Lair of Sword and Sorcery Campaign begins, Part 2

This is a continuation of the Play report of the first Lair of Sword and Sorcery Campaign.

Read part one here Part 1

The heroes enter the city of Stroh-Branoch!

One of the characters has decided that their hero will follow the path of Sorcery!

Not knowing where to start (none in the land of Kartharka does) they head straight for the sages hall.

They present themselves (and their +2 ccamaraderie and a pile of gold) to the sages at the hall.

It is agreed that they may begin their training on a trial basis for 1 month. They are allowed to stay at the Sages Hall, begin their tutoring in the history and sciences of Kartharka, and are given access to the library of the sages from which they begin copying as much of their lore as they can (getting a head start on a library for their demense, see the forthcoming veteran issue for more details on that)

After the month is passed and the "bodyguard" has healed their serious injuries the sages present a problem to the would be scholar.
His money has run out. To continue his studies for another month he will have to pay more (which he hasn't got) or run some errands for them.
He accepts the challenge and is tasked with picking up some papers and items from the small sages hall located in the hamlet of Throm at the top of the valley of Fangs.
The bodyguard spends a large part of his ready cash on an almost full suit of Kartharkan plate.
Knowing that this is likely not to be as simple a task as it seems (remember the bandits on the road from earlier) the novice sage decides to enlist the help of some muscle from the local bar.
Spending the rest of their money they recruit 5 dangerous looking thugs to escort them to Throm.
And it's good that they did. While camping int he forest that lies before the great Wulf's Way road they spot a babd of men with torches approaching from the distance.
They quickly break camp and make for the woods to hide.
Luckily they find an abandoned cabin there to make their stand in and another epic battle ensues.
These men are the remainder of the bandit troop, and picked up their trail soon after they left Stroh-branoch.
The heroes again use tactics to their advantage, fortifying the cabin with traps and defending the doorways to great advantage.
The bandits do break in briefly and are able to kill one of the dangerous thugs but the heroes are unscathed.
They continue on to Throm with no further problems.
There they find the local Sages Hall abandoned, though the innkeeper has been entrusted with the key which he gladly gives to the novice sage since he bears the amulet of the Winterlands Sages (temporarily).
Entering He finds the Hall indeed empty, and the library locked, needing another key.
Luckily on the lectern is left a note, to any sages who may enter the hall.
I did not have time to prep the exact wording of the scroll but it begs any sages who enter to read the scrolls left behind and follow the sages into the cursed woods (pronounced Curse-edd of course).
The exact message of the note and the details of the scrolls will have to wait until the following game in two weeks as I had absolutely nothing prepped other than literally 10 lines jotted down for the first string of scenarios.
Something like "Road, attack, Stroh Branoch, travel, cabin in woods...' and then a couple more lines for the next scenario but that's a secret.
All in all a huge ssuccess campaign started and characters made on the fly and well into the first string of scenarios
What will they encounter next? Well they have seen a lot of Sword so far...
I believe they may finally get to the other half of Lair next time!

Next up will be a series of posts on the nuts and bolts of what specifically happened, and why, including a few rules tweaks, additions and other meddling bits of minutiae.

Ps- The continuing saga of our poor heroes will be detailed here in the posts as well as being archived in a permanent section here on the site soon

First Game Successful Part 1

The first official campaign for Lair of Sword and Sorcery has begun.
In put to the test the first tenets of the Lair philosophy, quick, easy, no prep.
My real life workplace had a lot of excitement this week and I also ended up working late on game night, whoops.
So when playtime came I had nothing prepped at all.
No problem!
People showed up late.
No problem!
Even with me flipping back and forth through the combat issue,
(page numbers, and tables of contents are now a feature from issue three up, you're welcome)
we still had characters ready in 10 minutes.
I simply started them on the Road to Stroh Branoch and had them encounter the miners from the example scenario.
No problem.
Instead of trying to get sacks of gold out they threw their miners at the bandits to kill them all before they could make off with the sacks, whoops, I did not expect that. I expected them to be a bit more careful with their miners and their heroes.
 They also set up a defensive wall of miners around the sacks to keep the bandits from getting to them. Whoops again. My bandits are having a real hard time getting at the sacks. I should start to rethink my strategy of avoiding the miners to drag sacks and just start attacking.
One player then set up a tangle of ropes at one of the entrances to the sack room using their rope and some spikes (and a sota roll of 7)
Huzzah, they're setting traps. Dammit they're setting traps.
Some my bandits are now having to fight through this thing to get at the sacks.
by the end of the scenario all the bandits were dead having looted only two sacks, leaving 28 sacks for the heroes to give to the miners for their reward.
The heroes have not suffered a single wound from the bandits though one has lost a few endurance from fighting.
Then they decided to turn on the last remaining miner to kill him and take all the loot for themselves. "Because there's no alignment in this game".
They manage to kill him but one of the heroes actually has to make a death roll in the fight, and fails!
Luckily once the scenario is over the recover roll leaves him only "severely injured".
In their now weakened state they decide to return to the miners camp near the road and return their ore for the reward, 28 gold pieces, a fortune in the winterlands!
I groan inwardly but have to admit they earned it with some clever strategy on the board.
During this first scenario we found alot of things about Lair which I will post some articles on during the week with some of the material going into the books.
But the night was not over!
This mighty encounter took only about and hour so they continued on to Stroh-Branoch
Read more about this one crazy night in part 2.

