Vapourware The Witcher Tabletop RPG

[Mother Russia]

Calling all Pole fags.

So, there was a TWitcher RPG published bac in 2001. It had a main rulebook, and a couple of supplements. Sadly, it was in Polish, never got officially translated, and the company that published it died in 2005 or so.

From what I hear on rpg.net it was a good campaign setting info book. As a Witcher rpg it was somewhat bland, rules wise. Or so they say. It had rules for playing Witchers, Mages, Priests, and a couple other classes. The magic system for Witchers was separate to the magic system(s) for the other magii classes.

A pity it wasn't translated. I would have loved to read it. While technically one could run Witcher using another system like GURPS or whatever, I much prefer a ruleset/game built for a specific game from the groundup, even if it is not all that well done. That's because the art work and lore matches the source material, and inspires me with ideas regarding that specific campagn world as I read the game.

Any Poles here own or have read this gem? Care to tell use something about it? Maybe post a translated class or two (say, the Witcher and maybe some other class) just so I can see what it was like?

Also, any reason no one else has picked this up? With the popularity of the computer game, and the dearth of Sword and Sorcery type games one would think this would be a somewhat hot property, yet relatively cheap at the same time, making it perfect for a medium company to pick up and Kickstarter it into production.

 

[Excidium]

A good Witcher RPG to me would be something like The Riddle of Steel in structure. Narrative focus and deadly combat with realistic weapon handling where every blow counts.

I much prefer a ruleset/game built for a specific game from the groundup, even if it is not all that well done. That's because the art work and lore matches the source material, and inspires me with ideas regarding that specific campagn world as I read the game.

 

[ColCol]

I've been wondering about this too. I thought with Success of the Witcher series, the pnp game would see a widespread release, I did not know the company folded.

 

[Stonewolf]

Well, I have it, in fact I even have it scanned in pdf. If you really want to take a look I probably can upload it somewhere.

Though the game is really bad. It's basically a shallow, family-friendly tabletop and it was rushed to be released alongside Witcher movie/tv show back in 2001. They even used shots from the movie as artwork for the chapters in the book and the cover.

 

[Stonewolf]

Uploaded it, gl deciphering potato.

 

[ColCol]

Uploaded it, gl deciphering potato.

Thanks brah!

 

[Rzorrz]

So... kind of necromancy I guess, but you guys seems liike the people we are looking for.

Almost a year ago me and my pals teamed together in the effort of translating the Witcher RPG into English. Let's get it straight - our English grammar is atrocious. So we require at least a single person with enough dedication to work as proof-reader. And here comes the problem - we tried to use 4chan's /tg/, which was apparently starved for The Witcher, but as always in such situations, there was a lot of enthusiasm as long as there was no work or dedication involved. When we finally put the draft translation of first 90 pages, we've got a total of two replies - both simply asking if they project is still going on.
No proof-reading, no help, no nothing.

So we abandoned the project, translating only basic rules and how combat is solved, without touching magic, the chapter for GM or the rest of the book, which is full of lore about the game's universe. Not to mention monster compedium, where finding suitable names for certain creatures will be alone an awful task.

BUT since you are here and I'm an expert necromancer, let's pretend there is still some interest in the project. We can put out the draft up here, with the original Polish book, someone will proof-read it and we will get motivation to work further on the translation. Or we will just get enough motivation to finish the translation or at least all the rules, so the rought draft will be floating in the void of the Internet, waiting for people interested in it.

So... here are the files, with the updated translation (since last time we tried, we skipped few fillers like example characters and their backstories): https://www.mediafire.com/folder/4yp0nryi0o7na/Witcher_-_A_Game_of_Imagination
The chapter about magic will be translated right after it, our average pace was 6 pages per day, while there are 35 pages to cover, so with favourable conditions we should be done by next weekend. If there will be any replies, we will continue with rest of the book. If no replies, well, the very rought translation of all basic rules will be in the net, so it's still a win... I think.

The hopes are high, the work is awaiting. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field... or something. It definitely sounds better in Polish than in the KJB version.

