Customer Reviews

Wheel Of Time Roleplaying Game

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't a system for handling chronic upper respiratory infections.

This is the d20 system role-playing game for the Wheel of Time system, at least for the first six novels...the character stats given are as of the end of Lord of Chaos. It offers a more-or-less complete game system that's surprisingly good.

Included are entirely new core (i.e. 20-level classes) and prestige classes, such as the algai'd'siswai (Aiel spear-fighter), armsman, wanderer, woodsman, noble, initiate, and wilder, which are more appropriate to the world than those listed in the D&D PHB. They use the standard skill and feat system. There are two playable races, humans and Ogier (the big guy on the cover); humans get an extra skill point and an extra background feat, in a fashion similar to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

Feats are mostly standard, but include the various channeling feats and Lost Feats, which are limited by the need to take a precursor feat before taking the real feat, which should keep them rare. Equipment is mostly normal, with mention of power-wrought swords and other wondrous items, such as masterpiece weapons and armor (like masterwork, but better).

Channeling...ah, channeling. As others have mentioned, it's put in as a spell slot system, but the available slots represent a safe limit. You can overchannel all you want, but sooner or later it'll cost you. The weaves listed have variable effects based on the slot used, which is nice. They have a decent way of handling linking and angreal and sa'angreal, but I'll get more into that later. And, for male channelers, there's the joy of the Madness mechanic.

Included are character descriptions for most of the major hero characters (Rand, Mat, Thom, Lan, Moiraine, etc.), as well as MM-style descriptions of the various beasts and exotic animals found in the setting. Sadly, no Forsaken are depicted, yet. One will also find standard rules, some setting information, and advice on running the game.

On the whole, I'm quite impressed. It's a nice and coherent system, and works better than I thought. I can't find much to complain about, other than some minor quibbles...such as some of the character write-ups being wrong (some people not having abilities that they demonstrated in the novels, or equipment, etc.).

What I'd like, of course, is an expansion or two...obviously, they'll have to do one the farther the storyline goes. I think that short prestige classes for each of the Ajahs might be nice, and lists of where Portal Stones and the Ogier Ways are would be very helpful (aside from GM fiat).

But, what I'd really like is an Age of Legends expansion...with all sorts of lost weaves and feats for item creation. Gosh, that'd be cool.

I decided to wait until I'd read the entire 3E expansion for The Wheel of Time before finally writing this review, which is good, because otherwise I'd have given it that fifth star it almost deserves.

Firstly, I'd like to say that, on the whole, the adaptation is fantastic. The expansion is almost totally self-contained, so the player won't need to purchase another item once all the necessary sourcebooks have been procured...AS LONG AS HE'S FAMILIAR WITH THE WHEEL OF TIME. That's right: while the book does give some fairly decent brief descriptions of the lands, its peoples, and the storyline, it honestly doesn't cut the mustard for a newbie to the series. Needless to say, as the GM for my group, I've been busy explaining to two of my players everything about the world of the Wheel of Time, and trying to make one of them understand why he can't call his character "Dragon."

The layout is above average, and the typos and misprints are nearly nonexistent...but I did say "nearly." If anyone finds out what the "Quickness" feat is, e-mail me. The artwork is also well-placed and of high quality, but that was to be expected.

The translation of One Power usuage was sheer genius. Give the man a cookie. About a year ago I spent two months trying to adapt such an idea to D&D3E rules, and finally quit because I was starting to pull my hair out. I'm thoroughly impressed.

The final verdict: if you're a Wheel of Time fan who plays RPGs, buy it. If you're an RPG fan who's read the Wheel of Time, buy it. If you're a Wheel of Time fan who wants to play RPGs, this is the reason to start.

The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game is based upon the science-fantasy series of the same name by Robert Jordan... If you are a fan of Jordan's series you need little else to modivate you... your dream has come true.

Regular players of the d20 system may need more convincing.

This MONSTROUS 317 page hardback has everything a fan of the WoT could ask for and does it for the only SLIGHTLY painful price (...).

It is all here... and condensed for immediate play. This rule book contains all the rules you need in one place (hence the size and cost increase)... no need for a player's handbook, monster manual or Dungeon Master's Guide.

Presented are the myriad human cultures of the WoT presented in great and loving detail and the Ogier are also presented as a player race. Core classes for the players capture the feel of the setting and whet your appitite for the prestige classes to follow (I mean, REALLY, you didn't think you were going to START play as an Asha'man, Aes Sedai, Warder or Wolfbrother did you?).

Fear not, from Asha'man to Gleeman to Thief-Taker, all of the concept of the WoT series are handled with reverance for the author's design and the d20 multi-classing methodology helps to frame the character concepts well...

New feats (including lost arts like dream-walking) are presented along-side those from the PHB.

Channelling and the One source are well defined and structured and some "Weaves" are labelled "LOST" for the players (like the Heroes of the Novels) to discover (Balefire anyone?).

Topping off this excellent product are sections on running the game and faithful interpretations of the exotic monsters of the settings...

Those who want to see their favorite character's stats will NOT be disappointed as the heroes of the tale (and some of the villians) are given the star treatment...

Finally, and I can not express this enough, the artwork on this piece is GORGEOUS... it is a delight to the eye and fits beautifully within the framework of the book's layout (which is also quite beautiful).

Fan of the WoT or not, this product is a big win for d20 system.

I worried this adaptation of Robert Jordan's vast and colorful Wheel of Time Setting would be a disaster. I need not have bothered.

Source material-wise, the book is densely packed. It certainly has information gaps, but I did not reasonably expect one roleplaying sourcebook to exhaustively give the setting for a 7000+ page novel series.

