"Campaigns" in Lair of Sword & Sorcery

I'm working on the second string of Adventures for my home campaign.
Hurrah to all in my home group, after the grueling Veteran issue the game is back!

But this is leading me to alot of questions about what the Lair adventure game should be, as well as one big problem: Lair is not an RPG in the classic sense.

Lair of Sword & Sorcery is it's own game

As those who have bought the issues have seen Lair is it's own thing.It's not made for people who have been playing pen and paper RPG's for years, although they should like it as well.

It's for all fans of Fantasy, Adventure, Monsters, and Sorcery. The issues are written from a point of view that the people reading them may have never played an RPG before. It's made for all the people out there who have read fantasy novels, played video games, watched movies, or just thought an album cover with a dragon on it was cool.

It's for those people who have been playing a video game and thought "this is really cool, but what would be cooler would be if I could (insert random action here)".

It's for the people who have played a fantasy boardgame and thought, "that was fun, but what happens to all these people and places next?".

That's what Lair of Sword and Sorcery is.

It has a Demonboard (the playing surface) because regular folks want to see what's happening, because arguing about where a goblin was before they cast a fireball is lame, Because the Demonlord (game master) wants to play a game, not just run a game.

It has specific rules for what a scenario must have, the reward/punishment rules mean that it is clearly defined what the heroes will get and what will be lost if they choose not to enter the Lair. Because a real person gets to choose what they do.

The problem with a being something completely different...

How does this affect my home "campaign". I imagine the average group would be downloading, or buying scenarios, deciding which one they want to do and jumping straight in. That's the great thing about Lair, very little prep for a published scenario, just lay it out and go.

The problem I am reaching for my own campaign though is that I want a system for quick preparation of your own scenario.

I've rewritten the current group of scenarios 4 or 5 times already trying to come up with a system that works. But I was stuck with one big problem that still raises it's head with "traditional" rpg systems.

Railroading

For those of you who aren't rpg people this means an adventure where the heroes aren't given a choice about what happens next. (essentially, I'm trying to keep this short).
The problem with Lair is that it is very, let's say boardgamey. It's built that way on purpose.
The problem is that after 5 or 6 scenarios, the heroes may feel a little constrained. There's a whole world out there, why wait till it's served up by the demonlord on a platter, they want to go to place x now. Or do x now.

Thats cool, I'm good with that, that's the way I like it too. That's what adventure is. Now how to do that in Lair...

The Story system of Lair...

Now I'm going to step into some territory that hasn't been published yet for Lair, it's in the next issue The Lair of the Blind Burrower.

Essentially what I am in the process of doing is Codifying (making rules up) the creation of Adventures and campaigns.What I've found is this:

At the bottom rung is the specific "Lair" the Heroes are in right now, the specific demonboard layout on the board.

The "Scenario" is the group of rules, enemies, objectives, rewards and punishments for that lair.

The "Story" is the plot that links "scenarios" together. The story also has the same things a scenario does, rules, objectives, rewards, and punisments, but they apply tot he whole string of scenarios. It also states the order in which the scenarios happen as well as other event triggered scenarios (if heores do A scenario B happens)

The "Campaign"

This is the meaty goodness I've been working with recently.

Since I have players going from My First "Story" into the next this is the part I've been wrestling with. If this were a standard RPG that thing would be fired up and in the chute in a couple of days but blazing a trail takes a little longer. But I think I've found what I'm looking for in Lair.

Essentially I've written up rules for the Campaign to ensure that railroading can't happen.
It's a quick list of rules in the form of questions for the Demonlord.

It allows any place to become a setting for the heroes to range free in while still allowing adventure and excitement without the restrictions of a "scenario".

Nothing is in stone yet but it breaks down to.

Setting: where the heroes are now, Basic areas mapped out so that the Heros know where they can go. The Stroh-Branoch info in the Combat issue would be considered a "Setting"

Active adventure: this is the main story of the setting brewing at the time. It is codified like any other "Story"

Background: this is the background story of the setting. If the heroes dive straight into the active scenario then they may only encounter rumours or the odd "Encounter" with the background.
If they back away from the active adventure they will encouter more of the background.

