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Wicked Ones: Deluxe Edition |
This product is no longer available from DriveThruRPG.com |
Average Rating:4.6 / 5 |
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I would not recommend supporting this author after he failed to deliver on the kickstarter for physical books.
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This person had a kickstarter and took the money and disappeared.
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Funded the deluxe edition on Kickstarter, the author ran away with the money and completely disappeared, ghosting not only the backers but also every collaborator he had previously worked with.
I wouldn't recommend purchasing anything that comes from Bandit Camp. Well, retrospectively, the company name gave us a hint of what was coming.
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Any chance Drive Thru RPG would offer a deal for printing to people who already paid the kickstarter for these books but got screwed? I also paid Bandit Camp for the hardcover set of books and when they screwed up the logistics they rage quit. Left us all short $100 or more.
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Great game, documentation is solid and the gameplay examples help when getting started.
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this people havent fufilled the second deluxe run took out money and run. no updates or nothing. some like me, a disabled veteran, have limited income and he stole it.
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I bought this hardcover
I love the concept, and can't wait to try it out
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You know, I do appreciate a fast and loose magic system, and Wicked Ones delivers this in spades. Like most of the Forged in the Dark books, Wicked Ones is easy to learn and very well illustrated. One thing that I did find pretty surprising were the small assortment of "mods" that came with the game itself, offering a great many ways to play the game other than dungeon building. Which is my favorite part.
Anyone who loves the Dungeon Keeper or War for the Overworld will thoroughly enjoy Wicked Ones (and its expansion, War for the Overworld!). Based on the strength of the great writing and fantastic art, I did purchase the toolkit and the small expansion books, War for the Overworld and Undead Awakening. They're both good, and they both offer a lot of gameplay options and standalone campaigns for the main setting- such as it is.
It's a great series; I wish there was more of it, but I'm glad for what we have!
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Fantastic system. Always lots of fun to use. Very different from your typical TTRPG but in a 'breath of fresh air' kind of way. Instead of a bunch of rules for the players to follow it's more a framework to channel all their chaotic high imagination energy into meaninful fun. The engine is lean, the math is quick and simple, and there is a huge allowance for the players to do whatever thrills them do.
One of the key elements that drives this engine is that the GM sets the Position (how bad failure will affect the character) and Effect (how likely a success will achieve the desired result). Example - OrcBurger wants to jump out from his hiding spot to tackle a farmer to knock him to the ground. As the GM I would say Position is Good - failing this roll might mean the farmer runs away screaming for help which is annoying but not bad and Effect is also Good - if you succeed on this roll you will flatten this guy. Alternatively, if OrcBurger wanted to jump out a High Elven bodyguard armed to the teeth I might say Position is Bad, if you fail this roll that guy is going to cause you pain, and Effect is normal - if you succeed in this roll you'll take him by surprise and knock him prone, but it's not going to keep him down for long.
This is something you need to be prepared for, deciding Position and Effect for pretty much everything. It's a lot of subjectivity on your part that results in a lot of flexibility for the players to go wild or strategic while meting out success and consequences fairly. The players also have the ability to block consequences... for a price... but this adds another level of epicness or strategy or possibly silliness depending on the group.
This system also heavily leans into the players as the creators and the GM as the facilitator. It is the players who build the world, set up its factions, build the dungeon, and pick the adventures, create their own gear / concoctions / inventions / spells, determine what success and failure looks like. That's a huge pile of creative flexibility! The GM, on the other hand, facilitates the creative process, sets the challenge, redirecting creative energy into something that works within the framework of the game system, and provides final say on things for the sake of balance and the integrety of the challenge. As the GM you have no idea what the players are going to do beforehand. They might raid a farm, seige the king's castle, enter into high stakes negotiations with the ratfolk, change the princess into a werewolf, or try changing the ocean into Soda Pop. The framework in this system accommodates for all of these things and so as the GM you're not prepping the story or the adventure like you would in more traditional TTRPGs so much as reviewing the framework and the structure of the game loop to properly facilitate whatever the players throw at you and any existing timers ticking in the background that will affect the factions in the world or the players' dungeon.
