Spotlight on Imperium Maledictum a Warhammer 40,00 RPG

 

I've always been a sucker for the lore and setting of Warhammer 40,000 and while I've owned several of the RPGs set there I've never actually played any of them. Imperium Maledictum from Cubicle 7 just released today and I hope to rectify that sometime later this year.

This new RPG treads similar ground to Dark Heresy with the the Characters working for a Patron and hunting down heretics and xenos who seek to corrupt and destroy the Imperium of Man.

Imperium Maledictum uses a d100 system very similar to their Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 4th Edition where Success Levels see the result of the 10s die subtracted from the Tens Place of a Skill but seems to lack the Momentum mechanic introduces in the latter game.

Before Character Creation begins you are walked through creating a Patron for the group to work for. I've really enjoyed the Eisnhorn and Ravenor novels and both of them were larger than life characters whose agents were and extension of what made them so cool and I like this approach. The Patron has ties to and influence with several Factions serving the Imperium that range from Adeptus Mechanicus to Astra Millitarum to Inquisitors to Rogue Traders. The Patron's ties and mission are the indicators for what type of game the GM plans to run and I like this choice.

Character Creation begins with what the game's Characteristics that include Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Agility, Intelligence, Perception, Willpower, and Fellowship and start out at 20+2d10. If you choose to roll randomly place them you gain a 50 XP bonus for Advances later.

Origin comes next which tells you what type of world you come from and gives you 2 Advances for specific characterstics and equipment. Again, randomly choosing you grants you bonus XP for later.

Your Faction determines who you were trained by within the Imperium. Options included are the same as during the Patron creation process and gives you the possibility of being a telepath, serving the Navy, or even an outlaw. In the fiction, servants of the Imperium will use nearly any resource or being in their crusade against the forces of Chaos and the Faction portion of creation captures that exceptionally well.

Roles are next and include Interlocutor (negotiators or interrogators), Mystic (psykers), Savant (experts), Penumbra (assassin's or thieves), Warrior, or Zealot. Each presents Talents, Skill Advances (each grants +5%), Specializations to Skills (a Skill can only be improved by 4 Advances or +20% and Specializations allow you overcome that limit), and Equipment.

Looking at Advancement it seems that the Career system of WFRP 4E is not used and it appears you can simply spend XP to increase Characteristics (to a max of 60%), Skills, Specializations (no more than 4 Advances, as well), and Talents.

The PDF released today for $29.99 and I'm still making my way through the book but I'm liking what I'm seeing. Cubicle 7 makes great products and this is no exception with the layout and art successfully showcasing the 40k's atmosphere and look.

I'm really pleased with my purchase and have already made a character. I went the fully random route ending up with a Zealot who works for the Adeptus Ministorum and born on a Feudal World who uses a Chainsword and with Specializations has 69% chance to attack a creature. I was able to create him in under 20 minutes which I found fairly impressive.

You can find IM here.

Spotlight on City Guard Chronicles: The Case of the Misguided Lover for Savage Worlds

I have always had a soft spot for fantasy city settings like Lankhmar, Sanctuary, Ankh-Morpork, and the City-State of the Invisible Overlord and in the early days of this blog I created Jarlsburg, my ode to each of them.

Recently, the City Guard Chronicles: The Case of the Misguided Lover was released by Jan Jetmar and Cyril Ronseaux for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition and I purchased it immediately. It was an easy decision as both have done excellent fantasy supplements for SWADE such as Tomes and Prayers, Wand Magic,  and Wizards and Mystics.

The product comes in at 37 pages and gives you an overview of The City and ideas on which cities it would be in settings like Golarion, Eberron, and Hellfrost.

What follows is a tale of murder, betrayal, demonic pacts, and vengeance that is clearly laid out on a timeline starting 9 days before the adventure begins (what a great tool). The organization and lay-out are great for an over-busy Game Master and the scenes it shares leave plenty of room for any improvisation that might be necessary.

I don't want to give the plot away but I think it nails an investigative approach that paints those involved with enough complexity that their varies crimes are relatable and and layered.

