Friday, November 6, 2009

The Sword & Sorcery Vibe


I have had the sword & sorcery vibe going the last while.

Honestly, if I were to run a S&S inspired game I probably wouldn't use D&D - even though I think B/X, with a few very minor tweaks, could do S&S very well (just look at the monster roster in B/X). But I might still post some thoughts here about a S&S B/X game.

Instead, assuming I could find players, I would likely use either Tunnels & Trolls or Barbarians of Lemuria.

I think that the mechanics of T&T would do a great job for a pulpy S&S game. Some might be put off by the humour in the spell names but those are easily changed. Remove the kindreds and allow only human characters and you are on your way.




I haven't heard much about Barbarians of Lemuria the last while but it is suppose to be republished by Cubicle 7 in the next while. The fast and furious mechanics are perfect for the genre (it uses a simple 2d6 vs target number mechanic). The Careers and Trait & Flaws takes the simple mechanic and makes it very flavourful. If you haven't you should check it out.
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7 comments:

  1. Jack BadelaireNovember 6, 2009 at 1:20 PM

    BoL is a really cool game idea. You should be able to still find the free, original version of the game floating around out there, and the PDF was only a few bucks at RPGnow last I saw. Might be worthwhile to pick up either the free version or the cheap PDF before you invest in a bound copy, if you're on the fence still.

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  2. letsdamageNovember 6, 2009 at 1:29 PM

    The Cubicle 7 version of BoL is supposed to come out next month. I'm hoping I'll like it enough to run a Wilderlands game with it.

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  3. P_ArmstrongNovember 6, 2009 at 2:03 PM

    I already own three deadtree copies (2 soft, 1 hardcover) of BoL. I love the game but so far I have had trouble convincing a group to give it a go.

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  4. P_ArmstrongNovember 6, 2009 at 2:05 PM

    Oh, and a link to the original free version is on the right hand side of my blog. Look over there=====>

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  5. Matthew SlepinNovember 6, 2009 at 2:40 PM

    I agree that D&D is not ideal for S&S. It's not that you can't do it. Akratic Wizardry and The Wasted Lands both posted good, S&S hacks for D&D.

    The problem for me, is that S&S is not a genre about guys leveling up and that's the central premise of D&D.

    BoL is a great game. I plugged the free version for years and will plug the newer version as well. I'll also plug my own game if I ever complete it.

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  6. P_ArmstrongNovember 6, 2009 at 3:45 PM

    @ Matthew -
    I agree completely. I made another post some time ago to this effect:

    http://ode2bd.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-level-sword-sorcery-heroes.html

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  7. AndreasDavourNovember 6, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    T&T is the perfect game, you know it. :)

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