Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
INTRODUCTION
Welcome, brave adventurer! This is a fantasy role-playing game set in a sword-andsorcery world of mighty heroes and evil villains. It is meant to capture the best of these
stories and discard the worst. Meaning that, yes, you can be a cool female hero without
having to wear a chainmail bikini.
This game was made by Brent P. Newhall, using some of the mechanics of Fate, while
basing the game's statistics and world on Barbarians of Lemuria.
A hunter excels at understanding nature; while the barbarian makes the wilderness his
or her home, the hunter studies it and masters it.
You begin with 4 points to distribute among your personal attributes, 4 points to
distribute among your combat attributes, and 4 points to distribute among careers of
your choice. No attribute may be below 0.
If you have points in the Sorcerer career, you have Sorcery Points equal to 10 plus your
points in Sorcerer. If you have points in the Alchemy career, you have Alchemy Points
equal to 10 plus your points in Alchemy.
You also begin with 5 Hero Points.
CAREERS
An alchemist can brew potions and understand science.
An entertainer is a common street performer, equally adept at fast talking and eager
listening.
A mercenary guards for money (as opposed to the gladiator, who fights for it), and
often picks up a surprising variety of skills from odd jobs across the world.
A noble is skilled at politics and etiquette, and usually knows more than just about
anyone else in an adventuring party about world history and politics.
An outcast has lived at the periphery of civilization, learning many skills. Once per
session, an outcast can use his or her points in the Outcast career as points in any other
career in which the character has 0 points.
A physician can, once a day, heal an ally's Hit Points equal to the physician's Physician
points by making a Good (+3) or better roll.
A pirate combines many of the same skills as the sailor and the mercenary.
A priest is more literate than and nearly as influential as a noble, and can call upon a
god for magical assistance.
A sailor braves the sea or the sky in boats or airships, combining knowledge of
navigation and ship-building.
A scribe dives deep into particular aspects of lore, history, languages, and cartography.
A barkeep has spent time serving in a tavern, either behind the bar or serving drinks,
and is excellent at learning secrets and charming others.
A blacksmith can forge weapons, barter, and assess the value of goods.
EXAMPLE CHARACTERS
When attempting a difficult action, roll four Fate dice (6-sided dice where two sides are
+1, two are -1, and two are 0) and add the appropriate personal attribute.
Strength 2
Dexterity 2
Intelligence 0
Charisma 0
When acting outside of combat, also add points from the appropriate Career (if
any).
Brawling 2
Melee 1
Ranged 0
Defense 1
HP 12
Barbarian 2
Soldier 1
Pirate 1
The Ladder
If acting in combat, you must roll higher than the opponent's Defense.
You then deal damage depending on your weapon. Punching and
kicking deals 1d3 damage, small weapons like daggers deal 1d4
damage, standard weapons like swords and axes deal 1d6, and large
weapons deal 1d8.
+8 Legendary
+7 Epic
+6 Fantastic
+5 Superb
+4 Great
Armor absorbs damage before it is dealt. You get 1 point of armor for +3 Good
+2 Fair
small items like gauntlets and small shields, 2 points for leather
+1 Average
armor or a large shield, 3 points for chainmail, and 4 points for plate
mail. Chain and plate are restrictive and exhausting, though. These do 0 Mediocre
-1 Poor
not stack. Assume you begin with no armor.
-2 Terrible
Half of any Hit Points lost in a fight are regained after a 15-minute
rest. You may only do this once after each fight. Otherwise, characters recover 1 Hit
Point per day that they do not fight.
You may spend one Hero Point to deal an extra point of damage, or to gain an extra +2
on any roll. You may do this before or after the roll.
Dexterity 2
Intelligence 1
Charisma 1
Brawling 1
Melee 1
Ranged 1
Defense 1
HP 10
Mercenary 2
Thief 2
Dexterity 1
Intelligence 2
Charisma 1
Brawling 0
Melee 1
Ranged 0
Defense 3
HP 10
Noble 1
Sorcerer 3
PRIESTS
Priests use magic differently than sorcerers do. Instead of using Magic Points, priests
may call upon their god to perform any magic spell, rolling Fate dice to determine if the
spell succeeds. However, after doing this as many times as points in the character's
Priest career, the priest must return to his or her home temple and pray for at least 2
hours to recharge.
The spell's difficulty corresponds to the power of the spell, which the GM must
determine based on the requested spell. Add Intelligence and Priest points to the roll.
ALCHEMY
The alchemist creates potions, salves, gasses, and other nostrums. Alchemy is divided
into three levels; the alchemist must have as many points in the alchemy career as the
level to create potions of that level.
