 Goto [ Index ] |
With that being said, I promise not to pull any punches with this review (hey, I’m a Heel). I know both the merits and the drawbacks to this game, having immersed myself in it since before its release. It is my hope that this review will illuminate some of the misconceptions about WWE Know Your Role! and help you, the reader and fellow gamer, decide whether this game is right for you.
Overview
At the core of WWE Know Your Role! (hereafter referred to as KYR) is the concept of “Smashmouth Roleplaying”. What is Smashmouth Roleplaying? I’m glad you asked.
Smashmouth Roleplaying is part OGL, part wrestling knowledge, and part free form roleplay. All of these elements are combined within KYR to emulate a professional wrestling show, namely that of World Wrestling Entertainment.
Yes, that means that you will, in effect, be pretending to be someone who is playing pretend in turn… if you want to look at it that way. However, in the context of the game, the characters are actually fighting each other, and the effects on each character are real. For you marks out there, that means you’ll be sticking to kayfabe.
Character Creation
There are several classes within KYR: Aerial (your high flyers), Rough (hardcore wrestlers and brawlers), Power (usually big hosses), Savvy (dirty players), Technical (mat wrestlers), and Manager (representative of wrestlers who may get involved when the ref isn’t looking). Just like in a traditional RPG, each class has its own strengths and weaknesses. The good news is that you can multiclass to emulate just about any type of character you want.
For example, when I created stats for Lita (a female wrestler on WWE’s current roster), I gave her four levels in Aerial, three levels in Manager, and two levels in Technical. By doing so, I was able to emulate Lita fairly well, in my own humble opinion.
Several bonuses stack, such as the Base Attack Bonus, Saving Throws, and Reputation.
Ok, say you understand BAB and Saves from other OGL games, but aren’t familiar with the Reputation stat. It’s simply how well known your particular wrestler is, and comes into gameplay often.
One thing I’ve noticed is that KYR is rather heavy on feats. Just like in other OGL games, each feat has a specific effect. However, being heavy on feats is balanced by being rather light on skills. Compared to other OGL games, KYR actually has very few skills to choose from. The skill list is very wrestling specific, though, and works well within the context of the game. Beyond that, there are absolutely no useless skills in the game. None. GM’s don’t have to worry that players will spend Ranks on a skill they will never use. There are skills I would like to see added for use in KYR, such as a Drive skill. WWE has a habit of having their Superstars run over with cars in vignettes. However, any skill you can think of can be emulated on the spot with an Ability check. In the case of Drive, I’d likely have it be a Dex check on the driver vs. a Spot check on the target.
It should also be noted that all the classes are known as Superstar Classes (e.g. Wrestler classes), with the exception of Manager, which is not a Superstar class. The difference between the two is that each Superstar class starts out with two feats and one Talent, while the Manager class, being the single class in the game that’s not combat oriented, start with two talents and one feat. Managers don’t get to choose Finishers, either, unless they multiclass.
Talents work like Class special abilities, and are divided up into several talent trees per character class. I’ve found that this allows for a greater level of personalization for each character.
Players are encouraged to make up several characters to play during the course of the game. The reason being that the nature of the game doesn’t allow you to play a single character during the entire gaming session (unless you simply want to sit on the sidelines for most of the game). We’ll cover the reasons why in a moment.
Attitude
Attitude is the alignment system for KYR. There are three Attitudes you may choose from: Face (short for Babyface, a good guy wrestler), Neutral (what wrestling fans calls a “tweener”, neither good nor bad, but a little bit of both), and Heel (a bad guy wrestler).
Wrestlers change Attitudes in WWE like some people change underwear. There are no hard and fast rules for changing Attitude; there really doesn’t need to be. Attitude represents your wrestlers current moral compass. Face wrestlers generally play by the rules and refrain from using underhanded moves to win a match. Heel wrestlers will cheat at any given opportunity, even when they don’t have to. Neutral wrestlers will act as a Heel when wrestling a Face character, or a Face when wrestling a Heel character.
What sets KYR apart from other OGL games is that each Attitude gets its own set of Tricks. Tricks can be thought of as special effects or abilities specific to a certain Attitude (though there is a set of general tricks useable by anybody). For instance, a Face wrestler could invoke the Monster Comeback trick and “Hulk Up”. A Heel wrestler might invoke the Ref Bump trick, pulling the referee in front of him and thus transferring the damage he would have taken to the ref. Neutral wrestlers are free to use tricks from either set, depending on the Attitude of the opponent.
Combat
KYR works differently than most OGL games when it comes to combat. There’s no 5-step rules or Attacks of Opportunity here, folks. Nevertheless, as Diamond Dallas Page would say, “That’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing!”