Background will have certain encounters that engage when heroes do specific things or they may be time based, say on the second day the characters are in town.

Miscellaneous encounters: these are ones that have nothing to do with either the background story or the active adventure, they are just "things that happen". They may be triggered by going to a specific place (most often), seeking out a specific individual, or time based.

The setting map: each setting should have a map, even if only barely roughing in what area is where and a few interesting places. Some of these places may not have enough detail for a full encounter but if the Heroes go there the Demonlord can make up interactions between the people there and the Heroes.

These may lead to different stories and adventures down the road...

What this means

So we now have a main adventure going on, it's whats prepped and the biggest thing happening in the area, but if the heroes aren't interested in that at all, that's fine, they can see what's happening in the rest of town, see what else is brewing, get involved int he alternate story line that  is running alongside the first. 

Not interested in that either? Well there's a few sights to be seen in town and you can check that out, a few things are going to happen to you, they always seem to happen to heroes, and while that's going on you might have some plans of your own cooking.

A note for regular rpg folks

I also still dabble in "regular" rpgs, I am really digging what the newest edition of D&D is rolling out, still loving the OSR movement and all the great things it's throwing up, don't let all my talk of Lair fool you, I'm still down with RPG's.

The thing is everything I do in Lair in this airy "upper level design" kind of stuff really seems to strengthen the way I think about standard role playing now.My last OSR campaign was built using this kind of method that I'm using in Lair and frankly it worked great. 

So even if you aren't thinking about trying Lair yet, maybe try to drag a bit of the thinking into your own adventure design. 

Oh and build a Demonboard, I used that thing in D&D and it truly rocked there too.

~Ripley

Veteran. Cover. Finally. Done...

Sorry for the lack of activity of late but I've been working on the cover for the Veteran issue, and it's been a doozy.

Many years ago I stopped doing these big elaborate pieces as I'm still quite slow with painting and they take way too long.

But I got sucked in by this one, it was just turning out too good.

It's the first time I've actually gone through the whole reference image thing in a long time as well. Was just looking for some good pics of tigers and I got sucked into doing a "real" painting once again.

Originally I wasn't going to use the line work you can see if you zoom in but I found the painting was straying a bit too much from the Kartharka feel I was going for and so I decided to leave the last render pass undone and added the linework back in and darkened it up.  Gave it that look that I prefer to use for Lair.

Hopefully things will get back on track now after taking almost a month on this monster.

So enjoy the cover and worry not, it's all written and I'm just moving on to the simpler interior art now.

Back to regular life...

~Ripley

Another quick Update

Just a quick shout to let you know that indeed, noone is dead here at Lair.
Veteran issue, Sorceror issue still underway. The blind Burrower is wrapping up this weekend so that will be appearing soonish (prepare for pictures of fearsome toys). Mostly it's been all art for the last week as well as hacking out the beginning of the next story.  I just need enough to introduce them to the new town, get the story started and let them have a little downtime

There may be some trouble with the Targ a comin if they aren't too careful, and the sages will definately have a lot to say about what's coming next.

The game tends to Alternate between Roleplaying heavy nights and action heavy nights once the adventure begins, but this one is a bit more "mysterious" and so they may have a little bit of leeway before everything ramps up.

Signing out from the Real World Winterlands...

~Ripley

Throwing weapons and bows

Bows and throwing weapons.

In Kartharka bows and throwing weapons are no mere "backup" weapon, doing minimal damage, being used only by people in the back of the party.

Throwing weapons aren't just the holdout weapon when all else has failed.

In Kartharka bows are just as powerful as any hand to hand weapon, not the fall back for the low level character whose hit points are still too low to mix it up in "real" combat.

In the world of Kartharka the bow, spear, and throwing axe are powerful weapons.

Doing the same damage as their hand to hand counterparts along with many other benefits.

