Lone Wolf: The Roleplaying Game

[Messageboard Golem]

In the northern land of Sommerlund, it has been the custom for many centuries to send the children of the Warrior Lords to the monastery of Kai. There they are taught the skills and disciplines of their noble fathers.

The Kai monks are masters of their art, and the children in their charge love and respect them in spite of the hardships of their training. For one day when they have finally learnt the secret skills of the Kai, they will return to their homes equipped in mind and body to defend themselves against the constant threat of war from the Darklords of the west.

In olden times, during the Age of the Black Moon, the Darklords waged war on Sommerlund. The conflict was a long and bitter trial of strength that ended in victory for the Sommlending at the great battle of Maakengorge. King Ulnar and the allies of Durenor broke the Darklord armies at the pass of Moytura and forced them back into the bottomless abyss of Maakengorge. Vashna, mightiest of the Darklords, was slain upon the sword of King Ulnar, called 'Sommerswerd', the sword of the sun. Since that age, the Darklords have vowed vengeance upon Sommerlund and the House of Ulnar.

Now it is in the morning of the feast of Fehmarn, when all of the Kai Lords are present at the monastery for the celebrations. Suddenly a great black cloud comes out from the western skies. So many are the numbers of the black-winged beasts that fill the sky, that the sun is completely hidden. The Darklords, ancient enemy of Sommlending, are attacking. War has begun.

With these words, readers of the Lone Wolf series were launched into an odyssey spanning 28 game books, 12 novels, and countless related works. The hero for most of that work was Lone Wolf, a Kai Lord and the readers’ alternate identity when traveling through the complex and often lethal world of Magnamund. The last survivor of the Kai, it was his self-appointed duty to seek vengeance for the deaths of his brothers and sisters. Through it all, readers of the Lone Wolf game books followed along with every step, every sword blow, and every use of his incredible powers.

Since then, the world of Magnamund has grown and expanded to include loyal readers from every corner of the globe. From novels that explore the Kai and their politics to fan-based fiction that continues the adventures of hundreds of other characters in the setting, the game world has become far more than the thrilling adventures of Lone Wolf himself.

That is where the book you are holding right now comes in. Lone Wolf began as a roleplaying game; it is only fitting that he has come full circle into another one. In a world as vast as Magnamund, there is plenty of room for as many heroes as there are villains. There is more than enough room for as many bastions of light as there are fell pits of darkness. Magnamund is a rich tapestry of good and evil, dozens of different cultures, and ancient artifacts resting side by side with scientific innovation. From the Dwarven Gunners of Bor to the malefic Helghasts that lurk in forgotten crypts, here then is fantasy roleplaying at its finest.

The original purpose of the Lone Wolf series was one of vengeance, but it quickly became more than that. Lone Wolf went through the cycles of a hero, taking his original quest for revenge and moving on to a noble purpose of exploration and finally restoration of his past through the rebirth of the Kai. It can truly be said that in Magnamund, great dreams can come from simple beginnings. That is the hope of any adventure set in the world of Lone Wolf; a single adventure spawning an epic of your own.

 

[dm5]

Product Identity:
Name of Product: Lone Wolf RPG
Publisher: Mongoose Publishing
Author/s: August Hahn
Link: www.mongoosepublishing.com
Artists: Cover: Ralph Horsley; Interior: Tony Parker
Stock Number/SKU: MGP1120
ISBN: 1-904577-47-4
Cover Price: US $39.95
Page Count: 304
Hard/Soft/PDF: Hardcover
Color/B&W Artwork: Full Color Cover + Map, B&W Interior

Review: DM5

Summary Ratings and Comments:
Scores (0-5)
Substance: 4 -Jam-packed with crunchy goodness, but light on storybook.
Style: 3 -Not exceptional, but better than much that is available.
Innovation: 5 -The book’s greatest strength; while no single game mechanic is a true innovation, the combination and execution is way above par.

