This is better D&D! - Worlds Without Number Character Creation

Link to the Aetherial Expanse kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
Thank you Ghostfire gaming for sponsoring this video!
Worlds Without Number playlist: • Worlds Without Number
Link to free Worlds without number: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Timestamp:
0:00 - Intro
1:32 - Character Creation
15:09 - Quick system reference
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Gator art by Drakeven: / drakeven1
Kobold reading a scroll art by Novatonix:
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[@PackTactics]

Plz like and share this video! I really want Worlds without number to be more popular! Link to the Aetherial Expanse kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/977277590/the-aetherial-expanse-setting-guide?ref=4qsw45 Thank you Ghostfire gaming for sponsoring this video!

[@giantewok]

You misspelled intro in the timestamps. Love your content BTW. You're great!

[@PackTactics]

@@giantewok Thank you!

[@matthewrogers2866]

Immediately sharing this, planning a game in this already - spent the day writing for a WWN campaign using a bunch of SWN classes too. Players are going to get these videos rammed down their throats lol XD

[@donalddouds6033]

@@matthewrogers2866oooooooo adding the psychic class features to WWN would be lit

[@Setiweb]

@@giantewok And modern. Unless he meant modron.

[@MegaHasmat]

I would've watched pf2e stuff since i switched to it this year. I still watch your dnd stuff since the math is still interesting and its informative from a design perspective

[@PackTactics]

Thank you!

[@MrRukrio1]

same, but i haven't had time to find a proper 2e group. am stuck with a 1e group that has played We Be Goblins and literally derailed the campaign just enough that we've Henderson'd ourselves into possibly becoming a Vox Machina equivelant in our group, or in plainer terms, we somehow went from being 'expendable goblins' to "the B-Team that might end up saving the world that nobody saw coming."

[@SuperSquyres]

Lol "Screw the algorithm!" I agree, do what you want Pack Tactics! 😂

[@PackTactics]

📘🐊

[@vasilkalov2622]

"I'm going to cover something I am interested in, screw the algoritm" - this gains my like.

[@sundiver3723]

I realy like the shock damage rule, the ability to improve a feat by picking it multiple times, and how accessible they made aoe for martials in this system.

[@ClockworkBard]

The XWN series is my hands down favorite D&D-like system. It's crunchy without being bloated and the Traveller influence makes for some great mechanics. And now we have a cyberpunk game in development with Cities Without Number, which is looking really good so far. XWN deserves all the attention in the world and I'm excited for more videos.

[@goadfang]

WWN/SWN are amazing games, and Kevin Crawford is an RPG genius. What he manages to produce, alone, absolutely amazes me. Would love to see more videos on this incredible system.

[@KwadDamyj]

Guy's an absolute machine, always on time, always on budget, and always courteous to his customer base from what I can tell. True professional.

[@HienNguyenHMN]

"System strain" is a good mechanic to combat repeated healing.

[@AlwaysSomeone]

Something I love about the Without Number gamelines is how they speak so plainly and directly to the player There’s some games that are just so dedicated to the theme that they just stick to the flavor so hard, you can’t understand the mechanics. Without Number books are just so readable, well formatted, and frankly explained. It’s lovely.

[@ready_set_punch3206]

The book actually says, in regards to packs, that with GM approval you can swap stuff out! So no cheats! I love how much "Yo GM do what you want with this system" is baked into the book

[@BlueFrenzy]

There's a lot of great OSR games out there that deserve more attention that DD5e and PF2e. I am glad you are showing those games around.

[@realdragon]

I really recommend Mork Borg, It's deadly grim dark fantasy. In 1 session 5 PCs died, I had 4 players. The book describes the story and world, then how you do violence and how you die

[@claudiolentini5067]

Thare are even a lot of great Non-OSR games that deserve it too :)

[@dreamingdark1817]

This game is my D&D replacement and being able to take old 3e/3.5e prestige classes to transform into partial classes for WWN is awesome. So many different things you can mix and match to get to the style of character you want to play. Having the free book available to introduce new players to the game is also a huge boon.

[@macoppy6571]

But Kobold, using the tables in Campaign Creation are actually really good for adventure/scenario design!

[@nnickplays9713]

This is a game I'm really looking forward to playing! Great video!

[@PackTactics]

I hope I made this video super duper easy to understand. Next video will be about all the actions. Once that's done, you should be able to properly play the game.

