Zweihander RPG Review

This Zweihander RPG Review is part of my “Best Tabletop RPGs of All Time” article. If you want to check out more TTRPGs and see how other top-tier tabletop RPGs are ranked, visit that page.

My Review – 76 / 100

Zweihander is a game that you either love playing and you would rate it a perfect 100/100, or you don’t hardly like at all, and may note even rate it among the best TTRPGs of all time. This game is that polarizing, which as you’ll see in this review, is part of why so many people flat out love the game.

To be very forthright with you though if you’ve never before heard of or played Zweihander, in my experience, most people would never play more than 1-2 sessions of this RPG before calling it quits.

I think that so long as you and your gaming group know what type of game you’re all getting into, if you start playing Zweihander, you should have a good shot of getting a long-term RPG campaign rolling.

Zweihander’s Uniqueness: (8/10)

There’s lots to talk about when it comes to unique aspects of Zweihander, but I’ll start with a few unique points when it comes to dice and rolling that I generally like:

Zweihander uses percentile dice, which I always think is interesting for tabletop RPGs as it provides a framework which can contain a great deal of both simplicity and complexity.
The game has “Fury” and “Chaos” dice, which are “wild dice” for damage and random effects when casting magic.
There’s also a “fortune pool” for players to re-roll dice, and a “misfortune pool,” for the dungeon master to do the same. These things I generally like.

On an entirely different note, Zweihander has the largest collection of tables for randomly-generating character traits of any game I’ve ever seen. You can generate your gender (…why?). Randomly generate your race (pretty cool). Races have randomly generated racial traits. There are also randomly generated character names, based on race and gender (ok, also pretty cool, I suppose). On and on it goes. You can’t fathom the number of randomly generated tables in this game, which I have to say, is pretty unique.

Zweihander is a multiclass sort of RPG. There are some class based RPG elements, but as your spend Reward Points (Exp), you improve your character however you see fit. To “Tier Up,” you need to reach certain milestones of character development, but doing so allows you a second, and finally, a third, “Profession” (class).

Of all the tabletop RPGs on this list, Zweihander is the most realistic, dark, grim, and gritty. If I had to summarize it into one aspect, I’d say that the amount of realism in Zweihander is the reason people either love or loathe this game.

Ease of Learning Zweihander: (5/10)

Character creation in Zweihander is very in-depth. I mentioned the tables for randomly-generating your character, above. A few more tables I didn’t mention, already: there are random tables for your character’s height, weight, build, and social class. This sounds really cool at first, but just think about it. It’s the kind of thing that’s really neat in a video game, but details like that in a TTRPG are a bit (way too) much.

The rules are also confusing when it comes to character creation in the following way: it seems like you must roll randomly for your character’s gender, archetype, and profession. There is some language in the rulebook that suggests players have the power to choose important details of your character, but it’s just that if you want to play the game exactly as-written, it’s really not clear what you should do.

When it comes to character classes, the game is still pretty confusing. I counted twice to make sure: there are 72 basic professions in Zweihander. There are also 46 elite professions. One important thing to note though, that is really good, is that just in the classes alone, there is literally an entire world of lore. You could easily build entire campaigns just by reading through the professions section in this book.

Is Zweihander realistic? Yes. Accessible? No, not really. If you really want to learn the game, you’re in for 672 pages (one of the largest among any tabletop RPG). I love the immersion and realism in Zweihander – it’s just too much for me, even as a hardcore tabletop gamer. I feel like Zweihander is a little bit like a novel and RPG rolled into one (again, a positive and negative trait).

I spend a lot of time playing with people new to tabletop RPGs. I love introducing the genre. It’s a passion of mine to help people find passion in tabletop gaming. The bottom line for me when it comes to Zweihander is that due to its complexity, it’s just not the game I would ever introduce to a first-time tabletop gamer.

I think doing so would easily overwhelm someone, and maybe even turn them off from the RPG genre if they thought every game was like this one.

Zweihander Presentation: (8/10)

Zweihander’s rulebook has nice coloring to show separate sections, along with easily-distinguishable headers.

The game is all about promoting roleplaying, as the designers feel that the act of roleplaying gets lost in many other tabletop RPGs. I agree with that sentiment. Also, the emphasis on roleplaying improves the overall presentation of Zweihander as everything in the book is customized for players to better roleplay their characters.

Zweihander Lore: (10/10)

When you’re talking Zweihander, you’re talking gritty Viking lore. Overall, the game is very realistic, in terms of being a low-fantasy setting. However, there is also a hint of Viking/ Norse magic (there are ogre races, dwarves, elves, etc. for instance).