Story: 3 -There is a lack of strong story elements to set the tone.
Setting: 3 -A good overview. I look forward to a more in-depth Setting Book.
NPCs: 1 -Bereft of detail. Major NPCs are relegated to cookie-cutter stereotypes.
Game Mechanics: 5 -The treatment of spell use is exceptional!
PCs: 4 -Character classes are well fleshed out.
Classes/Prestige Classes: 5 -Seven classes, each defined and deeply detailed.
Feats/Skills: 5 -Devotions replace Feats, for an interesting take on advancement.
Equipment: 4 -Some new mundane items sprinkled amongst old standbys.
Magic Items: 5 -New magic items are always a bonus.
Magic: 3 -Magic and psychic combat could be fleshed out, but simplicity is a boon.
Spells/Psionic Devotions: 4 -Spells are detailed in Character Classes. There are no Psionics, per se.
Creatures: 4 -Above average selection and description, but not enough artwork.

Art: 3 -Does not stand out in a crowd. This book stands on other merits.
Cover: 3 -A good view of the Kai Monastery (I think) in full color.
Interior: 3 -Sketches match the text in all cases and style/quality is maintained.
Map/s: 4 -A good, full color, fold-out map.

Critique:
First Glance
Upon opening your copy of Lone Wolf RPG, you will notice that this is a complete game system and setting in one hardbound, 304 page book. As an added bonus, a full color fold-out map of the setting, Magnamund, is included, along with a blank character sheet (also available for download on the website) and a random numbers table. The book is fully indexed for ease of reference.

I gave an average score for the artwork, as the quality, while not remarkable, is consistent throughout the book, with interior sketches that match the surrounding text. The full color cover and map enhance the overall look and feel of the product.

Mongoose Publishing's Lone Wolf RPG is based on the highly successful Lone Wolf books of the 1980's by Joe Dever. More information on his contributions to the industry can be found at www.projectaon.com. This d20 update of that game makes use of OGL in place of the d20 license, so you can expect to find all the rules needed to begin play without making additional purchases.

Read-Through
The introductory chapters briefly introduce the setting and then dive into the basics of character creation – pretty standard stuff, with some interesting developments:
• The use of Endurance in place of traditional HP- this difference is more important later in the book, especially when magic is discussed. More on this below…
• Alignment is simplified to 4 choices: Good, Evil, Balanced, and Unaligned.

Pages fifteen through seventy-seven are devoted to the seven main character classes. This depth of detail is seldom seen and a strong step in the right direction for Players. One of the more interesting aspects is the use of multi-tiered Disciplines instead of Feats to flesh out a character.

Of interest is how the use of magic drains a character’s Endurance. This should have real impact on spellcasting, especially during combat.

Devotees of Mr. Dever’s game world will be pleased to have the opportunity to play a Brother of the Crystal Star, Dwarven Gunner of Bor, Kai Lord, Magician of Dessi, Shadaki Buccaneer, Sommerlund Knight of the Realm, or Telchos Warrior. Something for everyone!

In the next section you will find that skills have been tweaked - for example, a new Perception skill now replaces Listen, Search and Spot.

The Equipment section describes mundane items unique to this game world: Bor Rifles, Boompacks, Laumspur Leaves, Kalte Firespheres and includes currency conversions for all of Magnamund. You'll also discover new, powerful magic items and objects of legend such as the infamous Dagger of Vashna, prized Lorestones of Nyxator, and the awesome Sommerswerd!

In the section on combat, you may be dismayed to note that there are no Attacks of Opportunity. On the other hand, there are now rules for Magical and Psychic combat, both mainstays of the Lone Wolf setting.

Adventuring in Magnamund gives good coverage of all the hazards players are likely to face, with a distinctly Lone Wolf feel to them - from flash floods and disease, to specific poisons and traps.

This leads into the Lone Wolf Games Master section, which provides solid guidelines for creating the right Magnamund atmosphere. It also provides guidelines for ignoring all the new rules in the game, and simply using the text as a Magnamund sourcebook for d20 games.

Supporting Roles provides the GM with basic NPCs, those people the characters are likely to meet on their travels - Adepts, Aristocrats, Commoners, Experts and Warriors. Continuing to innovate; Commoners, for example, gain new class features, such as Common Role, Excellence, Community Leader and Elevation (to Aristocrat). The GM will need to generate these characters, as no examples are provided ready-to-play.

Section 16, the Magnamund Gazetteer, in conjunction with the full color fold-out map, details the entire world of Lone Wolf. A timeline of the world is presented, along with the story of the world's creation. Several pages of detailed history help GMs and Players get a feel for this world. Next, the Republic of Anari, through the Darklands and Sommerlund, to Vaduzhan, every country, city, and province of Magnamund is detailed in capsule form. As with all large settings, more detailed description may be needed in a supplement devoted to the setting alone.