In Lair of Sword & Sorcery you may "shoot through" a square with a friendly in it.

A group of 4 hereos facing a group of 10 men with bows is going to be cut down before they even make it to hand to hand combat.

An arrow to the neck will indeed kill you.

In Lair of Sword and Sorcery there are no "hit points".

Instead a hero has "Endurance". During combat a hero loses endurance as they fight. This represents the hero getting tired, their enemy learning their fighting style, small nicks, cuts, and bruises.

Even if a hero "wins" a combat in Lair, they still lose endurance. No hero can fight forever without getting tired.

However there is no loss of endurance when firing a bow or throwing a dagger.

A hero can fire arrows all day without tiring.

This means that most heroes will also carry a missile weapon of some sort to get a few attacks in before the press of hand to hand combat begins, to take out as many of their enemies as possible so that they are not overwhelmed in a press of enemies.

There are also no "Weapon Proficiencies" in Lair of Sword & Sorcery. Any hero can use any weapon. They may use the Veteran rules to increase their abilities with weapons but there are no "classes" to limit which person can use which weapon.

So yes, Bows good, everyone grab a bow and use it..

~Ripley

Veteran Points (To get you by)

The following is straight out of the issue 3, The Veteran Issue.

Since the issue won't be out for a little while yet (it's coming, it's coming), I thought I would put up at this guideline for earning Veteran points.

That way your players can start earning now.

They won't be able to "spend" them till the issue comes out but at least they won't be "wastingtime".

Enjoy everyone.

The Lair Veteran System

or

What are Veteran Points and How do I get my filthy Paws on them?

The Lair of Sword and Sorcery  Veteran system is what the players use to increase their heroes  abilities.

Whether it become better fighters, more powerful sorcerers, or more influential politicians.

The players receive Veteran points for accomplishing difficult tasks or at least surviving dangerous ones.

You can receive points for surviving battles, defeating enemies, succeeding at a scenario, or accomplishing other difficult tasks.

They should also receive Veteran points for doing amazing things that make the game more fun, whether it be their hero attempting and amazing maneuver in the middle of a combat, coming up with an amazing plan, or even dressing up like their heroes.

The Specific Rules

A player gains 1 VP immediately after any of the following things occur

Survive an encounter with a group of Enemies of Equal or Greater Rank (calculating the Rank of a group is covered later)

Survive making a death roll (this is on top of “survive and encounter with a group…)

Beat a scenario (complete the scenario objectives)

Succeed at an impossible task (an impossible SOTA roll) which would have caused harm to the hero if it failed

The player has an impressive Roleplaying moment which impresses the rest of the group

Dressing up as your Hero earns you 1 VP. (Leave the sharp things at home kids)]

And that’s it. The DemonLord is free to also award VP for anything which they deem worthy or it.

What you don’t get VP for is for looking for trouble. If you decide to take on the city guard who obviously outpower you, and they arrest you but don’t kill you then you don’t get a VP for “Surviving and encounter with a group of enemies of greater rank”

If you knew for a fact that the guards would kill you and you still chose to attack that may be a different story but a good rule of thumb is if you have nothing to gain by attacking then you don’t get a VP. It is up to the DemonLord to make the call when the heroes go looking for trouble.

The Magic Number

Not the most important Sword and Sorcery News but...

It's Official, the Lair of Sword and Sorcery Hub has reached 1000 views.

Thanks to all the Fans, Friends, Retailers, Reposters and other folks who all made it happen.

Lair of Sword Sorcery would never have made it this far without everyone's help.

Special thanks to +Raymond Saulnier  for his help getting Lair in a few more peoples hands,

The long suffering Crandall for all the support,

The Lair of Sword and Sorcery Playtesters, I won't reveal your secret identities here but you know who you are...

Thanks to everyone for letting me pretend that playing with my Toys is productive and important.

There will be a mighty Victory party this weekend, course I'll just be listening to Hawkwind, playing with toys and watching He-Man, but with might purpose!

~Ripley

The example Scenario, traps, and Sota Changes

Traps in Lair of Sword and Sorcery!

