Customer Reviews

The Wildside Gaming System: Fantasy Role-Playing Edition

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

 

 

The game is flexible as advertised, and the system primarily uses 4d6 for skill rolls, combat, and attributes rolls.

The magic system is the most fleshed out, and it is almost jarring in its breadth and coverage compared to character creation, skill use, and combat. There are tables at the back for random stuff that I think is just odd given the hands off approach the game designer took to skill explanations.

Things I would have liked to see in the game are standard NPCs: One can assume from the text that 'normal' people would likely have an average attribute rating of 14 given that is the expected value of 4d6, but it couldn't hurt to get a sentence or two as well as campaign variant advice for power levels. Particularly when the author mentions these possibilities at the introduction of the book!

Another thing would have been nice to see is how the package deals were developed. I had to reverse engineer the cost savings to see if there were any easy to discern formula being used.

Overall, this game has some good parts - sheer number of backgrounds and package deal ideas, but leaves something to be desired between the emphasis on skills and magic. But if you like a flexible approach to gaming, try Tri-Stat from Guardians of Order, Hero System, or GURPS. These point based systems have more heft and breadth to them for flexibility.

Background: I was a playtester on this game. I didn't get "burned" by it, the company, or the author, and in fact, I think the author was one of the best professors I've ever had the joy to work with. That said...

Don't buy it.

Complex systems within systems rule everything you do, but with all of this granularity, there's still no medical skills. Combat with multiple attackers ganging up on a single defender is handled by a completely random roll: no regard to character skill, equipment, etc. Damage is handled by huge spreads of charts that are not thoroughly explained. Entire subsystems are ignored or glossed over in the rules to the point that you can't play the game as it is written.

Example: one of the most common results on the damage tables is X number of stuns (with X being a random dice roll). Guess what? After reading the book front to back, neither I nor my players could determine what the game effect of "stuns" were.

If you compare the system to games even 30 years ago, it's not very good, never mind with the years of game design philosophy we now have. If you compare the book itself to other games, it's years behind in terms of layout, organization, and artwork (it looks like the art was just ClipArt pulled off the internet).

With some SERIOUS retooling, I might be able to recommend this game for fans of really old school (and fully-loaded-with-options) versions of AD&D, Rolemaster, and maybe old, old GURPS (but only the fantasy parts). As it stands now, though, I couldn't recommend this to anyone for any reason.

I play tested this game with a group I game with and this is easily the worst written, ill conceived game that I have ever had the displeasure of wasting several hours of my life on. To be specific character creation is overly long and involved and results in average characters with almost no special abilities unless your a magic user. There is a decided lack of useful skills like the old standby's Sneak, hide in shadows(or just hide), heal, pick locks, pick pockets, and many others that adventuring parties need. Also I believe that the character creation is rather sexist in scope due to the penalty and bonus that female characters get.

Combat is similar as it takes forever also if you have the longest weapon you have an advantage and most likely will win. If you and your party gang up on the opponent six to one you have a random chance to kill him or have him escape or some other odd event.

I could go on forever but to put it simply your characters are average people not heroes, and they rarely get the chance to progress (as that too is overly difficult).

The Wildside system is for RPG players looking for a fun game full of depth and realism

Take the combat system --

Classic RPGs count the skill of the attacker against the armor, magic protection, and agility of the defender and then you roll a d20 and hit or miss. Maybe you beat the AC by 10 points, but you still do the same damage. Maybe you crit the defender and do buckets of damage.

Wildside makes combat about skill with a weapon, the dance of battle, feints and parries, and makes wounds to your opponent the result of maneuvers that tip the balance in your favor. As a result, Wildside swordplay feels like a choreographed fight in a big budget action movie or a page out of a great fantasy epic. The damage system is realistic as well. A slight advantage can result in a small wound on an arm or leg, where a larger one results in more dangerous wounds in more critical areas. The combat takes longer, but each one feels like epic in scope. And fights can have lasting impact on you. You can walk away limping or missing an eye.

Take magic and skills--

In classic RPGs, you don't need to use skills or weapons or abilities to get better in them. Simply dispatch beasts, and suddenly you are better at healing, at swinging a longsword, or casting spells.

In Wildside magic system you advance in ability not by defeating creatures or gathering gold, but by casting spells. Casting new spells for you advances your abilities the most. Once you've casted a spell X number of times, you've learned what you can from that incantation and it no longer helps you.

Swordplay is the same way -- use it to get better in it. To advance in longsword, you gain the most by beating someone of equal or better skill. You can also train in a skill, depending on your learning aptitude, that can be slower or faster. But training only gets you so far -- you really need to swing that longsword to get to the next level.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Wildside tosses aside dozens of classic RPG abstractions and replaces them with logical realistic mechanics and doesn't look back.

It's a bold system that is fun to play. Best of all, though, is that it makes sense every step of the way.

The Wildside Gaming System is the most realistic and comprehensive role playing system I've ever experienced. A character's experiences and advancement are limited only by the creativity and spirit of the role player and the GM (or in spite of the GM for intrepid players). The Game works when played by individuals or large groups without losing effectiveness. The combat system is reality-based and, therefore, the most fun to use. It is the only system that bases combat damage on the realities of human (and non-human) anatomy. The Game's magic system is virtually endless with the widest array of disciplines, offering substantial opportunities for characters to explore different roles. Perhaps the best feature is the Game's adaptability to different settings and time periods, allowing groups to begin new campaigns without switching systems. Wildside should be embraced by all gamers because it caters to individual creativity and encourages each gamer to express personality, ingenuity and imagination - which is, after all, why we play. If you are looking for a gaming system that is comprehensive, easy to learn, adaptable and supportive of individual and group personality then Wildside is your game. It is simply the best.