Friday, March 19, 2021

Sorcery is a Sword Without a Hilt - Magic from His Majesty the Worm

Pursuant to my last post, I have released Sorcery is a Sword Without a Hilt, the magic system from my forthcoming game HIS MAJESTY THE WORM. It's PWYW, with all proceeds going to fund cool artists for the game. There's no reason whatsoever to not check it out, steal some ideas, and smash them into your own game. Click the picture below to download it. 

Click here to download!

The book contains 40 level-less spells and dozens of magical catastrophes. The spells are flexible, with variable effects depending on how much "juice" the sorcerer gives them. 

Each spell is designed to feel like a weird, useful tool. At the same time, there are no spells that solve the essential problems of dungeon crawling.

Although this is written with His Majesty the Worm in mind, it shouldn't take too much braingrease to adapt the spells into your system of choice, ala Wonder & Wickedness or Vaginas are Magic. There's a conversion guide in the back of the book to help you. 

4 comments:

  1. Reading now. This is great. One note: the iron/steel distinction is unclear on pages 4-5. Is steel treated as iron of the same amount? Can you target an opponent wearing steel armor (only iron is specified)? Presumably not that many iron-age settings, so steel is usually the more relevant issue for weapons and armor. Maybe best fixed by moving the reference to “iron or steel” earlier and making it clear that steel == iron for the purpose of magic.

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    Replies
    1. That's good feedback.

      The intention was that steel counts *against* sorcerers in that they cannot carry steel and cast spells, but steel-clad fighters do NOT gain the protections of iron.

      The trade off is that iron is worse armor (but provides magical protection) whereas steel is better armor (but does not provide magical protection).

      I can see how that's confusing in the text. Thanks for helping me see that!

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  2. Just read it and I especially like how concise everything is but how rich of picture it creates.

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