Sword and Spell
Sword & Spell is a generic, old-school FRPG based on Xavier Raoult’s Warriors, Wizards and Wanderers. It assumes knowledge of fantasy tropes and RPGs.
S&S is easy to learn, quick to play and adaptable to almost any fantasy setting with a minimum of fuss. House rules are encouraged.
S&S is presented as both an 18-page pdf rulebook and a 4-page “pocketmod” version for play anythime or place.
Tags: Christopher Brennan
December 21st, 2009 at 10:00 pm
This seems very cool. Thanks for the extra effort of the pocket mod. Very nice.
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:47 am
You’re welcome….and yes, I do love pocketmods.
Check out the microlite20.net site where some bloke in the UK has shrunk D&D 3.5 down to it’s bare essentials (or about 5 pockmods). Genius!
December 25th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Chris,
Liking this the more I look at it. Fast, simple, taking a few bits from other games to play “D&D as God (and Gygax) intended…. if a rule doesn’t cover then make it up, you’re the game referee.” Few mechanical questions:
1) On the Monster Table, there are two “Mod” listed for each level of monster. How does each number apply? If the monster is adding a “plus” to its CR which number is it?
2) Damage dealt by characters on a successful hit in combat is constant, as is effect of armor. Higher level characters get more “plus” to the combat CR but the hits produce no greater damage than lower level characters and their armor doesn’t protect them any better. Which means Wizards essentially can’t hurt anything in armor, and even high level Warriors can’t hurt high-level Brutes. But high-level monsters will be able to hit, and their armor will protect them from, even high level Warriors? Is that intended?
December 25th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Thanks Ravensron. I’m glad you like S&S and you understand the intent behind it perfectly. I love that “..God and Gygax…” phrase.:)
To answer your questions.
1 – the lower mod on the monster table is the normal standard “plus” to all CR, of a monster with that MR.
The higher number is that PLUS the one-third MR monsters add to certain CR because of their speciality.
So an MR 15 BRUTE is +2/+7.
Any DEX or CHR CR it makes gains a +2 (15/2=7-5=+2).
Any STR CR it makes gains a +7 because it adds 1/3 its MR to that +2 (15/3=5+2=+7)
2- What is intended is that as monster MR get higher the monster gets tougher and players should always be wary of them. Granted, high MR monsters should be rare or “boss” monsters but I feel that a player’s metagame knowledge of a monster can often promote inventive action “in-game”. So if the players see the referee inflict 7d6 damage on some hapless NPC it just might make them consider their next move VERY carefully.
That being said a PC’s ability to inflict and resist damage are mutable through the spending of POW.
A Warrior can declare a Savage Blow, spend 1d6 POW and inflict 3d6x2 damage if the hits in hand-to-hand-combat. (I’m also playtesting some more defensive feats at the moment and considering allowing Wanderers access to them at a greater POW cost than Warriors.) Wizards/Wanderers have access to spells such Lightning (up to 24 points of damage that ignores armour and cover) and Magic Aura which gives temporary armour, altough hand-to-hand combat still favours the Warriors.
Armour can only ever reduce damage to a minimum of 1 so even the weakest character can chip away at a monster and high-level characters should have a few magic items on them to help. It is possible for a Warrior using the Hammer of Destruction to declare a Savage Blow and inflict up to 108 points of damage in a single hit!
Hope that helps.
December 26th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Thank you for your explanations. In analyzing how weapons/armor work at higher levels I guess I was doing exactly the opposite of what you (and Ken St. Andre and the late, great Dave Hargrave) intended – nitpicking at rules. Yes, of course, how a character comes at a high-level monster isn’t to go toe-to-toe and rely on “well I have enough hit points” (“creeping “D&Dism”; which is why we all eventually invented house rules). You use good old fashioned magic (“only a dirty rat would shoot a monster in the back from cover with a fireball” “squeak squeak” ) and skills (including “burning” POW – which by the way is the most elegant Fatigue system I’ve seen, immediately surplanting whatever I was fumbling at in my house rules).
December 29th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I found the link to this game in “Chris’s Compendium of Free Role Playing Games ” (http://www.homebrew.net/games) and I really like the setup.
After reading carefully I have some questions:
1. “Combat Encounters”: Skilful Strike. Add 1d6 to his DEX or STR DV to-hit. An example please.
2. “Spellcasting”: Body points?