[@rycudas]

I'm not through the intro yet, and I suspect you're limited in how much "screw the algorithm" you can do. But YES! So much yes. Things you're excited by and interested in absolutely is what I want to see.

[@Breasil131]

You know, I have always skipped by this system whenever I'm looking for a new one to try out, but now I'm thinking that has been a mistake... Thanks for the introduction!

[@HSuper_Lee]

Excellent. I've been waiting for you to begin covering this system, Kobold. This is probably my preferred TTRPG at this time and I've been waiting for KZbin to catch onto its existence.

[@azuraben5128]

Woo! More systems to explore!

[@hashemx1ify]

I'm so glad you focused on charecters , can you make a video about the variety in the game, because the classes makes it seem like there's not many options

[@PackTactics]

Its not 5e thick with player options but if you scrapped all of 5e's trap options and fat in the PHB then this would probably be about the same length. There's very little waste here in this book and that's a massive advantage. Effective concepts are easier to create rather than saying flavor is free all the time. However, the real highlight of the system here is actually the DM tools and advice for DMs. I might cover that in the future. I feel like majority of other content creators like Questing Beast has already done that. Check out Questing Beast about that btw, he made 2 super good videos on this system.

[@mgb360]

@@PackTactics It's cool to see a shoutout to Questing Beast here. I wouldn't normally expect an optimization channel to be aware of an OSR channel.

[@matthewrogers2866]

There are a lot of available "partial classes" for multiclassing, especially with the add on book. Most non mages use these, and get more options as a result!

[@zapperman3557]

In WWN it's more of a build your own class system then pick a class and see what you get. Picking your feats and skills is really what makes your character unique and specialized. The class you pick mainly serves as a base for you to build the rest of your character off of. The only exception to this is the mage class where the "sub classes" are quite extensive. There is still a incredible level of customization though for any mage class and two mages with the same sub-class could play out completely different from one another

[@krisschnee3151]

You get Warrior, Expert and Mage (plus the half-and-half Adventurer), and that seems limiting at first. But four Warriors can specialize in crafting, poisons, hirelings, and mounted combat, to give them variety. Mage comes in High Mage (with D&D-ish metamagic), Elementalist (with utility cantrip-equivalents), and Necromancer. But then the Healer and Vowed (monk) flavors only come in half-class size, making you multiclass. The deluxe book adds Invoker (alternate Mage), Duelist (glass cannon swashbuckler), Blood Priest (cleric/paladin), Beastmaster, and Skinshifter, most of which are only half-classes. So even without the Focus options, a Skinshifter/Elementalist is very different from a Blood Priest/Warrior. My own solo character has been a full Elementalist but I was thinking of applying the "heroic" option of adding a third half-class and taking a fan-made Merchant option.

[@David-su4is]

We looked at PF1&2, Cypher, DCC Shadowdark (a fav) Fate, Traveller, Forbidden Lands. WOTC's dropping the ball has really brought my experience of TTRPGs to an eclectic all time high.

[@Can-uj5pv]

I like what I'm seeing so far and I'm happy you made this video regardless of the algorithm! I didn't know Worlds Without Number was an OSR system *and* took place in a setting like this.

[@dankrue2549]

There are some really cool ideas in this system. I'll have to look into it more.

[@dddddd-ut7ud]

The best thing about those two systems is that even if you are a DM running something else, they are still a huge help

[@zapperman3557]

I'm glad to see Kevin Crawford's work get more attention! His system is amazing and I frankly play it more than D&D. The character creation in particular is super awesome and every character comes out feeling unique. I think its good to point out that when Kobalt says the book is free he means it's FREE. The free version of the book is extensive and the paid version can be viewed as an expansion book and a way to support the author. If this video even made you curious about the system I highly recommend checking it out!

[@1047josh]

This does look very interesting! I've been playing pathfinder but I wouldn't mind trying this system out

[@robjob34]

I’ve been looking forward to this! I really hope this video does well so you keep making videos about this system

[@Nemenian]

I absolutely love worlds, and I've even considered starting a KZbin channel to about it. It's an incredible system.

[@Nemenian]

I don't think you covered the fact that it takes a move action to reload ranged weapons for a while. I believe until you have a certain level of Shoot

[@Valthoron]

Looks simple yet inspired, especially impressed with the Shock mechanic! You've motivated me to GM a one-shot of this system once my current Pathfinder 2e campaign ends in the near future :D

[@HSuper_Lee]

I once built a character designed to maximize shock for a oneshot and I can tell you that it was really fun. There's nothing quite like the exchange of, Me: "I rolled an 11 to hit." GM: "That's going to miss." Me: "Okay. I deal 7 shock damage."

