Stone Age Science Fantasy Starter

The Cave of Our People is a scenario for Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game. This roleplaying game of a Stone Age that never was, inspired by the fiction and films of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thundarr the Barbarian, Horizon Zero Dawn, the Cavemaster RPG and Hollow Earth Expedition, and more. This is a world in which humanity survives alongside dinosaurs and other creatures and ancient secrets and aliens lurk, with the Player Characters as warriors and hunters, shamans and sorcerers, exploring an environment dominated by a nature untrammeled by mankind. The Cave of Our People is a short, one session—two at most—scenario designed to introduce players and their characters to the Stone Age world of Primal Quest. The Player Characters want to join the People of the Vale. This can be as children wanting to become adult members of the tribe or it can be as newcomers to the area wanting to join the tribe. The latter is the default for the scenario, but either way, the Player Characters will have to undergo an initiation, and it is this initiation that will take the Player Characters into ‘The Cave of Our People’. This cave is located in a stony hill just north of Lakit and it is here that the people of Lakit bury their ancestors. In this way, the cave also serves as a link between them and the wise spirits who reside inside, and this is why it is thus used to initiate newcomers to the customs of the People of the Vale.

The Cave of Our People begins with the Player Characters in a cave with no other exit than the one to the outside,, drinking tea made with rare herbs and magic mushrooms by Brikla, the village elder, shaman, and leader. Under the influence of the tea, the Player Characters undergo a series of challenges. They will fight the Ape King, harvest fruits from an ancient mother tree, be tested by the environment, come to the help of others—both dead and alive, and even make a leap into the unknown… Each encounter will both mystify and challenge the players and their characters in different ways. This will seem like a random series of encounters and for the most part it is. However, there are acts that may not be obvious, but if done, the Player Characters will earn more Experience Points and if they can make it to the end of the cave system (though there is scope for the Game Master to expand it if she wants), they may be able to learn about some of the particular tasks which will earn them these Experience Points, so tenacity and clever play will prevail.

At the end of the initiation, the Player Characters awaken to find themselves in the cave where they started. This brings the scenario to a close as well, but it also sets up what is the most fun part of the scenario. Each of the Player Characters gets to draw a cave painting to add to the wall based on their experiences in the cave, but the best bit is that the players get to draw this out themselves. Even better, is the fact is that given that these are cave paintings, the players do not have to be the best artists to draw them. The scenario even has a blank page of stone where the players could draw them.

Physically, The Cave of Our People is cleanly and simply laid out. The scenario is solidly written, whilst the artwork and the cartography are both excellent.

The Cave of Our People is simple and straightforward, an easy introduction to Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game. It is also simple to adapt so that a Game Master could run it for Paleomythic: A Stone and Sorcery Roleplaying Game and other Stone Age roleplaying games.

Stone Age Science Fantasy Beliefs

Primal Belief is a supplement for Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game. This roleplaying game of a Stone Age that never was, inspired by the fiction and films of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thundarr the Barbarian, Horizon Zero Dawn, the Cavemaster RPG and Hollow Earth Expedition, and more. This is a world in which humanity survives alongside dinosaurs and other creatures and ancient secrets and aliens lurk, with the Player Characters as warriors and hunters, shamans and sorcerers, exploring an environment dominated by a nature untrammelled by mankind. Primal Belief brings ‘Paleo-Faith & Proto-Religion in a Prehistoric World’ to the world of Primal Quest, including esoteric rituals, ancient animism, prehistoric shamans, and forgotten deities from the time before memory and record. What it comes down to is a set of random tables with which the Game Master can create gods, faiths, and religions, and then use them as set of prompts with which to further develop the tribe and world of the Player Characters in Primal Quest.

Primal Belief contains tables for ‘Naming Your Gods’, ‘Placing Your Gods’, ‘Worship Your Gods’, and ‘A Blessing from your Gods’ for a grand total of seventeen tables. All the Game Master has to do is roll a six-sided die several times and within a few minutes he has a complete religion. Or at least the basis for one. This will result in a random selection of results, some of which may not make much sense, but then again, a faith need not make total coherent sense, that is in the nature of a faith. Or alternatively, he can pick and choose, using the entries on the table to create a more tailored faith.

The sample faith is the Church of Zu-Xanu-Huwa, the shade of the stone, who slides between the cracks and breaks in the bones of the earth. He encourages the splitting and breaking of stone to build homes and settlements, but demands the spilling of blood upon those cracks, which includes human sacrifice when a new building is constructed, and in every building, there must be room left in shadow sacred to him.

Name: Zu-Xanu-Huwa
Elemental Focus: Earth (Stone)
Title: Daemon Domain: Civilisation
Rank: Regional Deity
Form: Phantom
Sacred Space: Stone Altars Veneration: Human Sacrifice Following: Church of…
Totems: Painted Tattoos Totem Figure: Miniature Hammer Patronage: Poets & Storytellers
Blessing: Marble Effect: Blast

Physically, Primal Belief is cleanly and simply laid out. It is easy to use—and that includes with any roleplaying game where a Game Master might want to create and add a faith to her campaign setting. It does include a ‘PRIMAL DEITY card’ that the Game Master can copy and use to record the details of the new faith she has created. It is only a half a page in size, so it is difficult to use. It would have been easier to use if it had been a full page in size.

