Wednesday, 16 June 2021

Review: Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate

"Welcome to Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, a game of gravity defying Martial Heroes. Characters start as lowly members of the martial world and roam the land perfecting their Kung Fu. Some uphold justice in the lawless shadow of a corrupt empire, while others seek only to further their own glory. Whatever path they take, to improve their martial arts they must learn from and defeat more powerful masters. Only then will their Kung Fu grow profound." - Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, p23

Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate is a wuxia game (although heavily featuring xianxia elements as well) set in a fictional world (Qi Xien) inspired by ancient Chinese history, mythology, and literature. The system it uses (called the Network System) is fairly simple, and most of the crunchy bits come from the dozens of techniques and rituals characters can master. It also falls more on the trad/simulationist end of the spectrum (no metacurrencies or shared authorship) and promotes an open-ended approach (with the characters acting as wandering free agents collecting rare manuals and learning secret techniques, for example).

Tuesday, 8 June 2021

Review: Warlock!

Disclaimer: Note that some of the links below are affiliate links (meaning I get a small percentage of the sale without extra cost to you or the publisher).

Warlock! is a rules-light traditional fantasy game, conceptually sitting firmly within the British old-school tradition (the revival of which is sometimes charmingly called the B-OSR). The terms Stamina and Luck and the way combat works conjure images of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, but the sort of freeform career system with Agitators, Footpads, and Rat Catchers make it look like a WFRP-light game played with a d20.