The official Lair of Sword and Sorcery campaign began fairly well.

We began with the example scenario from the Combat issue with the heroes helping a band of Miners defeat some roadside bandits.

They entered and began combat with me going incredibly easy on them. I attempted to focus on getting the sacks of gold out of the room while sparing the heroes and miners. 

The players quickly surrounded the sacks with miners and heroes and began throwing the miners at the bandits with reckless abandon (morale rules are coming with the veteran issue).

They were able to effectively surround the sacks and kill all of the bandits.

They were partially able to accomplish this by quickly running ropes tied to spikes across one of the entrances entrances to the room.

This was deemed a difficult SOTA roll to set up which they were successful at.
I then ruled the at the bandits would need to make a successful difficult SOTA roll to cross it, otherwise they would become tangled and fall, taking damage.

Technically this shouldn't be allowed because the Demonlord's minions may do SOTA.
But we saw almost immediately that this would mean that the heroes would be able to set up all sorts of traps like this effectively stopping all their enemies.

New SOTA rule: Demonlord minions may make a Sota roll to undo the effects of a Heroes SOTA roll.

So my poor minions still can't come up with crafty plans to outwit the players but they may undo the work of the heroes. 

In the next scenario they set up their ropes again but this time my Minions decided to "undo" the SOTA by cutting the ropes. I will point out they still had to make a SOTA roll to do so and it unfortunately took 4 of them 2 turns to do so.

These rules will be added to the Veteran issue as well but I thought that those of you already playing with the Combat issue should be aware of the change.

I'm sure we'll come up with a few more changes as we go along, until then, destroy your enememies with the wrath of the hurricane!

~Ripley

My game Begins!

Well it's finally happening, due to snopocalypse my game has got pushed back by over a month but we are playing on Friday no matter what.
The Veteran rules have been all officially hashed out and are just getting edited now so those lucky players will get to have Ranked characters before the rest of the world.
They will be the first group to enter Stroh-Branoch in many moons and I'm pretty excited to head back there.
They will begin, like most campaigns begin, on the road to Stroh Branoch, walking in the wake of the Black Caravan, hoping to fortune and adventure in the Winterlands.
Like any campaign beginning there are many secrets in the land which will only be revealed as play continues. The story of the Winterlands runs deep.
My last group failed to crack open that story but laid a great groundwork for the heroes that would come later.
For any players that may have been in that game much has changed, a hundred years have passed since their entrance of the Valley of Death, and the few things they brought back are now shrouded in Mystery. The unrest and talk of Civil war has died down, and the Empire has withdrawn again to it's capital sending forth their caravans still.
It is said the middle time of the year is a bit warmer due to those brave heroes but most dismiss that as the memory of old-timers.
Others warned that they stirred up foul magics in the world and that dark things which once slept now awaken in the woods and caves.

Reports and discussion will come!

Watch the page for reports of the game. There should be a lot of fun and mayhem.

I will be starting up separate sections for Demonlords and players to follow along as the campaign will be published as well, likely as a separate issue of Lair, or it may be released in the Demonlord versions of upcoming issues of Lair.

What is Lair of Sword and Sorcery?

More content has been added to the "About the Game" section, formerly the "Spirit of Kartharka" section.
It can be found by clicking the big "About the Game" button on the left hand side of the Site,
or you can follow this link: About the Game
Culled from the first issue of the game it gives newcomers more of an idea of what Lair is all about.

~Ripley

Platinum Background added

A new section has been added to the "World of Kartharka" page.

At the bottom you can follow the link to the "Platinum" page.

Or you can follow this link as well: Platinum

Enjoy!

~Ripley

Site Redesign

New Look for the Sword and Sorcery Hub

Under Construction

The site redesign is all up and functional.

A few things have been rearranges, all of the background info is now on the "World of Kartharka" page. Links at the bottom will take  you to expanded background now instead of a seperate link for each on the menu.

The menu is now at the top of the page and the right of the page now has the quick action buttons.