I've been looking for a Savage Worlds setting I can run on nights our primary GM is unavailable and this is a great way to kick off a return to Jarlsburg for me and I can't wait for more City Guard Chronicles.

You can purchase it here.

Spotlight on Gargoyle 74 by Stellagama Publishing

Gargoyle 74 is a retroclone of the 1974 White Box of Dungeons and Dragons by Tammiro Levi and Omer Golan-Joel and published by Stellagama Publishing. I'm a big fan of Stellagama and Omer and have purchased many of their products such as Sword of Cepheus and the Quantum Engine games such as Barbaric! and I received this PDF for free as a review copy.

Ability Scores grant a -1 with a 6 or less, +0 with a 7-14, and +1 with a 15-18. I'm a fan of this spread. It allows customization but it's not overly fiddly. Only Fighters add their Strength mod to their attack rolls.

Wisdom has been replaced by Intuition and I like that decision. I think Wisdom might have a different meaning than it did in the '70s so I'm cool with it.

You have the big 4 classes in the Cleric, Fighter, Mage, and Rogue. Fighters get a 2nd attack at 5t level and Rogues have a Subterfuge skill that is an X chance on a d6 roll. All classes use the same XP table and there is one Saving Throw stat but classes gain specific +2 bonuses for certain types.

Ascending AC is used.

There are roles for 1 GM and 1 Player included, as well.

We get full rules for magic items and monsters all in just this single book of 114 pages.

There are 3 Appendices and the first features the Non-Human Race-as-Classes.

Antediluvans are inspired by Elric's Melniboeans and are your Fighter-Mage class. I love this choice and it's a testament to both authors that a clone of this version of DnD can still surprise me.

Dwarves are next but their skin is copper, their beards bronze, and "If one listens closely, it is possible to hear a faint ticking sound coming from each dwarf. This is the sound of the gears turning and grinding inside each dwarf." Another neat surprise that is just cherry on top. Their metal bodies given them a bonus to AC, they have an innate bonus to Hit Points, healing spells don't work on them, and there is a very specific way to bring them back from the dead.

The third and final Non-Human are Lizard-Kin who can hold their breath for long periods of time, their AC improves as they level, and they have natural attacks with their claws.

Appendix B features Treasure and Appendix C features numerous random tables including building a dungeon.

I'm really happy with this product and I think it jumps to the head of the class as my favorite White Box clone. The rules have a nice Sword and Sorcery feel that I've also enjoyed with Barbaric!.

I'll probably start running this with my 9 year old to induct her into our OSR fellowship in the next few months.

I cannot recommend this product enough. In fact, I cannot recommend any Stellagama product enough. All of my purchases have been extremely satisfactory and you should check out what they have to offer.

 

For Your Consideration: The Cypher System

As a vanity publisher and someone who loves the DIY nature of the OSR this new OGL 1.1 debacle has gotten me down quite a bit. If you are looking for alternatives to DnD or an OSR clone might I suggest Monte Cook Games' Cypher System which powers Numenera, The Strange, The Stars Are Fire, Ptolus, Planebreaker, etc.

I've always been a guy who loves lots of RPGs and you never know when you might find your next favorite game.

Here is an 8 minute YouTube video going over the basics of the system. 

Spotlight on Essential Classes for 5E

 I've been a fan of Joseph R. Lewis' Dungeon Age products for DnD 5E and OSE for a while now. His adventures are really easy to use as a Dungeon Master as he lays out his products in a very clean way while maintaining loads of flavor and atomosphere and his products have become a must-buy for me. 

With Essential Classes for 5E he has created four full classes, the Mercenary, Necromancer, Occultist, and Spyder, all with unique mechanics and tons of flavor that are best suited for dark fantasy. These classes give characters new unique Actions, Bonus Actions, and Reactions as their class abilities and each has special mechanic that involves failure when rolling a 1 on a d6 and damage to yourself.

The Mercenary Class is a combination of a fighter and a thief in the tradition of Conan and at 2nd Level you gain the Crude Medic ability: As an Action, heal yourself or one creature within 5 feet using old bandages smeared with a salve. Gain HP equal to 1d6 + your Mercenary level. Some of their abilities use a mechanic powered by Fortune that requires you to roll a d6 and on a 1 the ability fails and you take damage equal to 3 x your Mercenary Level. 

