Dec 2010
[SSS] Arcane Spell Preview
12/21/2010 10:43
In Shadow, Sword & Spell: Expert arcane spells are introduced. Unlike Common Spells (see Shadow, Sword & Spell: Basic), Arcane Spells are rare and powerful. Truth be told, all magic is powerful, but what separates Arcane Magic from Common Magic is that these spells date back to a time far in the past.
Those skilled in the Arts of the Arcane Spells are able to perform feats only the Gods can match. Though the power that a sorcerer is able to call upon is great, the price he must pay is even greater. Unlike Common Spells, which can cause a Caster harm if they are miscast, Arcane Spells cost you more than your Sanity – they have the potential to cost you your life.
So what type of spells should you expect with Arcane Spells? Here is one example:
Range: Within circle
Duration: Rounds equal to half the Caster’s Will
Performed On: Others
Vitality Cost: 12
Sanity Cost: 24
This is a powerful Spell in that it contacts an Elder God, and allows the Caster to commune with and seek advice from this Elder God. This Spell can be taken multiple times, allowing the Caster to contact other Elder Gods. Thus the Caster must have the spell separately for each Elder God.
To cast this Spell requires much from the Caster. First, he must fast for a period of 24 hours, and during that time meditate and prepare himself mentally and physically for the casting. During this time, the Caster must inscribe the appropriate circle for the God he wishes to contact, and this circle must be made from the appropriate components, or the Spell will not work. In addition, the Caster must know the summoning circle for the God he wishes to contact; if he does not, he cannot contact the God. Once the circle is inscribed, the Caster must chant for 10 Rounds, and in that time do nothing but chant. If the chanting is stopped for any reason, either by the Caster or someone else, the spell automatically fails. Once the chanting is over, and the Spell Test is successfully made, the image of the God appears in front of the Caster. The Caster is then able to ask the God for advice, seek their aid, or ask for some boon. The God remains for a number of Rounds equal to half the Caster’s Will (Dramatic Success has the duration last for a number of Rounds equal to the Caster’s Will). Failing to cast the Spell results in the God not appearing, and a Dramatic Failure has dire consequences. First, the Caster has their Sanity permanently reduced by a number of points equal to their Will. In addition, the God, as per the Curse Spell, curses the Caster, the effects of which last until the God deems the Caster has learned their lesson.
[START TABLE]
Table 4:2 The Elder Gods
Elder God Summoning Circle Component
Azathoth Blood of a lizard
Cthulhu Ink from a squid
Shub-Niggurath Bile of a goat
Hastur Blood of a rooster
Nodens Blood of a raven
Nyarlathotep Bile of an owl, blood of a hawk, and the eye of a cat
Nyogtha Blood of a ram
Tsathoggua The Caster’s blood
Yig Blood of a snake
Yog-Sothoth Blood of a squid and a rabbit
[END TABLE]
Those skilled in the Arts of the Arcane Spells are able to perform feats only the Gods can match. Though the power that a sorcerer is able to call upon is great, the price he must pay is even greater. Unlike Common Spells, which can cause a Caster harm if they are miscast, Arcane Spells cost you more than your Sanity – they have the potential to cost you your life.
So what type of spells should you expect with Arcane Spells? Here is one example:
Contact
Range: Within circle
Duration: Rounds equal to half the Caster’s Will
Performed On: Others
Vitality Cost: 12
Sanity Cost: 24
This is a powerful Spell in that it contacts an Elder God, and allows the Caster to commune with and seek advice from this Elder God. This Spell can be taken multiple times, allowing the Caster to contact other Elder Gods. Thus the Caster must have the spell separately for each Elder God.
To cast this Spell requires much from the Caster. First, he must fast for a period of 24 hours, and during that time meditate and prepare himself mentally and physically for the casting. During this time, the Caster must inscribe the appropriate circle for the God he wishes to contact, and this circle must be made from the appropriate components, or the Spell will not work. In addition, the Caster must know the summoning circle for the God he wishes to contact; if he does not, he cannot contact the God. Once the circle is inscribed, the Caster must chant for 10 Rounds, and in that time do nothing but chant. If the chanting is stopped for any reason, either by the Caster or someone else, the spell automatically fails. Once the chanting is over, and the Spell Test is successfully made, the image of the God appears in front of the Caster. The Caster is then able to ask the God for advice, seek their aid, or ask for some boon. The God remains for a number of Rounds equal to half the Caster’s Will (Dramatic Success has the duration last for a number of Rounds equal to the Caster’s Will). Failing to cast the Spell results in the God not appearing, and a Dramatic Failure has dire consequences. First, the Caster has their Sanity permanently reduced by a number of points equal to their Will. In addition, the God, as per the Curse Spell, curses the Caster, the effects of which last until the God deems the Caster has learned their lesson.