The first thing that struck me when I played my first session was the ability to create combat maneuvers on the fly. You simply decide what you want the move to do, add certain modifiers (and there’s a good-sized list of combat modifiers, folks), and add the final tally to your D20 roll.
Let’s recreate a move now, say, a flying clothesline.
First, we know it’s an Aerial maneuver, because you’re coming off your feet. However, it’s also a devastating maneuver, which could put it in the Rough category. Which category should we put it in? We’ll use both. This gives the player the choice of using either their Dex modifier (Aerial) or their Con modifier (Rough) to add to the D20 roll.
Now we can choose which effects we wish to the maneuver to have. We want the maneuver to do a fair bit of damage, so let’s give it 2d6 damage. You’re not lifting an opponent, and the opponent is going to take damage even if you don’t knock him down, so we’ll add the Knockdown Check modifier. If you miss the move, you could hurt yourself when you land, so the Stun On Self If Missed modifier applies here.
The result would look like this:
Flying Clothesline (aerial/rough maneuver, 2d6 damage (-2), knockdown check (-1), possible stun on self if missed (+1), -2 on maneuver check)
Maneuvers in KYR aren’t set in stone (unless it’s a Moveset, Signature Move, or Finisher maneuver for your character), and may be modified from round to round. Let’s say you want to try the maneuver again three rounds later, but your want to hit your opponent so hard that it may knock him senseless for a round or so. Simply add in the Possible Stun modifier, but doing so means you exert yourself more, so we’ll also add in the 2 Endurance Cost modifier.
The maneuver now looks like this:
Flying Clothesline (aerial/rough maneuver, 2d6 damage (-2), knockdown check (-1), possible stun on self if missed (+1), possible stun (-2), 2 Endurance cost (+2), -2 on maneuver check)
To attack an opponent, you simply roll 1d20, add in the ability modifier (in the case of the Flying Clothesline, you could add in either the Dex modifier or the Con modifier) plus the maneuver modifier.
The player who has the highest maneuver check hits their move, and wins the right to call the action. This is where KYR really shines. In essence, the game can be played without a GM between two players, if they so desire.
Let’s run a sample combat round:
Player 1 (Playing “Alarmin’” Steve Garvin): This round, I’m using a Sleeper Hold.
Player 2 (Playing The Blue Bomber): Ok, I’ll use a Rolling Single Leg Boston Crab.
Player 1: I’ve rolled a 10, plus my Intelligence mod of +1, plus a –3 maneuver mod for a grand total of eight…
Player 2: I’ve rolled a 14, +0 on my Intelligence mod, -1 on the maneuver mod… Ha! A 13!
Player 1: Dang!
Player 2: Garvin slaps on the Sleeper, but Bomber manages to counter with several well-placed elbows to Garvin’s gut. Bomber Irish Whips Garvin into the ropes and catches him on the rebound, rolling him up into a Single Leg Crab! Garvin takes 4 points of damage! Tap, Garvin! Tap!
In the example above, The Blue Bomber has the initiative, and Garvin’s players must declare his maneuver and roll first. After both players roll, Player 2 wins the maneuver check. He also wins the right to describe the action. This takes quite a bit of pressure off the GM, who usually does the bulk of the work in other games.
Some of you are saying to yourselves, “Self, that player used a lot more maneuvers in his description than what was declared in their actions. What gives?” Simple. All the other moves are flavor. They help set up the “big move”, or the declared action, in the sequence. They also tend to make the round much more exciting. Only the maneuver that hit does damage. Moveset maneuvers, Finishers and Signature Moves work a little differently than regular maneuvers. Moveset is a feat, and represents maneuvers that characters use on a regular basis, but doesn’t have quite the same impact as Signature Moves or Finishers. Signature Moves are maneuvers that your Superstar does particularly well, and delivers in their own, unique way (such as Chris Benoit’s Triple German Suplex maneuver). Signature Moves are also limited in the number of times they may be used per show, representing “high spots” for those wrestlers. Finishers are those moves your Superstar would use in order to finish off an opponent, such as Triple-H’s Pedigree maneuver. You may use a finisher as often as you like, but doing so costs you one point of Heat. The damage a finisher does is also doubled, meaning that you’re likely to regain the point you just spent. This is particularly handy if the Finisher you chose is a Submission maneuver, which would cost you one Heat every round in order to maintain the double damage.
Damage
There are two types of damage in KYR: Endurance and Trauma.
Endurance is based on Con, and increases by your Con every time you gain a level. This stat represent how fatigued you are, and every 20 points of Endurance lost incurs a –1 penalty to all of your rolls.
