Stefano Buonocore
In this review we are pleased to tell you about Hellwinter, a twilight fantasy role-playing game written by Andrea Tupac Mollica. First of all, we want to say thank you Aristea Editions for sending us a physical copy of the game.
For those interested in purchasing it, Hellwinter is available on the store of Aristea at a cost of 19 euros. The game only has the physical edition, not the digital one. This volume is also available in a bundle with the gamebook La Porta della Luna, which shares the same setting as the game. The bundle includes the Barony of Hellwinter map and a handy box set. In this case, the cost is 44 euros, but using the code NDU5 you can get a 5% discount on both solutions.
Volume Review of Hellwinter
The manual is in pocket format, with a flexible cover. A good product, considering the 120 pages. Although the quality is quite high, it is not meant to be a battle volume; It should not be handled with tongs but requires a little attention. The ideal, for those who purchased it in a bundle with the game book, is to transport it inside the box set.
The layout is impeccable. Not having to take digital devices into account, the single column, on this format, is the best choice. The pages have the right scope: this facilitates not only reading, but also and above all consultation. Black and white is not an economic choice, but a stylistic one. Maria Rosaria Monticelli’s illustrations play with the volumes in an extraordinary way, using a deceptively simple style that fills the space masterfully. There is also a map illustrated by Fabio Porfidia, a specialist in the sector.
The Setting
Hellwinter will wake up from his dream when The Bloodless Traveler arrives
Hellwinter is defined by the author as a twilight fantasy role-playing game. This already says a lot about the setting: a world in decline, literally. Every single scenario played brings with it the sense of the end looming over the baronies of Hellwinter. Since the moon broke in the sky, they have fallen into eternal twilight. The seasons are colder, the crops are poorer, and the people are less joyful. Above all, the long-forgotten demons are stronger, and their cultists are increasingly widespread, even as the Law of the Broken Moon outlawed them.
The baronies host Dragonfang dwarves, Silaryne elves and White Moon elves. However, it is undeniable that Gotar, the lineage of human conquerors ruled by the Greyson Barons, are the dominant ethnicity in numbers and influence. Power is decentralized across various duchies, each with a sheriff who dispenses the law, but Baroness Cassilda Greyson is the ultimate authority in all cases.
Hellwinter is full of factions to bring into play, from the Gray Company which deals with hunting the demonolaters, to the Dragonslayers, on whom history has imposed the burden of looking after the dragons, eliminating them only when it is impossible to do otherwise. But the oppressive sensation of the imminent end and the arrival of the Bloodless Traveler dominates everything, a gloomy figure that echoes more and more often in the prophecies darker. Important Note: player characters are referred to as Heroes. Tormented, of course, complex and even ambiguous. But always as Heroes.
Review of Mechanics of Hellwinter
All in all, Hellwinter can be compared to old-school games. The regulation is simple but not without risks, taken directly from Broken Moon System by the author, available under a free Creative Commons license in its “agnostic” version. A peculiarity is that death is not always the worst outcome. Of course, the fights are dangerous, but not immediately lethal: if the Blood score (i.e. the classic wounds) is brought to zero, the Hero suffers a Defeat. Direct death is at this point possible due to narrative implications, or due to the elimination of the Combativeness, Sagacity and Heart characteristics, but these are much rarer eventualities.
This already tells us that despite its linearity similar to the approach OSR, the tests in Hellwinter are based on approaches rather than ability scores in the more traditional sense. All this with a roll under system, in which 2d6 must score lower than the characteristic score. It is important that they are two different dice because some results obtained on one or the other dice can trigger particular effects.
The most original detail of the regulation is that of Despair, which is also the mechanic that most strongly connects to the setting. All the citizens of the barony are in fact prey to this sense of defeatism, of awareness of the impending end. Heroes can resist it more than others, but they are also more likely to succumb to it. A Despair roll must be made when you suffer a Defeat, use certain abilities, and suffer some effects. Increasing your score is relatively easy, lowering it is a very rare occurrence. Once Despair 6 is reached, the Hero is simply no longer able to face the world, and is forced to retreat.
Game Options
The twilight fantasy of Hellwinter leads to a simple and linear game but with a strongly themed experience. The creation of the Hero, after the assignment of scores and the choice of the Lineage (which provides a bonus to a Characteristic), passes through the choice of the Archetype. And precisely each Archetype is strongly rooted in the setting, granting a choice of three Special Skills with a cultural, as well as mechanical, value. As well as special equipment.
