Last night, one of the core books of the WOIN (What's OLD is NEW) system was released. This is the 8th WOIN book in total, but more importantly, it's the first core book. That makes it the book which will let you start running your WOIN campaign. The book just released is WOIN Future Core, and it contains all the rules for attribute checks, combat, the environment, and all that 'core' stuff; it joins the already released WOIN Future Careers (for character creation) and WOIN Future Equipment (you can guess what that contains!) as well as WOIN Space (space travel and starship combat).
The way WOIN releases are structured are a little unusual. The system is designed to enable you to build your own ruleset, which is why various books like Fantasy Equipment, Future Careers, and so on are all separate. Each is available as a PDF or as a gorgeous full-colour softcover. Basically, you need one character creation book, one equipment book, and one core book (although you can, of course, have more - combine magic and sci-fi, or modern careers with futuristic equipment). They will, of course, be available as compiled hardcovers in the forms of OLD, NEW, and NOW.
I'm concentrating on the sci-fi angle here simply because that's the first core book to be released (Fantasy Core is in layout). The Future line is inspired by Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, Alien, Firefly, and authors like Asimov, Niven, and Clark. It uses a life-path system to create characters, a d6 dice pool task resolution system, and has a skirmishy combat system which emphasizes position, cover, and tactics. It's perfect for exploring final frontiers in galaxies far away.
You can find out more about WOIN here. It's an Open Gaming Content game, with an online SRD called the WOIN Rules Reference Document (WRRD), and is very, very toolkity - it is designed to let you create your own worlds and settings, or adapt your favourite ones, and even to publish or sell them.
The next book to come out will be WOIN Fantasy Core, which will join the existing WOIN Fantasy Careers and WOIN Fantasy Equipment. Following that will be WOIN Building A Universe, which is a book full of rules, guidelines, and resources for sci-fi GMs designing their own settings, careers, races, monsters, star systems, and so on. There's a page on the WOIN website which tracks the status of all the books.
You don't really even need the books. There's plenty of information on the WRRD, although the books help to explain and contextualise it. There's also a full Bestiary on the WRRD full of fantasy and sci-fi critters ready for use.
So if you're looking for a system to run a sci-fi game, consider WOIN. It's designed to accommodate your ideas, not the other way around. It has no default setting; the default setting is the one you create or adapt. It's simply there, full of options, ready to support whatever you want it to do.
The way WOIN releases are structured are a little unusual. The system is designed to enable you to build your own ruleset, which is why various books like Fantasy Equipment, Future Careers, and so on are all separate. Each is available as a PDF or as a gorgeous full-colour softcover. Basically, you need one character creation book, one equipment book, and one core book (although you can, of course, have more - combine magic and sci-fi, or modern careers with futuristic equipment). They will, of course, be available as compiled hardcovers in the forms of OLD, NEW, and NOW.
I'm concentrating on the sci-fi angle here simply because that's the first core book to be released (Fantasy Core is in layout). The Future line is inspired by Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, Alien, Firefly, and authors like Asimov, Niven, and Clark. It uses a life-path system to create characters, a d6 dice pool task resolution system, and has a skirmishy combat system which emphasizes position, cover, and tactics. It's perfect for exploring final frontiers in galaxies far away.
You can find out more about WOIN here. It's an Open Gaming Content game, with an online SRD called the WOIN Rules Reference Document (WRRD), and is very, very toolkity - it is designed to let you create your own worlds and settings, or adapt your favourite ones, and even to publish or sell them.
The next book to come out will be WOIN Fantasy Core, which will join the existing WOIN Fantasy Careers and WOIN Fantasy Equipment. Following that will be WOIN Building A Universe, which is a book full of rules, guidelines, and resources for sci-fi GMs designing their own settings, careers, races, monsters, star systems, and so on. There's a page on the WOIN website which tracks the status of all the books.
You don't really even need the books. There's plenty of information on the WRRD, although the books help to explain and contextualise it. There's also a full Bestiary on the WRRD full of fantasy and sci-fi critters ready for use.
So if you're looking for a system to run a sci-fi game, consider WOIN. It's designed to accommodate your ideas, not the other way around. It has no default setting; the default setting is the one you create or adapt. It's simply there, full of options, ready to support whatever you want it to do.