By level 20 a Mercenary gains 7 new Actions, 6 new Bonus Actions, and 5 new Reactions and all of the other classes, the Necromancer, Occultist (think Hellboy, Simon Belmont, or John Constantine), and the Spyder (assassin/thief), gain similar mechanical abilities.

Here are a few examples:

For the Necromancer at Level 6: Animate Greater Thralls which is powered by their Mortis mechanic: As an Action, choose any dead creature that is Medium or smaller within 60 feet and animate it as a Undead version of its original form. Use the Ghost stat block for this thrall. It obeys you and acts on your turn. It endures until you dismiss it or it is destroyed. A destroyed thrall cannot be animated again. At any one time, you can have a maximum number of ghastly thralls equal to half your Int modifier rounded up. Since it uses Mortis that means you roll 1d6 and on a 1 you take damage.

Here is an example of an Occultist ability at Level 2 called Bell of Law and it is powered by the Doom mechanic: As a Bonus Action, ring this small copper bell. All creatures within 60 feet that can hear suffer Psychic damage equal to 1d6 + your Occultist level. Lawful creatures are immune to this damage. Doom works the same way as Fortune and Mortis.

For the Spyder at Level 5 they gain the Metal Hair ability: You infuse your own hair with the iron in your blood. This natural helmet makes you immune to Charm effects and Psychic damage. This effect works no matter how short you cut (or shave) your hair. Their equivalent to Fortune and the others is Spyder. 

These classes pair old school pulp archetypes with 5E's modern mechanics as full classes but they lack of sub-classes and I don’t mind that choice as much as I thought I would. I’ve never complained about sub-classes but its a mechanic I’ve grown bored of and would happily run a game using just these Essential Classes. I’m going to add that Joseph is very clear that these classes aren't balanced against the traditional classes and that was not one of his design goals.

I hope we see more of these and I'm trying to find time to see them in play with one of his many great adventures.

I heartily recommend this or any other Dungeon Age product.

Spotlight On Dragonbane or Drakar och Demoner Beta

First, I've always been a fan of ADnD's D20 roll equal to or under an Ability score and have brainstormed about expanding it into a full blown game for decades. Second, I love how easy it is to teach someone Basic Role Play/Call of Cthulhu/RuneQuest' percentile system. Third, I think DnD can be a bit daunting for new players with some of its concepts.

Dragonsbane (here in the States) or Drakar och Demoner's newest edition addresses all three of those things for me. I think it is an excellent RPG to teach to new players and yet rich enough to hold the interest of veterans. It has the roll under mechanic that older editions of DnD and ADnD utilize and while it doesn't use a percentage system I like how it sets base Skill chances and Trained Skill ratings.

DB or DoD for short, has six Attiributes: Strength, Constitution, Agility, Intelligence, Will, and Charisma. They are rated on a scale of 3 to 18 and are rolled using the classic 4d6 drop the lowest die. Your Ability score sets your base chance to perform a Skill, which range from 3 to 7 and if you are Trained in a Skill you double that amount. 

The game features six Kin: Humans, Halflings, Elves, Dwarves, Mallards (apparently DoD borrowed from Chaosium's RuneQuest and therefore uses that game's Ducks) and Wolfkin or wolf-like humanoids, Dog Men, if you will. Each kin has a Heroic Ability which requires Willpower, a pool of points equal to your Will Attribute, to be used. They are a lot like Feats from DnD and can have a broad spectrum of effects.

After choosing your Kin you choose a Profession, which is not a Class, but a group of Skills, Heroic Ability, Gear, and some form of Personalization such as an object from your past or a series of scars. You must choose to be trained in four of your Profession Skills during character creation and there are currently 16 which range from Swords and Marksmanship to Spot Hidden and Survival. The number of starting Skills is dependent on your age with younger characters being Trained in 5 Skills but a +1 to Agility and Constitution, adult characters being Trained in 6 Skills and old characters being Trained in 7 Skills but taking a -1 to Strength, Agility, and Constitution and a +1 to Will. The developers are planning to add more Skills, going to 25 of them, in the next Beta update and instead of each Profession have a specific Heroic Ability you will be able to choose the one you want.

