C.W.Richeson
Explorer
In Short
Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies offers fast paced, cinematic combat thanks to a small number of rules that do a great job of creating a swashbuckling play experience. Clearly inspired by such works as The Three Musketeers, The Princess Bride, and Robin Hood, S7S supports the group from the moment of character generation all the way until the end of the campaign. Solid advice, excellent rules, and fast paced action all come together for a wonderful play experience.
The Good: The ship combat system is fantastic, involving all players in an exciting battle. Character creation is very quick, but the characters still have plenty of interesting qualities.
The Bad: Characters each engaging in their own duels will not work for some players, especially those that have trouble not being constantly engaged. Those that enjoy more robust mechanics will not care for the rules light approach to play. The big fun here is through active, flavorful description which means the game won’t work well for tired friends. Bonuses from Techniques can occasionally slow play.
The Physical Thing
At $30.00, this 328 page black and white softcover showcases average production values for its cost. Occasional editing mistakes can be found, but not enough to cause any distress. The artwork ranges from very atmospheric to poorly fitting clip art, but on the plus side the formatting is well done and the book generally looks nice despite art issues. While there is no index, the table of contents is very detailed and I had no trouble locating rules and concepts during play. It’s also worth noting that from a cost to content perspective this book doesn’t disappoint. There’s a lot of material here to play with.
Hopefully you’re not approaching this product hoping for a visual treat for the eyes. In play the game’s the thing, so let’s take a look at that.
Under the Cover
S7S has quite a bit going on in its 328 pages, offering both an exciting new take on the already well established PDQ system along with far more setting material than is commonly found in a small press endeavor. To appreciate the system and it’s examples we’ll look at the setting first, followed by what makes this version of PDQ so great, and concluding with clear observations from my play experiences with S7S.
The first thing you must understand about the S7S setting is that this adventure filled world looks more like a snow globe than a sphere. There is a flat bottom to the world, a sort of thick liquid called the Blue, which things can fall into and eventually sink through. The center of the world is a cyclone of flame, called the Sky of Fire, which serves as an impassible barrier to travel.
Of course, the lack of a normal ground just means that all of the action takes place in the sky. Floating sky islands are plentiful, with most having some very unique properties. Each island is surrounded with its own atmosphere wherein the magical wood that enables skyships to fly does not function. These ships must land on the water at the edge of the floating islands and sail to land in order to actually dock. This clearly results in a setting where skyships are absolutely essential for trade, but where they offer little more tactical advantage than any sailing ship would in a normal setting. I like this because it results in a diverse setting where the high seas are still an option for adventure.
With the very basics out of the way, let’s focus in on some of the more unique aspects of the setting (beyond the imaginative nature of the world). The 7 Skies part of the title comes from the fact that there are six rotating skies that create the seasons and offer unique environments. The skies include frost, mists, jungle, thunder, stones, and ghost with the sky of fire residing in the middle of the world. A good amount of detail is provided for every one of these skies, which is fantastic since the PCs are likely to spend a great deal of time in each of them. Unique flora and fauna, hazards, magical properties, and similar information is all provided and it’s very flavorful. The attention to things that can live in these environments alone is a treat to read, and it’s very easy to use these ideas to make the Seven Skies very memorable in play.
While there are many cloud islands residing in the Seven Skies five great nations stand out, and it is from them that the heroes spring forth. Of them all, the Barathi Empire showcases both the most loyal and traitorous of peoples. Intrigue and vendetta are common here, but at the same time allegiance to a Noble House defines a person. This is a wonderful group for characters motivated by revenge, family loyalty, or the quest for power.
For those desiring a more individualistic culture, the Viridese are a highly self reliant civilization with a feudal government focused around freeholds. With some Scottish flavor mixed in, this culture is an excellent choice for educated warriors and those who want a more traditional fantasy background. Compared to the Colronans, though, the Viridese are almost savages. Those dwelling in the Kingdom of Colrona enjoy a life of song, drink, entertainment, and protection thanks to the King and his incredible musketeers. Perhaps inspired by France, this Kingdom will be extremely popular in any game since both musketeers and characters inspired by love are very common here.
The Kingdom of Colrona isn’t the only government on the sky island of Colrona, though. The Zultanate of Colrona is a meritorious theocracy and the seat of religious power throughout the world. Merit-based class systems and an extremely strong sense of personal honor serve to govern society generally, with a government controlled by religious tests handling the rest. It’s a very interesting setting, and my personal favorite. As much as I love musketeers and pirates, the cultural presentation of the Zultanate included in S7S really stirs my imagination.
Two once similar nations, Crail and Ilwuz, are the shattered remnants of a large sky island once known as Crailwuz. In a terrible war some years ago a mystical weapon shattered the island into two pieces, each of which has become distinct over time. Ruled by a military dictatorship, Crail is an extremely cosmopolitan society that sports the largest city in the world. Ilwuz, meanwhile, is a pirate haven that disappears and reappears at unpredictable locations throughout the world. Only those native to Ilwuz can find it, making it an ideal location for rogues and villains who want to avoid other governments.