Now that the redesign is done I can start dropping in all the new content, there will be quite a bit added to the page so I will be posting as I add the material as well as where you can find it.

Alot of great new things from issue 1 and 2 are going up on the site along with perhaps a little teaser of issue 3.

So come on by and leave a comment on how you like (or don't like the new site)

ps. there are a couple of places that only have placeholder text at the moment, the parts that complained about the most will get updates first.

~Ripley

The Lights are out...

What a ride it's been the last couple of months.
The combat issue is coming along, with the last page of illustration on the board and half done as we speak.
Just painting illustrations and designing the maps for the scenarios now.
Thanks everyone for the patient wait for the most important issue of Lair of Sword and Sorcery "The Combat Issue".
Character creation, combat, equipment, combat rules, scenarios, a beginning lair, the map for the first setting location of "Stroh Branoch" largest city in the winter lands, It's a big issue.

But real life happens, my day job is going to be crazy for the next week, and home life too as all those little things to make the season bright take up time.

So work on the issue will continue a bit during the next two weeks but the blogs, face books etc will be going dark for two weeks.

I hope to see everyone back in the New Year as we launch issue 2, The retailer site should be up by then, you may be able to buy issues online, the Hub site should be refreshed with a new layout and content.

The next year should see the rest of the game roll out, The veteran issue, the sorcery issue, and the Demon Lord versions of the issues should be coming out concurrently.

You should also see a small scenario collection of starting scenarios as well as larger supplements detailing the travails of my own group of players.

So Happy Yule everyone, and a Happy New Year!

PS (Crandall and I will be spending the holidays doing the fun things, like making cookies, painting ornaments, and visiting friends, everyone take a few days off the internet to do the same, I highly recommend everyone else do the same, take some time away to see the real people, the internet people will still be there when you get back)

PPS I heard that some people could not find Lair of Sword and Sorcery at the Heroes Beacon in Saint John (see the where to buy link for full address). It's in the comic section, usually on the Right hand side at the top,

~Ripley

The table runs with blood!

Had a massive playtest on the weekend for the final form of the combat rules. 4 people with 13 heros each ranging from 0 to 2nd rank veterans. Combat rules worked out great, added a couple endurance points to the base endurance and cut armour by a third.
One interesting feature was that 2 different players in two different games decided to turtle up and hide in a single room and in both cases the rank 0's were able to force them out.
Everything played out as I thought it would overall though, The higher rank heroes did indeed cut swathes through the level 0's but were also severely injured in the process.
If the scenario had not been one long pitched battle they surely would have retreated to rest and recover.
High ranking Heroes did show themselves to be capable of getting in and causing a lot of damage but a long drawn out battle with no chance to rest indeed leads to dead heroes.

Rules for playing your own version of the Skirmish game will be included in the Combat issue and it was indeed the best way to teach the Combat system of Lair of Sword and sorcery to new players. In a single 1 hour session you get to learn all the basics, how well your starting heroes will fare against more powerful foes, how many common peasonts they can wipe out, and how far they can push things before they need to pull back.

Strategy and tactics in Lair involve mostly not getting surrounded while trying to gang up as many heroes on a single enemy as possible.

A high ranking enemy will of course send out his minions first saving his own strength for after they have worn down the heroes.  A sure way to kill you big bad boss is to send him in early to take out the heroes minions.  Those 0 rank guys can be brutal.

All in all lots of fun, and a combat system that works perfectly for the genre as well as being fast. We found the action clipped along alot faster than in most table top wargames.

Find out all about the combat rules in the upcoming "Combat issue".

~Ripley

Lair has invaded another Realm, the Facebooklands!

Decided to finally but Lair up on the Facebooks so people can now get their updates there as well..

Edit: by the way you can find us on facebook as Lair of Sword and Sorcery.

Over 200!

Not hugely important to all of you out there but I again want to thank everyone for coming by and checking things out. As of today Lair of Sword and Sorcery has over 200 page views.

