WOIN Open-Licensed WOIN Starter Set Coming in 2023

What's OLD is NEW is a toolkit oriented roleplaying game system consisting of three core games--a medieval fantasy game, a modern action game, and a futuristic sci-fi game. Each of these games has been available in hardcover since 2016.

Characters are created and advanced using a life-path system, while actions are adjudicated using a flexible d6 dice-pool game. The game is about as 'crunchy' as 5E, but is very different in execution. You can read more about it on the official website.

What's O.L.D. is N.E.W.

Three roleplaying games. One O.L.D. One N.E.W. One N.O.W.

www.woinrpg.com

This year, 2023, we will be releasing the What's OLD is NEW Starter Set. This boxed set will contain a 32-page rulebook, three short adventures (one for each genre), a pile of pregenerated characters, and more. It will contain all you need to get started with WOIN.

In the aftermath of OGL-gate, we will be ensuring that this flexible game system is fully available to third parties via a robust, truly open, and irrevocable license.

Placeholder image only!​

 

[OTHG]

I'm with you. Ironically, I like detailed and crunchy games, but nowadays the vast majority of RPG systems is just narrative bloat.

Take for example the recently released Avatar RPG. I haven't played any Powered by the Apocalypse games before, but the rules are buried in paragraph after paragraph of exposition or explanation. And that's supposed to be a "rules lite" system where you just have a bunch of "moves"? I'm finding it weary reading the almost 300 pages of rules, not to mention the character playbooks which describe the moves each type gets. Another example is the Fate Core rulebook; another supposedly rules-lite game where the book is 300 pages and that doesn't even come with a standard setting! Give me a flow chart with precise actions over reading Tolstoy to figure out how to play.

Contrast this with the 1987 game Living Steel RPG from Leading Edge Games. It used the infamous Phoenix Command Combat System that was supposedly insanely difficult (or at least cumbersome). The core book in the 1st edition was just 115 pages (including background fluff). Including the data tables and weapons, the total was 190 pages. The last 75 pages was basically reference material. Once you got the hang of a few key things, combat was nowhere near as bad or slow as people made it out to be (yes, you had to reference several charts, but it wasn't that time consuming). Combats were actually faster than pretty much any game I played, because one hit usually rendered the target out of combat.

I mean, how did we go from the 98 page Call of Cthulhu 2e rulebook, to the 449 page 7e? BRP hasn't changed that much over the years.

Good points, RareBreed. I am no RPG industry insider, but I feel companies are caught between a rock and a hard place -- they are incentivized to produce big books. Many people like big, hardbound monstrosities. They feel as though they are getting more for their money and that bigger is better. Plus, big books sell for more. Take a 40-page system and expand it to 350 pages -- now you've got something! A few systems warrant a big book, but most probably don't. They are little systems encased in 250 pages of very tedious prose.

 

[amethal]

Another example is the Fate Core rulebook; another supposedly rules-lite game where the book is 300 pages and that doesn't even come with a standard setting! Give me a flow chart with precise actions over reading Tolstoy to figure out how to play.

I appreciate your general point, but I feel compelled to defend Fate Core here.

The book isn't full sized (not sure what the term is; digest sized?) and there is a lot of white space. To pick a page at random; page 287 has 192 words on it. Even a comparatively word-dense page, like page 57, only has 335 words on it. You can't compare that to (say) page 36 of the Castles and Crusades Players Handbook, which is 962 words.

And Fate Condensed, which is almost the same game as Fate Core, is also available (the PDF is pay what you want) and is only 68 pages.

 

[TheHirumaChico]

I love this news. I already own the v1.2 rulebooks for NOW, NEW, and OLD, so my only question is whether the new 32 page rulebook will be some sort of new v 1.3 release that incorporates errata and FAQs that have wound up being discussed on this forum, provided in EONS, etc.? If it does, then I'd definitely buy it!

