Mail Room: What's Old is New Starter Box (WOIN)

Well, at least GURPS does not have the worst name for a game anymore.

I kid, but What's Old is New (WOIN) is a cool retro-clone of the D6 pool systems, like the original Star Wars D6 System. It is not 100% the same, but it is close enough to functionally replace it entirely. I joke about the name, but I get the joke here, and gamers and nerds love their silly-sounding game names.

And GURPS is still an incredible system.

I played the D6 System with friends once, and it is the perfect new-player game that can do almost anything quickly and with very little knowledge of the rules.

Someone tries an action.

You tell the player to add an ability and skill number and roll that many d6.

Add them up.

Beat a number.

This is very new and player-friendly, and it beats Cypher System on not needing anyone to understand any abstract concepts of pools, edges, difficulties, assets, and intrusions. We played a superhero game, and it was all about ability + superpower dice, rolling over a number to make an attack or do something.

Everyone instantly got the concept.

Nobody had to open a rulebook.

We were playing right when we sat down.

Some felt the system was "moar dice," which is an issue with the old D6 system, where the pools of dice got high, and we were throwing 18d6 every turn. WOIN seems to keep the number of dice down, and the old D6 System has its share of issues that WOIN appears to have fixed by limiting the number of dice needed.

Still, players loved rolling handfuls of dice. Why roll a single unfair d20, when I can clatter a handful of d6 dice all over the table and instantly draw attention to my roll. Those big d6 rolls are fantastic fun.

There were moments when I knew the good guy "got" the bad guy. The player was excitedly counting the dice, and you could feel the excitement rising as he totaled up a 45 and blew the villain completely out.

It was a great moment.

In the long term, the game fell apart since the original D6 System wasn't as well suited to long-term play. But this game gave us the most fun for our sessions and was far more fun to play than D&D 4E. I hope WOIN fixed that issue, too.

But for a system you play with a table of strangers, like at a convention, this is a "zero to sixty" system for pick-up and play. I know this because the original D6 System was amazing for anyone who dropped into our games. People instantly became engaged with their characters, what they could do in the world, and the world itself.

Another fun aspect of the system is EN World publishing "like sourcebooks" similar to the original D6 System games. There are "Not Star Wars," "Not Ghostbusters," and many other "Not" setting books that look fun and simulate the original experience nicely with the WOIN System. The books are similar enough, look fun, and get you where you need to go and deliver a generic experience. They are similar enough that you could always play the original IP without shelling out for a licensed game.

There is also one licensed book for Judge Dredd, so you have it if you want something official.

But a part of me likes the "Not Sourcebooks." It feels like sticking it to Wall Street and just playing my favorite settings without being taken to the cleaners for a constant stream of books, support, and new editions of the game a few years after buying in. I could do a "Not Star Trek" easily with this system, which would work fine for what it needs to do. It would work better than Cypher System, and the "instant jump in" would make it trivial for new players to sit down, take a pre-gen Enterprise crew member, and get playing. People instantly get X+Y dice and beat a number, and there is no "everyone flipping through the book to find abilities" like you have in Cypher System.

And having a "Not Star Wars" system to play Star Wars with means I can play my way, without needing a license or anything, and tell the current owners of any ruined IP their ideas are garbage. The "Not" part enables me to own the game as my creation and make the idea mine. There is something liberating about emulating a setting without the official rules, and it opens the door to you making the setting your own.

WOIN is a solid system based on a legendary D6 concept.

It's a strange name, but those can become endearing and provide an amazing experience for new players in any setting or IP.

A solid recommend, and looking forward to getting the starter set.