Finally, Sha Ka Ruq is an enormous island hovering nearer to the Blue. A wilderness, this island sports tribes of bluemen who have united to form the Confederated Tribes, a rising power among the nations. Those who want to play a noble savage, an educated but misunderstood tribal person, or a swashbuckler with more of a natural theme (such as the giant bird riders native to this group) will find this civilization to fit their needs well. With these islands we have a huge variety of cultures and peoples, but there are minor islands as well which offer the opportunity to open up the setting to the imagination of all participants. Speaking of imagination, let’s take a look at one feature that invites clever application: magic.
Magic principally comes from two sources: Alchemy and Gifts. Alchemy can be learned and works a lot like ancient chemistry does, but with more interesting components. Unique forms of gunpowder, magical woods, and even weapons with unique properties are all possible through the careful application of alchemy. It’s a very appropriate source for these magical objects, and fits well with the setting.
Gifts enable what some might call “high magic.” Some people are born with one or two gifts, and very rare individuals are born with a variety of gifts and the capacity to learn more. These people, called Koldun, are loved or feared depending on the culture they’re born in. They can access gifts no one has ever been born with, blend different gifts together, and even create potent magical objects.
Speaking of Gifts, let’s take a look at what S7S offers up. Basilisk (telepathy and illusions), Dragon (fire creation/control), Giffin (body amplification), Merhorse (divination and projection), Pegasus (telekinesis), Thunderbird (weather and luck), and Unicorn (aid or harm life energy) are common in that a person is occasionally born able to use any one of them. Chimera (shapeshifting), Manticore (super-charisma), and Qilin (super-agility) are available only to Koldun.
As with everything else in this system (Prose Descriptive Qualities Sharp, PDQ#), imagination is absolutely essential to having a good time in play. This is especially true of the magic system, as there are no rules or guidelines for magic use except that a use beyond a normal combat use requires a Style Point expenditure (more on that later). Difficulties of actions, the capabilities of magic, and similar information is woefully absent. The book presents this as intention, allowing the individual GM to craft the setting to fit what they want to do. That would be a great idea but for the fact that there could still be guidelines provided, and the lack of these guidelines is the biggest problem I have with S7S.
In play this means that magic is completely up to the GM to determine, with regard to how difficult it is to use and whether there are any additional costs incurred. I had no difficulty balancing this in play, and magic seemed useful but not overpowering. A clever player can already take a quality like Musketeer and use it for an incredible number of rolls, and I find magic to be on the same level as a broader quality like that. With that in mind, I recommend anyone playing a magic user or running a S7S game take the time to write down what they believe magic can and can not do with any appropriate difficulties generally sketched out.
No matter what magical skills a character possesses, sooner or later all characters must find a way to pull out a victory in a skyship. Skyships are a key part of the setting, and for good reason considering how profitable travel between sky islands can be. A lot of excellent, flavorful roleplay support is provided for skyships, their customs, and their crews. Common sayings, sailing terminology, crew positions, maneuvers, travel times, hazards, international trade, warfare, types of shot, and piracy all receive a page or more of detail. The material is interesting, zeroes in on concepts that make play more fun, and does a great job of supporting play.
Setting material is found all throughout S7S, but with the majority of it already discussed it’s time for us to look at the engine that drives this game. PDQ# is a roll high d6 system that encourages descriptive narration in order to perform as well as possible. It does offer some special maneuvers, but for the most part is best described as a rules light system that discards more involved rules for the sake of speed of setup and play. Because of this it works very well as a pickup game, and groups who prefer a minimum of rules and a maximum of player narration will enjoy this game.
There are two major times dice are being rolled in PDQ. The first is for a Challenge, any conflict that is only interesting or important enough to be resolved with a single roll. Dispatching a single minion, jumping between two skyships, or bribing a city official are all examples of Challenges. Challenges are resolved by rolling 2d6 and adding any relevant character Qualities to the roll. This result can be all over the place, depending on the situation, and it’s not unusual for characters to have a +6 or higher bonus to the initial die roll. A simple difficulty chart ranges from 5 (trivial) to 13 (very difficult) and onward.
The second situation is a Duel. Typically occurring as an actual duel, with words or blade, characters face off against villains or minions taking turns to best one another. Both sides will get to go and each receives 3d6 to distribute among attack, defense, and sometimes something else (such as a meta skyship maneuver). The dice are rolled and the modifiers for each relevant Quality are added to arrive at a total. The difference between attack and defense inflicts either Failure or Wound ranks on the opponent, forcing them to decrease Qualities until they are zeroed out (which actually means below -2). When all Qualities are zeroed out they’ve lost the fight.