The main problem with Primal Belief is that it is just six pages in length and amounts to a set of tables. Given the lack of advice on how to develop and portray the faiths that its tables can be used to create, or indeed, any type of advice, it is sparse, bordering on the threadbare. This is because, despite how it is sold, Primal Belief is not a supplement for Primal Quest, but an article. As an addition to a supplement, such as Primal Quest Companion, the tables of Primal Quest would be a fine addition. As a supplement on its own for which money is being charged? Just feels a bit rich…

Stone Age Science Fantasy

Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game is a roleplaying game of a Stone Age that never was, inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot, Quest for Fire and One Million Years, B.C., Thundarr the Barbarian, Horizon Zero Dawn, and the Cavemaster RPG and Hollow Earth Expedition. This is a world in which humanity survives alongside dinosaurs and other creatures and ancient secrets and aliens lurk, with the Player Characters as warriors and hunters, shamans and sorcerers, exploring an environment dominated by a nature untrammelled by mankind. Designed by Diogo Nogueira because of his love of dinosaurs and published by Old School Publishing, the core rules for Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game are presented in Primal Quest – Essentials. Besides a surprisingly thorough bibliography, this includes a simple set of mechanics using six-sided dice designed to handle both consequences and narrative control, character creation, survival and exploration, sorcery, and a complete mini-hexcrawl that encompasses twelve, lightly-detailed locations, that introduces the World of Thaia. In addition, Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game is not only supported by its own licence enabling others to write and publish for it, but also its own series of supplements, including The Primal World of Thaia fanzine.

A Player Character in Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game has three attributes—Body, Mind, and Heart. These can be negative values, but typically range in value between 0 and +3, though can be higher through experience. He has five Tags, one each for his Concept, Talent, Motivation, Relationship, and Trouble. His Vitality represents his Hit Points, whilst his Defence is dependent upon armour worn and shield carried. To this are added name, gender, looks, and personality. To create a character, a player divides three points between the three attributes, to a maximum of +3. A bonus attribute point can be gained by lowering one attribute to -1. He defines his five Tags and the five aspects of his character, and then chooses an equipment option. Three are given, one each suitable for a warrior with more weapons and armour and shield, one for a hunter with hunting tools, and one for a sorcerer or shaman with three foci for casting spells.

Name: Dres’zhi
Body -1 Mind +3 Heart +1
TAGS: Curious Shaman (Concept), Secrets (Talent), To Prove Herself (Motivation), Cantankerous Master (Relationship), Mother (Trouble)
Vitality: 9
Defence: 1
Equipment: wood spear, light armour, arcane foci (Fire, Spirit, Life), three torches, fire, three units of Food, three units of Water.

Mechanically, Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game uses pools of six-sided dice, needing several of two different colours. One colour is Positive Dice, the other Negative dice. A player always rolls one of each die type. More Positive Dice can be gained by invoking a Tag, which can be a Player Character’s own, or come from an item of equipment, the environment, and even an opponent. Extra Effort, gained by sacrificing Vitality, provides further Positive Dice. Further Negative Dice can also be added to the pool, whether from poor equipment, difficult terrain, or spell or monster effect. Once the combined pool is rolled, the value of the highest Negative Dice is subtracted from the value of the highest Positive Die. The value of the appropriate Attribute is added to the resulting value and compared to the Difficulty of the task, which ranges between zero and moderate and six or Legendary. The default is zero, but it is otherwise determined by a stat, such as an Attribute, Defence, and so on. If the final value is equal to, or greater than the difficulty, the character succeeds.

The degree of success, or Effect, of a task, is determined by subtracting the result from the Difficulty. In addition, a Player Character can benefit from Boons and Setbacks. A Boon is gained for rolling a six on a Positive Die, a Setback for rolling a six on a Negative Die. A Boon can be used to add an extra Stat if appropriate to the result, give an extra Positive Die to another Player Character’s action, impose a Negative Die on an opponent, or to gain insight about a situation. A Setback can grant an extra Stat if appropriate to an opponent’s result, add an extra Positive Die to an opponent’s action, inflict a Negative Die on the Player Character’s next action, or add a negative consequence to the current situation.

Combat uses the same mechanics, with an opponent’s Defence value, derived from his armour, determining the Difficulty. A shield blocks an attack entirely, but used to block too many attacks and it will break. Weapons inflict either one, two, or four points of damage depending upon their size, plus the Effect value of the attack roll. Combat can be short and brutal, but the healing rules are fairly forgiving.

The primary resources in the game are food and water, and Player Characters need one of each per day to survive. The primary means of exchange is barter, and there are simple rules for encumbrance and material durability, which includes bronze—though not copper—as well as wood, stone, and bone.

Sorcery requires two things—an Arcane Focus and an associated word. The latter can be ‘Fire’ or ‘Truth’ or ‘Grasp’, and once a focus—a particular object like a stone with a hole through it or a piece of carved leather or bone—it cannot be used with another word. That said, different foci and their words can be combined for different spell effects. Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game does not include spell lists, but instead a sorcerer decides upon the desired spell effect and describes how he is using the Arcane Focus to cast it. Once a player has described the spell that he wants his character to cast, the Game Master decides whether it is a Cantrip, Invocation, Ritual, or Miracle, each one more difficult to cast than the last.

