Haven't seen much new for this game in a while. Any new playbooks, official or manmade? I'd especially be interested in a set of character playbook that gave more of a sword and sorcery feel.

Quote from: Technomancer;1038211Haven't seen much new for this game in a while. Any new playbooks, official or manmade? I'd especially be interested in a set of character playbook that gave more of a sword and sorcery feel.

The latest new product (free) came out 2017 and in January 2018 a company spokesperson responded to a question on whether that was it saying that there was new material in the pipeline.

BtW is my only consistent osr game right now (I GM for kids, whom I think the system is uniquely suited). I'm also looking for a swords and sorcery game, and BtW is not what I'm looking at. S&S is a bit more... epic I guess than I feel BtW is best at. In BtW you never get past being scared of your own shadow, while S&S gets a bit more reckless and epic. A BtW character would look at a S&S character and think, "okay, that guy's not long for the world."

Now that I think about it, once I find my S&S game, it'd be fun to play a wrong-genre-savvy character who thinks he's in a BtW universe.

The Heir to a Legend
Villager, Warrior-Rogue
Your father has always told you stories of how great a hero he
was. Many of the other villagers scoff at his stories and pity you
for being raised by such a liar, but you know that he is true and
honest. Now you have his sword, a mighty weapon of power,
and you will make a name for yourself to make him proud.

The Initiated Magician
Elder (Villager), Mage
You learned the secrets of the cosmos from a secretive order of
powerful magicians. Members of your order are few and
scattered, but lay upon themselves the task of defending the
world from darkness and teaching truth to the willing. Who
better for you to teach than a group of young and foolish
would-be adventurers?

The Knightless Squire
Nobility, Warrior
You were raised to seek glory on the field of battle and to
protect your charges. Chivalry is everything to you. Shortly after
being squired, however, you lost your knight. Now you have set
yourself on your own errantry, and will need the help of
stalwart friends in order to see yourself knighted.

The Landless Noble
Elder (Nobility), Warrior-Rogue
Your family fell from grace and lost its lands and fortune. Now
you stay in another great house at the pleasure of the local lord,
a situation of some embarrassment to you. Still, there are many
young people about, and how better to teach them than to have
them help you reclaim your family's lost honor?

The Last of a Fallen House
Villager, Warrior-Rogue
Your noble house, which once birthed a line of kings, fell long
ago. Since that time, your family has lived as simple villagers,
keeping the secret of their heritage. You, though, were born
under portentous signs, and many in your family think that now
is the time to reclaim your birthright. You will need a brave
heart, good friends, and better luck to do so.

The Learned Tutor
Elder (Nobility), Rogue
In your youth you were the sixth child of a noble house. With
nothing much to do, you took to education and learned
everything your tutors could teach, then read more and more
and more, until you were one of the most learned people in the
land. Now you teach others, and these kids need your wisdom.

The Local Performer
Villager, Rogue
You grew up obsessed with ancient stories and songs, the oral
history of your people. As a child, the stories told around the
hearth at the inn and by traveling minstrels seemed more real to
you than your own daily struggles in the village. Now that you
have come of age, you keep the old stories, and your neighbors
have come to respect your craft.

The Nobleman's Wild Daughter
Nobility, Warrior
You were never quiet and demure, as some would have wished
you to be. You grew up on tales of heroes, mighty deeds, and
great battles. You learned the ways of war in secret and can
now best any lad in the castle.

The Novice Templar
Nobility, Warrior-Mage
An order of devout knights has accepted you into its ranks, and
you have sworn to protect the weak and oppose darkness. Your
god blesses your blade and gives you great prowess in battle.
While you have been vested by these Templars, you are still a
novice, and now must prove yourself to them.

The New Watchman
Villager, Warrior
The village is protected by a small band of watchmen, and you
are the most recent recruit. While the watch has only two or
three members, you are always on guard against dangers from
beyond the village walls. The watchmen are respected in town
and asked to solve disputes, investigate mysteries, keep the peace,
and judge the festival competitions.