Of final note on the core rules, all characters have Techniques attached to certain Qualities. These Techniques offer extra d6s to roll but not keep or a flat +1 bonus to a die roll whenever they are worked into the player’s narration. Thus, if a character has Acrobatic as a Trait and the player describes the action as flipping over a table while catching a falling sword then the player will be able to roll an extra die or add a flat +1 to the roll. With the basics out of the way let’s take a look at character creation before coming back to system discussion again at the end of the review.
Character creation begins with a good name and a flaw, called a Foible here. Naming suggestions for each culture are provided, as are plenty of Foibles. Foibles are important because they’re fun and offer opportunities to pick up additional Style Dice in play. For an example of all of character creation let’s look at one of the characters built for my S7S games.
Example: Diego Ignacioson was the black sheep of his family, leaving the Colronan Sky Navy for a pirate band but eventually becoming somewhat reformed (thanks to his family’s money). He has been a successful servant of the King as a musketeer for a few years now, and while he does it more for the wine and women he still has a patriots heart beating underneath all that charm.
Foible: Party Animal
A character’s Motivation is key to all of their adventures, and is frequently rolled in play since the adventures will hopefully involve their specific quests more than a few times. Motivation is often determined, at least in part, on a character’s Nationality. Nationality can be a little more difficult to nail down considering that the cultures are only moderately fleshed out, but crafty players will find themselves rewarded in play for adding to the cultures by describing how and why their cultural background applies to a certain challenge.
Example: Motivation: For King and Country +2 and Nationality: Colronan +2 are added to the character sheet.
Three other Qualities come next. All characters have a Quality associated with their Past, speaking of where they’ve been and what they’ve done. All characters have a Swashbuckling Forte. This is a sort of super quality that defines what the character will do the most in play. Koldun, Musketeer, Dread Pirate, and similar sorts of Qualities all work well here and the book is loaded with excellent suggestions and setting specific organizations. Finally, other Qualities are purchased to further round out the character. Players have three additional advances they can put towards already purchased Qualities or new ones.
Example: Past: Pirate +2 and Swashbuckling Forte: Musketeer +2 are both taken. For his last three Diego gains an additional +2 to Musketeer, the magical sword Balizarde at +2, and Colronan Aristocrat (a prerequisite to be a Musketeer) at +2.
Finally, all characters receive five points in Techniques. Techniques only cost 1 point each if they’re attached to a Swashbuckling Forte, but cost 2 for another Quality and 3 if they aren’t attached to anything at all. There is no limit to the number of Techniques that can be pulled into a roll, so placing them all with the Swashbuckling Forte is perfectly reasonable.
Example: Diego takes Saber, Gregarious, and With Drink in Hand as Techniques for Musketeer. For Colronan Diego takes Seducing Other Men’s Wives.
That’s it for character creation. With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at the system again with a couple of quick examples.
Example: Diego is seducing the enemy commander’s wife (yes, this is from play). He incorporates Colronan, Colronan Aristocrat, and Musketeer making a clever pass that draws on his noble heritage and roguish nature as an enemy agent. He rolled 2d6 + 8 getting two 5s on the dice. He adds his Seducing Other Men’s Wives for a total of 19 on the roll. She happily succumbs to his charms and the next duel happens when the enemy commander catches the two of them in bed. For that duel Diego will be rolling 3d6 and distributing the dice between attack and defense, using an entirely different sword to secure his victory!
With the core system out of the way I want to focus in on a few other system tweaks before wrapping up this review with an overview of the supporting material included. The biggest involves ship combat. Every character takes on a major role aboard a ship, preferably that of ship officers. The ship has a rating (Ex: Excelsior +4) and t his is the only raw number used in a Duel involving a ship. Instead of adding more Qualities, the Captain gives orders to other crew members based on their leadership-oriented Qualities. Other players make roles to execute these orders, and successes provide the Captain with another die to roll but not keep. In this way everyone is constantly involved in what’s going on aboard the ship. In play this was the most engaging, fun vehicle combat mechanic I have ever encountered. I may very well use S7S for a Star Trek game just because I had so much fun with this mechanic. Mr. Worf, give me a photon torpedo spread across their bow!
In a dramatic situation like a skyship battle characters may find their Style Dice reserves running dry, so let’s take a look at why Style Points are so important. A Style Die can be used to modify an existing scene by adding in new details or NPC. It may also be used for a bonus to die rolls just like a Trait. To gain more Style Dice a player just needs to play up a characters Foible or do to really cool stuff in play. I’ve found that as the swashbuckling action gets going Style Dice begin flowing freely around the table, and that just kicks the game’s energy level up another notch.
When the scenes are really shining, it’s because all of the participants are joining in. S7S has clear guidelines on who gets to narrate at different times. It’s definitely a traditional game in that it uses a GM, but the way narration is handed off enables more descriptive action sequences as players explain why their characters succeeded or failed at an action. Combined with good GM advice and a ton of wonderful setting material, S7S does everything it can to assist in creating great play at the table.
