[WW] RE: Helloo?

[Paul Wilson <Paul.Wilson@po-box.esu.edu>]

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  Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 16:17:47 -0800 
  From: jeff@wizards.com 
  Subject: [WW] Helloo? 

  Anybody home? Boy, is it dead here or what? No detailed report from 
  Origins? What's up - did you all swear an oath of silence? How was it?
How did it play?	
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         Sorry to take so long to respond to this but things have been
rather busy since Origins.  Now keep in mind that my comments regarding
Weird Wars come from one 2 hour demo of "The Keep" at Origins (Though it
looks like I may be running a session at GenCon).
	The most important comment I can make is "it was fun".  If you go to
GenCon play it. I was fortunate enough to be gaming with a really good group
and I had an enjoyable evening.  In the end I guess that's all that counts.
Now on to some specifics...
	The world was very interesting.  It has a lot of potential and the
game generally managed to capture a feel of horror as opposed to the
standard AD&D monster mash. The character classes and skills seemed varied
enough to allow everyone to play a character that was "special" (i.e. an
individual not just another fighter or whatever).  Now I don't know if there
are enough skills, merits, flaws, backgrounds etc.  to allow a player to
play 100 different grunts in 100 different games and have them all be
unique.  But the game does avoid the "thief syndrom" where three thieves
fight for the right to pick a lock because lockpicking is one of the few
things they do better than other character classes.
	The major problem with the game was of course the D20 system upon
which it is based.  However, that being said the system only really
interfered with the game in combat during our session.  We got a chance to
role play and our characters seemed to have skills that supported such
action. In combat the thing that most detracted from the "feel" of the game
was the hit point system.  You could be facing a 100 hp creature put a
bullet in each limb and stab it in the chest knocking it down to 1 hp and
the creature could still leap from a high building, rip of your comrades arm
and beat you with it while repeating "it's just a flesh wound...".  The game
can have an unnerving tendency to swerve from horrific to comic in such
instances.  I expect this may become especially problematic with high level
PCs.  At low levels modern weapons are suitably lethal.  However, I can
imagine a high level character who could drop a grenade down his/her shorts
and survive (of course I would have to see all of the rules to determine
this).  Initiative was also a little odd in that you only roll for
initiative once during a combat.  If the initiative order is Jane followed
by Joe followed by Count Dracula etc. in round one it is the same in
successive rounds.  Of course this "problem" is easily fixed by the GM by
having players roll initiative each round.
	In the final analysis do I like the game....Yes.  Will I buy the
game...Yes.  I am really looking forward to GenCon so I can get a close up
look at all of the rules and background information on the world.  I am
actually most interested in how PEG organizes the gaming group in order to
give them a level of freedom of action which is atypical in the military. I
am leaning to a partisan cell structure myself, but we'll see.
       I should also note that The Keep is a good introductory 2 hour demo.
I would be hard pressed to write a 2 hour adventure at all let alone one
that allows a good mix or role playing and combat.  Of course I do have a
tendency to be a bit long winded :)   I hope my comments help those of you
who were looking for a review of Weird Wars at Origins.  With the release
just around the corner we will all be able to check out the game in detail
soon. I for one have high hopes.

Paul

pwilson@po-box.esu.edu