The Inside Scoop on Gaming

As I have recently acquired a copy of the Everway boxed set, and there is only one review of it up here, I decided to review it myself.

What's in the box?

The boxed set contains 90 vision cards, 10 source cards, 36 fortune cards, 2 maps, 12 blank character sheets, 11 pre-made characters, and 3 books. The cards are very well illustrated and are on heavy, durable stock. The character sheets are on glossy color sheets, and are quite attractive. The maps are on the same paper, and are fairly well-drawn, although they lack a scale and the map of Everway shows buildings, but no streets. The books are softcover, and about 8" by 7" in size. The books have numerous pieces of black and white artwork, nearly all of which are also found in color on the cards or the pre-made character sheets.

What's in the books?

There are three books in the boxed set: the playing guide, the gamemastering guide, and the guide to the fortune deck. The playing guide is 162 pages in length, and has a glossary of terms, 54 pages describing the setting, 53 pages of character creation, and 39 pages describing the rules of the game. The gamemastering guide is 64 pages long, and has 30 pages of gamemastering advice, which is mainly the same sort of material which you find in any book on running a game, but it has some interesting ideas on symbolism and designing adventures. It also has a 30 page long introductory adventure, called Journey to Stonekeep, which was interesting, but for me required nudging the players to the south at first to avoid them missing the entire plot, still, it played well as a one-off. Both books have tables of content and indexes which make it easy to find information. The guide to the fortune deck is only 14 pages long and contains a brief description of the fortune deck as it appears in the game world, a simple method of using it for divination, and an explanation of the meanings of all the cards in normal and reversed positions. All the books are well done and have a very readable format, and have an almost conversational tone which makes learning the game fairly easy. One gripe I have is that I wish some of the info in the playing guide was in the gamemastering guide, but it is not a major complaint

What's the setting?

A Planescape-like multiverse, in which a uncounted number of Spheres, or worlds, are connected by gates. An important place is the city of Everway, which contains seventy-some gates instead of the usual two. Everway is a center of commerce between different realms, and is governed in a semi-monarchy, and a few dozen major Families control a large amount of power as well. The society and culture are described fairly well, and you get a pretty good feel of the place from the books. The setting is very low-tech, as most Spheres haven't reached the iron age yet, and that makes for settings which differ from the RPG norm. The individual Spheres are not described in much detail, a sentence or two at most, as the GM is supposed to make up his own worlds. All in all, a facinating setting to run a game in.

What type of atmosphere does a game have?

A mythic, almost fairytale-like feel. All players are required to play Heroes, basically good-intending and somewhat larger than life. The players go from Sphere to Sphere, working to help solve the problems they find there. Games tend to be quite low in combat, and rely more on problem-solving and dealing with people. The rules lend themselves well to this style, and have good genre emulation.

How does character creation work?

Everway character creation starts out with each player going through the vision deck, which is a collection of pictures of various scenes, things, and events. Each card has several questions on the back, which the player uses to think of ideas. Five cards are chosen, and they are fitted into the story of the character's life. Next, a name is chosen. Everway names are always real words, and each must have a special meaning for the character. A motivation for going from Sphere to Sphere is chosen, and they then use the fortune deck to chose a Virtue, Flaw, and Fate. This creates a symbolic description of the character, and can have various interpretations. After that, the player chooses any unusual powers or talents he wants his character to have. Instead of having a list of such powers, the game gives a framework for rating powers a player might want in terms of points. Powers can range from having a pet snake to throwing fire to changing into a wolf. Next Elements, the equivilent to stats are chosen. The Elements are fire, which handles strength and combat ability, Earth, which handles toughness and willpower, Water, which represents perception and wisdom, and Air, which governs intellect and reason. For each Element, a specialty is assigned to cover something that the character is good at within that field. Magical abilities are next assigned. Unlike most games, each player who has magic is suggested to design their own type of magic to fit their character. A basic system of doing so is given, but in Everway magic is supposed to be very flexable and freeform instead of a concrete list of spells. Several examples of types of magic are given, but most players should make up their own. Magic, while resembling Powers, is different because it represents a whole field of things a character can do, instead of a specific talent. In addition, all magic must correspond to one of the Elements the character is high in. Finally, after all points have been assigned to the above categories, the players ask each other questions in character, which covers how they know each other, who they each are, and what their past is. It is almost vital for all characters to be created at the same time, as the question phase helps form them into a well-defined group. This whole process tends to create detailed, well fleshed out characters with distict personalities, instead of munchkins and combat monsters.