Speaking of going the extra mile, S7S has a nice amount of support material. Many fleshed out villains are included along with game advice, full character creation examples, and information on all the books and movies you need to read in order to get in the swashbuckling mood. More RPGs should offer the amount of support S7S provides, and even veteran gamers will find this material useful.
With all the discussion of the actual book out of the way I’m going to talk a little about my play experiences. You can find the complete stats for all three PCs at the very end of this review if you’d like to see a few more example characters. Play focused on using an appropriated pirate ship to sail from Colrona to Barathi in order to crash a wedding between one of the musketeers’ secret lovers and a powerful Barathi widow. Since this lover also happened to be the king’s nephew, the adventure was primed for action.
With some general roleplay behind us the group set out on the skyship Lightning’s Revenge. A furious assault on a Barathi ship led to a boarding action and then taking command of that vessel. Piloted to the capital of Barathi, the characters made contact with a musketeer operative who provided them with wedding invitations. The wedding was crashed, epic duels were held, and our heroes spirited away with complete success.
The first time I took note of how pleased I was with the S7S mechanics was during the ship duel. Everyone was engaged and individual character actions had a clear impact on events outside of the fact that they were giving the captain additional dice to roll. By the time boarding was over everyone was quite pleased with what their character was capable of doing, and it seemed as if every roll pulled in a different mix of Qualities and Techniques to the action. This laid to rest an initial concern of mine that a player would just use the same optimal set for most activities. That could still happen, but hopefully folk will realize how boring that would be. PDQ is all about coming up with a plan of action outside of the rules and then allowing the rules to support that plan.
Individual duels were fun. Against groups of minions players were able to feel like real action heroes (every damage rank takes out a minion and they function as a group) while against the leaders there was witty banter and much swinging from things. One character even engaged the enemy commander in a duel while both were hanging from ropes.
Characters were driven based on their Motivation all throughout the session. This resulted in one musketeer seeking out the man that killed her father and dueling him in front of a group of Barathi nobles. Another crashed the wedding and went one on one with the widow attempting to steal away his love. With Style Dice flying every scene had plenty of action and adventure, not to mention witty banter.
The only problem I ever encountered was that sometimes players would take a little time deciding how they wanted to use bonuses from Techniques and Style Dice, which resulted in a slight slowdown in play. This is because the bonuses can be used after a roll, so some number crunching was being performed as to whether a +1 is better than another die roll. For future games I may just make the expenditure extra dice only to avoid this problem and also to discourage stockpiling until late in the session.
My Take
I’ve had a lot of fun with S7S in play and I highly recommend it. The rules light system approach won’t work for everyone, but for those that enjoy it this is an excellent rules set. The ship combat rules are particularly well done, and this is one of only a few games where I look forward to vehicle combat. If playing games inspired by The Three Musketeers, The Princess Bride, and Robin Hood sounds like fun to you then give Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies a shot.
The Characters
Name: Victor Franciscoson (Veronika Williamsdar)
Synopsis: Her father murdered by a fellow musketeer, Veronika left in the night and was presumed dead. Years of training with a guild of thieves gave her skills that enabled her to join the musketeers with forged papers under the guise of a man. Now she is on a mission that may bring her into contact with Meldorath, the former musketeer who slew her father some 10 years ago.
Foible: Revenge
Motivation: To Honor Her Father’s Memory +2
Nationality: Colronan +2
Past: Rogue +4
Swashbuckling Forte: Musketeer +4
Other Fortes: Colronan Aristocrat +2
Techniques: Musketeer – Rapier, Vs Ex-Musketeers, Fierce, While Wounded, Manly
Name: Diego Ignacioson
Synopsis: Diego was always the black sheep of his family, but after a bad turn with a band of pirates he (partially) got his act together. With his family’s help he joined the muskeers, where he has been a successful servant of the King despite his love for wine and women. He fights with his family’s ancestral saber, Balizarde
Foible: Party Animal
Motivation: For King and Country +2
Nationality: Colronan +2
Past: Pirate +2
Swashbuckling Forte: Musketeer +4
Other Fortes: Balizarde +2, Colronan Aristocrat +2
Techniques: Musketeer - Saber, Gregarious, With Drink In Hand. Colronan – Seducing Other Men’s Wives
Name: Loren Marcson
Synopsis: From a wealthy family with a long history of service, Loren has always been an exemplary servant of the King despite his dark secret. Loren is in love with another man, Stephen, the king’s nephew. Their quiet trysts were cut short some months ago when Stephen was kidnapped, and now Loren will do anything to save his lost love.
