Spellbook Games releases 'Portal to Adventure' classic RPG Rules

[Geoff Dale]

Spellbook Games is proud to announce the release of ‘Portal to Adventure,’ a classic fantasy role-playing game system. ‘Portal to Adventure’ provides the essential rules and background material needed to run a fantasy campaign, and emphasizes playability, without overburdening either Player or Games Master. The rules system hearkens back to the early days of role playing, when the game was about exploring, quests, mysteries, treasures, and heroic deeds, not about facilitating character concepts. ‘Portal to Adventure’ is a minimal-rule system that provides the Games Master a framework and tool kit with which to build their campaign. ‘Portal’ is intentionally constructed with limited details, much like the classic games.

The rule set includes four Races and seven Character Classes, including several warrior-classes, spellcasting Mages, and Priests. Character classes can come from any race, and the choice of race has both benefits and drawbacks. Specialization among spellcasters is based on the elements, and both monotheistic and polytheistic deities are described for Priests. ‘Portal’ features a unique approach to magic that allows for innate power differences among spellcasters without overpowering the other adventuring Classes.

This product provides everything a Games Master needs to run a campaign in a single reference book: rules for Players, rules for Games Masters, spell and prayer lists, information on enchanted items, and a bestiary of fantastic creatures. 114 Pages.


Now available on DrivethruRPG and later today on our website, Spellbook Games. If you are thinking about a simpler kind of game then please come and look at Portals, and the other find products from Spellbook Games, home of the original Inferno !



Geoff

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Which flavor of "classic adventuring" does it most resemble? And how does it differ from other OSR releases? Is this a D20-based system?

 

[Geoff Dale]

Answer to What Flavor?

Whizbang:

I can give some details - releasing Portals fills a real big hole for us since all of the products we've released since last March have actually been written in it. But from a GM perspective it converts really really easily into 1E.

Portals is most similar to First Edition in its spirit, more than in its mechanics, and it has a similar level of detail to the original three Gygax pamphlets (for example, very limited descriptions about monsters, spells, and enchanted items, by intention). There is lots of leaning on 'the GM decides' when there isn't a formal rule for something. We did a couple of years of playtesting and whenever a rule wasn't absolutely essential it was left out of the Portal rule book (I have tons of optional rules written up from that campaign, and maybe someday we'll publish a compendium of them, but not now)

Here are some differences from D&D (circa 1976 to 1980):
* 5 prime stats ranging 7 to 24 (with race adjustments), strength, intelligence, stamina, agility, plus a new one, will; stats generated by 3d6 and put into whichever statistic the player wants; average 13-14; a character whose stats sum to less than a critical number gets thrown out
* HP is directly based on stamina and never changes
* Priests know the resurrection ritual at the start but they don't get good at it until around L6 or so
* to-hit is based on level difference (only a couple of armor class based modifiers)
* critical hit built in on all natural 20's (doubles damage then triples then loses limb)
* Armor reduces damage, minimum hp1 damage from any hit
* Saving rolls are based directly on statistics (low stats have a very hard time from saving from anything, high stats often save); most saves are stamina (physical), will (mental), agility (avoid attack); saving rolls are given in the form d20 roll greater than or equal to [number-statistic] so that success requires a high roll (maintaining the high-is-good paradigm); the less-than statistic form would have been simpler in lots of ways
* Mages can directly detect magic as a class ability
* More difficult magical tasks require rituals (some with more than one mage, and no - I've never even read 4E so no stealing there)
* Brawling rules are included
* Priests and Crusaders can directly heal by laying-on hands (number limited by level)
* Anybody can do limited healing by way of field first aid
* Damaged spell books and scrolls are explosive

Mages, Shamans, and Priests all share the same basic mechanic. Each character has something called the Special Power Statistic, a combination of Intelligence+Will+random die roll. A modifier (0 to 10) is derived from the special power statistic - this modifier is used for lots of things...to determine whether a spell or prayer can be performed, as a damage modifier to attack spells, and in determining both spell duration and range - this really differentiates a 'low power' Mage from a 'high power' Mage. [aside, even non-mages have this modifier, there are minimum values they have to have to use enchanted items] The math works out so that 'average' statistics and average d20 rolls result in modifiers of 3 or 4. There are only three spell 'levels/' Each Mage/Priest gets a number of casts from each spell category they are capable of using (initially only 2 of the 3) that depends on their experience level. After they use up their 'free' casts they have to succeed on d20 rolls that get harder as they continue to cast - their special power modifier is applied as a roll bonus (e.g. we've introduced both luck and statistics into it, so the Mage doesn't know if he's going to get to cast or not, eventually the roll will become so high he can't beat it). Each Mage can cast any of 5 attack spells but they pay a penalty if the spell is out of their 'element.' Most of the familiar D&D spells are there but all Mages can't use them all, which ones they get to select from depends on their element choice; eventually at high enough level they can cross-train into new elements. All spells of mental control and mental abilities (think 'charm' and 'telepathy') go to the Shaman, who also make magic charms.

The whole rules part of the book is about 40 pages long, with all the rest of the book being 'data' in appendices.

I hope that helps.

Geoff

 

[Geoff Dale]

Forgot to add...this is NOT a d20 system as in it's not derived from 3.5 and the SRD in any way, shape, or form. It uses plenty of d20 rolls

Geoff

 

[noffham]

While this game sounds interesting, the price for a pdf, esp. one this size, is much too high. (IMHO, YMMV, etc.)

 

[kitsune9]

Game sounds interesting!

 

[Geoff Dale]

Link to a Review of Portal to Adventure

Here is a link to a review of the game. The reviewer was also a play-tester whose RPG experience had previously been limited to computer and console games.

Spellbook Games Discussions - Review of Portals to Adventure

Also, Portal to Adventure is priced lower on our website than on Drivethru.

Geoff