Everyway review?
Ronald Legere
I am looking for a review on the WOTC game
everway. This is my second post on this subject,
as the first never got a response. If you have
a review, or saved one from an earlier posting that
I missed, please repost or email to me. Thank
you.
Note: I am looking for hopefully unbiased reviews,
not press releases from WOTC :) Actually really want
some negative reviews, so then it will be easier
to resist :)
--
| | |
)_) )_) )_) Captain:Ron Legere
___|____|____|___ email: leg...@Minerva.cis.yale.edu
---------\ /---------
Simon Stansfield
roleplaying magazine from Future Publishing. This comes out on the 9th
November, and will be available in limited numbers in the US (to start with, we
hope to ramp it up, distributors interested, email me please)) and is also
available on subscription direct from Future for a not unreasonable £28.50
(about $45) for 6 issues. check out our web site at the address below. We'll
also be posting an 8 page Adobe Acrobat "taster" of the magazine on "about"
the 1st of Novmber on our web site. Look out for it, though I can't promise
we'll put the Everway" review in. One thing I can guarantee is that arcane will
be totally independent.
Simon Stansfield
Publisher
arcane
the rolepaying magazine
Jo Walton
leg...@minerva.cis.yale.edu "Ronald Legere" writes:
> Greetings,
> I am looking for a review on the WOTC game
> everway. This is my second post on this subject,
> as the first never got a response. If you have
> a review, or saved one from an earlier posting that
> I missed, please repost or email to me. Thank
> you.
> Note: I am looking for hopefully unbiased reviews,
> not press releases from WOTC :) Actually really want
> some negative reviews, so then it will be easier
> to resist :)
There'll be a review by us in a Pyramid near you soon - but I'm afraid it's
positive. I'm a born-again Everway GM! :-)
--
Jo
*****************************************
- - I kissed a kif at Kefk - -
*****************************************
Paul Andrew King
leg...@minerva.cis.yale.edu (Ronald Legere) wrote:
> Greetings,
> I am looking for a review on the WOTC game
>everway. This is my second post on this subject,
>as the first never got a response. If you have
>a review, or saved one from an earlier posting that
>I missed, please repost or email to me. Thank
>you.
> Note: I am looking for hopefully unbiased reviews,
>not press releases from WOTC :) Actually really want
>some negative reviews, so then it will be easier
>to resist :)
The only negative reviews I've seen come from people who dislike it's basic
approach (extremely rules-light, with a heavy reliance on GM
interpretation).
While it isn't perfect (no RPG is) it is a very good example of that style.
I did a quick "first impressions" review for A&E that I'll email you if you
want more details (although it isn't as good as Ken Walton's). Experiences
in running Everway are regularly posted to the mailing list if that's of
interest (to subscribe email list...@oracle.wizards.com with the message :
subscribe everway-l <your real name>).
Paul K.
My newsfeed is losing posts. Please email any replies if you want to be sure I see them.
Peter Hentges
>
> Greetings,
> I am looking for a review on the WOTC game
> everway. This is my second post on this subject,
> as the first never got a response. If you have
> a review, or saved one from an earlier posting that
> I missed, please repost or email to me. Thank
> you.
> Note: I am looking for hopefully unbiased reviews,
> not press releases from WOTC :) Actually really want
> some negative reviews, so then it will be easier
> to resist :)
Well I waited for someone else to post a review after your
first request as I am something of a biased source. I hope
to do some freelance writing for Everway at some point in
the future and am generally a fan of other games Jonathan
Tweet has produced. He is also a friend. All that said, I
will try and be objective.
My initial reaction to Everway was quite positive. This was
when JoT demonstrated character generation to a small group
of folks at RuneQuestCon 2 in January. It struck me as a
well-codified way of producing the kind of detailed characters
that most advanced role-players create on their own. The
process involved (and still does) choosing five cards from
a selection of fantasy art cards. The player then weaves a
tale/description of their character from the images on those
cards, introducing their character to the others. Then the
players participate in a Q&A session where they develop the
characters further by asking and answering questions. This
sometimes focuses on the cards (Where'd you get the axe in
this picture?), but also includes generic questions (What
are the three things you always carry with you?).
Also in part of this process, the players choose three cards
from the "Fortune Deck" to represent their character's Virtue,
Fault and Fate. These are not typically used in the mechanics
of the game, but are representational of the personality and
life of the character. If the Fate of the character is met during
play, a new set of cards is chosen to reflect the change in
the character.
