Dzikie Pola (''Wild Fields'') is a Polish role-playing game, set in the historical setting of the 17th century

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

. It had two editions: first in 1997 and second in 2005.

History

The first edition of the game was released in 1997. Its authors were

Jacek Komuda Jacek Lech Komuda (born 23 June 1972) is a Polish writer and historian. He specialized in the period of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and History of Poland (1569–1795), and is the author of several novels and short stories of fantasy/his ...

, Maciej Jurewicz and Marcin Baryłka, and there were two expansions: ''W stepie szerokim'' (In the wide steppe) and ''Ogniem i mieczem'' (With fire and sword). The second edition of the game has been released in 2005, and its authors were Jacek Komuda, Michał Mochocki and Artur Machlowski. The game is only available in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

and is one of the most popular role-playing games in Poland. The second edition rulebook contains long and extensive sections describing the historical setting of the 17th century Commonwealth, some of which are presented from the viewpoint of contemporary storytellers, others resemble a modern encyclopedic entries.

Setting

The game is set in the historical setting of the 17th century

. Players characters are the Polish nobility ( szlachta), and most of the adventures are set in the turbulent, south-eastern region of

Zaporizhzhia Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a populat ...

(region known then in Poland as 'Dzikie Pola', today mostly in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). It's the twilight time of the

Polish Golden Age The Polish Golden Age was the Renaissance period in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, roughly corresponding to the period of rule of the King Sigismund I the Old and his son, Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellonian Dynasty monar ...

, with looming destabilization of

Golden Liberty Golden Liberty ( la, Aurea Libertas; pl, Złota Wolność, lt, Auksinė laisvė), sometimes referred to as Golden Freedoms, Nobles' Democracy or Nobles' Commonwealth ( pl, Rzeczpospolita Szlachecka or ''Złota wolność szlachecka'') was a pol ...

and government sliding into anarchy due to magnates plots and mounting

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which deve ...

-related tensions, especially involving the Cossacks. Conflicts between numerous nobles, duels and increasing internal unrest are common themes, while magic is rare (and depends on how far the gamemaster wants to move away from historical reality).

Mechanic

Szlachta polska w Gdansku by Wilhelm August Stryowski

Dzikie Pola second edition has its own unique

game mechanic In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-sha ...

, based on the d20 die. There are no die rolls needed during the

character creation Character creation (also character generation or character design) is the process of defining a game character or other character. Typically, a character's individual strengths and weaknesses are represented by a set of statistics. Games with a ...

Player characters A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

abilities Abilities are powers an agent has to perform various actions. They include common abilities, like walking, and rare abilities, like performing a double backflip. Abilities are intelligent powers: they are guided by the person's intention and exe ...

and

skills A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of w ...

are simply bought for a set number of points.

Hit point Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the f ...

s are not dependent on advancement level (each character has the same number of wounds he can take before dying) and character advancement is fairly slow, making it a more realistic than heroic system. Player characters are usually those of Polish nobles, but foreigners are also permitted. Some of the abilities or (dis)advantages are unique to this historical setting, like playing with a character sentenced to

banishment Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

infamy Infamy, in common usage, is the notoriety gained from a negative incident or reputation (as opposed to fame). The word stems from the Latin ''infamia'', antonym of ''fama'' (in the sense of "good reputation"). Roman law In Roman law, it took ...

, a fake noble, a newly

ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteri ...

character or a character with an official title. During the game,

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

s are made with a simple d20 die roll, modified by testing characters' attributes, skills and other situation modifiers. If the roll is higher than the difficulty level, the action is successful. Most of the mechanic is dedicated to the combat system. Game has mechanics for both the

mêlée A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...

combat and firearm combat, but it is the former — with

szabla (; plural: ) is the Polish word for sabre. The sabre was in widespread use in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Early Modern period, especially by light cavalry in the 17th century. The sabre became widespread in Europe foll ...

s (a Polish type of a

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

) or

rapier A rapier () or is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military side arm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Impo ...

s (used mostly by foreigners) — that most rules are dedicated to. Players can use more than 30 different moves during combat, and thus at the time of combat, especially between experienced players, the games takes on an almost tactical flavour.

References

External links

* {{in lang, pl}
Official homepage

Reviews

* Adriano Kuc
Dzikie Pola Review: Wild Fields
RPG REVIEW Issue #12, June 2011 * Robert Dudziński
„Dzikie pola: Rzeczpospolita w ogniu” - recenzja i ocena systemu RPG, Histmag
, 16 October 2005 * Michał Sołtysiak
Dzikie Pola - Edycja Druga
polter.pl, 20 March 2006