Character creation yesterday took me about 15 minutes which is ideal, in my opinion and I really enjoy that this is a Skill based game so that while I might not start out with one of the three Magic Schools (Animism, Elementalism, and Mentalism) I can choose to study them at a latter point in the game. Experience is similar to BRP's you put a check next to any Skill you used that session that rolled a 1, called a Dragon and a Critical Success, or a 20, called a Demon and a Critical Failure. Additionally, you also answer the following six questions and put a check by a Skill of your choice at the end of each session. 
   Did you participate in the game session? 

   Did you explore a new location?

   Did you defeat one or more dangerous adversaries?

   Did you overcome an obstacle without using force? 

   Did you roleplay according to your motivation?

For each Skill checked you roll a D20 and need to exceed the Skill Rank with a success adding +1 Rank to it.

If you want to learn certain Skills you will have to seek training for a period of time. Additionally, you gain a new Heroic Ability every 5 sessions.

Armor subtracts from damage unless its from a spell and weapons range from 1d6 to 2d10 with a damage bonus (a D4 or a D6) from exceptional Strength and Agility Attribute scores.

To cast spells you make your Magic School's Skill check and spend the appropriate amount of Willpower Points even if you fail your Skill roll. You can decide to inflict damage upon yourself to gain WPs ranging from D4 to a D20 but you also take damage of the same amount.

I really, really like this game. I'm hoping to run some newer gamers through it and I am really glad I backed it. I even upped my pledge after reading the Beta.

I think it has a lot of charm and really flows into the background during play. 

Late Pledges are currently available on the KS page.

Spotlight: Shadowdark RPG Quickstart

I've written a bit about the Shadowdark RPG from The Arcane Library so I thought I'd highlight what I think sets it apart from other OSR products I own.

The game's author has mentioned she wanted to build the game from B/X DnD's foundation and obviously, with the success of Labyrinth Lord and Old School Essentials, B/X DnD seems to be the most popular, at least within the OSR. Shadowdark does use a unified roll high mechanic, as well as, a Difficulty Class system that we've seen since DnD 3, but I also think Call of Cthulhu, Basic Role Play, and other percentile systems are inspirations too. DC's in Shadowdark are 9, 12, 15, and 18 and since Ability modifiers are the focus (skill just grants Advantage) in it, those map to a 60%. 45%, 30%, and 15% chances of success before Ability modifiers come into play.

When a Wizard or a Cleric casts a spell they roll against a DC of 10 + the Tier (level) of the spell and if successful the spell is cast and some spells have bonus effects on a Natural 20, but if you fail the spell doesn't go off and is lost for the day. I think adding spellcasting to the unified approach to the rest of the system makes far more sense, especially to new players, than the various exception-based and sub-system approach to B/X, its clones, and DnD's "vancian" spell casting as a whole. This also eliminates Saving Throws as a separate sub-system because when a spell requires some kind of roll on the Target's part it is merely another Ability Check.

One of my favorite parts of the game is that when rolling damage you don't add your Strength or Dexterity modifiers to damage. If you gain a bonus it comes from a class Talent or a magic item. I think this slightly speeds up combat as even people that are excellent at addition can take an extra bit of time totaling the die and adding something to it. 

The final bit that appeals to me are the Class Talent tables mentioned above, at 1st and every odd numbered levels you roll 2d6 on table with specific Talents for your class. These tables give you bonuses to attacks, ability scores, Advantage with particular spells, and additional uses of class abilities. I know that Shadowdark didn't come up with this idea but I'm really glad they included it and I like that the advancement rate it uses has that Old School feel. I remember when Wizards of the Coast began talking about "dead levels" when your Hit Die was the only thing you got and while I do appreciate mechanic abilities I also like rulings over rules and the mindset behind a game where what I do as a player and a character can be as much as what I and the DM think should happen and not "rule for everything" approach. As a new gamer having a rule for everything did help me out and we have millions of new DnD players that want and need that kind of structure but the OSR's allure, for me, was the DYI approach. With those Talents only coming every other level I think it keeps a lot of what makes a character unique specific to the player and their adventures. This is the kind of game where let's say there is aa character that bargains well through role playing, I'm comfortable not requiring a dice roll to succeed or at the very least give them Advantage on their roll. The fact that the bonuses are fairly bounded and most bonuses will never go above +4 combined with the chance of success the DCs  represent gives me a very tight engine where the math is very clear and I love that.