How does the system resolve actions?

Three methods of action resolution are given: the law of Karma, the law of Drama, and the law of Fortune. Karma consists of assessing the diffuculty of the action and deciding whether the character can do it based on his resources, skills, and his applicable Element. Drama consists of the GM determining what would be most adventageous to the plot and having that happen. Fortune works by having the GM draw a card from the fortune deck and deciding what happens based on how the card relates to the situation. The book suggests that all three methods be used in conjuction. The advantages of the system are that resolution is quite simple and that Drama allows the GM to advance the plot when necessary, in effect having GM fudging built into the system. The disadvantages are that diceless resolution can sometimes be difficult to assess without bias, and the fortune deck can be hard to interpret.

What is this fortune deck which keeps being mentioned?

The fortune deck is a deck of 36 cards which are loosely inspired by the Major Arcana of the Tarot cards. Each card has an image, such as The Dragon, a meaning, such as planning or cleverness, and normal and reversed interpretations, such as Cunning and Blind Fury. These cards are used in various parts of the game, and exist within the game world as well. While there is a guide to interpreting the cards, actually relating them to the events of the game can be difficult and takes practice. However, once one is used to using them the symbolism of the cards can lead to a much more interesting means of handling actions than just rolling dice.

What are the advantages of using this system over others?

The mythic feel, the simple rules system, and the character generation process make for a more dramatic, interesting game than most systems.

What are things it lacks that should have been included?

A carrying case for the fortune deck would be nice, as it gets taken wherever you play and the cards can get bent if they are merely carried in a pocket or with a rubber band. It is simple to improvise one, but there is really no excuse for it to not have been included. Another thing the game lacks is a list of how each fortune card relates to common types of actions, such as social interaction, mental and physical tasks, and combat. A partial list of meanings in combat is given, but just a few more pages would make a GM's task much simpler when starting out. Also, a slightly more detailed list of combat rules would have been nice. Still, these are minor flaws.

