Quick-starts are means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps too. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.
Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules are designed to introduce the rules and setting for the fifth edition of the medieval-set roleplaying originally published in 1977 by Fantasy Games Unlimited. Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition is now published by Britannia Game Designs Ltd. and draws deeply upon Medieval history, but offers options in terms of elements of fantasy and magic and miracles that the Game Master can choose from to create her setting and game style.
It is designed to be played by between four and six players, but includes seven pre-generated Player Characters. Plus, of course, the Game Master.
It is a fifty page, full colour book.
The quick-start is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is excellent. The rules are a slightly stripped down version from the core rulebook, but do include examples of the rules which speed the learning of the game. The maps are nicely done.
How long will it take to play?
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules and its adventure, ‘Where Heroes Fear to Tread’, can be played through in one or two sessions.
What else do you need to play?
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules requires a pair of percentile dice and a single ten-sided die per player. The extra ten-sided die should be different in colour to the percentile dice.
Who do you play?
The seven Player Characters in the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules consist of Master William Malister, a Forester; the Knight, Sir Edmund Silverheart; Magus Barnabus Hook, Mage; Rosamund Godspell, a Priest; the Warriors, Ursilda Dortmund and Heartha Brunswick; and the Herald, Lord Otto Gavilon. All seven Player Characters are Third Level and have their own character sheet. In addition, Magus Barnabus Hook has his own grimoire and Rosamund Godspell her own prayerbook.
How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has nine stats—Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intellect, Wisdom, Discipline, Bardic Voice, Appearance, and Spirit. Agility, Ferocity, and Charisma are derived attributes. Each Player Character has a similar set of base skills, skills relevant to his Vocation, and Combat skills. Attributes can range between two and twenty-five, whilst skills are represented as percentage values. A Player Character has a number of Action Points which are primarily expended on actions taken and attacks made in combat, whilst Fatigue Points are lost in combat prior to Body Points. Fatigue Points are also used to power spells.
How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules, and thus Chivalry and Sorcery, Fifth Edition, uses the ‘Skillskape’ system. This uses percentile dice as well as an extra ten-sided die. This extra die is the Crit Die. Both the percentile dice and the Crit Die are rolled at the same time. The Total Success Chance (TSC%) of a skill or action is a combination of the Basic Chance of Success (BCS%), the Player Character’s Personal Skill Factor (PSF%) in the skill, and any modifiers. It is possible to have a Total Success Chance above Maximum Chance of Success (Max%) or a Total Success Chance below the Minimum Chance of Success (Min%). The higher it is above the Maximum Chance of Success, the greater the bonus to the Crit Die, whereas the lower it is below the Minimum Chance of Success, the greater the penalty to the Crit Die.
The roll on the percentile dice determines whether the skill or attribute roll is a success or a failure. The Crit Die determines the magnitude of the success or failure. A roll of ten on the Crit Die is always a Critical result, whether a success or failure. Skills in Chivalry and Sorcery, Fifth Edition have their own specific Critical Outcomes table, but the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules uses the one table, ‘Critical Outcomes - General’.
How does combat work?
Combat in the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules uses an Action Point economy to handle movement, attacks, defensive stances, spellcasting, and other actions. Damage suffered is deducted from a combatant’s Fatigue Points, but if a Critical success is rolled on the Crit Die, an extra die’s worth of damage is rolled and that is deducted from the defendant’s Body Points. Armour and shields reduce damage, but both can be rendered useless and shields even shattered if too much damage is suffered.
How does Magic work?
In the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules, spells are fully learnt and are cast automatically. Once cast, a spell must be aimed at the target recipient, opponent, or area that the caster wants the spell to affect. A Resistance Roll by the target, if allowed, can ameliorate or even negate the effects of a spell. A spell has a cost in Fatigue Points for it to be cast. If the targeting of a spell is unsuccessful, it is dispelled without having any effect. A Critical Failure doubles the Fatigue Point cost, a Critical Success halves it.
The pre-generated Player Character, Magus Barnabus Hook, is a Hex Mage and knows a number of cantrips, sorcery spells, and hexes. Sleep and Hold Person are both cantrips; Fear and Shadowbolt are sorcery spells; and Blurred Image and Lesser Illusion are hexes. Each spell is described in detail in a sperate grimoire for Magus Barnabus Hook.
How do Miracles work?
A miracle is performed via an Act of Faith, such as a , in a fashion similar to casting spells. Some prayers or rituals automatically work, but others require a die roll. This is made against the priest’s faith or that of the person being targeted. An Act of Faith costs the priest both Fatigue Points and Spirit. A successful Act of Faith costs no Spirit, but a Critical Failure means it does and the Priest’s Faith is shaken. A Critical Success means that the Priest actually gains Spirit!
The pre-generated Player Character, Rosamund Godspell, is a Priest. She has access to prayers such as Blessing, Prayer for Luck, and Sanctification. The prayer, Restore the Faithful, can be performed to grant a believer restored Fatigue Points, whilst Cure the Wounded, does the same for Body Points. A believer can be a recipient of either spell only once per day. Each prayer is described in detail in a sperate prayer book for Rosamund Godspell.
What do you play?
In the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules, the scenario is ‘Where Heroes Fear to Tread’. This is set in Marakush, the default world for Chivalry & Sorcery. It takes place in the Kingdom of Urtind where a few days ago, a group of pilgrims was attacked and captured by a Goblin and Tylwyth Du (Dark Elf) warband and taken back to their Lord, Grink of the Rock, in the Darken Forest. The Player Characters are hired by the religious fighting order, the Order of the Blue Rose, to deliver a ransom for the pilgrims to Grink of the Rock, a dragon! The Player Characters need to cross some rough farming country and through an area known as the ‘Killing Ground’ having been the site of numerous border conflicts to get to the forest. Here they will have to deal with the dragon lord and goblins. The scenario is action-packed and can be played through in a single session or expanded with the included random encounters to last a second session.
Is there anything missing?
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules are complete and it even comes multiple examples of play to help the Game Master understand the rules.
The core rules presented in the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules are not too difficult to prepare. The primary issue with the rules is the number of abbreviations that the Game Master and her players need to learn, which makes the rules look more complex than they are.
Yes. The Chivalry and Sorcery rules have a reputation for being complex. Not so in the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules, which presents a streamlined version of them and supports them with plenty of examples of play and a decent scenario that can be played in a single session.
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules is available to download here.
Be warned, that my players, having been trained for decades on d100 games like Runequest and similar games, ended up rather discontented and unhappy at the Skillscape system, despite understanding that it was perfectly valid mathematically and quite useful in play.
ReplyDeleteThey were so used to the actual value of the d100 roll being important, rather than just indicating a binary success or failure, that they subtly felt cheated when they rolled low on the d100 roll, but then rolled high on the Crit Die to determine the margin of success. Eventually they felt that the roll of the Crit Die which they all knew was, in most cases, completely random and is generally totally disconnected from their abilities, was the only .important part of the skill test.
They definitely knew better (most having advanced degrees in STEM), but emotionally they did feel cheated, as they were so used to the dopamine hit of "rolling low" from other games, that it eventually ended with dissatisfaction with the game itself.
it was interesting to observe.