The Berserker it is an Archetype exclusively for dwarves. He represents the best that their lineage has to offer in terms of competence, spirit of sacrifice and ability to give in to the thrill of battle. That of the Dragonslayer it is instead an ancient Gotar order, now open to every lineage. Born to fight dragons, Dragonslayers dedicated themselves to their protection when they discovered their intelligent nature, striking them down only when they choose to behave beyond redemption.
Children of the Moon are the most unique Archetype in the game. Born on the night the moon broke in the sky, they manifest strange and disturbing innate powers, including precognition. The Gray Comrades belong to the barony’s scouting company. Their role is essentially to act as witch hunters, purging Hellwinter of the plague of demonolatry alongside their wulferu, enormous wolves with whom they live almost in symbiosis.
Other Archetypes of Hellwinter: the Review
The Icelancer are exclusively White Moon elves. Masters of spear combat, trained in the arcane arts and akin to icy energies, are a corps of elite warrior monks. The Ravenguard is Hellwinter’s main militia. Open to all people, it requires an enormous spirit of dedication and sacrifice. Conversely, a crow will always be of enormous support to its companions, capable of dragging them away from the darkest despair.
The Valkyries and the Mourning Widows are two Archetypes reserved for female characters. The first is the elite guard of the Barons of Hellwinter and the last bastion of the walls of Stormhold, their home. Peerless in battle, their fury is unstoppable. The latter are a coven of witches who joined the Gray Companions. Healing, fire magic and knowledge of the arcane arts distinguish them.
However, approaching magic and combat is very different for Warlock. They are able to bind a real demon in their sword, exploiting its power in combat. Even in unconventional ways. Before the enactment of the Law of the Broken Moon they could freely act as mercenaries, but now they must periodically renew a license, or be considered a demonolater.
Additional Tools
A peculiarity of the special abilities of the Archetypes is that their use is “recharged”. Hellwinter it is not a game that pays attention to the minutiae of manoeuvres and the tactical grid, preferring a narrative and cinematic approach. At the beginning of each game round there is the positioning phase, where each Hero has its narrative positioning in the scene. And in this phase, there is a cooldown roll to see if the ability is available again.
The game is accompanied by a series of useful tools and chapters to support the narrator, always created in the name of synthesis and effectiveness. The introductory part, the now canonical one “guide to what an RPG is”, it is masterful in this, and there is a short but effective explanation on the security tools, specifically Lines and Veils. They are very important in a context in which Despair plays such a central role. These are really dry and not pompous paragraphs, but capable of capturing the point directly. A useful guide for novices, a practical refresher for more experienced players.
You can obviously find the bestiary, a section on equipment and one on weapons. These are divided into rather broad categories, in order to streamline their choice and use. The equipment system is managed by points to be “spent” during the adventure, according to the same principle. The relationship management system, both romantic and otherwise, is very particular. With a roll of Heart in the interludes between adventures it is possible to cultivate relationships categorized as Competition, Hedonism, Selfishness, Jealousy, Passion and Torment. Each can bring specific benefits or disadvantages as it develops in the game. And like every single element of the volume, it offers immediately usable game ideas.
Review of Hellwinter: Role Playing and Multimedia
Hellwinter is a multimedia project, which develops on multiple channels. We have already mentioned the game book, which can be purchased in a bundle with the role-playing game manual. But on platforms for podcast Andrea, in addition to some columns and stories, also offers played campaigns and radio plays on the world of Hellwinter. As well as interesting insights into the setting.
Fun fact: pre-generated characters that you can download for free from the Aristea website are precisely the ones you will find in the podcast stories. The network created by Andrea Tupac Mollica is woven with conscience. It is not a universe of which you know every detail (indeed it has a very light setting to adapt to your needs), but it has a whole series of small junctions through which to move. A good listener will find themselves mastering the entire game world using the manual as a quick guide to the setting and mechanics, without ever being a slave to it.
Conclusions of the Review of Hellwinter
As you can see in this review, Hellwinter is a product with a certainly particular nature. A regulation that challenges and surpasses many OSR in simplicity, but adds extremely modern mechanics. It proposes a genre, that of twilight fantasy, little explored and decidedly dark, which at the same time pushes the table towards a style of play that is as romantic as possible, in the broadest sense of the term. An extremely compact setting which at the same time has a very strong imprint on the mechanics and on what is brought to the table.
It is a role-playing game recommended for long-time enthusiasts but extremely accessible even for those who have just entered this world. Traditional but at the same time innovative, it features light yet highly thematic mechanics tailored to the experience that the game offers. Every fan of the fantasy genre should try at least once to play a Hero of the Barony of Hellwinter, trying not to get overwhelmed by Despair.
