Type of bind: Hardcover
EAN num: 9781880992760
ISBN number: 1880992760
Label: Wizards of the Coast
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
Quantity: 1
Printing Date: 2000-01
Publishing house: Wizards of the Coast
Sale Popularity Level: 1602128
Studio: Wizards of the Coast
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Everway is another forgotten game, a casualty of trying to bring innovation to the mainstream market (I could say it was something else, but I'd be lying). Produced by Wizards of the Coast before they bought TSR/D&D, Everway was meant to be a joining of CCG and RPGers. WotC basically wanted a RPG line that produced as much money as a CCG line (everyone knows this is impossible. Not even D&D brings in Magic: the Gathering money). So, in short, CCGers and RPGers wanted nothing to do with it, because CCGers and RPGers are completely different types of gamers.
And for RPGers, I think this was a mistake of dismissing a book by it's cover.
Everway is a city in the game, a city with a diverse history and culture. Everway is the place where the Walker's Pyramid lay, waiting to be finished. The Walker was a deity of some sort that could step between spheres (dimensions, worlds, etc), and everywhere he stepped, a portal was opened to that sphere. These portals couldn't be walked through by every random peasant, though. A spiritually dense type of people - called Spherewalkers - could make the trip like walking in between two rooms. These people walked all paths of life, from mighty wizards to lowly rat catchers, completely without defining marks or auras. The player's characters are all automatically Spherewalkers, and experienced ones at that.
Everway is called "Visionary Roleplaying" for good reason: it's chargen method, which is really it's claim to fame as far as I am concerned. The game comes with 90 Vision cards, which are simply art cards, which are used in conjunction with a Q&A round to help define a character's background and personality. For example, someone picks a card that looks like a woman dancing in the street. Then everyone takes turns asking questions about the picture, such as "Who is she?", "Why is she dancing?", "What town is this", etc. You actually don't need the cards, any art will do, but it's nice to see them included in the set.
On to the numbers: Characters get 20 points to divide up into their four attributes: Air, Earth, Fire, Water. Or perhaps I should call them Mind, Body, Speed, Soul, because basically that's what they are. It's a good attribute spread, the same that Unknown Armies used later on. Anyway, a player determines character's abilities by putting points in them. Average human is 3, best possible for characters looks to be 10. The traits are exponential, meaning that someone with Earth 4 is twice as strong as someone with Earth 3, and four times as strong as someone with Earth 2.
Every character also has four specialties, one for each element, which effectively adds 1 to his element score in situations where the specialty applies. So if someone with Fire 4 had the specialty Swordsmanship, whenever he was swordfighting, his Fire would be considered a 5.
If a player elects to not spend all his attribute points, he can place them in Powers and Magic. Every Everway character gets a free Power (besides Spherewalking) as a quirk, a little flair for the character.
Powers are pretty straightforward: powers that normal people don't have, like waterbreathing or poison immunity. Some of those 20 attribute points can be spent for Powers, which cost 1-3 points, depending on if it's frequent, major, and/or versatile. The free Power mentioned above can't be frequent, major, or versatile. There are many examples, but I won't spoil the rules here beyond what I've already said.
Magic is altogether a different beast, and probably the only strike I see against the system. To tell the truth, it is entirely too vaguely defined and handwavey to really be a useful addition to the rules, and personally I would handle magic in the same way Powers are dealt with, above.
Task Resolution: The game's effects resolve through three methods, which the author calls Kharma, Drama, and Fortune. Now, these aren't meant to always be used exclusively. They can often be combined by the GM.
Kharma: Kharma is pretty simple, whoever has a higher number in the relative element being tested is the winner. So if one character is swordfighting another, they compare Fires (obviously taking into account any relevant specialties). The higher one is the winner.
Drama: Drama basically dictates that whatever is best for the plot should happen. If the villian is supposed to get away, it is so. If the heroes are supposed to slay the dragon, it is so.
Fortune: Fortune is the randomizor of the game, as much as dice are to most other RPGs. It comes in the form of 36 tarot-like cards, which also have meanings when drawn reversed. So the deck has 72 possible results. These cards are interpreted by the GM, who explains how they effect the situation. If (for instance) the Nature (Life Energy) card is drawn in a swordfight, the participant ... Read More
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Everway is a roleplaying game, but unlike other games everway is really open to the character shaping the rules. No dice are used and you can make up your own special abilites, making the job difficult for the GM.
The games premise is that you are heroes, who travel gates to different spheres, each sphere is it's own "world" and people acess these spheres through gates. Gate's are anything that allow people passage to another sphere, they can be stone temples, caves, the space between two trees, or anthing your GM likes. Everway itself in the game is the "town" that has the most gates (71). This is the highest concentration of gates known.
Characters: The characters stats are air, fire, earth,water, the elements. At the game you start with 20 points to spread between your magic, powers, and elements. The powers you can make up yourself and it is the responsibility for the GM to decide how much it costs.
Playing the game: The game is played like any other roleplaying game except no dice are used. The GM decides combat and actions by drawing from a deck of Tarot like cards. Each card whether drawn upside down or right side up determines the outcome of the action, but there can be some creative interpretations by the GM.
Everything you need to play is included, the players guide which gives a lot (almost too much) detail about the world. The GM will need to read everything which, can be rather boring.
So if you want a game with no dice, player control over rules, then get
Everway.
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