3. “Spellcasting”: (1) Antimagic Shell. Should be “all” instead of “no” attempts.
4. “Spellcasting”: (9) Intangible. Why the CR to cast this ‘beneficial’ spell to a friendly target? Next sentence, you actually mean the “spell recipient” instead of “caster”, right?
5. “Spellcasting”: (14) Magic Aura. Armour? Does this desciption mean to add another 1d6 to all “damage absorption” rolls for the duration of the fight?
6. “Adventuring Hazards”: Disease?
7. “Treasure”: (Scrolls) Mind and Spirit points/CR?
8. “Treasure”: (6) Fotress Armour”. Doubles the amount of armour dice rolled. An example please.
9. “Treasure”: (11) Power Stone. What is the meaning of “specific” spell – does a different stone exist for each of the spells?
10. “Treasure”: (14) Shadow Cloak. Increases PC’s Defence by 1d6 when worn. When is this rolled? An example please.
11. “Treasure”: (16) Soul Killer. Mind & Focus? Also, you actually mean “from dark rituals” instead of “for dark rituals”, right?
12. “Monsters”: What do you mean by appropriate “Talent”?
13. Almost all proposed monsters are Brutes (including animals and vermin). Only two Mystics and three Sneaks among them.
14. How about detecting hidden (eg. doors and traps), picklocking/breaking doors and disarming mundane/magic traps?
15. I’d like to play this game without a d20, using only d6’s. How would you suggest I do that?
Overall, congratulations on a lovingly-made concrete ruleset.
Keep up the good work (it’s true that you need to give some more skills to the Warrior and a few Wanderer-specific).
December 29th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
What happens if your 1d6 POW cost roll for Feats or Spells takes away more POW than you have left? (Example: Thorg the Smiter has 3 POW left; he declares a Savage Blow, and rolls 1d6 for a loss of 4 POW.)
December 29th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Hi Steve,
All POW is used up and the feat or the spell happens. I figure if you’ve got 3 POW left, then in theory you could attempt up to three more feats (or spells) so using up 4 POW in such a situation isn’t such a big deal.
Hi Adonies,
That’s a LOT of questions and I want to answer all of them in one go so I’ll be back in a few hours.
Glad you both like the game though. I’ve had quite a few comments which is great but I have realised I need to do some additional work, namely examples of rules in play and the correction of the occasional spelling/grammer error.
Watch this space!
December 29th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Hi adonies,
To answer your questions:
1. “Combat Encounters”: Skilful Strike. Add 1d6 to his DEX or STR DV to-hit. An example please. (When you declare a Skilful Strike before attempting to hit an opponent in hand-to-hand combat (a STR CR against the opponent‘s Defence), or with a missile (a DEX CR against the opponent‘s Defence) , spend 1d6 POW and then roll a d20 AND a d6 before adding them together to get a to-hit-roll total.)
2. “Spellcasting”: Body points?(that’ll be a C.P.E or a Cut and Paste Error from the WWW game. Sorry! Should read END).
3. “Spellcasting”: (1) Antimagic Shell. Should be “all” instead of “no” attempts. – (That’s correct.)
4. “Spellcasting”: (9) Intangible. Why the CR to cast this ‘beneficial’ spell to a friendly target? Next sentence, you actually mean the “spell recipient” instead of “caster”, right? ( Ignore the CR. And yes.)
5. “Spellcasting”: (14) Magic Aura. Armour? Does this desciption mean to add another 1d6 to all “damage absorption” rolls for the duration of the fight? (Yes. So a Wizard would have 1d6 armour, a Wanderer 2d6 armour and a Warrior 3d6 armour for the duration of the fight if Magic Aura was cast on them once.)
6. “Adventuring Hazards”: Disease?(…oops! See version 1.1…coming soon!)
7. “Treasure”: (Scrolls) Mind and Spirit points/CR? (C.P.E… Mind was changed to POW and Spirit to CHR)
8. “Treasure”: (6) Fotress Armour”. Doubles the amount of armour dice rolled. An example please.( A Wanderer wearing Fortress Armour rolls 2d6 armour and a Warrior rolls 4d6 armour. This can be added to again by casting Magic Aura but this is NOT doubled.)
9. “Treasure”: (11) Power Stone. What is the meaning of “specific” spell – does a different stone exist for each of the spells? ( the referee should randomly determine exactly which spell by rolling a d20 and picking that number spell from the spell list.)
