Australian
Realms
(Issue 26)
Reviewed
by Lee Sheppard
At long last, a gaming product that is both great fun to read
and enjoyable to play. Reading through the GateWar RPG, I was
immediately transported back to my early gaming days, before
role-playing got so damned serious that you now need a degree
in grief counselling before you dare open the latest release.
A time when laughter was a common ingredient in any role-playing
session, simply because you were all just-enjoying- yourselves.
Putting aside the obvious similarities with Raymond E. Feist's
Riftwar saga, Vinya (the GateWar setting) represents a world
that has been invaded by scores of different alien races, many
of which have subsequently taken a hold on large parts of the
planet. Overall, these alien (and native) races are excellent,
with many deserving a home in any fantasy campaign, GateWar-based
or not. However, I found the other background material provided
on Vinya to be fairly minimal, and even somewhat confusing on
occasion.
The GateWar RPG falls into the AD&D, Chivalry & Sorcery,
and Dangerous Journeys RPG mould of "a table for everything,
and everything in a table". Nearly every page of the 280
page rule book has one, two or even three tables containing rules,
random events, price lists and miscellaneous lists. But don't
let that put you off. A quick read of some of the tables and
you soon realise that many of the actual contents are quite tongue-in-cheek.
In fact, many of them are (intentionally) hilarious. (eg. Unique
Tavern Characteristics: Smells like a gym; U-killed-it, U-cook-it;
Free bulbous roots with entree). The A-Team would love this game.
The game's designers have obviously listened to the wishes of
the over 2000 playtesters. Nearly every rule has its own accompanying
example to aid player and referee understanding. One appendix
even provides a much larger example, showing how all the various
rules fit together. A comprehensive glossary and index are included,
and a short introductory scenario helps to get new players started.
Even the binding of the book is designed so that it can be opened
flat for reading! The rule book is also packed with illustrations,
most of a generic fantasy feel, but all of high standard. Like
much of the text, many illustrations are comical, helping to
maintain the great sense of fun that runs throughout the whole
book.
Once again though (and I'm not purposely singling out Escape
Ventures over this feature, it's common enough in other RPGs
as well), it is the treatment of female characters that keeps
this game from truly standing out as a refreshing change in the
fantasy RPG market. One of the player character classes is a
race of female warriors called Nequitar. Instead of breaking
the "chainmail-bikini" stereotype however, we instead
have a race of females that wear magic bracelets that allow them
to "shun restrictive garments" and whose character
attributes include large breasts, tanned skin and puffy lower
lips. Given the high quality of the other character races, this
really stands out as an ill-considered inclusion.
Having said all that though, the positives of GateWar far outweigh
the negatives. Obviously, you don't have to use more than a few
key tables during play (a point the writer's are keen to stress
as well), you could simply spend many a session just monster
bashing (it's worked for AD&D for over 20 years!) until the
supplements do become available (and I'll certainly be looking
forward to having a read of those) and your own playing style
will determine how seriously you take the less "politically
correct" aspects of the game.
Definitely worth a look.
KAOS
Magazine
(Issue #40)
Review
By Ciro Alessandro Sacco, KAOS Magazine
Translated from Italian with minor changes for readability (content
of meaning not changed):
GateWar
is a fantasy RPG consisting of a big book of almost 300 (written
in a very small type) with character creation rules, combat,
background, bestiary and a campaign.
This game is amazing because of its sheer mass of rules: there
are hundreds of tables to determine, by dice rolls, almost everything,
from a very accurate description of every part of the character
to the power of alcoholic beverages. The various types of humanoids
that a gamer can play are standard fare, more or less, (but they
have unusual names), except for two classes: a people of Amazons
and their (more or less) male counterparts. The setting of PC's
actions is the world of Vinya, once an ideal place to live, but
now, after the opening of a "gate", invaded by a large
number of aliens that have destroyed the world's balance making
Vinya the perfect place for adventurers.
After spending a lot of time in the character creation process,
it is possible to start playing. As you can guess, the game is
quite complex and it leaves almost nothing unanswered: it's based
on percentile dice with a chance for succeeding depending determined
from a base factor (weapon type, for example) and and endless
list of modifiers (terrain, character's size, visibility) that,
in part, must be obtained every round. Parrying and dodging must
be rolled for every adversary attack: this is not the complexity
of other rulebooks, ICE's for example, but a combat can be quite
long to decide.
