Before actually starting this review, I want to thank the author Gavriel Quiroga for sending us a copy of Warpland; we could call it a “primeval science fantasy RPG inspired in Heavy Metal comics and psychedelia“. This is the definition that the author himself attributes to it and one could hardly find a more appropriate one. It may not be so immediate to understand, but this product is not meant to be “user-friendly”. It contains deliriums, madness, confusion, exaggeration and style, you are forewarned.
But let’s start from the beginning; the manual was born thanks to a Kickstarter campaign successfully conducted at the beginning of 2021. Now the product is available on DriveThruRPG in digital format at a price of $ 8.50, about € 7.60.
Warpland Setting Review
A war, the only war ever fought, devastated the world. The wise and advanced Eloi used their technology to try to defeat the furious Morlocks army. This confrontation devastated the world until it was unrecognizable. Until powerful crystals were shattered and their power began to stain all that existed. Until an disturbing mealstorm engulfed the sky. Reality changed profoundly, in the very essence of things. Neither side dared to claim victory; the former were tortured by an illness of the soul while the latter took refuge in dark caves underground. The Void spread. A new age of men began.
This is the introduction provided by the manual; this is the cataclysm that created the world we are going to experience playing Warpland.
In such a place, everything that surrounds us should not be considered as “simple reality”, but as a physical manifestation of the will of those who are sufficiently determined. People are evaluated on the basis of how much they manage to impose themselves, consequently excluding any other type of discrimination.
And so the lands of the Eloi have become desolate expanses, full of dangers and ruins where the bravest go in search of forgotten technological wonders. A grim swamp devours anyone who ventures into it, often becoming the grave of exiled slaves. A cold and dark rift from which no soul has ever returned. All around a yellow and sulphurous sea leads nowhere, if not adrift. Some settlements still exist, but they are not always so safe; inhabited places and strange structures are the refuge of all sorts of souls.
Customs and Traditions
The game world is enriched with specific characteristics that distinguish it; some aspects that are taken for granted in other role-playing games are characterized here in order to convey unique sensations.
There are strong references to an era called the Iron Age. Great importance is given to the materials available through manual work (stone, bone, raw metals) and to their processing by hammer and sweat. The goods are traded around the world through a common copper currency, that has different aesthetic decorations depending on where it was minted; other precious objects are also accepted (mainly gold jewelry of various types or pieces of jade), but usually only concern the most expensive transactions.
As you will understand in this part of the review, religion plays a central role in Warpland. The reason is very simple: it is a dark age, of ignorance and loss of values; people need to blindly believe in something in order not to fully understand what delirium they are in. And so faiths and cults with the most absurd dictates proliferate. Red-hooded fanatics travel the world burning the knowledge and symbols of the ancients so as not to make the same mistakes. An order opposes and tries to cancel the dictates of the Eloi, considering their dark practices a mean to approach the Void. Whisperers of secrets entangled in politics to the point of controlling the society in which they live. An army of feared mercenaries united by the rot resulting from a plague. Technocrats in search of forbidden secrets buried in the past.
The Collapse of the Light
Before the beginning of the end, actually, there was another force: the True Light. The Eloi tried to control it through fragments of magical crystals but, becoming unstable, it mutated into the Warp. Its influence on living beings is dangerous and unpredictable, so much that it can even generate Mutations in them. These Mutations can take place both during the character creation phase and the game sessions; They can be simple unusual features (eyes that can see in the dark or webbed hands, for example) or complete changes in the organism (such as an aspect similar to insects or reptiles). This uncertain nature, however, has a price, or a peculiar weakness (selectable with a roll on a table).
The sky (which takes the name of Aether) is a concentrate of Warp and has an inexorable influence on anyone who walks these devastated lands. The Warpland manual includes a considerable number of pages dedicated to the different aspects of the Aether (light precipitation and storms), giving each also mechanical implications. Therefor the sky can be so bizarre that it could cause anyone to laugh out loud; it can make metallic objects magnetic, it can amplify sounds or more. Each possibility has a background that chromatically recalls that particular case.
The energy of the Warp is also contained in other very important elements of the game. These are the Artifacts dating back to the Eloi era, a complicated technology to understand but very powerful. Then there are the Crystal Shards, which are used to store Warp.
Perdition in Your Personal Oblivion
In a world without a “salvation from above” men can decide to look within themselves; however, they will hardly remain impassive to what they will find. Powerful entities known as Demons inhabit this Void and affect the nature of living beings. Those who turn to them, however, shouldn’t be considered “wicked” in a classical way; the moral compass is now out of control and the distinction between “good” and “evil” is only an insipid legacy of past times. Now you have to survive, regardless of everything else.
To do this, some characters can rely on the Magick given by the Void, the Dark Arts. By jeopardizing their physical and mental integrity, they can resort to great powers; they allow, for example, to drain life energy, confuse minds, speak with the dead and summon servants.
Some minor demons, in order to have access to reality, accept to assume a definite and permanent form and to offer their services to the unwary. Therefore, sentient, disturbing and never completely understandable objects are born; often the results are not those hoped for by the living being involved.
Review of the Remaining Warpland Material
Before the end, the manual still reserves some interesting surprises.