[@Skimmer951]

Always fun to see you cover more systems on the character creation side!

[@RyeFields]

I'd rather you make content on stuff you enjoy rather than chase the algorithm. Love the vids

[@techjblue]

The algorithm sucks, we want more stuff like this.

[@peremptory]

I bought all the books in print, I love this system and cant wait to try it out! Thanks for highlighting it, I have been looking for a dnd adjacent system to try.

[@krisschnee3151]

I played in a "Stars Without Number" campaign for months and enjoyed that. Played as a mighty psychic who ultimately discovered that teleportation powers don't beat dozens of scared guys with prepared firing positions. "Worlds Without Number" uses the same basic rule system. I'm lately running "Godbound" (by the same author) which is a bit different, focused on very high-powered characters who make big changes to the setting. Want to turn a whole village into kobolds and bless their land with good weather and a castle, then start subverting the kingdom around them? You can do it at level 2 if you want. I played a few sessions of WWN solo and enjoyed that. Worth noting that you can use the "heroic character" rules from the deluxe edition or from several other Crawford products to make a lone character more survivable. Spells are fewer but more powerful, so that a basic Sleep spell might well end a fight. (Which is where a Warrior's Snap Attack + guaranteed hit can ruin your mage's day.) WWN hasn't got the same level of easy ways to change the world, but still has rules for doing major projects like magical infrastructure. A key difference from D&D/Pathfinder is "combat as war" versus "combat as sport": characters have instinct rolls and morale rolls that can defuse battles or make people behave like actual people who are afraid to die, not steel-hearted tactics robots. The System Strain rule limits how often you can wish all your blood back into place before you need a week of bed rest. What else... The rulebook has a ton of adventure-building tools compatible with Godbound and SWN, really with any system. Thinking of going back to my WWN game and giving my solo Elementalist the fan-made Merchant half-class.

[@enishix9635]

I play stars without numbers and love it.

[@PackTactics]

How long have you been playing? Can you tell us more about your adventure?

[@enishix9635]

I started this campaign 5 months ago intending only to be a crew member but fate had a different plan. l'm a full psychic and captain of the ship hard luck, at the beginning my whole crew were kidnapped by pirates. While escaping we lost two of our members and had to leave them behind. We lost our captain and our engineer so the four of us that were left had to take on additional jobs. And that's how I became captain of hard luck. That's what happened in our first two sessions.

[@KatieGimple]

I can't believe I didn't see this when it first came out! This is my all time favorite system!

[@thomashernandez1004]

Yay! More systems!

[@sinistertwister686]

WWN looks amazing and I wanted to try it our for quite some time, but wasn't sure I could handle it as a DM... and also I wasn't sure my players will be as excited about it as I am. But after your explanation it seems so much easier and comprehensible that I will just let them watch this video to get what I'm talking about!

[@RobinBaggett]

I've run Stars Without Number (the sci-fi version of this) and it's always a blast. The character creation is straightforward and right from the get-go players have options to customize their character with really amazing Foci. The Foci and the unique skill system is the bread and butter of this system. The starship combat in SWN is incredible and a blast to run.

[@JJV7243]

Thanks for this video - now I'm gonna go download and read the rules to this system. 100% worth checking out and running a 1-shot once my campaign ends.

[@qiidian1760]

Thank you for the video. I'm very excited for this series.

[@squarepusher13z]

Still running this system and sending this video to new players. TY for putting a spot light on my favorite system!

[@riven5544]

This is awesome and I want to see more of this system!!

[@andrewwavell1930]

The more I learn about this system, the more I like it.

[@badubiyum]

Been playing Without Number games for over a decade and they never fail to inspire interesting tables. Glad to see some coverage!

[@ComingSoonEntertainment]

Kevin makes a ton of great games. Godbound is a personal favorite of mine.

[@AyarARJ]

Godbound is quite clever! But Wolves of God...wow.

[@ZeffaProductions]

I love Godbound, I run a game every other Friday. The system gives so much flexibility, I especially love how they handle factions

[@KadzarTathram]

@@AyarARJ People often praise Wolves for its Wyrds, but my personal favorite parts of it are how Glories and Shames use an xp system to encourage or discourage different actions for different classes, and the fact that you can use multiclassing to mix them up. I also like how the spells do things that actually medieval people would want from magic, rather than being only useful to fantasy adventurers.