For the Game Master there is the recommendation that safety tools be used and several pointers of good advice. Much of it will be obvious to an experienced Game Master, but useful, nonetheless. Further rules cover opponents, exploration, getting lost, camping, and so on. Half of Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game is dedicated to ‘Mother’s Vale’, a ‘Weird Stone & Sorcery mini-Hexcrawl’. To the north lies Father Mountain rich with life upon its slopes; to the south in the Deep Jungle the Mother Tree upon which grows fruit that can restore life to the dead, to the west the Fanged Hills that smell of fear, sweat, and death; and to the east, lies the Tower That Fell, a strange organic structure that left a ravine and Mother’s Mounds, a series of ravines that stretch for miles and lead beneath the vale where the remains of ancient, non-human civilisations can be found. There are twelve locations strewn across Mother’s Vale, each given a broad description, a combination of a problem, a secret, a danger, or a special detail, and a table of random encounters. The latter ranges from tribesmen from the three humankind villages in the Mother’s Vale, aurochs, and Triceratops to Argentinosauruses, a Giganotosaurus, and Devouring Chaos Beasts via Red Gorillas, Yeti, Giant Constrictors, Brachiosauruses, and a whole lot more. These encounter tables also serve as the bestiary for Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game.

Although obviously an anachronistic mix of Stone Age man and dinosaurs, in very Ray Harryhausen fashion, Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game is also a Pulp adventure setting, a lost world of sorts which mixes in elements of Science Fiction too. Much of these require further development upon the part of the Game Master, as the ‘Mother’s Vale’ is drawn in quite broad detail. Once that is done, the Game Master can add an adventure site or two and be in position to respond to what the players and their characters want to do. That said, there is plenty of further content available for the roleplaying game, plus each of the three villages in Mother’s Vale—the obvious starting point for any campaign—has a problem that can easily serve as a hook for the Player Characters.

Physically, Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game is well done. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is decent, whilst the cartography for Mother’s Vale is engaging. It does need an edit in places and feels slightly underwritten in others.

In terms of tone and to an extent play style, Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game is like an Old School Renaissance roleplaying game, but mechanically, it is anything but that. Its dice pool mechanics are far more modern and its narrative controls in the form of Boons and Setback are distinctly opposite the mechanics you would find in an Old School Renaissance retroclone. That aside, Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game is a solid Pulp-style Stone Age-set roleplaying game in which its Science Fiction and Fantasy elements and thus many of its stories are wrapped up as mysteries for the Game Master to develop and make her own.

Micro RPG IIIc: Blades & Spells IV

Lâminas & Feitiços or Blades & Spells is a minimalist fantasy roleplaying game from South America. In fact, Blades & Spells is another Bronze Age, Swords & Sorcery minimalist fantasy roleplaying game done in pamphlet form from Brazil. In actuality, Blades & Spells is a series of pamphlets, building from the core rules pamphlet to add optional rules, character archetypes, spells, a setting and its gods, and more, giving it the feel of a ‘plug and play’ toolkit. The Storyteller and her players can play using just the core rules, but beyond that, they are free to choose the pamphlets they want to use and just game with those, ignoring the others. So what is Blades & Spells? It describes itself as “…[A] simple, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG game where the Storyteller challenges the Player and not the character sheet.” It is written to pay homage to the classic Sword & Sorcery literature, uses the Basic Universal System—or ‘B.U.S.’—a simple set of mechanics using two six-sided dice, and in play is intended to challenge the player and his decisions rather than have the player rely upon what is written upon his character sheet. Which, being a minimalist roleplaying game, is not much. So although it eschews what the designer describes as the ‘classic restrictions’ of Class, Race, and Level, and it is very much not a Retroclone, there is no denying that Blades & Spells leans into the Old School Renaissance sensibilities.

Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG provides the core rules to the roleplaying game. They are a simple, straightforward set of mechanics, emphasising a deadly world of adventure in which the heroes wield both weapons and magic. Beyond the core rules, Blades & Spells is fully supported with a series of optional pamphlets which expand upon its basics and turn it into a fully rounded roleplaying game. All together these might be seen as  the equivalent of a ‘Blades & Spells Companion’, although they just as easily could be combined into the one publication, including the setting supplements of Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman and Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond. To date, Blades & Spells has been mostly focused on the Player Character and the Game Master, but that changes with the Blades & Spells – Dark Pack.

The Blades & Spells – Dark Pack contains not one, but three pamphlets. All three focus on the villains, providing them in turn with archetypes, dark spells, and even grotesque spells. They provide the means for the Game Master to assign basic descriptors and abilities to the villains in her campaign, as well as their henchmen and their mostly loyal lieutenants. Not just that, they offer over fifty new spells, dark and shadowy, bloody and aberrant. Together, these enable the Game Master to quickly create the basics of any vile enemy or other NPC, and if a spellcaster, equip them with a raft of horrid spells that embody their malicious and cruel natures. Alternatively, and for a very alternative campaign, there is nothing to stop a playing group from creating and playing a band of villainous Player Characters with dark designs upon the setting that the Game Master has created.

