A look at TAG Ruincrawl and WHAP DeluxeI should start here by saying I haven't had a chance to play TAG at all yet, and I'm the dense sort that can't grasp mechanics without play-testing, so my impressions on reading have often been "hmm, how does that actually work?". Having got that excuse out of the way, and since I've been asked, I'll give some details from dipping into the rulebook...
First thing I noticed on page 1, that TAG stands for "Tom's Adventure Gaming" and then the statement "Peryton Publishing. We break the rules because we can't remember them." - Nice
The rules certainly have a personal feel, which I'm guessing was developed through actually playing games, rather than theorizing how they should be played. In the Ruincrawl introduction Tom K. Loney says he created TAG as a simple ruleset to carry around during his time in the Army (and Tom, surely not for sessions 'out in the field'!!). So don't expect books of advanced game theory, or even perfectly clear descriptions. I believe the idea is that the GM is really free to interpret on the fly and to make sure the players just have fun. I think the rules are 'supposed' to be loosey goosey and there seems to be a lot more consideration given to what makes good gaming fun - imagination, creativity, lotsa dice, open ended results - rather than the drudgery of realism, concise rulings, or nuisances like character and game balance.
Trying to put that kind of game style into a rulebook is always going to carry some difficulty for others to just pick up and play. In some cases the rules 'as written' look like they'll be cool in subtle ways, and in others they feel kind of odd... in which case you just take what you like and adapt the rest, right?
So, moving on... some observations follow, and don't take this as complete - I'm not trying to write a review.
SOME CORE CONCEPTS
Dice - Only D6 required.
ASTRO - a game mechanic used 'every time' you roll more than one die for anything. Once the dice are rolled, if they come out All the Same then, Terrific!, add them up and Roll Over. ASTRO summarizes DARO, TARO, QUEERO, and so on, in one fell swoop.
SR - You know it and love it from T&T - the attribute vs. difficulty Saving Roll. Key difference here is that there are no preset levels so the target difficulty could be any number you like. No need to explain how this understated concept is used as a primary mechanic in T&T play - it's the same here.
MaR - Martial Rating. It looks suspiciously like T&T MR... and it is, essentially. Given a single numerical MaR there are rules in TAG to determine the derived Bash, Acc, Def and Shake scores that you'll need to run a combat session.
CHARACTER CREATION
Primary Attributes - Eight attributes, effectively parallel to T&T 7.x with some different names (Willpower for example would likely map to Wizardry in a conversion). Starting characters roll 4d6 per attribute with ASTRO rules so average starting stats are just a little higher than T&T.
Derived Attributes - Bash, Accuracy, Defense, Shake - all used in combat. Each of these are derived by adding together two or three primary attributes. For example Bash is the sum of Strength, Dexterity and Luck and this will reflect your ability to land a blow. Shake is Strength plus Constitution and reflects your ability to withstand injuries - more on combat later.
Kin - they make a brief appearance in TAG Ruincrawl. The concept is similar to T&T where they are defined primarily by attribute multipliers, with a little rules flavoring added.
Type - A very interesting mix of player types are presented, different types depending on the genre. Rather than the primary delineations seen in T&T, Tom has gone with a more diverse set of flavors. Bringing to mind different film or literary models, each type is given one or more defining features, or 'perks', to really make them stand out.
So you could have types such as a Cutthroat, Thief, or Sage in Ruincrawl; or a Scrapper, Gumshoe, Avenger, Escape Artist or Professor in WHAP; or mix-and-match the genres, or even BYOB and work it out with the GM. Maybe there's influence here from the lists of professions in games like CoC, but in some ways this also has a quirky boardgame feel to it - like picking a character card in Talisman, you can get something that plays fundamentally different in each type from the start. And there is enough diversity of types provided that every player could find themselves playing a key part in some aspect of the adventure because of their choice.
GAME-PLAY
As with T&T there's no hard rules in the core system to follow here. The primary deciding factor for most everything is the SR.
WHAP Deluxe fleshes out the system with quite a bit of extra detail on things like Weather, Travel, and Disease that can help you figure out how to make spot rulings. The extra crunchy parts here are some of what makes it Deluxe (and there's an adventure too).
CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT
Kept simple. Experience points are accumulated through SR rolls. Every 1,000 points or so raises a level and you get to add the new level number to an attribute of your choice.
COMBAT
I'll admit this is where I really need to play a few times before I'll manage to figure it all out.
Basically the flow is: First, everyone rolls for initiative. Then, in order, each combatant can resolve one attack against an opponent. The attack roll is an SR which factors your Bash or Accuracy rating (melee or missile) against the opponents Defense rating. If you score a hit you make a damage roll, based on the weapon used, and the damage result is deducted from the opponent's Shake rating. The opponent then needs to make an SR on reduced Shake to see if he's fit to continue, and there's also a further damage roll against CON to reflect physical injury.
If that reads complicated to you, then you'll see why I'd like to run some playtests or see some combat examples.
ASTRO rules apply for every dice roll so things could really get interesting. Choice of weapons also plays a part, and here's where I found myself minimaxing a bit looking for the best odds given various modifiers and ASTRO possibilities (some weapons even have two sets of dice rolls for damage, such as 4d+2d).
Armor also comes into play as a damage soak. Ruincrawl and WHAP both present armor differently, as befitting the genre.
The Ruincrawl rules on combat do seem to be slightly different but I think the WHAP rules would take precedence, being a later publication. Actually I don't think that really matters a great deal.
I'd also guess the T&T precedent for imaginative SRs in combat is also just as applicable to TAG - but that isn't mentioned in the combat rules as they are wrote.
MAGIC (VERY BRIEFLY)
At least two kinds of magic system appear in TAG. I haven't spent much time with the magic system yet but it's given four or five pages of treatment in each book and certainly bears a closer look.
1. Spheres of Mytical Energies - five spheres of magic presented here which allow advancement in psychic abilities of a mostly divinatory nature. The spheres appear to be the core mystic ability in both Ruincrawl and WHAP.
2. The Witching Way (in Ruincrawl) or Ritual Magicks (in WHAP) these cover spells of a more sorcerous nature. Only a half dozen or so spells are presented in each book but obviously this could be expanded in play.
That's enough.. this is a much longer post than I had planned. Apologies to Tom for a half-assed assessment and anything I got wrong. There's more in the rules than I have touched on here. But honestly folks how many other rulesets out there claim to be T&T compatible? The basic rules costs 99 cents on Lulu (20 pages), and WHAP Deluxe is, I think, 5 dollars on DTRPG (50 pages) - it's not going to break the bank if you're interested. WHAP Deluxe is more complete and includes a neat little adventure on the last 10 pages - sort of an HG Wells at the Mountains of Madness thing