[@AyarARJ]

@@ZeffaProductions Dude, that's awesome. What experience did your players have before GB, if any?

[@AyarARJ]

@@KadzarTathram That struck me as well--very strong incentives, both carrot and stick, and toughest for Saints. The whole game is well grounded. But what really made an impression on me was the presentation: (a) the affection that it is a medieval rpg for a medieval audience; (b) the writing is high class; (c) and the digs at the game systems of the wealh of the western coast were amusing. I got a copy just as the OGL stuff was getting into full swing so coming across "The Wealh dice things a different way on the western coast, favoring tables and complications and laws of arms they say are more realistic, but they are only Wealh, lovers of too many thoughts and too few deeds, and they need not be heeded." was fun. It seems a summary of how Kevin prefers things.

[@sefatsilverlake3816]

Crawford is an absolute prodigy genius in game design. I've used Stars without numbers for years now, and it keeps blowing my mind that a 260 pages manual of brilliant layout and design is absolutely free

[@krazedkoi]

This sounds pretty fantastic, I appreciate you covering this system

[@kyleharder3654]

Good video, cool to see you cover other systems

[@drewcipher]

Please continue with this series! I'm running Stars Without Number rn for a change of pace after a while of running 5e but I love it and I plan to run some Worlds Without Number or Cities Without Number later so it's great to see some coverage. I also think you could really optimize your character in these systems easier than other OSR systems I've looked into as the focus system is really strong.

[@AyarARJ]

Something I find disappointingly lacking (to me) is how few channels cover the SF RPGs. There's a whole slew for the various OSR or other alt fantasy games--which I appreciate. But so few for space...stuff. SWN has a great little ship encounter system, giving players active roles in the encounter (I'm not saying combat since who said detected?) while give a good Firefly feel. You like space wizards? Sure, _those_ space wizards, but how about way more interesting ones? Codex of the Black Sun for SWN (I want a Starship Mage treatment) But Death in Space or Mothership for completely different vibe. Ah well, I guess it's audience size and creator interest.

[@rainbowskyrunner]

Seems like a great system! Thank you for the awesome presentation 🤓🤙🏾

[@benmichaud8778]

I've played World's without Number and loved it. Was just thinking about it again today so it was really cool to see this video. Also thought this video was really well explained. Finally, I agree about the focus's, they are really interesting and cool!!

[@frankbenner5182]

cool, bought it. Lots of great ideas, I especially like that martials are relevant in this game :)

[@Yosherful]

Ayyy, so happy to see you covering this game! Can't wait to see more thoughts from you on it. I love the system and the book in general.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Eventualy, everyone turns to the osr. Welcome aboard. ❤

[@Yxkly]

just picked up the system yourself recently, loving it so far

[@Alex-sf5uz]

love this system, the classes are great offer a great amount of variety, i absolutely love the sand box focus of the system and the dm tools it has to help with generating content, the setting is incredibly reminiscent of the works of Jack Vance namely the dying earth series which the spell names pay homage to,

[@kevindaniel1337]

Seems like a pretty cool system

[@janlaan9602]

This is really cool, i think our group will still use 5e for the foreseeable future but I'm looking for a star trek like game that is easy like this. WHen you said there is "stars without numbers" i smiled. this is awesome

[@mummatmummatx8160]

This sounds like a great system. Checking out the pdf now. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@SeldonnHari]

In this game you should always roll. It will always be better.

[@adamguthrey6160]

I'm so glad its finally here!

[@tsuchinokofamiliar8092]

This is super cool I enjoy the look of this system so far and martial love is something I can always get behind

[@theredwind]

Love the Stars Without numbers system, so this must work fairly well in my mind

[@donalddouds6033]

I’m pretty sure this followed SWN and tweaked a few minor issues that came up in that system. The tables for “seat if the pants” creation of adventures and the possibility to create an entire world randomly is amazing.

[@theredwind]

@@donalddouds6033 yeah, same dude wrote it, and PackTactics review of it implies a lot of similar mechanics. Have been on the sci-fi binge the last few years for rpgs, but will see give this one a shot

[@matjimwil]

Here is my comment to show engagement for the algorithm. I dig it, Kobold!

