The game isn't perfect, (what game is?) but it invites you to drop or change what you don't like. Since most of what I didn't care for was complications to the main rules, they are easily left off with no real problem.

WHAT WORKS: Well, you can't beat free. Especially when you look at the production values (which aren't on par with major commercial products, but still look very nice and have a very evocative feel to them). For a 41 page, rules lite RPG, there's a good amount of depth, especially with some of the little bits and tweaks in the Magic section. Five free supplements have already been released, expanding on the game in various ways.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: I'm not a fan of some of the organizational issues, like Skills and Talents being in the back of the book. Dual Wielding is apparently just a prereq talent, or was very poorly explained, although without actually playing the game, it may be that two attacks is a big enough game breaker that it requires essentially giving up an advance to get. A few more examples, especially of monsters, would have been great...but come on, it's a free product.

CONCLUSION: Easily on par with, or beyond, many of the lower-tier RPGs, and blowing right past about every free RPG I can immediately think of (aside from, say, older titles that have now been released for free). Warrior, Rogue & Mage is rules lite, yeah, but has a solid foundation and the thought and effort that went into it is very apparent. while the game includes a low-magic, and no-magic, tweak...I would like to see someone tweak it a bit more (higher magic, dark fantasy, etc.).

For my full review, please visit: http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2011/06/tommys-take-on-warrior-rogue-mage.html

Amazingly brilliant in its simplicity, this has to be the potential as one's go-to fantasy game. Michael Wolf has done in 41 pages what many larger books and professional gaming companies could not--create a simple but effectively endlessly customizable RPG. The Creative Commons license is simply icing on the cake.

A simple but effective fantasy RPG. I have used it for more narrative-oriented games but from its framework, I believe it could work great for old-school dungeon exploration too. The core concept of using classes as attributes is great and has been adapted to other settings. Really worth reading and playing.

Warrior, Rogue, and Mage plays a generic class system without classes. Your character is your own.

I'd compare the system a little to the Fable series. You build up a character who can fight, sneak, or cast, and sorta use that the best you can. I'm butchering the description, but my point is this:

If you wanna try something quick, and play a character that's exactly the one you have in mind, WRM is great!

Plus, it's free, so it's not like you have to play it if you get it. So get it.

For a free product, I find the publication quality to be very high. Michael Wolf has created a wonderful product and has put an immense amount of effort into the quality of what’s being published. The layout is great, the content is descriptive, the art is plentiful, and the overall look is appealing.

While some of the mechanics are typical of other Fantasy-based systems or other published systems, they fit well within the scope of the game as a whole, but often lack granularity. There are a few mechanics that I found a bit confusing and some level of re-reading was required. However, the majority of the system is easy to understand and I particularly like how the stats are condensed into 3 simple options: Warrior, Rogue, and Mage.

Even though it is a rules-light system, it is still another system for players and GMs to learn. I like how things are put together, but using a single d6 for action rolls does not give me a large amount of confidence that my PC would be successful. There are many Fantasy based systems out there which fully address many of the open-ended mechanics thus removing the debate. For a seasoned player, this system may be more desirable. But for the Amateur GMs, I don’t recommend it.

I find Warrior, Rogue & Mage to be a well put-together system that remains rules-light and allows for quick and easy play. However, the rules-light mechanics contains a few open-ended rules that can present themselves with debate between the GM and the players. Further supplements could tie-off these rules but a good GM could do that job as well as long as they establish the rules prior to game-play to avoid debate during the game.

Open mouth, insert foot--that's a capsule history of my life. I made an offer on Twitter to review any game that came back to me from the Essen international Game and Toy show, and Michael Wolf, who is European in spite of his incredibly American-sounding name, took me up on it, rightly pointing out that he made his game, Warrior, Rogue & Mage, free right from the beginning and that I could have it by simply wanting it. In fact, I did download it when it first came out, and had simply never done anything with it, but now I'm reviewing it.