Foible: True Love
Motivation: True Love for Stephen +2
Nationality: Colronan +2
Past: Colronan Aristocrat +2
Swashbuckling Forte: Musketeer +6
Other Fortes: Repartee +2
Techniques: Repartee – In Defense of Love, Musketeer – Rapier, Acrobatic, Witty Banter In The Face of Danger
Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies offers fast paced, cinematic combat thanks to a small number of rules that do a great job of creating a swashbuckling play experience. Clearly inspired by such works as The Three Musketeers, The Princess Bride, and Robin Hood, S7S supports the group from the moment of character generation all the way until the end of the campaign. Solid advice, excellent rules, and fast paced action all come together for a wonderful play experience.
The Good: The ship combat system is fantastic, involving all players in an exciting battle. Character creation is very quick, but the characters still have plenty of interesting qualities.
The Bad: Characters each engaging in their own duels will not work for some players, especially those that have trouble not being constantly engaged. Those that enjoy more robust mechanics will not care for the rules light approach to play. The big fun here is through active, flavorful description which means the game won’t work well for tired friends. Bonuses from Techniques can occasionally slow play.
The Physical Thing
At $30.00, this 328 page black and white softcover showcases average production values for its cost. Occasional editing mistakes can be found, but not enough to cause any distress. The artwork ranges from very atmospheric to poorly fitting clip art, but on the plus side the formatting is well done and the book generally looks nice despite art issues. While there is no index, the table of contents is very detailed and I had no trouble locating rules and concepts during play. It’s also worth noting that from a cost to content perspective this book doesn’t disappoint. There’s a lot of material here to play with.
Hopefully you’re not approaching this product hoping for a visual treat for the eyes. In play the game’s the thing, so let’s take a look at that.
Under the Cover
S7S has quite a bit going on in its 328 pages, offering both an exciting new take on the already well established PDQ system along with far more setting material than is commonly found in a small press endeavor. To appreciate the system and it’s examples we’ll look at the setting first, followed by what makes this version of PDQ so great, and concluding with clear observations from my play experiences with S7S.
The first thing you must understand about the S7S setting is that this adventure filled world looks more like a snow globe than a sphere. There is a flat bottom to the world, a sort of thick liquid called the Blue, which things can fall into and eventually sink through. The center of the world is a cyclone of flame, called the Sky of Fire, which serves as an impassible barrier to travel.
Of course, the lack of a normal ground just means that all of the action takes place in the sky. Floating sky islands are plentiful, with most having some very unique properties. Each island is surrounded with its own atmosphere wherein the magical wood that enables skyships to fly does not function. These ships must land on the water at the edge of the floating islands and sail to land in order to actually dock. This clearly results in a setting where skyships are absolutely essential for trade, but where they offer little more tactical advantage than any sailing ship would in a normal setting. I like this because it results in a diverse setting where the high seas are still an option for adventure.
With the very basics out of the way, let’s focus in on some of the more unique aspects of the setting (beyond the imaginative nature of the world). The 7 Skies part of the title comes from the fact that there are six rotating skies that create the seasons and offer unique environments. The skies include frost, mists, jungle, thunder, stones, and ghost with the sky of fire residing in the middle of the world. A good amount of detail is provided for every one of these skies, which is fantastic since the PCs are likely to spend a great deal of time in each of them. Unique flora and fauna, hazards, magical properties, and similar information is all provided and it’s very flavorful. The attention to things that can live in these environments alone is a treat to read, and it’s very easy to use these ideas to make the Seven Skies very memorable in play.
While there are many cloud islands residing in the Seven Skies five great nations stand out, and it is from them that the heroes spring forth. Of them all, the Barathi Empire showcases both the most loyal and traitorous of peoples. Intrigue and vendetta are common here, but at the same time allegiance to a Noble House defines a person. This is a wonderful group for characters motivated by revenge, family loyalty, or the quest for power.
For those desiring a more individualistic culture, the Viridese are a highly self reliant civilization with a feudal government focused around freeholds. With some Scottish flavor mixed in, this culture is an excellent choice for educated warriors and those who want a more traditional fantasy background. Compared to the Colronans, though, the Viridese are almost savages. Those dwelling in the Kingdom of Colrona enjoy a life of song, drink, entertainment, and protection thanks to the King and his incredible musketeers. Perhaps inspired by France, this Kingdom will be extremely popular in any game since both musketeers and characters inspired by love are very common here.
The Kingdom of Colrona isn’t the only government on the sky island of Colrona, though. The Zultanate of Colrona is a meritorious theocracy and the seat of religious power throughout the world. Merit-based class systems and an extremely strong sense of personal honor serve to govern society generally, with a government controlled by religious tests handling the rest. It’s a very interesting setting, and my personal favorite. As much as I love musketeers and pirates, the cultural presentation of the Zultanate included in S7S really stirs my imagination.
Two once similar nations, Crail and Ilwuz, are the shattered remnants of a large sky island once known as Crailwuz. In a terrible war some years ago a mystical weapon shattered the island into two pieces, each of which has become distinct over time. Ruled by a military dictatorship, Crail is an extremely cosmopolitan society that sports the largest city in the world. Ilwuz, meanwhile, is a pirate haven that disappears and reappears at unpredictable locations throughout the world. Only those native to Ilwuz can find it, making it an ideal location for rogues and villains who want to avoid other governments.