Full fledged character creation continues.with players getting
20 points to spread among their remaining options. These options
are: Powers, Elements and Magic. Powers are supernatural effects
the character uses. They are worth one to three points each
and are valued based on whether they are frequent, major and/or
versitile. A power that costs one point for each of the three
it is classified as. In addition, the character may have a single
power that is none of the three.
Elements are the core abilities of the character. They are the
traditional Air, Fire, Earth and Water. Each element represents
one group of aspects of the character. Air covers intelligence,
speech, reasoning. Fire is active skills, strength, combat.
Earth is resistance, healing, endurance. Water is feeling,
perception, stealth. Elements range from one to ten with each
step being defined as roughly double the step below. Player
characters can have elements between two and nine.
Magic is the ability to cast spells and is ranked from one to ten.
Player characters can have a starting maximum of seven. In addition,
the style of magic the character uses is tied to an element and
the score in magic cannot exceed the score in that element.
Task resolution is based on three rules: Karma, Drama and Fate.
Karma is the basic tool of diceless roleplaying: If it makes
sense, it happens. This is what all GMs do when they adjudicate
actions that don't require dice rolls: If the door is unlocked,
anyone can open it, no dice required.
Drama is the imperitive of the story. If the storyline requires
an action or would collapse if an action succeeded, the action
will succeed or fail.
Fate is relying upon the Fortune deck. The GM draws a card and
uses the image and connotations of this pseudo-tarot to decide
what happens. Positive connataions yeild positive results and
negative ones negative results. Gradations of positive and
negative are available through interpretation of the card.
Drawing Cockatrice, the symbol of corruptions, would be a very
negative result while drawing the reversed Priestess, the
symbol of impracticality would be less negative.
The system's strengths seem to be its ability to quickly
generate well-rounded characters and places for them to have
adventures. (I use a modified version of the character generation
process to produce plots and settings.) It also easily incorporates
most player desires into balanced characters. In running the
system, I have found it flows well, allowing easy pacing of
stories to keep interest level high.
The greatest weakness I see in the system is that its support
for a beginning GM does not measure up to its support for a
beginning player. Though marketed toward people who have not
role-played before, it does its best work explaining how to
create and play characters. GMs are left out in the cold a bit.
Other people have raised complaints about the system but most
of them have been matters of personal preference. The Everway
mailing list has been a good source of exploring alternative
ideas around those complaints. From ditching the numbers
in favor of word-descriptions to ways of providing "hit points"
in the system, everyone seems to have ideas about providing
what they think Everway lacks. It is perhaps the greatest
compliment to say that the system allows all of these modifications
based on personal tastes without breaking down its inherent
structure.
My last big fear about Everway was the way in which extra
vision cards (the ones you use as the first part of character
generation) would be sold. The first set of them, the Everway
Companion Collector Cards, was licensed by FPG and sold in
randomly assorted packs of 10. This brought up the bugaboo of
CCGs to people's minds. The fact that "chase cards" were to
be included in the set reinforced that. Fortunately, these
cards differ from CCGs in that they do not provide any advantage
to the players. You cannot "win" Everway by buying more cards.
Therefore, players and GMs do not need to feel obligated to
buy them. Doing so is analogous to buying a supplement of the
background of any other rpg. More pictures=more ideas. And
these ideas are available in full color at only $2/10.
In sum, I like Everway. It has room to grow and needs to provide
more support for GMs. Fortunately, WotC intends to provide more
of that support through up-coming supplements. In the meantime,
Everway has sparked in a lot of people that feeling they had
during the golden age of gaming: 13 years old, when you first
opened that D&D book and found this fabulous fantasy world.
-Peter Hentges [O]
-peter_...@ccmgate.adc.com [O]
-JBRU [O]
Ken Walton
peter_...@ccmgate.adc.com "Peter Hentges" writes:
> In the meantime,
> Everway has sparked in a lot of people that feeling they had
> during the golden age of gaming: 13 years old, when you first
> opened that D&D book and found this fabulous fantasy world.
Funny that. I was just saying to Jo yesterday that the Everway game she's
running felt like the good old days of our Harn campaign, six or seven years
ago. I admit I was about 25 at the time, but I'm sure the feeling was
similar :-)
--
Ken Walton
===================================================================
= How many more things are there in heaven and earth =
= than are dreamed of in your philosophy? Give a rough estimate. =
===================================================================
Reimer Behrends
: Greetings,
: I am looking for a review on the WOTC game
: everway. This is my second post on this subject,
: as the first never got a response. If you have
: a review, or saved one from an earlier posting that
: I missed, please repost or email to me. Thank
: you.