We need to get a few things out in the open right from the beginning including such things as designer's bias. It is my considered belief that any game can be an excellent game if the game master is skillful and the players have fun. Heck, I've even had fun playing Dungeons and Dragons once or twice. (And I have been bored out of my skull a few times with it--I lay it all on the GM.) I am biased against games that are overly complicated, and I consider every form of Dungeons and Dragons to be prime examples of overly complicated games. For those of you who have long experience with D & D, those of you who don't consider it to be complicated at all, I will seem like a simple-minded buffoon. Well, perhaps I am. Remember, that what I say is my opinion, and it's colored by my own experience as a game designer and player.

I warn you right now, that though I like Warrior, Rogue & Mage, I intend to criticize this game.

Before I go any further, let me say that Michael Wolf set out to design an epic fantasy role-playing game that would be simpler and lighter than other games in the field. He did an excellent job, and his basic concept for a classless rpg is brilliant and innovative. He got rid of the bell curve model of character design, and he made a game where the player truly creates the character he wants to play. Every character is defined by three components: a warrior component, a rogue component, and a wizard component. The player has 10 points to spread among the three areas. One could put all 10 points in warrior and have a peerless fighter, but be totally helpless in the other two aspects of life. Or one could put it all into Mage. Or, a wiser player who wants to be able to cope with all situations might choose a 4, 3, 3 spread for balance with the 4 points determining the character's overall tendencies. Be as balanced or unbalanced as you wish. That is a brilliant conception for character creation.

Except that Michael didn't do that. He waffled and stated that no attribute could start with more than 6 points assigned to it. Damn! There goes the idea of pure warriors or pure wizards. He came up with a brilliant system based on three archtypes of fantasy, and then immediately shot it down by putting his own ideas of play balance on it as restrictions. While it could be argued that there aren't many pure archtypes in fantasy fiction, i have to say why not?

After stating that he was going to keep the game simple, he can't keep from creating unnecessary complications. All characters have Hit Points, Fate, and Mana. From three numerical attributes, he's gone to six. Six isn't a lot, but he makes some arbitrary decisions that introduce complexity. Hit points are equal to 6 plus the Warrior attribute. Fate points are equal to the Rogue attribute. Mana points equals the Mage attribute times 2. If Fate points would be zero, the character still gets 1, but if mana points would be zero, it gets zero. Three different systems and as unbalanced as possible, giving maximum advantage to warriors and wizards. Why, Michael? You have the same mechanic in play for assigning the three basic components of character--why not have the same mechanic in play for the three secondary characterisitics ? Hit points could be Warrior plus 1D6; Fate points could be Rogue plus 1D6; Mana could be Mage plus 1D6. No exceptions needed. I guess that's my first house rule. Simple, elegant, consistent, but not what he did.

There are also Skills and Talents. Each player starts with 3 Skills and 1 Talent. There are fairly short lists of both Skills and Talents in the rules, but Michael did say that players and G.M.s could make up new ones if they wanted to. Skills and Talents aren't quantified by level. Either the player has the knowledge/ability or she doesn't. Those Skills and Talents add modifiers to the Conflict resolution rolls, usually a straight plus 2. Turn to the Appendix to see what the possible Skills and Talents could be. I have a feeling that the game might bog down with the Skills and Talents with desperate players arguing that their Basket-weaving skill really pertains to their ability to catch fish in the wild. Etc. Maybe not.

Character advancement is not a mechanical thing in W, R & M. The Game Master gives surviving characters a point or two of advancement at the end of an adventure or campaign. (There are other options, and the skillful GM can make the reward process very sweet if he/she decides to do so.) In a way that's brilliant. No one has to keep track of experience points. In another way it doesn't seem fair. A mechanical system of character advancement bases progress on the player's actions during the game. Merit is proportionate to reward. Letting the GM hand out advancement at will is wide open to bias.

There's one thing in the rules that rubs me the wrong way. At chapter six Wolf tells the reader to stop reading unless he is going to be the Game Judge. The remainder of the rules and understanding of how the game works is reserved for the Game Master. That's futile and naive, and smacks of the kind of one-sided publishing that WotC and TSR have been practicing for years. Players manuals, Game Master Manuals, other books to be read only by certain gamers! Phooey! What gamer worth his salt is going to stop reading the rules just because the designer said to? This kind of dichotomy between GM and Player is foreign to my nature. Everyone should be able to do both.

