Beautiful artwork, great game system, and the whole "vibe" is amazing. Fantastic game, highly recommended!

This review will contain two parts. First part is about Warlock! itself and the other part will be for the differences and upgrade from the normal version of the Game.

Part 1 Warlock! itself: I love this game I picked it up about 1~ year ago and me and my grouped played it for that period every weekend. It has its roots which are pretty clear in a world where there is only war and it fullfills that niche with ease. This game feels gritty and dark fantasy but keeps a bit of humor that lightens it up well enough. It excells at ease of play making a character evolving it and using this system will come naturally to you by the first session as it is very easy to grasp. Its the game I would have liked to design as I am currently in the process of writing my own game but halted that as I have Warlock! now yes it is that good.

Positives:

• Easy to understand rules
• Evokes the feelings of its roots perfectly
• Awesome community that brings the game to life
• Flexible enough for your Fantasysettings and Worlds
• Easy to adjust and homerule

Negatives:

• Rules can feel barebones if you do not want to make rulings on the spot
• Base game can feel a bit barren but this is fixed with the multiple expansions

Part 2 Update from normal version to Traitor Edition:

If you dont have the other Warlock! base game dont read any further you want this. The visuals of this version are enhanced by a lot and it is a joy to read. The normal version by no means was bad or terrible but It had that indie band charm and I think that is no bad thing. This looks a lot nicer and makes it even easier to recommend this game as the old visuals was a turnoff for some people. While I will cherish my old copy of the base game as it has that oldschool feel I will recommend all people to use and buy this one in the future as it is just a straight up upgrade.

If you allready have the basegame like I do I think you should still pick up the new look if you can afford it as it just oozes the feeling of the game from every page.

Final Notes: Great Job to EvilDoctor from Fire Ruby Designs I think update will bring even more people to this game. If you are in the market for a muddy bloody fantasy game you should check out Warlock! :)

The grand sultan lies ill while his eldest daughter and younger brother vie for the control of Far Hissain's first and greatest city...

PROS:

+setting. Rich and evocative pre-Islamic fantasy setting with a diverse cast of characters, from fickle djinn and power-hungry sorcerers to jostling street vendors and Bedouin warriors. I'll call out one of my favourite scenes described in the book, a small pond of silver fish in the Al-Nimri Forest. Take a fish out of the pond, and it'll turn into a silver coin. Put the coin back, and it'll become fish again. Keep the coin out of the pond for a few days and it'll start smelling of rotten fish. This stuff is great, and the book's full of moments like this one.

+bestiary. This books has over 30 new entries for the Warlock! bestiary, and they are on point. The dog-headed hinn — a corrupted community of djinn — are a personal favourite.

+careers. 12 new basic and 7 advanced careers (including one each for elves, dwarves and haflings).

CONS:

-lack of adventure modules. The book offers plenty of hooks but no adventure modules. I'd have loved to see one included. Fingers crossed the author will publish more material for this setting

Overall, Far Hissain is a fantastic setting book. Props to Imad and Greg for creating a place with such a distinct feel, and one I badly want to play in.

Warhammer (1e) + Fighting Fanatsy + d20 = Warlock!

As a fan of all of the above, I really enjoy this game. Fast and light but still has depth. The additional books all add some nice extra choices as well. Highly recommend Warlock!

The only things keeping this from being a 5 star title for me is the interior art and font used. I would prefer this with no art vs. what's inside currently. Also a font change would be good as the current one seems a little flat or lifeless.

(Matter of tatse, I know.)

If Warlock! gets a revised edition in the future, I'd like to suggest getting Zhu Bajiee (Zhu Industries) to do all the art.

If that happens, I burn all of my other books and only play Warlock! Lol...

A dark and gritty Euro style game that does so many things right. I was a little disappoined by the short spell list but since it's so simple adding my own spells, which I did, was exceptionally easy. I've already purchased all of the supplemental material that's been released, which is a rarity for me, and I plan to get anything else that has to do with this little gem. If you like the old version of Warhammer Fantasy then this is certainly going to be your taste in gaming. If you're looking to get away from overly done epic style systems, then I recommend this one, too. It's been a while since I've come across a game that's this well done and sperked my curiosity as this one has but I'm definitely glad that I did. Go and buy it, it's just that good.

Awesome book for introducing military adventures into Warpstar. The overall structure of the Nova guard makes for some great story potential. the nova guard careers are amazing and all compliment each other very well to make for an interesting party of player characters where everyone has their own role in the group. The arsenal of weapons, armor ans vehicles are all brutal and interesting. you also get a giant table of mission hooks to keep you busy for a long time, as well as a sandbox adventure and setting in the back of the book.

overall this book is fantastic for anyone who wants to incorporate space marine/old school 40k/starship troopers/doom elements into their warpstar game.

