Swords Against Sorcery: Archetypes

 In the game I'm working on, all PCs are defined in part by two Archetypes. These represent types of characters found in comic book Sword & Sorcery. In game terms, they provide bonuses to Attributes and Domains and also special abilities. 

Each archetype has a primary and secondary Attribute and Domain. Should a player pick two Archetypes with the same primary Attributes/Domains they can use that one and their choice of the two Archetypes secondary Attributes/Domains. The character also gains the Expertises and Talents of each Archetype.

While the Archetypes remain a work in progress, below is a sampling of the ones I've come up with. At this point, the plan is not to give any description of them beyond the abilities they provide, letting players interpret them as they will.

ACOLYTE

Attributes: Presence (Intellect)
Domains: Words (Sorcery)
Expertise: Religion
Talent: Divine Favor. Make a successful roll to call upon the aid of your gods or guiding spirit. Any successes can be used like Momentum to aid you or another hero for one scene. It does not add to your Momentum pool. 

BARBARIAN

Attributes: Daring (Instinct)

Domains: Wilds (Deeds)

Expertise: Survival or Hunting

Talent: Like A Jungle Cat. Gain an additional die when detecting dangers in the wilderness or when trying to sneak up on a foe.

COURTIER

Attributes: Instinct (Presence)

Domains: City (Words)

Expertise: Persuasion

Talent: We Were Close Once. Once per session, succeed at a Persuasion Challenge to create an NPC and/or declare a recently introduced one a former intimate acquaintance. A failed roll means they now harbor some ill-will against you.

DABBLER

Attributes: Intellect (Instinct)

Domains: City (Sorcery)

Expertise: Occult Lore

Talent: Just What I was Looking For. Add an extra die to any roll related to quickly finding a particular magical formula, ritual, or piece of information in a tome or even library.

GALLANT

Attributes: Presence (Daring)

Domains: City (Swords)

Expertise: Persuasion

Talent: Flashy. Use Presence instead of Might as an attribute for melee fighting when you have an audience but deal one less Blow.  

REAVER

Attributes: Daring (Cunning)

Domains: Deeds (Swords)

Expertise: Seamanship

Talent: Bloody-Handed Buccaneer. Apply your Seamanship Expertise to shipboard combats and to attempts to intimidate foes or lead pirate crews on the high seas.

WARRIOR

Attributes: Might (Daring)

Domains: Swords (Wilds)

Expertise: choice of a weapon

Talent: Valor. Spend 1 Momentum to shake off any Fear condition in a combat situation.

Swords Against Sorcery: Showdown in The Tower of Eyes!

Last weekend, we continued the playtest of Swords Against Sorcery, the Bronze Age comic book Swords & Sorcery system I have been working on. Here are the characters in the session:

• Zanjar, Gallant Thief (Tug)
• Thunda, Barbarian Acolyte (Andrea)
• Korag, Primitive Warrior (Jason)
• Kharron, Cursed Warrior (Paul

When last we left our heroes they were facing the mind-boggling inner dimension of the Tower of Eyes. They had to travel through this space presumably to reach the sanctum of the wizard Narznn Gath who had tried to kill them. Everyone had to succeed at a Tough (2 successes) Instinct+Sorcery roll to be able to navigate the space without error. Several didn't succeed and so received a "Confused" penalty condition when trying to navigate. Luckily, they have Thunda's instincts, honed to the Shaman's Realm, which allowed her to be their guide.

They had barely began their descent when a strangely doubled bellow assailed them from all directions. They hastened on, only to have a hulking monster appear some distance below them--they materialize on the catwalk in front of them! 

The creature named himself in both his voices at once: Y'gnathra! And he announced his intention to kill them! Y'gnathra's stats in the system were:

This made him a formidable opponent! The player's were going to have to be smart and luck. They had get Momentum (often by taking risky rerolls by "Tempting the Gods") and by spending that Momentum.

Kharron, unafraid of any demon, strode forward, slashing his blade. Against the odds, he scored a blow. Thunda followed that up by calling upon ancestral spirits to bedevil the creature, hampering its attacks, but it still sent Kharron sprawling with a backhand blow, and a combined attack by Zanjar and Korag to blind it and push it from the walkway failed.

Y'gnathra proved able to transport quickly from one place to another too. Frantically seeking a means of escape as they fought to hold the creature at bay, Korag's keen hunter's vision noted an ornate doorway out of this central space a couple of levels beneath them. They all made daring escapes to the crosswalk below and ran for the door, but again Y'gnathra teleported in a way to bar their path. Thunda and Kharron made it past, but Y'gnathra caught Zanjar and Korag and tossed them like missiles, causing our heroes to fall into the room beyond the doors in a jumbled heap. By now, Zanjar had exhausted his Luck. Further "damage" would place him in The Hand of Doom!