Basically, the game goes for a unique type of play and handles it better than any other system. With good roleplayers it is a delight to play, but with poor ones you will be cringing halfway through character creation.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Everway boxed set
Author: Jonathan Tweet Category: game Company/Publisher: Rubicon Games Line: Everway Cost: 30 Playtest Review by Eric Eves on 05/07/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Diceless	As I have recently acquired a copy of the Everway boxed set, and there is only one review of it up here, I decided to review it myself. What's in the box? The boxed set contains 90 vision cards, 10 source cards, 36 fortune cards, 2 maps, 12 blank character sheets, 11 pre-made characters, and 3 books. The cards are very well illustrated and are on heavy, durable stock. The character sheets are on glossy color sheets, and are quite attractive. The maps are on the same paper, and are fairly well-drawn, although they lack a scale and the map of Everway shows buildings, but no streets. The books are softcover, and about 8" by 7" in size. The books have numerous pieces of black and white artwork, nearly all of which are also found in color on the cards or the pre-made character sheets. What's in the books? There are three books in the boxed set: the playing guide, the gamemastering guide, and the guide to the fortune deck. The playing guide is 162 pages in length, and has a glossary of terms, 54 pages describing the setting, 53 pages of character creation, and 39 pages describing the rules of the game. The gamemastering guide is 64 pages long, and has 30 pages of gamemastering advice, which is mainly the same sort of material which you find in any book on running a game, but it has some interesting ideas on symbolism and designing adventures. It also has a 30 page long introductory adventure, called Journey to Stonekeep, which was interesting, but for me required nudging the players to the south at first to avoid them missing the entire plot, still, it played well as a one-off. Both books have tables of content and indexes which make it easy to find information. The guide to the fortune deck is only 14 pages long and contains a brief description of the fortune deck as it appears in the game world, a simple method of using it for divination, and an explanation of the meanings of all the cards in normal and reversed positions. All the books are well done and have a very readable format, and have an almost conversational tone which makes learning the game fairly easy. One gripe I have is that I wish some of the info in the playing guide was in the gamemastering guide, but it is not a major complaint What's the setting? A Planescape-like multiverse, in which a uncounted number of Spheres, or worlds, are connected by gates. An important place is the city of Everway, which contains seventy-some gates instead of the usual two. Everway is a center of commerce between different realms, and is governed in a semi-monarchy, and a few dozen major Families control a large amount of power as well. The society and culture are described fairly well, and you get a pretty good feel of the place from the books. The setting is very low-tech, as most Spheres haven't reached the iron age yet, and that makes for settings which differ from the RPG norm. The individual Spheres are not described in much detail, a sentence or two at most, as the GM is supposed to make up his own worlds. All in all, a facinating setting to run a game in. What type of atmosphere does a game have? A mythic, almost fairytale-like feel. All players are required to play Heroes, basically good-intending and somewhat larger than life. The players go from Sphere to Sphere, working to help solve the problems they find there. Games tend to be quite low in combat, and rely more on problem-solving and dealing with people. The rules lend themselves well to this style, and have good genre emulation. How does character creation work? Everway character creation starts out with each player going through the vision deck, which is a collection of pictures of various scenes, things, and events. Each card has several questions on the back, which the player uses to think of ideas. Five cards are chosen, and they are fitted into the story of the character's life. Next, a name is chosen. Everway names are always real words, and each must have a special meaning for the character. A motivation for going from Sphere to Sphere is chosen, and they then use the fortune deck to chose a Virtue, Flaw, and Fate. This creates a symbolic description of the character, and can have various interpretations. After that, the player chooses any unusual powers or talents he wants his character to have. Instead of having a list of such powers, the game gives a framework for rating powers a player might want in terms of points. Powers can range from having a pet snake to throwing fire to changing into a wolf. Next Elements, the equivilent to stats are chosen. The Elements are fire, which handles strength and combat ability, Earth, which handles toughness and willpower, Water, which represents perception and wisdom, and Air, which governs intellect and reason. For each Element, a specialty is assigned to cover something that the character is good at within that field. Magical abilities are next assigned. Unlike most games, each player who has magic is suggested to design their own type of magic to fit their character. A basic system of doing so is given, but in Everway magic is supposed to be very flexable and freeform instead of a concrete list of spells. Several examples of types of magic are given, but most players should make up their own. Magic, while resembling Powers, is different because it represents a whole field of things a character can do, instead of a specific talent. In addition, all magic must correspond to one of the Elements the character is high in. Finally, after all points have been assigned to the above categories, the players ask each other questions in character, which covers how they know each other, who they each are, and what their past is. It is almost vital for all characters to be created at the same time, as the question phase helps form them into a well-defined group. This whole process tends to create detailed, well fleshed out characters with distict personalities, instead of munchkins and combat monsters. How does the system resolve actions? Three methods of action resolution are given: the law of Karma, the law of Drama, and the law of Fortune. Karma consists of assessing the diffuculty of the action and deciding whether the character can do it based on his resources, skills, and his applicable Element. Drama consists of the GM determining what would be most adventageous to the plot and having that happen. Fortune works by having the GM draw a card from the fortune deck and deciding what happens based on how the card relates to the situation. The book suggests that all three methods be used in conjuction. The advantages of the system are that resolution is quite simple and that Drama allows the GM to advance the plot when necessary, in effect having GM fudging built into the system. The disadvantages are that diceless resolution can sometimes be difficult to assess without bias, and the fortune deck can be hard to interpret. What is this fortune deck which keeps being mentioned? The fortune deck is a deck of 36 cards which are loosely inspired by the Major Arcana of the Tarot cards. Each card has an image, such as The Dragon, a meaning, such as planning or cleverness, and normal and reversed interpretations, such as Cunning and Blind Fury. These cards are used in various parts of the game, and exist within the game world as well. While there is a guide to interpreting the cards, actually relating them to the events of the game can be difficult and takes practice. However, once one is used to using them the symbolism of the cards can lead to a much more interesting means of handling actions than just rolling dice. What are the advantages of using this system over others? The mythic feel, the simple rules system, and the character generation process make for a more dramatic, interesting game than most systems. What are things it lacks that should have been included? A carrying case for the fortune deck would be nice, as it gets taken wherever you play and the cards can get bent if they are merely carried in a pocket or with a rubber band. It is simple to improvise one, but there is really no excuse for it to not have been included. Another thing the game lacks is a list of how each fortune card relates to common types of actions, such as social interaction, mental and physical tasks, and combat. A partial list of meanings in combat is given, but just a few more pages would make a GM's task much simpler when starting out. Also, a slightly more detailed list of combat rules would have been nice. Still, these are minor flaws. Basically, the game goes for a unique type of play and handles it better than any other system. With good roleplayers it is a delight to play, but with poor ones you will be cringing halfway through character creation. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)