WYRED - Leaner, Meaner Edition
GET THE BAD BOY HERE. (2 MB Zip file)
Contains “complete” core rulebook, two pocketmod books, a character sheet and a pocket“character folio.”
This is probably the most drastic iteration of WYRED written so far. My gaming group loves it, so I’m curious how it flies with the online crowd. I completely blame Stuart Robertson and his game Weird West for influencing this version.
A lot has been trimmed out, some of it streamlined and simplified, and what you have here is just the necessary core rules. They have been re-organized a bit, and crammed into two PocketMod booklets for easy carrying and high mobility. There’s still a “complete” document in regular format for reading digitally or printing out. Part of the organization was inspired by what I noticed was “two phases” of character creation: the statistical creation, then the toy shopping (augments, weapons, gear etc.) Splitting the Core Rules and Gear into separate booklets means as soon as someone is midway through creation, he or she can hand off the first booklet so the next player can get started while they window shop.
Here are the big changes that I can think of:
- Return to d6 Mechanic:Little fixes to the system, like Combat Rating and changing armor to pure soak, really adjusted things well for the d6. The d12 mechanic was sound…but I came to realize the d6 version was easier to gauge and scale. Plus, this keeps it in the realm of “easy to find dice in a pinch” and maintains compatibility with other WyRM systems. (And is anyone else really, really excited about Veil of Secrecy coming out like I am?)
- Streamlined Augment Listing: I ditched bionetics in the core rules, as well as legality listings and “Edge Link” (which was a VERY hard decision.) I figured both of those could be house ruled in easily depending on GM and campaign, but weren’t “essential” to the game. A couple pieces of augments also were scrapped to save space….I could easily bring them back in a future supplement though.
- Drugs & Toxins omitted. Again, this was more to do with deciding what was core to the game and trimmed for page economy in the pocketmod format. That said, I would really love to make a full Drug & Toxin supplement booklet.
- Simplified/Cleaned Up a Few Rules: A few perks were simplified (like Buddy), Hacking was re-written (and hopefully comprehensible.) “Net Defense” is now called “Cyber Defense” because the original term confused a couple players (came off sounding like a “net total.”)
- Character Sheet Updated: Stealing a modification from Mathias’ sheets for his “Star WYRED” game, I’ve added columns for a “total bonus” on the weapons and skills for quicker modifier reference. Why they hell didn’t I do that in the first place?
As always, looking forward to some feedback.
I know some peeps will probably be taken back by the simplification and omissions, but I have to be honest: I think I love this approach the most for WYRED. No bullshit, straight to the point, and open for tinkering and expansion. The PocketMod format actually inspires a ton of ideas in me…..I envision in the long run having a core booklet, and then optional booklets of rules to mix and match for your campaign.
Just a thought. Tell me if I’m crazy.
