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If we can talk about non-D&D old-school fantasy games, is anyone familiar with Swordbearer? I have had it for a about 2 years now, and have not had a chance to play it yet, but it really is a neat game system, old school in many ways (published in 1982), but ahead of it's time in others. To give it a bit of description, it's classless and level-less, and skill based, with very few attributes, except for Mass, Strength (same as mass, for humans,) Agility and Intelligence. A PC would specialize in 1 or 2 skill spheres, (like Fighting, Magic, Town, or Stealth, for example,) which would give them bonuses to learn skills in that sphere, but not restrict you from learning other skills. Social Status was very important, as it determined what kin d of equipment you could not only by, but be seen to have, and rising in that could be a major goal for players. Money was abstracted, similar to Reign or d20 Modern, and directly tied into Social Statue with rules for debt, major purchases, and so forth. Encumbrance was also abstracted where a player could only have 10 items beyond basic clothes, minor armor or tools, but would include weapons, major armor or equipment, or servants or men-at-arms. Magic is interesting, begin based on different elements, similar to Chinese alchemy, where each element would have dominance over another, in a circular chain, and would require mastering skills for, and collecting "nodes" of each element. The spell list for each element isn't super big, but had a pretty good variety and tended to avoid generic "off-the-shelf" magic. There is Spirit Magic too, which involves killing creatures and people to get "nodes", and is a bit more complex, and also generally assumed to be frowned upon by most people. I think it's one of those games that either run as is or with a bit of tinkering can stand up to modern fantasy games, especially if you want classic fantasy adventure similar to what D&D provides but with a much different flavor. It's a shame it's so unheard of, with almost nothing about it on the internet. There are a lot of other cool things about it too, if people are interested in asking.
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Aug 27, 2012 03:48
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mllaneza posted:It was a very sophisticated game at the time, and if it had just been developed more it might have been a hit. More stuff in the core book, a flashier presentation and some splat and setting books would have helped. I really liked the magic system, but I haven't had a chance to use it. You should write it up for the Fatal & Friends thread, it's obscure as anything in there (and I'm busy with Traveller). I've only really browsed FATAL and Friends a little bit., I'll take a look there and start writing it up for the thread, it's a game that deserved a wider audience.
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Aug 28, 2012 06:50
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While I'm not a huge fan of it, I'd say AD&D2e is your best bet, along with The Complete Bard's Handbook. The kits in there go a long way to diversifying Bards, from Knightly Romantic Poets (the Gallant) to Skalds. Two kits that jump out at me for being very suitable for your idea, there are the Meistersinger's, which can charm animals, and project goodwill towards hostile animals and monsters, preventing them from attacking the bard and possibly his friends (you might want to houserule this, the rules say a 1' per level radius, I'd go with 5'/lvl or 5'/3 lvls to not make it pointless at low levels), and the Herald, who has the ability to speak to/understand any creature that has a spoken language using a "Read Languages" roll. It also has rules for demihuman bards beyond the ones normally allowed by the PHB (Humans and Half-Elves), musical instruments, performances and some special ways bards can use magic items. It won't be too hard to cover a lot of bases, being that bards are pretty multi-purpose, but healing will be tricky. I'd say start them of at level 2, maybe 3, to give them a little hit point edge, boost their abilities some, and give them spell access.
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Jun 30, 2014 17:43
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I'm working on doing a Scarlet Heroes solo sandbox/hexcrawl, using elements of Red Tide and An Echo, Resounding, along with other misc. crap from my collection. This is the first time I'm doing this type of game, and while I've run games before, it's almost always been pre-written material. So I've been stumbling about, making maps and then discarding them, toying with setting elements and adventure ideas, and was wondering if there would be an audience for a blog detailing that. There are already a billion-and-one blogs out there with some dude's sandbox and 9000 similar-but-different procedures, but would people be interested in seeing the false starts, discarded material and general blundering about of the creation of, and then playing in, a campaign world?
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Mar 8, 2015 02:24
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