The Magnamund Bestiary details many of your favorite monsters along with a selection of animals. Expect to find creatures such as the Agarashi, Drakkarim, Giak, Gourgaz, Helghast, Kraan, and Vordak. What you find in quantity is lost to a lack of artwork to aid in visualization. As with the setting, a supplement devoted to cataloging the creatures of Lone Wolf may be useful.

Now the big question: Should you buy this book? If, like me, you find yourself introducing roleplaying- especially fantasy roleplaying- to new gamers, then this book is an excellent value for you. The simplification of game mechanics will make learning to play a pleasure for all involved. If you’re already a fantasy gamer, then the alternative game mechanics and treasury of history, creatures, spells, along with magical and mundane equipment will make this book well worth your time.

Overall Score: 4

DM5

 

[Scorpio]

[No message]

 

[Scorpio]

So...the map got a 4, what was it lacking for a 5?

 

[Eternalknight]

Overview
Lone Wolf: The Roleplaying Game is a new OGL rulebook from Mongoose Publishing. Based on the gamebooks released in the mid-80's by Joe Dever, Lone Wolf is a d20 game and setting in one, 304 page book. It retails for $39.95 US and consists of a colour hardcover and fold-out map and black and what interior art.

Breakdown
Lone Wolf begins by going through the basics of character creation. This is all stuff you have seen before, with a few important exceptions: Hit Points have been renamed to Endurance, Base Attack Bonus has been renamed to Combat Skill, and Alignment has been compressed into four categories: Good, Evil, Balance and Unaligned.

Chapter 2 contains seven character classes that players can choose from. It is worth noting that race is tied to class in Lone Wolf, though in some cases you can choose different regions to come from. Anyway, the classes use an innovative concept which adds a lot of flavour to each individual class. Rather than having generic fighters, wizards and rogues running around, players can choose to be a Brother of the Crystal Star (a magic-user), a Dwarven Gunner of Bor (a rifle-toting warrior), a Kai Lord (a psychic warrior-monk), a Magician of Dessi (another magic-user, though very different from the Crystal Star), a Shadaki Buccaneer (a pirate), a Sommlending Knight (a mounted paladin style warrior) or a Telchos Warrior (a desert ranger). Each class takes at least 5 pages to describe, with the Kai Lord taking 16! This is due to the fact that each class has many special abilities that can be chosen as they advance. (These special abilities replace feats in the game).

Skills make up chapter 3. Nothing much here, except several skills are compressed into one skill (Listen, Search and Spot become Perception, Jump and Swim become Athletics, etc).

Chapter 4 is Equipment. A mixture of standard stuff and setting-specific equipment, such as the Bor Rifle, Laumpsur Potions and many more besides. It even includes rules for the most powerful weapon in the world, the legendary Sommerswerd!

Chapter 5 is combat. Pretty standard stuff, with notable exceptions being the removal of Attacks of Opportunity and Grapples and the inclusion of Magical and Psychic Combat.

Next up is Adventuring in Magnamund. This chapter includes rules for terrain, travel, poisons and diseases.

Chapter 7 provides advice for Lone Wolf Games Masters, including how to run adventures set in the Lone Wolf world of Magnamund, or even for ignoring the rules in the book and using it as a standard Dungeons and Dragons campaign sourcebook.

Supporting Roles (chapter 8) provides NPC classes: Adept, Aristocrat, Commoner, Expert and Warrior. Don't think these are the standard classes from the DMG however; each class has received a facelift, gaining new abilities and powers that make them more powerful than their DMG cousins.

Chapter 9 - The Magnamund Gazeteer - is the biggest chapter, running to 69 pages. It begins with a history of Magnamund, followed by a roughly half-page description of each nation of the world, divided into sections: Northern Magnamund and Southern Magnamund. Fans of the gamebook series will absolutely drool over this chapter.

Finally, we have the Bestiary, containing 70 odd monsters. SOme of these are reprinted from the SRD (especially the animals), but well over half are brand new.

Art
Art is black and white throught, with the exception of the cover and the fold-out map. The art is sparse, and if you enjoy art in your books you may have a problem with Lone Wolf. On the other hand, it does mean that more setting details can be cramed in to the book, which is a fair trade in my opinion. The artwork itself is adequate, if not brilliant.