I've been using Compendium 2 as much as the Core Rulebook for the past two months. It has all the modular rules you need to bring base Warlock! to a Renaissance dark-er game, and a very cool alternative carrer advancement system!

Like the fantasy incarnation of these rules, this ruleset is light-weight and tight. It's well made and the art inside has that early-Rogue Trader vibe I love.

You could easily use this set with some of the Traveller books (I'd recommend "Mercenary" for this and most other sci-fi rules)

Fantastic little game that's big on fun and options. Whereas Fighting Fantasy (great and important game that it is) always felt a bit incomplete, Warlock! manages to feel fully featured, yet light. Warlock! is largely inspired by Fighting Fantasy, but adds some elements of that other, "Grimdark" RPG. And the combination works. The core mechanic is a simple d20+Skill, 20 or better succeeds, which is cool. Skills and careers round out your character and let them interact with the world of Warlock! And the presentation is great as well. I bought the hardback, which is compact, high quality, and full of retro-awesome fantasy art. It's very well-supported so far. I can't recommend this enough. "Grim-lite" gaming at its finest!

I've run Warlock! for around four weeks now, and is the best light-rules, dark, low fantasy system I've played. If you are looking for something in this genre that allows you to have fast games, easy incorporation of new players, low-entry barrier, this game is for you. It keeps the flavor of old-school dark fantasy but it streamlines the heavy rulings without losing the mechanics.

Nice starting setting and supplement for Warpath! with focus in the warp and remote exploration, some equipment and all you need to quick start a campaign.

Warlock has become my go-to gritty fantasy game ... okay, I've only played two sessions with it as of yet, but I'm pretty sure it will keep its promise of greatness in the long run, too. Like another great recent rpg, Daniel Sell's Troika!, the rules are in the tradition of a venerable series of British solo game books, and if you've ever been to Firetop Mountain or to the City of Thieves, you know what I'm talking about. The setting is inspired by another great classic of British roleplaying, Peacefeather FRP or whatever it was called. So, in terms of rules we get a very simple d20+skill value roll high system, that turns into an d20+skill value opposed check in combat, with the punchline being that whoever roles higher does damage, even if she or he didn't initiate the exchange. That means that on pretty much every exchange, someone takes damage, which makes for fast and furious combat. There's some additional stuff like the person who initiated an attack getting a bonus, but that is pretty much it, and if you think about it a little closer, you'll notice how this already takes care of things like multiple attacks, two-weapons fighting and all of these other things that tend to need spot rules in other systems. Setting-wise, the meat is in the character careers with their short, darkly humorous fluff texts and two mal tables each to roll background events on. It's perfect for just sitting your players down, having them roll up characters and then see where everything goes from there. Magic might take a little getting used to, with spells being actual physical scrolls that a wizard or priest needs at hand to perform them. The pay what you want Grimoire for Warlock expands on the context and also provides some fluff that makes this notion ring more true. Your wizards will have no choice but to go adventuring to get their hands on new spells ... If you need something traditional and rules-lite that covers you for all kinds of more or less gritty low-fantasy and isn't mired in D&D-type levelling, class restricitions, HP creep and "featism", definitely check this one out.

I love what Golgotha is doing. It’s “dungeons” but not dungeon crawl with a focus not room by room but narratively interesting choices or challenges, you have a specific over-arching objective and a limitation (usage dice clock) on how long you can take to do it. It’s all about evocative wonders, unexplainable technologies, complications, and hurdles - with a bit of transhumanism. Driven by simplicity of TBH.

A great light weight and relatively simple title, but with plenty of options for some retro sci fi play. There is a setting included, but really, this system could be used for everything from warhammer to firefly.

Highly recommended.

Warpstar! is the eagerly awaited (certainly by me) Sci-fi take on Warlock!. Quite simply, if you liked Warlock!, and you want a Sci-fi game to add to your repertoire then Warpstar! should be an immediate buy. If you haven't already played Warlock! (you should) then Warpstar! is a rules-light Sci-fi game with an implied setting that gives you just enough to work with but doesn't hem you in by being overly detailed. The Chorus of a Million worlds has all the space you need to tell the stories you want to tell and the easy to hack and understand mechanics mean the rules aren't going to get in your way either while still having some fun and clever mechanics to play around with as you explore space... And hopefully not get twisted by Warpspace, though that can be fun too!