I know that the Shadowdark RPG is yet another game in a crowded area featuring a number of B/X D&D clones and derivative works but I really feel that the game's author Kelsey Dionne had a similar goal to Joseph Goodman when he published Dungeon Crawl Classics. Their aim was rooted in older editions of DnD as a guidepost and the end goal of both games honors that era while blazing new ground.

Do I own a bunch of OSR clones? Yes. But. I'm going to run the Shadowdark RPG while many of them gather dust.

Right now you can purchase the Shadowdark RPG Quickstart in print or digitally, there will be a Kickstarter for it in March of 2023.

Spotlight: Horror at Headstone Hill for Deadlands & Savage Worlds Adventure Edition

Horror at Headstone Hill is a sandbox campaign for the Deadlands Weird Western RPG for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition.

It presents to you the entirety of Uinta County, Wyoming beginning Mid-May of 1884. The County's important areas are broken down for the Game Master and important people are introduced and statted out. A timeline of the settlement is also presented to help the setting take shape. While there is a central adventure presented here, like many Savage Worlds products, several dozen Savage Tales are included as well. These Savage Tales help the GM fill in information about certain areas, groups, personas, and critters and give them handy smaller adventures.

The level of detail for the setting is pretty perfect for my habits as a GM, which means the basic information is well presented but there is enough left open to easily customize the campaign area. To help bring my tastes into focus I can get very bored of dry descriptions of room after room or dense background information and this product has none of that. I think I spent less than an hour reading over the County and main campaign or Plot Point in SW terms. I then spent another 30 minutes skimming Savage Tales and where they might intersect certain NPCs or locales. I took some notes of less than a page for use in the game and at the table. My prep was less than two hours but when our first session began I felt very prepared. As a 50 year old gamer with not enough free time I love that Pinnacle gets this is important for a busy GM.

Horror at Headstone Hill works so well for me because it gives a light, but solid foundation to use as a springboard so that when my Players inevitably (within an hour of the first session) went for something I wasn't expecting I had enough information sketched out for me that I could roll with it pretty easily. And while about half of the first arc of the Plot Point has been central to the Character's actions I have not missed a beat by using this product's many options to ad lib player driven plot lines .

This product is literally perfect for my GMing style. I'm not overwhelmed with information while having plenty of resources to make Headstone Hill a living region. The box set and its maps are wonderful and I use my MacBook at the table to quickly look up something in the PDF if I haven't noted it.

I could not ask for a better tool to help wade into Deadlands for a long term Campaign, my first attempt, a few years, back didn't go as well and HaHH lets me confidently adjudicate unforeseen situations.

I'd also like to state that while I've owned every edition of Savage Worlds, it's newest edition known as SWADE, communicates information far better than any of the previous core rules and all of the SWADE products I've purchased have been top-notch. In a lot of ways, I think it took technology and our industry to catch up to what Shane Lacy Hensley originally envisioned for SW (I remember his original format was going to be three-hole punched products that you could print off as the rules changed or when errata was corrected. I'd also like to take a minute to call out how much I enjoy having the SW Power Cards and Status Cards at our table. I tend to forget who is Shaken or Wounded or has what Condition and the cards make that so much easier to remember while communicating the appropriate rules, as well.

HaHHH succeeds as a great product for any GM wanting to run Deadlands. While I think it could be used with other systems I don't think it would succeed as well if the setting did not have magic, weird tech, Native Americans, and undead desperados. I also love that this product is a box set which scratches the nostalgia itch I have for 1990s TSR AD&D and Role Aids products I loved so much.

