 |
| The core rules revealed... |
This is the second part of this three-part review of Helvéczia. The first part covered what was in the box and can be found here, and the third part will follow.
"Helvéczia is first and foremost about colourful stories, never-do-wells, with a questionable moral compass as well as the vagueness of fortune and its ups and downs." p137
The game has been released so you can purchase it in two ways; as a core book, or as a boxed set. I bought the boxed set, and have copy 85 of 500 of the first printing.
 |
| A handy comparison chart that I've stolen from the author's blog. |
This part will focus on what you'd get if you just purchased the hardcover; the book itself, the A3 player's map and the cards. However, the book itself will dominate the review.
The book is a 204 page hardcover, with black and white interiors. It contains everything that you need to run the game including an introductory scenario. The typeface and setting mimic old books, and woodcut-style illustrations are used throughout.
 |
| Example of the layout style. |
The game has the feel of the OSR (light, simple rules, danger present) but draws upon later editions for inspiration (although it doesn't use advantage/disadvantage). It has ascending Armour Class coupled with a six level cap. You can be a Student, a Cleric, a Vagabond or a Fighter. Multiclassing is possible but reasonably rare. Helvéczia uses DC based rolls (d20 + skill/attribute) and handles combat manoeuvres via an opposed check. There are three core saves; Bravery, Deftness and Temperance. Damage is by weapon type.
The setting for the game draws upon Baron Munchausen, Dumas, Poe and Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne for inspiration. The book lists this as the second edition; the first was playtested with a campaign in Helvéczia itself, and further playtests were carried out in occupied Catalonia during the days of plague. The playtesters are credited along with their characters (with little crosses for the dead). There's a good discussion of what picaresque is, and the design principles applied.
The core mechanic is the check. This uses a d20 roll against a target number of 12 (normal) or 18 (hard). If you've played any edition of D&D since 3e then you'll be used to this. Checks types are Ability, Skill, Save or Attack; however, in all cases the mechanic works in the same way. Counter-checks are also introduced for more complex manoeuvres; for example, when you want to swing in from the window using the chandelier, grab the girl and swing away. Both you and the opponents would make a roll and the winner needs to score 5 more than their opponent. Otherwise it will get complicated!
Abilities will generate modifiers in the range -3 to +3 and have a maximum value of 18. You roll them on 4d6, discarding the lowest and assigning in order. You roll two series and select the one that you want to use for your character.
Most characters in Helvéczia are of German, Italian or French ancestry, which is of no surprise as this is an analogue of Switzerland. Your nationality will give you a unique trait. For example, Germans have craft skills as a bonus and will be treated as a journeyman in that trade. Italians have more Virtue because of their proximity to His Holiness the Pope, higher levels of luck but a chance of having a rivalry or vendetta with every Italian that they meet. There are potential controversies with Jewish and Gypsy backgrounds being included but, upon reading, they seem to be reasonably sensitively done.
By default, characters start at the second level, with maximum first level hit points. Each character class has a number of specialisms; fighters (soldiers) can be soldiers, sharpshooters, weapon masters, champions, duellists or hussars. Each subtype has some unique ability.
Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride would be a Fighter (Weaponmaster or Duellist) with a Spanish background.
Vagabonds are travellers from a variety of backgrounds. They initially chose two specialisations from a list of five, and can add more as they level up.
Clerics have the restriction that they must obey the dictates of the Church and display Chastity, Obedience and maintain Pax Dei (not randomly kill people!). If they don't, they have Virtue penalties. Should their Virtue fall, they can change class to become a Student, but they can never return to Holy Orders. They have access to spells and can perform healing and exorcisms.
Students are studying the liberal arts at a University. They have a rightful reputation for being fun-loving libertines with decadent ways that put them at risk from the Devil and his minions. They have access to spells of a dark nature and science. They are expected to be the antithesis of the cleric.
Multiclassing is rare; a character can only have six levels maximum and total. Character hit dice range between 1d6 and 1d10.
