Character-A-Day Day 16: Shadow, Sword, and Spell
Character A Day, Day Sixteen(ish)
Shadow, Sword, and Spell
Another in the “Hey, I’ve had this sitting on the shelf forever, it looks simple enough, let’s give it a go” category. If I recall correctly, it was part of a wave that came out around 2008-2012 that were quasi-rebellions against D20 systems but wanted “classic fantasy” play and genre tropes. Generally, they were rules-lighter than D&D 3.x, but not at the level of hyper-abstract indie games with ultra-narrow foci where you play three-legged sheep trying to resist the temptation to stay in the sunny valley when the avalanche will strike in four days, with one of the players also secretly a wolf, except, they don’t know it. (Resolution via the cards from Candyland.)
It is strongly influenced by classic sword & sorcery, just as D&D was. Since a very common critique of D&D prior to 3.0 was that the class system didn’t let you play the very characters who were most influential, I will take it on myself to test if Shadow, Sword, and Spell can, by creating a Grey Mouser-like character: A sly thief with minor magical prowess. Can I do it?
(Note: There’s a second edition of this, and a lot of supplements were produced for it. Gonna need to grab those sometime.)
I divide 45 points among 5 abilities, which range from 1-12, with 7 being average. Oh, let’s start with a name, first. The Silver Ferret.
The Silver Ferret.
Brawn :6
Quickness :11
Toughness: 7
Wits: 11
Will: 10
Vitality: 30
Resolve: 50
Sanity: 50
Quick, sharp-witted and strong willed, but only average in a street brawl.
Background consists of a generic culture and a modifier. I will come from Decadent Civilized background, which gives me the following:
Bureaucracy :12
Diplomacy: 10
Native Language (erm… High Tallusian): 11
Streetwise: 11
Empathy: 8
I have 45 points to buy skills. Skills start at base rank (equal to the governing attribute)
Acrobatics 11
Magic 10
Subterfuge 11
Melee 6
Illusion (spell) 3
Quicken (spell) 3
Sleep (spell) 2
So, I’ve read and re-read and re-re-read the section on picking skills for the last 20 minutes, and the numbers simply do not make sense when compared with the chart that supposedly says what skills cost. Further, if I’m reading this correctly, you must buy a skill at a rank equal to the governing attribute, so, for skills based on Quickness, I must spend 11 out of my 45 points. The lower your attributes, the more skills you can buy. Something’s clearly wrong with my understanding, but I’ve gone over the text many times. There’s a chart that implies you actually spend half your attribute rank to buy the skill at the base rank, which would make more sense, but that’s not confirmed anywhere else.
Putting ’em all together:
Acrobatics 11
Bureaucracy :12
Diplomacy: 10
Empathy: 8
Magic 10
Melee 6
Native Language (High Tallusian): 11
Streetwise: 11
Subterfuge 11
Illusion (spell) 3
Quicken (spell) 3
Sleep (spell) 2
Hooks
Hooks are a general description of your character in ways that provide, well, roleplaying and storytelling hooks. You get five. If something involves one of your hooks, you get a bonus to rolls.
So for the Silver Ferret: “The guardsman is never my friend. Wealth is precious, but life is more so (especially mine). If I can take it, they must not have really wanted to keep it safe. The wizard whose spellbooks I, erm, borrowed probably wants them back. Being cautious will kill you more often than being daring will.”
I start with a hand weapon (a short sword), a suit of clothes, and 75 silver coins.
Leather Armor: 20
Grappling Hook: 25
Backpack: 5
Belt Pouch: 5 Copper
Long Cloak:5
And I do believe I’m done, though for the first time in this series, I genuinely do not know if I did it correctly. There’s really a paucity of examples for skill buying and I can’t figure out the chart on page 18. Look, people, I played freakin’ Aftermath when I was 16. And this is a pretty rules-light system. So it bugs me I can’t be sure I’ve worked this out.
I may need to return to this after I’ve scoured the net for some examples or bought the second edition from DriveThru or the like.
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