The Recluse Wizard
Elder (Villager), Mage
You spent your youth learning the art of magic, but have since
settled down in the village. Now events have caused you to
befriend a group of youths who live near your home. You know
many things about the world that they do not, but they may be
the key to solving lingering problems from your past.

The Reformed Bully
Villager, Warrior
You grew up picking on the weak and the outcast, but lately
things have changed. You've seen the errors of your ways and
have forged a strong friendship with the other villagers.

The Retired Veteran
Elder (Villager), Warrior
You've had your fill of war. When you were a younger man,
you went campaigning far from home, fighting for lords and
generals. Now you have settled in the village, ready for a quieter
life. There are these kids around though, and someone has to
teach them to look after themselves.

The Self-Taught Mage
Villager, Mage
You were always a bright child, and loved stories of ancient
wizards and sorceresses who mastered the arcane arts.
Unfortunately, there was no one around to teach you such
things. In fact, sometimes you wondered if the stories of magic
were even true. When you came of age, you found an ancient
tome and decided to find out for yourself.

The Student of the Dark Arts
Villager, Mage
Somehow or another you have uncovered dark secrets and
powerful magics. Now you dabble in many things that are
probably better left alone. There are evils afoot in the world, and
you are determined to use your knowledge to combat them.

The Untested Thief
Villager, Rogue
Some young would-be adventurers get by with their sword arm
or with words of power in the language of magic, but you need
neither. The world is full of things to see and enjoy, and your
fingers are more than quick enough to let you have what you
like.

The Village Bear
Fantastic Creature, Warrior-Rogue
You come from woods far away. You can remember bits and
pieces of your life in the wild places, snatching salmon from cool
rivers and getting your paws sticky with honey. You left when
you were young, however, and the village has been your only
home for years.

The Village Hero
Villager, Warrior*
While you are still young, you have made quite the name for
yourself in the village. The common folk look to you to solve
their problems and protect them from dangers.

The Witch's Prentice
Villager, Mage
Every great mage was a student once. Some say the true heart
of magic is the simple, practical work of the village witch. Your
village, like many, had its own crone who tended the sick and
blessed the fi elds. She chose you as her apprentice.

The Would-Be Knight
Villager, Warrior
You grew up sitting wide-eyed round the fire, listening to stories
of knights and heroes who slew dragons and saved the kingdom.
The other children liked those stories as well, but you lived for
them, and you promised yourself that you would grow to be a
great knight too.

The Young Woodsman
Villager, Rogue
Hunter, gatherer, or guardian, it takes a brave soul to wander the
woods. You go where few in your village would dare, and,
moreover, you feel at home in those places. You know every
twig and leaf for miles around, and all your friends look to your
guidance when leaving home.

The Adventurous Trader
Villager, Rogue
You always dreamed of taking to the road, selling your wares,
and making your fortune. Recently, you actually managed to
come into possession of some goods, a cart, and a trusty mule.
With a helpful ally by your side, your plan is to take to the
road, help the village, and become a wealthy merchant.

The Goblin's Child
Villlager, Warrior-Rogue
One way or another, you have been touched by the goblins.
Either through magic or blood, you are different from those
around you. While you feel a kinship with your wicked cousins,
you know that you must help to protect your neighbors
when the time comes.

The Apprentice Court Sorcerer
Nobility, Mage
Your desire was not to learn the ways of war or rulership as the
other noble children did, but to study the arcane arts under the
venerable court sorcerer. You took to the difficult studies well,
and are now ready to take his place.

The Assistant Beast Keeper
Villager, Rogue-Mage
The old witch in the village took a liking to you when you were
still young, and you now keep her animals for her. While what
you do may seem inconsequential, the witch seems to consider
you to be vitally important, and favors you above all others. You
dream of a more exciting life.

The Devout Acolyte
Villager, Mage
While your childhood was that of an ordinary villager,
something miraculous happened when you came of age. After a
dramatic event, you felt the call of the old gods, and now
worship them openly, as your ancestors did. One of these ancient
deities shows you particular favor, and you now do his work
amongst your people.

