Basic Fantasy RPG vs Daggerheart
Compare Basic Fantasy RPG and Daggerheart side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Basic Fantasy RPG | Daggerheart | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Classic Fantasy, Beginner-Friendly, Rules-Light, Ascending AC, Open Source, Hackable, Modular, Dungeon Crawl | Narrative, Collaborative, Heroic, Roleplay-Heavy, Fiction-First, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Drama, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + attack bonus against the target's ascending Armor Class. Saving throws use a d20 roll-over against category-specific target numbers. Ability checks are d20 roll-under. Character advancement uses class-based XP tables and hit dice. | Roll 2d12 Duality Dice (Hope + Fear) and add modifiers vs. difficulty. Which die rolls higher determines whether the moment swings toward the players (Hope) or the GM gains Fear tokens to spend on complications. In combat, adversary attacks roll d20 + modifier against target's Evasion. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d12 |
| Complexity | Low | Medium |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 | Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL) |
| Cost | Free | $$$ |
| Publisher | Basic Fantasy Project | Darrington Press |
| Year | 2023 | 2025 |
| Best For | Groups who want a free, simple B/X-style game that modernizes classic D&D with ascending AC and separate race and class while remaining compatible with decades of OSR adventures. | Groups who want heroic fantasy with emotionally driven storytelling, where every roll shifts momentum between hope and fear. Great for Critical Role fans and narrative-focused tables. |
| Highlights | Completely free PDF with at-cost print copies through Lulu, race and class are separate unlike B/X source material, highly compatible with classic B/X and OSR modules | Every action roll uses 2d12 Duality Dice, and whether Hope or Fear lands higher hands momentum to the player or the GM. Combat runs fiction-first with no fixed initiative, so the spotlight passes by the action rather than a turn order. Characters equip abilities as domain cards drawn from two domains, building a loadout the player can swap between. |
| Considerations | Four core classes only (Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, Thief) without supplements, racial class restrictions limit some combinations, no built-in setting or campaign framework | The domain-card system runs best with printed cards, though it can be played from the character sheet alone. Players and the GM use asymmetric rules, so each side has its own procedures to learn. Mechanics are tied to the game's own setting and ancestries, which takes work to reskin for another world. |