Monday, May 25, 2015

The Free OSR Monster Resource - The Basic Fantasy Field Guide As Fodder For Your Science Fiction or Science Fantasy Campaign


The Basic Fantasy Rpg has some fantastic free resources, today we're going to slice under the skin of the Basic Fantasy Field Guide.

I've gotten argued to the ground over some points about one of my favorite monster manuals, the Basic Field Guide is an excellent go to monster book for any OD&D style campaign, one shot adventure, convention short set adventure. Whatever your needs are.
So its an excellent resource for your fantasy rpg dungeon crawls but did you ever consider using it for your old school science fiction or science fantasy adventures?
Grab It Right Over
HERE
Alright given the breath and range of monsters in this book its easy to see that these horrors can easily be inserted into a science fiction or science fantasy adventure landscape. Many of these horrors can easily be slipped into the background of your favorite adventures. There are a few little things to keep in mind with The Basic Fantasy Field Guide, the explanations for their statistics are given in the front. They appear alphabetically. But a second list in the back lists them by hit dice which makes it easier to deal with at the table on the fly. Since this is a retroclone based on OD&D this book will work with Stars Without Number, convert over to Mutant Future D&D optional rules, and the new kid on the block the White Star Rpg system. These monsters add in a bit more Krull or Empire Strikes Back creature features to old school adventures. The Basic Fantasy Field Guide is a resource that I've also used in the past as a Spelljammer resource as well. 

There are a number of resources that I've used from Vaults of Pandius website, that uses multiple platform editions across the board right over HERE  And there are further resources right over HERE . These monsters range from the weird to the silly but their very well done.


Because these monsters are perfect for the dungeon, these monsters are easily used for space hulks, ruins, spelljammer ships, flying saucers, planet side ruins and bases, and the post apocalyptic wastelands of a failed colony planets.


There are number of hazards that can easily take the place of minor hazards and monsters in the space lanes and also bedevil adventurers in the wastelands of the post apocalyptic landscape as well. You'll know which ones I'm talking about as soon as you crack the book or pdf. These low and mid level monsters can take the place of Mynock style creatures to cause issues with your space going or Mad Max style campaigns. Make no mistake these types of horrors can be real pains in the necks and will require fire, bullets, and blasters in equal measure. This being said I truly think that James Raggi might be right and monsters should be used sparingly in some encounters. Common sense monster ecology easily applies for alien life forms and weird dungeon horror in space as well.
Make no mistake that there are some major horrors that can take out adventurers quite easily.


All in all the Basic Field Guide is a very unrated and appreciated resource that can add another layer of monstery goodness to your old school science fiction or science fantasy campaigns. 

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