So no matter how good a character is at, say, a battle axe, they will ALWAYS suffer -2 to their dice pool. One of my player's big gripes is that every weapon as a 'complexity' that subtracts from your attack dice pool. Some parts of it feel needlessly complex.

In the Central Americas, the Spanish got their asses handed to them by the Aztecs, who turned the dark powers of their gods against the invaders. Main differences: the black death disproportionately affected men, leading to a much earlier women's suffrage to fill the void in society. The wars of religion are still simmering in Europe and the colonization of the new world is picking up the pace.

The game world is a slightly alt-history version of the late 17th century. So far, I haven't had any problems challenging the group, nor do they feel their characters are deficient at their rank. It handles long campaign play very well, with a relatively consistent power curve. My group has been playing for two years and is still going strong. The supplements offer orders of the Jewish and Islamic faiths. This 'higher power' is ambiguous, and all religions are represented among the orders of Witch Hunters, though the core game book is very Euro-centric. Two of the orders of witch hunters embrace a more deist or cynical agnostic world view, even though all witch hunters identify a kinship with a 'higher power' as they fight the creeping influence against 'the Adversary' ( Please let me introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste.). But further readings have revealed plenty of options for folks who don't care to break into Onward Christian Soldiers every time they roll initiative. One of my initial gripes about the game was the focus on religion. The core book gives you plenty of stuff to play with, from magic to special combat maneuvers to monsters. But spellcasting characters are perfectly capable in other aspects of play. There are very few offensive options, and casting takes time. There are lots of layers for players to explore, but so far everything works from basic 'I hit it with my axe' to 'I'm going to use this trick maneuver to.' Magic feels very appropriate for the genre. It plays fast, though building the dice pools is a bit of a speed bump at first. Combat offers plenty of options without being tactical. The system provides plenty of ways to let the characters shine. I'd say it's one of the better games I've played at handling things like Fear rolls and such. The horror is pulpy but still threatening. The core mechanic is essentially roll Ability+Skill against a TN of 7, count successes against a task difficulty. It's a d10 dicepool system that probably feels a bit like the old Storyteller system with a revamped combat system. If you've ever thought Solomon Kane in Colonial America would be a fun idea for a game, Witch Hunter has you covered! And so far, its been a very satisfying experience. After viewing the revisions, I decided to reboot our game with WH. The group took a break for childbirth, during which time Paradigm announced the 2nd edition kickstarter.

I love Savage Worlds, but SWoSK just wasn't working the way I needed it to. After a couple of gos at a long game of SK, I felt like that game just wasn't hitting the mark. I picked up the 1st edition of Witch Hunter back when it was released, but mostly used as material for the Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane game. For shame! A bit of background on my experience.

Witch hunter rpg pdf