Worlds Without Number - Part 2: Open-World Old-School RPG Review

[@QuestingBeast]

Get the abridged, free PDF version: bit.ly/WWNFree Get the complete edition in PDF or Print: bit.ly/WWNComplete Get the deluxe, offset edition of Worlds Without Number: bit.ly/WWNOffset Buy The Waking of Willowby Hall in print: bit.ly/WillowbyPrint Buy the PDF from DriveThruRPG: bit.ly/WillowbyDTRPG Buy the PDF from Itch: bit.ly/WillowbyItch

[@DaDunge]

2:15 You underestimate Kevin Crawford. The regions of the Gyre works as templates for creating settings in those kind of genres.

[@panelsofDOOM]

Love this book and all of Kevin's work that I've seen. While I think his game systems are tragically underrated, This is really the meat and potatoes of his work. REALLY great stuff.

[@Semiotichazey]

For what it's worth, I think that WWN has a terrific base setting. I especially like the underlying concepts behind magic. The basic idea is that earlier ages gave birth to something now call the Legacy, which is a patchwork of unseen mechanisms that alter the basic laws of physics. Over time, this system has accumulated tools and outright hacks, and "magic" consists of the remaining barely-understood formulas that can invoke the power of the Legacy to twist reality. There is even the suggestion that the Legacy doesn't work properly these days, since it has so much scar tissue from the epochs of constant manipulation by generations that understood it less than their predecessors. Also, there's enough flexibility in the base setting to allow the GM to flesh it out however they want. In the same way as SWN's base setting, it's really a meta-setting where you can situate all sorts of oddball regions. So it would be shame if people throw away that framework in its entirety.

[@mattprice516]

There's also the fact that not everyone actually enjoys making their own settings. I'm much more interested in rules tinkering and in focusing on running the way an existing setting/adventure evolves in response to the players' actions - not super much in worldbuilding. Though if there was ever a set of tools that'd tempt me to try my hand at building my own setting, it's got to be WWN's.

[@Semiotichazey]

@@mattprice516 That's a good point. I think a lot of us old-schoolers start with a packaged setting and slowly deviate as we play.

[@anathamon]

Sounds pretty cool actually

[@BenthiccBiomancer]

I literally only found out about Worlds Without Number this morning, looks like I got here just in time to see your flip-through. It's definitely pushed me over the edge from 'curious' to 'getting it'.

[@grimmtales503]

The 'renown' concept is amazing. Using the d4 & d6 & d8... &d20 isn't new, but, MY GOODNESS so many wild applications - mind blowing. Thanks for the the guide. This is fantastic indeed.

[@christianstraubhaar339]

I've loved working with the Factions from Stars Without Number and this one is going to be so useful, since I play D&D/fantasy way more often than sci-fi.

[@razorboy251]

I've had my WWN copy for a while now and I think it is the best book not just for building a setting but for GMs in general (other than 5e DMG - yes, really, it has a ton of great resources and tables in it!). I don't know how Kevin Crawford could pull this off as a single author - I guess he's just a genius or something!

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

I just got this in today and am in love with this part. I spent a few hours just working through the broader strokes of my world (I need to read his actual system more closely, but right now it's the world building that's immediately helpful for me.)

[@euansmith3699]

The artwork on display here is very cool; especially that skeleton at 20:10. The pages of tables are amazing.

[@wanderingbardagain6945]

Great review. Came here after your recommendation video. This looks like a great place for introducing a more OSR style game to folks who started on 5th edition (in other words, my group of players). The rule set has enough crunch to keep my character tinkerers happy, but keeps them from getting too super powered too quickly. I think I'm going to give this a try for our next campaign. Thanks so much for diving into this book!

[@Gyrocoptor]

I ran this game for several months (including running Willowby Hall with it!), probably one of my favorite OSR games to date. Had a whole party of people from newer editions who really enjoyed the sword & sorcery dying earth vibes. If the text formatting was more clear-cut like Old School Essentials, I would be far more ready to recommend it to everyone I know.

[@rpeterson9182]

This book reminds me of AD&D’s “World Builder’s Guidebook” by Richard Baker. Excellent tables in that one to create Worlds/Planetology all the way down to local history/mythology. 👍

[@matthewskillings1720]

Should've checked out the Elixir section more, it's not just potions there are tons of cool abilities that are in there as elixirs.

[@IVIaskerade]

Magic items, specifically one-use ones like potions, are an absolutely fantastic way of poaching features from other classes for everyone to use without diminishing the classes because they're the only ones who get easy access to them.

[@josephpriestley1383]

Thank you Ben for making this video! I just purchased the offset print edition and I think it is a worthwhile life long investment! So impressed!

[@mgb360]

I've had my eye on this for a while and seeing the review has convinced me. I just bought the offset edition and I can't wait to get it.

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Just got mine in today and it is wonderful for helping me flesh out the world I'm working on right now.