For roleplaying material, the book is superb. The jump from 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons to Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game should take less than a day for the GM and maybe two hours for a player. Complete newbies may need more time, but new players need a longer learning period for any roleplaying game.

The adaptation of the magic items and spellcasting system are spectacular. I had been terrified that a handful of DnD spells would be renamed and one or two ill-considered dreamwalking spells would be inserted. Instead, small aspects of the DnD mage and sorceror class have been taken and tweaked with a lot of new material. Channelling, shielding, linking, sa'angreal, and saidin's taint are covered and covered well. Dreamwalking also earned its own section.

There are few elaborate adventure hooks but a number of short ones and numerous hints and suggestions.

I say, get it and go nuts. (...)

Many of us who have been waiting for this book for a while have been wary about finally opening it up. While there are some things missing (no Seanchan stats, no Shadar Logoth that I can find), overall the spirit and feel of the world seems to be handled well over all.
There are certainly some of the errors we have come to expect recently (the heal skill refers to a nonexistent chart), but this book was obviously edited much more than other recent Wizards releases.
My biggest gripe is that there are many important rules tucked in the middle of an apparently background paragraph. It makes some of these things difficult to find.
If you like the series, this is a must-buy, and it truly seems a fun game in the spirit of the Wheel, which is the most important thing.

I went out and bought the Wheel of Time rpg today. What is the Wheel of Time you ask? It's a series of books(they're up to book 9) written by Robert Jordan. If you've never read them, I highly reccomned it. The series is incredibly addicting. I've re-read the series at least 4 times already and thinking about re-reading it again (Eye of the World-Bk 1).

After my first read through I must say that I am impressed. The people at Wizards of the Coast did an incredibly good job at capturing the flavor of Robert Jordan's world. All the classes, skills and such match perfectly with the books.

Being a d20 product, everything runs pretty much like Dungeons and Dragons (no surprise there). The major diference between this and DnD is how they dealt with using the One Power (magic). Again, I'm impressed. The use of the One Power would have had to be, in my opinion, the toughest thing about translating the books into a game but they did a great job.

The rules in general seem a little daunting at first but after reading them a couple of times, it makes total sense.

A possible complaint people might have with the rpg book (besides the cover) is the price. I agree it's a hefty price tag for 300+ pages; however, I can honestly tell you that even though it's pricey, you defenitely get an extremely well made game system. This is one of, if not the best, book-game conversion I have ever seen and if you've ever read the Wheel of Time series, you know that is no easy task.

I haven't found anything about this book that I dislike yet. I've been playing the d20 system for about a year now and rping for about 13 years total and I've never come across 1 book this organized and easy to move around. Even the character sheet was put together pretty well. And I always feel the need to remake that or find one someone else remade.

Also, having read the Wheel of Time series twice, I was worried how they would adapt the series to rp. And I think they did it very intelligently. I can see why it has Robert Jordan's stamp of approval. It certainly has mine.

I really enjoyed the flavor of this campaign setting. I am a fan of the books, even if they do drag on a bit later in the series. I have little intention of playing in robert Jordan's world, but the ideas this book presents make it a valuble addition to my library.
The two best ideas in the book are charater creation and presitge classes.
The Prestige classes are not just a collection of powers, they form sociteies which dominate the world. This is what these classes should be. That said some are unnessarly difficult to get into (4 ranks in balance ???) but they are essential to society and most characters will aim to join these elite groups.
The character creation process is lovely, requiring the human's free starting feat to be dependant on the area of the world where they grew up. Additionally each reason has favored skills that are treated as class skills. These add real impact to a charaters personality.
The game uses new classes well designed to fit with the setting, nobles who have bard like inspiration and favors to call in.
Both trained and wild channlers and wanderers instead of thieves.
The world itself lends to low magic campaigns, with any magic item (i.e. ter'angreal & angreal) being very rare and monsters so rare they are considered imaginary. The book lists the main charaters stats of course, which make intresting reading. The city and country descriptions are well detailed and full of flavor. The channeling magic system is complex and limited at the same time, and while it works well with the books I am uncertain how it would play. My primary irritation with the book is the amount of reprinted material from the core rule books, such as feats, skills and combat rules.
While low magic is stressed the PC's could become movers and shakers of the world's politics. If I was to run a campaign it would avoid the dragon reborn, mabey by 300 years, and the book gives a few guidelines for playing in other times.
The channeling magic system is complex and limited at the same time, and while it works well with the flavor of the books I am uncertain how it would play. A comprensive list of each weaves would have been nice. There are 52 total, 15 are lost (only known by forsaken or dragon reborn)
Overall The Wheel of Time is a good source book for ideas and methods, but has the flaws of any game based on a book.

While I think this is a great book, I prefer to use it in conjunction with many of the elements of regular D&D. Combine the Wheel of Time role playing game with the books from the series, and you have a great campaign environment. I just prefer to set up my own world, so I take the parts I like and leave the rest.

I would have to mention the way they handled the adaptation of the One Power. The One Power is central to the novels and it has to be central to the game. If they had done that part poorly, the game would have been a waste of paper. They did a great job, and that sets the tone for the rest of the book.

I also like the way they adapted certain long lost "gifts" into the feat system. It allows a wolfbrother character, for example, to grow into his gift in a similar manner to the way the character in the book (no spoilers here) did.

I would certainly reccomend this book for someone who is familiar with the D&D system and looking for more inspiration, and a magic system they can borrow. I would reccomend this book for fans of the series just to find out some details they may not have noticed in reading through the books thus far, and to revisit a place they enjoyed when they read the books.

This is an excellent adaptation to the D20 system and a welcome change from standard DnD. Well done and should be of particular interest to anyone looking for an alternative world in which to run a campaign. This is the first sourcebook to get my attention in years - easily rivals Forgotten Realms for best DnD setting.