Y'gnathra withdraws. In a round ceremonial chamber, the wizard Narznn Gath stood before a floating mirror in the shape of a stylized eye. He turns and removes the dome he wore over his head, revealing...

Narznn Gath welcomes the group. He had always intended they should be present for his ultimate triumph. He is drawing forth Occuloth the All Seeing from the Outer Dark, so he can merge with that being and attain his power. While he gloats, Korag tries an attack, but the many eyes of Narznn Gath give him an advantage, and he avoids it. 

The wizard waves a hand and casts a spell to bind them all. Kharron and Korag resist binding, but they pretend to be caught by the energy bands. They ask while Gath tried to kill them, he reveals he didn't--it was an a strategem to bring them here, as his auguries had said they would be present when he merged with Occuloth.

When he turns back to his mirror through which a swirling cloud of eyes and tentacles can be seen approaching through space, the free heroes make their attacks. They are unable to seriously harm Narznn but they keep him off balance and distracted until the others free themselves. Korag makes a rushing attack against him, slamming the wizard against the mirror, then he's grabbed by tentacles from beyond.

An inhuman voice booms: NARZNN GATH....YOU HAVE SUMMONED ME AND I HAVE COME...YOUR INITIATIVE AND RESOURCEFULNESS HAS EARNED YOU MY FAVOR...I SHALL MAKE YOU PART OF MYSELF...AND SET YOU TO EXPLORING DISTANT CORNERS OF THE COSMOS I HAVE NOT BEHELD IN EONS FOR THE NEXT FEW MILLENNIA AS REWARD!

The wizard screams as he is drawn into the mirror.

The heroes now find the interior of the tower much more mundane than before. The magic has fled. They quickly find the exit and depart for more civilized realms.

Swords Against Sorcery: On Wings of Night!

 

Last night, we continued the playtest of Swords Against Sorcery, the Bronze Age comic book Swords & Sorcery system I have been working on. Paul was out, but everyone else could make it, and we were joined by Tug from my Azurth group. The scroll of glory:

• Oriax the Red, Gladiator Champion (Aaron)
• Thunda, Barbarian Acolyte (Andrea)
• Korag, Primitive Warrior (Jason)
• Zanjar, Gallant Thief (Tug)

Having escaped Zaarzog the Demon and the imps of the tree with an armload of fruit, our heroes made it back through the portal to Yasheeng's sanctum. They give her the eye (as promised), and she tells them a bit more detail regarding their potential mounts. At the foot of the Vestari Hills there is a woodland of jagged karst formations, some of great size, known as the Nightfang Forest. Here dwell beast folk who make sacrifices to the giant bat-things that roost in the caves in the largest spires. 

The beast folk are generally known to be inimical to humans, but Korag has the Distinction "Raised by Beast Men," so he is feeling pretty prepared for this development.

Bats being nocturnal, our heroes waste no time in heading to the Nightfang Forest, only a short ride from the city's walls. They reach the edge of the forest as the moon is high in the sky. 

At the edge of the forest, they meet Zanjar who was contemplating entering himself. Zanjar is currently on the run, having robed a lackey of a certain wizard, earning him the wizard's enmity. He decides to join the party as the wizard threatening him is none other than Nazrnn Gath.

Making their way down the narrow trail, Korag's jungle-born senses detect that they are being observed. They also notice large shapes flying across the sky. Suddenly, there's a fearful human cry from the forest. Thunda is able to track it, and the group comes upon a bowl-shaped depression with a pole mounted in the middle. There, a fat merchant of Djadishar is tied as the beast folk, arrayed around the periphery, chant ominously. With a high-pitched cry, the bat creatures descend to take the sacrifice.

Korag speaks with the beast folk who are not of his tribe but speak the same prehuman tongue. The leader of the beast folk warns Korag not to interfere. Korag suggests the fruit will tempt the "bloodwings" as the beast folk call the bats. With a successful roll of Presence+Wild, the leader agrees to let him try.

With all eyes on Korag and the bats, Zanjar sidles up to the merchant and offers him his freedom for his gold. The blubbering merchant would agree to anything at this point. Zanjar deftly cuts the man's bonds and his purse with one stroke, catching a handful of gold in his palm.

Meanwhile, presenting the fruit and talking commandingly to the bats, proves to do the trick. After gorging on a fruit each, the bats allow the heroes to mount them. Korag with his rapport with beasts (Kinship with Beasts Talent, in fact) is able to guide his mount easier and the others merely follow is lead.

They fly over the hills and out into the desert of Urrd. Soon, the tower is in sight. It is an odd structure, with no decoration save that it is ringed at 3 places by a set of 3 evenly spaced, large eye reliefs. 