The Dungeon Delver
Elder (Villager), Rogue
You were a common villager like any other. One day, however,
you discovered an underground complex near the village filled
with ancient gold and many dangers. You made it out with your
life, newfound wealth, and a fabulous story. You have an inkling
that you could put together a group to go to other such places,
but only the kids seem interested in your crazy ideas.

The Dwarven Adventurer
Fantastic Creature, Warrior
The lands of your own people in the hills and mountains are no
longer a home for you. You have journeyed to the lands of men
to find your fortune and make your own way. Somehow, you
have made strange friends in places where you expected to find
only foes. And more importantly treasure.

The Dwarven Mentor
Elder (Fantastic Creature), Warrior-Rogue
From the distant home of your people you have come to the
lands of men, peddling your wares as you go and living a life of
freedom. For some reason, you picked this village to settle in.
You don’t even like it. To make matters worse, there are these
damned kids who won’t leave you alone, and they have so, so
much to learn.

The Dwarven Rune Caster
Fantastic Creature, Warrior-Mage
Even more than others of your kin, you grew up valuing the
past and keeping the stories and chants of your people. At a
young age, you were apprenticed to the rune master and learned
the secret magic of the dwarves.

The Elven Enchanter Playbook
Fantastic Creature, Mage
You spent an age of men learning the high arts of elven magic in
the realms of the fae. Now you have come to lands of men and
made your home in a human village. While the courts of the fae
still call on you from time to time, your focus has turned to the
mortal world, in particular to a small group of human villagers
with a great future ahead of them.

The Elven Highborn
Fantastic Creature, Warrior-Mage
Your people are scarce now, most having gone far to the west,
away from the troubled lands of men. Your family stayed,
however, your mother acting as the queen of a small elven
enclave which remained, secluded from men. You have left that
enclave now, and must find your way among strange people.

The Elven Ranger
Fantastic Creature, Rogue-Mage
You are a remnant of one of the hidden communities of wood
elves. The forests are your home, and you wander freely within
them, watching communities of men, tracking destructive raiders,
and protecting the wild places of the world. Now you live near a
human town and have taken a liking to several of the locals.

The Gnomish Godparent
Fantastic Creature, Rogue-Mage
You came to the village long ago and attached yourself to a
family. You have watched over them for many years, but now
you and your youngest charge are ready for adventure. The
player to your right is a member of this family's newest
generation.

The Fae Foundling
Villager, Warrior-Mage
You were found in swaddling clothes beneath an ancient
standing stone near the village, a fae token on your breast. Some
of the villagers were kind and took you in to raise you as their
own. You have a natural gift with magic and, while some are still
distrustful of your strange appearance, you have made fast
friends with some of the other village children.

The Forgotten Child
Nobility, Rogue
With so many other children in the family, you never really
found your place. Your siblings spent their time learning to be
great leaders and rulers, or doing other important things, and
you were mostly left to your own devices. You spent a lot of
time by yourself and learned to sit quietly and watch, and you
know the ins and outs of the castle better than anyone.

The Future Warlord
Nobility, Warrior-Rogue
As the eldest of your family, it has fallen to you to learn to rule,
to lead men in battle, and to inspire your people. While you have
only been tested once, you proved yourself well, and are now
ready to earn the right to take your father’s place.

The Halfling Outrider
Fantastic Creature, Warrior-Rogue
Back in the halfling lands, you were one of the warriors of your
people. You patrolled the borders of your homeland on your
trusty pony, watching for bands of barbarians, goblins, and
meddling big folk. Now you have journeyed far from home on
adventures of your own.

The Halfling Vagabond
Fantastic Creature, Warrior-Rogue
You can’t quite say why, but one day you began to dream of
mountains, seas, and monsters. Now you wander from town to
town, never staying anywhere long. The stories of men fascinate
you, and you haven’t had your fill of adventure yet.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1038214In BtW you never get past being scared of your own shadow, while S&S gets a bit more reckless and epic. A BtW character would look at a S&S character and think, "okay, that guy's not long for the world."

