[Gumshoe] Playtesting for Swords of the Serpentine (fantasy GUMSHOE) is now LIVE

Piratecat

Sesquipedalian

• Dec 27, 2018

• #1

Hey, I wrote another game!

We're kicking off playtesting for a swords & sorcery GUMSHOE game by Emily Dresner (Dungeonomics author Multiplexer) and myself, and I wanted to to give interested folks a heads up. Details on what the game consists of and what's different about it can be found in the link below, and I'll give folks a reminder in this thread when the playtest launches 1/1. I'm really excited to see it get played; there's social combat and societal manipulation mechanics in there (want your northern barbarian to carve out a kingdom, or your thief to manipulate city politics? That's how!), and it will be fun to see what players do with those.

http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/swords-of-the-serpentine-whats-in-that-playtest/

If you enjoyed my storyhour back in the day, you're probably going to like this. Holler with any questions about the game or the playtest.

 

Last edited: Jan 9, 2019

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Blue

Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal

• Dec 27, 2018

• #2

Ooo, can't wait!

 

Piratecat

Sesquipedalian

• Dec 27, 2018

• #3

Thanks! Been working on this for two years or so, ever since I thought "there's just no way to hack TimeWatch into Swords & Sorcery" and then I realized that of course there was. It's probably the best thing I've written, so I'm excited about it.

 

Nikosandros

Golden Procrastinator

• Dec 27, 2018

• #4

This sounds awesome. I'm really keen to see how you morphed the GUMSHOE system.

 

Piratecat

Sesquipedalian

• Dec 27, 2018

• #5

The biggest change is in combat. It's no secret that the weakest part of GUMSHOE pre-Night's Black Agents is that combat wasn't as exciting or cinematic as it maybe could have been. The numbers were too small. For swords and sorcery, you want glorious, cinematic combats. You want Conan chopping off heads, and Elric drinking souls with Stormbringer, and Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser fighting back-to-back. We've got that now in a way I think is really fun, so it's cool to roll that out to people.

The other big change is a toss-up between social combat and the Sorcery system.

 

Piratecat

Sesquipedalian

• Jan 7, 2019

• #6

And we are LIVE:

Swords of the Serpentine is a sword & sorcery game of investigation, heroism, sly politics and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skullduggery and death. The rules adapt the GUMSHOE investigative roleplaying system to create a fantasy RPG with a focus on high-action roleplaying and investigation inspired by the stories of Fritz Leiber, Terry Pratchett, Robert E. Howard, and others.

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.

If you want to track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt and decadent city, clamber through underground ruins to sneak into an enemy’s home and rob them, or wage a secret war against a rival political faction, you’re in the right place.

Want to playtest? Go here: http://site.pelgranepress.com/index...0vdbPtabcP--xlF7F3tie1aZQbfRsUd6MXSSbleodTLsg

 

R

Ratskinner

Adventurer

• Jan 8, 2019

• #7

Piratecat said:

Hey, I wrote another game!

We're kicking off playtesting for a swords & sorcery GUMSHOE game by Emily Dresner (Dungeonomics author [MENTION=20261]MuL[/MENTION]tiplexer) and myself, and I wanted to to give interested folks a heads up. Details on what the game consists of and what's different about it can be found in the link below, and I'll give folks a reminder in this thread when the playtest launches 1/1. I'm really excited to see it get played; there's social combat and societal manipulation mechanics in there (want your northern barbarian to carve out a kingdom, or your thief to manipulate city politics? That's how!), and it will be fun to see what players do with those.

http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/swords-of-the-serpentine-whats-in-that-playtest/

If you enjoyed my storyhour back in the day, you're probably going to like this. Holler with any questions about the game or the playtest.

Click to expand...

Wow that looks good!

I wish I had a group to playtest it with right now.

 

Piratecat

Sesquipedalian

• Jan 9, 2019

• #8

Me too!

Playtest is attracting really nice attention; I think we have over 100 groups signed up at this point, which is way more than I could have asked for. It'll be fun to see their feedback. I'm so used to running it, we need to see what happens when you it's handed over to other GMs.