In the core rules, the Blades & Spells: Characters Archetypes/Compendium of Magic does two things. First, it expands upon each Player Character’s Focus. This is his occupation or something that he is good at, either Fighter, Mystic, Intellectual, Support, or Specialist. The supplement divides some twenty-nine archetypes into these five categories with a simple thumbnail description. The second thing is provide spells for the roleplaying game. Blades & Spells – Dark Pack provides both of these, but more like an evil, villainous twin—or rather its set of evil, villainous triplets that Blades & Spells never knew it had.

Blades & Spells: Dark Archetypes gives twenty-five archetypes, five for each category. Some of these fall within typical roleplaying archetypes, like the Assassin or the Burglar for the Specialist, whilst Support Archetypes such as Armourer, a weapons and equipment engineer, and the Mender, are not necessarily dark in themselves, but rather that their clientele likely consists of characters who make use of the other archetypes in this supplement. Those other archetypes are definitely ‘dark’ though. For example, the Bloody Blade is a loyal servant to the gods, handing out their justice as instructed by the voices of the cursed weapon you wield on their behalf; the Parasite has taken possession of the character and grants extraordinary powers, but takes control of the character’s mind; the Fallen Noble has been reduced to near penury, but will do anything to restore his fortunes; the Thug is a bodyguard or muscle for a gang, ready to solve a problem using physical means; and a Shadow Sorcerer can shape darkness and command the things within it. Like all three supplements in Blades & Spells – Dark Pack, this does carry an advisory warning and archetypes like the Bloody Blade which suggests the player roll on the Insanity Table and the Drug Mage which manufactures and uses potions and drugs and uses the Optional Rules for ‘Poison, Drunkenness, or Insanity’ all support the necessity of those advisory. Tables for both can be found in Blades & Spells: Optional Rules.

Blades & Spells: Dark Spells details over thirty dark and nasty spells, with themes of necromancy, shadow manipulation, and more. In the case of necromancy and shadow manipulation, these neatly tie into the Necromancer and Shadow Sorcerer  Archetypes given in Blades & Spells: Dark Archetypes. For example, Rigor Mortis causes the touched victim to suffer convulsions and their nerves to become painfully paralysed, as well as taking on the appearance and feel of a dead body, whilst Bone Weapon summons a temporary weapon from the ground that inflicts poison damage and can harm both material and immaterial beings. Cloak of Shadows shrouds the caster in living darkness and makes him undetectable in shadow or at night, whilst Umbral Binding sends his shadow stretching unnaturally out to touch the shadows of others and in doing so, temporarily paralyses them. Not every spell follows either them, such as Cauterize, which makes the caster’s hands as hot as red-hot iron, or Parasite Weapon which summons a mutated parasitic worm from the underworld which mutates into a weapon and defends the caster, but demands to eat the flesh of the still living, but defeated opponents. This a great range of spells for darker games or darker characters or villains, including a few more inventive entries. These are nasty spells that the players are likely to hate the villain—if not the Game Master—when he casts them at their characters.

Both Blades & Spells: Dark Archetypes and Blades & Spells: Dark Spells carried content advisory warnings, but of the three pamphlets in Blades & Spells: Dark Pack, it is Blades & Spells: Grotesque Spells that deserves it the most. The thirty or so spells it describes are all vile, unpleasant concepts. So be warned. They involve a great of manipulation of the flesh. For example, Decomposition forces the flesh of the touched victim to rot at a rapid rate through gangrene and then death; Cursed Cure first heals wounds and then turns the flesh cancerous and tumorous; and Flesh Armour forces muscle to strengthen and thicken until it is cable of protecting against injury. One can actually be useful, the unfortunately named Relink Members enables large cuts to heal and lost limbs to be reattached. The rest though are all foul, disgusting affairs, likely to be highly memorable when cast by a villain the Game Master’s campaign.

Physically, the three pamphlets in Blades & Spells: Dark Pack are fine. Their layout is clean and tidy, and all three titles are easy to read, though a slight edit would not have gone amiss. The artwork on the front page of each is good too.

Blades & Spells: Dark Pack is optional. Some of the ideas and things—especially the spells—in its three pamphlets are not going to be suitable for every campaign or even what every player wants to include or encounter.  As a potential source of character ideas and spells—especially the spells—for the villain or henchman in the Game Master’s campaign, Blades & Spells: Dark Pack is good for most Swords & Sorcery settings.

Micro RPG IIIb: Blades & Spells III

Lâminas & Feitiços or Blades & Spells is a minimalist fantasy roleplaying game from South America. In fact, Blades & Spells is another Bronze Age, Swords & Sorcery minimalist fantasy roleplaying game done in pamphlet form from Brazil. In actuality, Blades & Spells is a series of pamphlets, building from the core rules pamphlet to add optional rules, character archetypes, spells, a setting and its gods, and more, giving it the feel of a ‘plug and play’ toolkit. The Storyteller and her players can play using just the core rules, but beyond that, they are free to choose the pamphlets they want to use and just game with those, ignoring the others. So what is Blades & Spells? It describes itself as “…[A] simple, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG game where the Storyteller challenges the Player and not the character sheet.” It is written to pay homage to the classic Sword & Sorcery literature, uses the Basic Universal System—or ‘B.U.S.’—a simple set of mechanics using two six-sided dice, and in play is intended to challenge the player and his decisions rather than have the player rely upon what is written upon his character sheet. Which, being a minimalist roleplaying game, is not much. So although it eschews what the designer describes as the ‘classic restrictions’ of Class, Race, and Level, and it is very much not a Retroclone, there is no denying that Blades & Spells leans into the Old School Renaissance sensibilities.

Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG provides the core rules to the roleplaying game. They are a simple, straightforward set of mechanics, emphasising a deadly world of adventure in which the heroes wield both weapons and magic. Beyond the core rules, Blades & Spells is fully supported with a series of optional pamphlets which expand upon its basics and turn it into a fully rounded roleplaying game. All together these might be seen as  the equivalent of a ‘Blades & Spells Companion’, although they just as easily could be combined into the one publication. In terms of setting, Blades & Spells only goes so far in stating that the default is the Bronze Age and hinting that this setting might be in the Middle East—or at least a fantasy version of it.

Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman describes this setting. ‘The Land of Aaman’ is roughly analogous to ancient Mesopotamia in the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris. The rivers here are the Numadai and Thaar, the lands between them a plateau dotted by ruins of societies past, including ragged ziggurats and complexes below them populated by aberrations and filled with treasures to be plundered. These are believed to be all that is left of great and glorious civilisations once ruled by demi-gods, washed away it is said in the sacred texts, by a cataclysmic flood. The plateau is home to eight city-states. These are described as being fairly similar, most of their tightly packed buildings being constructed of mud bricks and each city being dominated by a large ziggurat temple, a palace, and an arena where bloody gladiator bouts are staged to placate the masses. What separates the city-states are their reputations and the god that each holds to be supreme. For example, Aruk was once the seat to a mighty dynasty of kings, but has declined as the squabbles and intrigues of its nobility have grown, whilst the people of Aqeron, the largest city-state, worship Amurak, the sun god to the near exclusion of all other gods. 

Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman does describe the ‘Lands Beyond’, but not in great detail. It mentions that the Numadai and Thaar flow into the Gulf of the Qoros Sea, that various primitive tribes inhabit the Gemini Delta, and that Amazon warriors raid the peoples of the plateau for both plunder and slaves. Also mentioned is Khmet, a great pharaonic kingdom that sits on the banks of a mighty river that divides a wide desert.

Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond goes into further detail than The Land of Aaman does, in turn, describing Kandar’s Range, the Kingdom of Khmet, and the Middle Sea. In most cases, it is easy to determine what their real-world analogies are. Thus, the Kingdom of Khmet is Ancient Egypt, straddling the great Gonn river and wealthy enough to erect huge pyramidal temples and monuments, whilst Kandar’s Range is all but impassable Himalayas, home to a forbidden monastery on the frigid plateau of Daru, where veiled monks worship in secret. The slopes of the mountains are renowned for rare and wonderful herbs that grown in their soil. These include the trance and vison-inducing lotus as well as the Lo’Ra herb, sought by many arcanists wanting to use it in their rituals. Far to the south-east of the plateau is the kingdom of Hindra, rich in spices, ivory domes, fakirs, and mystics, and thus roughly analogous to India. The supplement also details the nations along the Middle Sea which separates the Kingdom of Khmet from its nearest neighbours as well as those along the Sea Qoros into which the Numadai and Thaar flow. This includes the Amazons of Xendria.

As overviews of a setting, both Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman and Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond are fine. As useful descriptions of a campaign setting, they are anything but. Between the two them there simply is not enough playable content and not enough for the Game Master to really work with and create adventures from. There are no maps in either supplement, and that is less of an issue than perhaps possible scenario hooks or a little more detail that might have made them stand out a little and thus been more useful for the Game Master.

Physically, both Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman and Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond are fine. The layout is clean and tidy, and both titles are easy to read.

Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman and Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond together do provide context and setting for the Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG if not the detail. They are at best a starting point for the Blades & Spells Game Master—and that is likely the point, but it does not prevent the reader from wishing that there was a little detail to make the land of Aaman stand out.

Micro RPG IIIa: Blades & Spells II

Lâminas & Feitiços or Blades & Spells is a minimalist fantasy roleplaying game from South America. In fact, Blades & Spells is another Bronze Age, Swords & Sorcery minimalist fantasy roleplaying game done in pamphlet form from Brazil. In actuality, Blades & Spells is a series of pamphlets, building from the core rules pamphlet to add optional rules, character archetypes, spells, a setting and its gods, and more, giving it the feel of a ‘plug and play’ toolkit. The Storyteller and her players can play using just the core rules, but beyond that, they are free to choose the pamphlets they want to use and just game with those, ignoring the others. So what is Blades & Spells? It describes itself as “…[A] simple, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG game where the Storyteller challenges the Player and not the character sheet.” It is written to pay homage to the classic Sword & Sorcery literature, uses the Basic Universal System—or ‘B.U.S.’—a simple set of mechanics using two six-sided dice, and in play is intended to challenge the player and his decisions rather than have the player rely upon what is written upon his character sheet. Which, being a minimalist roleplaying game, is not much. So although it eschews what the designer describes as the ‘classic restrictions’ of Class, Race, and Level, and it is very much not a Retroclone, there is no denying that Blades & Spells leans into the Old School Renaissance sensibilities.

Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG provides the core rules to the roleplaying game. They are a simple, straightforward set of mechanics, emphasising a deadly world of adventure in which the heroes wield both weapons and magic. Beyond the core rules, Blades & Spells is fully supported with a series of optional pamphlets which expand upon its basics and turn it into a fully rounded roleplaying game. All together these might be seen as  the equivalent of a ‘Blades & Spells Companion’, although they just as easily could be combined into the one publication.

Blades & Spells: Beasts & Monsters follows the pamphlet format of the core rules and presents a set of twenty-one potential threats and hazards that the Player Characters might face. All have a name, a Challenge Rating, some Hit Points, details of its main characteristics, the latter amounting to no more than a sentence of two, thus giving no more than a thumbnail description of the monster. They include Shedu and Lamassu; the Akhazu, an evil creature which spreads plagues and can only be destroyed when whomever summoned it is killed; the Nommos, the humanoid amphibious ‘fishmen’, complete with tails, scales, and gills who hate the light and who indirectly built and rule the city-state of Nippur; and the Aqrabu, fiercely territorial, cave-dwelling humanoid scorpions created to fight a war between two gods in the distant past. Non-monsters are not ignored and Bandits, Cultists, Pirates, and Sorcerers are included as well. As with Blades & Spells itself, the entries in this pamphlet are inspired by Mesopotamian myths and other Bronze Age mythologies.

Blades & Spells: Characters Archetypes/Compendium of Magic does two things. First, it expands upon each Player Character’s Focus. This is his occupation or something that he is good at, either Fighter, Mystic, Intellectual, Support, or Specialist. The supplement divides some twenty-nine archetypes into these five categories with a simple thumbnail description. So for the Fighter, there is the Brute, the Exotic, and the Spearman; for the Mystic, the Warlock and the Beastmaster; for the Intellectual, the Actor and the Merchant; for the Support, the Artisan and the Musician; and the Specialist, the Deceived and the Pirate. These are again kept short and simple, but suggest some ideas as to what a Player Character is and what he can do, each one, just like the Focus, providing Advantage or Disadvantage, depending on the situation.

The second thing that Blades & Spells: Characters Archetypes/Compendium of Magic does is provide spells for the roleplaying game. Although every Player Character in Blades & Spells is capable of casting spells, the mechanics are objective orientated, but kept freeform. This supplement details some twenty-nine new spells which the Player Characters or NPCs can cast, whether they are doing so as arcane magic or divine magic. Some of these are nicely inventive, such as ‘Viper Venom’, which fills the caster’s mouth with water and after concentrating for a few moments, he can spit it out as a corrosive liquid or a toxic gas; ‘Dead Memory’ allows the caster to see through the eyes of the dead and so learn their secrets they kept in life and the fate that befell them; and ‘Thirty Coins’, an area spell which forces anyone who lies within its effects to vomit thirty pieces of silver that then disappear…

Blades & Spells: Optional Rules expands upon the rules presented in the core Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG. They are all optional. They add in turn, rules to create non-Human characters, perhaps pushing Blades & Spells away from its Swords & Sorcery roots, but they give the species two positive physical traits and one negative physical trait. In addition, a Player Character of that species must still have a defect as per usual in addition to the species’ negative physical trait. Tables for ‘Wild Terrain’ cover the weather and ground types, plus random events, whilst the rules for poison are brutally nasty (options are given for less lethal effects as alternatives.) These are followed by rules for drunkenness too, and then insanity. Here a Player Character has ten Sanity Points, which are lost in moments of stress and terror. Once they are reduced to zero, a roll is made on the Insanity table. These rules and their effects are underwritten as not all of the results have a time length and there is no guidance as to what happens afterwards, such as how Sanity Points might be recovered. For the main part, the new rules in Blades & Spells: Optional Rules do what they suggest and cover aspects of play without adding too much in the way of extra complications. The disappointing element here are the rules for insanity, but the Storyteller can adjust as necessary to make them work and fit her setting.

Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG is a simple, straightforward set of mechanics, but whilst that means that it is easy to play, it also means that it is easy to expand and add optional rules and extras to. Which is what these three supplements do. Not always effectively in places, but others, such as the Blades & Spells: Characters Archetypes/Compendium of Magic and Blades & Spells: Beasts & Monsters add a lot in terms of flavour and feel, but without without adding a lot of complications. Consequently, they are worth adding to have the options for both play and whatever setting the Storyteller wants to create.

So that really is it to . Or at least the core rules. It fits on two sides of a single sheet of paper. It is cleanly laid out, although it does need an edit in places to account for the translation from Portuguese to English. It has a decent piece of artwork on the front. It is also perfectly playable barring a couple of issues. One is that it does leave the Storyteller to wonder what sort of complications a failure of a dice roll might add to the plot and it does not state what the difficulty number is for hitting a Player Character in combat.

