Wyrdwander supplement for the Mydwandr RPG

[Bastet1002]

Hello, 
Sorry if this is a bit of shameless self-promotion. I've been off the boards for a while mostly doing play by post games and writing, and I finally finished a 200+ page supplement called Wyrdwarden for the rules light (but definitely old school inspired) Mydwandr RPG put out by Olde House Rules.

I set about putting all the things I had learned about solo gaming and Frankensteining them into a book with extensive tables and 6 full adventures for a complete solo / cooperative campaign.

I've very pleased how Wyrdwarden turned out and it is now up on Lulu in a 6 by 9 coil bound format for ease of use, and a PDF on Drivethru.
Happy gaming!

Link here:

POD
 Wyrdwarden supplement for the Mydwandr RPG

PDF
Wydwarden supplement for Mydwandr RPG (PDF)

[Finarvyn]

Nothing wrong with a little self-promotion. I'm not familiar with Mydwandr RPG, however.

[Bastet1002]

Well, Mydwandr is a 60 page classless fantasy RPG that uses ten or twelve skills that one can acquire over time that give advantages on tests and certain abilities such as Light-Footed for thieving, Pious for getting divine favors, Footman for fighting, and so on. The beauty of the game is that basically all tests including combat are done by throwing 2d6. There is an advantage mechanism (usually from the skills) where you can roll triples. Rolling 8 or more is a success. In combat, a 8-9, 10-11, and 12 will incur 1, 2, and 3 HP damage respectively. Armor is used after a successful death save and gives the user 5 extra HP before needing repair.

It is just a simple and intuitive and to the point game, and very much a rulings over rules type of game. The game also has a nice pseudo historical norse medieval world setting complete with elves, and dwarves and urku (aka orcs). The monsters are included in a section of the rules called "hazards", which includes avalanches, traps, swamps, along with a wolves, ghosts, skeletons, and the like. There are really nice tables for random treasure as well.

It's the kind of game that fires the imagination. I couldn't put it down once I bought and really wanted to play it, but had no one around me in Japan, so I bounced some ideas off some folks for a Mydwandr forum we have going on MeWe and a series of rules I started writing on index card (mostly tables or a series of quests) got me putting it altogether as a game supplement. One or two others in the group are developing supplements, so the game is beginning to have a life of its own.

My own supplement Wyrdwarden (most of these names are pseudo Viking or old Norse) simply build on the world. I wanted a way to do overland journeys and underland journeys. I came up with more rules to do that, and more extensive hazards tables. I soon developed full blown adventures with maps, and ways to generate random villages with a tavern. The trick was doing this in a way that would be interesting for players who wanted to play solo or cooperatively on the fly. There is even one of those yes / no game oracles there and an extensive table with prompts if players want to go off 'script' and make their own unique adventures. I added new kin. It was missing hobbits so I added hillmen, and several others.

I had a lot of fun making it, and I hope others will get interested in Mydwandr (on DriveThru as a PDF, and Lulu as a Hardcover) as more supplements get released. It really would appeal to old school gamers I think.

[Bastet1002]

Just added a PDF on Drivethru above!

[hamurai]

Grats on getting this done!

The ToC looks impressive. The pewview mentions solo roleplaying, but I guess it's not the classic Choose-Your-Adventure system where you follow the numbers, because a whole campaign wouldn't fit into 224 pages, right? Maybe you can elaborate a little on how it's done?

I like Olde House Rules' games for their simplicity and many ideas, but so far, I've house-ruled every game

Not a lot, but the minimum house-rules I need are at least to change the standard target number from 8 to 7, to make adventurers more competent. Which translates to 58% / 80% vs. the original 42% / 68% chance of success for 2d6/3d6 respectively. Especially in combat, TN 8 can be a real chore to get with many unsuccessful blows exchanged before something happens. I believe that when it's easier to hit (and be hit), initiative is even more important and makes players plan ahead better.
I've used other house-rules for combat, too, but that's not really the topic. Neither was my above comment, I realize

[Bastet1002]

Thanks! The solo system works something like:

I wrote out some journeying procedures for overland adventuring that uses index card lines to measure distances and a greatly extended hazard's table. In the games, adventurers will always have a destination they are headed to on a quest such as a village or dungeon. Villages are created randomly with drop maps, while dungeons are usually set maps with encounters randomized (either by dice roll or drawing numbered index cards) to keep an element of surprise for the players. Details can be filled in with an oracle system where "Yes, but..." or "Yes, and..." lead to a die roll on a special table with several prompts for the good or bad result. That's kind of how solo play is possible. I'm not sure I'm describing it well here. I'm pretty tired finishing up this game this week. But the book also has reams of tables and suggestions for house rules and new encounters. Once you get going on the adventures, they're meant to be played without needing any preparation.

