What's OLD is NEW (WOIN)

Welcome to What's OLD is NEW, three toolkit-oriented tabletop roleplaying games designed to work together, and which power standalone games like JUDGE DREDD & THE WORLDS OF 2000 AD, and settings like Xenomorphs, Dark Decade, and Spirits of Manhattan.


What’s OLD is NEW is a flexible game system which focuses on three genres: traditional fantasy, explosive modern action, and futuristic sci-fi. It is supported by a wide range of sourcebooks, worlds, and adventures.

Buy the Starter Box Set Here

WOIN Core rulebooks & Starter set

The Core mechanics of the WOIN ROLEPLAYING SYSTEM

The W.O.I.N. rules use a life-path system for character generation, d6 dice pools for task resolution, a freeform verb-noun magic system, and hex-based starship combat rules influenced by the best that the 1980s had to offer but updated to modern sensibilities.

O.L.D., N.O.W., and N.E.W. use the same system.  Each book is different, however, containing different careers/traditions, equipment, races/species, monsters, and so on.  Additionally each has chapters useful to it - O.L.D. has a magic system, herbalism and alchemy, stronghold building rules, a chapter on warfare, wilderness travel; N.E.W. has comprehensive starship construction rules, space combat, cybernetics, and N.O.W. has rules for supervehicles and martial arts.

Rather than including a setting itself, the core books are very much pitched as a toolkit full of rules and guidelines which help you create your own setting or model your favourite TV, movie, or book setting. To that end, a full quarter of each book is devoted to world (universe) building.

All three games are rules-crunchy tactical roleplaying games.

  • Download N.O.W.'s first chapter!

    Download the first 12 pages of N.O.W. for free. This PDF introduces the game, provides a short play example, a brief glossary, and a discussion of action genres ranging from 60s spy flicks to 80s muscle action and supercars.

    Download Here For Free 

  • Download O.L.D.'s first chapter!

    Download the first 12 pages of O.L.D. for free. This introduction section introduces the game, provides a short play example, a brief glossary, and a discussion of fantasy genres ranging from the gritty to high fantasy.

    Download Here For Free 

  • Download N.E.W.'s first chapter!

    Download the first 23 pages of N.E.W. for free. This PDF includes the table of contents, introduces the game, provides a short play example, a brief glossary, and some of the initial character creation process.

    Download Here For Free 

Resources

  • Rules Reference Document

    This website is the introduction to the WOIN Rules Reference Document (WRRD), and is a developer tool.

    Click Here 

  • Character Builder

    Use this free online tool to make characters for OLD, NOW, & NEW.

    Click Here 

  • Character Sheets

    Find and download free character sheets in the character sheet download area of the EN World forums.

    Click Here 

  • Monster Builder

    Use this simple tool online tool to create your own monsters and NPCs for WOIN.

    Click Here 

  • Spell Builder

    An online custom spell builder for the magic system in O.L.D.

    Click Here 

  • Dice Pool Calculator

    Use this simple tool to enter a WOIN attribute and derive the corresponding dice pool.

    Click Here 

  • FTL Travel Calculator

    Don't want to do maths to calculate the time it take to travel faster than light in your sci-fi game? Have this tool do it for you.

    Click Here 

  • Sublight Travel Calculator

    Don't want to do maths to calculate the time it take to travel less than the speed of light in your sci-fi game? Have this tool do it for you.

    Click Here 

  • Starship Builder

    Build your own starship for NEW with this online tool.

    Click Here 
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Frequently Asked Questions

Is this an update of WEG's d6 system?

No. Other than the fact that both games use d6s, there is little similarity between them.

How crunchy is it?

We call it "medium crunch". In context, a bit less crunchy than D&D 5E (but with more options), nowhere near as crunchy as Pathfinder. The core mechanic is very simple, and everything is just an expression of that.

Can I produce content for WOIN

Yes. You don't need to ask! You can even sell it. See the 'Publishing' section below on this page.