I heartily recommend Horror at Headstone Hill and I'm excited that a similar product will be Kickstarted for Savage Rifts by PEG on Black Friday.  I will wholeheartedly back that project too.

Spotlight on Neurocity

Neurocity is a cyberpunk RPG created and published by Gavriel Quiroga and in my opinion, it carves its own niche into that genre quite nicely.

I received a PDF of this product in exchange for this spotlight.

The PDF is 126 pages and covers the setting and the game's rules system.

The book opens with this:

"NEUROCITY is a technological city complex crowned by a glitched digital sun ruled by an ever-watchful supercomputer called I.S.A.C (Intelligent Singular Artificial Consciousness).

The history behind the founding of the city is shrouded in mystery. However, an unquestionable official version has been created in which Man existed in a state of perpetual ignorance and confusion until he stumbled by chance on I.S.A.C. Then everything changed. I.S.A.C gave Man a purpose and granted him immortality with the creation of Samsara and the process of Renewal.

This happened a long time ago, in a past as remote as it is uncertain. Now only the present matters. The effort and sacrifice of Man has borne fruit and Neurocity now enjoys an immortal society that is increasingly perfect or at least boasts so"

Neurocity has 5 social castes and your place is determined by I.S.A.C. Deltas are the lowest and they dressin black and use Soma to "relax the mind"; Gammas are laborers and while Soma is not required it is encouraged and they dress in dark gray; Betas are committed and loyal and have access to the Intranet and wear light gray; Alphas are supervisors and have their own language in addition to the Neurocity's common one, they are wealthy, and dress in white; Finally, there are the Epsilons, anomalies that are considered broken and a threat to I.S.A.C. and his creation.

The City is run by the Ministries of Health, Technology, Truth, and Peace and Order.

The Intranet is open to Betas and Alphas and is an extension of I.S.A.C.'s nervous system, those of lower castes can access via public terminals and cyberdecks.

I.S.A.C. created Samsara that allows those who are no longer functioning properly (Epsilons) to be reborn and refreshed, allowing functional immortality. Vitalogy is I.S.A.C.'s idealogy that teaches Obedience, Discipline, and Order and reinforces that a citizen's sole concern is their place within Neurocity.

Cyberware is not utilized or considered appropriate with Samasara's ability to replace and refresh a flawed citizen. The rest of the City's technology is inefficient due to the controlled nature of the resources available to the castes. In fact, it is going through a technological involution from the digital to the analog for all but the Alphas.

The game system has five Attributes Logic, Personality, Technocracy, Instinct, and Violence and they are generally 5 to 10. Players roll 2d6 trying roll equal to or less than the appropriate Attribute. If you succeed by rolling an 8 or higher it is a critical success while if you roll two 1s the roll is generally unsuccessful or at least requires another roll. Rolling two 6s can be interpreted as a critical failure but the Director should only enforce that once per story.

I haven't played many cyberpunk games in the last two decades but Neurocity is a really well-done setting with a lot going on in a mere  126 pages.

I cannot recommend it enough.

You can buy it here.

Spotlight on Soldiers of Fortune for Shadow of the Demon Lord

If you've read much of this blog you know that my favorite RPG is Shadow of the Demon Lord and it was created by the extremely talented Robert Schwalb.

Rob has released dozens upon dozens of support products for SotDL and Soldiers of Fortune is the newest and features 3 Expert classes for martial characters and can be purchased for $1.49.

In SotDL you can start at 0 or 1st level. If you start at 0 level you pick an Ancestry (think DnD Races) while at 1st level your character also picks from Warrior, Magician, Rogue, or Priest. At 3rd level you pick an Expert Path which allows you to choose from options such as Assassin, Druid, Oracle, or Witch. There is no restriction on what direction you can go and you can be as diverse or as focused as you want in leveling your character.

Soldiers of Fortune presents 3 Expert Paths with a Martial bend.

