Mechanics
The mechanics of Mythweaver are a fairly simple take on the roll plus skill bonus to overcome target difficulty approach. The system uses 2d6 for each roll, which provides a nice standard distribution. Two points are worth mentioning. First, this is the only resolution mechanic used, and a unified resolution mechanic is always a breath of fresh air. Secondly, Mythweaver suggests several different ways to tailor the amount of dice rolling that you want in your game.
The system uses Traits (Attributes) and Talents (Skills) to quantify characters abilities. Traits affect limits, not initial levels of skills.

Character Creation
Mythweaver is a class, race and level game. The players choose from one of four classes (Hunter, Mystic, Rogue, Warrior) and six races (Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblyn, Fay and Troll). I don’t know why Goblyn is spelt that way. Interestingly the distinction is made that player character humans are ‘Chosen Humans? those presumable destined for great things. Whether or not non-humans are destined for great things is never discussed. As we would expect, combining Race and Class allows players to mix and match in-game advantages and bonuses.

Next we roll for Traits, Mythweaver’s term for Attributes. Now although I recognise the advantages of random rolls in character generation (speed, forcing players to try characters they might not normally play) it is not to my personal taste. Those who prefer point-bought character creation might shy away here.

There are five traits (Dexterity, Might, Persona, Reason and Stamina), and these cover the basics I would expect to see. Nothing is glaringly missing, or inexplicably present. ‘Might?is a nicely mythic alternative for the more usual ‘Strength? and ‘Persona?is an interesting accumulation of various emotional or perceptive attributes.

When the fourth step in character creation is the purchasing of combat skills, I begin to get the inkling that combat may be an important aspect of the game. Arms Talents (skills) are divided into five broad groups plus a sixth group for armour. Armour is an interesting idea for a skill. I am not sure that I buy into the idea that you need to be skilled to wear heavier suits of armour. The armour skill is presumably included in favour of game balance - low skilled characters cannot gain the ‘unfair?advantage of heavy armour.

Non-combat talents are bought next. Playability is the order of the day here with fairly broad skill-categories. An unusual quirk here is that a single skill will cover both magical and non-magical activities. The skill ‘Nature?for instance covers both a character’s ability to track in the wilderness, and to wield elemental magic. This makes for nicely themed characters. A character who uses natural magic, by default knows a lot about surviving in the wild. An interesting quirk of the system.

Next, players purchase Gifts for their characters. Gifts represent special or heroic abilities. The list of gifts provided is not very extensive, but adding more gifts to cater for particular tastes would not be difficult.

Equipment is purchased from a pool of gold that characters begin play with. Nothing unusual here, except that Mythweaver advises that small purchases, day-to-day food, drink and personal items, are considered affordable by characters at all times. This removes the burden of keeping track of small change, and is almost moving towards the idea of wealth as a trait or scale, in which only major purchases or acquisitions make a difference to a character’s standing.

The final step in character creation is the determination of Demeanour. Demeanour is a combination of Ethos (concept of right and wrong), and Outlook (force of belief). Demeanour is basically a slightly more sophisticated form of Alignment. For a game that advertises itself as potentially useful for Narrativist play, an alignment system is severely out of place. If I were playing Mythweaver I would simply drop Demeanour from the system, and require players to write up their character’s background, or answer a few question like ‘What does Jack fear most? ‘What is Jill’s favourite childhood memory? to get an idea of personality.

Well, there you have it. Creating a character in Mythweaver has the advantage of being fast, and very tidy. No messy ever-multiplying options, or hours spent min-maxing advantages and disadvantages.

Advancement
Advancement is through system of experience and levels. Upon gaining a level characters receive character points, which can be used to improve talents, increase traits or buy gifts (special abilities). Increasing a talent becomes cumulatively more expensive at each rank, making it a fairly attractive option to increase low-ranked peripheral skills once your character’s core skills reach exorbitant prices.

