Fantasy Earth: Basic Rules

Fantasy Earth: Basic Rules

Designers	Michael Zody
Publishers	Zody Games
Publication	1994 (1994)
Genres	Fantasy

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

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 gamemasters free to create their own world.

In 1996, Zody Games published a streamlined version of the rules, called The Essential Fantasy Earth.

Character generation

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

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.

Combat

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

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."

Reviews

• The Familiar (Issue 2, February 1995)

See also

• Fantasy Earth: The Book of Magic - The Fantasy Earth magic supplement