[START TABLE]
Table 4:2 The Elder Gods
Elder God Summoning Circle Component
Azathoth Blood of a lizard
Cthulhu Ink from a squid
Shub-Niggurath Bile of a goat
Hastur Blood of a rooster
Nodens Blood of a raven
Nyarlathotep Bile of an owl, blood of a hawk, and the eye of a cat
Nyogtha Blood of a ram
Tsathoggua The Caster’s blood
Yig Blood of a snake
Yog-Sothoth Blood of a squid and a rabbit
[END TABLE]
Comments
50% off Sale At Drivethru in honor of Fritz Leiber
12/21/2010 07:02
Starting today and running for the next week, all Rogue Games PDFs are 50% at DriveThruRPG.com.
Why?
In honor of Fritz Lieber.
Born December 24, 1910 and passing away on September 5, 1992, this birthday would be his 100 birthday. Lieber, for me, is perhaps one of the large influences on my design. It was his work which influenced heavily some of the design in Shadow, Sword & Spell, but it is my work on Shadow, Sword & Spell: City where his influence is even more apparent.
Click here to start your buying.
Why?
In honor of Fritz Lieber.
Born December 24, 1910 and passing away on September 5, 1992, this birthday would be his 100 birthday. Lieber, for me, is perhaps one of the large influences on my design. It was his work which influenced heavily some of the design in Shadow, Sword & Spell, but it is my work on Shadow, Sword & Spell: City where his influence is even more apparent.
Click here to start your buying.
Shadow, Sword & Spell Mass Combat
12/15/2010 10:28
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Expert builds upon the foundation laid in Basic.
As have been stated many times, Basic covers the early adventures of your heroes, and Expert covers the end game.
So, if Expert is covering the end game, the book has to cover certain things. Like what? Here’s the list:
Expert contains all of this, as well as other things. This post, however, is about the Mass Combat rules.
My goal in designing these rules were simple: allow for large scale army conflict that has the player characters able to take a role. You can quickly run mass combat with these rules, and in playtests I have seen engagements go for no longer than 15 minutes. The criteria mass combat have in regards to a roleplaying game, is much different when you are doing a wargame. Mass combat must be fast, it must allow for a more descriptive nature of things, and more importantly, it must be fast.
Why?
Those who play roleplaying games, for the most part, are not wargammers. Rolepayers do not have the desire to push counters, measure distances, and deal with the complexity wargaming has. I am a wargammer, and for me, more so than roleplaying, wargamming is my favorite thing to do. Just because I enjoy it, does not mean, others will.
So in designing the rules, I worked hard to strip wargaming down to something that can be done in a few minutes. Here is just a small example.
Chapter Seven: Mass Combat
As your Hero grows in fame and prestige, she will eventually come into contact with armies. The world of Shadow, Sword & Spell is a violent one, and various powers clash in battle. The rules governing Mass Combat are straightforward and allow you to quickly run mass combat on the table top. These rules cover small squads as well as large armies. These simple rules are designed to allow both the Gamemaster and players to fight out battles involving these armies quickly and easily.
The first thing to keep in mind is that this system is narrative in scope, and this has been done intentionally. Mass Combat is very complex, and typically involves miniatures, counters, and terrain, as well as a lot of time. This is not a knock against wargames and miniatures. Hell, growing up, wargames and miniature wargaming consumed a lot of my free time. However, for a roleplaying game, the needs are quite different. Often war, or a clash of armies, is just one small facet of an adventure. There isn’t a need to have a detailed, drawn out battle. Instead, Mass Combat for Shadow, Sword & Spell has been reduced down to a few simple dice rolls. This system is designed to allow not only armies but small units to clash. It allows the Gamemaster and players to deal with Mass Combat quickly and efficiently.
Basics
Before going into detail, it’s important to note that all armies have six basic elements. No matter the type of troops, these common elements quickly allow you to assess the strength or weakness of various troops. These elements are: Unit Type, Unit Rating, Quality, Size, Engagement Rating, and Hooks.
Unit Type is simply the type of unit with which one is dealing. The Unit Type can be infantry, cavalry, and the like.
Unit Rating is a simple stat which takes into account a unit’s training, skills, abilities, and the like. Over time, this stat can and does improve.
Quality is not only partially based on the Unit Rating, but it takes into account the weapons, armor, mounts, and any other type of special abilities that the unit might have.
Size is a simple concept, and is mainly comes down to the number of soldiers found in the unit.
Engagement Rating is the number used to see if you win or lose a battle.
Hooks are well, hooks. They are similar to the Hooks that individual Heroes have.