[@TheCrippledHalfling]

I truly feel like this game and it's set of concepts is the greatest single work for providing the most utility for actually getting great, ambitious and consistent games at the table. Especially when combined with Stars Without Number, opening up virtually every genre and setting you can think of. It's rules and mechanics are organized and simple and somehow manage to please both OSR focused players and those coming from modern games. And the fact that it's largely compatible with the majority of other OSR games means I feel like there's no reason not to start here, but also perhaps remain here and just continue building off of it's structure. This isn't even to say anything about it's sandboxing toolsets and concepts, which are so far and beyond anything similar that I've come across in terms of usability.

[@jeremytitus9519]

Great googly moogly. This book is so dense with useful detail, I'm becoming light headed listening to you describe it! So far I've got two OSR products that I consider personally indispensable: Maze Rats and Trilemma Adventures. This might well become my Indispensable Item #3.

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Trilemma Adventures blew me away...so so good. This tool kit is also wonderful. I wish the format were better, but I'm working through this to help flesh out my own world idea... absolutely love it (barring the formatting 🙁)

[@emarsk77]

Great review, as always. I'd love to see a comparison with the Tome of Adventure Design.

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Tome of Adventure Design is much more granular and focused on dungeon building and monster crafting as well as adventure ideas and hooks (love that book), but has very little about the broader world stuff that this has. I have found this suuuper useful for ideas for the broad strokes that I can building my own flavor on top of (at least in my one day of having it 😄 I dropped multiple hours just working through his world/region/kingdom questions)

[@jacenchrisbaker]

I was lucky enough to grab an offset print edition from Kevin's site, and if you pair WWN with something like Tome of Adventure Design, you have some pretty spectacular tools in your kit to make the work easy. His work is unparalleled when it comes to creating tools for nearly anyone's table.

[@messenger3478]

I should have got this a few years ago! I need this!

[@NegatveSpace]

I've browsed through the free version so far and I like a lot of what I've seen. It even has rules for how much certain lands cost and how much money they make - rules I'm still not happy that aren't in 5E. Some of the magic item ideas are really cool and look really easy to port over to another system which I haven't seen in d&d before. I could do without the gory picture in the monster section though.

[@philippereeves9241]

What a fantastic showcase!

[@vincentthendean7713]

8:37 Never thought I'd see Jakarta being described in an RPG rulebook.

[@Gaia_Gaistar]

Wew, thinking I should get this and Stars Without Number to go with Godbound, you could do some wild stuff with these three games.

[@colerape]

Offset versions of these books are available at Sine Nomine Publishing.

[@captainnolan5062]

Great review; Thanks for posting this.

[@benpuffer7891]

Thank you for the video. Been on the fence about getting the book.

[@fangedpneumonia]

Would love to see you interview Kevin

[@J-Hell]

Yes, please. There is an interview with Kevin Crawford by Adam Koebel on KZbin but Koebel takes up half the talk time rather than giving his guest more space. I'd love to see an interview where Mr Crawford was free to really elaborate on his process.

[@darthknight1]

Great overview of the book. I definitely need to put this on my Wishlist. I wasn't going to point it out, but yes, it is BEST-iary, the same way it is spelled. However, if you look up the pronunciation online strangely you'll get the 'beast-iary' pronunciation as an alternate. So I guess it has become normalized over the years.

[@alexanderdovelempke4503]

The OED lists the first pronunciation as UK and both pronunciations for US. I'd say both are pretty common.

[@Kaiyanwang82]

When a significant part of the book is excellent outside its own game, it's a good sign you are dealing with quality.

[@SonOfSofaman]

an amazing collection of resources

[@samchafin4623]

Whelp, reckon I owe that book a second looksee.

[@markgnepper5636]

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

[@Whightwolf]

So sorry to turn up late with the most annoying possible comment but faux-kai not faux-psi.

[@nicklikethesoup]

You can pronounce bestiary either way. You can pronounce it bes-chee-er-ee or bees-chee-er-ee. Every dictionary with the phonetic pronunciation guide has both. It's typically written something like this (ˈbɛs tʃiˌɛr i, ˈbis-) where the first spelling is the "bes" sound and the second is "bees" sound. So if you prefer the pronunciation that sounds more like beastiary, instead of bestiary, go for it.

[@coldfire774]

/bɛstieɹi/ or /bistieɹi/ also work if you don't africate the medial stop

[@Ravenclaw74]

How would you do mass combat?

[@dsan05]

Bought this. Love it. But... It really needs a decent table of contents. The art doesn't inspire at all.

[@bobdhshshxhzvs2314]

Turn it into a generator and I'll buy it

[@anathamon]

This is alot like the game i am working on creating… except this is 10x better! lol

[@aaronhumphrey3514]

Just like with SWN, the label OSR is really not applicable to this game in my opinion. It has old school influences, but it’s clearly not an old school clone.

[@squarepusher13z]

It definitely isn't a retro clone. It does let me run games that center exploration and tell stories about mortal characters trying to get along in a hostile world. That may not be OSR but it is everything I want my games to carry from older editions without better mechanics.

[@coldfire774]

I mean it is actually compatible with a lot of adventures from the old school era

[@kredonystus7768]

Kevin's definition of OSR is that you can run Keep on the Borderlands using only on the fly conversions. The only conversions required are decending to ascending AC.