In my humble opinion, everything about every aspect of the lore in this game is incredible. Zweihander is one of the absolute best games at creating realism, immersion, and getting players into the game’s lore – all of which makes roleplaying substantially easier.

As I mentioned before, consider Zweihander 50% novel, and you’ve got a good handle on proper expectations for playing the game.

Combat: (5/10)

I love when games offer depth within the core mechanics, so long as learning the game is also simple. In my mind, games that have an easy entry level, where I can explore options over time as I become more familiar with the game, are ideal.

Unfortunately, in Zweihander there are lots of options in combat from the very beginning, which is a problem. On the other hand, player skill plays a big factor in how battles unravel, which I really like. But since there is no “introductory course” in combat, as a player, you sort of have to learn all the available combat maneuvers and increase your skill in battle, all before you feel like you’re much use when it comes to combat. Basically, just a steep learning curve.

Another big problem with combat in Zweihander is the complexity of resolving attacks. With any given attack, players must resolve the follwing 8+ steps:

Chance to hit
Chance to dodge
Weapon stats
Damage
Damage threshold
Condition
Injury
Sacrificing fate points
And more

Obviously, the more that’s involved with calculating the resolutions to any given action of play in a tabletop RPG, the slower that game goes. For your reference, there are 6 total pages that explain a single attack action and how to resolve it. That’s a LOT.

Zweihander does not have fast-paced combat. It’s gritty. It’s cool. But it’s complex, extremely dangerous for your character’s lifespan, and doesn’t move fast at all. When it comes down to it, I think it’s the snail’s pace of the “immersive hard-core combat” that really makes the game boring for me.

Game “Flow”: (6/10)

The lore in Zweihander is great, which contributes to game flow. However, combat is slow. Plus, this is overall the most realistic TTRPG that I’ve ever seen. The real question is whether the realism is a positive or negative for game flow. Your personal answer to that question might just decide whether or not this game is for you and your gaming group.

Consider the following before you decide:

When playing a campaign, you have to account for your character’s injuries, disease, disorders that require psychosurgery, extreme weather, effects from intoxication, sleep deprivation, starvation, infection, blood loss, and much more.
You track your character’s carrying capacity based on your their strength score, for things like equipment and necessities. You also track things like arrows, food, rope, and other survival necessities.

For me, it’s too much. Too realistic.

I understand that Zweihander aims to be a roleplay game where people actually roleplay. But I normally find that people select their own desired level of roleplaying, no matter how many cues a TTRPG provides. There’s also nothing wrong with players selecting their own level of roleplaying for a game they play in their free time.

To give you an idea of how hardcore game realism tends to play out with a gaming group – and what I’d do were to play an entire campaign of Zweihander – is that most in-depth rules like those mentioned above (character injuries, carrying capacity, etc.) simple get ignored.

I like games better when the group glazes over details that are non-important to the game’s actual story – what I’m there to engage with in the first place.

Artwork: (4/10)

There’s plenty of black-and white-art in this game, which honestly fits the mood quite well. It’s dark, gritty, and medieval. In this regard, there’s some sense of satisfaction even from the art present in Zweihander that isn’t colored, or top-quality.

From a buyer’s perspective, however, I have to say that I’ve come to enjoy plenty of top-quality art with my tabletop RPGs. When it comes to Zweihander, I would’ve liked to see more fully finished and colored artwork. Even if there was more artwork that captured the gloomy aspects of the lore, and the colors were subdued to match, I think that would’ve been a great addition to the game’s rulebook.

Ease of Purchase: (10/10)

It’s easy to find Zweihander’s core rulebook on both Amazon and the Andrews McMell website.

Price & How Many Books Do You Need to Play: (10/10)

You can purchase Zweihander as an ebook for only $20. Kindle for only $11.49. Even the hardcover printed version isn’t bad. I have to say that I truly appreciate the accessibility of this game.

Fame & Availability of Supplemental Material: (10/10)

Zweihander has lots of supplemental gaming material. It is very famous as it’s one of DriveThru RPGs top-selling games ever at over 90,000 copies. If you wanted to start a Zweihander campaign though, as I mentioned before, there’s so much lore in the core rulebook alone that you’d probably never even need supplemental books to keep a great story going.

The only challenge with finding a group to play Zweihander would be connecting with gamers who like this realistic style. But, go to your local gaming store, and you’re bound to find someone who’s heard of the game, and is willing to play.

