Zornhau Forums

I've been busy behind the scenes. A couple months ago I had a burst of inspiration and began an experiment.
One of the best parts of Sword & Scoundrel has always been its shared TROS heritage. Norwood's baby has had a profound effect not just on the way S&S developed, but on the way I ran and played games, period. Years after Driftwood went under, S&S started life as an unofficial fan-made second edition. Over time, the game took on a life and identity of its own.

This document represents the largest departure to date. It's an experimental reimagining of the combat system that allows for a more fluid experience. Phase one of the testing involved a closed group aiming for proof of concept. Phase two got the patrons involved. Now we're at stage three, releasing it to you lot to break.
Thanks again to all of you for your support. You make this possible.

-Brooks

Check out Patreon for the download link
And feel free to join the conversation on Discord.

It was with dread that I read your post announcing yet another overhaul of the system. With a sense of loss I think it's about time I stop following this project which seems needs to keep reinventing itself but failing to ever reach it's conclusion.

Best of luck guys.

thorgarth wrote: ↑24 Jan 2021, 20:37 It was with dread that I read your post announcing yet another overhaul of the system. With a sense of loss I think it's about time I stop following this project which seems needs to keep reinventing itself but failing to ever reach it's conclusion.

Best of luck guys.

You will be sorely missed.

Just to clarify, are you still allowed to use fewer dice than you technically have available (either because you're holding back for sparring, or because you don't want observers to be able to see exactly how good you are, 13th Warrior style)? Or might that just be a wager for narrative effect?

Edit: Also, I assume that for ranged combat, instead of splitting attacks into two rolls, it's now roll to hit and wager for damage?

hector wrote:Just to clarify, are you still allowed to use fewer dice than you technically have available (either because you're holding back for sparring, or because you don't want observers to be able to see exactly how good you are, 13th Warrior style)? Or might that just be a wager for narrative effect?

Interesting question.

According to the document:

In a contest, wagers are made in secret so that your opponent doesn't know how many dice will
actually be rolled... Whatever you didn't roll can be assumed to have been a wager.

So, your full allotment of dice are assumed to always be in play, but you don't actually have to announce the amount that was wagered nor how you wish to allocate them until after you win. That means that as long as you are losing contests, it doesn't matter; they won't know how many dice you were wagering. This could make for some fantastic reversals if played right.

And If you win, you get to decide how you want to allocate your wager dice. You could assign all your wager to damage, choose to pull your punches, or discard dice for additional effect like that in the dodge maneuver. As far as I can tell, the only things you have to sort out in advance are drawing weapons, grips and favoring; as they will effect what maneuvers can be declared. But once you win, the jig is up for what your total combat pool is at this point, unless some "UP TO" clause is hiding somewhere I missed it.

hector wrote: ↑25 Jan 2021, 05:32 Just to clarify, are you still allowed to use fewer dice than you technically have available (either because you're holding back for sparring, or because you don't want observers to be able to see exactly how good you are, 13th Warrior style)? Or might that just be a wager for narrative effect?

Edit: Also, I assume that for ranged combat, instead of splitting attacks into two rolls, it's now roll to hit and wager for damage?

It's not explicitly stated, but there's no reason you couldn't choose not to spend all the dice you have available to wager. i.e. you have 10 dice, roll six, and then only declare two as a wager, not letting your opponent know that you had 10 dice all along. That can be a footnote somewhere.

Ironically, ranged combat is an even easier conversion because it's barely changed. Before you were splitting into Accuracy and Complexity, with the Req sitting on Complexity. Then you'd roll accuracy for damage. Now you're just converting Accuracy to Wagers. Same basic concept, though you do lose some dice in the process: you only get perception tap, rather than full perception.

Glad to see you still floating around!

It's not explicitly stated, but there's no reason you couldn't choose not to spend all the dice you have available to wager. i.e. you have 10 dice, roll six, and then only declare two as a wager, not letting your opponent know that you had 10 dice all along. That can be a footnote somewhere.

You should cut "Pulling a punch is a 2d wager" then.

Agamemnon wrote: ↑26 Jan 2021, 00:14 Glad to see you still floating around!

Yeah; I'm not much of a discord person, but I do like to keep an eye on stuff on the forum.

thirtythr33 wrote: ↑26 Jan 2021, 04:09

It's not explicitly stated, but there's no reason you couldn't choose not to spend all the dice you have available to wager. i.e. you have 10 dice, roll six, and then only declare two as a wager, not letting your opponent know that you had 10 dice all along. That can be a footnote somewhere.

You should cut "Pulling a punch is a 2d wager" then.

I think pulling a punch involves doing less/no damage on a hit instead of pretending to not be as good.

thirtythr33 wrote: ↑26 Jan 2021, 04:09

It's not explicitly stated, but there's no reason you couldn't choose not to spend all the dice you have available to wager. i.e. you have 10 dice, roll six, and then only declare two as a wager, not letting your opponent know that you had 10 dice all along. That can be a footnote somewhere.

You should cut "Pulling a punch is a 2d wager" then.

I have a rapier and you are unarmored. We both have Brawn 4. 2p vs AV0. I Thrust at you and succeed. RAW, I deal a minimum of a level 2 piercing wound, even if I redeem 0 wagered dice.

If I have the option of spending 2d to Pull the Punch it means:
A. I can’t go all-in on an attack just because I don’t care how much damage it does (read: I am giving up some speed/force in order to a finer degree of control)
B. I can choose for the blow not to connect at all, which will fit a lot of narrative scenarios better.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/46999920

Now, even more reqless. Hue.