10. “Treasure”: (14) Shadow Cloak. Increases PC’s Defence by 1d6 when worn. When is this rolled? An example please.( Actually I should have made this clearer. Roll 1d6 at the start of every combat and add it to the PC’s Defence if he/she is wearing this item)
11. “Treasure”: (16) Soul Killer. Mind & Focus? Also, you actually mean “from dark rituals” instead of “for dark rituals”, right? (The Focus stores additional POW a Wizard has purchased between adventures and which can only be used to cast spells. Mind should read POW…C.P.E and yes, it should be from not for.)
12. “Monsters”: What do you mean by appropriate “Talent”? (C.P.E…again. Talents aren’t used in S&S but they are in WWW)
13. Almost all proposed monsters are Brutes (including animals and vermin). Only two Mystics and three Sneaks among them. (I figured your standard monster was likely to be a Brute simply because it’s easier than being a Sneak or a Mystic! Orcs are listed as all three but you’d probably encounter a LOT more Brutes than Sneaks or Mystics in any given tribe…. I could easily imagine a kobold tribe as being 95% composed of Sneaks and a group of “Squid-headed-psychics-from-THAT-game” would have an equal percentage of Mystics in their ranks.)
14. How about detecting hidden (eg. doors and traps), picklocking/breaking doors and disarming mundane/magic traps? ( They’re all DEX CR (except for breaking open a door which would be a STR CR)…although I’d halve the CR for anything “magical”.)
15. I’d like to play this game without a d20, using only d6’s. How would you suggest I do that? (Short of a complete rewrite of the game, I‘ve no idea. Sorry)
January 4th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Hey pooka,
thank you for all the clarifications, I’m getting to like the ruleset more and more…
1. Warrior declares Savage Blow, or Frenzied Attack, or Skilful Strike(melee or ranged) (SB, FA or SS{m/r}) because has POW > 0. Rolls 1d6 and subtracts from POW – make POW = 0 if 1d6 was more than left.
POW is lost no matter if the hit(s) connect or not.
SB -> CR toHit, if success (>= DV) roll 3d6 (if no other modifiers exist) and double the result. Apply as damage, mitigated by recipient armour.
FA -> CR toHit, if success (>= DV) roll 3d6, apply as damage mitigated by armour. Again CR toHit, if success (>= DV) roll 3d6, apply as damage, mitigated by armour.
SS{m/R} -> CR toHit, add 1d6 as circumstantial modifier. If success (>= DV) roll 3d6 damage normally, apply mitigated by recipient armour.
Do I have the process right?
2. “Leveling-up”. Bonus +1 to any and all CR. Can I interpret that as bonus on Trait Modifiers? i.e. On each even level, no matter what trait modifier is computed by amount of trait, it is increased by Bonuses. e.g. A warrior with STR 17 reaches level 2. Chooses STR as the Trait to be increased by one -> 18. Therefore Trait Modifier (STR) is 18/2 – 5 = +4. Rolls 1d6 to add to either END (recomputed) or POW. Then selects a +1 bonus on STR CR, which would effectively increase his STR Trait Modifier to +5.
Right?
3. Decision of what spell each scroll found as treasure contains is determined by 1d20 roll (like power-stone)?
4. All special magic items can be used by all classes (unless specifically stated)? e.g “Sheltering Shield” and “Sword of Sharpness” can be used by Wizards?
6. “Ghoul”. Paralysis = KO’d for 2d6 rounds = meat for slaughter?
7. “Mummy”. Rotting touch = if disease is contracted, victim has no effect in-round/in-fight but loses END as the days pass? (Adventuring Hazards needs an entry about that)
8. “Minotaur”. Gore attack = an example of “critical hit doubles damage” please.
9. “Flyers” in general cannot be hit be melee weapons, but only by ranged and magic missiles?
10. “Basilisk”. Petrifying gaze = turned to stone = as good as dead?
11. “Harpy”. MAGIC book = Spell list?
12. “Manticore”. Poisonous Stinger = suffer be poisoned = no effect in-round/in-fight but loses END as the days pass? (Adventuring Hazards is vague at this point)
13. “Hydra”. Multiple attacks = attack [1d6] multiple opponents or attack a single opponent [1d6] times? GM’s choice or Roll?
14. “Dragon”. Fireball (as spell) every 1d6 rounds. Does this subtract 1d6 POW or is it a ‘natural’ talent?