Another part of the rules covers non-combat actions, with the
same abundance of tables; water travel, land travel, characters
and other people's skills and occupations, inns' features You
can also find a table to determine the personalities of various
semi-intelligent mounts used in the cities of Vinya.
There isn't a specific magic-using class and the spell list for
magic-using characters is quite short: none the less, you can
use "magic spheres" (a sort of "ready to use"
spell) and particular gems, but the only people that can really
handle magic are those rare individuals that control one or more
elements. In the end, the bestiary with (a good idea!) not only
the strongest monsters but the normal plants and animals indigenous
to the world. We can also find many details here: for every being
there is a list including appearance, tracks, habitat, behavior,
type and quantity of food it provides (and the risk of contracting
diseases.) After this, a brief campaign with suggestions for
the game master in creating adventures. The tables, the true
basis of this game, are clearly written and descriptive-near
the number there is often a little explanation not without some
sense of humor (in the table for Courage, the highest number
is followed by the description 'The character will, generally,
order the wine suggested by the innkeeper'. and the drawings
are not very beautiful but very funny and enjoyable.
Text:
****
Graphics:
***
Illustrations:
**
The impression:
Well done, but would somebody dare use every rule?
Scribe
Electronic Magazine
Playtesting. A decent period of playtesting is necessary to get
a game to work. But what should one think about a game thats
been in playtesting for fifteen years?
EVPA has spent a lot of time in playtesting their own designs
as well as those of other companies (including Sage Lore). Well,
as far as their game, they're done for a while. GateWar is out
on the market now. The system works, but the fashion has changed.
Basic fantasy is rapidly going "out of style," but
since there are still tons of gamers who find this genre really
appealing. GateWar is for them.
GateWar is set in Vinya. Vinya is a standard fantasy world, with
the center including a space-time gate from which people and
monsters continually emerge. Whole species of gate refugees have
established places for themselves in Vinya. The world is not
in any particular peril right now, even though there are monsters
around. The peoples are not united, but they tolerate each other
and are loosely organized. Who rules? What kingdoms are there?
Is anything happening? It's hard to tell, and it's all up to
the GM. GMs build their own Vinyas, deciding for themselves all
those things.
One thing that is settled are the seven PC races. There are Half-Trons,
who are related to a monster species. Thus they are feared, but
also very strong and tough. One race has split into two societies
based on gender. The males become Zod Bowmen with living bows,
while the females become Nequitars. The Nequitar are an amazon
society of sorts, who are fierce in battle and not very inhibited
in the rest of their lifestyle. Thanks to magic bracelets, they
don't need armor, and thanks to their temperament they don't
need a lot of other clothing either. There are also the coast-dwelling
Unspeakables, who are actually gregarious and voluble, but don't
give out their true names to anyone outside their extended families.
The Vinyan equivalent of a generic human is also available, of
course, which should make some players a little more comfortable.
(Imagine an introverted guy trying to play a flirtatious Nequitar;
it would be either liberating or horrifying.)
GateWar characters have typical stats (Strength, Luck, Intelligence-the
basics) that are rolled on 5d4. Once modifiers from the chosen
race are added, the average stat is about 12-13. The player then
gets 150 points to buy skills with in EACH of three categories.
The three are mental skills, physical skills, and weapon skills.
Each skill point spent adds 1% to the base chance of success
using a skill. Even though most skills have default values that
the "every man" can use, characters can raise their
abilities significantly for some skills-but not all. On the other
hand, a beginning PC can have very good skill in a favorite weapon,
with separate skill levels for attacking and parrying. The character's
height and weight are used to determine how many hit points he
has; the points are distributed to the places a character can
be hit, while the total shows how much blood he cal lose before
dying. The GM has the option of having the player roll on charts
for things like former profession, relative greed and general
moral posture. Fortunately it's a OPTION.
Most characters also have some experience with magic-most will
know at least one spell. Magic ability is based on Magic Points,
which are one of the things players roll for. The player then
rolls to see if he gains any power; he then has the choice of
rolling for a random spell to know or build up his MPT.
