D&D 5E Free 60+ page Guide to Sword & Sorcery for 5E D&D

atanakar · Mar 6, 2020

Thank you for this very interesting document.

xoth.publishing · May 23, 2020

The Player's Guide has been updated to version 1.7, available at the same link as before.

Updates in this version include:

The Degenerate's Unwholesome feature now also impacts the social skills of other party members
Removed Light from the Cultist spell list
Added Counterspell to the Cultist spell list
Added specific Cult Secrets for several of the cults

Enjoy!

cbwjm · May 23, 2020

Oh cool. I've been wondering what the secrets were meant to be.

xoth.publishing · May 23, 2020

cbwjm said:
Oh cool. I've been wondering what the secrets were meant to be.

Yeah, so the Cult Secrets are cult-specific, thematically appropriate special abilities gained by the Cultist at level 6, 14, and 18. I try to design these so they are distinct from just bonus spells (which the cultist gains via Cult Spells), but sometimes the cult secret duplicates a spell effect but with some added condition or duration.

Deathmaster Banak · May 24, 2020

xoth.publishing said:
Yeah, so the Cult Secrets are cult-specific, thematically appropriate special abilities gained by the Cultist at level 6, 14, and 18. I try to design these so they are distinct from just bonus spells (which the cultist gains via Cult Spells), but sometimes the cult secret duplicates a spell effect but with some added condition or duration.

Fantastic guide.

Any plans to flesh out the other cults? 5 down, 17 more to go (actually 16 if Aklathu doesn't have any priests)!

xoth.publishing · May 24, 2020

Deathmaster Banak said:
Fantastic guide.

Thanks!

Deathmaster Banak said:
Any plans to flesh out the other cults? 5 down, 17 more to go (actually 16 if Aklathu doesn't have any priests)!

I do, but although none of these cults are exactly Sunday School, I guess the details and secrets of a few of the more villainous cults should go in a yet-to-be-released "Game Master's Guide to the World of Xoth" rather than the Player's Guide... !

Also note that when Mongoose Publishing did their conversion of "The Spider-God's Bride" to the Legend RPG some years ago, they added some details of the cults to one of the introductory chapters.

Deathmaster Banak · May 26, 2020

xoth.publishing said:
I do, but although none of these cults are exactly Sunday School, I guess the details and secrets of a few of the more villainous cults should go in a yet-to-be-released "Game Master's Guide to the World of Xoth" rather than the Player's Guide... !

Also note that when Mongoose Publishing did their conversion of "The Spider-God's Bride" to the Legend RPG some years ago, they added some details of the cults to one of the introductory chapters.

Yeah but the Legend details don't have the Thulsa seal of approval, and the villainous cults are the most fun! I'm hoping to get my group to play in Xoth so the sooner I have the details for all the cults (either in the Player's Guide or new GM's Guide) the better

.

CapnZapp · May 27, 2020

Do you have any plans to complement the artwork as to not have to repeat images in a relatively short book such as yours (pages 34 and 35 for example; and 47)?

Cheers

xoth.publishing · May 27, 2020

CapnZapp said:
Do you have any plans to complement the artwork as to not have to repeat images in a relatively short book such as yours (pages 34 and 35 for example; and 47)?

No, not really. The book has already severely busted its art budget:

Book has 66 pages
33 original illustrations were especially commissioned just for this book
12 original illustrations were re-used from other Xoth Publishing books
6 pieces of artwork (including variations and crops) are re-used on another page
The book is FREE

A relevant quote from Endzeitgeist's review of the (Pathfinder) version of the book:

"The artworks deserve special mention: I have RARELY seen a book with this many amazing original b/w-pieces. Big kudos! The pdf has no bookmarks, which constitutes a comfort-detriment... but then again... IT’S FREE. It's the single most lavishly-illustrated free file I have seen in YEARS. I mean it."

And that guy has seen a lot of books...!

PS. That said, if there are any up-and-coming artists who would like to contribute some cool sword & sorcery black and white artwork to this book, I'd be happy to include it!

CapnZapp · Feb 23, 2021

S'mon said:
There are lots of physically powerful, albeit villainous, casters in S&S, so I'm not sure about this Real Men Don't Use Magic trope.

The "albeit villainous" part here is important.

We're not arguing there's anything wrong with the D&D spellcasting rules. Not in general, and not for use in your S&S games.

We are arguing however, they are not appropriate for player characters.

D&D magic is too clean, too functional. It works like a tool. It's reliable. There are no downsides.

For a villainous caster who has already sold her soul to dark powers, that's alright. The cost is presumed to already be paid (if nothing else by the fact she's "villainous"). There's no point in keeping records of exactly how far she's fallen. She's an evil NPC and that's enough.

But for a player character, we must rewind to before the falling-into-depravity part. Back when the cost was something you want to avoid paying. For a player character in a S&S setting magic needs to be at least one of the following things:
* unreliable
And I don't just simply mean a chance of failing to cast the spell (the gun jamming). I mean a risk of the magic hitting the wrong target, or having the wrong effect altogether. I'm talking things like it starts to rain dead frogs after your spell is cast.
* feared and distrusted
And I don't mean the natural fear of getting zapped. A man might fear a sword being used against him, but swords aren't feared and distrusted by themselves.
* corrupting you mind, body and/or soul

And to be honest, preferably all of them. But D&D magic is none of them.

There is no cost to using magic in D&D. While this is essential to supporting the standard trope of "fighter, rogue, wizard, cleric" that's completely antithetical to the Sword & Sorcery genre.