WARRIOR & WIZARD (formerly FIGHTING & WIZARDRY)

[Chris Goodwin]

I mentioned this project in my introduction, but I'll give a little blurb here.  It's a roleplaying and board game of combat via magic and melee combat, a clone of a certain game designed many years ago by Steve Jackson (US).  It's not (by itself, at least) to a playable state, but I think it's getting there; mainly at the moment it's missing some combat, the weapons list, the skill list and rules, and the spell list and rules (in short, much of the meat of the game).  I'm releasing it Creative Commons Share Alike because I'm not greedy. 

It's on Google Docs right now, publicly viewable here. 

Comments encouraged and hoped for. 

Thanks!

[randalls]

Comments encouraged and hoped for. 

I write a blog entry on this when I get a chance, which should generate a bit of interest.

[Chris Goodwin]

I just discovered Swords & Wizardry; do I need to change the name of mine?

[randalls]

I just discovered Swords & Wizardry; do I need to change the name of mine?

I have no idea. You might want to talk to Matt (designer of Swords & Wizardry) about it. He's Mythmere over on the Original D&D Discussion board.

[Chris Goodwin]

The weapon lists are up, and basic info on things like two-handed weapons, missile weapons, and the like.  I'm using the full lists from the Advanced books; I'm thinking of trimming them down, though (and, possibly, adding some modern firearms as well). 

Still missing are talents (which I'm calling Skills) and spells and magic rules.  I think someone could pretty much play out a basic melee combat using what I've got, though, and the full game of combat with magic using Wizard and Advanced Wizard.

[randalls]

I think someone could pretty much play out a basic melee combat using what I've got, though, and the full game of combat with magic using Wizard and Advanced Wizard.

Looks that way to me.  One thing I noticed from a fast read through:

Optional Advanced Movement Rules:  Movement is equal to the character's (Current Strength + Effective Dexterity) / 2.  Care should be taken when calculating this value, as it can change even during combat; wounds, armor, and other factors can all have an effect on the character's Movement.

It'd usually a good idea to tell people how to round (up, down, etc.), especially on something as important as this. It forestalls arguments.

[Chris Goodwin]

Looks that way to me.  One thing I noticed from a fast read through:

It'd usually a good idea to tell people how to round (up, down, etc.), especially on something as important as this. It forestalls arguments.

True.  Thanks for the feedback!  It's changed now (I love Google Docs for this!). 

I went with rounding up; I figure people will get nailed hard enough on STR loss due to injury and Effective DEX modifiers, and rounding down is adding insult to injury.

[randalls]

True.  Thanks for the feedback!

I wish I could be more help, but I never was a big fan of the original. My group played Melee and Wizard to kill time and liked them for that. However, when we decided to try them as a combat system for our D&D campaign (after one of my players came up with a quick and dirty way to convert characters back and forth), we quickly decided we did not like it as an RPG combat system: it took too long and hence put too much emphasis on combat for our tastes.  So we never tried ITL when it came out.

[Chris Goodwin]

Hey, any feedback at all is nice! 

It looks like a name change is in the offing.  More when I have it.

[randalls]

It looks like a name change is in the offing.  More when I have it.

I think that's a good idea even if there wasn't a "Swords and Wizardry" problem. "Fighting" and "Wizardry" don't sound right together to me. I did not notice the problem at first, but the more I see "Fighting & Wizardry" the more I noticed. If one ends in "ing", I guess the other should too? 

[Chris Goodwin]

I think that's a good idea even if there wasn't a "Swords and Wizardry" problem. "Fighting" and "Wizardry" don't sound right together to me. I did not notice the problem at first, but the more I see "Fighting & Wizardry" the more I noticed. If one ends in "ing", I guess the other should too? 

I hadn't noticed that, though the name "Fighting & Wizardry" hasn't sat too well with me and I'm not sure why. 

I hate coming up with names, I really do.  *sigh*  Let's see what I can come up with.

My first choice was "The Minigame System" and the subgames Warrior and Wizard.  Though with where I'm going they're going to be in the one document, so "The Minigame System: Warrior and Wizard"?  Too much?  Too pretentious? 

[randalls]

  I hate coming up with names, I really do.  *sigh*  Let's see what I can come up with.

I'm terrible at it, at least if I have to do it on the fly.

My first choice was "The Minigame System" and the subgames Warrior and Wizard.  Though with where I'm going they're going to be in the one document, so "The Minigame System: Warrior and Wizard"?  Too much?  Too pretentious? 

In my opinion: too long and not catchy, but the only thing I can come up with that I don't think has been used is "Steel and Sorcery."

[Chris Goodwin]

I'm terrible at it, at least if I have to do it on the fly.

In my opinion: too long and not catchy, but the only thing I can come up with that I don't think has been used is "Steel and Sorcery."

I'm not certain I'd want to use anything of the form "Allusions & Alliterations" for anything except something based on *D&D. 

Now, "Warrior & Wizard" by itself is not bad.  There doesn't seem to be a game of that name out there, unless it's another OGL web published thing. 

Edit:  Unless it ends up being confusingly similar to someone else's game, Warrior & Wizard it will stay.  Fortunately I can change the title of the game and even the name of the document without modifying the link.

[Chris Goodwin]

Some of the Skills, including a table containing the weapon skills, are up.  The game may very well be self-contained now as far as building warriors and fighting with them is concerned.  You can also build siege engines, repair weapons, and sail a boat, but not a lot else. 

[randalls]

The game may very well be self-contained now as far as building warriors and fighting with them is concerned.

But it's not a real game until you can ride a horse. LOL. To quote one of my players from when I was working on a game system of my own and thought it ready for initial testing...

It's not playable until you can ride a horse. My characters don't walk. It's beneath them.