Finally, Sha Ka Ruq is an enormous island hovering nearer to the Blue. A wilderness, this island sports tribes of bluemen who have united to form the Confederated Tribes, a rising power among the nations. Those who want to play a noble savage, an educated but misunderstood tribal person, or a swashbuckler with more of a natural theme (such as the giant bird riders native to this group) will find this civilization to fit their needs well. With these islands we have a huge variety of cultures and peoples, but there are minor islands as well which offer the opportunity to open up the setting to the imagination of all participants. Speaking of imagination, let’s take a look at one feature that invites clever application: magic.
Magic principally comes from two sources: Alchemy and Gifts. Alchemy can be learned and works a lot like ancient chemistry does, but with more interesting components. Unique forms of gunpowder, magical woods, and even weapons with unique properties are all possible through the careful application of alchemy. It’s a very appropriate source for these magical objects, and fits well with the setting.
Gifts enable what some might call “high magic.” Some people are born with one or two gifts, and very rare individuals are born with a variety of gifts and the capacity to learn more. These people, called Koldun, are loved or feared depending on the culture they’re born in. They can access gifts no one has ever been born with, blend different gifts together, and even create potent magical objects.
Speaking of Gifts, let’s take a look at what S7S offers up. Basilisk (telepathy and illusions), Dragon (fire creation/control), Giffin (body amplification), Merhorse (divination and projection), Pegasus (telekinesis), Thunderbird (weather and luck), and Unicorn (aid or harm life energy) are common in that a person is occasionally born able to use any one of them. Chimera (shapeshifting), Manticore (super-charisma), and Qilin (super-agility) are available only to Koldun.
As with everything else in this system (Prose Descriptive Qualities Sharp, PDQ#), imagination is absolutely essential to having a good time in play. This is especially true of the magic system, as there are no rules or guidelines for magic use except that a use beyond a normal combat use requires a Style Point expenditure (more on that later). Difficulties of actions, the capabilities of magic, and similar information is woefully absent. The book presents this as intention, allowing the individual GM to craft the setting to fit what they want to do. That would be a great idea but for the fact that there could still be guidelines provided, and the lack of these guidelines is the biggest problem I have with S7S.
In play this means that magic is completely up to the GM to determine, with regard to how difficult it is to use and whether there are any additional costs incurred. I had no difficulty balancing this in play, and magic seemed useful but not overpowering. A clever player can already take a quality like Musketeer and use it for an incredible number of rolls, and I find magic to be on the same level as a broader quality like that. With that in mind, I recommend anyone playing a magic user or running a S7S game take the time to write down what they believe magic can and can not do with any appropriate difficulties generally sketched out.
No matter what magical skills a character possesses, sooner or later all characters must find a way to pull out a victory in a skyship. Skyships are a key part of the setting, and for good reason considering how profitable travel between sky islands can be. A lot of excellent, flavorful roleplay support is provided for skyships, their customs, and their crews. Common sayings, sailing terminology, crew positions, maneuvers, travel times, hazards, international trade, warfare, types of shot, and piracy all receive a page or more of detail. The material is interesting, zeroes in on concepts that make play more fun, and does a great job of supporting play.
Setting material is found all throughout S7S, but with the majority of it already discussed it’s time for us to look at the engine that drives this game. PDQ# is a roll high d6 system that encourages descriptive narration in order to perform as well as possible. It does offer some special maneuvers, but for the most part is best described as a rules light system that discards more involved rules for the sake of speed of setup and play. Because of this it works very well as a pickup game, and groups who prefer a minimum of rules and a maximum of player narration will enjoy this game.
There are two major times dice are being rolled in PDQ. The first is for a Challenge, any conflict that is only interesting or important enough to be resolved with a single roll. Dispatching a single minion, jumping between two skyships, or bribing a city official are all examples of Challenges. Challenges are resolved by rolling 2d6 and adding any relevant character Qualities to the roll. This result can be all over the place, depending on the situation, and it’s not unusual for characters to have a +6 or higher bonus to the initial die roll. A simple difficulty chart ranges from 5 (trivial) to 13 (very difficult) and onward.
The second situation is a Duel. Typically occurring as an actual duel, with words or blade, characters face off against villains or minions taking turns to best one another. Both sides will get to go and each receives 3d6 to distribute among attack, defense, and sometimes something else (such as a meta skyship maneuver). The dice are rolled and the modifiers for each relevant Quality are added to arrive at a total. The difference between attack and defense inflicts either Failure or Wound ranks on the opponent, forcing them to decrease Qualities until they are zeroed out (which actually means below -2). When all Qualities are zeroed out they’ve lost the fight.
