An Informal Review of Swyvers

Someone in the OSR discord recently asked for opinions on Swyvers. I have played and refereed Swyvers, both times in Blue Cheese Left to Rot, and so I typed out an overly-long ramble in response. I've been procrastinating for months on starting a blog, so what the hell, here's my first post. Below is an expanded and cleaned-up version of that ramble.

The actual system itself is serviceable and sometimes even exceptional, although it has that particular Luke Gearing quirk of going against modern design trends and being a deliberately un-streamlined system. Skill checks, combat, and grappling all use completely different dice resolution methods. It tells you not to roll for conversations with NPCs but then on page 52 gives you a bribery subsystem where you… roll for conversations with NPCs. The difference is that the rolls are ref-facing instead of player-facing, I guess? Oh, and it also, again, uses a completely different dice resolution methods from skills, combat, or grappling. 

While Swyvers has the familiar Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, it notably doesn't include any mental stats at all. This seems intended to encourage the OSR maxim of "player skill over character skill", a goal I generally find admirable. However, Swyvers can't fully commit to this, and does still give you a system for generating target numbers for rolls divorced from the physical stats. This has an unfortunate consequence: physical rolls feel quite concrete as you are rolling under your stat, whereas mental rolls (which do exist in the system) rely entirely on a GM-set target number, and the contrast means that mental rolls feel especially arbitrary and fiat-reliant.

Combat is an idiosyncratic weirdo version of D&D tuned to be less whiffy and a bit more realistic. To-hit target numbers ("Defence Value") aren't based on armor, but rather on weapon type. A big weapon makes it harder to get hit than a small weapon, which is a clever way to address the common complaint that reach is a far less useful trait in D&D than it is in real life. Since AC doesn't exist, armor now acts as damage reduction, and each armor is assigned its own die size that you roll against the damage. This is slightly reminiscent of how armor works in Advanced Fighting Fantasy, although I suspect that has more to do with convergent evolution than any direct inspiration on Gearing. I also quite enjoy the initiative system, which ties into weapon size and Defence Value: large weapons go first on the first round when reach is important, small weapons go first on subsequent rounds after you have presumably closed the gap into clinch distance. 

The venerable-but-swingy d20 has been swapped out for the bell-curvaceous 2d10, leading to a more reliable hit percentage. Defence Value maxes out at 12 for a Long Weapon + Shield, meaning that (absent situational modifiers) you'll never have less than a 45% chance of hitting someone. A schlub with a knife and no shield has a whopping 79% chance of being hit.* You do get more HP than BX so characters are fairly survivable (by OSR standards). I love a good Death & Dismemberment table at 0 HP, and Swyvers generously provides. This one is more vague and abstract than I tend to prefer, especially compared to something like Cavegirl’s. What does having a “broken and useless torso” mean in the fiction, exactly?  That said, I can't argue with the result: after one of the PCs was ran through by a sword, every player was holding their breath as the PC slowly bled out, crawling along the floor and yanking blankets off the bed to try to use as a bandage.

The tables and setting are exquisitely flavorful and detailed. It really leans into the “mud, blood, and shit” aesthetic and is much grosser than is typical. There’s a random table of venereal diseases, for example, which I love. The setting does require more work than something like Doskvol from Blades in the Dark (a frequent comparison, although mechanically the games have very little in common), since it requires assembly via random tables rather than being pre-packaged and immediately ready to put on the table, so your mileage may vary. The equipment lists are written in-character with a thick, stereotypical Cockney accent, really emphasizing the extremely British vibe.

Blue Cheese is a phenomenal adventure and the highlight of the book for me. It can be easily run as either a one-shot or a campaign starter, as it includes a lot of elements that are carefully designed to make the PCs either friends, enemies, or wildcards to various powerful factions and patrons in the setting and thus fuel further play. Despite being quite short, generally lasting one or two sessions, it includes the bells and whistles you expect from an OSR adventure: two factions, some wandering encounters, and a small but multi-level dungeon. Blue Cheese takes place in a noble family's mansion, giving the whole thing a darkly intimate vibe. As mentioned up top, I've experienced Blue Cheese twice, and they played out radically differently from each other.

Overall, Swyvers is a unique and fascinating OSR game. Your fondness for Swyvers' mechanics is going to be heavily dependent on whether or not its quirks excite or irritate you. Ultimately, there’s nothing really stopping you from running it in BX or Into the Odd or whatever else you might want. The game's real strength lies in its tables, tools, and adventure. These beautifully immerse you in the scuzzy world of The Smoke.

*Yes, obviously I'm using Anydice to generate these numbers. You think I'm calculating 2d10 dice probability of the top of my head? What do I look like, a nerd??