Livin La Vida Kartharka!

Another blizzard has hit and I've been shoveling in the middle of a whiteout. This is because our front door was drifted over past the halfway mark.
If I don't head out occasionally to clear it we may become trapped by our back door freezing solid with ice, as happens occasionally.
We also live on the second floor so escape through the windows at that point is impossible.
Welcome to the Winterlands!
Now if only I could whip up a Takket drag sled to get me to work in the morning.
Anyone else submerged in a sea of Snow today?
Hmmm snowships...that might be interesting. Somebody should write that up and send it in...
~Ripley

Cover for the Combat issue!

Behold! The cover of Issue 2, the Combat! issue!.

After seeing the last issue on the shelves I wanted a bright bold cover for issue 2. One with a classic over the top kind of Sword and Sorcery Image with really lush colours, 

Originally I had wolves attacking our poor hero but since it was a night scene the whole image was bathed in ghostly blue moonlight.

 I wanted bright vibrant colours so I set those babies on fire!

Enjoy! As you can see this one is dated for January so if all the photos come together in time you should be seeing it on the racks this month.

~Ripley

Issue 2 is Written!

So let it be written, so let it be done!
All of the copy text is written for Issue 2 "The Combat Issue!"

For all fans of Sword and Sorcery The complete Lair of Sword and Sorcery Rules will be appearing in this issue.

Features include:

• Character Creation
• Equipment
• Roleplaying and Combat mode
• Combat rules
• The SOTA rules (Something Other Than Attacking)
• Background for The "capital" of the Winterlands Stroh-Branoch, with map and key features.
• Character Sheet
• Amassing your figure collection.
• The Lair Skirmish game
• An introductory scenario with tips for beginning Demonlords

The art for this issue is half done so if you would like to see your art in this issue you had better send it in to spookyroomproductions@gmail.com.

Issue 3 will be the Veteran issue, containing rules for:

Pushing your characters to the next Rank,

Balancing the enemy forces for the Demonlord, 

A list of some animals of the Winterlands both helpful and harmful

Issue 4 will tentatively be the long awaited "Sorcery" issue. And will likely be the first "forked" issue, With one version being for the players and the other for the Demonlord.

The "forked" issues are published at the same time, with the players info in a players copy of the issue and the Demonlords info in the Demonlord copy. They will both have the same issue number but with a P for players or D for Demonlord next to the number on the cover.

Concurrent with the regular run of Sword and Sorcery will be a special "Lairs" supplement, containing 10 Lairs to be used for either the Lair Skirmish game or as full blown adventures for your heroes.

Also in the new year my own group of players will be starting their own journey to fame and glory, Their exploits (as well as their advenutures) will be published on a semi regular basis as well in the special campaign issues of the Demonlord fork of Lair of Sword and sorcery. 

Let the adventure begin!

Behold the Winterlands

Beware the Mountains!

For all brave heroes ready to begin their life of adventure behold the Winterlands background page on the menu bar.

The most brutal of Kartharkas realms the Winterlands are the most ripe for the hero bold enough to grasp adventure by the neck and wring forth their fortunes.

Feast on this new background material and add thy comments!

~Ripley

Issue 1 back from the printers

Thanks everyone for visiting, glad to see some interest in the game.

I'll be posting more of the background during the weekend along with some colour photos from the issue.  

The interior printing is black and white but some of the photos deserve to get seen in colour so I'll be posting a few of them here.

Within the next week I hope to have copies in at least one store.

For everyone on the Web I am looking into a way to order copies.

I'm not interested in the usual print on demand or pdf download system, I want people to buy copies off the racks covered in fingerprints with bent covers. The game is printed in comic size format so it can sit comfortably on any retailers shelves that carry comics.

So if you're friends with a retailer have them contact me and I'll be glad to supply them through mail order. Pricing etc should be set within the week.