Trauma reflects your actual health. Taking Trauma damage usually occurs when taking a hit from a foreign object, such as a steel chair, and represents injury and/or blood loss. Trauma is equal to your Con score, does not increase when you gain a level, and may only be increased by either increasing your Con score or by taking the Toughness feat.
Heat
Heat is a new term created for KYR. Every time a player’s wrestler does ten or more points of damage, or does exceptionally well in a promo or vignette, he gains one Heat. Spending Heat Points allows you to use your finishing maneuver or certain feats and talents. [SIZE="6"]Contender Points[/SIZE] Every time your wrestler wins a match, he gets Contender Points. Contender Points are tracked by the GM on a month-to-month basis (game time), and help the GM determine who should get title shots and who shouldn’t.
Advancement
Yes, you do gain experience points. Just like in other OGL based games, your character levels up as he gains more experience, allowing him to acquire more skills, talents, and feats, etc. Characters gain experience for both winning and losing matches (think of it this way: the winner gets the bigger part of the prize, while the loser walks away with consolation XP). Title matches are also worth much more XP than regular matches, and specialty matches often receive a generous multiplier for XP.
Running Shows
There is a chapter that gives you some guidelines on how to run a KYR game session. As noted before, players are encouraged to created several wrestlers. The reason for this is, in most matches, it’s only one wrestler vs. another wrestler. What are the players to do once they’ve played their character? Why, play a different character, of course! And those players who aren’t currently active during a particular match, promo, or vignette are encouraged to act the part as referees, ring announcers, color commentators, etc. And, of course, you can always interject yourself into another player’s match.
There are also rules for how many times per show a character may appear onscreen, based on your Cha modifier. This keeps players from letting their characters run roughshod over the entire gaming session with their favorite character.
It should be noted, though, that since KYR is a licensed game, the book only talks about running WWE-based games. Those looking for rules on running their own organizations will be sorely disappointed. The upside is that it doesn’t matter. KYR emulates other organizations just as well as it does WWE. So, if you wanted to run a game set in, say, NWA-TNA, it’s perfectly plausible with virtually no tweaking required.
In fact, you’ll find that it only takes a few minutes to write up a gaming session for KYR. It’s also the only game I’ve ever played where you not only count on players getting away from the notes you’ve written up for the game… you hope they do. This has to be one of the most player-involved games I’ve ever played, with players suggesting storylines and starting feuds on their own initiative. Often, the Player Character’s actions in one week’s game will practically write the next weeks game for you, with absolutely no railroading involved… or needed!
Ratings
Now comes the part where I actually rate the game. For this purpose, I’ll use an Internet Wrestling Community standard, the Star Rating system, ranging from Dud (steaming pile of sucktitude) to ***** (The Very Best).
[bGameplay
Gameplay isn’t hard to master at all. It’s quick and customizable on a round-to-round basis. The entire system is based on pro wrestling and emulates it very well. However, it is not well suited to crossovers with other OGL/D20 games. So, if you want to mix WWE with D&D, be prepared to juggle two sets of rules and make up a ton of house rules.
Rating: ****1/2
Content
As has been noted elsewhere, this game is a licensed game. The rules take up most of the 143 pages. There are full color pictures scattered throughout the book, and it is indexed, which is a big plus in my book. However, the $40 price tag may scare off some players, and there are a few editing mistakes. A FAQ is also in order, as there have been several rules questions online.
Rating: ***
Cover & Binding
The cover itself is well done, and actually has the author’s names on the front, which is something I like to see. However, the binding seems to leave something to be desired. Many players have complained about the binding cracking. My own copy has held up just fine, but still seems much less durable than my well-worn copy of V:tM. My copy of KYR also makes a cracking sound when I open it up, and some pages seem to be loosely stitched on, particularly in the middle of the book. With a good deal of care, your copy will last for a while, but I have heard complaints from other players about the binding actually breaking and the pages falling out. I think this is Comic Images first RPG, and I hope that they take steps to correct this problem in future print runs. My suggestion would be to go to a perfect bound, soft-cover format. This might even help lower the price of the game (maybe) and make players who would pass KYR up give the game a second look.