 

[TheHirumaChico]

I downloaded the draft that was posted on Facebook by Morrus on Jan. 26th. I have a few questions/comments on the draft:

• P. 6 under "Aiming/feinting/focus" - I can see the way this is written as giving the impression that all characters can get all three of these basic feats for free, but choosing only to use one per character turn of course. I didn't think this was correct based on prior reading of the individual rulebooks for NOW, NEW, and OLD, but it might be a good way to play these free feats rather than just having to pick one of them at character creation.
• P. 7 under "Area of Effect" - I think it would be helpful to define the width of the cone (e.g., 30 degrees) in addition to its length.
• P. 8 "Called Shots" - Are these targeted against VITAL DEFENSE or against whichever DEFENSE value is appropriate to the attack being made? If the latter, this is different from the individual era rulebooks, and frankly, I think this interpretation makes more sense in many cases. I can understand VITAL DEFENSE being targeted by grenades, dragon's breath, and similar types of area attacks. But it makes more sense if, for example, a CALLED SHOT vs. an industrial robot's access port is made either against its MELEE or RANGED DEFENSE, depending on which mode of attack the attacker is using.
• P. 9 "SOAK & Vulnerability" - This is an interesting change where SOAK is expressed/measured in dice as -Xd6 to the Damage Roll instead of just as a straight, fixed integer as SOAK X, which is resolved as total damaged rolled - X. Is this intended to be a change that will carry over into future revised editions of the individual rulebooks, or is this just a change solely intended for this "starter" version of the rules?
• P. 21, the Blaster Drone's "Cluster fire. Four blaster drones can create the corners of a 30' wide square and direct their fire to cover the area within that square; all targets are subject to an area attack." What is the magnitude/attack strength of this area attack? Presumably one attack per target in the area?
• P. 26, the Plague Demon's "Nauseaus claws. Any hit from raskillon's claw makes the target Sick. A critical hit also infects the victim with flesh rot." What does flesh rot do?
• P. 33, what is the effect of zombie fever? "Zombie fever. Those who suffer a critical hit from a zombie's bite contract zombie fever. Additionally, any slain by a zombie rise one hour later as a zombie themselves." Is it just that if the target is killed, they rise one hour later as a zombie? The word "Additionally" seems to imply there is more to it than that.
• P. 34, The Assassin's Achilles heel exploit - "Identifying a weakness in his target, the assassin bypasses its SOAK score. This exploit can only be performed once per target." Once per target per turn or once per day or once ever?
• P. 35, the Battlepsyche's Telekinetic shield - " Battlepsyches maintain a permanent telekinetic shield which contributes to their DEFENSEs." How much does this Telekinetic shield contribute to the Battlepsyche's DEFENSEs (just in case this shield is disrupted/disabled)?
• P. 38, the Medic's Medical advice exploit - "Identifying a weakness in a target, the medic can spend a free action in an ally's turn to allow that ally to bypass a creature's SOAK score. This exploit can only be performed once per target." Once per target per turn or once per day or once ever?
• P. 38, the Medic's Healing hands exploit - "Each can only benefit once." Once per day? Once per turn? Once ever in it's entire existence from that medic?
• P. 39, the Ranger's Herbal remedy exploit - "A scout can use natural foliage to create a medical aid which restores 2d6 HEALTH." Once per turn? Once per day?

 

[Morrus]

I downloaded the draft that was posted on Facebook by Morrus on Jan. 26th. I have a few questions/comments on the draft:

• P. 6 under "Aiming/feinting/focus" - I can see the way this is written as giving the impression that all characters can get all three of these basic feats for free, but choosing only to use one per character turn of course. I didn't think this was correct based on prior reading of the individual rulebooks for NOW, NEW, and OLD, but it might be a good way to play these free feats rather than just having to pick one of them at character creation.
• P. 7 under "Area of Effect" - I think it would be helpful to define the width of the cone (e.g., 30 degrees) in addition to its length.
• P. 8 "Called Shots" - Are these targeted against VITAL DEFENSE or against whichever DEFENSE value is appropriate to the attack being made? If the latter, this is different from the individual era rulebooks, and frankly, I think this interpretation makes more sense in many cases. I can understand VITAL DEFENSE being targeted by grenades, dragon's breath, and similar types of area attacks. But it makes more sense if, for example, a CALLED SHOT vs. an industrial robot's access port is made either against its MELEE or RANGED DEFENSE, depending on which mode of attack the attacker is using.
• P. 9 "SOAK & Vulnerability" - This is an interesting change where SOAK is expressed/measured in dice as -Xd6 to the Damage Roll instead of just as a straight, fixed integer as SOAK X, which is resolved as total damaged rolled - X. Is this intended to be a change that will carry over into future revised editions of the individual rulebooks, or is this just a change solely intended for this "starter" version of the rules?
• P. 21, the Blaster Drone's "Cluster fire. Four blaster drones can create the corners of a 30' wide square and direct their fire to cover the area within that square; all targets are subject to an area attack." What is the magnitude/attack strength of this area attack? Presumably one attack per target in the area?
• P. 26, the Plague Demon's "Nauseaus claws. Any hit from raskillon's claw makes the target Sick. A critical hit also infects the victim with flesh rot." What does flesh rot do?
• P. 33, what is the effect of zombie fever? "Zombie fever. Those who suffer a critical hit from a zombie's bite contract zombie fever. Additionally, any slain by a zombie rise one hour later as a zombie themselves." Is it just that if the target is killed, they rise one hour later as a zombie? The word "Additionally" seems to imply there is more to it than that.
• P. 34, The Assassin's Achilles heel exploit - "Identifying a weakness in his target, the assassin bypasses its SOAK score. This exploit can only be performed once per target." Once per target per turn or once per day or once ever?
• P. 35, the Battlepsyche's Telekinetic shield - " Battlepsyches maintain a permanent telekinetic shield which contributes to their DEFENSEs." How much does this Telekinetic shield contribute to the Battlepsyche's DEFENSEs (just in case this shield is disrupted/disabled)?
• P. 38, the Medic's Medical advice exploit - "Identifying a weakness in a target, the medic can spend a free action in an ally's turn to allow that ally to bypass a creature's SOAK score. This exploit can only be performed once per target." Once per target per turn or once per day or once ever?
• P. 38, the Medic's Healing hands exploit - "Each can only benefit once." Once per day? Once per turn? Once ever in it's entire existence from that medic?
• P. 39, the Ranger's Herbal remedy exploit - "A scout can use natural foliage to create a medical aid which restores 2d6 HEALTH." Once per turn? Once per day?

Great stuff. Thank you! I did post it here also and there's a thread for it:

WOIN Starter Set Playtest Draft

We now have a draft of the 32-page rulebook which will appear in the WOIN Starter Set. The three starter adventures are still being written, but the rulebook's first draft is done. We're presenting it for feedback. Obviously, this is not the layout/presentation of the book, it's just a Google...

www.enworld.org

 

[sum1els]

I'm with you. Ironically, I like detailed and crunchy games, but nowadays the vast majority of RPG systems is just narrative bloat.

When learning WOIN we did better by starting with the WRRD for exactly this reason. The NOW rulebook has all of the important bits scattered all over, which in PDF form makes it difficult to comprehend cohesively. We spent a lot of time tag-teaming looking stuff up in the book while others took their turns.

We really like this system, but the book is better suited to reference than learning. The WRRD omits the narration.

 

[JohnnFour]

Hi. Are the hardcovers being replaced or updated in the near future? I am thinking of buying them, but would wait if a new edition is around the corner.

 

[Morrus]

Hi. Are the hardcovers being replaced or updated in the near future? I am thinking of buying them, but would wait if a new edition is around the corner.

We have no current plans to, no. We’re mainly just focused on this starter set right now.