Magic
Mythweaver uses lists of spells grouped together under Energies, (Light, Dark, Fire etc). There is a split between spells that may be amplified by pumping in more Magic Points (which are termed Disciplines) and spells which a narrow function (which are termed Spells). A split definition I don’t see the point of. Energies remind me of the old spell lists for Rolemaster, and I wonder if someone else out there also owns a dog-eared copy of Spell Law. As your character advances up the levels he gains access to more powerful spells from those Energies he has mastered.

Again, Ethos rears its head here, as magical energies are tied to a given Ethos. Black magic is tied to Darkness. Elemental Magic is tied to Chaos. A character with an Ethos opposed to a given Energy cannot master that Energy. But, only Light and Dark ethos have an associated Energy that oppose, and there is also a system of fire versus water style elemental opposition. (I had to look up the plural of ethos to write that sentence.) If I were running this game I would drop Ethos faster than a hot coal, and make Light and Dark elements, and be done with it. I really don’t like alignments.

Setting
Arguably, it isn’t possible to create a comprehensive system without introducing elements of setting. Although the writers have made the effort to create as flexible a game-system as possible it is still bounded by setting-concepts. The races available to players are the most obvious example of setting-in-system. Smaller glimpses of setting creep in. All races use a trade tongue: Common. The list of monsters provided also provides us with a framework of setting - all very stock standard fantasy. Which probably describes the setting very well: stock standard fantasy.

Not necessarily a bad thing if you are keen on world-building, or have a setting that you are looking to marry to a system, but if you are looking for inspiration and plot-hooks, you may be disappointed.

Style
Very clearly written and with a few nice black and white illustrations, Mythweaver reads and looks a cut above a lot of what is out there for free. I also didn’t find many typos at all. Incidentally look at Page 8. Am I crazy of is the tall elvish-looking woman on the right wearing a string of sausages around her neck?

General Comments
Mythweaver falls fairly solidly into the tried and true fantasy game mould. A class and level game is not very groundbreaking, but it works.

So, why would I play this? What appeals to me the most is the completeness of the game system combined with the openness of the setting. With most of the hard work of little niggling things like equipment lists, spell lists and so forth done, the game leaves you, as GM to the more pleasant task of world building and plotting out your games. The pared down, rules-light feel of the system also appeals to me, as well as the overall impression that this game has been played a great deal, and a lot of time and effort has gone into working cricks out of the system.

What I like less is the general feeling that this is a stripped down, fast-playing take on Dungeons and Dragons. This game comes a lot closer than many similar games do in the hunt for how to get right what DnD got wrong, but still, there have been a lot of innovations in Game Design over the last couple of decades. A somewhat more innovative design would have been nice.

What I would like to see?
I would come very close to recommending this game to beginners and those interested in dabbling in the hobby if it included three things: the ubiquitous ‘What is Roleplaying?introduction, GM advice and an introductory adventure.

Get rid of Ethos and Demenour. Enough said.

When it comes to Classes and Levels, I think of them as old friends who I like to visit from time to time. Classes are fantastic for quick and easy character creation, and nothing beats levels for boasting rights. As for classes I would consider allowing players to allocate points to the skill groups from a pool or possibly split subterfuge skills away from general skills and into a fourth group and ask players to ranks the groups in order of importance. Combat, Magic, Subterfuge and General. The first gets 6 points. Second gets 4. Third gets 2. Fourth gets zip. As for levels, well, I like boasting about my characters.

Summing Up
I think it would be unfair to criticise the Mythweaver’s similarity in theme and concept to D&D, considering that this game has never made any claims about originality or innovation. I doubt innovation is even a keyword on Mythweaver webpage. The keywords are probably something along the lines of: Playability, Game Balance and Fun. So if this game sounds like it might be what you are looking for, why not head over to Mythweaver and download a copy.

Nothing beats a free game,

Chris Johnstone

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