However, that’s not the extent of the split. Allegiances are another kind of investigative ability, representing relationships and social connections. They work like investigative abilities — you can get information from a friend, after all — and you can spend pool to call in favors. Oh, right, this does include the best rule ever for travel montages. Ask a player what bad thing happened. Ask a second player how it got worse. Ask a third player how it was resolved and what the consequences were. Simple, efficient, empowering and makes travel feel like it matters. The preparedness general ability allows you to roll to see if you have the right tool for the right job, without trying to plan for every eventuality up front

Investigative abilities: Charm 1, Intimidation 1, Taunt 1; Spot Frailty 2, Tactics of Death 3, Vigilance 1, Wilderness Mastery 1 There are city districts detailed, along with plot hooks for each one of these districts. In many cases, this goes a long way to facilitate the style of play mentioned in the GM’s section where players drive their own investigations by doing things like planning heists or assassinations for coin. The rulers of the city are appointed by finding a special coin blessed by Denari. Characters with the coin can’t remember their fellow rulers, and if Denari wants someone to lose their coin so someone else can have it, it just happens. Your characters will discover leads that, if followed, propel them headlong into danger and forbidden knowledge. A lead might point the way to sunken treasure, jungle ruins, the missing key to a sorcerous trap, or the true identity of a notorious murderer. The GUMSHOE game mechanics ensure that you’ll always notice leads if you look for them. It’s up to you to choose which one you’ll follow into whatever perils lie ahead, in hopes of fortune, glory, justice, or just staying alive another day. I should note, when I say I don’t like Gumshoe, this is what I mean, because I genuinely love everything else about it. Specifically, the combination of hidden difficulty number and a limited pool creates a combination that I personally dislike in play, because it triggers all my opportunity/cost calculations in really unhealthy ways. This doesn’t make it bad, it just makes is something that rubs me the wrong way with great vigor. ↩

This is a game of investigation, heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skulduggery and death. These rules adapt Pelgrane Press’ GUMSHOE system into a fantasy game with a relatively loose class structure and high-action roleplaying. These rules work fine even without the included setting of Eversink, and shine more brightly when political allegiances are closely tied to the heroes. Gear: rich robes that seem out of place, disdainfully-worn crown, look of boredom, the hatred of treasonous nobles, nostalgia for the battlefield. Swords of the Serpentine is a tabletop roleplaying game (RPG). It supports 1-7 players (with a sweet spot of 4-5) playing fantasy heroes inspired by sword & sorcery fiction, and one Game Master (GM) who keeps the adventure moving and plays the foes and supporting cast, also known as Supporting Characters.

The Iconic Hero: Fantasy Classics in Swords of the Serpentine– Kevin Kulp looks at modelling classic fantasy heroes, such as Robert E. Howard’s Conan. Scurrilous Rumors represents your fungal hivemind’s link to sources of gossip from multiple locations throughout the city Whenever Smaug’s roving eye, seeking for him in the shadows, flashed across him, he trembled, and an unaccountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself and tell all the truth to Smaug. In fact he was in grievous danger of coming under the dragon-spell… Investigative abilities: Servility 2, Trustworthy 2; Ancestry (Drowned) 5, Felonious Intent 1, Scurrilous Rumors 1

Felonious Intent represents the hivemind’s ability to watch or remember an individual from multiple angles over an extended time, and to draw conclusions based on their past behavior Play one of the Drowned if you accidentally got infected, if you want bizarre fungal powers, if being an autonomous part of a hivemind sounds fun to you, and if the idea of the cordyceps fungus (search the internet for “cordyceps zombie fungi”) is more fascinating than horrifying. Designer Notes: The Drowned The statues are a minor detail of great significance. See, land is at a premium in the city — even without the sinking, what land there is to be found is on a handful of islands drawn up out of the delta. Among other things, this means that there really isn’t space to spare on graveyards (and if there were, they’d be a health hazard due to regular floods). As such, the disposal of bodies is largely utilitarian 7, but statues are a critical part of funerary rites. Every dead person gets a statue, whether it’s small or grand. And, critically, that statue is that person’s afterlife in a very literal sense. As a result, breaking statues is both terrible form and also a bad idea (because angry ghosts). Thing is, this has been true for a VERY long time, and as a result, there are statues EVERYWHERE. As in other GUMSHOE games, you can also spend Social Investigative abilities to manipulate the supporting characters around you. Want people to trust you so you run a scam? Spend a point of Trustworthy. Want people to ignore you while you slip into their mansion? Spend a point of Servility. You get the idea. Short form, I have a Blades in the Dark game that is going quite well, but the players REALLY like planning and more normal “walking around” play than the normal Job model. I took a look at SotS out of curiosity that it might be a better match. Didn’t really pan out, at least as written, but it was worth the read.

Sorcery is another way that Swords of the Serpentine diverges from other Gumshoe games. While there are some other supernatural abilities, like Spirit Sight or Prophesy, these are supernatural means of gathering or learning information, like other investigative abilities. Sorcery requires points of Corruption, and that means that Sorcery is never really a good thing, and at best is a necessary evil, and the character delves into the secrets of the ancient Serpentine empire for power, or forms a bond with demons or minor godlings to tap into their powers.

A GUMSHOE roleplaying game of swords & sorcery!

Lastly, the core pitch for SotS is Sword & Sandal urban adventure 2, which is a mixed bag for me. I’ve never been much of a Conan guy, but I love Lankhmar to my very bones, so a lot was going to depend on the specifics. Drives are somewhat more interesting and take the form of your answer to the “Conan, what is good in life?” question. These are your characters three answers to that, and when you play to them, it offers a small mechanical benefit. Much more interesting to me are investigative abilities. For these, the rating may have story meaning, but the most important thing is the simple binary — do you have the ability or not? These abilities aren’t rolled, and instead are used as avenues to give the players all the information they need to proceed forward in the game. That is, when the players are in a scene, and there is some question regarding next steps, the GM is mindful of the things they might know, and leans on the investigative abilities to find the correct avenue to get that information in the player’s hands. 5 There’s a lot of good guidance on things like War and Trade as things that drive play more than things you play directly. Very practical approach.