World Tree

     In a nutshell: very detailed Fantasy RPG with cute furry animals.

     Pros: very detailed, in-depth magic system, great artwork

     Cons: very detailed, complex character creation, non-user friendly combat

     Fantasy role-playing can easily be called the father genre of the gaming world. Most every game that allows player characters to pick up a sword can trace its linage back to Dungeons and Dragons. The real challenge for game developers has been to create fantasy worlds that set selves apart and break new ground. World Tree: A Role-Playing Game of Species and Civilization has done that.

     World Tree (Padwolf Publishing, $29.95) is set in a world called, you guessed it, the World Tree. A tangle of tree trunks and branches fifty miles wide by thousands of miles long, the World Tree is the home of a number of sentient animals and plants. They live in cities in the uppermost reaches of the World Tree while a good amount of the remainder is unexplored wilderness. Players in the game create characters out of one of eight animal-like races and embark on adventures throughout the Tree.

     The glossy game book itself weighs in at a hefty 318 pages, a good portion of which is dedicated to the description of the game world itself. Authors Bard and Victoria Borah Bloom have created an in-depth fantasy world with an engaging history. The history, sociology and economics of the World Tree are laid out in an easy to understand manner and provide a wealth of information for the Game Master (GM) to draw from. The amount of information is so much, in fact, that the GM had better be prepared to study it well before attempting to run a game.

     The heart and soul of a modern RPG is its character creation system. The system for World Tree is extremely detailed allowing for the creation of unique characters, sacrificing simplicity for depth. It is a skills-based system calling for a significant amount of number crunching and die rolling at the game table. But the up side of the system is that characters can be created that really feel alive.

     The Prime races in World Tree are as follows: the dog-like Cani, bear-like Gormoror, insectoid Herethroy, the Khtsoyis which are like flying octopi, the otter-like Orren, the raccoon-like Rassimel, the feline Sleeth and the Zi Ri which are small dragons. Each race is detailed in such a way that its appearance, social structure and attitude towards other races are easy to understand. Characters can be created off of standard racial templates for players who would like to try to jump into the game in a hurry. But fleshing out a unique character can take a considerable amount of time.

     One of the most interesting pieces of the World Tree package is the massive magic system. A whopping 77 pages are dedicated to magic and spells. An exhaustive list of spells is provided, sporting such interesting names as "Pitiful Sniveling Spell," "Eyes of the Drill of Pain" and "Toast the Sneaky Thief." The system was created in such a way that players can create their own spells through a combination of 7 magical verbs and 12 nouns. An example of this would be the verb Mutoc (changing things) with nouns Corpador (flesh, living things) and Ariador (air, sound) - a combination I call "Silence the Whining Editor." "Ed: alternate "Silence the Noisy Neighbor."

     The combat system is extremely cinematic and heroic. A number of advanced maneuvers are available to the characters which can result in some Matrix-esque fights between furry creatures. Unfortunately the system is not terribly intuitive so expect a good amount of page flipping through the book in addition to the dice rolling and math required to run a combat scene. Keeping with the light fantasy theme, rules are included for magical healing of wounds and for character resurrections should a creature fall to the blade.

     All in all, World Tree is an extremely unique game and a fresh concept where one was needed. The game world is richly detailed and the book contains a huge amount of information. The downside is that the game is fairly complicated, and while its colorful cover with cute furry animals may attract younger gamers, the game is really targeted towards a more experienced role player. The authors could really help out by creating a few basic adventures to get players and GM's used to the system.

     A final note, the artwork in the World Tree book is first rate. Illustrations ranging from pencil sketches to detailed pen and inks do a marvelous job of telling the story of the many inhabitants of the World Tree. Hats off to the artists who help to bring the world to life.

     Send your comments and questions about this article to cbmorley@hotmail.com.

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