A downloadable game

Buy Now$1.00 USD or more

WHEN THE BROADSWORDS SING (WBS) is an OSR micro-RPG that draws on games like Knave and Barbarians of Lemuria to provide a sword-and-sorcery flavored take on the classic dungeon crawl experience.

The game is 6 pages long, fitting on three sheets of paper front-and-back.

  • 2-page rules document, laid out to be printed and folded as a tri-fold
  • 2 pages of random tables to use during character creation, to create unique characters each time you roll up a new PC (these have been taken from Ben Milton's excellent game Knave)
  • 2 pages of tables that can be referenced during play (equipment, wounds, etc)

Key features of the game:

  • Simple class-free character creation, allowing for fully-random generation or detailed player choices. 
  • Background Careers feature heavily, and form the basis of WBS "skill" system. 
  • A unified core mechanic, 1d20 + Attribute Rating + Applicable Career Bonuses vs Difficulty
  • Free-form NOUN + VERB magic system, with optional rules for using classic spell lists.
  • Clear conflict rules that support Physical, Social, and even Mental conflicts.
  • Simple rules for "Stunts", player driven feats of skill.
  • Slot-based encumbrance that integrates spells and equipment.
  • Wound rules that make hitting 0 HP painful, but not always automatic death
  • Built-in Dungeon Exploration rules
  • Gold-for-XP advancement

The game is mostly complete, but I will update it based on feedback and playtest reports that I receive.

The regular version is black background with yellow/white text, and the printer friendly is black text on white.

Thanks and enjoy!

StatusReleased
CategoryPhysical game
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(4 total ratings)
Authorswammeyjoe
GenreRole Playing
Tagsdungeon, Dungeon Crawler, Fantasy, OSR, pen-and-paper, Tabletop
Average sessionA few hours
LanguagesEnglish

Purchase

Buy Now$1.00 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $1 USD. You will get access to the following files:

When The Broadswords Sing v0.1.0.pdf 20 MB
[PRINTER FRIENDLY] When the Broadswords Sing v0.1.0.pdf 24 MB
When the Broadswords Sing Character Sheet.pdf 3.9 MB

Development log

Comments

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(+1)

Exactly the gritty rules light OSR system I always wanted