At fledgling power, we have is a Conan who is more thief than warrior. He’s adept at breaking and entering, good in a fight (especially if he fights unconventionally) but without tactical mastery. He’s young, and only knows how to relate to others through posturing and insults. You only know how to physically reach Colony if it specifically summons you, and that’s rare. When Colony nudges you with a request, you may refuse at the cost of 1 Morale damage. If Colony insists or attempts to possess you fully, you may resist at the cost of 6 Morale damage. If this defeats you, special circumstances occur (SotS p. 87).

Felonious Intent represents the hivemind’s ability to watch or remember an individual from multiple angles over an extended time, and to draw conclusions based on their past behavior If you are familiar with the Gumshoe system, a lot of this will feel familiar. If you are familiar with TimeWatch, it’s really familiar. But there are some quirks unique to this version of the system. In general, here are the basics: Beyond explaining how to frame adventures, this section also introduces many of the rules that were used in the playtest as alternate rules to those presented in the book, for those that want to try them out. They aren’t just presented in a vacuum, however, as there is often commentary on what the alternate rules do to a game, as well as why they removed them from the final version of the core rules. The Setting In the coming months we’ll talk more about what Swords of the Serpentine does, including the Sorcery rules, a brand new combat system designed to make fantasy combat as exciting and cinematic as you’d dream it could be, player narrative control, and how the core mechanics handle everything from dungeon crawling to manipulating the most important people in the city. Thanks for staying with us. At the beginning of the GM Advice section, there are a few paragraphs introducing the concept of the X-Card, with a note to search for RPG Safety and Calibration Tools online. While the game presents tropes like being mentally dominated by sorcery, in many cases, characters have the option to take morale damage if they don’t want to be controlled by someone else, giving players a bit more agency when it comes to their autonomy.

Sample Hero – The Drowned

Gear: rich robes that seem out of place, disdainfully-worn crown, look of boredom, the hatred of treasonous nobles, nostalgia for the battlefield.

The reason these are all related is that they are all rooted in contracts and agreements, which are the metaphysical and metaphorical foundation of the city. Trade and commerce are forms of worship. This has interesting implications, like the beggars selling stones or the fact that churches are run like banks. Literally – churches are big-time moneylenders, but the vig takes the form of acts of devotion rather than more cash. This idea that everything can be (and should be) bought and sold in a fair and open way is foundational to almost all interactions in the city. However, that’s not the extent of the split. Allegiances are another kind of investigative ability, representing relationships and social connections. They work like investigative abilities — you can get information from a friend, after all — and you can spend pool to call in favors. Much more effort than in most other Gumshoe systems has gone into individualizing the player-characters, as part of embedding them in the setting. As well as positioning in fairly familiar iconic archetypes, such as thief or warrior, characters are kitted out with five or so iconic possessions that help define them, as well as a personal "what is best in life?" Conanesque drive. (When I joined in the SotS playtest, I drew up an impoverished son of an ancient noble family who used his flute both to play ancient airs and to cudgel his opponents. I'm determined to give him another outing some day.)In some Gumshoe games, part of character creation is making sure that the key investigative abilities are spread out amongst the players. Swords of the Serpentine is less worried about this, in part because of the heavy focus on action scenes in addition to investigation, and because the way investigative spends are presented tend to be broader and more improvisational. Doing Stuff In the comments below, let us know if there are aspects of swords & sorcery in your own game that you’d add or change on this list.

One-Hero Play: Two-Player Adventures in Swords of the Serpentine– Kevin Kulp on the changes needed during character creation for a one player, one GM game. Cities like this have been used for all kinds of RPGs with different focuses over the years. From dungeon crawling, level-based games, heist focused games, and games with gritty, exacting rules. When I heard that the Gumshoe system, which has its roots in mysteries and investigations, was going to be applied to the genre with Swords of the Serpentine, I knew I was going to be taking a closer look. Disclaimer I love this mechanic. It’s used a little bit here and there in the game, but not nearly as much as I feel like it deserves. ↩ Scurrilous Rumors represents your fungal hivemind’s link to sources of gossip from multiple locations throughout the city I should note, when I say I don’t like Gumshoe, this is what I mean, because I genuinely love everything else about it. Specifically, the combination of hidden difficulty number and a limited pool creates a combination that I personally dislike in play, because it triggers all my opportunity/cost calculations in really unhealthy ways. This doesn’t make it bad, it just makes is something that rubs me the wrong way with great vigor. ↩

Designer Notes: The Drowned

So, the city has old nobility and new money, which is not an uncommon divide, but what’s noteworthy is that they do a good job of communicating how the old nobility might be broke, but still VERY dangerous.