The group flew up close to the tower, looking for a way in. One of the rings with the eyes, began to turn, tracking them--and a last of energy came out of the eyes strafing them all! Most of the bats did evasive maneuvers to avoid it, but Zanjar wasn't so lucky and was forced to jump from his bat, aiming for Korag and his mount spiraling back. He succeeded (with some Momentum spent!) but the extra weight forced the two to jump for the angled roof of the tower.

Zanjar climbs down the closest ring to have a cautious look in one of the irises. It seems to have a window or lens. He shatters it with his dagger handle, and he and Korag tumble inside. The others follow them but have a bit more difficulty (losing some Luck in the process). 

They start down the central stairway, but at the next landing they discovered the Tower is no mundane structure:

Swords Against Sorcery: Claw the Unconquered in Action

 After the first playtest session of Swords Against Sorcery, the Bronze Age of comics Sword & Sorcery rpg I have been working on, I went through 1975's Claw the Unconquered #2, by Michelinie and Chan, and broke it down in game terms just to see if I thought the rules as I'm currently envisioning them could handle it.  Here's one fight scene from that issue.

The story up to this point: Claw and a former would-be assassin turned ally Gofflok climbed a rope to escape dog creatures and find themselves in a floating city. A beautiful maiden, Myrallya, appears and welcomes them to K’Dasha-Dheen. She invites the two to her palace to partake in food and rest. As the two visitors are eating, Myrallya reveals that her city hangs suspended between two separate planes of reality. It also grants its inhabitants immortality but this enchantment has to be renewed through the sacrifice of a god. Since no gods are available, the two men are informed that they will have to suffice...

With so many blades pointed at him, the guards are clearly out to intimidate. Claw's player makes his reaction roll of his dice in his Might Attribute and Swords Domain, counting a 5-6 as a success. Claw succeeds! Now it's on, He's going to enter combat, despite the odds.

The GM says since the guards still have the drop on him, they attack first, meaning Claw will react to their attack. Claw's player plans an acrobatic evasion that will morph into an attack, and wants to use Daring+Deeds for the Reaction. The GM agrees, but adds he'll have a penalty of -1 die for being seated. The guards attack as Tough foes, meaning 2 successes are need to avoid their attack. 

Against the odds, he succeeds! Now, it's his Action, and he uses Might+Swords to make his attack roll, looking again for 2 successes as they have a Tough Defense too. It works and the guards sustain Blows.

It's Grofflok's turn and he gets his Action first thanks to the Surprise Claw gave the guards. His coming up behind his target assassin-style, rolling Cunning+Swords for his attack with one die bonus.

The two continue to fight side by side, getting in some different maneuvers:

Claw uses Daring+Swords to improvise a ranged attack. Then, he uses Might+Swords to heave a piece of furniture in their way, spending a couple of Momentum he's generated from extra success in this scene to get catch multiple guards in its delaying condition.

Anyway, that's one way all that could have gone.

Swords Against Sorcery: Kharron the Slayer! Anatomy of a Pregen

Kharron was one of the pregens I put together for the first playtest of my in-progress comic book Swords & Sorcery ruleset, Swords Against Sorcery. I don't know any more about Kharron and his background than these stats suggest. I gave the player a picture of DC's Stalker as drawn by Steve Ditko for an illustration, but I also had in mind Kharon: Scourge of Atlantis, a character created by my friend Jim Shelley and artist Pierre Villeneuve for the Zuda competition. Jason Sholtis drew this rendition with that in mind:

Anyway, every SAS character has two Archetype descriptors. These determine what abilities they have. For Kharron these are Cursed Warrior.  

His Distinction is "Neither Living Nor Dead," which can come into play as a special bonus once per session, but can also be used as a penalty at other times.

These are the primary abilities of the game. Every roll is a Attribute plus a Domain with situational modifiers. I talked about these before. Attributes range from 1-5 (with 2 being the minimum for heroes) and Domains 0-4 (with 1 being the minimum for heroes).

Expertises and Talents further flesh out a character. Expertises are skills they are exceptionally good at, while Talents are sort of special abilities that allow a character to "break" the usual rules n certain circumstances.

Swords Against Sorcery: Wizard's Challenge!

 Last night, I did the first playtest of the Bronze Age comic book Swords & Sorcery system I have been working on. I made a few pregens and this was the line up:

• Oriax the Red, Gladiator Champion (Aaron)
• Thunda, Barbarian Acolyte (Andrea)
• Korag, Primitive Warrior (Jason)
• Kharron, Cursed Warrior (Paul)

The adventure began with the heroes all at a seedy tavern in the city of Djadishar. They are surprised by the sudden appearance of a robed sorcerer with a brass dome over his head like Mysterio. He said he was Narznn Gath and he was here to cause the death of the heroes as his divinations had showed they would thwart his plans in the future. The other tavern patrons rise up, seemingly under the sorcerer's control to take.