Character creation uses the Forged in the Dark approach, so there are a handful of monstrous arktypes and races to choose from that determine primary and secondary ability choices with three main attributes divided into three abilities each which get between 0 and 3 dots beside them. The leveling system rewards trying new things and being monstrous so players will intentionally try things their characters are not good at to maybe level them up... which is often hilarious. And of course if you have a really cool idea for some other powerful monster type that isn't properly represented in the initial set, there are rules for creating your own.
The blowback system provides meta-consequences for missions that go badly (they chose to do a stealth mission, but ended up parading down main street setting things on fire) and the GM can leverage the dark desires of each character to tempt players to veer off course. Basebuilding and downtime projects lead to inspiration for the players to come up with missions (I really want to get 2 tons of fabric to build the float for our our Dirigible of Death!).
Without going into any more detail, the system really pulls a group of people together in a creative process where the players become super invested in the world, their lair, and the their characters. This isn't a platform for grand narrative arks and Shakespearian RP or technical strategy, this is a platform for wild creativity, monstrous fantasy, and just getting to the action quickly with enough meaningful decisions between action scenes to set a good pace.
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Fun and Functional RPG for the invese dungeon fantasy
Since the time of Dungeon Keeper, the idea of beeing the bad guys in an RPG has always been on my mind. Following in the wake of Forged on the Dark games, Wicked Ones provides a surprisingly robust framework for play such a concept And with all the latest additions, it also allows solo play and other variations to tailor the game to your circumstances.
All in all, WO is a great fiction first game to pick up.
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I can say three things that make this book so awesome. The first is how enjoyable it is to read. The layout, art, and structure combine so well into a thoughtful and entertaining text. I knew from the free edition that even if I didn't run the game, I'd enjoyed it enough from reading alone to buy the deluxe version. Even the dungeon drawing guide was enough to get me drawing for fun again.
The second thing is that it really strikes the core concept of the game well. There is definitely a lot of complexity to the game, and you can't really grasp all the mechanics until you start playing. But when the game gets going, it really feels like a well-oiled machine, with every mechanic supporting players and the GM in creating monstery villanous moments, and simulating being the bad guys in a fantasy setting.
The third thing is that it has insane flexibility due to the open-ended nature of things like adventurer creation (the main antagonists of the game) and crafting/magic. Usually this flexbility can be really daunting, but the game is absolutely filled with examples, including examples of play. So you're really encouraged to be creative and improvise, but you don't feel like the book is just leaving you to do the hard work.
All in all, the game has easily become one of my all-time favourites. It's important to keep in mind though that the game requires a fair bit of investment from the GM and players to learn. Important rules and concepts are sometimes hard to spot, or some concepts are fully explained across several different sections (first example that comes to mind is Gear/Equipment). And you'll need to have players who find both the roleplaying and the strategic base-building to be equally fun components of play. If you get past these things though, I really think it stands out as a fantastic FitD game.
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I ran my first session with it with one very experienced gamer and one who has played a little bit, a long time ago, but never a game like this. Everyone had fun and it was really interesting. They decioded to raid a Rank 1 faction but attacking a caravan as it split into 3 parts to trade with three different nearby towns. The first attack when off without a hitch. The player rolls were HOTTT. It seemed too easy. They carried the loot back to the dungeon and attacked the other caravan (the third was not goijng to get attacked as it comtained the vile friend that tiped them off to the opportunity). That one nearly resulted in a TPK. Engagement roll went as badly as possible, and the Wicked Ones were led into 2 ambushes. Multiple arrows were unleashed, and all defenses were quickly exhuasted. The Brain Eater went feral, and tried to use his mind control power to make the attackers kill themselves. Instead they turned and killed his thrall (3 dice, -2 for level 3 effect, +1 for dark heart, +1 for dark bargain (the command would affect his thrall as well) = 3 dice, rol: 1,1,1 D'Oh!) But in the end the Wicked Ones pulled it out, just barely.