Is this a universal system?

Not really. It is designed specifically for medium-low-magic Tolkien-esque medieval fantasy, 80s action, and a Trekian to Warsian range of sci-f, and is built around rules systems designed to replicate those genres very well. You may be able to hack it to do other things (and you're welcome to do so), but those are the things it focuses on and aims to do well.

What are the inspirations for each game?

N.E.W. is inspired by Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Babylon 5, the Alien franchise, and other science fiction shows and movies, along with the harder science fiction of Asimov, Niven, and Clarke. N.O.W. is all about movies like the 007 franchise, Rambo, Commando, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Mad Max, Indiana Jones, and TV shows like The A-Team, Knight Rider, Charlie's Angels, Buffy, and The Six-Million Dollar Man, with a healthy sprinkling of John Woo and Bruce Lee. O.L.D. ranges from gritty medieval fantasy of Glen Cook, the works of David Eddings and David Gemmell, Robert E. Howard, Le Guin, Abercrombie, Rothfuss, and, of course, JRR Tolkien. The combat system had some inspiration from the 2012 X-COM video game, along with various tactical skirmish tabletop games over the years, and the magic system is inspired by Elements of Magic by Ryan Nock.

What's the feel of the system?

WOIN has a fairly flat advancement progression, which means that while characters become more competent and more skilled, they never end up with piles of health and able to survive 200' falls or wade through armies of orcs. It's a bit grittier than that, with combat tending towards the tactical, magic tending towards the subtle, and magic items being quite uncommon.

Is there a core setting?

No. The WOIN system is very toolkit oriented. While it is supported with settings and adventures, the idea is that the core setting is the one you create using the extensive worldbuilding guidelines in each book.

The Entire WOIN COLLECTION

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Publish your own WOIN compatible products!

One of the aims of What's O.L.D. is N.E.W. is not just to allow fans and third party publishers to create and/or sell content for the games, but to encourage and actively support it.

The creation and sharing of fan and third-party content, both free and for sale, will only make the game better.

Third-party publishers are free to create and sell content for What's O.L.D. is N.E.W.  You can create sourcebooks, adventures, resources, expansions, and so on, and indicate compatibility.  You can also make or sell electronic applications. The license is free, and you do not need to ask permission or submit an application to use it - just make sure you understand how it works and publish away!

The WOIN Community Publishing Syndicate is where fans and publishers alike can release and sell their own WOIN-compatible and Simply6 products, from 2-page articles to full-fledged books! We positively encourage fan and third-party content, and we're committed to helping you sell it!



How Do I Publish Something?

Follow these instructions!

  1. First you need to create your digital product. To help you, we have provided some free creator resources (see below). We will continue to add new resources you can use in your WCPS products, or you can produce or commision your own.
    WOIN Art Pack (Sci-fi)
    WOIN Art Pack (Fantasy)
    WOIN Art Pack (Modern)
    WOIN Style Guide
  2. You need an account at DTRPG or RPGNow (they're the same store with a different skin). Go to your Account Page, scroll halfway down to a section called "My Content", and click on "Enter New Community Created Title".
  3. Enter the details of your title, agree to the Community Content Agreement, and upload your file.
  4. Your product will appear in the WCPS here.



Open Gaming Content & Creative Commons

Is the WCPS not suited to your needs? The entire Rules Reference Document on this website (with a few listed exceptions) is designated Open Gaming Content. As long as you follow the terms of the Open gaming License, the entire WRRD is yours to use.

Note that using the Open Gaming License and using the WCPS are two different things. You do not need the OGL to publish in the WCPS, and you are not restricted to material in the WRRD. The WCPS gives you access to more IP than the OGL, but limits you to selling in that one place. The OGL gives you access only to material in the WRRD, but you can sell it anywhere.

Not only that, the Rules Reference document is also released into Creative Commons! You can choose whether to use the OGL or CC.

View WOIN Community Published Products Here