 

[Got bored and left]

I can look into that translation, if you haven't got someone already. I study English Philology, so I should be kinda-sorta qualified for the job

 

[Rzorrz]

Nope, we are still looking for people. As always, /tg/ was all joyful, until they've realised it will take a lot of work to even proof-read this.

And our grammar is really atrocious, so you have been warned :D

 

[Rzorrz]

Necromancy power to the max!

As a Witcher rpg it was somewhat bland, rules wise. Or so they say. It had rules for playing Witchers, Mages, Priests, and a couple other classes. The magic system for Witchers was separate to the magic system(s) for the other magii classes.

Maybe post a translated class or two (say, the Witcher and maybe some other class) just so I can see what it was like?

First of all, it's classless and levelless system. You invest points into your stats and skills, which makes your character stronger/better at given field. The only exeption of this lack of classes was combo of witcher-mage-priest - you can be only one of those three, but that's perfectly in tune with pre-existing setting, not a rule on its own.
Then the mechanics. I think term "bland" is wrong. "Simplistic" - that's the phrase. This game, as the name (Gra Wyobraźni - A Game of Imagination) suggest, is narrative-heavy. It's a great system for narration driven games, with rolls used only when really, really needed. All throws are basically a stat check, with skill affecting how easy it will be to pull said action. In case of combat, you add a roll for damage to that and... that's all.
The game is d6 based, with ocassional d3 and d2 (and since it's Polish game from 2001, that means dividing your d6 score by 2 or 3) for damage rolls. You've got 9 stats, roughtly 90 skills (many of which are under the same cathegory, eg. there are about 15 pre-existing "Knowledge: X" skills) and everything is governed by the same rules - you pick amount of dices equal to your stat, modify the difficulty of your task by related skill (if you have it in the first place), roll the dices, check the outcome and... you are done.

About "deadly combat and realistic weapon handling" - the system is Call of Cthulhu level of deadly. A random thug armed with a rusty short sword can kill you with 2-3 hits, if they will land. A witcher will disembowel you with single strike that will surely reach uncovered by armour body part. More - the game acknowledge that it's not the weapon that is deadly, but who is using it. "Normal" melee weapons deal d6 damage. But then come skill bonus, Strength bonus, additional factors and so on and forth. Since maximum health you can have with maximum level of Construction is 35 and average weak humanoid enemy is dealing around 10-14 damage, you can guess the rest. Armour is not affected by retarded D&D "balancing", making plate armour not only the best thing you can get yourself, but a real lifesaver. Shields are the best armour and weapon you can get yourself. Ranged attacks are deadly, especially when you are not carrying a shield, so when you see someone pointing a crossbow at you and you don't have anything to hide behind, you are basically dead... and crossbows themselves aren't "balanced" either, so they beat bows in pretty much everything exept range.

Of course the game is not perfect. The magic system or at least the part about priests and their power is a bit wonky (they are basically invoking their deity, which might help or might not on a whim), certain skills overlap each other, three stats could be joined into one and few rules contradict themselves. Also, the first expansion turned rather down-to-earth low fantasy into heroic sword & sorcery with new set of combat actions, awfully game-breaking psonic powers and a lot of rules that turned the game into two stages - before you reach level 4 in any given stat/skill and after it. Before is down-to-earth game. 4 and above is pure heroic fantasy. But somehow it's still fun to play, especially since it takes A LOT of time to reach 4 in stat, unless starting with it.
Oh, and one more thing. The "overlapping skills" part is at least partially intentional as anti-powergaming. During character creations there is very limited pool of points to spent on both stats and skills, so with lot of overlapping it keeps your new character down instead of starting with a killing machine that is also extremely profficient in 20 other things.

 

[Got bored and left]

It's not that bad, at least at first glance. Mostly stylistic issues, as far as I can tell. I occasionally deal with stuff written by friends, now those works are proper adventures

I should get to work tomorrow morning, maybe even today.

I'm a huge fan of your comments, btw, especially those complaining about sections of the book being little more than ads

 

[Rzorrz]

At least part of those comments were necessary to draw the situation and explain in detail something that could slip away during translation. Those regarding MAG Publishing House are our tongue-in-cheek way of telling the story behind the game conception, why it's so unpolished and why there is later in the book 10 pages long chapter full of very obvious product placement (or, more importantly, why the expansion about dryads is in 1/3 an atricle about the publisher, opening sales of the game and stuff like that, instead of, you know, more info about dryads).

