Wiedźmin: Stary Świat

The Witcher: Old World (Wiedźmin: Stary Świat) is an adventure board game in the Polish edition by Rebel, set on the Continent long before the saga of Geralt of Rivia, when monsters were a plague and witchers were still earning their name. Each player leads a witcher from one of five schools: travel the map, train, collect trophies and fight with cards from your own deck. The first to earn 4 trophies wins.

• 1-5 players (with a solo mode), ages 16+, about 90-150 minutes
• mechanics: deck building, map exploration, card-driven combat
• designer: Łukasz Woźniak, publishers: Go On Board, Games Lab and Rebel
• Polish-language cards and rulebook

What's in The Witcher: Old World box

• map of the Continent
• 90 action cards, 72 exploration cards, 56 event cards, 28 potion cards, 8 trophy cards and 11 reference cards
• 28 monster cards, 28 monster tokens and 20 monster fight cards
• 10 dice for dice poker, 35 gold tokens, 18 terrain tokens and a closed tavern token
• 5 player sets, each with a player board, witcher miniature, 10 starting action cards, score marker, 5 wooden markers, a wooden shield marker and 4 witcher trophy cards

Five witcher schools

Your school sets your play style, because each has its own special ability that you level up like your other attributes:

• School of the Wolf - swordsmanship: extra damage for a combo of 3 or more cards.
• School of the Cat - speed: at the start of a fight you look at the top of your deck and take what you need.
• School of the Griffin - magic: you take back a card from your discard pile.
• School of the Bear - armour: when your shield drops to zero, you draw cards and rebuild your defence.
• School of the Viper - poisoned blades: you tamper with the top of your opponent's deck and make them discard.

How it plays: deck, monsters and trophies

You start with a 10-card deck. Every action card has two uses: discard it to move to a neighbouring area with matching terrain, or play it in combat as a fast attack, strong attack, dodge or Sign. During the game you buy new cards and permanently remove others, so your deck gradually becomes your own.

A turn has three phases: move and take the local action, then fight, meditate or explore, and finally draw and buy a card. Your witcher improves four attributes: attack, defence, alchemy and the school ability. Trophies come from several sources:

• killing monsters, which you first have to track down,
• beating a witcher from another school in a duel,
• raising any attribute to level V.

Between fights there are exploration cards with story choices, potions, and dice poker against other players for gold.

Who it's for

Old World suits players who enjoy developing a character and building a deck, and who want an adventure with a story told on cards. It is longer than a quick evening game, usually one and a half to two and a half hours. Solo players get a dedicated mode: you win after 3 monsters and an attribute trophy, and your result is rated by the number of turns played.

Standard or deluxe edition

The deluxe edition has the same game plus 28 monster miniatures that replace the flat tokens on the board. The rules are identical, so the difference is purely how the table looks.

Expansions for Old World

Once the base game feels familiar, the expansions take it in different directions: Mages adds 5 playable sorcerers, Monster Trail adds a sixth school (the Manticore, whose area is already printed on the base board), and Skellige adds an extra board with three islands.

Rulebook in Polish

The full Polish rulebook is available for download: Wiedźmin: Stary Świat rulebook (PDF, 10.4 MB).

Frequently asked questions

How many players can play The Witcher: Old World?
1 to 5. The rulebook includes a separate solo mode.

How long is a game?
About 90-150 minutes, according to the publisher.

Do I need to know the books or video games?
No. The story is set before the saga and the rules need no knowledge of the universe.

What language is this edition?
Polish: cards, board and rulebook are in Polish.

Are there monster miniatures in the base game?
No, in the standard edition monsters are tokens. Witcher miniatures are in both editions, monster miniatures only in the deluxe.