Weird War I and II

[Linden]

Bundle of Holding currently doing a couple of offers on these. Mixture of D20 and Savage Worlds books. I dislike both systems but am intrigued by the subject matter. I'd hazard a guess it wouldn't be massively difficult to adapt to something like MiniSix. Just wondered if anyone had done any Weird War adventuring and what your impressions were i.e. leaving the system aside, are the game world and adventures well put together?

[ReHerakhte]

I played in a few sessions many, many years ago (shortly after the first books were published and it was just the WW2 setting) so I don't recall specific details but overall the material left me with a favourable impression, favourable enough that I'd try the game again.

I wasn't too fussed on using the D&D D20 System for anything dealing with 20th century/modern settings but the rules along with the subject matter did lend itself to a cinematic type of game. Unfortunately the GM was too staid and by the book and treated the game too seriously, so the few moments we had where a cinematic outcome would have made the game some great fun were lost as he calculated all the factors from the info in the book to determine the result of our actions.

Unfortunately because the GM was so unimaginative and by the book, the game lost the fun and the campaign died before it really got started. Ya'know, we're talking about a game where there are Nazi soldiers who are werewolves! So it should have been some absurd but fun gaming. This was not a failing of the game however, it was a case of the wrong game for this particular GM.
In the hands of a more imaginative GM who doesn't mind a little bit of sillyness and also likes playing up the drama and the fantastic, I think it would be a lot of fun.

For the price that Bundle of Holding is selling them for, I'm going to pick up the Weird War II books and although I think the Weird War 1 books would be good value as well, I'm less interested in the WW1 setting (and I'm not a fan of the Savage Worlds system).

[Linden]

The setting does sound like a lot of fun and I reckon it would work well in MinSix, which I think is far superior to Savage Worlds when it comes to cinematic style games.

With regard to your other point about GMs: I'm sure we've talked about this before, but I do find it dispiriting in a hobby that's supposed to be about imagination so many would be GMs seem unable to do anything other than blindly follow what's written on the page and are utterly incapable of thinking on their feet. This is often compounded by lots of reading-from-the-book in a dull monotone. Probably the reason why I don't do much playing-as-a-player these days.

[Morthrai]

in a hobby that's supposed to be about imagination so many would be GMs seem unable to do anything other than blindly follow what's written on the page and are utterly incapable of thinking on their feet. This is often compounded by lots of reading-from-the-book in a dull monotone.

Absolutely have to agree with Linden's opinion here - it's all about preparation. I have zero problems with a GM taking a moment to check their notes, and to be fair I myself don't possess the worlds' best speaking voice but for flips sake learn the cues and put some spirit into your performance!

[ReHerakhte]

Right on Gents, I absolutely agree and yes, I have mentioned it once or twice before. (Probably more! It's a particularly irritating bugbear for me).

The Weird Wars games are, in my limited exposure to them, a lot of fun if you have a GM who wants to play up the dramatic and cinematic. As I mentioned earlier, this is a game where Nazi soldiers are actual werewolves but also, the Luftwaffe has flying saucers and every conspiracy theory ever made up about the World Wars, every alleged supernatural event (Angels of Mons...) and so on fits right into the game.

Needing to consult the rulebook every now and then is fine but when you have the chance to have a "Holy Crap!" event happen, if it makes the game something the Players will talk about for years after (in a good way), then let it happen and damn the rules. I get that other GMs don't play that way or are uncomfortable with letting the story take precedence over the rules but for me, there are certain games in which the GM should embrace that particular notion. Weird Wars is definitely one such game.

[Linden]

I think we all have rules hiccups from time to time. What I was getting at was my personal bugbear of GMs who just blindly follow the adventure script, regardless of how much a railroad it is and don't acknowledge that the PCs have some agency in the story.

Totally agree with you Lee about GMs not putting any effort into the role playing side. Likewise I don't have the best speaking voice but will have a go at accents and different speech patterns to diversify NPCs.

[ReHerakhte]

Ah I get you now Linden, it's a good point and one which I also agree. I haven't seen much of the Weird Wars published adventures so I don't know if there are any that have that particular failing but I suppose it's probably in there somewhere.
I think every game has some adventures that are not particularly well written when it comes to railroading the story so yes I agree, the GM needs to understand their players and understand what railroading is and how to avoid it.