Could you get a long RPG campaign from Introductory Fighting Fantasy?

Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2nd Edition is designed for long-term campaigning, that much is sure. The rules are designed to allow growth and improvement to a player's hero, and that's great.

But could the basic version of the game, Fighting Fantasy: the Introductory Roleplaying game also get this treatment? The characters are only really good for short-term and not really designed for long-term games spread out over weeks and months. You could do that, with no discernable improvement to the characters, but it'd have to be a compelling story, and one of the things a lot of players like is growth for their character that's not only reflected in the story they tell but also in the stats on the sheet improving.

I've had a little success with this in my basic Fighting Fantasy games - I was going to use the acronym 'BFF games', but that has all kinds of other meanings.

I made a few really rough notes - I'm not even sure that most of the changes work that well - and I'm sharing them below. None of this is official, of course, and Advanced Fighting Fantasy is your best call for campaigning in Titan.

CHARACTER CREATION:

All PCs start with SKILL 6, STAMINA 24 and LUCK 6. These are the standard skill levels of all untrained heroes.

Of course, you’ll want to be able to change those abilities to make sure that your PC is different from the rest, to make the hero unique so that you are playng a character that you feel comfortable playing.

To increase SKILL or LUCK by 1 point, the player must reduce STAMINA by 3 points.

If they want to be able to use MAGIC, they add the MAGIC SKILL at 6, and points are spent the same way. Then use the MAGIC rules in The Riddling Reaver.

EXAMPLES: SKILL 9, STAMINA 9, LUCK 8 - SKILL 7, STAMINA 9, LUCK 8, MAGIC SKILL 8

When making SKILL or LUCK rolls, instead of the roll-under mechanic set a target number of 15 and this is what they need to roll on 2D6 plus their score, plus any SPECIAL SKILL scores. Lower the target number for easier situations, say down to 10, raise it for more difficult situations, say 20. Double 1s are always a failure, and double 6s are always a success.

SPECIAL SKILLS:

Each player is given 3 points to spend on SPECIAL SKILLS.

When making a roll where the SPECIAL SKILL can be used, also add this score to the SKILL score.

They can choose to spend these points in any of the following skills – no more than 2 points in a single skill. Whatever SPECIAL SKILLS the player wants they can choose.

For a bit of fun, and for those who like to live on the edge, you can roll a random SPECIAL SKILL -  roll 3D6, results are cumulative.

3 - 1-handed weapon
4 - 2-handed weapon
5 - Bow
6 - Crossbow
7 - Polarm
8 - Thrown
9 - Ride
10 - Swim
11 - Climb
12 - Bargain
13 - Command
14 - Sneak
15 - Artisan
16 - Sleight of Hand
17 - Lore
18 - Hand-to-Hand

DAMAGE:

Damage - for a hit, roll 1D3 for hand to hand, add 1 for single handed weapons and normal bows, and add 2 for double handed weapons and bigger bows. They also get a +1 to damage for every 10 points they have in STAMINA.

ARMOUR:

Armour was a number that reduced damage by that score, but any round-winning rolls of Double 6 were a critical and negated all armour.

When hit, roll a D6, and roll equal to or less than the Armour Score to succeed. A shield can be used with any armour and the score is added to the armour score, but two-handed weapons can't be used. If the roll is successful, the damage is reduced by the Armour Score.

Shield: 1
Leather: 1
Chain: 2
Scale: 3
Plate: 4

ADVANCEMENT:

After every session players get a single Experience Point, with an extra one for good roleplaying or defeating the bad guy, and they can spend these on Special Skills. They have to earn enough points to match the total number that Special Skill is on - including the SKILL score - and then they can increase it by 1 point. So, if you have SKILL 8 and a Special Skill of Bows at 1, then that means you have to spend 9 Experience points to get Bows up to 2.