Zweihander is Produced By:

Andrews McMeel Publishing

Play Sparks of Eternity: Emanation Online

By Jacob Tegtman • October 23, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzrUgzvlYE0 Transcription Welcome back to Eternity TT RPG YouTube channel, where I talk about different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universe from D&D to the game that my husband and I have been creating. Um, if you follow the channel, you know that we did come out with a card game combat tabletop role-playing game, and it's awesome. I'm super happy with it. I think we all are. Um, but as great as the physical game is, right, we wanted to expand. So we have it online now. And in this video, I'm just gonna walk you through how to get there, um, what you see, and a quick rundown of how to play. Um, so please, uh, take the time to check out the game and we'll jump right in. So to get to the website, um, that holds the online version of [00:01:00] Emanation, you're gonna go to play.sparksofeternity.com and from there it is gonna open up with a screen asking for your email and if there's any name that you want, like, the game to call you, um, your username, and that's it. You don't need a password. You don't need a credit card. You don't need anything. It is just good to go. And then this is the screen that you get. Um, I am just gonna go ahead and run you through everything that you see, and I may start a game as well. So everybody's, um, system is gonna open up with the assassin, um, the first character alphabetically. And you'll notice at the top that you're gonna have a few different other classes: berserker, druid, judge, oracle, and summoner. Um, at this point in time, players, you and I can only play the assassin, berserker, druid, and summoner. We are currently having just the computers play as the judge and oracle. Um, at some point, we are [00:02:00] going to open those up. We're just not there yet. So on this screen, it gives you a rundown of, like, who the assassin is, um, and how many life sparks they start with, your hit points, if they're more of a tactic player, a magic player, or a mix, um, how many of the cards take a D20 roll for that tabletop role-playing feel. And not to mention you have the amazing art for it, um, that tries to depict more of what the class is Um, other thing that you're gonna end up seeing is that it tells you, like, the cards that you get as you go. So you're always gonna start with your attack, defend, no action. And then for assassin specifically, you do have lethality. But then you can scroll over and you can see all of the abilities for each class so you kind of know what you're getting into before you play, which is really neat if you ask me to get a better feel for it before [00:03:00] you even jump into a game. Um, as far as jumping into a game, there's two different ways to do it right now. You can, um, play against computers or you can share the website with a friend, start a new room, and it's gonna give you a code like this. So you would send that code off to your friend, they would input the code and then they would choose, like, their character and off you go. Um, whatever character you have up here selected is the character you're gonna end up playing. Um, for the sake of just showing you guys, I am gonna do the assassin. Um, and then let's say you don't have any friends to play with, which, you know, I don't always have friends, but that's okay. You can add computer players. So I'm gonna add like three players and then I can pick what they are. So I'm okay with the judge, oracle and [00:04:00] berserker. That all sounds good. And then this last spot here is gonna be how long you want everyone to have to choose their ability or like their action for each turn. Um, when you're just getting started and learning the game, I do recommend more towards like the two or three minutes. Of course, if you don't take that long, the game will just continue anyway. Like if everybody's selected it'll just move on. But if you need that time to read and understand, then please take more time. Um, for, you know, my sake and knowing the game, I'm gonna go with 60 seconds and then we just start the match with four players So now we're on turn one. I do have a countdown timer up in this corner telling me how much time I have left. It does do a turn counter for me. This turn will always be turn zero because you are like a level zero character in the world. You're level zero with combat, you have no actions, you're not a fully fledged whatever class you [00:05:00] are, right? So this turn I am gonna go with defend. It shows me a little bit better and I hit play it. So now everybody's thing is gonna show and they're just gonna run through everything that happens. I am not clicking anything right now, it's just doing its thing. So they all attacked each other. I'm defending. It gives me a quick rundown down here of what happens, what abilities they're gaining, and then it tells you like what happened with health as well, which I think is really cool. Now I am level one. I now have access to assassinate and it also shows me what my other opponents are gaining down below. And now I can choose stuff to play. I'm gonna go ahead and do the assassinate one, which includes rolling a D20. We're gonna play it And now healing will always take priority. So that is what ha- is happening there. And then they decided to attack. They have a passive going on, so that [00:06:00] just got rolled. And now I'm gonna roll to assassinate. I didn't hit, so I won't select a target And now they're just finishing up anything that needs to resolve and onto the next round. So as you can see, it runs really quickly, um, which is just... I think it's great, you know? I think getting to have a feel for the game and see what's going on is just really neat. Um, other thing to note as you get further in the game, you're gonna notice, like, this person now has dual wield. If I scroll over that, I see what it is. It is a passive for them. Um, and that means that it gets rolled every turn and, um, we just gotta see if they hit every turn unless somebody dispels it. Um, or in this case, this one is immune to greater dispel. You can see that at the very bottom. You'll also notice that these little cards at the top right appeared, meaning that my opponents have already picked their cards and they're waiting on me. [00:07:00] Um, I think we're just gonna try to assassinate again 'cause, you know, I'm an assassin. I think that's great. So healing takes place first again. Healing takes place first and now they're doing the rest of their actions. They're rolling their passives And then I'll try to assassinate. Man, the rolls are bad. Um, and then everything else resolves. It goes over what people are gaining, and we go on to the next round. So this goes on for 10 rounds as far as like gaining different abilities, but the game ends at round 20. Um, by round 20, you're looking for, you know, um, being the last man standing or having the most life sparks at the end of the whole game. So that is a quick rundown on how the online game works. I think it's really neat that we do [00:08:00] have the, you know, physical version of it, and now we have an online version. It's crazy to see how quick it's all coming together. Um, I'll drop the link to this down below, so hopefully you guys, uh, decide to check it out. Let us know any questions, comments, concerns. Like and subscribe, and we will catch y'all next time. Thank you