Combat involves two armies declaring tactics, taking the calculated Engagement Scores, a few other factors, and then rolling 2d12. This result is added to the Engagement Score, and whichever side has the highest number, wins. Combat continues until one side is destroyed, retreats or surrenders.
With the basics out of the way, let’s go into detail about how the system works.
...
There is more to this, but this should give you an idea where we are going.
As have been stated many times, Basic covers the early adventures of your heroes, and Expert covers the end game.
So, if Expert is covering the end game, the book has to cover certain things. Like what? Here’s the list:
- Domain Rules
- Henchmen and Retainers
- Merchant Rules
- Spell and Alchemical Art Creation
- Relics
- Ancient Tomes
- Mass Combat
Expert contains all of this, as well as other things. This post, however, is about the Mass Combat rules.
My goal in designing these rules were simple: allow for large scale army conflict that has the player characters able to take a role. You can quickly run mass combat with these rules, and in playtests I have seen engagements go for no longer than 15 minutes. The criteria mass combat have in regards to a roleplaying game, is much different when you are doing a wargame. Mass combat must be fast, it must allow for a more descriptive nature of things, and more importantly, it must be fast.
Why?
Those who play roleplaying games, for the most part, are not wargammers. Rolepayers do not have the desire to push counters, measure distances, and deal with the complexity wargaming has. I am a wargammer, and for me, more so than roleplaying, wargamming is my favorite thing to do. Just because I enjoy it, does not mean, others will.
So in designing the rules, I worked hard to strip wargaming down to something that can be done in a few minutes. Here is just a small example.
Chapter Seven: Mass Combat
As your Hero grows in fame and prestige, she will eventually come into contact with armies. The world of Shadow, Sword & Spell is a violent one, and various powers clash in battle. The rules governing Mass Combat are straightforward and allow you to quickly run mass combat on the table top. These rules cover small squads as well as large armies. These simple rules are designed to allow both the Gamemaster and players to fight out battles involving these armies quickly and easily.
The first thing to keep in mind is that this system is narrative in scope, and this has been done intentionally. Mass Combat is very complex, and typically involves miniatures, counters, and terrain, as well as a lot of time. This is not a knock against wargames and miniatures. Hell, growing up, wargames and miniature wargaming consumed a lot of my free time. However, for a roleplaying game, the needs are quite different. Often war, or a clash of armies, is just one small facet of an adventure. There isn’t a need to have a detailed, drawn out battle. Instead, Mass Combat for Shadow, Sword & Spell has been reduced down to a few simple dice rolls. This system is designed to allow not only armies but small units to clash. It allows the Gamemaster and players to deal with Mass Combat quickly and efficiently.
Basics
Before going into detail, it’s important to note that all armies have six basic elements. No matter the type of troops, these common elements quickly allow you to assess the strength or weakness of various troops. These elements are: Unit Type, Unit Rating, Quality, Size, Engagement Rating, and Hooks.
Unit Type is simply the type of unit with which one is dealing. The Unit Type can be infantry, cavalry, and the like.
Unit Rating is a simple stat which takes into account a unit’s training, skills, abilities, and the like. Over time, this stat can and does improve.
Quality is not only partially based on the Unit Rating, but it takes into account the weapons, armor, mounts, and any other type of special abilities that the unit might have.
Size is a simple concept, and is mainly comes down to the number of soldiers found in the unit.
Engagement Rating is the number used to see if you win or lose a battle.
Hooks are well, hooks. They are similar to the Hooks that individual Heroes have.
Combat involves two armies declaring tactics, taking the calculated Engagement Scores, a few other factors, and then rolling 2d12. This result is added to the Engagement Score, and whichever side has the highest number, wins. Combat continues until one side is destroyed, retreats or surrenders.
With the basics out of the way, let’s go into detail about how the system works.
...
There is more to this, but this should give you an idea where we are going.
Colonial Gothic: New France -- Work in Progress
12/14/2010 12:03
I know for the past few weeks a lot has been posted dealing with Shadow, Sword & Spell. Some might think that means we are not working on other things. That is farthest from the truth. A number of Colonial Gothic projects are in various stages of work. I am editing a draft of a new book, Graeme is working on part two of the campaign, I am researching a new PDF, Jennifer Brozek (Elizabethtown, Plymouth and The Ross-Allen Letters) is working on a new PDF (a number actually), and I am compiling notes for the three books I plan to write for a 2013 release.
If that is not all, layout is moving fast on the first release of 2011, Colonial Gothic: New France. Don’t believe me? Take a look:
Yeah, that is pretty sweet. Oh, the art on page 82? David Deitrick did it. Yeah, that David Deitrick.
So, yes, we are working on some very cool stuff.
