This is absolutely true. I initially picked up the
RPG just for the means to create custom FWW characters and
IMHO it is very capable in that respect; As for the product as a whole, I don't think I'm doing it a disservice by describing it as an expansion for FWW rather than a standalone
RPG. If you want the latter, you are probably better off waiting for the 2D20 system. What the
RPG expansion excels at is giving you the tools to deliver the complete CRPG experience. You already have all the combat rules you need in FWW itself, and the
RPG book gives you rules - and some guidance - for the other stuff. It also comes with plenty of character options for fleshing out your character and giving them a chance to excel in those "other stuff" areas. But the whole time, it will feel like you are adding more options to your FWW games.
If you consider a typical Fallout 4 mission, what does that usually entail? You talk to an
NPC who gives you a quest, you travel there (probably getting into a few fights along the way). You need to find something (a prisoner, a mcguffin, whatever) and there are some bad guys in your way. You will have a couple of ways to handle it, and probably at the end there will be some kind of skill challenge, followed by a 'boss fight'. This is how it breaks down when you have the two products:
1) You talk to the
NPC who gives you the quest. This can be one player reading out the mission text, and optionally, one or more players asking to use one of their
RPG skills to get more information or increase the reward.
2) You set up a random encounter - lets say the party have an equivalent caps cost of 350. Give them maybe 250 caps worth of creatures to fight and the objective is simply to beat them.
3) As a post mission option, allow players who have the appropriate
RPG skills or perks etc to try and heal the party. Others might use the rules to craft basic supplies. Otherwise their health state persists to the next mission as do their consumables.
4) You set up the actual mission with lets say 450 caps worth of adversaries. Maybe have a terminal here which unlocks the back way in but needs two successful skill checks to bypass. Can also be used to change the ownership of the turrets needing one skill test, but the terminal will lock itself out after you make your choice so the player has to pick which. Maybe randomly pick one of the outer perimeter guards and when you try to fight him, he surrenders. Skill checks (Threaten, bluff, bribe etc) to try and get the key which also unlocks the back door. Critical success maybe gives you the keycode to a locker with some goodies inside. The rest of it plays out with the FWW rules, with hostiles reacting once they can see you.
5) You interact with the objective and you have a choice to make, without necessarily knowing the mechanical benefits of the outcome.
6) The players agree on what choice to make and either the mission ends, or it results in a final fight.
7) Post mission, the players collect their rewards.
What this requires is some planning to figure out the mission, the difficulties involved with the skill checks and the options. This is not unlike the "to do" list of any
GM, but I would argue the fun comes as much from the tabletop combat as it does the fun of participating in the 'lite' CRPG mechanics. For that reason, I feel it is more viable to be a Player and
GM than it would be in a more traditional
RPG, though somebody still needs to volunteer to be the guy who takes on that extra work, and there is enough scope to the mechanics added by the expansion that you could feasibly have a non-combat character and still be useful in most sessions as long as the person who comes up with the mission provides enough options. I suppose a good comparison here would be Rangers of Shadowdeep, where the 'roleplaying' aspect comes though via more skill checks than would otherwise be called for in Frostgrave, and with a bit more reading of scripted events linked to the choices your characters make, and with more opportunities for pre and post game skill checks to have an impact on following missions. Sure, all of that could be done by a
GM, but I'm willing to bet Joe can have just as much fun playing adventures he has written himself even though he knows how they will play out. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there writing mission that you can re-use, myself included, and now that Modiphius have put out that solo
RPG mission I am sure it will be followed up by plenty more.
In short, as an expansion to FWW I highly recommend it. As a standalone
RPG, one where theatre of the mind and character interactions would be more prevalent than putting minis down on the table and getting out the range rulers, I would not recommend it. It just leans too heavily on the FWW mechanics to really be worth playing without them
IMHO. For that, wait for the 2d20 offering
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