5 D&D Tabletop RPG Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes

October 19, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_l3hijcNcI Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I go over different things in the tabletop role-playing universe from the game that my husband and I cr- are creating, to D&D, to goodness knows what, right? Um, this go around, I am going to talk about common mistakes you find from new players or longtime players when you're playing D&D. Now, keep in mind, I have only played D&D once or twice. Um, I personally was not a fan of the system. However, these are just common mistakes you can find in just about any tabletop role-playing game when you're just getting started. So I thought they were kind of relevant. Um, so we're just gonna hop right in, and I may rapid-fire these. So common mistake number one is thinking that a nat 20 succeeds at absolutely everything. So this one I find really funny, actually, because you would [00:01:00] think that with the best dice roll, you could do anything, right? Um, turns out you can't. So as far as combat goes, um, a nat 20, it'll always automatically hit. You'll always do damage. There's no question about that when it comes to combat. However, when you're starting to look at, um, ability checks, and you're in these different, um, situations that don't involve combat, a nat 20 does not mean much. So it comes down to your DM and what your DM decides. For example, let's say that you are trying to persuade a king to hand over his whole kingdom, right? And you roll a nat 20, and you're thinking, "Yes, I did it. I have a kingdom now." And DM's like, "Uh, no, you don't." The king may be more likely to put you in a place of power in the kingdom, but he's not gonna hand over everything. [00:02:00] Um , so that just ... It all comes down to the DM regardless of what you're rolling. Um, so that is something to keep in mind, and don't get overexcited about your, uh, rolls. Never get excited about them, honestly, unless it's combat, so keep that in mind. Eternity TTRPG has released a card game battler which emulates combat from the tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our sales page live now, packed with details Other mistake that I find very interesting that happens a lot is forgetting that [00:03:00] your proficiency in different skills matters. Um, so when I go to build a character, I just build something that's fun and cool, and I don't really care about the stats, and that's probably something that I personally need to change. But I imagine that if I'm like that, I may not be the only one. Um, so whenever you're rolling in D&D combat or ability checks, you do add your proficiency bonuses, right? So it's almost never just the dice roll. Um , so you really should be paying attention to your proficiency, and if you wanna be someone that is really sneaky, for example, then you need to look at your proficiency in stealth because you can't be sneaky without a high proficiency in stealth. So definitely something to think about when you're building a character. Um, another Mistake that's pretty common is trying to maintain two concentration spells. Um, so [00:04:00] the misconception is that you can have one already running and you can cast another and you can maintain both. Um, actual rule in D&D is you can only concentrate one effect at a time. Um, that is very odd to me just because as a normal human being, we are able to multitask. I mean, maybe not well, but we can. Um, so that is one thing that I personally do like about the tabletop role-playing game that my husband and I are creating is that you can have multiple things that you're concentrating, um, as long as you have the proficiency to do so. But anyway, D&D doesn't do that, so don't do it. Um, let's see. Um, let's see. Um, other thing that comes up pretty often is that thinking your turn when you go to do any kind of combat is just for attacking. So this ... We talk about [00:05:00] combat, right? And all you think of is attacking your opponent, but it's really outdoing your opponent, outthinking them, and you can do other things like dodging, dashing, disengaging, hiding, searching, um, and helping others in your party, right? You don't just have to attack the boss. You can do more. So something to think about, right? Um, okay. This is a mistake that I find in every tabletop role-playing game, and maybe it's not even a mistake. Maybe it's just how people are. But I struggled with this extremely. I still struggle with it, is that to play a role-playing game, you think you have to be a professional, like a professional actor. Uh, truth is, you don't. You really don't. You can just use your normal voice. You can, like, have your normal personality. You can just put you on the paper. And that is what I did for multiple campaigns when I first started doing this kind of stuff [00:06:00] with any tabletop role-playing game. So keep that in mind. You don't need to be anything special. You don't even need to know anything. You don't have to know a single thing about the tabletop role-playing universe. Just write stuff down. Just write it down. Try your best. Call it good. You don't have to be perfect. Okay. So with all of that, like I said, rapid fire things, misconceptions, mistakes that we see in D&D and other tabletop role-playing universes. What is something that you thought before you started playing or even as you're playing or even that you see other people do that is a misconception or mistake when in your tabletop role-playing universes? Drop a comment below. Let me know. Also, let us know how we're doing. Like, comment, subscribe, and keep it going.

