# The Wretchedverse, a Brief Review By Someone Else, Part I tags: #thoughts/tweets #game/rpg/wretchedverse You know what? [I appreciate a solid review and a solid overview](https://ravenwulfgar.substack.com/p/courting-controversy-the-red-room?r=2d0j1o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&open=false), so this just tickles me in the right place. [![[Wolfgar @ Twitter on Wretchedverse.png]]](https://twitter.com/Ulfhedrengr/status/1761777113655345395) --- https://twitter.com/Ulfhedrengr/status/1761777113655345395 The funniest thing is that I don't really care for the mechanical architecture that the **Wretchedverse** goes for. I understand the appeal and if someone invited me to a table to play where it was being run, I would happily step up… I just don't particularly care for the structure if I were to think about running something in it. But that's okay because strapping on something like *[[Blades in the Dark|Forged in the Dark]]* would be extremely easy. Even using **[[Ironsworn - Starforged|Starforged]]** wouldn't be too hard and mainly would just come down to assembling some new Assets and some new tables for inspiration specifically colored by that space. [![[Wretched Darkness (cover).jpg]]](https://moordereht.com/wretched-darkness) I'm tempted to pick up **Wretched Darkness** just because I really enjoy horror settings and I love the attitude the writers bring to the table in presentation. It just feels good.^[ Amusing fact, I just did exactly that while writing this. I know when I'm the audience.] (Why yes, I did buy a copy of **Wretched MEN** on release and laughed myself silly while reading it. Why do you ask?) [![[Wretched MEN (cover).jpg]]](https://moordereht.com/product/wretched-men/) --- I'll be honest – this started out as a series of Tweets, but then I realized I was just going to have too many inserted links for it to work well, which is a damn shame. I'm sure far more people are willing to skim down a Tweet thread than they are likely to read several hundred words about anything. Yet, here we are, tinkering around in my digital garden, with plenty of room to write whatever thoughts come to mind – and it's a good time to do so. I suppose, given the above, that I should probably start by explaining why I don't particularly like the *Wretchedverse* mechanics, and doing so is pretty straightforward: I have no love lost for the [[OSR]]. Philosophically, structurally, mechanically, I have no positive resonance with what is effectively retrograde **[[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D]]**. I know it's a big draw in portions of the TTRPG space – I just want nothing at all to do with it. Amusingly, that means that the cut down, streamlined, built-for-speed-not-for-comfort version of the mechanics found in **Wretched MEN** is quite good in my mind. I like it a lot. I would never run it, for reasons which will soon become clear, but I like it. It reminds me, of all things, of **[[On Mighty Thews]]**, a game [[Character Creation Challenge 2024 - Day 26 - On Mighty Thews|which I obviously like a lot]]. What I do really like about the **[[Wretched RPG]]** is the *Sin/Virtue system*, which is a fantastic way to simultaneously motivate and allow the player at the table to signal what sort of things they want to be exposed to and be allowed to do. It puts its finger directly on doing what it needs to and what it should do for everybody to get what they want out of the game. I've written about some of my other favorite games which involve similar mechanics (particularly *Drives* from **[[Capes]]** and *Dark Impulses* from **[[Wicked Ones]]**) and they always are very much the right thing to do, mechanically.[^capes] Luckily for me, that basic idea already exists within or can be grafted onto pretty much every game system I actually like and am likely to play, and which isn't burdened with the curse of requiring a GM. If you're reading my work regularly, you know I am a deeply preferentially GMless gamer. I have been for decades at this point. If your game requires a GM, that's automatically a strike against for me, for a number of reasons that I might get into in depth at a later time. The **Wretched RPG** is most certainly a GMfull design. I will 99.99% never run this game. But I would *play* it. In the review/overview I referred to at the top, Raven Wolfgar compared **Wretched Darkness** specifically with first edition **[[Kult]]**, and it was at that moment that I was immediately damned to buy it. **Kult** 1E was probably one of the finest horror games ever written. The mechanics were a little clunky but serviceable. The setting was incredibly mind blowing. There was a strange fixation on martial arts but we can excuse quirks in those we love. The scenarios and bits that came out for the game were genuinely disturbing and high-minded. Incredible, great stuff. And then **Kult** 2E came out and blew it all to Hell. So if you pitch something to me as **Kult**, I'm already in. My wallet's already out. You don't owe me dinner or a reach around; I'm good to go.[^kult] Even if I *am* already immediately thinking of how to convert the thing to use the mechanics from **[[Sorcerer]]** or *Forged in the Dark* or **Starforged**. That's no mark against it, that's just really strong pluses next to those names, those systems, and those modes of play. Good job, Raven; you can chalk up at least one sale to your work. Bravo. My wallet spits at you. [^capes]: See [[Character Creation Challenge 2024 - Day 05 - Capes|Character Creation Challenge 2024: Day 05 - Capes :: Mitterani Sho, Worldsmasher]] and [[Capes]] [^kult]: Ironically this just motivated me to get the hardbacks of **Kult 4E** and the GM guide for it which were, for some reason, not in my library. I'm familiar with what's in them, loosely, but didn't own them. Fair enough. One more for the display table. I really need a specific display shelf just for **Kult**.