HeXXen 1733 sounds like a great tabletop RPG and Amazon has a few copies left.
Shame it’s not in English.
That might change as a post from German publisher Ulisses Spiele teases;
I know that I’ve been practically thrumming with excitement at the prospect of being able to talk to people about HeXXen 1733 and I know that some of you have been waiting for news about its English release. While I can’t say anything specific to when you might be able to get your hands on the product just yet, I am excited to spotlight certain aspects of the game in the coming weeks.
Ulisses Spiele describes HeXXen 1733 as “highly cinematic” set in an alternative timeline and a Baroque Europe.
Just how alternative? In the world of HeXXen 1733, a gate to hell opened during the Thirty Years’ War and did so un the Black Forest. The Thirty Years’ War was a nightmare in our actual history as up to 8 million soldiers and civilians died. Imagine just how intense the fighting between 1618 to 1648 would have had to have been for so many to die! There were no weapons of mass destruction.
In HeXXen 1733, the awful war worsens as humanity is thrown into conflict with demons, werewolves and other supernatural horrors.
Characters in the RPG are hunters and travelling warriors who stand against the darkness using occult tricks and martial skills.
It’s a dangerous world, but HeXXen 1733 does not insist every combat is rolled and cites the example of one guard having no chance against a group of Hunters, so the game skips the dice roles in favour of keeping the action fluid.
While the game may be set in the past, the design sensibilities of HeXXen 1733 are very much in the now. It doesn’t aim to be a simulation, but instead to create swashbuckling scenes straight out of film and video games. Rather than a grid, the game is visualized as clusters of engagements where the strongest frontline fighters pull many of the threats towards them, muskets remain far back and unengaged to pick off high priority targets and stragglers, and swift skirmishers identify and intercept threats before they can be a problem for their backline. This sleek engagement system is further supplemented by a bevy of different conditions to be applied and used against them in combat, creating a deep battlefield without resorting to a lot of number crunch. Dice rolls are made through a pool of d6s and the custom HeXXen 1733 dice set can make this quick combat even quicker, allowing you to see the results of your roll at a glance.
Sadly, Ulisses Spiele hasn’t confirmed there will be an English translation of HeXXen 1733, but they seem to have a reason to want to talk about it in English. Could this be to shift those few Amazon German copies? Perhaps they’re judging feedback and interest? Or is a crowdfunding campaign a no-brainer?
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