Two of the more notable changes I’ve made to the BX rules is the addition of the Explorer class, and the removal of Halflings as a playable species. Apart from these changes (and a couple of simple class-name changes) these are the only changes to the traditional party line-up from the classic game.

Let’s take the latter first. I have never been a fan of Halflings. I like my games to be gritty and dark, a real fight for survival against the world and against barely-understood magic. I’ve always felt the little guys just make the whole thing a little silly (the only thing sillier than a Halfling in my eyes is a Gnome – don’t get me started on Gnomes…)

Obviously, Halflings harken back to one particular set of very famous fantasy novels, the estate of which got very litigious over the whole RPGs-stealing-their-IP-thing, so names were changed to protect the innocent (or at least TSR’s bottom line), and Boom! Halflings.

Halflings very much belong in the high fantasy world of Tolkien. They really don’t fit into the low-fantasy, sword-and-sorcery vibe I am going for in my game. The very presence of Halflings takes me out of the wind-swept planes of the Iron-Age and into middle-England, so they had to go. Bye-bye, Baginses!

But what about Explorers? I got the idea from second-hand information about the 1980’s German RPG Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye). This game contained an Adventurer class, I believe. I toyed with the idea of using this title, but I felt it got confusing when I referred to my “adventuring party”, or more generically referred to party members as “adventurers”. Explorers works just fine I think.

I decided to create this generic, Jack-of-all-trades class so that Fighters could stop being the default party members. I wanted fighters to be trained warriors, and I liked the idea of having a distinction between the brave but ultimately mediocre folk that make up the bulk of the party, and the few genuinely excellent warriors. Hence the Explorer was born.

Explorers have no ability minimums to worry about so any PC you roll up who doesn’t make the grade into the other professions is an explorer. They get a standard +1 to all Task rolls to kind of feed into the idea that they are competent party members who can turn their hands to most things. They are ok at fighting, and can use most weapons and armor.

Does this mean they are a lesser class? I don’t think so. I think there is a lot to be said for good, solid all-rounders who are not fighters, thieves, priests, or mages. Firstly, it provides a very handy default class for hirelings. Explorer is a great class for hirelings. Secondly, they are a great class for new players – there are no complicated spells or skills to learn, and no pressure to lead the fight, but they can get involved in most things. Lastly, having a default class allows other classes to shine where perhaps they had become mundane. Now your fighter is not just the meat shield, he is the commander in the field, and your thief is not just the lock-pick guy, he’s the shadowy figure no-one quite trusts, who vanishes into the shadows when things get real and assassinates enemies in cold blood when no-one is looking. Explorers allow us to have baseline requirements for all other classes, and that helps make them stand out more.