Of final note on the core rules, all characters have Techniques attached to certain Qualities. These Techniques offer extra d6s to roll but not keep or a flat +1 bonus to a die roll whenever they are worked into the player’s narration. Thus, if a character has Acrobatic as a Trait and the player describes the action as flipping over a table while catching a falling sword then the player will be able to roll an extra die or add a flat +1 to the roll. With the basics out of the way let’s take a look at character creation before coming back to system discussion again at the end of the review.
Character creation begins with a good name and a flaw, called a Foible here. Naming suggestions for each culture are provided, as are plenty of Foibles. Foibles are important because they’re fun and offer opportunities to pick up additional Style Dice in play. For an example of all of character creation let’s look at one of the characters built for my S7S games.
Example: Diego Ignacioson was the black sheep of his family, leaving the Colronan Sky Navy for a pirate band but eventually becoming somewhat reformed (thanks to his family’s money). He has been a successful servant of the King as a musketeer for a few years now, and while he does it more for the wine and women he still has a patriots heart beating underneath all that charm.
Foible: Party Animal
A character’s Motivation is key to all of their adventures, and is frequently rolled in play since the adventures will hopefully involve their specific quests more than a few times. Motivation is often determined, at least in part, on a character’s Nationality. Nationality can be a little more difficult to nail down considering that the cultures are only moderately fleshed out, but crafty players will find themselves rewarded in play for adding to the cultures by describing how and why their cultural background applies to a certain challenge.
Example: Motivation: For King and Country +2 and Nationality: Colronan +2 are added to the character sheet.
Three other Qualities come next. All characters have a Quality associated with their Past, speaking of where they’ve been and what they’ve done. All characters have a Swashbuckling Forte. This is a sort of super quality that defines what the character will do the most in play. Koldun, Musketeer, Dread Pirate, and similar sorts of Qualities all work well here and the book is loaded with excellent suggestions and setting specific organizations. Finally, other Qualities are purchased to further round out the character. Players have three additional advances they can put towards already purchased Qualities or new ones.
Example: Past: Pirate +2 and Swashbuckling Forte: Musketeer +2 are both taken. For his last three Diego gains an additional +2 to Musketeer, the magical sword Balizarde at +2, and Colronan Aristocrat (a prerequisite to be a Musketeer) at +2.
Finally, all characters receive five points in Techniques. Techniques only cost 1 point each if they’re attached to a Swashbuckling Forte, but cost 2 for another Quality and 3 if they aren’t attached to anything at all. There is no limit to the number of Techniques that can be pulled into a roll, so placing them all with the Swashbuckling Forte is perfectly reasonable.
Example: Diego takes Saber, Gregarious, and With Drink in Hand as Techniques for Musketeer. For Colronan Diego takes Seducing Other Men’s Wives.
That’s it for character creation. With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at the system again with a couple of quick examples.
Example: Diego is seducing the enemy commander’s wife (yes, this is from play). He incorporates Colronan, Colronan Aristocrat, and Musketeer making a clever pass that draws on his noble heritage and roguish nature as an enemy agent. He rolled 2d6 + 8 getting two 5s on the dice. He adds his Seducing Other Men’s Wives for a total of 19 on the roll. She happily succumbs to his charms and the next duel happens when the enemy commander catches the two of them in bed. For that duel Diego will be rolling 3d6 and distributing the dice between attack and defense, using an entirely different sword to secure his victory!
With the core system out of the way I want to focus in on a few other system tweaks before wrapping up this review with an overview of the supporting material included. The biggest involves ship combat. Every character takes on a major role aboard a ship, preferably that of ship officers. The ship has a rating (Ex: Excelsior +4) and t his is the only raw number used in a Duel involving a ship. Instead of adding more Qualities, the Captain gives orders to other crew members based on their leadership-oriented Qualities. Other players make roles to execute these orders, and successes provide the Captain with another die to roll but not keep. In this way everyone is constantly involved in what’s going on aboard the ship. In play this was the most engaging, fun vehicle combat mechanic I have ever encountered. I may very well use S7S for a Star Trek game just because I had so much fun with this mechanic. Mr. Worf, give me a photon torpedo spread across their bow!
In a dramatic situation like a skyship battle characters may find their Style Dice reserves running dry, so let’s take a look at why Style Points are so important. A Style Die can be used to modify an existing scene by adding in new details or NPC. It may also be used for a bonus to die rolls just like a Trait. To gain more Style Dice a player just needs to play up a characters Foible or do to really cool stuff in play. I’ve found that as the swashbuckling action gets going Style Dice begin flowing freely around the table, and that just kicks the game’s energy level up another notch.
When the scenes are really shining, it’s because all of the participants are joining in. S7S has clear guidelines on who gets to narrate at different times. It’s definitely a traditional game in that it uses a GM, but the way narration is handed off enables more descriptive action sequences as players explain why their characters succeeded or failed at an action. Combined with good GM advice and a ton of wonderful setting material, S7S does everything it can to assist in creating great play at the table.
