fist for extra damage. The power of the spell is determined by the casters skill. Simple. The book is well organised and very complete – comprehensive kit lists, how to do things, monsters, treasure, adventure and dungeon generation for ideas etc – it really is all here. A neat threat system keeps the game in balance too – very well thought out. Whats bad then? The only really bad thing for me was the random dungeon generator – first it is all hand-drawn (what happened to the ruler), second, well the generator is in a table format; roll a die for rows then columns and there you go. The average of a D10 is 5.5 so what is in this space of the table? A corridor, an empty room? Nope. A trap. The most common encounter generated is a trap. Hmmm. The idea is good, but the execution needs improving.
Along with the pdf, I ordered the print on demand book. I live in the UK, and it was delivered three days after ordering!! Yes, I paid extra for first class postage but even so, thats quick! The pages are slightly out of position when the book was bound but for an extra $4 I’m more than happy with it. The book and system lives up to its claims of being a complete, rules lite system, and is more than capable of keeping a group going for many, many months. A very solid 5 out of 5.

I had a great time with BareBones Fantasy. I started making a character, but I'm bad at time mgmt. and was trying too hard to think up a character concept. I had three back-to-back games to play, so I chickened out and made a character with the online NPC generator. Character Gen was easy to follow and I liked that I could pick a blend of a couple different classes from the outset, like warrior- thief-caster. Of the simple systems I've played, BBF seems best at having hybrid characters out of the gate without major penalties in first several levels.

Dungeon World, Warrior Rogue & Mage, Old School Hack, Searchers of the Unknown, are all one-shot type or simple systems I've played. I would rank BareBones Fantasy right up there with Dungeon World as being the most feature-full, simple fantasy system with lots of replay-ability or being campaign worthy.

As with any game system, it helps to have a great GM that knows the rules. I got to play with Larry Moore, one of the authors. Don't ever turn that down!! Even better is a creative GM that can turn a story hook into a fun romp with a cool quickie map. Larry did just that. Maybe that is why he and his co-author were able to create such a system, they've played a ton of games and figured out what they like and don't like in other systems.

The game comes with a well laid out character sheet and a 2-page quick start character creation guide, some nice art work and maps, B/W (printer friendly) and full color versions of the book and first adventure. There are several things that DwD Studios got right in that list, well all of them. :-) I love playing role-playing games and I like being able to pick up a game and quickly wrap my head around the math in the system. It doesn't have to be super complicated to be super fun. One thing I'd like to see is a form-fillable PDF for a character sheet. I actually spent part of my pre-game time that morning trying to make one for BareBones. I think the math is simple enough to make it easy to finish off one lazy Saturday soon.

The previous reviewer did an awesome detailed job of explaining the system and what comes with it, so I won't go on, but do know that I think the $10 is money well-spent if you are into quick OSR gaming.

I can't wait to see your BareBones SciFi. BareBones Star Frontiers? You know you want to.

You might say there are two types of rules-light games. There are those that give you the basic essentials you need to run and play a game--the briefest of outlines, so to speak. Then there are those that manage to remain simple and easy to use, but still manage to give robust support to the Game Master, and an excellent outline for creativity and expansion.

It is precisely because BareBones Fantasy falls into the latter, more elusive category that I can happily recommend it to gamers.

BareBones Fantasy (aka BBF) is by DwD Studios, and comes to you by some of the names responsible for the continued support and revival of the old Star Frontiers RPG. Fittingly enough, the rules borrow some of the conventions of that game, albeit in a neatly presented and updated format.

Let's start with the basics. This 82-page dynamo uses a roll-under percentile system, with doubles (44, 77, etc.) being treated as critical successes or failures, depending on if the roll is under or over the target number. 00-05 is always a success on a reasonable attempt, and a 95-99 always fails.

BareBones has 4 stats, or Abilities, which can either be rolled randomly or assigned via point buy. Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Logic (LOG), and Will (WIL), should be self-explanatory for most any gamer. These Abilities are used for checks (STR check to lift things, resist poison; DEX to jump out of the way of something, etc.), and also play an important part in class/skill, as we're about to see.

There are the 4 basic fantasy races in here (though I understand a supplement with additional races is forthcoming)--Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling. Each of these races gets a bonus to one Ability, and a few other add-ons as well.

The game uses one of my favorite, and regrettably lesser-used conventions in gaming--class as skill. There are 8 skills, which are Cleric, Enchanter, Leader, Scholar, Spellcaster, Scout, Thief and Warrior. The last three of that list can be used unskilled by all characters; the others must be trained. Each character gets a primary and secondary skill to start with, each of which get a corresponding bonus. The starting percentage (before bonuses) for a skill is half the governing Ability. A list of what each skill can do is provided--Spellcaster ties to your capacity to cast spells, Cleric links to your religious knowledge and divine gifts, and so on down the line.

A brief word on magic: there are only 17 spells in this game, which might seem like a small amount, but the spells can be customized based on desired effect. For example, the Charm spell can be used not only to magically win folks over to your side, but also to drop them into a deep sleep, intimidate them into fleeing in fear, and so on. A Spellcasting roll is required to cast--and that's the danger to the caster really, the specter of a critical failure. A lucky caster can sling spells all day long--there's no worries of Mana or Spells Per Day here.

From there, you pick out equipment from the provided list, and then derive a couple of secondary stats--your starting Body Points (yep, Hit Points), your Initiative, your Damage Reduction (adjusted by your armor choice), and your Movement (how many spaces you can move in a turn). It's all quite quick and painless.

