Ok.  B&B is free, first of all.

Bugbears and Borderlands page on Drivethru TPG

Its opening mission statement is that the author felt there was never a proper basic edition of 5E like there was for old school Moldvay/Cook basic vs Advanced D&D from way back when.

So he wrote his own.

Interestingly, the game doesn't have you roll for stats.  It just gives you stat bonuses of +2, +2, +1, 0, 0, -1 and let's you assign them as you see fit. I actually like this. 

There are 8 races, but only 3 classes.  The cleric is omitted, but wizards have access to a couple healing spells.  The classes do have 5 or so specialties to pick from at level-1 (edit: wizards customize at level-4), so your fighter can be a duelist, while mine is an archer as an example. 

There is advantage/disadvantage, as well as a Proficiency Bonus (found in the XP chart going from +2 to +4).

Level cap is 10. 1st level PC's get max HP for their Hit Die type, aka 1st level Fighters have 10HP, Rogues (Experts) have 8, and Wizards start with 6HP.

Spell casting is Vancian slots, and there are 12 or so cantrips as well.

Also included is a bestiary of enemies and monsters.

Anytime a new free game comes up I'll post about it if I feel it's good enough.  This is one that qualifies.  It's not a favorite of mine, but it's good enough.

Thanks and I appreciate the heads up.  Sounds like the author might have similar tastes as I do since I'm doing some similar things with my own very early WIP heartbreaker (though I prefer the term "goldilocks" ruleset more as it seems more apt in my case, lol!).

This is interesting........

Thanks for the link. Checking it out now.

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EDIT: This actually looks a lot better than I anticipated. Now I'm actually considering dropping the $20 for a print copy.

Yeah, I posted because the forum here mentioned the new version of D&D a few times lately.  Granted, it was done mostly to mock it, and I'm fine with that. Then I remembered this game in my PDF collection. 

It looks really good.  I'm a fan of those three big changes the guy made.

1.  You 3-18 Stats don't matter.  In this game they just don't exist.  Your modifier does.  The modifier IS the stat.  Write just the modifier down. 

2.  1st level is squishy for OSR games, and I'm not a fan.  B&B does what I like and gives them max HP at level-1, and you only roll more HP for levels 2-10. 

3.  Customization at level-1.  This game has it. I'm a big fan of this.

I do wish the weapons and armor had more traits, but what this game has is fine.  They do have three types of damage, and finesse weapons that use Dexterity is a thing.  I do think heavy armor should have negated adding dexterity to your armor class, but that's nitpicking. 

It really reminds me of AD&D 2nd edition with the white text with blue text headers and chart borders.

Overall, I would definitely play this.  It rivals Olde Swords Reign for me. 

Truthfully, all of these D&D clones are all about the nitpicks and details.  They're just variations, but not anything new.

Since WOTC seems to be intent upon ruining everything they have, these alternative games are attractive.

I noticed a detail I missed earlier.

The game does have clerics.  Sort of.  I'll explain.

At level-4 you can customize the wizard class.  You pick a Magical Bond.  Dragons, Devine, Fiend, Nature, Scholar, or Shadows.

If you pick Devine, then the benefit is medium armor, medium weapons, and extra damage when hitting undead monsters.

Interesting that you can customize Wizard at level 4. Seems a little high to me, since the game is designed to cap out at level 10. (If it was a 1-20 scaled game like AD&D or 5E then level 4 would be fine, but in a 1-10 scale game it seems like you spend a long time before you get to be a cleric.)

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 07, 2025, 02:22:31 PMThere are 8 races, but only 3 classes.

I would rather have less races and more classes.  Humans, Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings are fine.  Anything beyond that, I'm not too crazy about.

For a D&D 5e Basic set of rules, I've found that its hard to beat the actual D&D 5e Basic set of rules, which is a free PDF. 

The D&D 5e Essentials Kit rulebook, also free in PDF, is slightly different but very similar, and also very good.

Quote from: finarvyn on March 09, 2025, 12:32:59 PMInteresting that you can customize Wizard at level 4. Seems a little high to me, since the game is designed to cap out at level 10. (If it was a 1-20 scaled game like AD&D or 5E then level 4 would be fine, but in a 1-10 scale game it seems like you spend a long time before you get to be a cleric.)

Yeah, I would think level-3 would be better.  If this is an intro to 5E, isn't level-3 when you pick a sub-class?

Quote from: Crusader X on March 09, 2025, 02:32:26 PM

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 07, 2025, 02:22:31 PMThere are 8 races, but only 3 classes.

I would rather have less races and more classes.  Humans, Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings are fine.  Anything beyond that, I'm not too crazy about.

And gnomes, of course, unless you are some type of monster. Or against shorter races for some reason.

I can't help but to compare this to another free 5E based rules lite game called Olde Swords Reign.

OSR (and let's not pretend the three letters of that acronym wasn't deliberate) is also a free game PDF.

Olde Swords Reign on DT-RPG

OSR uses four classes, and four races, but also has lists of feats you can take to customize your PC as they level up.  Things like rage, lay-of-hands healing, or weapon mastery. This game doesn't need more classes as the basic four can be modified to become things like Illusionist, Bard, Paladin, or Barbarian by taking feats that those subclasses would have.

The game goes up to level-12.  1st level PC's start with maximum HP for that class, then roll for more on levels 2-12. 

Proficiency Bonus is likewise a +2, +3, or +4 based on your level, and is also found in the XP table.  Your background replaces skills, enabling using the Proficiency Bonus if you can convince the GM that your background applies.  Just like B&B, you roll a 1D20 plus a bonus/penalty from one of your six stats, and possibly also your Proficiency Bonus if your background helps, to beat a GM set target number to do a task.

Magic is Vancian slots again.  This time there are only two cantrips.  A small damage cantrip, and a small telekinesis cantrip.

Interestingly, you can play a dumb mage or a weak willed cleric who won't be able to do spells until you reach mid level.  I hope you like your cantrips.

The biggest difference is the physical book.  Bugbears and Borderlands costs $20 for a book.  Olde Swords Reign books cost only $7 for a softcover.  The physical books are actually sold on Amazon, not Drive Thru RPG.

Olde Swords Reign physical books sold on Amazon

Between the two I think I like OSR more than Bugbears, but these two games are very similar.

Speaking of Olde Swords Reign, apparently there's a new edition in the works with expanded character options such as a nature cleric that can be used to make a druid. Still pretty simple overall but just more options for players to customize if they want it along with some clarifications and clean-up in areas. No idea yet when it'll see the light of day, but anyone who likes the current OSR may want to keep an eye out for it.