First of all we find five pages of Bestiary; there are many creatures of classic fantasy imagery, revisited to be themed with this setting. You will begin to tremble when you hear a Masticore or a Golem equipped with an ancient Artifact approaching.
A page of advice for the master follows. We can read the guidelines that explain what is the generic task of the narrator in a role-playing session; we will also find tips on how to manage a group well. At least no one will say that too many pages have to be read to assume this role at the table!
Moving on, there are three simple introductory adventures. In the first one the characters, close to the Society of Technocrats, will have to retrieve an Artifact for a contact. In the second one the protagonists are part of a cult dedicated to a Demon; during a ritual, this being tells them that they must retrieve a his lesser demon. In the last one, members of a tribe of wild mutants are sent by the village healer to retrieve roots: these ingredients are used to save their people from a terrible fever.
The manual ends with the character sheet. There are multiple versions; one is empty, the others contain pre-made characters.
The Creation of the Character
Speaking of the character sheet just mentioned in this review, we have yet to understand how a character is structured in Warpland. To create one, the manual indicates the following steps:
- Choose a concept, a physical appearance and a name.
- Randomly draw a Personality Flaw and a Proverb (or choose it), which is a phrase representative of the character’s philosophy.
- Distribute 8 points among the four basic Attributes (Agility, Lore, Might, Wits), which start at 5.
- Choose a Skill for each Lore point above 5 and write the related equipment, also based on the concept.
- Randomly roll a Background and add any Mutations.
- The base Wealth will be 1d6x10 copper pieces.
All the other features we will need can be obtained from what we have chosen so far. Hit Points are equal to our Might score, which also represents our ability to damage enemies in melee. Agility, on the other hand, indicates how good we will be with ranged weapons and dodging. Willpower is equal to half Lore and serves to resist magical effects and defects; alternatively, it can also be used to retry tests.
Warpland Mechanics Review
Tests are made by rolling 2d6 and trying to stay below your Attribute relative to that check (possibly altered by a circumstance modifier). If you succeed, but the sum of the dice rolled is 8 or higher, you will have a Critical Success. Other special rolls happen with a double 1 or a double 6; in these cases there will be respectively a small success or a terrible failure, in both cases with a Complication (decided by the master).
Keep in mind that in this RPG only the players perform tests; the enemies have characteristics but the characters have to contend with their own Attributes. And the same is true in combat; the characters will have to try to hit the opponents and try to dodge or parry their blows. The damage will depend on fixed values set by weapons and armor; however, it will vary according to the difference between the result of the roll and the threshold to be reached. In case of a Critical Success there will be additional effects based on the type of weapon.
Then there are some specific rules, such as strikes aimed at certain parts of the body and complications due to the use of Artifacts and Magick.
As you have seen by reading this review, the Warpland rules system starts with a very simple basis but manages to give variety thanks to many details. This allows you to learn the system quickly, without getting bored after becoming familiar with it. It is not be a revolutionary system, but it does its job very well.
I also point out that the author opens up the possibility of exploiting the setting using other regulations; I personally, however, wouldn’t change this one, because it was born in order to enhance the setting.
Review of the Art of Warpland
Warpland‘s art style, as you can see from the illustrations included in this review, is original and at the very least bizarre. It seems that the author was inspired by the very concept of Warp and wanted to replicate it also in this aspect of the manual.
The layout does not aim too much at readability. The style often varies, both in terms of the font (size and type) and the number of columns. It is perfectly in line with the concept of the game and re-proposes the psychedelic essence of some elements of the setting; in any case this isn’t for sure the most readable manual that I have ever read.
To emphasize it, I have also noticed that the images do not (voluntarily) have a coherent style. In any case, the quality of most of them is very appreciable. I admit that not all of them satisfy my tastes, but it is normal given their heterogeneity. Many have a delicious old-school flavor, heavily inspired by classic “heavy metal” comics like Conan the Barbarian. With the right dose of psychedelia, which is always good.
Conclusions of the Warpland Review
I have to admit it wasn’t easy writing this Warpland review; the game is created with a great passion, is full of interesting concepts and multiple levels of reading and is intentionally bizarre in every part.
Let’s start with outlining the fulcrum of this product. A powerful and suggestive lore emerges; it doesn’t want only to be spectacular, but also wants to make us reflect. A paragraph in the last pages of the manual highlights how role-playing games can represent some elements of reality, even exaggerating them, in order to open the eyes of the players to various issues. The most easily identifiable are the sleep of reason due to the fear of a difficult age, the refuge in “false gods” and the exploitation of what should be positive for totally distorted purposes; and digging deeper I am sure that many others can emerge. Warpland is not reality, but many elements can make us think; this for me can only be a great merit.
The game system is simple, but has more technical appendices that I have sometimes wondered if they were necessary or not (such as calculating the speed of movement of the characters); after careful consideration, however, I must admit that I also appreciated this aspect. The mechanics were created to emphasize the lore and they do it pretty well.
While the introductory adventures contain interesting insights, I think the most exciting aspect of Warpland is the setting. To this we also add the presence of many old-school random tables (random encounters in each specific place, detailed NPCs for each area, system of creation of random settlements, local and global events,…); for this reason I believe that the best way to enjoy this RPG is a pure sandbox.
In poche parole: da provare!