First-level potions have minor, temporary effects: a noxious gas that dizzies opponents
for a few moments, a drink that nauseates for half a minute, and such. These usually
affect only one or two people. They require 1d6 days to create and 2 Alchemy Points.
Second-level potions have either major temporary effects, or minor long-term effects.
This includes potions that deal damage (almost always 1d6 points). These may affect up
to 4 people at once. These require 2d6 days to create and 4 Alchemy Points.
Third-level potions have major long-term effects. These require 1d6 weeks to create
and 8 Alchemy Points.
The alchemist recovers Alchemy Points at a rate of 1d3 points per day during which the
Alchemist is not creating potions. Alchemists may create multiple potions
simultaneously, and this does not increase the time requirement.
Target
Examples
th
+0
st
1 Level
+2
2nd Level
+4
3rd Level
+6
0 Level
If you roll 1 to 2 points less than the spell's target, the spell succeeds with a
malfunction of some kind: you take damage, or the spell's duration decreases, or its
effect is significantly changed.
If you roll 3 points or less than the spells' target, the spell fails and backfires badly.
Take serious injury, the bad guys know your exact location, you attract the attention of
a demon from another plane, etc.
Whatever the result, you lose Sorcery Points equal to the level of the spell.
Recover 4 Sorcery Points per day.
ON MAGIC
Magic should be weird and unpredictable. Magic spells often have unexpected side
effects.
When a priest prays for a magic spell, interpret the roll and the spell's effects
creatively. Let those spells act on the priest; he or she is channeling a god's power and
will, after all.
ENEMIES
An average person off the street with no combat training will have 5 HP and all other
scores at 0, dealing 1d4 damage.
Mooks will have 2 HP and all other stats at 1, dealing 1d6 damage.
An average monster or brigand will have 10 HP, Brawl 1, Melee or Ranged 1, and
Defense 2, dealing 1d6 damage. Personal attributes will all be at 1.
A boss will have 13 HP and a Defense of 3, dealing 1d8 damage. Remaining scores will
average 2. Bosses often have multiple attacks.
CREATING A LOCALE
Players will need to hit some pretty high spots on the ladder, because they start with a
few points. Scaling a sheer temple wall without being noticed by the guards is a truly
Superb job.
You can create a locale by choosing one phrase from each column:
A classic Save vs. spell roll is a regular roll, adding points in Intelligence plus Priest or
Sorcerer. Save vs. poison is a roll adding points in Strength plus Alchemist, Assassin,
or Physician. Even basic spells or poison will require at least a Good (+3) roll.
The main game doesn't describe combat rounds and turns. Combat is usually not a
difficult thing to organize, but generally: Go in order by Dexterity score; those with
equal Dexterity scores can decide amongst themselves or roll for it. Each character can
take one action during his or her turn; turns only last a few seconds. Even shouting a
piece of information to another character is an action. Think of the pacing during a
fight sequence in a movie; an enemy can attack while the hero's opening a door or
trying to get a better position.
Note that this book has been designed so that you can print the first two pages doublesided and hand that to your players for character creation. Print just the third page and
hand it to any spellcasters. Print and cut out the character sheets on the right-hand
side of this page and hand those out to players, too (or just use pieces of notebook
paper or index cards).
SETTING EXPECTATIONS
Adjective
Terrain
Chaotic
Crowded
Death-filled
Fetid
Frigid
Hot
city
desert
forest
jungle
savannah
swamp
Twist
at war
infested with plague
overrun with undead
ripe for the plucking
ruled by a despot
twisted by magic
CHARACTER SHEETS
Name
Strength
Dexterity
Intelligence
Charisma
Brawling
Melee
Ranged
Defense
Strength
Dexterity
Intelligence
Charisma
Brawling
Melee
Ranged
Defense
HP
The game assumes a setting with many large cities and a late agricultural civilization
(thus the existence of courtesans, alchemists, etc.). It also assumes that most enemies
are human, or at least possess human-level intelligence. You can certainly face horrible
monsters and warped minions, but villains are best when they can plan and monologue.
While Steel & Flame can certainly be used for standard dungeon crawls, it excel in urban
story lines. Instead of a dungeon full of trolls and goblins, explore a snake cult's temple
or a mad sorcerer's tower.
Weapons are not welcome in polite society, or even on the streets of most cities.
Weapons are not worn in public unless the enemies are literally at the gates, except by
local law enforcement. Of course, small weapons can always be concealed.
It takes a little time to unsheath a sword and steady it in one's hands, so you will need
to spend a full turn (a few seconds) to draw a medium or large weapon.
Name
HP