The map, on the other hand, is a thing of beauty. It is full colour and absolutely gorgeous. However, one thing lets it down. There are a few spelling mistakes on it, unforutanatley too many to let slide. Aside from this, the map is great.

Conclusion
Lone Wolf: The Roleplaying Game is a great translation of the Lone Wolf gamebooks into a role-playing game, and the d20 system seems to capture the world more than adequately. Fans of the gamebooks will love this book, if only as a reference; ignoring the rules, it is a wonderful guide to the world of Magnamund (even more so than the fabled Magnamund Companion). Even if you aren't a fan, this book still holds something for you. It is a fantasy setting, but different from the norm - Lone Wolf contains no elves, orcs, goblins and many other staples, but replaces them with their own unique brand of monsters. Even then, the way the classes are handled is very unique and well worth a look.

5 out of 5.

 

[JustaPlayer]

I see that you didn't mention in that there are no feats. This is the one drawback I see to this book, as one Crystal Star will look just like another. No matter what you do one build is going to look virtually like another.

 

[Krieg]

Actually he did touch on it, albeit briefly...

".../snip/...each class has many special abilities that can be chosen as they advance. (These special abilities replace feats in the game).../snip/..."

 

[Eternalknight]

You are right. But I think the diversity of the game in itself has enough diversity in it to make up for this.

 

[Henry]

The World of Magnamund Come Alive!

I recently purchased Lone Wolf; The RPG because I have been a tremendous fan of the series for approximately 20 years or so. As a kid I used to attempt to create a standalone RPG based on the rules of the Lone Wolf and Grey Star books, and adding my own classes. So with that bias in mind, I give my review.

The book has black-and-white illustrations on the interior, with a beautiful color illustration by Palph Horsley of two kai Lords in deep snows before what looks like the Kai Monastery.

The system is basically d20, but with a few elements smoothed out. They did away with feats (simply rolling them into special abilities for each class), and opportunity attacks are not present. There is a skill system, much simplified, rolling tumbling and balance into acrobatics, rolling spot and listen and search into perception, etc. The nicest touch for fans of the series is that Base attack Bonus and Hit Points have been replaced by Combat Skill and Endurance.

There are races and classes, but only on the most general level. There are seven "race/classes" and multiclassing is heavily discouraged, because it goes against the Lone Wolf Setting premises; it is a rather stratified milieu where secretive organizations like the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star or the Kai Lords do not readily share their secrets.

The seven classes are:

Brotherhood of the Crystal Star (Human, Sommlending/Durenese) - "northern" mages, who have access to ten main spells and about a dozen "words of power" but they have different levels of power they can add to these spells, and they burn Hit Points (Called Endurance) to do so.

Knight of the Realm (Human, Sommlending/Durenese) - fancy fighters with all sorts of horseback stunts and weapon skills.

Dwarven Gunner of Bor (Dwarf, Bor region) - about as good a fighter as a cleric, but with some phenomenal Flintlock Pistol and Rifle skills - they can do extra damage and all sorts of trick shots, but with Firearms only. Among their repertoire are abilities like creating voluminous clouds of smoke as they shoot (that obscure vision except for them), and spending life energy to do additional damage with their shots.

Kai Lord (Sommlending) - if you read the game Books, you already know most of what they can do (the hunting, Animal Kinship, Stealth, Psychic combat, healing, etc.) - again, broken into different levels of prowess similar to the Crystal Stars.

Mage of Dessi (human/shianti crossbreeds) - if you read the Grey Star the Wizard Books, you know THEIR abilities, too! Evocation (calling on the dead), Sorcery(firepower and sorcerous shields), Elementalism, Alchemy, etc. BEST part of all - they even replicated Grey Star's Staff, the one that shoots magic bolts! And all Mages of Dessi get one at a certain level! Mages of Dessi use a Willpower score instead of Endurance to cast their spells, and the Mages live about two and a half times as long as normal humans. Interesting, but I don't remember Dessi being tied storywise to the Shianti, but they do that here.

Telchos Warrior (Human, Telchos) - think Ranger/Barbarians, and you have the basic idea. In addition, they have abilities to shake their enemies with their war cries, to bolster allies, etc.