Skill use is usually done by rolling percentage dice. The GM
multiplies the character's skill by the difficulty of the task,
ranging from doubling (an absurdly easy task) to 1% of the skill
rating for tasks only total idiots would even think of attempting.
Opposing skills are resolved by each character rolling and checking
relative success. If you succeed and he fails, you won; if you
make your roll by more than he makes his, you're won.
Weapon users must roll under their skill level with a weapon
to hit someone; the target can parry to put the damage on his
weapon rather than himself. Mr. Shield really is your friend.
In each round of combat, a character gets two physical actions
and a mental action. The mental action can be used to cast spells.
Spell-casting in this game is faster than weapons! Once you know
spells, you can cast them simply by thinking "Cast this
spell!" Spells draw from MPT for their power, which is recovered
over time (a good night's sleep is usually enough).
As far as systems go, this is pretty good. Once you've built
your character, a lot of the other things you do are intuitive.
On every action there is a good chance of failure, so nothing
is automatic. There is a demonstration battle presented in the
book that shows a lot of the system in action, and this demo
battle is put together very well.
Which brings us back to Vinya. It would be really nice if there
were a more distinctive quality to this world. The gate at the
center of the continent continues to bring all sorts of things
in, which lets the GM's imagination run wild if he wants a particular
sort of creature for the PCs to fight. But until more background
material comes out, the PCs will be spending a lot of time slaying
such creatures. There are descriptions of places in Vinya that
PCs might be visiting, but not a picture of things overall.
One other thing you will find in abundance in GateWar is random
encounter tables. The writers are very fond of them. There are
tables for people you meet in town, tables for trying to pick
up the opposite sex, tables for what you get for lunch.
In fact, the sample adventure consists mainly of such tables.
The adventure is about protecting a colony of herbivores called
Mips. Mips are small, defenseless, and very tasty. When you get
to the end of the line, there's a contest to see who brings in
the most, but there are a lot of predators out there who want
dibs. Which ones are encountered when is random. It's probably
a very easy scenario to run - after the PCs have covered this
distance, roll on the charts and see what hazards to throw in
their path. But getting a coherent STORY out of it is going to
be difficult.
So GateWar is, in essence, an old-fashioned fantasy game that
is playable and fun. And since that is EXACTLY the effect its
authors apparently wanted, it is a success.
Silver
Griffin Magazine
#33
This new release is produced by Escape Ventures, runs more than
266 pages and retails for $29.95. The artwork, interior layout
and maps are extremely well done, giving this product a very
professional appearance.
The game system is based upon percentile dice (with the players
trying to roll less than or equal to their modified skill rating
for success) and players already familiar with other game systems
that use percentile dice will have no trouble learning the system.
One interesting thing is that difficulty increases or decreases
the chance of success in proportion to the skill of the character
(thus a character with a lower skill rating would not be penalized
as much in percentile points as a character with a higher skill
rating would be at the same level of difficulty). Combat uses
hex maps (which I like) and uses hit points for different locations
(which makes for detailed combat). Another interesting feature
is that spell casters get weaker as they cast spells (which means
their spells get weaker as they get more tired). This was nicely
done. Overall the game system has a lot of small details worked
in (such as rules on blood points, intoxication, food require-ments,
etc). The game system has also been thoroughly playtested to
work out the bugs.
The best part of the game though is the section dealing with
the game world. Basically, the game world was a world which lived
in harmony until a Gate opened that allowed a variety of Alien
creatures to gain entry into the world. This resulted in the
harmony being turned into a state of chaos. The game world is
like a fantasy world with aliens mixed in. The game have some
of the best aliens and monsters I have seen (they even give information
on the food value of some of the monsters). There is enough information
given about the game world that GMs should have no trouble getting
a feel for the game world. The game section (as well as the rest
of the book) is well furnished with great artwork to give a good
visual impression of what is being described.
Overall this game has a lot going for it and is well worth the
money. As it receives support from additional products it's popularity
will probably grow among players. Take note though, this game
already has a lot going for it without additional support.
