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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robowieland" data-source="post: 9505255" data-attributes="member: 7026452">[ATTACH=full]386170[/ATTACH]Robert J. Schwalb is a game design machine. From Green Ronin Publishing to Wizards of the Coast, he had a storied career before he went off to start his own company, Schwalb Entertainment. One of my great regrets as a massive Kickstarter backer was not getting behind Shadow of the Demon Lord. I’m still playing catchup with all the material that’s come out for the designer. When he announced<a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/457226/shadow-of-the-weird-wizard?affiliate_id=408896" target="_blank"> Shadow of the Weird Wizard</a>, his less grimdark fantasy setting using the same rules set, I wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. The core books are here along with two expansions and nearly a third of the promised adventures. Does Shadow of the Weird Wizard deserve its time in the spotlight? Let’s play to find out.Shadow of the Weird Wizard is a d20-based fantasy game. Players roll a d20 plus their ability modifier against a target number. To reflect skill training and situational modifiers, players roll d6 to the roll as either boons (which add to the roll) or banes (which subtract). Boons and banes cancel out but if one side has multiple, the players roll those d6 and apply the highest one to the roll. Characters are built by putting together three classes as they level. Novice classes are straight forward versions of classic fantasy classes like fighter, rogue, priest and wizard. Expert classes offer a little specialization or more of a multiclass vibe. Master classes dig deeper while also often providing a chance at some storyline implication. The three class choices really give the game the feeling of playing through a fantasy trilogy where the poor farmer who picks up the sword in book one turns into the bearer of a legendary weapon by book three.The changes to the system are there though they feel like minimal revisions. Humans are the default choice. Initiative has been sped up to bad guys go first, then PCs go in whatever order they want. Health serves as a secondary damage meter that reflects the true danger of death. Many of the original rules from Shadow of the Demon Lord are presented as options in the GM book Secrets of the Weird Wizard along with things like non-human ancestries to allow each GM to customize their game.. I’m happy with the changes for the most part, though I might slip the slow/fast initiative from the original back in because it played well.That includes the rapid leveling from Shadow of the Demon Lord. You still can play with the intent of leveling every session but Quests often take a few sessions to finish now. Leveling after every quest is the default option now which pushes a full campaign closer to 20 or 30 sessions. I think either way works for the game, but it’s something to discuss with players early on to see how quickly they want to tell their story. And for that matter, it’s something you can change during play if players want to luxuriate in their characters for longer or if they want to wrap things up to get to the next campaign.Most of the change is in the setting.<a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/457226/shadow-of-the-weird-wizard?affiliate_id=408896" target="_blank"> Shadow of the Weird Wizard</a> exists because some folks were turned off by the dark mood, unstoppable gloom and sometimes juvenile humor of Shadow of the Demon Lord. Here, the world of Erth has just gone through a massive shakeup. The Weird Wizard of the title has mysteriously disappeared and the lands he once claimed as his own are now up for grabs. That allows players to be explorers, settlers, refugees or maybe a little bit of all three. There’s still darkness in this world at the edges and in the monsters. Devils and fiends abound and the gods don’t always play nice with other or the puny humans in their world. The assumption in play is that the players are heroes looking to push back that darkness rather than finding some way to escape or embrace it.The class and level system at the heart of the game remains my favorite implementation of the idea. Each class plugs into each other class allowing for players to choose to become specialists or multiclass without any fuss or muss. It also makes it very easy for players to pick their path based on things that happen during the campaign. The priest that flubbed a casting check to save their lover might decide to walk the path of the gunslinger for a while. The warrior who encountered a dragon for the first time might decide that they need more than steel in the Borderlands and seek out a wizard to teach them how to fight with blade in one hand and spell in the other. <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/457226/shadow-of-the-weird-wizard?affiliate_id=408896" target="_blank">Shadow of the Weird Wizard</a> fits a solid middle space between the ease of Fifth Edition and the full-on customization of Pathfinder 2e. Flipping through the dozens of classes in this book makes it easy to find multiple ways for a character to go whether the player picks their full path from the start or leaves it up to where the story takes them.Bottom Line: <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/457226/shadow-of-the-weird-wizard?affiliate_id=408896" target="_blank">Shadow of the Weird Wizard</a> offers a fantastic d20 based system for fantasy adventure that makes it easy for players to plan ahead for their characters or build them through play. For anyone looking to see what’s out there besides D&D, this game is a great starting space.If you found this review useful, please consider purchasing the product using the embedded affiliate links. Thank you for supporting your friendly local game reviewer.[ATTACH=full]385737[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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