Root: The role-playing game – Review, adventures in the woods

Root: The Role Playing Game that we are talking about in this review is a title by Brendan Conway and Mark Diaz Truman, published and localized in Italy by MS Editions. It is inspired by the board game Root: a game of power and justice in the woodsset in a world of anthropomorphic animals who juggle the clashes of the factions that inhabit the woods.

Green settings

The world of Root: The Roleplaying Game is set in Woodsa boundless expanse of wild nature, occasionally interrupted by clearingsthe “cities” that the inhabitants of the Woods have created for themselves to escape the dangers of Forest surrounding, and come on paths that connect them.

Although the Woods are a dangerous environment, over the centuries they have tempted many of the neighboring empires due to their numerous raw materials and the ancient history that lies hidden in their most remote corners, attracting many factions now at war. The civil war recently ended Eagle Dynasty, who had ruled the Woods for a very long time, leaving destruction and discontent among the population. What better situation for an ambitious noble from the nearby Holy Feline Empire to assert her power than to bring balance back to the Woods, now so lost?

So, the Marchesa De Gattis he marched on the woods and conquered a part of it, which could not resist the strength of his troops. Now decimated by the war, the Eagle Dynasty takes refuge in the clearings on the edge of the Woods, preparing to reconquer the now lost territory. Tired of the constant abuses, some inhabitants organize themselvesWoods Alliancea group of revolutionaries who, starting from the bottom, want to re-establish a new government “despite everything”… sometimes even to the detriment of the good of the people commoners.

Are you already wondering which of the factions you will be part of? Well, none! In fact, you will play as one of the Wanderersa term that Woodlanders use to describe scoundrels, mercenaries, or similar folk, who earn their living by traveling the glades and taking on dangerous assignments that only people out of the ordinary like them he has the courage to carry out.

Playing Root

To create your own character you need to choose a playbooksthat is, a trace of what your character is (we could say his archetype). Each playbook contains the statistics of the character and a section that will help you interpret him, for example defining his reasons hey values. In addition to defining the characteristics of your character you will also have a value to spend to purchase theequipment. Finally you choose the Moves of the adventurer, some ways in which your character can resolve conflicts and dangerous situations.

Every time the resolution of a scene is uncertain, we will do one trial. They pull each other two d6 and their total is added to the modifier of the characteristic with which we are testing. If the total is less than 6, failure will occur, with its associated complications. Every result greater than 7 it’s a successbut only those even or greater than 10 they will not lead to consequences. In addition to this way of resolving scenes, various types of moves can be used.

The basic moves they are the most varied and the ones you will use more often. They could be used to better understand what is happening around you, to convince an inhabitant of a clearing to give you refuge, or to rely on luck when things are going badly.

The moves with weapons instead, they are the ones you will use often in combat. Some, particularly simple ones (such as fighting or attacking) are known to all wanderers, while others are special skills for which you will need prior training and a specific weapon.

The reputation moves they could be used for to influence the factions (such as the woodland alliance), perhaps to request a meeting with one of their leaders, while the travel moves they help you move on trails or in forests with less risk than usual. Finally, the end-of-session moves they will allow your characters to advance if they act according to their own motivations.

A forest of stuff!

A note of merit particular goes to the final chapters on the role of Game Masters. In this section a novice GM will find a lot valuable information to start playing the game, from single sessions to long campaigns. By reading this chapter you will feel the passion that other players like you want to convey to you, showing you how to best play this role, grasping carefully each of the essential pointswithout however neglecting the more technical aspects.

They are proposed as a key tool for managing the game GM moves, which work conceptually like those used by players, which will help you linearly manage events at your table. Together you will also find a guide on building NPCs and on the conduct of conflicts, both with NPCs and factions and between players.

We then find an entire chapter on how build and evolve your own Woods, with particular emphasis on the conflict between the factions, which will be very familiar to those who have played the board game at least once. You can also find it for free on publisher’s site of thevery useful free material to make your forest even more concrete, with some maps to use as a model.

Finally, the manual presents one clearingThe Gelilah grove, with its events and inhabitants (including some NPCs, each with their own card) ready to be played. It lends itself very well both as a place to start a campaign and as a setting for a one-shot in which to discover the game, even if in one session you will hardly play everything that is presented.

Like other interesting titles offered by MS, Root: the role-playing game is ultimately a manual that offers a very specific setting but at the same time extremely customizable, with a deep game system but not too difficult to learn at first glance. The game is recommended for any player, expert or novice, who wants to immerse themselves in this world. If you appreciated the setting of the board game and want to experience it firsthand, this is right for you! If you want to start experimenting as a Game Master, it’s a good game to start with given the attention to the dedicated chapters, perhaps using the Gelilah grove as your first adventure.