Characters start with three skills, modified by intelligence, nationality and class. They have a value of level + ability bonus and are used as the modifier for a skill check with a d20. Some skills can only be accessed by certain classes (Vagabonds can gain pick-pockets, whereas Clerics or Students are the only ones who can have the Alchemy skill).
A new secondary characteristic is introduced, Virtue. Virtue is rolled on 3d6 and is considered high if >14 and low if <7. It ranges from 0 to 21 and will change depending on how the character behaves. At the end of a session, their behaviour will be assessed against the 7 virtues and the 7 Cardinal Sins and adjusted accordingly. If you are in a state of low Virtue, you will have better luck, especially for gambling and attacks. Low virtue Clerics cannot learn spells. If you have high Virtue, G*d is watching over you, and you get a bonus on saves. Students with high virtue cannot learn their spells. Virtue can be restored by action, Confession, attending mass and buying Letters of Indulgence. There are tailored rules for Calvinist and Jewish characters.
Combat uses flexible turn lengths. Initiative is through Dex check, ranging from high to low. During a turn, characters can attack, perform combat checks, reload, cast magic or take other action. Attack rolls use d20 + attack bonus + attribute bonus + other modifiers. If you roll equal to or above your opponent's AC then you hit. Weapons have a critical range; if you roll it, you roll again. If the second roll hits, you get increased damage. If the second roll is a 20, you roll again. Another hit would kill your opponent outright. Combats checks are used for manoeuvres. Damage is by weapon type. If you reach 0 hit points then you are unconscious; -5 hit points means you're dead. There are simple rules for larger battles including sieges. Blackpowder weapons are available.
Spellcasting is a finite resource as spells are lost after they are cast. Student magic relies on low virtue and draws upon the devil, perhaps. Anyway, the Catholic Church will probably burn you for using 'witchcraft' whereas the Calvinists are somewhat more tolerant. Clerics draw upon holy places to commit spells to their minds, while students will draw on books of lore and manuscripts. The available spells will depend upon the site or the books accessed.
Clerics will commit spells to their minds through prayer and meditation at the holy place, usually at masses or other forms of worship. Local ecclesiastical authorities may limit the access of wanderers, drawing on their vow of obedience to ensure compliance. Holy relics often serve as hosts for spells.
Student spell formulate are contained in books; the numbers that can be learned each day are limited by the level of the student. Student magic relies on rare and extraordinary components and can be very costly or difficult to find. For example, the Skeleton Key spell requires the fingerbones of a hanged man. Speak with the Dead needs a burial shroud and consecrated oil.
Any character can draw upon the Holy Bible for inspiration. Open a Bible randomly, taking a full round. Whatever verse is found has an effect determined by the GM. Use of this is limited by Virtue.
 |
| You can ask the Devil for aid, but you risk your soul. |
Alternatively, you can draw on the Devil's Bible, the 34 card Hungarian William Tell deck included with the game. You can draw 1,2 or 3 cards. The level of luck will increase with the number of cards. A single card would be easily deniable, but three cards will show obvious supernatural intervention with potential repercussions. However, if you draw upon the Devil for luck, your debt must be settled.
At the end of the session, you meet up with the Devil to settle your debt. You can bid money (Thaler) or Virtue to pay for each card to take it back. If you bid over its value, you get it back and the debt is settled for that card. Bid under and the Devil takes your offer but keeps the card. If you're lucky, and the cards total 21, the Devil wipes your debt. If it's over 21 you will need to do a service, take out a contract with your soul or get dragged to Hell.
There's a fun table called the Branch and Bush Table, which is what happens if your character flees or becomes lost. You can die if things go horribly wrong or never be seen again.
The section on Helvéczia itself gives an overview of 24 cantons. These contain great descriptions and nuggets that players and GMs can draw upon. Each canton has approximately half a page of notes. It amuses me that Xantillon, a French Canton, contains Xyntillan, the Rainbow Castle, a shout back to a previous product. There are nutshell details of adjacent lands like France, Autro-Hungary, Prussia, Poland, Italy and Catalonia; these are useful as you could encounter agents from these powers.