Blades & Spells is short and brief, but there are numerous optional pamphlets which expand upon its core rules and turn Blades & Spells into a fully rounded roleplaying game rather than just a core set of mechanics. Nevertheless, Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG is a solid, serviceable, easy to learn and play, minimalist roleplaying game.

Micro RPG III: Blades & Spells

Lâminas & Feitiços or Blades & Spells is a minimalist fantasy roleplaying game from South America. In fact, Blades & Spells is another Bronze Age, Swords & Sorcery minimalist fantasy roleplaying game done in pamphlet form from Brazil. In actuality, Blades & Spells is a series of pamphlets, building from the core rules pamphlet to add optional rules, character archetypes, spells, a setting and its gods, and more, giving it the feel of a ‘plug and play’ toolkit. The Storyteller and her players can play using just the core rules, but beyond that, they are free to choose the pamphlets they want to use and just game with those, ignoring the others. So what is Blades & Spells? It describes itself as “…[A] simple, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG game where the Storyteller challenges the Player and not the character sheet.” It is written to pay homage to the classic Sword & Sorcery literature, uses the Basic Universal System—or ‘B.U.S.’—a simple set of mechanics using two six-sided dice, and in play is intended to challenge the player and his decisions rather than have the player rely upon what is written upon his character sheet. Which, being a minimalist roleplaying game, is not much. So although it eschews what the designer describes as the ‘classic restrictions’ of Class, Race, and Level, and it is very much not a Retroclone, there is no denying that Blades & Spells leans into the Old School Renaissance sensibilities.

Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG defines a Player Character in simple terms. He is Human and he has a Name, Focus, Background, and Equipment. His Focus is either Fighter, Mystic, Intellectual, Support, or Specialist, whilst his Background includes goals, skills, knowledge, adjectives, and at least one flaw. He also has ten Hit Points. Character creation is a five-minute job and everything can be recorded on an index card.

Ublaf the Unbelievable
Focus: Fighter
Background: Ublaf is a blond, blue-eyed warrior from the frigid north, who has come far south to make his fortune and prove himself to the girl he wants to marry, but who has so far spurned his advances. He is a good hunter, and capable with both axe and spear, but has no tongue for languages. So often others think him a fool—or ‘Unbelievable!’. He is often impulsive, but invariably tries to be helpful and friendly.

Hit Points: 10

Mechanically, the Basic Universal System of Blades & Spells uses two six-sided dice. To undertake an action for his character, a player rolls the dice attempting to equal or beat a difficulty number set by the Storyteller, ranging from Easy at three all the way up to Epic at twelve. Any roll less than this is a failure and also adds a new complication to the plot. If a Player Character can gain an Advantage from either his Background or Focus, the difficulty number is reduced by two, but increased by two if his Background or Focus would impose a Disadvantage (though this would not increase the difficulty number beyond twelve). Ideally, elements of a Player Character’s Background should work as both Advantage and Disadvantage, depending on the situation. For example, Ublaf’s Impulsiveness would be a Disadvantage if there was trap he could have spotted before he acted, but an Advantage in attempting a foil an assassination attempt on a merchant.

Combat in Blades & Spells is deadly, with attacks, whether by a weapon, magic, or a creature, being either light, strong, or fatal. A Player Character could be killed with a couple of strong blows or even one fatal blow as he only has ten Hit Points (monsters can have more), and once they are gone, that is it. Although monsters have a Challenge Rating equal to the standard difficulty numbers, Player Characters do not, so the default is probably Normal or six. However, shields and armour, in whatever form they take, reduces damage and the Storyteller can allow a Player Character to make a defensive or dodge manoeuvre.

Magic and spells are available to all Player Characters. No spells are described in the base rules for Blades & Spells, but instead, the player decides what the aim of the spell is. Is it to Attack, Defend, Create an advantage, or Overcome an obstacle? The Storyteller sets the difficulty number and the player rolls. If successful, the spell is cast and has the desired effect. Failure though means that the Player Character has suffered Arcane Corruption, which might be that the spell effects turn on the caster rather than the intended target or a second grotesque head grows from the caster’s shoulder, which stays for a few days before withering away, in the meantime annoying everyone with its different opinions and ideas.

So that really is it to Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG. Or at least the core rules. It fits on two sides of a single sheet of paper. It is cleanly laid out, although it does need an edit in places to account for the translation from Portuguese to English. It has a decent piece of artwork on the front. It is also perfectly playable barring a couple of issues. One is that it does leave the Storyteller to wonder what sort of complications a failure of a dice roll might add to the plot and it does not state what the difficulty number is for hitting a Player Character in combat.

Blades & Spells is a simple, straightforward set of mechanics, but there are numerous optional pamphlets which expand upon its core rules and turn Blades & Spells into a fully rounded roleplaying game rather than just a core set of mechanics. Nevertheless, Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG is a solid, serviceable, easy to learn and play, minimalist roleplaying game.