Getting 1d20 rolls with 2d6:
One 6-dice is declared “Major” and the other “minor”. Both are rolled.
Major rolls of 5 or 6 are re-rolled. Minor rolls of 6 are re-rolled.
Roll is (Major – 1) * 5 + Minor {uniformly distributed in the 1..20 interval}.
How about that?
January 4th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Hi adonies,
1 – yes (for all).
2 – no. The STR Trait modifier is still +4 but because he is level 2 he can add +1 to all CR (STR, DEX or CHA).
3 – yes.
4 – yes.
6 – depends on the referee.
7 – version 1.1 will have rules concerning disease.
8 – going back and looking at that again makes me realise it makes no sense….ignore it for the moment and I’ll tackle it in 1.1.
9 – flyers can always land and engage in meelee combat but they can also just up and leave as well but I’d allow a free attack from the PC if they do
10 – probably. again it depends on the referee. I’d give the PCs a fair warning through an NPC and allow they to get mirrors, polish shields etc and allow meelee combat with a penalty if you’re using a mirror etc…
11 – a harpy’s song works like a Confusion spell.
12 – you have to be hit in meelee and then fail the CR to be poisoned. being poisoned means that ALL CR suffer a -1d6 modifier (which stack with repeated poisoning) for the rest of the adventure or unless a cure spell is cast.
13 – one opponent will suffer 1d6 attacks. how many multiple opponents engageing the hydra in combat that can be attacked is determined on a round by round basis with a 1d6 roll.
14 – natural talent…..I am considering in version 1.1 that ALL monster special abilities require the loss of 1d6 POW in order to be activated. What you think about that?
…and you’ll have to let me think about that last bit….
January 6th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
About the monster special abilities, I’d agree on making them POW (1d6) dependent. Makes sense in having POW in Monsters, and it’s a nice symmetry with PCs.
About combat, can you make a simple example? I haven’t played the WWW game and I wonder if there’s positioning, range and line-of-sight/movement involved on a 2D grid.
I’m afraid I don’t fully understand your answer on the Hydra. Do you mean that each round the Hydra attacks multiple opponents (all that are close and have engaged it) normally, but one of them receives additionally 1d6 attacks?
Diplomacy, information gathering and negotiation in general are all CHR, right?
How about animal calming, disguise and posturing?
Performing musical instruments -> probably DEX. Singing -> CHR? Dancing?
Jumping, Climbing, Crawling, Stealth?
January 7th, 2010 at 12:51 am
About the monster special abilities, I’d agree on making them POW (1d6) dependent. Makes sense in having POW in Monsters, and it’s a nice symmetry with PCs.
(PB) – “I agree!”
About combat, can you make a simple example?
(PB) – “S&S version 1.1 is about a week or two (def. before the end of January) from being put up on 1km1kt and it’ll include loads of examples. The people have spoken!”
I haven’t played the WWW game and I wonder if there’s positioning, range and line-of-sight/movement involved on a 2D grid.
(PB) – “only if you and your players want it. I use very simple maps and use them only as a guide to who’s where. With regard to tactics and the like, i play it by ear, IE you’re either in range or not, you can see the orcs or you can’t etc.”
I’m afraid I don’t fully understand your answer on the Hydra. Do you mean that each round the Hydra attacks multiple opponents (all that are close and have engaged it) normally, but one of them receives additionally 1d6 attacks?
(PB) – “if a hydra is engaged in combat against more than one opponent, it’ll attack 1d6 of them. One single opponent will suffer 1d6 attacks in a single round.”
Diplomacy, information gathering and negotiation in general are all CHR, right?How about animal calming, disguise and posturing?Singing -> CHR?
(PB) – “all CHR”
Performing musical instrumentsDancing? Jumping, Climbing, Crawling, Stealth?
-> probably DEX.
(PB) – “correct”
January 7th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Thank you pooka, can’t wait to see the 1.1 version :)
Can you include a demo adventure in it as well? It could be the setting to clarify the examples as well ;)
January 8th, 2010 at 5:15 am
Sure.
Why not?
January 9th, 2010 at 10:18 am
Hi Christopher,
may I interest you in Pocket Dungeon?
http://boardgame.geekdo.com/boardgame/42361/pocket-dungeon
It’s a lightweight dungeoncrawl system. Maybe the mechanics of the dungeon creation process inspire you to create an expansion and introduce your own rules for dungeons for S&S :)
Thumbs up – good job you’ve done here :)
January 9th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Thanks Kai,
I’ll give it a look over altough I’m working on a random dungeon system of my own. Don’t hold your breath mind!
