I am not a huge fan of The Witcher (instinctive duck of hurled shoe).
It is not that I dislike it, but like a lot of on-trend fantasy and sci-fi, I just feel like I have seen it all before (curse of age). Game of Thrones had the same effect as do a lot of other “must” see/play/reads.Reading Tolkien, Harry Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Larry Niven, Heinlen, Asimov, Erikson, 2000AD magazine etc from the 70’s, most story lines and genres have been touched on, not to mention role-playing for just as long. I appreciate these new stories are helping build the popularity of the style, as any genre needs, but it does not change the fact that some of the newer incarnations are re-incarnations.
To be fair I had and read The Last Wish and watched the Netflix series, so I gave it a go and could easily see myself reading or watching more, but there is no deep burn for it.
I do however, like the RPG and the irony is, I like how it simulates the world it represents.
Seldom is a game design brave enough to force its players into a style of gaming that best suits its genre*. The Mouse Guard and The One Ring games are good examples and are generally the better for it, but it does run the risk of alienating a raft of potential players who just do not want to play that way.
I have had my issues with, but great respect for The One Ring, cannot toletate criticism of the gorgeous Mouse Guard, even though I know it has its faults, but with The Witcher, I am drawn to its very, very realistic and gritty processes. Sometimes I want the slow grind of mundane daily life to be contrasted with brief moments of genuinely dangerous and chaotic threat mitigation. D100 games share this feeling of lethality, but not the gritty depth of process. The Witcher also provides an invaluable source for any medieval game.
I told myself at first that it was just not for me and almost gifted the core book. The characteristics are all over the place from my perspective (3 types of Dex!?), but the system has potential. The wall of info is daunting but a benefit, especially as I have little background in the world.
Stuff I have never seen mentioned in other games.
There is a table for everything. Not something that would usually draw me to a game, but in this case, with so much to get right, it helps set the player and GM on the one true path and greatly aids in pacing and story development.
Deus Vult, the dark age monster hunting game from Mongoose (part of the Legend family), Warhammer 4e with a Witch Hunter style campaign or maybe Iron KIngdoms could fill this role maybe, but their crunch is more systemic than story specific depth. The reality is, the enormous, yet cohesive detail of The Witcher, the way every creature is formidable unless you know the secret to its weakness and can then exploit it, create such an immersive role-playing experience, that I doubt I could emulate it with any other system, as easily as just learning this game.
The skill tree is a cool idea.
I am really drawn to the focus on little details.
My very earliest memories of gaming are less than flattering ones as early, inexperienced GM’s, myself included, skipped over entire journeys and their preparation with lines like “so you have (seemingly instantly) travelled to the ruined castle, now what do you do?”. Pacing is critical to good role-playing, something that even experienced players need to be reminded of occasionally. I remember fondly one of my favourite RPG experiences over several sessions centred around just preparing for a long trip and that was well before The One Ring or Witcher came along! I think we even lost a character to a dodgy deal!
Crunch time came with the release of The Witchers Journal, coinciding with picking up the relatively scarce Lords and Lands supplement/screen, so committed I am (or probably should be considering my role playing potential at the moment). The Journal is very good. The depth of new monsters, kept tightly on theme have greatly increased play options.
Does it have a role to play in my gaming life?
I feel that, more than any other RPG I have or have encountered, it is ideally situated for one on one gaming (GM + one player). This is my likely format just now. If there were to be the odd drop-in player, then the system and back story support that dynamic. Geralt has an on and off again thing going with his few friends and allies, so it feels right.
It is also a game at the fussy end of RPG’s which is one way of playing and a valid opton for my collection. If this is one extreme, 13th Age is at the other and my d100 games generally sit in the middle.
The new Journal even supplies a couple of long term nasties to base a campaign on with the promise of a properly linked campaign in the up coming “Tales” expansion.
I really, really, really did not want to get any more RPG stuff, settling on the Warhammer as my final set to complete (Enemy Within campaign), playing what I have and slowly culling as they fail to excite, but already having The Witcher core book, its unique role in the hobby and my collection and safely glacial release schedule, it may well outlast other old favourites.
*
*D&D for example has the luxury of defining the genre and has a very well understood, even stereo-typical RPG play style. Even spin-offs are designed to pay into that D&D-ness not take the system away from its roots.