The rules are easy to understand if you've played any other Powered byb the Apocalypse games, and explaining them to a new player who hadn't played any of those games wasn't all that difficult. The hardest part was getting them to accept that they get to narrate a lot more of the action than typical in a game. But that took a couple of actions for that to sink in and they were doing it easily. Next was me coming up with alternatives for partial resistances and alternative consequences for mized results to keep the game feeling fresh. I'm still working on that, but the players were happy at the end and we plan to continue it.
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How many years have we been adventurers? Delving into darkness, slaying found fiends and retrieving treasure to increase our heroic power. Sure, sometimes we might be more mercenary murderhobos than actual heroes, but roleplaying games are about adventure. Well, not any more!
Wicked Ones is a Forged in the Dark game about being the monsters. You are creatures of unusual ambition and intelligence, ruling over a dungeon populated by lesser minions and imps. You argue, scheme, develop dark plans, and venture out onto the surface to raid and corrupt the forces of Light that are prevent you from fulfilling your monstrous destiny. As your dungeon grows, you attract adventurers who murder their way towards your sanctum. But if you survive, you'll topple the whole region into chaos, claiming it for the forces of darkness.
Wicked Ones gets a lot of points for the reverse dungeon concept, but it's also a really nicely tuned version of the FitD system. Monsters are resilient, so they clear stress and harm automatically. There's a new level of consequence, Shocked, which imposes a penalty to the next roll using the relevant ability. Downtime and the loot cycle have also been reworked to be more monstrous, and you can bank Dark Hearts to get bonus dice by playing into moments when your monstrous appetites harm you. Resistance rolls have been reworked into a static cost. In general, having read a fair number of FitD games, Wicked Ones is one of the better implementations of the system, a clear and stripped down FitD 1.5!
The book comes with plenty of material, with three schools of magic, alchemy, and goblincore mad science to flavor the usual abilities. There are four sample regions to corrupt, lots of tables of weird items and spells, four advanced monsters with powerful abilities, and plenty of incredibly stylish artwork. The tone is horror-slapstick. You're encouraged to commit atrocities, but fiction and your base appetites will implode your plans in a funny way.
There aren't many games in this vein, and Wicked Ones is a cut above. My only problem is that it came out after my Monstrous Revolution campaign was in full swing. Maybe next time!
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About the book
One of the best rule books I have read so far. The cell-shading art style is superb, fitting the tone (dark but humorous) nicely (I love the imps). The typesetting and design of the pages are on point, visually pleasing and very easy to read, same goes for the writing style - rarely have I read a rule book this easy to grasp. Everything is explained in detail with refreshing clarity and simplicity, padded with hints and a gracious amount of examples from play so you always know how to apply what you just read. The book offers everything you need to start playing and more, giving you a complete guide on how to set up your first few sessions, what to be aware of when making your own content and much much more.
About the system
Being evil, building your own dungeon with others and a free flowing narrative are strong points of this system - and it is a joy to play. The rules actively support and reward good roleplaying (for example staying in character for arguing in discussions). Integrating your own ideas, themes or worlds is extremely easy (you come up with your own region and its factions for example), sessions can have relaxing dungeon-building phases or tense and dramatic raids on enemy factions with your Wicked One's life always on the line. It never gets boring and there always is a bigger village to burn and pillage to further your master plan.
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Honestly, I had a friend show me his PDF a while ago (he was a Kickstarter backer) and I ordered a copy the day it showed up on DTRPG.
The artwork? Superb! I love this more blocky, minimalist style. But the best part by far is how consistent the artwork is in both style and quality throughout the book. It gives it a sense of singular vision that just oozes personality.
But otherwise, it's a great variant of the Forged in the Dark ruleset! I love the use of clocks, the breakdown of play, the free-form spells/crafting and especially the mechanics designed to encourage you to actually make a fantasy dungeon. It's a great game, backed up by a tried-and-true ruleset. I highly recommend that you check this out if you have the slightest interest in the ruleset, the artwork, the idea of running your own fantasy dungeon or of just being the bad guy.
Love it, can't wait to play it! It's getting a special spot on my RPG shelf and to-play list :)
Also, I recommend you check out the actual play the developers made if you are interested: https://youtu.be/EXO-69U26c0
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