Bronze Age Sword & Sorcery comics tend to get to the action very quickly, typically with foes the heroes can deal with relatively easily. Here it also serve the purpose of giving everybody a try with the basic mechanics.

The heroes fairly easily dispatch the unfortunate tavern lowlifes. They figure they had better take the fight to Narznn Gath or he'll keep coming after them. Thunda and Kharron, with their combined occult knowledge, know that he is reputed to dwell in the Tower of Eyes deep within the hellish Desert of Urrd. The heroes aren't eager to cross the desert with a wizard waiting for them. They want to try for the element of surprise. Maybe swifter mounts of some sort or magical transport?

Kharron knows a sorceress who lives in a villa on the outskirts of Djadishar who might be able to help. The decide to seek out Yasheeng of the Gossamer Veil. 

Kharron actually failed his roll here, but with a "fail forward" sort of mentality, this just means a complication down the road.

Yasheeng agrees to see them and even his an idea that might help, but there's a catch. She has a magical mirror which can allow them access to the idyll plane where Zaarzog the Demon dwells. There grows a tree whose fruit can secure the cooperation of the winged creatures than nest in the caves of the Vestari Mountains nearby. However, in return for her aid she wants the large opal at the bottom of the pool near the tree--and she wants a few drops of Kharron's magical blood to ensure they don't double cross her. The party agrees, and jump threw the mirror.

They are greeted to the scene of glade with a small hill and a huge, gnarled tree with strangely fleshy leaves. At the center of the glade is a limpid pool with a giant statue of a seated demon on the far side. While Korag climbs the tree to gather fruit, Kharron dives into the pool after the mikly-colored, potato-sized, gem. Thunda investigates the statue and notes one of its eye sockets is empty, but the other has a white gem in it.

When Korag picks the large, pear-shaped fruit, thick juice drips from the sap. When it hits the ground, wriggling creatures began to grow, ultimately to two-foot tall goblin-things. When Oriax cuts down a few, more grow from the spilt blood.

Meanwhile, Kharron as emerged from the water with the jewel which feels strangely warm in his hand, but then, the statue comes to life with a grinding of it's stone joints. Thunda calls upon her gods and the demon is transfixed for a moment, buying them a little extra time.

Oriax runs to their aid, while Korag jumps from the tree and kicks his way past goblins to the portal. Kharron taunts the demon with the stone--perhaps unwisely, as it snatches him up. 

Oriax attacks but his blade is no match for stone. Kharron manages to pry himself loose. They all try to make for the portal, but Kharron is tripped and pulled down by goblins. Thunda comes to his aid, and everyone runs through the portal, a grasping horde of goblins on their heels.

Misconceptions About Sword & Sorcery Relevant to Gaming

I had in mind maybe to write a post about the elements of the fantasy subgenre Sword & Sorcery that might be useful to think about it trying to capture that feel in gaming, but after noticing there are a number of blog/forum posts on that topic, I thought the most original thing I could do in point out where I believe they go wrong, or at least overstate things. This contains slight spoilers for a bunch of stories 30 or more years old.

Magic is Inherently Corrupting. I think this belief comes from the fact that most sorcerers/wizards that show up in Sword & Sorcery are evil, but the textual evidence evidence that magical power is more corrupting than regular old power is slim. Howard's The Hour of the Dragon features good magic-users in the form of priests of Asura (maybe they are clerics?) and a witch. Gray Mouser's original mentor Glavas Rho in "The Unholy Grail" is a "good" wizard. Pelias in "The Scarlet Citadel" and Fafhrd's and Gray Mouser's mentors Sheelba and Ningauble are at least helpful and not obviously evil.

Heroes Are Amoral. While many a Sword & Sorcery hero engages in the sort of larceny and possibly murder that D&D characters are known for and some would be aptly termed anti-heroes (Karl Edward Wagner's Kane might at times be a villain protagonist), most aren't sociopaths--or at least they are less so than a lot of D&D characters. In "Two Suns Setting," Kane not only doesn't double cross Dwassllir, but he doesn't even take the treasure when it wouldn't have mattered. He even tries to save one of his subordinates who's in anaphylactic shock in Bloodstone. Conan saves more than one damsel in distress and seems to care for the people of Aquilonia when he's its king.

The Stakes Are Small. In general, S&S isn't about the epic, but this is not always the case. The Hour of the Dragon is about the fate of kingdoms, and suggests the entire world may be imperiled if Xaltotun succeeds in resurrecting Acheron. Kane is often out to conquer the world. Imaro's saga has some epic tendencies.

The Gods Are Uncaring or Evil. Most gods showing up in person in Sword & Sorcery tend to, well, monsters--but certainly not all. In the Conan stories neither Mitra or Asura are certainly not evil, and Mitra even makes an appearance in "Black Colossus." The gods in a number of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories seem over-involved, if anything.