Polish role-playing games
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Polish role-playing games in Poland have been developed since the early 1990s. Now there are several Poland-designed games, as well as many translations on the market.
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[edit] History
Role-playing games were almost non-existent before fall of communism in the People's Republic of Poland. Only few people were even aware of the existence of role-playing games, there were no Polish publishers, no translators and no distributors, although the publication of "Talisman" board game in 1989, as well as several gamebooks, have begun to increase the interest in similar games, and first unofficial fan translations of Western role-playing games begun to appear.
The major change came in 1993 with the publication of Magia i Miecz (Magic and Sword), Polish first magazine about role-playing games. Soon Polish market begun to fill with both translations and Poland's own role-playing games, as well as new role-playing magazines (Złoty Smok, Talizman, Portal). Currently there are several Poland-designed games, as well as many foreign translations.
[edit] Polish games
Among the first Polish role-playing games was Kryształy Czasu (Crystals of Time), first published in parts of Magia i Miecz. This game is now mostly remembered for its cumbersome rules (based on percentile die) and original fantasy world (with orcs being the most civilized of the races), nonetheless it opened the gate for other Polish-made publications of role-playing games, such as Neuroshima (post-apocalyptic sci-fi set in United States), Monastyr (dark fantasy, exploring the issues of religion and race) and Dzikie Pola (a historical, set in the 17th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish Golden Age). Another fantasy role-playing game is based on The Witcher fantasy world created by bestselling Polish fantasy author, Andrzej Sapkowski and one of the newest ones is Crystalicum, set in a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi settings, somewhat resembling Spelljammer. All of those games have unique mechanics, with Neuroshima and Monastyr using the custom 3d20 system, and Dzikie Pola system being the inspiration for American Riddle of Steel.
[edit] Translated games
One of the most popular translated role-playing games is Warhammer Fantasy, which gained strong following since its first translation in the early 1994, when it became the first role-playing system translated into Polish language. Other popular translated systems include Call of Cthulhu, many of White Wolf's World of Darkness systems, such as Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Vampire: the Masquerade and Mage: the Ascension, as well as other games such as Cyberpunk 2020, Deadlands, Earthdawn and Shadowrun. Since early 2000s Dungeons & Dragons has been translated into Polish, and has gained a significant following of its own.
[edit] Role-playing fandom
There exists a substantial fandom of role-playing gamers in Poland. Among the largest role-playing and science fiction conventions in Poland are Imladris and Krakon. Although Magia i Miecz is no longer in print, there are various fanzines and ezines, as well as many vibrant message boards and a Usenet group (pl.rec.gry.rpg).
[edit] External links
- (Polish) Kalia's Links - links to most of Polish RPG-related websites
[edit] References
- (Polish) Gry RPG i pochodne w polsce do roku 1995 (RPGs and related games in Poland until 1995)
- (Polish) A.Borejko, Czym są gry fabularne i skąd się wzięły?, 26-06-2006 (What are RPGs and where do they come from?)
