Thursday, February 23, 2012

Sword & Shield RPG rules v2

After some good feedback from the blogoshpere...and at home in play testing...I have just added v2 of the Sword and Shield rules AND updated the adventure to fit.  What changed?? Really not much at all:

1) I lowered starting character power levels a wee bit

2)Added initiative rules

3) Changed the TN scheme back to the original die v die mechanic for Skills.  One mechanic to rule them all!

I did leave up the v1 rules & adventure if you want to compare and give feedback.

So what's next?  Glad you asked.  I am really excited by this rules set and frankly its charm is the simplicity and fast playing rule lite design.  At least that is what I think!

 The full rules will have a LOT more "gamer cred" BUT remain quick and playable with the same mechanic, just more chrome.  My Rogue Space RPG edit/layout is finishing this weekend and then I will get cracking on writing  the full S&S rules set.

Thanks for taking time to check out the rules and leave your feedback,click on the S&S logo to your right to get the rules for free!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any chance of a non pocket version, large enough I can read?

Fenway5 said...

Can do! The Longsword edition is posted and in eye pleasing 16pt font! Enjoy!

Pastor Beau said...

Hey Fenway! Nice redux! Thanks for the initiative rules!

For some reason I can't DL the v2 of your adventure... says it's not there?

PB

Fenway5 said...

@PB-Drat! Okay just re-loaded it, tested, and it works fine now. Sorry for the trouble.

Anonymous said...

Excellent! Thank you. Middle-age is a pain in the....well, knees mostly.

Fenway5 said...

Let me know what you think SAROE!

Pastor Beau said...

Thanks Fenway!

Printing the adventure now!

PB

Anonymous said...

Ah, excellent, I look forward to reading the new version.

Btw, it says the link for the Longsword version isn't valid?

-Ed Green

Anonymous said...

looks fast and fun !

Anonymous said...

One idea-first blush. A D4 Fight character with a L weapon can never hurt a Chain & Shield character.
e.g. 4 vs. 1 =3 + 1 (weapon) = 4 - 4 (chain+shield)

So, instead of armor reducing a fixed amount of damage, make the value be a saving throw for each point of damage. in example above 4 points of damage would have the target roll 4d6 vs. 4 pts. of armor each roll of 4 or less would reduce the damage one point.

Also, instead of D+ for weapons, heavier weapons could be larger die types to be rolled as saves. i.e. 4 pts. armor is not so good vs. D12 weapon.

Or you could just increase D+ by one so a 4 vs. 1 can do a point of damage.

Of course if you feel a D4 shouldn't be able to injure a heavily armored fighter, then this doesn't matter. But I think the should be able to chip away.

Fenway5 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fenway5 said...

Thanks for all the feedback and support, I greatly appreciate it! I will double check the Longsword download and fix it....seems to work now!

At Saroe, excellent points, and I really appreciate your time and ingenuity in not just pointing out a problem, but also offering solutions! I think the saving throw idea is a good solution, but it changes the clean and fast resolution I was trying to make. I think you are correct adjusting a few things (D+, AR) fixes the issue, as will the addition of the special skill/abilities in the full rules.

Anonymous said...

You can also use a 'spite' rule like Tunnels & Trolls has. If you roll maximum number on the die, you inflict a least 1 point of damage. A dagger would have a better chance of rolling the maximum number, but then daggers are good for poking into gaps in heavy armor.

-Ed Green

Anonymous said...

That's a good alternative to fiddling with everything. Wish I'd thought of it.

Anonymous said...

Doh, just realized I got it backwards. For some reason I was thinking the attack die was tied to the weapon, but it's tied to your class. So it would end up that Wizards would roll maximum more often than Fighters, which doesn't make any sense. But there ought to be some way you can back it into the system without adding additional dice rolls or new mechanics. I'm just too tired to think of it right now, lol. And I'm off to bed.

-Ed Green

Fenway5 said...

What about a simple rule: Regardless of Armor worn or spell protection, a successful hit will always inflict at least 1 HP of damage. Simple, clean and easy.

Anonymous said...

Ah, very elegant!

-Ed Green