The second half of the book is the GM's section. There's good advice on when and how to use checks in different situations. It includes how success and failure aren't binary in the way that they produce results. They can provide complications rather than outright failure.
Experience is gained by defeating opponents (you don't need to kill them, indeed it may be safer not to risk the wrath of the authorities), overcoming challenges, exploration and also indulging in hedonism and excess during downtime. There's guidance on handling sixth level characters, along with changing careers and adopting protégés.
Basic environmental hazards such as falling, suffocation, deprivation, and poisons are explained. There's also a discussion on alternative ways to handle low hitpoints.
The guide on games-mastering the setting recommends being colourful but succinct in your description, engaging the senses and ensuring you engage the players to draw them into action. Above all, you're encouraged to make it feel real. It felt very modern in approach, which is a good thing. GMs are encouraged to improvise, presenting meaningful choices to the characters in which they have a stake, but giving them freedom of decision over any plot. This is classic sandbox play with potential beats rather than railroads. The 'rules of engagement' provide solid advice on running a session well. It draws upon techniques where you encourage the players to fill in details.
Use of a calendar is suggested (the box set includes one), and the text reminds you that the pace of the game may be slower than other settings. It takes time to heal.
The different types of adventure are reviewed: wilderness adventures take place in the spaces beyond 'civilisation', up mountain passes and in forests and valleys to distant villages. Journeys and point crawls are discussed as a counter-point to hex crawls (the maps presented for the GM in the box set allow for either). There's an example of doing it both ways using the Forest of Verhó to illustrate the point. Random encounters are recommended to make the journey feel real and alive, and you'd better hope that someone has the Forestry skill if you decide to camp!
Dungeon adventures would usually take place at a location like a castle. These would be small or medium-sized, unlike the usual kind of dungeon used in D&D. Villages and towns can be adventure sites or refuges to rest and recover in. Finally, there's the Mittelmarch, a dark land where the Faerie dwell.
Penny Dreadfuls - situation based mini-adventures - are explained, recommending a simple framework with the background and situation to provide a session or two of play. Of course, you can also introduce diabolical schemes and conspiracies.
Variable play styles are covered; action, exploration, scheming, power and dramatic. There's sound advice for each.
There's a section on drawing upon local legends, explaining how they are structured and how the Grimm Brothers' German Legends differed from the fairy tales by being far less obviously magical. If you want to bring in ill-fated love affairs, intrigue and dark secrets, you can play in 'Sturm und Drang' mode, adding in romantic fantasy.
The book then presents The 7 Knaves, an introductory adventure aimed at about two hours. There's a simple five location structure that draws together magic, bandits, vagrants, dark secrets and the Devil!
Monsters are presented with a simple description and the XP rewards for defeating them. There is a huge range, starting with the Accursed Outcast and ending with Yellow Mould. Some of the ones that stood out include animated armour, angels, devils, basilisk, Black Friars, dragons, man-eating giant frogs, hell hounds, giant owls, Putto (cupid), Striga, witches, vampires and the Krampus. Sample NPCs are given with stats.
There are random tables for treasures, medicine cabinet contents, magic armour and weapons, talismans, relics, scrolls tarot cards, curios and more. Further tables, some using a d24, cover prized possessions, books, why villages are famous, wilderness locations, stagecoach passengers, and strange customs.
There's a great name index to use for players or GMs and a decent index. The character sheet is functional rather than pretty.
The Endpapers present two maps of Helvéczia; one shows regions, the other shows roads and towns. Both are aimed at players and are useful.
To conclude, I really like this game; it is evocative and feels very different. The system is light and simple, and the advice for playing the game is excellent. I'm looking forward to diving into the rest of the box and exploring some of the cantons in detail. Recommended.
23 July 2021
