''Wild Talents'' is a

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

published by

Arc Dream Publishing Arc Dream Publishing is a small role-playing game publishing company founded in 2002 by Pagan Publishing veteran Dennis Detwiller and editor Shane Ivey after their first roleplaying game '' Godlike: Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire, 1936- ...

and written by

Dennis Detwiller Dennis Detwiller (born July 12, 1972) is an American video game designer for Hothead Games and a role-playing game designer, writer and artist. Career Dennis Detwiller started volunteering at Pagan Publishing after seeing an issue of '' The U ...

, with

Greg Stolze Greg Stolze (born 1970) is an American game designer, writer and novelist, whose work has mainly focused on writing for role-playing games and related intellectual properties. Career Stolze began his career writing role playing games professiona ...

Kenneth Hite Kenneth Hite (born September 15, 1965) is a writer and role-playing game designer. Hite is the author of Trail of Cthulhu and Night's Black Agents role-playing games, and lead designer of the 5th edition of '' Vampire: the Masquerade''. Educati ...

, and

Shane Ivey Shane Ivey is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Shane Ivey worked for Pagan Publishing. After the release of '' Godlike'' in 2002 Dennis Detwiller and Ivey founded Arc Dream Publishing. Ivey and ...

, with illustrations by

Christopher Shy Christopher Shy, who occasionally goes by the pen name "Ronin", is a freelance fantasy and science fiction artist. Biography Christopher Shy created Studio Ronin in 1994 to highlight his art. With George Vasilakos, Shy conceived the zombie RPG ...

, Sam Araya, and Todd Shearer. The game was shipped to customers worldwide on December 18, 2006.

Publication history

Shannon Appelcline described the development of ''Wild Talents,'' stating that "It was something that the fans had long demanded: a game that extended the ''Godlike'' supers game beyond the constraints of World War II. Between 2003 and 2005, Detwiller and Ivey developed it on Arc Dream's mailing lists and a Yahoo! group — in full view of their fans and with full input from them." Appelcline noted that this work also generated a spin-off fan project called ''Star ORE'' (2005), a free game by Shane Ivey that used the ''Wild Talents'' gaming system, but that "Unfortunately, as they approached publication of Wild Talents, Ivey and Detwiller realized that they didn't have the money to produce it. To that point, all of Arc Dream's products had been small, saddle-stitched books; the more expensive ''Godlike'' and ''Will to Power'' rules instead were published by Hobgoblynn. Arc Dream just didn't have the cash flow to publish a 300+ page full-color hardcover book, and they didn't appear to have a way to bootstrap themselves up." Appelcline noted that Greg Stolze offered the solution of asking fans for money to finance the project as he had done before, and after Arc Dream did so in June 2006 they were able to publish the game with an initial print run of 1000 that sold out before the end of the year. ''Wild Talents'' was revamped in 2010 for a second edition, and Arc Dream partnering with Cubicle 7 allowed for a larger distribution audience.

Setting

''Wild Talents'' picks up the settings started by '' Godlike'' after the events

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with the next step in development of the powers of the Talents. Unlike the first wave of Talents to emerge during World War II, these Wild Talents are unable to counteract each other's powers by will alone. Beyond being a follow-up to ''Godlike'', ''Wild Talents'' includes tools and ideas for any superhero setting.

System

The ''ORE System'' used by ''Wild Talents'' expands on the system introduced by ''Godlike''. Dice pools of d10s are used to perform task checks where sets of matched dice determine success.

Reception

The reviewer from ''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

'' stated that "Beyond its mechanics, ''Wild Talents'' examines the formulation of the superhero universe, presents a sequel to ''Godlike'' as an example, and gives a gritty down-at-heel scenario suited to a low-powered ''Wild Talents'' game. All of this is presented in a clean looking hardback that includes some fantastic illustrations, of which there are not enough." The reviewer for ''Superhero RPG'' liked the One-Role Engine, saying, "Once you get over a few terms that could be presented a little better, the One-Role Engine works beautifully for the game." The reviewer concluded with a guarded thumbs up, commenting, "I find some fault with a few drawbacks inherent in character creation ..but the ORE system offers an unconventional, but well thought-out, way to resolve combat and other moments where the world hangs in the balance."

Awards

In 2010, ''Wild Talents 2nd Edition'' was nominated for an

ENnie Award The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

as the year's best role-playing game.

References

External links

''Wild Talents'' Homepage
the official Arc Dream page for the game

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Talents (Role-Playing Game) Superhero role-playing games Role-playing games introduced in 2006 Alternate history role-playing games Campaign settings Contemporary role-playing games