For a rules-light game, there are some cool aspects of rounding out your character. The Alignment code reminds me of Pendragon, with players defining their character as Somewhat/Very/Totally Kind or Cruel, Focused or Unfocused, Selfless or Selfish, Honorable or Deceitful, and Brave or Cowardly. The player also specifies two Descriptors, one negative ("Drinks too much") and one positive ("Well-mannered") to further flesh out the character. I also appreciate the step-by-step examples and inclusion of sample character to help character creation along. It's all ridiculously simple, but it's still a nice, reassuring sort of feature.

Perhaps the biggest positive takeaway for me on character generation is how you can have an interesting hybrid sort of character without having a be-all and end-all sort of supreme "special snowflake". You can have a character that wears heavy armor and can still Spellcast, but he'd better have a high enough Strength to pull it off. And if you throw all your points in making that work, you're going to kick butt, yet you'll still have your weak areas. Players should have a lot of fun diversifying their characters and find the right balance between specialization, and the siren call of being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

There aren't many pages (barely two) spent explaining the basic mechanics, mainly because a) they're simple, and b) the author, one Mr. Larry Moore (along with co-designer Mr. Bill Logan), has a wonderful penchant for explaining things in a clear, succinct matter. There's a brief description of Contested Rolls between characters, Resistance checks (which are the same as doing an Ability check), and a few words on healing, and then we're ready for combat.

The combat section is short and sweet. First you roll initiative. If you have an initiative rating of 2, you roll 2d10s and pick the best d10 roll of the two. (A bit off the beaten path, but fun). Then you attack, trying to roll under either your Warrior (Melee) or Warrior (Ranged) skill. Your opponent can try to Dodge, using a DEX check. If you hit, you roll damage for your weapon, taking into account any armor worn by your foe and subtracting its rating from the total.

If you want to act more than once in a round, each additional action has a -20% penalty. So, you can try to tumble across the spiked floor, throw your dagger at the high priest, punch the guard square in the jaw, and then Dodge when he tries to headbutt you on his turn, but your chances of success grow dimmer the later in the sequence an action is. Being roll-under percentile, there's always at least a chance of success, but you're also in trouble if you get too carried away.

Leveling up is a matter of earning Development Points (DPs). There's a checklist in here for the Game Master, to reward. DPs are granted each session if the character plays to alignment and descriptors, if they are an active participant, for completing in-game goals, etc. You can spend them on bumping up Skills, learning new languages, or increasing Abilities.

Now, many rules-light RPGs might stop there. If all BareBones did was present a rules-light system, throw in a few monsters and some generic GM advice and call it quits, it would still be an attractive gaming option. But where BareBones Fantasy thrives is in making this light game feel well-supported and full of options and good material.

There's the section on magic items, and magic item creation. There are charts and tables--in abundance, I should say. For the chart-o-phile as well as the harried GM, this game has you covered. There are charts for adventure creations, charts for dungeon creation. There are treasure charts, magic item tables, and even a fun one for alternate rewards--how about a noble title or deific blessing, if your quest was epic enough?

The best part is, none of the above feels hand-wavey or an afterthought. This game is easy, true, but that does not mean it doesn't give the Game Master tons of toys to play with.

A long list of magic items, a very stripped-down, "broad brushstrokes" setting (Keranak Kingdoms, which also has a book all its own), a bestiary, a glossary, and the all-important index round this work out. It's amazing just how much is in this book. I've read 200-page RPGs that offer less and are more impenetrable in doing so. If you want to talk about top page count value, this one just might be it.

If I've heard one complaint, it's that the monster section is too short--there are about 45 creatures presented--but that is mitigated somewhat by a template system to make your own baddies. It's quick, it's smart, and it works. Really, a lot of the game supports tinkering, whether you like running games right out of the box, or tweaking them until they're juuuuust right, BBF has you covered.

Presentation of the product is logical, orderly, with clear writing and a well-considered layout. If you were going to give a clinic on how to present an RPG, you could do far worse than to start here. I have no doubt other RPGs offer much of what BareBones does, but BBF just makes it all so concise and straightforward. Mr. Moore and company should be congratulated for what is an all-too-rare feat in gaming on that account.

BareBones Fantasy is available in both pdf and softcover from RPGNow, and I would recommend gamers looking for a smart, rules-light fantasy RPG that manages to be different, clever, and surprisingly thorough start here. I've seen it mentioned in the same breath as neoclassical and Old School Renaissance rulesets, and I suppose there's something to it, given this game's lineage. Yet I think pigeonholing it as such would be a disservice to the game, as it occupies its own ground somewhere in the middle. I've used it with Keep On The Borderlands, but I daresay a group raised on Pathfinder looking for something lighter would find just as much utility here, as well.

This game should appeal to groups without the time to chew through 400-page rulebooks, those who want something light yet robust, fans of good percentile-based systems, and even novice gamers just jumping into a system. I plan on running my 8 year-old daughter through a game of BBF quite soon, and I doubt she'll have any issues with it. For parents, I'd recommend checking into this one, too.

I'm not one to always trust reviews from any site trying to sell me stuff, but BareBones has over 20+ reviews on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG, and they're almost all wildly positive. In this instance, they're right on the money. So is BareBones Fantasy when it comes to delivering a lot of smart fantasy gaming at a good price. Consider this an enthusiastic endorsement of the product, start to finish.