Micro RPG II: Lost in the Fantasy World

For every Ptolus: City by the Spire or Zweihander: Grim & Perilous Roleplaying or World’s Largest Dungeon or Invisible Sun—the desire to make the biggest or most compressive roleplaying game, campaign, or adventure, there is the opposite desire—to make the smallest roleplaying game or adventure. Reindeer Games’ TWERPS (The World's Easiest Role-Playing System) is perhaps one of the earliest examples of this, but more recent examples might include the Micro Chapbook series or the Tiny D6 series. Yet even these are not small enough and there is the drive to make roleplaying games smaller, often in order to answer the question, “Can I fit a roleplaying game on a postcard?” or “Can I fit a roleplaying game on a business card?” Although a micro roleplaying game, Lost in the Fantasy World fits all of its content on the two sides of a single sheet of paper.

Lost in the Fantasy World is a roleplaying game in which a group of children is magically transported to a fantasy world complete with magic and monsters. Once there, they are each given an amazing artefact by a mysterious Mentor, which enables them to come to the plight of the peoples—and they have many plights—and so become heroes. Yet, they still want to return, and ultimately, will have to choose between going home and the powers that the artefacts grant them. How the children get to the fantasy world—going on a strange ride in an amusement park, being sucked into a weird old book, going through a very small door in a scary abandoned house—suggests the inspirations behind Lost in the Fantasy World. Narnia, perhaps? The Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series? Well, definitely the latter, and that definitely comes down to nationality. 

Lost in the Fantasy World is designed by Diogo Nogueira and Diogo Nogueira is Brazilian. Now where the Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series might not be held in the highest regard in the English-speaking hobby, it had more of an impact in Brazil where it was more popular. To the point the Renault launched an advertising campaign in Brazil for one of its vehicles based on the Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series and it was very well done. Published by Gallant Knight Games, Lost in the Fantasy World is not retroclone in the Dungeons & Dragons sense, but is definitely inspired by it.

A Player Character in Lost in the Fantasy World is simply defined. He has a name, concept, four traits, and an Artefact. The concept, such as ‘Brendan, the quiet D&D geek’ or ‘Emily, the bolshy cheerleader’, defines the Player Character, whilst traits can include a quality like ‘Athletic’ or ‘Good with his Hands’; an object such as notebook and pen, a football, or a torch; a companion like a pet rat or a baby unicorn; some training or knowledge, foe example, ‘Read up on all the myths’ or ‘Works in my dad’s garage’; or a relationship with another character, such as ‘David is my best friend’ or ‘I always have to keep an eye for Andrea’. At the beginning of the game each Player Character will receive an artefact and have some idea of what it can do from its name, but not exactly what. What, exactly, it can do, will be developed during play. For example, the Torch of Unending Light, the Pipes of Piercing, or the Buckler of Shielding.

Tristian the inquisitive musician
Fine singing voice (Trait), I must protect my sister, Monica (Trait), helps his grandmother with the garden (Trait), Catapult (Trait)
Artefact: Lyre of the Living

Mechanically, Lost in the Fantasy World is direct and simple. When the outcome of a situation is uncertain, both the player and the Mentor—as the Game Master is known—make a Resolution Roll. This is the roll of a six-sided die each to which the player can add a +1 Modifier for any pertinent Trait, the Expenditure of an Adversity Token, a great description of his character’s actions given by the player, as well as the situation itself, the later mostly provided by the Mentor. Whomever rolls highest, narrates the outcome of the situation or scene.

If the player’s roll is lower, then he earns an Adversity Token, which can later be used to gain a Modifier. A player can also Push the roll, which allows him to make the Resolution Roll a second time, but if it is failed, the Player Character temporarily loses a Trait. Use of a magical Artefact enables the player to make the Resolution Roll with two dice—or even three dice if used in a creative and exciting fashion—and the highest result used. Combat uses the same mechanics, the winner of the Resolution Roll narrating the outcome and the loser temporarily losing the use of a Traits. A lost Trait can be recovered in time, but a Player Character or a monster or NPC is ‘Taken Out’ if they lose all of their Traits. They are not dead, but cannot act decisively and are at the mercy of other Player Characters or even their opponents.

For the Mentor there are several suggested opponents and obstacles complete with Traits which she can bring into play and there is also some advice on running Lost in the Fantasy World. The role of the Mentor is actually twofold. First, she serves as the Referee, and second, she actually roleplays the Mentor as character in the game world, who guides the Player Characters to some extent, mysteriously presenting them with both opportunities for adventure and rumours and hints as to the way back to the Player Characters’ home world. Ideally, there should be a balance between the two, a pull and a push, the push to undertake more adventures and help others becoming stronger as the players narrate new and more interesting capabilities for their Artefacts. However, Lost in the Fantasy World does not fully support that notion. There is no mechanical means provided to model the balance between the Player Characters’ supposed desire to help and their desire to get home. Perhaps some kind of countdown or count-up which a player can roll against to determine which of the two desires that his character follows, such that ultimately the pull towards one or the other becomes too much.

Physically, Lost in the Fantasy World comes as a simple pamphlet which folds out to just a single sheet of paper. It is nicely, simply presented and the artwork has a certain charm, but the pamphlet does need another edit for all of its brevity.

Lost in the Fantasy World is a clever little concept which draws upon something often ill-regarded by Dungeons & Dragons fans and develops it into a simple narrative, storytelling game. It is easy to learn and quick to play, but ultimately does not quite follow through on its concept when there was very much room and scope to do so. Hopefully, Lost in the Fantasy World, Second Edition will do that.