Post by berneart76 on Oct 8, 2016 17:18:45 GMT -9
I was going to post this under the Who knows about retro-clones and rules-light FRPs? topic, but felt it deserved its own topic.
Well, I have had a chance to peruse (skim?) the rules for Zweihander, and it is definitely not rules light! It does seem to be a well thought out and executed adaptation and progression of the WFRP 1st and 2nd edition rules into a more generic ( although still heavily Renaissance Europe flavored) gaming system. It is definitely still gritty low fantasy, but by eliminating a lot of the information on a world specific system, they instead substitute a lot of guidelines on how to focus on the everyman and his place in a complex and chaotic world. they emphasize the shades of grey approach rather than absolutes of Good and Evil, law and Chaos.
You can still see some traces of the inspiration material in a few cases, but they have done an excellent job of making those adaptable as well
The game system seems to be well done, with the focus on Player characters making a difference in small ways, to improve a personal or local, rather than kingdom or woldwide situation. The Arcane and Magic systems show an interrelation that is refreshing to see, both sharing the same source of mystical power, just different paths to harness it.
Character creation can seem a bit complex, but allows for a lot of variation and customization as the game progresses.
They incorporate the basic RPG racial staples of Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome and Halfling and add Ogres, and each race has racial attributes (even humans!), but characters do not get all of the attributes for a race, showing that even in a given race there are variations.
Their approach to "professions" is well thought out such that even if you had 2 players wanting to play the same basic archetype, there is still room for variation within them.
The skill system is well thought out as well, were skills are based off of one of the primary attributes, but are not strictly held to those. one of the examples that sticks in mind is that for an "intimidation" skill check it is primarily based on "Brawn" ( your physical size/muscle/strength) but depending on circumstances allow the player to substitute the Willpower, Intelligence or Fellowship attributes as a base.
The Arcane magic is well thought out in my opinion, with an agreeable amount of different spells, divided into different schools, and the Divine magic and especially the deities are generic, but well described enough that you could take just about any historical pantheon (Roman, Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Hinduism) and find correlations, including using the different deities to represent different orders of single deity religions like Christianity, Judaism,Muslim, Buddhism etc.
They even incorporate a lot of optional rules for "realism" and some brief sections to incorporate sci-fi gaming as well, and even include some interesting options (due to the grimness and potential lethality of the "world") to allow for replacing characters during a campaign, including character "stables" so players can choose a character type more suited for a particular adventuring session, and bringing in advanced rather than basic characters.
Now I just need to read it a bit more in depth, and find some people willing to have a go at playing it!
As I go, i'll try to add more insights and observations into this thread, and others are free to add their perspectives as well!
Well, I have had a chance to peruse (skim?) the rules for Zweihander, and it is definitely not rules light! It does seem to be a well thought out and executed adaptation and progression of the WFRP 1st and 2nd edition rules into a more generic ( although still heavily Renaissance Europe flavored) gaming system. It is definitely still gritty low fantasy, but by eliminating a lot of the information on a world specific system, they instead substitute a lot of guidelines on how to focus on the everyman and his place in a complex and chaotic world. they emphasize the shades of grey approach rather than absolutes of Good and Evil, law and Chaos.
You can still see some traces of the inspiration material in a few cases, but they have done an excellent job of making those adaptable as well
The game system seems to be well done, with the focus on Player characters making a difference in small ways, to improve a personal or local, rather than kingdom or woldwide situation. The Arcane and Magic systems show an interrelation that is refreshing to see, both sharing the same source of mystical power, just different paths to harness it.
Character creation can seem a bit complex, but allows for a lot of variation and customization as the game progresses.
They incorporate the basic RPG racial staples of Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome and Halfling and add Ogres, and each race has racial attributes (even humans!), but characters do not get all of the attributes for a race, showing that even in a given race there are variations.
Their approach to "professions" is well thought out such that even if you had 2 players wanting to play the same basic archetype, there is still room for variation within them.
The skill system is well thought out as well, were skills are based off of one of the primary attributes, but are not strictly held to those. one of the examples that sticks in mind is that for an "intimidation" skill check it is primarily based on "Brawn" ( your physical size/muscle/strength) but depending on circumstances allow the player to substitute the Willpower, Intelligence or Fellowship attributes as a base.
The Arcane magic is well thought out in my opinion, with an agreeable amount of different spells, divided into different schools, and the Divine magic and especially the deities are generic, but well described enough that you could take just about any historical pantheon (Roman, Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Hinduism) and find correlations, including using the different deities to represent different orders of single deity religions like Christianity, Judaism,Muslim, Buddhism etc.
They even incorporate a lot of optional rules for "realism" and some brief sections to incorporate sci-fi gaming as well, and even include some interesting options (due to the grimness and potential lethality of the "world") to allow for replacing characters during a campaign, including character "stables" so players can choose a character type more suited for a particular adventuring session, and bringing in advanced rather than basic characters.
Now I just need to read it a bit more in depth, and find some people willing to have a go at playing it!
As I go, i'll try to add more insights and observations into this thread, and others are free to add their perspectives as well!