If that is not all, layout is moving fast on the first release of 2011, Colonial Gothic: New France. Don’t believe me? Take a look:
Yeah, that is pretty sweet. Oh, the art on page 82? David Deitrick did it. Yeah, that David Deitrick.
So, yes, we are working on some very cool stuff.
SS&S Expert -- Introduction
12/07/2010 11:54
Introduction
endgame |ˈen(d)ˌgām| (also end game)
noun
the final stage of a game such as chess or bridge, when few pieces or cards remain : the knight was trapped in the endgame | figurative the retaliatory endgame of nuclear warfare.
As long as fantasy games have existed, players and Gamemasters have looked for the endgame. For roleplaying games, especially fantasy ones, the concept of the endgame has been there since the hobby’s beginnings. After all, when playing your hero, they grow in stature as well as power and influence. It is only a natural desire for a player to want their character to lead mercenary companies, sit on thrones, and work their influence within merchant circles. Many attempts to define the endgame have occurred in the roleplaying game industry, some of these attempts divorcing the slow build and growth of the hero, and instead focusing on the immediate. Two ready examples of this are TSR’s Birthright setting, and REIGN. Both of these games center around rulership, and are great at what they set out to accomplish. However, what has always been difficult is to find games that contain rules or advice centered on taking your own hero and having them rule their own domains, band of cut throats, or... well you get the point.
Shadow Sword & Spell: Expert builds upon the rules found in Basic. In Basic, you created your character. You have braved numerous dangers, made many enemies, and probably killed a few of your foes as well. You have gone from not having any or little influence or prestige, to now being a person of renown or infamy. You have survived the trials and ordeals before you.
Through your wits, guile, and fortitude, you have fought back the hordes of unholy terror. You have saved countless men and women from the bonds of slavery. You have discovered hidden treasures, long forgotten tombs, and tomes of arcane knowledge. You have become a hero, an outlaw, even a thorn in the side of the powers that be. Your trials have prepared you, and now, you are ready to inscribe your name in the rolls of history. The world will feel your justice. Your enemies will know your vengeance. Those with the power will now have no choice but to share it with you. You will be a king, and the dynasty you found will endure for centuries.
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Expert answers the question: What’s next? Your hero has grown in power, and now they are ready to tame the world. Building upon the rules found in Basic, Expert adds new opportunities for your game. What you will find here are new options and rules that you can use to expand your current Shadow, Sword & Spell game, as well as allow you to run games grander in scope.
Shadow, Sword & Spell is a game influenced by The Three – H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard – and the game works as an homage to, and to pay respect to them. Expert, perhaps more than Basic, is heavily influenced by Howard’s (By this axe I Rule) and the later stories of Conan as king. Howard, more than the others, had a firm grasp of showing the possibilities offered in this vein by heroes who rule kingdoms. In his stories, even though the hero is a leader, they still have just as many dangers to face. The stakes become even higher when you have to fight to protect your throne. In addition, Expert focuses on other type of characters who might not be a warriors, and instead make a living through thievery.
What if you are not ready to run a game centered around politics? Have no fear, Expert contains items that are easily added to Basic. New magic, relics, monsters, and the like, are all found here. Think of Expert as your inspiration. Take from it what you want, and ignore areas you are not ready for; this is your game after all, and make of it what you will.
eBook Version and our Support of them
12/02/2010 10:04
Starting today you can now buy a version formatted for any eReader.
What’s the difference you ask? Let me explain.
Unlike a PDF, a ePub file, is a file that is formatted to work with such eReaders like a Kindle, Nook, or Sony eReader. A ePub file is even able to be reader is such eBooks apps like Stanza (on the iPhone, iPad, and iPhone Touch). The ePub file is formatted to display in b&w, designed to not task the screen, and have a small file footprint. For devices that use this file, the benefits are many, but the downside is that ePub does a poor job handling layout, full color, as well as a lot of the fancy layout techniques available in physical books.
Since we started, we have always embraced technology and have strived to use it to our advantage. For us, we are not a book publisher, we are a content provider, and our content happens to be roleplaying games. Because of this, we have worked to ensure you have access to the content in as many ways possible. Our games are for sale for the Kindle (here and here), on the iBook Store, and numerous other vendors.
There is more for us to do.
That is why starting with Colonial Gothic Organizations: Vol 1. The Templars ePub versions will be available for sale direct from Rogue Games. The goal is to have ePub versions of all our releases for sale by the end of the January. Then, if all goes well, the same day we release a book for sale, not only will the PDF go up for sale, but so too will the ePub version.
To make it easier, in the coming weeks, the online store will be reorganized, but in the mean time, the two images on the right will clue you in on what version to buy.
As for the future, the goal is to eventually give you the choice between having either the PDF or the ePub version of the file bundled with the purchase of the physical book.
So there you go, the latest.