[@MageWarren]

I'll number your worlds anytime, Kobold.

[@B00Radl33]

Wow, this has a LOT of the stuff I've thought about putting into my own games

[@hallopino]

Thank you for doing something you care about. That is what I want to see videos about.

[@trpdrspider8372]

+1 for most of Crawford's work. So easy to read, such structure.. urgently playing Godbound.

[@matthewbutner8696]

So far this seems like a really well thought out system and I can se why you are so excited about it.

[@TomTrustworthy]

Happy to see somebody using this system, finally I'm in my first WWN campaign and it's so awesome!

[@stevenmtowns]

Great video for a great system. Thanks for spreading the word.

[@brianironside5726]

I'm thrilled to see WWN getting more attention. It's a magnificent system.

[@Magic__7]

It a cool system and even if you don't plan on playing it you can always steal stuff from it

[@PackTactics]

Absolutely. It's full of really good ideas.

[@donalddouds6033]

The creation tables alone are with the entry price

[@realdragon]

I stole morale system from Mork Borg and I will probably steal adventuring system from Forbidden lands. I'm also looking at Cogent roleplay

[@teddynoteddie6826]

Thanks for the concise video!

[@danrimo826]

Great to see love being shared to other systems 👍

[@doctordonutdude]

This was hella fun! Not because I plan on playing it, even though it does sound interesting, I've got game me and a friend are homebrewing to make a bit more sense and videos like these give me ideas for systems to improve. Plus, Kobold doesn't really make bad videos and your thoughts are always interesting.

[@m.b.8701]

SO GLAD you're covering this; one of my groups plays this every other week!

[@TheGreatSquark]

This looks interesting. I will have to take a look

[@danc6167]

This sounds like a really cool system. I'd try it out!

[@mgb360]

Man I love WWN and I love seeing you cover things outside of 5e

[@LostInNumbers]

I love this system! I think the coolest part are the region generation rules. Especially the tag system that allow you to come up with cool hooks on the spot!

[@dischord4671]

Nice this looks great!

[@scottcalnan595]

Recently picked up the full version! Going to give it a good read through, see what I can put together! It'd be really cool to see if it mixes with Wild and Wyrd well!

[@h0rseinthesands878]

Nice. I have this and it looks fun

[@rpedersen8424]

This may be exactly what I've been looking for

[@captanblue]

FINALLY, you found it. I'd say try Fate next but that's less crunchy and may not be up your alley. It's narrative focused..

[@PsyrenXY]

There's no real way to optimize in Fate except by convincing the DM that your aspects apply to a given situation. I doubt that will fit with this channel's ethos personally

[@captanblue]

@@PsyrenXY that's why I said he probably wouldn't go for it. Besides, optimization is really just making the right stunts, arguing for your best approaches and stacking invokes.

[@raykendo]

Great Video! Been thinking about trying out WWN.

[@michaelmurphy19]

It looks like fun. I'd like to give it a try

[@rurikdankill7834]

Commenting for the algorithm and to support small creators.

[@pandolingian]

Replying for the algorithm and to support small creators!

[@rikospostmodernlife]

This is so interesting. I will be looking forward for the rest of the WWN playlist. And for SNW videos, if you plan to do that.

[@rakshalneyrak9862]

Kobold: "Do not let the length of this video intimidate you, when you know what you´re doing character creation only takes 5 minutes" Me: *Looks to the 20 min video in confusion as I got intrigued by character creation that ONLY needs 20 minutes

[@realdragon]

Don't look at video length, crap guide to dnd - character sheet is only 14 minutes

[@jinxtheunluckypony]

This is really interesting. I hope these do well, it would be fun to see the occasional WWN video in between D&D releases.

[@mosesferney1722]

Love this System!!!

[@kaowas]

This video got me more interested in WWN than I ever have been. I'll definitely be getting a copy of this game to try with my crew at some point!

[@johngillan4475]

Thank you for your information video

[@svankensen]

I absolutely love the encumbrance system.

[@stevenpaul1476]

I tried this about 6 months ago and it's my favorite game now.

[@timesposito4047]

All of the Without Number Settings are super fun and i love em. Nice to see them get some attention from my fav (gremlin) kobold

[@a_wild_Kirillian]

Nice, I appreciate your decision to talk about such an unusual topic for your channel =)

[@sethbettwieser]

I really love Stars Without Number, so I'm interested to see what this one brings to the table.