%% date:: [[2022-10-10]] %% # [[Warlock!]] [site]() Warlock RPG is a [[Tabletop Roleplaying Games|TTRPG]] system made in the old-school British style. ## System Summary Setting:: Medieval fantasy Classes:: Yes, *careers* - 24 starting Races:: Yes, *communities* - human, elf, dwarf, halfling Tests:: 1d20+skill level vs. 20 (20 or higher succeeds) Degree of success:: No Attributes:: Stamina, Luck Player agency:: Low PC hardiness:: Low PC power level:: Medium ## Distinctive Features ### Careers determine starting skills and equipment Careers are like classes, but they are based more on professions than abilities. They confer choices of subsets of skills and equipment for each player. Four careers are randomly selected, and then players can choose from one of those four. Every career comes with a special career skill. For example, the Thief career also has a Thief skill which can be a bit of a catch-all when trying to convince the GM why a character might have a bonus to a roll. ### Levelled skills Skills have levels and can be improved. Skills are similar to [[Dungeons & Dragons|D&D]] skills, but some of them also correspond to proficiencies (as in, with weapon types or defensive capabilities). The skill's level correponds to the number added to relevant skill rolls. At the beginning, a character gets to start with: - 10 skills at level 6 - 10 skills at level 5 - 10 skills at level 4 ### Race is only for roleplay The race or communities chosen by players don't have any in-game benefits or detriments; they are for roleplaying purposes only. ### Magic costs stamina The cost of spells is stamina. Each spell has a stamina cost, and can be cost multiple times as long as there is stamina to be paid. The *Incantation* skill is used for rolling a check to see if the spell is correctly cast. Failures (natural 1) result in mishaps and the expenditure of stamina. ## My impressions of Warlock RPG It's very restrictive in terms of actions or abilities. That is exacerbated by the fact that so many things in the game are random. The end result is very low player agency and low character power levels. I feel like I could write a few lines of code that would "play" my character as well as I could. ### What I like - Unlike some rules-light systems, Warlock mitigates the random rolls in character creation with lots of options (46 different careers) and allowing players to roll four and then pick one out of them. - ### What I don't like - The standard DC for Warlock is 20, and it doesn't change as you level up. This is a problem on both the low and high ends of levels. At level 1, when the highest level a skill can be is 12, you're failing on checks slightly less than half the time. However, you get 1-3 skill points to award every session. Even though there are level maximums to contend with until higher levels of play, I can see that it might get to a point where skill checks become trivial. - The DC problem also makes spells dangerous to cast and not at all fun. - The combat system favors attackers - they get a +5 to their rolls simply for being the first to act. This bonus depends heavily on the initiative roll, so it's luck-based. There is no way to hold actions to try to attack first. - So much in Warlock is random. ### My games of Warlock RPG - [[ttrpgs/Kingdom of Fesselmark/World|Kingdom of Fesselmark]] ## Resources -