I'm biased of course, but I think its worth getting even if you just mine it for ideas for Olde House Rules' games - particularly Mydwandr.

[hamurai]

Thanks for the answers, I've dug into different solo RPG systems in the past and I'm familiar with most, if not all, of what you describe.

Just one more question: Is it really just for a solo hero plus hirelings, or can you play this with a group (plus hirelings?)? With a "shifting DM" to roll the different aspects of the adventure? We're traing to get into role-playing with a shifting DM and more collaborative story-telling, and this might be a good help.

[Bastet1002]

Yes, the goal here was not to create something new. This is a supplement for an old school inspired game. But for such a game, few have all the tools you need for a solo / cooperative game in one book - which I was trying to do.

Something unique to this book are between game session Druid exercises. I put them in as a bit of a joke at first - sort of a tongue and cheek reaction to the old "satanic panic" that was ripe in the media at the beginning of the D&D in the 70's and 80's. But, some might genuinely like creative meditation (and others might just enjoy reading it for the flavor it adds to the game!). 

As for your last question: definitely! I see this supplement as very suitable for cooperative play, or a shifting Dm. For major foes, I do detail the reactions and behavior a little more to facilitate easier game management, but a shifting DM could help "play" these foes in encounters. I don't have rules for how you could use the supplement with assigned roles for each player. But, I imagine you could have someone in charge of rolling encounters (hazards), another person in charge of villages and overland map travel, a treasure keeper, and another in charge of keeping track of character's despair level and HP and tracking equipment used and so on. 

[blindaudelay]

I rarely comment on these boards. However, Mydwandr seems like a phenomenal game that would likely, as the OP suggested, greatly appeal to those still playing OD&D in 2023 and who are looking for something in the same vein, albeit a bit different. I'm here to elaborate on what they said above about the brilliantly simple resolution mechanic that drives play and looks like it'll keep things moving. 

I had the immense pleasure of reading through the rule book last night in PDF format, and it's safe to say that I will be picking up a hardcover copy from Lulu on Black Friday.

I first heard about the game in a roundabout manner: through discovering Pits and Perils, also published by the same people behind this game (Olde House Rules). This game feels like a truncated refinement of that one, at first blush. I then read a couple blog posts about the game and was sold enough to spend $4 on DriveThruRPG. One term that these blogs use which I was unfamiliar with is "FKR," aka Free Kriegspiel Renaissance, which harkens to a pre-D&D wargaming philosophy presumably practiced by Dave Arneson. But that's another subject entirely and I won't derail this thread with that whole can of worms, largely because I don't think I fully grasp what it's all about quite yet.

In any case, let's cut to the chase. Mydwandr is worth checking out. Its philosophy is simple: minimalism breeds creativity by relying on the players to bring their own logic and reasoning to the table, instead of relying on charts, tables, percentages, probabilities, and the like. Give just enough of a framework to establish a set of guiding principles about a shared fantasy world (included in this rulebook), and you have enough for a fully-fledged campaign. I bet you could teach the game to first-timers in under 20 minutes who've never heard of a TTRPG before. Here's a snippet from the introduction, where the authors write on the joys found in old-school RPGs and how this book relates to them:

It’s a tough balance to strike. Fewer rules often meant incomplete ones, which left everyone scratching their heads for want of more. But at their best, these games incorporated the everyday logic of cause and effect. Of course gulping hemlock is lethal. It’s hemlock. How many charts and tables are needed to establish that? It’s just what happens in a story where things make sense, and the referee can defend the outcome. But the players can defend their own activities on a similar basis...