: Note: I am looking for hopefully unbiased reviews,
: not press releases from WOTC :) Actually really want
: some negative reviews, so then it will be easier
: to resist :)
Well, I must admit that I am having problems with Everway. Not that I
think it's a bad game or that I dislike the low mechanics approach - as
a matter of fact, that was what first got me interested in it. However,
much as I ought to like the game, I feel uncomfortable with it.
First, there is the character creation process. Its first step (and for
me, the first problem) is the selection of five vision cards from which
to mold a character. Not only does it get in the way for me (as I
usually have lots of ideas for characters and don't need help from the
cards), but trying to construct a character from the premise offered by
five cards with no previous concept in mind didn't work out, either.
Anyway, this is not much of a problem, as you can easily dump the
vision cards without losing anything. I guess it's mostly my fault -
I've never been an extremely visually oriented person (preferring books
to movies, etc.).
The second step is about detailing your character. No problem here,
except that the rules want me to express a virtue, a flaw and a fate in
terms of the fortune cards. The catch is that the fortune cards are way
to abstract for this purpose (at least for me), and then there's only a
limited amount of them. Again, I proceeded by just dumping the
requirement. I mean, I have learned to live with character creation
systems that put constraints on a character's abilities, but when a
system is going to erect abstract rules for my character's personality,
my creative juices seem to go on strike.
Third step then is a simple point allocation system for four attributes
(Fire, Earth, Air, Water) plus any powers and/or magic the character
has got. Here lies my main gripe with the character creation system.
Everway (like Amber) attempts to approach the low-mechanics issue by
using crude mechanics. Not only are there just four traits to define a
character, but they have a surreal feeling as well - the result is that
the game mechanics side of the character feels like a separate,
disembodied entity.
And finally, there's the question stage. Players ask one another
questions about their characters to develop their personality - now
that's one thing I particularly liked. Overall, the character creation
system is not bad - but it could have been better.
One more thing I like about Everway are the action resolution rules.
Freeform, simple, and to the point, yet catering for different tastes.
Methods for adjudication by Karma (comparing opposing traits), by Drama
(requirements of the plot), and by Fortune (drawing a fortune card and
interpreting it) are presented and explained. There could have been a
few more examples in general and the Fortune card examples sometimes
feel unnecessarily construed, though.
And finally, there's the setting. Don't shoot me, but I don't like it.
No, that's wrong. It isn't that I don't like it, it just doesn't
intrigue me. A bit like Over the Edge, the realms and spheres around
Everway appear to be haphazard assortment of places, none of which is
very detailed (but to be fair, it should be mentioned that there are
lots of nice ideas to exploit). To some extent this even applies to
Everway proper. One reason might be that (while around 15 pages are
spent to describe the city) you only get a tourist guide and not an
inside view. It would also have helped if major characters were
described in more detail than 'Great King Horizon Emerald'. This is all
well and good if you want to fill in the details yourself, but it is
not exactly inspiring.
Note that this 'review' is heavily coloured by my personal preferences,
though. I think it would be a good idea to read a favourable one (such
as Ken Walton's) as well to get a more complete picture.
Reimer Behrends
Nils Weinander
(I haven't played it yet, just read the rules) is that just about
every page of the books practically oozes sense of wonder. I have
never seen another rpg book which gives me this much of that elusive
beast.
________________________________________________________________________
Nils W | Here we are!
Office: ni...@ppvku.ericsson.se | We sail on a ship made of dreams.
Home: ni...@ibm.net
Ronald Legere
: In article <46b5t1$p...@brachio.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE>,
: Reimer Behrends <behr...@buran.fb10.tu-berlin.de> wrote:
: >Everway appear to be haphazard assortment of places, none of which is
: >very detailed (but to be fair, it should be mentioned that there are
: >lots of nice ideas to exploit).
: I think Everway attempts to be deliberately background-lite, in order
: to give the GM as much freedom as possible. It defines a theme and a
: "feel", but not a world.
Another reason , perhaps not intended but that I like, for having the
haphasazard assortment of places is that it allows the players to
create characters from any kind of fantasy world that they wish.
They can invent the sphere as well as the character if they are
so motivated...
BTW, I am the one that asked for the review originally, thanks
to all that responed..Yes I did buy it (from Greenleaf, excellent
service btw) and love it so far.