WHAT WORKS: A surprising amount of ground covered in the rules for such a simple system. The statting of creatures is simple enough that converting one's favorite monsters should be very easy. It would seem to be a very effective, rules-lite starter RPG, with a nice adventure that covers a lot of ground.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The Kai Lords are perhaps too limiting, being the only character option and being so "Lawful Good". The system may be entirely too simple, especially for experienced role-players. Kai Lords only having 10 ranks and starting at rank 5 doesn't bode well for long term play.

CONCLUSION: I believe Lone Wolf could make an effective starter RPG, as it does cover most of the basics and allows you to build from there. One of the cool parts about such a lite system is flexibility, which seems to ring true in this case as well. While I doubt I could get a lot of play out of the game, it seems to be a very solid game for breaking a new player in.

For my full review, please visit: http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2012/01/tommys-take-on-lone-wolf-multiplayer.html

First off, cards on the table: I have been a Lone Wolf fan since grade school, which thanks to my cough advanced age means I was buying most of the Magnakai and later books brand-new off the shelf. I've also dropped a pretty penny importing as many of the post-#20 books from England and Canada as I could.

The world of Lone Wolf is a dark and haunted one, where the warrior-monks of the Kai and their Sommlending, Dwarven, and wizardly allies battle against the forces of the demonic Darklords of Helgedad. Even in "civilized" lands banditry and corruption are everywhere. Fortunately, the heroes have the powers of nature and magic on their side, as well as the wisdom and artifacts of the gods Kai and Ishir. It's kind of like gaming in Conan's Cimmeria -- if Conan was a Jedi.

I'd always found the game system in the Lone Wolf books very simple and satisfying. A simple d10 and a character sheet scribbled on a napkin could get you through any adventure. Eventually.

I was a little skeptical about "sizing up" such a simple system to tabletop RPG size. After all, I've seen TWERPS, and there really is only so detailed a game can be with just a couple of attributes and a small selection of powers.

I was thus very glad to see that the system isn't necessarily limited to what you found in the first few pages of a Lone Wolf novel. In addition to the standard "combatants roll off and add their Combat Skill, loser crosses off some Endurance" mechanic that defined the series, there are also Tests: a way for gamemasters to handle those situations where Lone Wolf is doing something dangerous that isn't combat-related.

The one complaint I have about the book is that it makes the default assumption that all player characters will be Kai Lords. This doesn't quite fit with the world ... Kai Lords are rare, nearly extinct even, and there are many other fascinating kinds of characters in the book. While Lone Wolf's allies don't tend to live long lives (except for his close friend Banedon) having the ability to play a Brother of the Crystal Star or a Dwarvish Gunner would really enhance this game. I hope there is a book released with information on other character possibilities for a more varied group. (Heck, the game mechanics for playing Grey Star-style wizards are already out there!)

Being a jerk I also have to point out that, while I'm happy to game in Magnamund, there is nothing inherently limiting this system to a single world. It's fast, flexible and easy to expand into other worlds, within the same universe of Aon or elsewhere.

I never really played that many choose-your-own adventure books back in my childhood, so I really wasn't sure what to expect with Lone Wolf. Overall, it isn't bad, and makes for an interesting diversion. Maybe not entirely worth the price, but I don't regret the purchase. The rules are boiled down to really the most basic concepts, require little in the way of math, and you technically don't even need dice. It would be a perfect way to get newbies introduced to gaming, while not completely dumbing it down.

Been waiting for this quite a long time...and I'm glad to report the wait was worth it. I was happily surprised by a rules-light system that works, and promotes role-playing and thinking. Lone Wolf was never about dungeon crawling and monster killing, but stealth, smarts, overcoming riddles and social situations, and I was glad to see the whole mood/theme, but also spirit, of the gamebooks remains intact.

Really, a perfect introductory RPG for everyone, hopefully one that will gently push new players towards thinking over problems, playing in-character and heroically rather than killing things and taking their stuff.

There are a couple of negative points here too, like the art, which is great, but not as great as Chalk's from the original gamebooks (true, few things are). Also, it could be seen as too simple by some. But so was D&D in its basic book. There are few rules here, but a lot of smart ways of implementing them, and making rules/choices on the fly.

I know it sounds weird, but as someone who has tried almost every system around, I curiously find this to be my game of choice from now on. I grew up with Magnamund, and I am very pleased from what I see here. Simple, yes, but in the hands of an experienced GM, I believe the system can shine. It could be one of the effects of getting old, but I prefer simple, rules-light systems these days, and this is too to-the-point for it not to be perfect for my tastes.

If you grew up with Magnamund and the adventures of Silent Wolf, go for it. It will take you back. :)

Overall very cool.

'Bad' news: the closest approximation to perception/awareness is either some type of house rule, or defaulting to a Kai discipline.

The setting smacks of cartoon just a bit. In all fairness, I don't go for 'Ring Sword of the Dragon Scroll Stone Rune Amulet" Gathaldiel of Bustador type language or settings. Many do.

System, while almost dirt simple, is still needlessly charty complex in some areas. They could have gone farther.

I don't give a toss about illustrations or 'art'. I'd prefer nothing but mechanism and a setting book as a separate option.

The good: Is very good. "Make things a simple as possible, but no simpler." Einstein paraphrase. If they went any farther, except regarding the aforementioned, you may as well flip a coin. I would call the system more 'chewy' on the laffy taffy end that crunchy, which suits me just fine.

I hope they don't put out an endless supply of class/race books. This is another area where they could go classless, still have a type of slot/pt build and not have things take hours. Another up side, and this is a strong suit of simple games, you could do this very easily yourself because of the 'chewy/stretchy/abstraction' factor.

Conflict is, for the most part very quick except for the charty bits. I'm trying to dumb that down even further.

Outside of the needless complexity/charty bits, which is a speed bump, not a problem, this is an excellent game for all levels of player experience. The writing seems address to a minimum education level which may come off as Mongoose speaking to a dog, but this is good commo. If you can read it, you should be able to understand it. If not, re-prioritize.

All in all, buy it. 5 stars if they stripped out the art, and separated the meat from the bones. I'd pay MORE, for search compression.