This book attempts to thread that needle; first, with a single core mechanic that applies to everything not so simple that rolling isn’t necessary or so impossible that dice are a pointless exercise, subject to the referee. This is a player-centric thing, with decisions driving outcomes as befits a story. Finally, there’s abundant content, including an optional world setting for the referee to use or mine for inspiration. But nothing’s set in stone, and the referee can modify things as they see fit.

The game interweaves crucial rules about humans, dwarves, and elves with advice about how to play as well as run the game in paragraphs that flow together like butter. They are presented clearly and succinctly. Maybe I'm naive and several other games in the old-school, rules-lite realm do this, but this is my first time encountering it. The artwork, charmingly inspired by the "medieval public domain," is just great. I love the woodcut style that is used in Pits and Perils, and it shines here too. As the OP mentioned, the rules also lay out all manner of obstacles as "hazards," including monsters. I quite like this move, because it effectively reaffirms that in old-school games, obstacles are meant to be creatively overcome, be it a combat encounter or an avalanche you're trying to escape from.

All in all, the whole book had me charmed from start to finish and I read it in one sitting. It felt like a novel, and a glimpse through a window into an entirely different way of playing TTRPGs that's old-school without being straight-up D&D. (Even if you can see clear influences).

This looks like a great supplement! Hats off.

[machfront]

I appreciate the assessments and elucidations in this thread. I love Pits & Perils myself, and Old House Rules creates fun and cool stuff.
I’ve been a bit reticent concerning this one as I felt P&P already covered this ground. Now it seems this may not be the case.
It’s beginning to feel this may be P&P but lighter and looser still, though still structured (perhaps in a RISUS sense?). ?
If so… I’m fare more interested than I was.

(Though, to be fair: over the last year or so…I kinda sorta almost only wanna use a system derived from the Fighting Fantasy Introductory Role-Playing Game….not ‘Advanced Fighting Fantasy’, mind. Troika! Spellzard! Etc.), or RISUS. Hell…I’ve been trying for the first time ever to noodle out a game system based on a coin flip! That’s how much more simple and lite I want my games to be! Lol!
Monsters, treasures, spells….all ought be described in a few words. Statted with one number. NPCs….even BBGs statted with one number….MAYBE two numbers. Numbers. Period.
Because otherwise, I’m yawning.
Tell me why he’s a bad guy succinctly. I’m not here to read a book. Again…otherwise, I’m yawning. I don’t need a story. Gimmie a couple of sentences. I’ll make up the rest….in a few minutes..,.if at all.)

[Bastet1002]

Blindaudelay, thanks for your kind comments! Mywandr is an inspiring and almost poetic read, and that is what me inspired in all of 6 weeks to write Wyrdwarden. I hope my book does it justice! I'm happy to say Olde House Rules said they liked my book very much.

Marchfront, I can't promise you these books are what you need if you have a system you already like and rpg game procedures that already work for you.

I think the Wyrdwarden book is succinct despite its long page count. After a house rules section (about 50 pages), I included 5 full adventures in the book with descriptions that are usually no more than 1 paragraph long (except for big boss types) - but overall succinct in other words. I wrote the book this way, so people could conveniently just have the 2 books (Mydwandr and Wyrdwarden) to carry around. Mydwandr is of course all you need, but my book adds procedures for solo play and 5 full adventures. There is a game oracle included in my book with the usual yes, no, yes and, yes but, no, no and, no but. What I did with it, is added a random table that helps you with the 'and' and 'but' by giving you very brief prompts (as in a word or phrase) to make up your own story or details if a more narrative approach is what you really want to get out of your game time.

As far as Mydwandr goes - it is a 60 page book with maybe 45 devoted to rules and 15 to briefly describe the setting with a couple of these pages being maps and describing the kins in the world.

I hope this explains my Wyrdwarden book (and the Mydwandr book) a little better. (And hopefully you are not 'yawning' reading this!)

[Bastet1002]

Hi, Olde House Rules wrote a very positive review of my book, which gives a pretty good overview and how it fits in with their Mydwandr RPG.

"Wyrdwarden" book review

[blindaudelay]

Congrats Bastet1002! Well deserved, as far as I can tell. My hardcover copy of Mydwandr just arrived from Black Friday. Hopefully the first supplement of many to come for Mydwandr. I'll be picking up the PDF shortly to play solo.

[Bastet1002]

Blindaudelay, I hope you enjoy it!