Shadakai Buccaneer (Human, Shadakai) - Rogues and Bards rolled into one, but with no spellcasting, only pseudo-magical abilities.

They have a very nice magic items and equipment section. My mind swirled with names like Laumspur potions, Rendalim's Elixir, Graveweed, and Sleeptooth; I thrilled to seeing stats for the Dagger of Vashna and the Sommerswerd. Items have a LOT more history and flavor going for them than in AD&D, or Castles and Crusades, or 3E.

The editing definitely needed work, but this seems a steady complaint of Mongoose in general, as I was given to understand, and not endemic to one product. I heard that they delayed this product to re-edit it anyway, and reduce errors; even with this, I noticed an assortment of minor errors. (For instance, one place where even though they took pains to rename Base attack bonus "Combat skill", there was one place in the combat chapter where it STILL slipped through.)

There is a VERY good section on the geography, the continents, the regions, etc. of Magnamund, as well as a history that was comprehensive. I found it sufficient enough where I could run my own Magnamund game and not feel like I didn't have a handle on each region, nore the people who live there. In fact, each region also gives racial traits of the beings who live there, and just based on the bonuses and penalties to abilities and skills they get, you can get an idea for what kind of people they are.

The game takes place in MS 5000 (5,000 years after the creation of the legendary Moonstone), which is fifty years before the events in the first Lone Wolf book. Therefore, the Kai Monastery still stands, the Darklords are still raising their armies before the march, and a Golden Age fluorishes, but the wise can see the trouble on the horizon. To use a Star Wars analogy, you play in the Rise of the Empire era, when the old empires are decaying and in decline, even though they keep telling themselves they're in a golden age.

NPC classes (the commoner, adept, aristocrat, expert, warrior) are reworked into this game. They have had feats modified and consolidated into their class levels, and adepts have spells similar to those of Mages and Crystal Stars worked into their level progression. Specifically, similar to the Eberron game, it encrourages DMs to make most mundanes and even enemies PCs run into one of the NPC classes, instead of one of the PC race/classes.

Monsters are included in a separate chapter. Monsters bring to life the world of Magnamund, and they suitably make some of these beasties just as scary in-game as they were when fighting them in the books. You have Giaks (basically think orcs crossed with klingons, and you're not far off), Doomwolves (think worgs), Kraan (think Nazguls from Lord of the Rings), and my personal favorite, Helghasts (a DM just CAN'T go wrong with a psychically active undead doppleganger that can ONLY be hurt by magic, and who can poison you with their weapons!)

Now, with that said, the negatives of the book are many for someone who is not a fan of the series, but who rather is more accustomed to "traditional" d20. For one, the classes are not easily balanced against D&D or even d20 Modern classes; feats are rolled essentially into the class abilities of each class, and while balanced with the game itself, might be problematic with importing into another game. One would have to introduce the magic system as well as the classes, because spells are quite different, and ingrained into the classes. Interesting note - mage-types have a magic attack bonus as well as a regular attack bonus. Their magic attack bonus is aided by Intelligence bonuses, and progresses like a fighter.

Multiclassing in the setting, as mentioned, is SEVERELY discouraged - to be a Kai Lord, you don't just "pick up a level" as in default D&D, it is expressly mentioned that you have to train for YEARS, from childhood usually. Same thing for most of the other classes, and in some cases (Crystal Stars and Bor Gunners), it's basically a high crime of State to teach the skills to someone not of that nation or in rare circumstances an allied nation. Dwarves Just DON'T teach their guin-skills at all to non-dwarves. But keeping in mind this setting was influenced by early RPGS like AD&D, the archetype concept is quite strongly in place in order to be faithful to the setting.

SUMMARY:

If you are a fan of Lone Wolf game books, this book is a MUST-HAVE. Five stars all the way. No Fooling. Go out and get it NOW. You're a dummy if you don't.

If you are a d20 gamer who just wants a sourcebook to raid, this might not be for you. It's got some good ideas bound together, but each one is found in other OGL products (creative magic item names, class abilities in place of feats, consolidated skills like acrobatics, etc.) and doesn't have the unique flavor that these items are instilled with in Lone Wolf.

I have a strong feeling that, unless I specifically run this for my players, and as a limited series at that, I will sadly get little to no use out of this book. However, that's the territory that comes with a product that emulates a specific setting very well.