First is the Bloodletter which focuses on melee combat. Its features at Level 3 include Bloodlust that gives you the option of gaining a variable bonus that you can choose to either hit a target or substitute it for your weapon's damage and Sacrifice the Weak which gives you a bonus against targets that are already injured.
   At level 6 Taste Victory allows you another opportunity to generate Bloodlust each round and Surge of Hate give you an opportunity to use your Bloodlust to temporarily heal.
   Finally, at level 9 Spill the Blood increases the amount of damage Bloodlust does to an Injured target and Rising Bloodlust that lets you generate Bloodlust faster.

Second is the Commander which at level 3 grants a bonus to 2 Attributes, adds an additional Profession or Language, and Battle Plan that allows you to create specific Effects when certain Triggers occur. What is cool is that these Effects can be offensive to enhance your allies and defensive to hinder your enemies.
   At level 6 Go With the Flow allows you to grant a Bane to attack rolls against you or your allies within range.
   And at level 9 Master Commander allows you to grant a Boon to allies within range and a Bane to enemies within range.

The final Expert Path is Targeter which focuses on bows and crossbows and at 3rd level, they gain a bonus to 2 attributes, an additional Profession or Language, Arrow Stab that allows you to use arrows and bolts as melee weapons, Pepper With Arrows that grants a bonus to damage, Steady Hands that lowers the number of Banes on an attack roll.
   At level 6 Targeter grants you to Keen Vision which extends the range of your Perception and Bottomless Quiver.
   Finally, at level 9 Collateral Damage grants you the possibility of hitting a separate target on a missed attack roll, Precise Shot that boosts your weapon's damage and Test the Wind which allows you to alter the actual number rolled on an attack's D20.

As a fan of SotDL this is a must buy and I cannot recommend it enough.

Spotlight on Magic World

I remember the first time I encountered an RPG system using percentiles. It was so clear and easy to understand: I have a 60% to Climb, 55% to shoot a Bow, 45% to Dodge. It just made sense.

The first Chaosium game I owned was Stormbringer as it was given to me as a gift and I had never read Moorcock (I grew up on comic books, cartoons, and action movies) and the game grabbed me. Unfortunately, the Demon Summoning magic system wasn't my cup of tea (I'm a mid-western Catholic boy and its hard to let that go when you are a young lad), but it led me to the Eternal Champion and it led me to other Chaosium gems, including Magic World.

While RuneQuest and Glorantha are cool, neither is my cup of tea. I'm not a big fan of Hit Locations and Glorantha just doesn't grab me. However, I'm a huge fan of the Basic Role Playing Big Gold Book and that led me to check out Magic World.

What I like about it is that it is closer to Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer's version of the BRP and not so close to RuneQuest/Mythras. It's more straight forward in my opinion, yes, it might make sense that Climb defaults to your Dexterity + Strength as a Percentage chance of success, but I'm cool with handwaving it at 40% as the default.

While Magic World isn't Dungeons and Dragons it does take all the cool bits of Stormbringer, RuneQuest, and decades worth of BRP and finely tunes them to heroic fantasy without classes.

Even though you probably know how to play a BRP game most take one or two things here and there and make them their own.

One of the things that caught me about Magic World is that while you can have a pool of points to spend amongst Skills you also have the option of assigning fixed percentages to a fixed number of Skill which helps to make sure that your character is competent in the things they want to do best instead of falling into the trap of a bunch of Skills at 40%. This same idea was used in Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition and I think it's just brilliant.

Another cool idea is that if your Power attribute is 15 or higher you can cast spells and have Power Points to fuel Sorcery. Basically, you ready spells in memory and then you spend the appropriate amount of Power Points and the spell is cast. If the spell can be resisted there is a contest between the Caster and the Target. The spells aren't as destructive as DnD, but they work and fit with the more subtle nature of Magic World. There are also other Magic Systems in the Advanced Sorcery supplement.

I can't say when the next time I run Magic World will be, but I think it could a nice change from the Class and Levels of DnD and other OSR games. Chaosium makes good stuff and Ben Monroe who edited MW did a great job. He took all the various parts from some very talented designers and worked them into a cohesive and appealing whole. Its a shame that Chaosium doesn't have plans to support it as several supplements were in production at one time.

If you are looking for a different fantasy game, please think about giving Magic World a try.

Chaosium hosts a free Quick-Start here.