Our First Convention With a TTRPG Product! Sparks of Eternity

October 1, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtIN1OHjTZQ Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG channel, um, where we talk about different happenings in the TTRPG universe as well as what's going on with our game, um, with the Sparks of Eternity universe. So I'm gonna try and keep this one short, sweet, to the point 'cause I have a lot of stuff I gotta get done. Um, so this weekend we are gonna be attending our first convention where we, like, have the official product to sell. Um, we have done conventions in the past. Um, I've been a part of two of those conventions. I know my husband has done a few more than that. And at those conventions, it was all about, like, just trying to keep the tabletop role-playing universe alive and explain what, um, we're trying to bring to the table with it, um, explain more about the world of Eternity and all that kind of stuff. Um, this go around, as I said, it's gonna be the first time [00:01:00] that we actually have a product. Um, and I know I've talked about it before. If you're new here, that's gonna be Sparks of Eternity Emanation, and it is a... We're still figuring out the wording of this, so if you've played it and have a better idea, let me know. But it is a tabletop role-playing combat party card game. Okay? So go ahead and, you know, think of your tabletop role-playing. You're gonna have dice rolls, you're gonna have different classes, and you know your classic stuff like the druid is a shapeshifter, assassin is, you know, assassinating and that kind of stuff, right? Well, now you take that, you put all their abilities into a deck and you start at level zero, you work your way up to level 10 and you just try to take out your opponents or survive the longest. You're... I mean, good luck to you either way, right? Um, [00:02:00] so that is what we're gonna be showing off at the convention this weekend. And with this convention there has been a lot of planning and it's just been like a labor of love trying to get everything ready for it, honestly. Because we have to travel for the weekend, you know, stay in the hotel, pack the car, make sure the dog's taken care of, all that kind of stuff, right? Um, but then we also have to think of the booth itself and, well, what do we want the table to look like? Do we need a tablecloth? What should the tablecloth look like? What about a background banner? And all this different stuff, right? And we didn't know we would be doing this convention until about two months ago. So it's been about a two-month scramble getting everything ready for it, all for this three-day weekend. And over this three-day weekend, we have eight hours on Friday, 12 hours on Saturday, and another six hours on Sunday. So [00:03:00] that's 26 hours over the weekend that we're gonna be vending, um, and hoping to do our best with it, right? Um, so one thing that I do wanna show you guys that I am very excited about is we went ahead and worked with an artist. Um, it is our new artist for, um, the Sparks of Eternity franchise, and he created our banner artwork, which I really-- I am so excited with what he created, um, for us to show off what the world of Eternity really is, right? Um, so here it is. And with this, you know, banner, we're trying to show, like, basically you as the player reaching out for all these different ideas, all these different sparks, while also giving itself to the lore of Eternity where you have The Stag and, um, Saint Ranroth on the other side, um, and just their storyline. Now, of course, you guys [00:04:00] don't know all the lore and everything behind all of this. We do and we cannot wait to reveal it all in due time, you know? 'Cause we have these plans that we're setting in motion, and this convention is just another part of that plan. So, as I said, I have a lot of stuff to get done leading up to this convention for the weekend, so we're gonna post this, you know, do all the work with that, and then continue getting ready. Um, we will be at the Pittsburgh Gaming Expo this weekend, and that is what we'll be doing. So if you happen to watch the channel and see us there, say hi. Um, if not, definitely keep following along with our journey and make sure you check out our website for the game that we're selling. Um, wish us the best of luck, and as always, like, comment, subscribe. Let us know how we're doing. Let us know what you wanna hear. Thanks, y'all.