It would be a shame to waste a perfectly good system. Even with all its flaws it's still a fantastic learning tool for novice players with its user-friendly rules and great chapter for new and semi-experienced GMs, not to mention how easy it is to customise anything you want.

 

[Rzorrz]

I've just realised which part I forget in my post - thanks in advance for any help. You can't even imagine how much does it mean to us to finally recieve at least a promise of help.

 

[Rzorrz]

For anyone interested - we are still looking for people. So far the raw translation managed to cover entire part of mechanics: basics, stats, skills, character creation, all the examples, rules for combat AND we've done everything about magic. The proof-reading process so far reached skills and is still a rought version of a text. The more people read it, the better the final quality so come on, join the project.

 

[Mezatino]

I'm new to this particular site but I did find your post while specifically looking for a Witcher tabletop game. And since the original is not in english, I honestly figured I was going to have to make my own for my group to play with. And to be honest I still probably will try to make some half-assed witcher game of my own for home use. However, back to the point. I'm not sure what all you have so far but if you can either email it to me or send me a link for downloading, I'd be happy to help clean and help write it up better. I'm not the best with grammar either, but I'm better than most that I know. Not to mention I'm a night owl whose only current thing to do after work is play Witcher 3 or brush up on my 40k lore lol

*edit* also I know that this post probably doesn't show my grasp of proper english all that well, but I am actually decent at it, its just in a forum I rarely bother. I like to give the grammar nazis something to fume about

 

[Rzorrz]

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/4yp0nryi0o7na/Witcher_-_A_Game_of_Imagination

Here is what we made so far, the link is updated every time we finish another chapter

 

[Mezatino]

and last question should i just start at the beginning or is there a particular section you would like me to tackle?

 

[HeightoA]

Hey guys. Wanted to say I love you guys for doing the translations for this. I wish I knew Polish and could help, but figured I'd just give you my love and support and hope it means a bit

I wouldn't be opposed to helping proof-read. I am fairly decent as far as grammatical knowledge goes (though perhaps shy of perfect).

 

[Got bored and left]

Not sure how often Rzorzz visits the Codex, so you may want to hit the team up at witcher.rp.translation.project@gmail.com if you want to help, that's the email address the translators use, and that's where I send my corrections. And I'm sure we could use some more proof-readers, as I've been bogged down by other work recently and haven't been able to do much else.

And, of course, thanks a ton for your kind words, I'm sure the team appreciates them

 

[HeightoA]

Just as an update: The team emailed me back on Saturday and asked me to start on the Magic section. If anyone else is proof-reading that checks here, I started a Google doc for that section:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NIgSObzDvQ-yJ4mua8BVtWdq7W9E4M-OidBgWosy5cQ/edit?usp=sharing

If anyone wants to proof my proof, there it is. I'm quite open to collaborating on it as well if someone is interested :D

 

[Orion Pax]

Hi folks, New guy here. I was looking for info on the Witcher RPG and found your pages here while on my search. I'm a pretty good writer and would be thrilled to help proof/re-proof stuff as it comes up. Cheers

OP

 

[Dracain]

Heyo, I've checked this out and while I am busy right now, once my schedule clears up, I would love to provide some help. I've already made a few notes while checking out the current translations.

 

[HeightoA]

hit the team up at witcher.rp.translation.project@gmail.com . Let me know what they tell ya so we don't work on the same translations I'm about half way done with the magic section but am plannin on returnin to finish it up soon

 

[DiBastet]

Is this still going? Because I looked for something like this some years ago and out of curiosity searched yesterday and found this, but it seems I'm late for the party.

Oh and this isn't just another "is it still going" post. I'm actually willing to help and got a lot of spare time for the next 20 days or so.

Btw, I emailed them and I'm waiting for some kind of reply, just wanna know if anyone has news about this.

 

[Quescarza Ellaine]

https://rtalsoriangames.wordpress.com/2016/03/03/witcher-dev-notes-1/

Apparantly it'll based on fuzion rule.