[RPG]: WitchGirl Adventures, reviewed by Web Warlock (5/4)

[RPGnet Reviews]

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14342.phtml

Timothy S. Brannan's Summary:

Great new game and system designed for new players. It's a nice mix of modern, occult, anime and fantasy. Worth the price for the magic system alone.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Skywalker]

I agree that WGA is a very awesome RPG and well executed. Given that it is selling for just $20, I also wondered if a full colour version would have been achievable for $40.

My only doubt is over the use of polyhedral dice. For an RPG to be truly far reaching in its target audience, I think a D6 system may have been a better idea.

FWIW I received my print copy with a free badge and a tassle thing to put on your cell phone

[Web Warlock]

That came with mine as well. I guess i should have mentioned that.

Full color would be really fun.

You might be right about the d6s though.

I SIMPLE solution would be to take the die type and divide by 2 to get a score. The the mechanic is 2d6 + score + skill. But that might be too high for some rolls.

Tim

[xenongames]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

My only doubt is over the use of polyhedral dice. For an RPG to be truly far reaching in its target audience, I think a D6 system may have been a better idea.

Assuming this book isn't being sold in Target and Limited Too! stores, I think it is safe to assume that the players who have access to the game will have access to polyhedral dice. Sometimes the funky dice is a benefit for new players, who find them fun and cool without evoking horrid memories of playing Yahtzee or Monopoly.

[Tommy Brownell]

Hm.

Now I'm sorely tempted.

I was considering picking up the PDF version, but since they're apparently the same price (print and PDF) I may order the print version...while I could probably never seriously convince my players to play this game, your glowing recommendation for the magic system tempts the heck out of me.

Tommy

[Web Warlock]

Well given the popularity of Magical Girl stories and Harry Potter, I can't see why this wouldn't be one of those games that everyone plays, but never admits to.

Now I could sell this to my D&D4/Unisystem group and play it as is. If I were to get my boys to play it (9 and 6) I might have to tell them it is called "Wizard School" or something.

Plus at 20 bucks use it as a campaign guide for Savage Worlds or Cortex.

I have a Unisystem game that is based on a similar idea and I am VERY, VERY tempted to convert over to this game. And I love Unisystem. I don't just drink that kool-aid, I make fresh batches of it anytime I can.

Buy the PDF and print out the bits you like.

Tim

[Doc_Chronos]

I'm also not in the target demographic, and am greatly enjoying the book. It such a pleasant change to find something that's NOT grim-dark. A couple of years ago I got my niece and her friends started role-playing with A Faery's Tale (which they loved). When I first came across Witchgirl Adventures here in RPGNet, I told my niece, and there was nothing to do but get a copy so that I could run the game for her group. They are one of the best groups I've ever gamed with, enthusiastic, always at the game, and always in the game, with no rule lawyer-ing (so far anyway ). I'm really looking forward to switching the group over to WitchGirls. One of the other girls' Mom has even expressed of interest in being taught the rules, so that she can gm too. So good job Channel M. I look forward to the future releases in the line.

[wljohnso]

Great write up. Nice to see a game that is not grim and targets a fairly wide audience. Though I suspect the people buying this game will be the more avid gamers and not a teener looking to try an RPG for the first time.

I would not beat up a small press over art being b/c it is black and white or simply not up to WOTC standards. After working in the biz for several years, great art requires serious budget considerations.

--W

[Witchgirlsadv]

Thanks for your kind words guys.

So after looking the book over what supplemental stuff would you like to see?

13 Magazine issue 1 is just over a month and a half away. Its a pretty good size freebie (almost 40 pages) including.
Organization Spotlight on the Argus Society
Potion Spotlight on Love Potions
20 spells every witch should know
Creature spotlight- The Bandersnatch
Witch Girls World Spotlight-First Job baby sitting. With 2 new cliques, half a dozen new monsters, new equipment and spells.
Romance Spotlight-Vampire boyfriend - Lots of information on the Vampires of the Witch Girls world.

Issue 2
Organization spotlight, the Order of Echidna (Lovecraft ala witchgirls)
Witch Girls World Spotlight- My Magic Pony, The rules for making and taking care of your own unique magic steed including unicorns and Kyrin.

and so on.

[David J Prokopetz]

Based on my own reading, the system's okay, but the sample characters seem problematic. There are a number of cases where some of the protagonists from the comic have been given extremely powerful traits not available to player characters, and I just know that a lot of kids who read them are going to think it's not fair that their own character can't have that sort of thing.

(Plus, some of the art and chapter comics in the latter half of the book seems to be hitting the "involuntary transformation" fetish pretty hard. For those who don't know the background, the comic Witch Girls - i.e., this game's source material - is a bleached underpants spin-off of an adult fetish comic called The Shrinking Sorceress. Some of the grown-up characters in Witch Girls are carried over from its predecessor, which makes for the occasional squick moment when the writing backslides and they end up casually mutilating or killing male characters over trivial offenses.)