another great piece by +Craig Brasco |
Yep, I squarely placed the blame on +James Spahn . He challenged me yesterday, on my 50th birthday, to attempt a project that I'd have difficulty saying no to. A Dwarven RPG using the Swords & Wizardry White Box rules. I scoffed at the idea. Obviously I'd have to use the Swords & Wizardry Continual Light rules as my base rule set as SWL is my precious. By then, I realized I'd already said yes.
Damn you Spaaahhhnnnn!!!
Shortly thereafter we were brainstorming Clan & Hammer.
James threw Rune-Caster, Brewmeister, Troubleshooter and Axe-Thain into the pool of classes.
I responded with Teutatle (a paladin sort) and Skald.
Then it hit me - the dwarves we see in our weekly games, they are the outcasts that have left the rock behind.
Dwarves, the ones deep in the mountains, mining for gold, gems and other items of wealth as is their nature, those of long lived lineages and ancient underground cities, are an insular race and do nearly all of their trade with dwarven outcasts. They have little understanding of surface dwellers and surface dweller know even lass about them.
It suddenly became a setting that could be dropped into, or rather - under - pretty much any fantasy campaign world. The idea is that the classes should be able to plug into any SWL / SWCL campaign (and will probably also get S&W Complete write ups here at The Tavern)
I've broadly sketched out two 16 page books for this project already. The first, a reworking of SWCL for Clan & Hammer, this will be the "crunch" side of the project.
The second will the background, setting, monsters, artifacts, gods and adventure hooks. Please don't call it "fluff." I prefer "flavor."
If you are a regular reader of The Tavern, expect pieces to appear here in their primordial form as they are written.
Dare I say it? I already have a tavern half written up for this. The Axe & Anvil, owned by The Wandering Gray Wizard, Sage of Unearthed Arcana and on the run from debt collectors from the surface. No, really. I think this tavern practically writes itself ;)
Where was I?
Oh, yeah. Damn you Spaaahhhnnnnnn!
Hey, you could Kickstart it!
ReplyDeleteNah, it's been done...
I'm more of an elf guy, but I'm totally willing to keep reading; color me #dwarfcurious. (. . . Please, please, Dear Lord, please don't link this post to an internet porn archive!)
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS AWESOME. I can't wait to see what comes out of it.
ReplyDelete"In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history lived a strange race of people, the Dwarves!
ReplyDeleteNo one knows who they were or what they were doing but their legacy remains hewn into the living rock of Stonehenge"
This sounds awesome, Erik and James!
This is Dwarven Tap!
DeleteWhat was the Dwarven RPG that never came about? That was some four or five years ago. Was it Axe and Anvil or something of that name? Anyways, your project sounds awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'd pay for it if it would help get Continual Light out sooner...
ReplyDeleteThe Blight will be shipping soon, so there is light at the end of the tunnel for SWCL ;)
DeleteSounds like a cool project, right up your alley. That fictional tavern is off to a great start!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure you need yet another project....
ReplyDeleteContinual Light has been submitted. Torchlight will be accepting submissions to the end of June. Monster Islands will take a step back.
DeleteOutline of book one (the core RPG) is pretty much done (and much of the work is already done from SWCL) - Aim is 16 pages per book, 2 books - as I want this to be printable at home for those that like to do such, or printable by me for those that don't like to do such.
Now THIS sounds like a pretty awesome project. If you and Spahn don't put it together, I'm likely to steal it!
ReplyDelete; )
Looking forward to the primordial updates.