January 16th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
So, how’s the 1.1 version coming along Christopher?
January 16th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
nearly good to go, thanks for asking, with just the intoductory adventure to be finished! It’ll be up on 1KM1KT before the end of the month.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Congratulations on the 1.1 version Cristopher!
From the quick first glance it looks good – I’ll be back with comments once I read it carefully.
Are you going to provide an introductory adventure separately, apart from the examples of gameplay you provided in the ruleset?
January 27th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
An introductory S&S adventure with a working title of “Twelve Graves” is currently in the works and will probably be published some time in mid-febuary.
January 31st, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I had to number the pages to get easier reference: 1 is at the front cover with the title, 24 is the last page with the empty character sheet.
Typos:
a) p.2: hotmail instead of hotamil (I guess)
b) p.3, first sentence: its instead of it’s
c) p.3, last paragraph: where instead of were (two times).
d) p.4, first sentence: i.e. instead of IE (Internet Explorer :P)
e) p.4, line 14: “to” twist instead of “the”
f) p.5, first sentence: guaranteed instead of guarantied
g) p.10, fifth paragraph: “… he the CR …” remove he
h) p.10, eigth paragraph: Halve instead of Half (it’s a verb)
i) p.10, last paragraph: “… , can gain a …” remove can
j) p.11, third paragraph: “a” heroic instead of “an”
k) p.11, third paragraph: “A feat is performed” instead of “taken”
l) p.12, first paragraph: “was thrown” instead of “is”
That’s all I found, remarkably few! I’ll be back with the more rule-specific issues (yep, still there are some). It’s very nice that you added the warrior skills and the gameplay examples!
February 1st, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Rules:
m) p.10, 3rd para: if both the target is behind effective cover AND the PC is using an improvised weapon, then halve TWICE the CR?
n) p.11, “Breakaway”: i.e. without a ‘free’ attack?
o) p.11, “Disarm”: what is the significance of the 1d6 distance the weapon is knocked away?
p) p.11, “Full Defence”: any other action than moving cancels tyhe effect, otherwise ON until end of encounter?
q) p.11, “Rapid Fire”: what is the significanc that no move is made that round? Are you the effecting the (common enough) rule of one move and one attack per round? If so, I completely missed it in the combat encounter description…
r) p.11, “Spring Into Action”: is the increased dex used for this round’s sequence calculations only, or for any actions that happen this round (i.e. increased DV and ranged-attack)?
s) p.11: Please consider stating also here the rule for simply consuming all remaingin POW when the roll is greater than the pow left (as you did in spellacsting).
t) p.12, 3rd para: “He rolls 1d6 …” + which came up 3 + ” … and reduces his POW by 3 to 5.”
u) p.12, 5th para: “He rolls 1d6 …” + which came up 1 + ” … and reduces Ulf’s POW from 5 to 4.”
v) p.14, about “Dark Ritual”: ‘usable only to cast spells.” Could the Wizard use POW for anything else?
w) p.14, para before example: New rule, the spell never fails. But this way POW will be depleted very quickly. I feel this new rule is perhaps unbalancing the wizard, making it inferior to the other roles…
x) p.15 & 16: What is the exact significance of ‘minutes’? From the context I get the feeling that the whole combat encouter will last maybe 10 minutes. Wouldn’t it be better described measured in combat rounds instead, and leave minutes for non-combat situations only? Just a suggestion :)
y) p.15, “curse”: next (whatever) roll is cursed only? A bit imbalanced on the beneficial side, isn’t it?
z) p.15, “firebal”: How can a ‘single’ CHR CR determine who is and who isn’t hit? Please clarify. Also, if cover counts as if a missile weapon is being used, it means that the CHR CR is doubled?
I ran out of letters, so I’m continuing with latin numbers:
i) p.15, “levitate”: it’s up to the referee to decide when a load is heavy or not?
ii) p.16, “magic aura”: a being’s armor CAN be reduced to zero, but not less – right?
iii) p.16, “quiet words”: ‘this lasts for a number of rounds equal to the caster’s level’. I’d have thought the ‘minutes’ definition preferrable, as this seems a non-combat spell.
iv) p.16, “shielding”: by defence you mean DV I guess.
v) p.16, “sixth sense”: is this really a spell that needs to be cast and POW spent? It sounds more like an intrinsic magic-user’s ability/skill…
vi) p.16, “turn the undead”: Spirit = CHR. per level of caster?