Speaking of going the extra mile, S7S has a nice amount of support material. Many fleshed out villains are included along with game advice, full character creation examples, and information on all the books and movies you need to read in order to get in the swashbuckling mood. More RPGs should offer the amount of support S7S provides, and even veteran gamers will find this material useful.
With all the discussion of the actual book out of the way I’m going to talk a little about my play experiences. You can find the complete stats for all three PCs at the very end of this review if you’d like to see a few more example characters. Play focused on using an appropriated pirate ship to sail from Colrona to Barathi in order to crash a wedding between one of the musketeers’ secret lovers and a powerful Barathi widow. Since this lover also happened to be the king’s nephew, the adventure was primed for action.
With some general roleplay behind us the group set out on the skyship Lightning’s Revenge. A furious assault on a Barathi ship led to a boarding action and then taking command of that vessel. Piloted to the capital of Barathi, the characters made contact with a musketeer operative who provided them with wedding invitations. The wedding was crashed, epic duels were held, and our heroes spirited away with complete success.
The first time I took note of how pleased I was with the S7S mechanics was during the ship duel. Everyone was engaged and individual character actions had a clear impact on events outside of the fact that they were giving the captain additional dice to roll. By the time boarding was over everyone was quite pleased with what their character was capable of doing, and it seemed as if every roll pulled in a different mix of Qualities and Techniques to the action. This laid to rest an initial concern of mine that a player would just use the same optimal set for most activities. That could still happen, but hopefully folk will realize how boring that would be. PDQ is all about coming up with a plan of action outside of the rules and then allowing the rules to support that plan.
Individual duels were fun. Against groups of minions players were able to feel like real action heroes (every damage rank takes out a minion and they function as a group) while against the leaders there was witty banter and much swinging from things. One character even engaged the enemy commander in a duel while both were hanging from ropes.
Characters were driven based on their Motivation all throughout the session. This resulted in one musketeer seeking out the man that killed her father and dueling him in front of a group of Barathi nobles. Another crashed the wedding and went one on one with the widow attempting to steal away his love. With Style Dice flying every scene had plenty of action and adventure, not to mention witty banter.
The only problem I ever encountered was that sometimes players would take a little time deciding how they wanted to use bonuses from Techniques and Style Dice, which resulted in a slight slowdown in play. This is because the bonuses can be used after a roll, so some number crunching was being performed as to whether a +1 is better than another die roll. For future games I may just make the expenditure extra dice only to avoid this problem and also to discourage stockpiling until late in the session.
My Take
I’ve had a lot of fun with S7S in play and I highly recommend it. The rules light system approach won’t work for everyone, but for those that enjoy it this is an excellent rules set. The ship combat rules are particularly well done, and this is one of only a few games where I look forward to vehicle combat. If playing games inspired by The Three Musketeers, The Princess Bride, and Robin Hood sounds like fun to you then give Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies a shot.
The Characters
Name: Victor Franciscoson (Veronika Williamsdar)
Synopsis: Her father murdered by a fellow musketeer, Veronika left in the night and was presumed dead. Years of training with a guild of thieves gave her skills that enabled her to join the musketeers with forged papers under the guise of a man. Now she is on a mission that may bring her into contact with Meldorath, the former musketeer who slew her father some 10 years ago.
Foible: Revenge
Motivation: To Honor Her Father’s Memory +2
Nationality: Colronan +2
Past: Rogue +4
Swashbuckling Forte: Musketeer +4
Other Fortes: Colronan Aristocrat +2
Techniques: Musketeer – Rapier, Vs Ex-Musketeers, Fierce, While Wounded, Manly
Name: Diego Ignacioson
Synopsis: Diego was always the black sheep of his family, but after a bad turn with a band of pirates he (partially) got his act together. With his family’s help he joined the muskeers, where he has been a successful servant of the King despite his love for wine and women. He fights with his family’s ancestral saber, Balizarde
Foible: Party Animal
Motivation: For King and Country +2
Nationality: Colronan +2
Past: Pirate +2
Swashbuckling Forte: Musketeer +4
Other Fortes: Balizarde +2, Colronan Aristocrat +2
Techniques: Musketeer - Saber, Gregarious, With Drink In Hand. Colronan – Seducing Other Men’s Wives
Name: Loren Marcson
Synopsis: From a wealthy family with a long history of service, Loren has always been an exemplary servant of the King despite his dark secret. Loren is in love with another man, Stephen, the king’s nephew. Their quiet trysts were cut short some months ago when Stephen was kidnapped, and now Loren will do anything to save his lost love.
Foible: True Love
Motivation: True Love for Stephen +2
Nationality: Colronan +2
Past: Colronan Aristocrat +2
Swashbuckling Forte: Musketeer +6
Other Fortes: Repartee +2
Techniques: Repartee – In Defense of Love, Musketeer – Rapier, Acrobatic, Witty Banter In The Face of Danger