Actually I am running three games with BtW right now and one group is 7th to 8th level and really really powerful.

The Self-Taught Mage is capable of mass devastation as well as curing entire villages.
The Untested Thief is dangerous due to a high Dex, very high initiative (level adds to initiative) and a Trait allowing her to add that Dex score to her plus 2 elven scimitar means she hits as frequently as a warrior.
The Reformed Bully is a tank and is immune to charm and fear.

It does mid-high level play really well.

What is needed is a domain style shift but the author kinfly refers you to ACKS.

Well, I was thinking more in terms of tone, but I see your point. BtW, you are supposed to be scared of all those things, well, beyond the (village) wall.

Yes, the tone is very much, things-that-go-bump

And IME that's how it started and continued up until the point where the PCs bumped back. What is great is that while they get to be heroes they never truly forget their roots and always return to the village. (We have a minority of nobles and dwarves and elves, but their adopted village works just the same).

With initiative climbing every level and stats, skills, knacks and most of all Traits, there is a steady but notable growth in power that is more apparent in play than on paper. One thing that it does not suffer from is HP bloat. Generally when you hit something hard it drops. Also, with the shared sandbox in Further Afield, things like Dragons, Giants and Vampires are not wandering encounters but very important "movers and shakers" on the 200 by 150 mile map. As for rituals.... just wow. It makes playing a 7th level Mage way better than a 3.5 Wizard of the same level. You actually feel powerful even though you probably deal out less damage per day. In theory, you can feed a village for a year or fly across the sky for hours. Not daily spells, mind you. But if your really really need to you can do this sort of stuff. It just rocks!

Anyway YMMV

Is it Swords and Sorcery, though?

Well, not yet.

I wrote two or three playbooks based in a city/urban neighbourhood but I have never got round to finishing the set of a dozen playbboks yet, although I remember the author being very encouraging, so maybe if I got my ass in gear, I could send them in as free downloads somewhere. Probably on their G+ site which incidentally has a coastal village set called Beyond the Waves.

What would be next would be a Viking and Nomad style set.

Now there's an idea!

But for S&S I would use Low Fantasy Gaming and its setting Midlands. Both really really good and great value.

Maybe not the place to ask, if not I can make a new thread...how does BtW compare IN ACTUAL PLAY to vanilla B/X? I have the books so I can see the mechanical differences, but I'm unsure the game really does a whole lot differently. I'm going to start a more laid back game soon and BtW is very appealing mostly due to the backgrounds (or whatever they're called), but would like some actual play reports. Couldn't I just use the lifepath stuff for B/X?

Yes, you could use the playbooks/lifepaths in order to create characters for B/X but it would take some converting. I did it for Fantastic Heroes & Wizadry but you may find B/X a little restrictive.

After playing this game pretty solid for three years with five different groups made up of veterean and new players I would make the following comments:

1) While this game is perfect for introducing new players to the hobby, it assumes the GM has a good amount of excperience with other similar games.
2) The playbooks and character-creation process goes way beyond the chagen phase and effects the whole campaign. It shapes it from the get-go until the end.
3) The inclusion of fill Fortune Points means the character death is not sudden. You feel that your luck is running out. You may or may not like that but its integral to the game.
4) Magic is both weaker and more powerful. It never ever feels like a video-game wizard blasting things. A spell caster is much much more flexible but needs lots of time and must plan ahead.
5) Rogues are much tougher in a fight. Moreover, out of all of the Rogue playbooks, only one is a "thief".
6) Combat is very quick but there is strategy (you can adopt defensive, aggressive and commanding stances(.
7) You don't need a campaign setting because ideally, you build the camapign around and with the PCs. This is part of the game and really keeps the whole theme about them. It's like the opposite of a metaplot/Forgotten (about you) Realms.
3rd level is veteran, 5th level hero, 7th level moever and shaker, 10th level legend.
9) The threats/imminence sytem means that the campaign moves on while the PCs rest. Time cannot be taken for granted.
10) There are no vanilla fighters. At all. Moroever the blending of the basic three classes allows for a load of varity. It feels both a class based game  and yet offers the pssibility of almost any archetype. Add in traits and it is very easy to customise a character.
11) The non-humans feel more mythical: elves have less Fortune Points, Dwarves have better HD. the ebenfits and drawbacks are more than a boost to an ability score.
12) Monsters get customised. There are no standard Dragons, Undead, Demons or Goblins, Each one gets a different set of powers and weaknesses.