Missed typo:
p.15, first sentence: “an area of with a radius” remove ‘of’
I’ll be back asap with the rest of my questions ;)
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:04 am
I have to keep reminding myself that I asked for this…;)
m – No, just once.
n – yes.
o – circumstantial esp. if you’re standing four metres from a cliff edge.
p – just that round.
q – you can only Rapid Fire if you don’t move that round.
r – I meant for sequencing but I guess I wasn’t clear. Version 1.2 anyone?
s – fair comment.
t – ditto
u – ditto
v – ditto
w – maybe. Remember that most spells can’t fail at all and spells like Blessing only fail if cast as Curse instead.
x – a combat encounter is now, now, NOW! a spell such as Warding is designed to give the players time to really consider their next move(s).
y – yes but then it is a curse afterall.
z – the spell is cast and a CHR CR is made. assuming the fireball was directed at a gang of orc soldiers (MR 11) and goblin Sneaks then a CR total of 9 only hits the goblins and a total CR of 11 is required to hit everyone. If the CR fails and the caster doubles his POW cost but only hits the goblins. This should have been explained better.:(
i – yes
ii – right!
iii – Either way is fine. I imagined the spell as a “quikie”…
iv – no I mean Defence.
v – Again, I imagined magical items/effects not being that obvious and the caster having to make a real effort to identify what is and isn’t magical but it would be everything within a resonable area.
vi – yes and yes. I can’t believe I missed that!!!!GAH!!!!
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:09 am
Here I go again:
vii) p.17, “disease”: what is the “permament” damage? To subtract 1d6 you actually mean to take away one of the player’s dices before any CR until cured? Interesting twist, the “spreading” – is it done the same way as the monsters?
viii) p.17, “poison”: is the penalty rolled on the moment of poisoning, or simply one die removed before any CR for the rest of the adventure?
ix) p.17, “suffocation”: the plus 1d6 rounds is rolled on suffocation start?
x) p.18, “potions”: It would be better to move the table over the paragraph about scrolls. Why would anyone want to drink a potion of “CONFUSION”???
xi) p.18, “scrolls”: Please consider stating here to roll d20 to decide which spell the scroll contains (from spell list)…
xii) p.19, “black scroll”: does it have only one or unlimited uses? The skeletons are typical MR 10, as described in “monsters”?
xiii) p.19, “elixer of life”: does it have only one or unlimited uses? full abilities = POW & END max, remove afflictions (poison etc)?
xiv) p.19, “hammer of destruction”: Warrior can get ‘doubles’ very easily with his 3d6…
xv) p.19, “helm of spite”: damage inflicted bypasses armour?
xvi) p.19, “magic wand”: Please consider stating here to roll another d20 to decide which spell the scroll contains (from spell list)…
xvii) p.19, “magus staff”: so a wizard with this equipped gets 1 + 2 = 3 d6 for damage, or simply upgrades his 1d6 to 2d6?
xviii) p.19, “seal of teleportation”: does it have only one or unlimited uses?
xix) p.19, “soul killer”: why would the caster lose any POW? Do you mean your targets’? But monsters don’t have Focus, do they?
xx) p.19, “swift blade”: “single” means “the same” right? So, if target was killed on first attack, the second never happens…
xxi) p.20, 6th para: Mind = POW. Please consider revising to “… four times their MR as their END or POW.”
xxii) p.21, “basilisk”: up to referee to determine how to handle the “turned to stone” condition?
xxiii) p.22, “harpy”: MAGIC book = Spell List.
xxiv) p.22, “dragon”: I assume the ‘single’ missile CR works the same way as you described in your answer {z}, using each character’s DV and circumstancial modifiers.
Overall WELL DONE!
And thank you for paying attention to my questions :)
February 5th, 2010 at 5:25 am
vii – permanent damage is END loss that can never be recovered altough the PC can still gain END by advancing in levels, while suffering frrom a disease every CR = 1d20 + trait modifier + level modifier – 1d6. with regards to “spreading the disease” i’d leave it at a touch or thru intimate contact but since the PC is probably covered with blue ozing spots nobody will want to go near him/her.
viii – the latter
ix – yes. and if you’re really mean, by the referee in secret! hehehe!
x – you don’t know what a potion is until you drink it and see it’s effects or get it tested by an alchemist or similar.
xi – sure.
xii – one use and yes.
xiii – ditto.
xiv – yes hence the name.
xv – yes
xvi – sure
xvii – to 2d6
xviii – one use
xix – I meant the victim. I’ll rewrite that in version 1.2.
xx – yes and yes.
xxi – yes…..d’oh!
xxii – yes
xxiii – see xxi….
xxiv – yes
happy to oblige, Adonies. and I’d love to hera about any games of S7S you play BTW.