Valkyrie
Magazine -
Volume
1, Issue 5
Reviewed
by Dave Elrick
In the
blurb on the back cover, GateWar is billed as "a comprehensive,
believable fantasy role- playing system". In GateWar you
play the fairly standard sword and sorcery type characters adventuring
through the world of Vinya. Vinya is (surprise, surprise) a world
under siege from the forces on evil-mainly because of a multiplanar
gateway which allows various types of nasties access from their
own planes to Vinya. What are the adventurers to do, but resist
these "invasions"?
The rulebook is divided into three sections. The first is character
creation, which speaks for itself really. Players have a choice
of eight different player-character races. These range from the
stocky Bruff (i.e., Dwarves) and Geffren (i.e., Elves), to the
Nequitar warrior-women and their soul-mates, the Zod Bowmen.
Character generation is comprehensive, but not overly complicated
(you can generate a character after one read-through of the rules,
which is more than can be said of many games available at the
moment).
The second section is called Character Performance, and is basically
all the rules associated with skill use, or combat. It also includes
rules covering character travel around the world of Vinya, along
with some of the hazards the characters might encounter. Everything
is based on D100 skill rolls, matched against a sliding scale
of difficulty levels set by the GM.
The third section (called Character Environment) is where things
really start to get interesting. Up to this point, you might
have been reading almost any role-playing game- the character
generation and skill use rules don't actually provide any new
or startling easy to do things. In fact, you might almost be
reading a certain generic RPG.
It is clear, however, from even the most basic glance-through
that a lot of thought has gone into the world of Vinya. The level
of detail is breathtaking in its scope. Descriptions or rules
cover almost every aspect of Vinyan society, from the type of
government to the many things that you can do, or have done to
you(!), in taverns (there is even a table of Vinyan chat-up lines,
with such gems as "You don't sweat much", "I bet
you're something without those clothes" and that perennial
favorite of lounge-lizards throughout the multiverse: "You
look just like my mother did before she died"). How can
your player characters fail with a line like that?
The blurb on the back of the book says that their are 120 creatures
(dubbed "...thinking man's monsters...") detailed in
the rulebook. Well, I have not counted them, but in the 78 pages
of creature descriptions, there is a vast range of "monsters"
ranging from the harmless Mips (which are often kept as pets),
right up to the dragons at the "oh my gods we're going to
die" end of the scale. Each creature description includes
a thumbnail sketch, stats and a description of the creature and
its habitat. Each description also includes details of the tracks
and signs that indicate that the creature is/was about-offhand,
I can't think of any other RPG that gives you descriptions of
a creature's spoor for every creature in the rulebook.
This is where the care and detail that have been lavished on
GateWar really shows through-I mean, forget fictional chat-up
lines, here you have a believable ecology. Some of the creatures
are useful as pets, some are just curious (and you'll send your
players crazy trying to work out what reason these creatures
have for being in the adventure!) and are there as a sort of
mobile scenery, and some of them are definitely in the "kiss
that and you'll never play the guitar again..." class.
The rulebook is rounded out with a number of appendices, including
a narrative example of all the rules in the rulebook in action.
Among the appen-dices is the introductory scenario. Obviously,
I can't tell you very much about this without giving away a large
part of the plot, but it's a fairly simple adventure designed
to get your players started.
Finally, all the most commonly-used tables are printed on either
the front or back inside covers, where the GM can find them easily
and quickly. This is something other game manufacturers (mentioning
no names) might want to look at.
As I said before, there's nothing new or special in the rules.
Having said that, though, the rules do work well, allowing you
to concentrate on the background. In some ways, GateWar reminds
me of the earlier editions of Jorune (without the alternative
lan-guage), in that there is so much detail that you could easily
forget the game and read the book just for the descriptions alone.
But, of course, that would be a dreadful waste of money.
There are some major niggles-personally, I'd have preferred for
the character sheet to be spread over two pages making each page
a little less cluttered, for example. Also I would have liked
the map of Vinya to be printed on a fold-out insert (possibly
perforated so that it could be removed from the book and spread
out for the players to look at), rather than over two pages near
the center of the book where its difficult to photocopy or use.
Overall: it's hard to find any serious faults with GateWar, although
some of the artwork (including the cover art) may offend the
politically correct minority [of which I am not one, I hasten
to add].
GateWar would make a good first RPG for an experienced GM, but
there is more than enough to keep more experienced players coming
back for more.
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