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2E: Swords & Sorcery?

Oct 06

JaybeeGeneral 1 Comment

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with the ruleset when I’m finished and it hit me: adapt 2E into swords & sorcery.  Just throwing around some ideas here:

1. Level cap.  Once you hit your “title” level and stop gaining hit dice you don’t level up anymore.  There’ll be some means of acquiring power and proficiencies but at this point you’re a legendary hero.

2. Arcane magic is corrupt; if divine magic comes from the gods then arcane magic comes from devils.  Anyone can learn magic but even magic items corrupt the soul.  Good wizards balance this by protecting people against evil magic but even they lose a little something in the dark pacts they must make.  Truly vile wizards physically transform as they take on the image of the devils they bind and worship.

3. Monsters are horrifying.  Humanoids, monstrous humanoids like goblins, and giants are the only creatures mankind has extended contact with.  Horrible, reality defying things like dragons, aberrations, demons, and behirs are truly terrible to behold and cause men to normal men to flee in terror.

4. Bringing back OD&D rules about high-HD creatures versus low HD creatures.  In OD&D, you could make a number of attacks against 1HD or fewer creatures equal to your HD.  If a 5th level hero was surrounded by 6 orcs he could attack 5 of them.  This makes large battles easier to manage and the player feel truly powerful when he single-handily takes on 20 low-level guys without being overwhelmed in one round.

5. Wizards are warriors who dabble in magic.  I like images of old men with swords but D&D’s wizard is a frail thing who sneezes and dies.  S&S wizards are often skilled in combat as much as they are with rituals.

6. Everything resets after an adventurer.  Warriors spend their money on women and food, wizards upgrade their laboratories, and priests give it away.  I’ll adopt an Arneson rule where experience is gained not after earning money, but spending it.

7. Sci-fi theme.  I love European fantasy in comics like Thorgal and Heavy Metal where there’s usually a science fiction bent.  In an ancient age lost to mankind, technology from an ancient civilization (Atlanteans?) existed.

8. Monsters as gods.  Why is a hill giant or winter wolf not considered a deity?  We’re talking about creatures that could wreck havoc across whole countries.  The adult red dragon sleeping in a cave outside the village isn’t fodder for the heroes, it’s a minor god.

I’ve got more ideas rattling around in the bone box that I’ll be putting to paper soon.  The idea is to turn 2E from high-flying fantasy in other planes to something ugly, alien, and romantic.  I don’t like gritty for the sake of being gritty but high magic, do-anything campaigns takes away some of the wonder of the unknown.