World of Dungeons (Roleplaying Game)
Oct. 4th, 2020 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroThis is a “minimalist” version of OD&D that came in a bundle of similar one-page or four-page games that I downloaded. It’s listed as copyright 1979; I have no idea if that’s accurate. It’s six pages long, though two of those pages are the character sheet printed twice, and one is just list of true names to choose from. And half of one page is an illustration. So really, there’s two and a half pages of rules.
It’s very clearly implied to be a game about dungeon-crawling murder hobos, in the same style as OD&D. They had a bunch of clever ideas for slimming things down: Weapons are divided into a handful of categories that all do the same damage and cost the same. Armor is just “light”, “heavy” and “with shield”. The stats are the classic D&D 6, but you represent them as 0, +1, +2 or +3; and that is the modifier you apply to your 2d6 rolls, which everything runs on. All actions run on the same roll and all results are on the same scale (6 or less is a failure, 7-9 partial success, 10-11 success, 12+ critical success). If you are proficient in the relevant skill, you can’t fail, only get a “complicated success.”
That said, they might have spent that extra half-page getting into a slightly better explanation of combat rules. Because if you’re going to devote half your rules to weapons and armor, in a style of game known for being very combat heavy, people are going to expect to get into fights. What does a “partial success” translate to in a fight? How do you roll initiative? What does your armor value of 2 actually get you? How do you apply bonuses or penalties to rolls?
Also, while the rules for HP are creative (you have a certain number of “hit dice”, and when you rest or are healed, you completely re-roll your total hit points for the day), they can result in a character having 3 HP, getting cured by a cleric, and then having 2 HP.
And then there’s the problem of the magic system, which is so fast-and-loose as to be either totally useless or completely broken. Magic is done by summoning spirits, which every wizard can do, either with a magic item (Are they reusable? Who knows!), drinking “quicksilver”, or a 1-hour ritual (which is different from “magic rituals”, which wizards can choose as a skill). A spirit has a name, an appearance and two “domains of power”, and the wizard can command it to do one thing, potentially including an attack. But that’s all we know. Apparently, every magical effect is a Wish spell.
Overall: This made for an entertaining evening, but it’s a lousy game. It doesn’t actually provide the rules it needs for the game it purports to be.
It’s very clearly implied to be a game about dungeon-crawling murder hobos, in the same style as OD&D. They had a bunch of clever ideas for slimming things down: Weapons are divided into a handful of categories that all do the same damage and cost the same. Armor is just “light”, “heavy” and “with shield”. The stats are the classic D&D 6, but you represent them as 0, +1, +2 or +3; and that is the modifier you apply to your 2d6 rolls, which everything runs on. All actions run on the same roll and all results are on the same scale (6 or less is a failure, 7-9 partial success, 10-11 success, 12+ critical success). If you are proficient in the relevant skill, you can’t fail, only get a “complicated success.”
That said, they might have spent that extra half-page getting into a slightly better explanation of combat rules. Because if you’re going to devote half your rules to weapons and armor, in a style of game known for being very combat heavy, people are going to expect to get into fights. What does a “partial success” translate to in a fight? How do you roll initiative? What does your armor value of 2 actually get you? How do you apply bonuses or penalties to rolls?
Also, while the rules for HP are creative (you have a certain number of “hit dice”, and when you rest or are healed, you completely re-roll your total hit points for the day), they can result in a character having 3 HP, getting cured by a cleric, and then having 2 HP.
And then there’s the problem of the magic system, which is so fast-and-loose as to be either totally useless or completely broken. Magic is done by summoning spirits, which every wizard can do, either with a magic item (Are they reusable? Who knows!), drinking “quicksilver”, or a 1-hour ritual (which is different from “magic rituals”, which wizards can choose as a skill). A spirit has a name, an appearance and two “domains of power”, and the wizard can command it to do one thing, potentially including an attack. But that’s all we know. Apparently, every magical effect is a Wish spell.
Overall: This made for an entertaining evening, but it’s a lousy game. It doesn’t actually provide the rules it needs for the game it purports to be.
