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venerdì 2 agosto 2013

Druid an Italian RPG

The box cover.

Druid was an entirely Italian RPG published in 1993 by Editrice Giochi. On Druid Wikipedia Page we can find more information, in particular we are remebered that the authors were Spartaco Albertelli, Nick Gandolfi and Paolo Parente who worked also on the beautiful illustrations.

It was a nice box full of material, a rule book (players and GM with monster to boot), an introductory adventure, some paper miniature, a wonderful color Map a fantastic GM screen and a few ten sided dice.


A box full of fun!

What follows is a capsule review from a quick skimming of the rules (I just bought it on a "try to get italian rpg when you can" collector impulse).

Paper minis!!


The game was easy to learn but required some thinking during character generation, to distribute points to characteristics, and to choose character race (human, elf, dwarf, halfling)


Elf character
Halfling


and profession (herbalist, warrior, bard, artisan, street artist and some more)

Street artist

Hunter


Everything was rolled. The system is all based on percentile dice, characteristic are in theory from 1 to 100 (but since they are 10 and you have from 450 to 700 points you will usually get them from 30 to 80), rolls are skill/attribute +d100 vs a difficulty factor, from very easy (50) to impossible (200). There is critical failure on 01-04 and special success on 96-00.

A primitive weapon
Some complication are present for combat but nothing really impossible to master.

Magic is all around
All character can master some form of magic since the premise of the game is that they are chosen to defend the land from dark force, the druid on the cover is the one to instruct them. Progression in magic is very casual since you can hit your maximum potential each time you try to increase your magical skill, to increase magical skill or other abilities the player must spend earned experience points.

Halfling are the best bard of the land
There are four form of magic: mind and elements (elemental magic is done by summoning small elemental spirits that will try to help the caster - the danger is to summon a fearsome Fomor who will try to kill and destroy everything on site) which are basic form of magic, music and rune which are advanced form of magic.

The map of the setting
The setting is quite detailed in tone and gives all the basic information needed to the GM, as the names of character and on the map suggest it's steeped in Celt legends and lore, and reminds here and there the Deverry series by Katherine Kerr (but maybe because the legendary sources are the same), specially in the name of the Druid Nehwyn and the elemental magic system.

The introductory adventure
There is a very nice introductory adventure in the box, very helpful for the novice GM and capable of giving a good taste of the setting and of the game.

Art of the GM Screen
To round up the rule book there are a smattering of monster and setting information.

Monsters are very nicely illustrated (as all the game is).

Goblin

Lanshee, vampiric faeries

Orcs!!!!

Dragon

Giant

The dangerous and alien Fomors

Trolls

Back cover of the rulebook

8 commenti:

  1. Devo dire che ha veramente una bellissima veste grafica! Le illustrazioni sono proprio magnifiche.

    RispondiElimina
  2. I remember the cover of this game, and it waiting for a buyer inside one of Genoa's few RPG stores, many years ago.
    I don't know why, but I was never attracted to it, maybe because at that time I held prejudices against italian games (I was so young!).

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. I had the same problem with italian RPG at the time, and furthermore it come out too late for me, I was deep into other game and life going on (in 1994 I got married :-) )

      Elimina
  3. Ma che bello!!!!
    H oproprio la scatola di Druid che occhieggia da dietro la mia schiena, cercando di "tirarsela" per la tua recensione :-)
    Un bel prodotto, molto curato e con alcune piccole grandi novità come le miniature di cartone con le basette di plastica (pathfinder pawns? no no, Druid)
    Ricordo che allìepoca in cui acquistai Druid c'era anche un altro bel titolo in edicola con pubblicazioni periodiche: mutant chronicles.

    RispondiElimina
  4. Accidenti, nel nostro gruppo ce l'avevamo (come avevamo parecchi altri giochi oggi vintage) ma non ci abbiamo mai giocato nè io ho mai voluto approfondirlo. Mi piacerebbe proprio metterci le mani sopra oggi!
    Se non sbaglio, però, il gioco aveva il "limite" che i personaggi dovevano tendere all'obiettivo di diventare druidi, il che forse limitava un po' la varietà del gioco (un po' come in Lex Arcana il fatto che i personaggi sono "poliziotti magici" dell'Impero che devono fare di volta in volta le missioni assegnate).
    Mi pare che all'epoca uscì anche un'avventura o un supplemento. Altri tempi...

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. Si uscì un supplemento, è vero come in lex arcana tutti fanno la _stessa_ cosa ma se è un limite per una campagna classica è secondo me ottimo per un gioco introduttivo e concentrato più sulle azioni e la personalità dei personaggi (e le loro relazioni sociali con il mondo) che su quel che sanno fare :)

      Elimina
  5. L'espansione era una scatola, intitolata crom cruach !

    RispondiElimina