Remember to tell your local retailer about Lair if you want to see it in a store near you.

~Ripley

Retailers will soon join the battle!

Work is progressing on the Lair Retailer Site. Soon retailers of Brick and Mortar stores will be able to order their Lair products through our own distribution website.

Any retailer interested in carrying the Lair of Sword and Sorcery line can contact me at spookyroomproductions@gmail.com and I will send them the login information once it is active.

Why go this route instead of posting on places like Drive Thru RPG and Lulu.com?

Because the Roleplaying hobby is a community. The centers of these communities are the Brick and Mortar Game stores and comic stores. Too often in the community we expect to use their gaming tables, to post our games on their bulletin boards, meet people in their stores and have them host our games. But people still go to Amazon.com to buy discount books and games.

Even companies like Wizards of the Coast expect gamestores to host their events, but when the new 5th edition books come out they allow Amazon to discount their books while your local retailer is selling them at cover price.

When was the last time you went into Amazon.com to play your favourite game. or meet new people?

So, for me, only allowing real life stores to carry my products, seems to be the only choice.

So if you are a retailer of comics or games, or even a magazine or convenience store, any place with a real front door people can walk into, send your Name, company name, address, and email to spookyroomproductions@gmail.com and become a retailer for the new community of Adventure gaming.

To those of you who wish to buy Lair in your home town, simply ask your local store to check out this site at lairofsworandsorcery.blogspot.ca.

On the menu is a new link for Retailers with all the same information.

Happy gaming to all, soon you will crush the skulls of your enemies in issue 2 "Combat".

What is the game?

I've been in the Monkey House for so long that I realized today that some of the readers may not know what this Lair of Sword & Sorcery thing is all about.
So I posted a new page in the menu (yep it's called a menu now, fancy) for "What is the game?".
So Stroll on over and click the link.

And I don't want to bury the most important thing happening today, in the menu page there is now a "where to buy link" Check it out to get your very own copy.

~Ripley

In Stores Now!

It's official folks the day is here, you can now buy Lair of Sword and Sorcery.
The Good folks at Heroes' Beacon in Saint John New Brunswick (In Canada) have now got us on their shelves. Thanks to you Heroes' Beacon for making this old Adventurers dreams a reality.
Here are the details for all you who want to buy

Heroes' Beacon
25 Charlotte Street, Saint John, N.B., Canada
www.heroesbeacon.com

Even if you don't care about my game show them a little love for giving us a shot.

Printer Proofs Approved!

The proofs have returned from the printers and they look great.

It is official, Issue 1 "The Demonboard" issue is ready for sale.

As soon as I get a go ahead from a retailer they will be on the shelves.

I have a few in mind to start but if you would like to see Lair in your local Game/comic shop then send some contact information for them to spookyroomproductions@gmail.com.

Or comment below with the shop you would like us to sell it in,

Issue 2 underway

The adventure Continues!
Issue 2: ~The Combat Issue~
The contents of Issue 2 have been finalized.
The frozen wastes of the mountain stronghold of the first men will be further revealed in the starting character setting of Stroh-Branock.  One of the Winterlands capitals it is the center of iron mining in the fearsome Valley of Fangs.

Next the readers are plunged into the actual meat of the Lair of Sword and Sorcery game system.

Character creation, equipment, and combat will all be covered in this issue.

But the Demonlord is not left out in this issue, also included will be the Lair of Sword and Sorcery skirmish game, allowing the players and the Demonlord to get to know the combat rules through a tabletop skirmish type war game. Player versus Player and Player vs Demonlord will all be covered, as well as premade scenarios and guidelines for creating your own scenarios.
An excellent way to learn the Lair rules without burning through your precious characters. It also allows the beginning Demonlord to get to grips with making the difficult decisions and rules interpretation which fall to any Game master.

Scenario creation also serves the Demonlord as good practice for creating full fledged adventures and campaigns later, a good scenario is really just a less complicated adventure and after getting a few of these under their belt the Demonlord should have the confidence to make their own adventures.

The Winterlands