New Wave of Fantasy - NWOF

Thanks to the wonderful people at the NSR Cauldron I got introduced to the idea of NWOHF - New Wave of Heroic Fantasy. I was overjoyed to find a label that finally fits my Runecycle as NSR has always felt a slight mismatch. As far as I know this term came to be literally yesterday in a “say that again” moment. In this post I’ll give my take on the whole thing.

So what is NWOHF? It is a label that describes heroic fantasy games that are made in response to Dungeons & Dragons 5e. That is the only consistent characteristic. Another major one is that these games are usually made or at least released after the OGL fiasco.

A lot of games have been made in response to DnD 5e, so what makes this different? Ever since 5e and the original very permissible OGL have there been games that improve and iterate on the 5e formula, such as Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition or even Shadowdark. But these games either build on 5e directly or use the d20 system to make an entirely different genre of game. The NWOHF label is specifically for games that take the overall story structure and feel of heroic fantasy 5e is famous for and deliver it using different mechanics. It’s DND but not. The NWOHF is to DnD what NSR is to the OSR. And 5e is the B/X of NWOHF. That’s the simple way of putting it.

So then, games. The following examples fit the strictest definitions of NWOHF:

• Daggerheart
• Nimble
• DC20
• Draw Steel
• Tales of the Valiant

There are a couple games that in my eyes skirt the definition

• Grimwild
• Dragon Slayers
• Fabula Ultima
• Cosmere RPG

I want to expand the defintion slightly by dropping the Heroic H. Not because it doesn’t fit but because 1. the acronym is nicer without it, the H is silent and 2. to encompass slightly more games that otherwise fit the defintion. This way the games above can be included without a hitch, and the following can be added to New Wave of Fantasy:

• Legend in the Mist - a Rustic Fantasy RPG
• Vagabond // Pulp Fantasy RPG

There is even the possibility of adding Mythic Bastionland into the fold. However, while quite heroic, its Into the Odd roots and medieval themes place it firmly in the NSR.

Here’s the family tree. NWOF stands firmly between NSR and 5e. A brother from another mother to NSR even. The NSR builds towards NWOF from OSR and NFOW builds towards NSR from 5e. May they meet in the middle.

flowchart LR
    B/X --- OSR --- NSR --- NWOF --- 5e

Because people like definitions I’ll end this with a concise definition for you to use.

NWOF games are:

• always fantasy games made in response to DnD 5e
• usually games made after the OGL fiasco
• often heroic and use the familiar kitchen-sink style of DnD 5e

Or in a single line:

NWOF games feel like 5e DnD narratively but not mechanically

That’s it for today, go argue about definitions or something!