And there's one thing that I totally agree with. I'll quote it directly, as I believe it is Mr. Wolf's finest moment in this set of rules: "MAKE IT YOUR OWN. Ican't stress this enough: make WR&M your own. GMs and Players are encouraged to bring their own ideas to the table. Add new lands. Create new monsters. Change the rules. Whatever suits your fancy, do it. A lot of creativity went into the creation of this game, but it definitely shouldn't end there! This book contains several optional rules, but you can add your own house rules as well. If you think there's something critical or very cool missing from the game, let us know!" Bravo, Michael! Empower the players! Well done!

I have two technical quibbles. I believe that Michael chose the wrong font for the text of his rules. While the booklet is attractively laid out and illustrated, the font is angular and crowded. It shows very poorly with contractions like "can't". The apostrophe appears above the n, and the t can barely be seen. This is true for all contractions and wherever the letter t follows the letter n. I found myself guessing instead of reading in places. I also don't like having the game available only as a pdf. That makes it impossible to copy and paste from the document. I would have included more art and more quotes from the text if I had been able to grab them and paste them into this review.

Warrior, Rogue, and Mage already has 5 supplements, all of which are available for free at Drive-Thru RPG. This is an act of philanthropy unprecedented in gaming history. Get Warrior, Rogue, and Mage! Read it! If you like it, by all means follow up with his other publications.

There are many aspects of the WR&M rules that I didn't discuss. I haven't actually had a chance to play the game, so I don't know if Michael's task resolution system really works. It looks like it should. Parts of the game feel rather Dungeons and Dragons to me with plus modifiers for weapons and spells and ability checks. I never liked that system, but that's just me. D & D players may love it.

Finally, since I intend to post this review at Drive-Thru, let me give WR&M a star rating. I give it 3.5 out of 5. Download a copy and read it. Play it if you get a chance, or can make one. You have nothing to lose by doing so, and some interesting new perspectives to gain.

end.

I have no idea....first try.Just saw it, it is free so what the heck, Im willing to give it a try.

Description: WRM is an ultra-simple D&D "knock-off" rule book.

Easy Rules? : Yes -- it's written for practically anyone who can grunt English into coherent symbology.

Fun to Play : Sort of -- it uses a "all characters have facets of each other" method, where you pick a level of ability in each class for your character. To me, this defeats the group mentality; why adventure with anyone else if you can "do it all"?

Layout and Design: It's a good design, neat and appropriate to the subject.

Worth the money: at 0 dollars, how could it not be? The question here should be "is it worth the time to consider?" -- well, I have to say to the average gamer, probably not. (But, if you're really bored, it's a free game!)

Conclusion: An overly-easy game with a few kinks, but it's free, so get it when you get time ...

For those of you who enjoy old-school, minimalistic RPGs, this one is a keeper. While I am personally not a fan of rules lite rpgs or old school games, this game's innovative and simplistic approach to class systems, relying on classes being "attributes" in which you have ranks (you can be a mage 4, warrior 4, rogue 2 right off the bat) and a flexible skill system, adds a bit more meat to the usual old school trappings while still keeping everything light and simple. You'll only need six sided dice and paper to play, and the game itself is free. So you could not only potentially be playing right now, you could be playing a game with quite a bit of flexibility and depth for its size. It's a catch overall, if you're into this sort of thing or if you like rules light rpgs like Wushu or Microlite but have been looking for one with just a bit more to it than that.

This game is great. I love rules-lite games in general - I don't have time to be sorting through multiple books to locate a rule or table. The logic of things can make sense of any situation I've run into and provides a means to resolve it - or at least give you a framework to house rule it. I am working with the combat system a bit but that has more to do with my personal preferences as opposed to the existing system being "bad" in anyway - it certainly works well enough. Otherwise, the rules and concepts are perfect for how I like to play. In particular, I love: using HP to cast spells in place of Mana (sets the character up to make the "big sacrifice"), not having specific classes (REALLY allows for creative characters with varied talents/skills), and using ritual magic to pool Mana for greater effect. Some/all of these concepts may very well be in other systems as I have not played tons of different games; but the way they are presented here and the mechanics of using those ideas are so simple, they make the game flow (and the learning curve) fast and easy! I agree with the other poster regarding more spells and an expanded Bestiary - and being willing to pay for them! Great Job!!!!