February 7th, 2010 at 6:57 am
I’ll come back after we gather and play the “Twelve Graves” ;)
February 9th, 2010 at 3:45 am
“Twelve Graves” is working out as a mini urban/wilderness campaign but it’ll have a starting adventure called “Finders Keepers” as an introduction.
After that I intend to cobble together some notes I have for an S&S companion book and then S&S version 1.2.
I have a self imposed deadline of mid March for all this BTW, which is when I take a work/internet holiday. Wish me luck.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:51 am
Can you release the finders-keepers introductory adventure sometime earlier?
Goes without saying, best of luck in this endeavor – keep up the good work!
March 19th, 2010 at 12:27 am
Hello!
I really love these rules. They are just what I what I was looking for. Great work!
The damage reduction handling of armor is a very clever idea. However, I dislike all the rolling for damage and damage reduction. I’m experimenting with replacing the damage reduction system with Defense and Endurance bonuses like this:
1d6 damage reduction -> +1 Defense, +6 Endurance
2d6 damage reduction -> +2 Defense, +12 Endurance
3d6 damage reduction -> +3 Defense, +18 Endurance
Significantly reduces die rolling, adding/subtracting, and length of battles…
March 24th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Hi ewookie,
I’m glad you like S&S and I’m all for simplifying rules to aid gameplay, so go for it!
Please let me know how it works out in actual play and if it doesn’t unbalance the game in favour of the PCs then I might include it in a later version of the game as optional rules.
March 26th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Congratulations on the 1.2 version Chris :)
March 27th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I stumbled across your game looking for something to immerse some new gamers into rpg’s. I read through the manual and this is just what I needed. My newbies should take fine to this, good job. =)
March 31st, 2010 at 7:52 am
Thank you both….and Ferdi, I’m always happy to help recruit new players to the hobby. Hope you have a good time breaking them in…;)
June 17th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Hello there!
I’m the original author of WWW and I’m quite pleased by all your changes and additions. At least, WWW was useful for someone :)
My original goal was the strange lovechild of T&T, d20 and the original Dark Eye but S&S is its own beast and you did find some elegant answers for balancing the 3 classes. Kudo for your hard work!
August 6th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Any prospects on the S&S Companion? Incidentally, I tried out the 3.5-to-S&S conversion suggestions for a couple of entries from Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia, and they seemed to work quite well.
August 16th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Hey Xavier,
I’m very glad you like what I’ve done with WWW. Thank YOU for writing it!!!!
I did like the hybrid nature of it but once I’d satred making changes I couldn’t help but make more……..anyway I enjoyed all the work that became S&S and the fact that so many people like it (and hopefully play it) is great.
Hi again Steve,
Sorry, the S&S companion does exist as a wad of pages in my gaming folder. I really need to sit down one weekend and bash it into shape. gimme a few weeks and watch this space.
August 21st, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Great ruleset, well done. Using it at a session next week.
August 23rd, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Will be posting about the game at:
http://bitethebulette.blogspot.com/search/label/Sword%20and%20Spell
August 26th, 2010 at 6:59 am
Hey Sean,
Thank you and thank you for posting S&S on your blog as well. Much appreciated and I hope your group had fun. Feel free to post how it went regardless….
Funnily enough I remember Adventurer magazine AND that particular scenario (altough I never ran it). I seem to recall it’s editor (Wayne something?) turning up at conventions a lot back in the late 80s/early 90s.
October 7th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Would the system suffer to any great degree if CRs were made with 3d6 instead of 1d20?
October 9th, 2010 at 12:36 am
probably if only because rolling 3d6 produces a bell curve with the most regular totals between 9 and 12 as opposed to the getting anything between 1 and 20 with a 1d20…but by all means play a session like that and let us know how it works out.
December 20th, 2012 at 9:34 am
I came to check back on S&S and found out the blog is dead and no new comments. Christofer, where’s the Finders-Keepers introductory adventure?