I will say that in order to enjoy the game you need both Beyond the Wall and Further Afield and ten you must download ALL the free supplements.

That takes some organising but it is definitely worth it.

From the BtW G+ group a couple of weeks ago Flatland mentioned their upcoming projects: of particular note here is the Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures:

"We have a barbarian expansion more than half done. It will be a freebie and have a new Playbook, Scenario Pack, and Threat Pack. It will also likely have a very short and sweet mass combat system.

We will then have a hardcover bundle of all the GM type freebies, which will also include a couple of more Scenario Packs. A couple of those are already written as well.

Furthermore, of perhaps greater excitement, is a new game using the same chasis called Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures. This will be a sizeable book and will give the BtW style look at Sword and Sorcery fiction in the style of Howard, Moorcock, and Leiber. This book is well more than 90% drafted and ready for playtest. In fact, we have playtesters on the hook but are woefully behind schedule on finishing the last bits.

We have even commissioned a fair bit of art already for these projects! That's how serious and far along we are. Again, day jobs just keep robbing us of our final push. My personal hope is to have some quality time this summer to dump a lot of things out there. Cross your fingers!"

Amazingly good news. That's getting bought straight away!:cool:

Thanks for bearing the good tidings, rhialto!

Quote from: Brad;1038322Maybe not the place to ask, if not I can make a new thread...how does BtW compare IN ACTUAL PLAY to vanilla B/X? I have the books so I can see the mechanical differences, but I'm unsure the game really does a whole lot differently. I'm going to start a more laid back game soon and BtW is very appealing mostly due to the backgrounds (or whatever they're called), but would like some actual play reports. Couldn't I just use the lifepath stuff for B/X?

Well, this:

Quote from: Mike the Mage;10383397) You don't need a campaign setting because ideally, you build the camapign around and with the PCs. This is part of the game and really keeps the whole theme about them.

...is a pretty good starting off place. Unlike B/X, which yes really is awfully lethal (especially at low levels) and is predicated on not being too emotionally invested in your characters and being able to bring in a new character relatively quickly, BtW has a somewhat lengthier character creation timetable, and encourages you to be a bit more invested in your character. But since the game is mechanically mostly B/X with the minor addition of Fortune Points as a secondary (to HP) ablative survival buffer, you have to be pretty careful if you want to not die and lose that invested time and emotion (/plot hooks, etc.). My youngest gamer was 11 when we first started, and took the death of his first character... well not badly in a tantrum or ragequit kind of way, but it certainly demoralized him. His next character is a fighter-rogue multiclass (fighter durability with rogue fortune points), and he's been playing him as "a coward who doesn't want anyone to know he's a coward" kind of character. That's actually been useful, as having at least one consistent character has allowed me to play true sandbox 'choose your own path' kind of play while also having character-driven hooks (by having people he's met have ongoing lives and things happen to them that the PCs may or may not want to get involved with).

Quote from: rhialto;1038373Furthermore, of perhaps greater excitement, is a new game using the same chasis called Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures. This will be a sizeable book and will give the BtW style look at Sword and Sorcery fiction in the style of Howard, Moorcock, and Leiber. This book is well more than 90% drafted and ready for playtest. In fact, we have playtesters on the hook but are woefully behind schedule on finishing the last bits.

That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Not to replace BtW, but in addition.  I would buy this right now.

I would be proud of the young lad :cool:and I think there is a valuable lesson in losing your first beloved character.

Good for him to come back fighting (and sneaking)!