I agree completely with the other reviews posted here…a simple yet elegant system. Instead of attributes such as strength, intelligence and wisdom, you have warrior, rouge and mage. All characters and creatures are rated using these three attributes, and all skill/action rolls are linked to them.

Also, the layout and illustrations are pleasing to the eye and very well done. I hope Stargazer Games continues to expand the line in the future, amazing job for a free game!

I must say I am trilled to see WR&M getting so much love. From its original version to this revised edition the game has improved in leaps and bounds. The layout and quality of the product meet or exceed many products you actually pay for, the system is simple intuitive and full of role playing possibilities. I cannot recommend it enough. I considered myself lucky for knowing the person who wrote this book. Get it you will not be disappointed!

Most Gms, at one point or another, try their hand at creating their very own system at one point or another. Some Gms (like myself) run into some problems and hit a big wall, but other manage to make a system that works and is fun. Michael Wolf (more commonly known as Stargazer from Stargazer's World) happens to be the latter.

Wolf's Warrior, Rogue & Mage (or WR&M for short) is a simple, rules light, classless fantasy game. While I've only played one game of it so far, I've got to say that WR&M is an incredibly fun game that is very easy to pick up and learn.

The layout and artwork of the game is very good for a free RPG. The pages have a old parchment design that fits a fantasy game and the artwork has an old school look to it that helps me visualize what kind of game I want to play with this game. The book is also laid out in a very simple way that makes it very easy to understand and figure everything out, which is always a bonus for any game.

Like I've mentioned above, WR&M is a classless game, even though it features the stereotypical fantasy tropes in its name. Warrior, rogue, and mage are actually the characters attributes in the game. Warrior is the physical, combat-oriented stat, Rogue is the stealth, social stat, and Mage is the intellect, magic stat. All the skills in the game (like most games) are tied to one of the three attributes. Unlike other games, however, you must have at least 1 point in an attribute to have one of the skills tied to it. For example, if you want to have Alchemy, you need at least 1 point in Mage. While at first this might seem limiting, it is actually a great way of cutting down on the crunch that some games have.

The basic rules of the game are as follows: When performing certain actions, the players roll a d6 and add the relevant attributes rank to the roll's result. If there is a skill that would help with the action, the player also adds a +2 to the result. If the result matches or exceeds the difficultly level set by the GM, they succeed. This, like most rules light games, is a very simple rule to remember and is used for almost every conflict and action in the game.

Magic in the game is also pretty simple to work. In order to cast spells in WR&M, you must have a Mage level of 1. Spells are divided into four circles of increasing powers. Spells of the first circle are very easy to cast, but not that powerful, for example. The circle of the spell also determines how much mana it costs to cast the spell. Like in other games, armor makes it harder to cast spells because you add the AP of the armor worn to the mana cost of the spell you are trying to cast. While I am a fan of the traditional D & D/Pathfinder style of spellcasting, I like magic point/mana systems as well because they tend to make spellcasting mechanics a whole lot more simple.

WR&M also comes with an a simple campaign setting to set your games in. The setting is the Fallen Imperium of Vaneria. The Imperium of Vaneria was once the most glorious civilization in all of human history, but dissolved after the death of its last emperor, Aurelius III and his successors started a bloody civil war. Five hundred years later, the great Imperium is nothing but a memory and only warring city states remain. While some would criticize Wolf for not giving us a completely fleshed out campaign setting, I think he made a good choice be giving us just some basic building blocks and leaving us room to make the Fallen Imperium our own.

Warrior, Rogue & Mage is a simple, fun to play game. Although I've only played one game of it, I am itching to play more of it. This game has a lot of potential and I can't wait to see what Wolf does with it. WR&M is a game that everyone should pick up. Since it's free, you have no reason not to grab it.

A slick and streamlined rules-lite fantasy rpg that promises to be as quick and fun to play as it was to read. I sincerely hope they produce some neat little expansions for it, such as more spells and magical items, and an expanded bestiary as I'd even be prepared to pay for such documents. Great job!