Rating: **
Wrestlers
This is what most people who have bought the book have paid to see. There are 20 wrestlers within Chapter 8, representing a good mix of both Managers and Superstars. However, it should be noted that, through no fault of Comic Images, the roster in KYR has already suffered from some attrition. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) and Rhyno now work for a rival organization, Chris Jericho is on hiatus, and the early passing of Eddie Guerrero recently shocked the wrestling world. (R.I.P. Eddie. We miss you) Paul Heyman is still employed by WWE, but runs the Ohio Valley Wrestling feeder organization. The Rock will always be synonymous with WWE, but he’s no longer part of WWE. So he’s not there, either. This means that, for those who want to run their games based on current storylines, you have very little to pick and choose from. That doesn’t detract from the roster, mind you, but it’s now anything but current. With a lack of supplements featuring new Superstars, that leaves a lot more work on GM’s that want official stats for their games.
Rating: ***1/2 except for….
Earl Hebner
Buh? Earl Hebner? There’s generalized rules for referees in the book. I have nothing against Earl Hebner. I simply don’t see many players actually wanting to roleplay him as one of their regular characters. The space could probably have been devoted to Jerry Lawler or Jim Ross, and having Hebner there feels kind of like filler. But that’s just my opinion. I challenge each and every one of you to find a way to make Earl a regular part of your show beyond officiating matches. Still…
Rating: DUD
Official Support
So far, Comic Images hasn’t done a whole lot to get word of this game out there to the RPG community in general. Nor is there a lot of support on the KYR website (http://www.comicimages.com/kyr). Last I looked, there was a profile for John Cena and a profile for Batista. Oh, and a demo that was created before the game was released (which changed slightly before release). That’s about it. There seems to be much more support for their card games, and I’m hoping Comic Images does something with the website soon.
There aren’t any supplements out for KYR… yet. Last I knew of, there were some in the works and, as far as I know, that hasn’t changed. My suggestion to Comic Images would be to release a supplement by Wrestlemania, or by The Royal Rumble if they can manage it. Oh, and a GM’s Screen would be a great idea. Perhaps one packaged with a small roster of Superstars from both Raw and Smackdown!. Somewhere in that list, there needs to be more wrestlers and match types, and perhaps more tricks. If they come up with new feats and skills, that would be great, but I don’t know that there’s any need for them. The feats and skills in the core rulebook seem to sum up most of Sports Entertainment fairly well.
Rating: * (for effort)
Fan Support
Fan support for this game has been phenomenal. Its fans (including the authors!), thus far, have more than made up for what Comic Images hasn’t done. The WWERPGFan Yahoo Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/wwerpgfan) already has a membership of over 500 fans, with new members joining all the time. A few members have written/are writing netbooks full of wrestlers and new match types, and the game’s authors are often there to answer rules questions. Really, I can’t ask for anything more than that. What a great group of marks!
If I may toot my own horn for a moment, I have a yahoo group devoted to KYR (http://groups.yahoo.com/wwekrywrestlers). This acts as a repository for fan-created wrestlers. By the time you read this, I will likely have posted a few that I’ve worked on there for players to use, and others have added their own creations there, which are excellent. Feel free to stop by, download some wrestlers, and, if you are familiar with the game, add some of your own.
Rating: *****
Overall
KYR does everything I wanted to see in a wrestling game. It’s rules light, easy to understand, quick to master, and can be played with a GM in a long-term campaign or with just two players looking for a quick RPG fix. I play the game with my two older daughters, both wrestling fans themselves, ages 9 and 6. It’s the first RPG they’ve played.
However, it is very fan-oriented, and non-marks may find delving into a wrestling game daunting, especially if they are not familiar with wrestling terminology (which the book is fairly sprinkled with). For those newbies who want to give the game and pro wrestling a try, I’d suggest sitting down and watching the next episode of WWE Monday Night Raw or WWE Smackdown! beforehand.
For those of you who love pro wrestling, try KYR. There’s a demo on the WWERPGFan Yahoo Group that includes a bit of character generation, and this will probably give you a better feel for the game before you plunk your money down.
Rating: ****
Resources for Information on Pro Wrestling
The following links include information on Pro Wrestling, and individual wrestlers. Those who play this game should feel encouraged to use these resources to recreate their favorite wrestlers, or to pillage them for ideas for your own original creations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Professional_wrestling
http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com
http://www.thesmartmarks.com
http://www.wwe.com
Open Challenge to Comic Images
As stated above, I find that most of the problems facing KYR aren’t with the game itself, but with the promotion and support of the game by Comic Images. I’d be willing to bet that most people outside of the RPG community doesn’t even know it exists. WWE has a huge fan base, which isn’t being tapped.
So, Comic Images, I issue you this challenge: Get Vince and Company to mention the game on Raw. Run ads for the game on the WWE website. Give this game a proper push and see what happens. You have a great set of knowledgeable writers. Use them. Let’s see some supplements on the shelves. Update the website monthly. Surprise us. Shock us. Give the fans what they want. We just might surprise you in turn.
