Hi Everyone,

Based on extensive playtesting and stress testing, I’ve made several important adjustments to the Open Beta Playtest Version of WONDER × WORLDS to improve balance, clarity, and accessibility. The updated PDF (Version 2.0) and revised reference sheets are available now—and you can download them for FREE!

Here is a summary of the chapter-by-chapter revisions.

CHAPTER 2: KEY RULES AND MECHANICS

Dice Pool Caps: The language describing the dice pool cap (p. 7) has been slightly adjusted for clarity..

CHAPTER 4: OVERVIEW OF PLAYER CHARACTER CREATION

Progression: The Progression Table (p. 28) has been adjusted to change the sequence of PC Attribute and Skill improvements for better game balance.

The PC Sheet Now Includes Total Creation Points: “Total Creation Points” now appears in parentheses next to Level on the PC sheet (p. 29) for easy reference during character creation and advancement. This change has also been implemented in the separate printable (and fillable) PC sheets.

CHAPTER 5: PLAYER CHARACTER CORE CHARACTERISTICS

Skills: The descriptions of the Brute and Martial Artist Skills have been clarified.

CHAPTER 6: PLAYER CHARACTER EXTRAORDINARY CAPABILITIES

Creation Points (CP) and Balance: To better balance PC capabilities, the options to spend CP to add Advantage dice directly to Weapon Moves, Power Moves, and Artifacts have been removed from the Extraordinary Capabilities Cost Table (p. 44).

Damage Types: The elemental and energy damage type descriptions (p. 45) now clarify that any residual damage ignores Armor.

Weapon Moves: A series of small adjustments have been made for balance and clarity, including:

• Backhanded Attack: The penalty has been reduced and the description clarified.
• Barrage Attack: The description has been tweaked to clarify the types of ranged weapons and targets the Move applies to.
• Disarming Attack: The text now clarifies that the adversary must be holding a weapon for the Move to apply. In other words, it cannot be used against a Creature's natural weapons or certain types of weapons integrated into VAMs.
• Exploding Attack: The description has been clarified and the damage dealt to both the adversary and the PC has been adjusted.
• Quick Draw Attack: The description now specifies that it only applies to "point" attacks.
• Sniper Attack: The description has been revised to better distinguish the Move from "Aimed Attack."
• Stunning Attack: The description clarifies the Standard and Partial Effect.

Power Moves: Several changes have been made to Power Moves.

• Accelerate: The Move has been substantially revised to enable the PC to increase their AP (in combat) or their Speed (outside of combat), with the Difficulty Level for the Move determined by how much the PC is attempting to accelerate.
• Beguile: The description has been revised to clarify range and shape; the duration has been reduced.
• Confuse: The Move has been adjusted to require a 1d6 roll each round to determine the target's behavior.
• Cure: The Move now has an option to accept a 1Dd6 penalty to heal additional ticks, adding a risk/reward element.
• Enhance: The duration of the Move has been reduced.
• Empowered Attack: The Move has been renamed “Imbue,” with a revised description focused on adding elemental or energy Effects to weapons.
• Invisibility: The rules have been clarified to account for situations where an invisible PC's actions give away their general location.
• Manipulate Mind: The language has been updated to clarify the use of the Move to compel a target.
• Protective Field: The Difficulty Level has been increased to 2 or the highest Difficulty Level of relevant adversaries, whichever is higher, making it scale better.
• Resistance: The duration of the Move has been extended.
• School of Magic (SoM): The Move has been significantly changed and renamed “Tricks.” I originally intended for SoM to be a kind of all-purpose Power Move to enable creative uses of magic. But in playtesting, the current formulation proved too unwieldy, subjective, and redundant. The most potent damage effects could already be achieved by creating custom weapons, and its best utility effects were already covered by other, more specific Power Moves. The reimagined and renamed Tricks Power Move simplifies and narrows the Move (and makes it more genre-agnostic) to focus on a set of non-harmful utility Effects with a default Difficulty Level of 0 (think D&D utility cantrips). Some of the listed Effects are still dialed down versions of other Power Moves, but the appeal of the Tricks Power Move is not in the magnitude of any given Effect but the Move’s versatility—the fact that a character gains an entire bag of reliable tricks! 

NEW Power Moves: To fill the gaps left by redesigning SoM, a few new Power Moves have been added: “Life Shell” (a Health Clock buff), “Hostile Terrain” and “Portal” (control options), and “Commune with Spirits” (a necromantic ability).

CHAPTER 7: CREATING NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS AND CREATURES

NPC/Creature Power Moves: The NPC/Creature Power Move "Entangle" has been renamed “Hostile Terrain” to mirror the new PC Power Move of the same name.

CHAPTER 8: CRAFTING YOUR ADVENTURE

Scene Adjustment: Minor changes and corrections have been made to the traps and hazards in "The Garden" Scene (p. 111 and Appendix 1).

New Island Map: The placeholder island Mission Map (p. 123) has been updated. (Big thanks to Fernando Salvaterra for creating the beautiful new map!)

CHAPTER 9: PLAYING THE GAME

Situational Factors Table: The "Obscured, Total Darkness, or Undetected" entry in the Situational Factors Table has been clarified. This change has also been applied to the Situational Factors Table reference sheet.

Expanded Move Results Table: The "Exploration and Social Interaction Scenes" column on the Expanded Move Results Table has been relabeled to "Any Scene: PC Not Attacking or Defending." This clarifies that these options also apply in Combat Scenes when a PC makes a Move that does not involve attacking an adversary or defending themselves from attack (e.g., when making an Attribute Move to explore the battlefield environment). This change has also been applied to the Expanded Move Results Table reference sheet.

Promise and Peril Pools: I’ve added a new optional mechanic called “Promise and Peril Pools” (p. 150), described as follows: “When a PC Move results in a 2Ad6 carryover bonus or 2Dd6 penalty on the PC’s next Move, the GM can instead give the player the option of reducing the bonus or penalty to 1Ad6 or 1Dd6, placing that die into a “Promise Pool” or a “Peril Pool,” respectively. The total number of dice accumulated in these pools cannot exceed 6Ad6 or 6Dd6 at any given time, but any number can be spent to affect any PC Move, with players determining when the Promise Pool dice are used and the GM controlling the Peril Pool. For the purposes of a PC’s dice pool limits for any given Move (see page 7), these dice count as situational factors. This optional mechanic shifts notions of momentum and setbacks from the individual PC level to the macro story level, representing a kind of narrative metacurrency that can swing the adventure in exciting directions.”

OTHER CHANGES

Oracle Hyperlinks: Each time a specific Oracle is referenced throughout the rulebook, there are now embedded hyperlinks that take you to the page where the Oracle is presented.