Old-School Essentials vs Basic Fantasy: Which Retroclone Should You Run?
Short answer
Old-School Essentials vs Basic Fantasy is fidelity versus friendliness. OSE restates the 1981 rules exactly, descending armour class included. Basic Fantasy modernises quietly with ascending armour class and is free to download.
Old-School Essentials and Basic Fantasy are both restatements of the same 1981 rules, and they made opposite decisions about what to preserve. OSE preserves the rules as written, including descending armour class. Basic Fantasy keeps the feel and modernises the maths, defaulting to ascending armour class and separating race from class.
The short comparison
| Old-School Essentials | Basic Fantasy | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Faithful restatement | Same feel, modernised maths |
| Armour class | Descending, ascending optional | Ascending |
| Race and class | Combined, as in 1981 | Separate |
| Presentation | Meticulous, one topic per spread | Plain and functional |
| Price | Paid, print and PDF | Free PDF, at-cost print |
| Old module compatibility | Direct | Direct, with trivial AC conversion |
When OSE is the right pick
When you want the original game and want to stop losing time to layout. The presentation is the product, and if you are running classic modules the rules line up without you thinking about it.
When Basic Fantasy is the right pick
When your players come from modern games and descending armour class would be a speed bump for no gain, or when you want to hand the whole rulebook to five people for nothing. Free is a real feature when you are trying to start a group.
Does the choice lock you in?
Not really. Both run the same adventures, monsters convert on sight, and the two are close enough that a table can switch between them without relearning the game. The armour class convention is the only conversion anyone actually notices.
Running either one online
Whichever you pick, the bookkeeping is the same: light, encumbrance, and the dungeon turn. A tool that tracks those automatically does more for an OSR game than one with a better lighting engine. Our Old School Fantasy tabletop is for use with Old-School Essentials and handles the clocks, and it runs one game free with unlimited players.
Requires Old-School Essentials. 'Old-School Essentials' and its logo are trademarks of Necrotic Gnome, used with permission under the Old-School Essentials Third-Party License. Old School Fantasy is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Necrotic Gnome.
Related questions
- Is Basic Fantasy really free?
- The PDFs are free to download, and print copies are sold at production cost. It is one of the few complete roleplaying games you can hand to a whole table at no charge.
- Can you run the same adventures in both?
- Yes. They restate the same 1981 rules, so modules, monsters, and treasure move between them with at most an armour class conversion.
- Which is better for new players?
- Basic Fantasy, marginally, because ascending armour class matches what players coming from modern games already expect and race is separated from class.