This is my third post on the topic of New Wave of Fantasy (NWOF) continuing from the original definition and additional discussion. With this post I aim to tie down the intitial idea into a design ethos. I consider both of the previous posts deprecated, so here is the updated definition:
NWOF games feel like 5e DnD narratively but not mechanically
NWOF games are often:
- fantasy games influenced by DnD 5e
- made after or in response to the OGL fiasco
- heroic and use the familiar kitchen-sink style of DnD 5e
Here are some games that I feel have NWOF dna in them:
- Daggerheart
- Nimble
- DC20
- Draw Steel
- Grimwild
- Dragon Slayers
- Fabula Ultima
- Cosmere RPG
- Legend in the Mist - a Rustic Fantasy RPG
- Vagabond // Pulp Fantasy RPG
You shouldn’t hold these lists in too high of a regard. They are just a way for me to illustrate how NWOF looks to me. Instead I would prefer you use the NWOF Promise:
The NWOF Promise
Simple rules, complex characters.
Role, Play and Game in equal measures
Fiction follows the rules and the rules support the fiction.
A game is best when it’s built for a purpose.
Rules are neither king nor peasant.
Your character, your story, your world.
All traditions have ideas worth using.
Simple rules, complex characters
This is probably the most defining feature that also differentiates NWOF from its NSR brothers. Player characters are at the core of NWOF and the modern-dnd style of play. The games provide a plethora of ancestries, classes, spells and perks to customize your character over your campaign to play exactly the character you want.
But while character building is complex, these games recognize that playing the game should be simple. The core systems are easy to understand, combat is streamlined and the games play fast. Complex games have always existed but NWOF emphasizes the need for simple rules with a preference for emergent complexity.
Role, Play and Game in equal measures
You could argue this is a feature of all games and you would be right. But I believe NWOF games are particularly good at this. OSR, and to an extent NSR, tends to focus on play (as in player skill) and PbtA usually focuses on the role (as in roleplay). The crunchiest of contemporaries (Pathfinder, Lancer) are honed in on the game (as in tactical wargame). Due to its roots in the amorphous generic fantasy roleplaying game that is 5e, NWOF stands proudly at the center of the venn-diagram.
Story follows the rules and rules support the story
Yet again NWOF stands in the middle, this time between fiction first and rules first. Every game of course stands somewhere on this scale but NWOF more than any other tries to balance both.
Many games are fiction first, oddly both PbtA and OSR styles. These games use rules to model what the fiction cannot but prefer to use the fiction when possible. On the other end are games like Pathfinder that have rules for anything and everything, where there is not much need for fiction.
NWOF games are played through the rules. Character abilities are usually defined and numerous to give you rules to play with. Combat, while often streamlined, is usually more crunchy than not. But NWOF games also boast meta rules or are plain written to bend the story in players’ favor. Everything from the hope & fear mechanics of Daggerheart to Vagabond’s luck points to the escalation mechanics of Draw Steel, NWOF games sacrifice mechanical rigidity and narrative consistency in favor of a well paced play experience.
A game is best when it’s built for a purpose
Fairly generic design advice right? Well, many NWOF games are very particular about their generic fantasy. 5e has always been a malleable game of mixed playstyles. Many if not all NWOF games, intentionally or not, take one subsection of play that people attribute to 5e and hone in on that. While PbtA games all are very particular in their intent, the systems are usually very similar. And on the OSR end many if not all classic fantasy OSR games are quite generic dungeon crawlers. NWOF is particularly particular in its genericness.
Rules are neither king nor peasant
This echoes the points I made above that other traditions tend to either dislike or heavily like rules. NWOF designers choose to write extensive rulesets that they want you to both use and ignore at your leisure. The crunchy combat and the free flowing exploration exist in perfect harmony in these games. Rules are used when they make things interesting and are ignored when they get in the way. You could argue that this applies to all games and you would be right, but NWOF specifically believes in crunchy rules played with a rulings-over-rules mindset.
Your character, your story, your world
The complex characters are here to be heroes. The GM (and sometimes the players) create a world and story to play through. NWOF more than any tradition wants you to write. Backstory, lore, worldbuilding and narrative arcs, all for you to create. NWOF is often for campaign play and specifically your campaign play, contrasting with the high-lethality devil-may-care attitude of many OSR titles and the heavy narrative pidgeonholing of PbtA games.
All traditions have ideas worth using
Generic advice again. But NWOF in its indecisiveness borrows from all directions more than any other. OSR princples in my storytelling game? Yes please. Crunchy combat and PbtA moves? Sure. Cinematic Tactical Fantasy? What does that even mean? I want it anyway. This ethos may be the most uniting factor between NWOF and NSR, but nowhere else have I seen games with so wildly different rules and mechanics still feel like they belong under the same label.
In Conclusion
Thank you for listening to my ramblings. I believe there is a design ethos yet to be properly documented and this is my attempt at doing that. I don’t want to dictate all of the thought so please take these ideas and write your version of the New Wave of Fantasy, and send it at me. Maybe someday we can truly call something an NWOF game, or whatever the acronym mutates into being.
Remember that labels and definitions are tools for communication. They help us hone in on what parts we find valuable, interesting or worthwhile. THIS IS NOT A BINARY METRIC. Whether your favorite game didn’t make the cut on my list or you think this is all complete nonsense, that is allright. All I want to say is, there are new fantasy games coming out with cool ideas, I believe in those ideas, and you should check them out too.
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