S&B Reforged Updates

 

So, as I teased earlier in this post I have been working on Sword & Backpack: Reforged and through lack of sleep and sheer stubbornness plus a healthy dose of inspiration the hack has been completed.  

I have even ordered a proof copy from Lulu but after doing so, I got it in my head that the blank note pages I included (to meet Lulu's minimum page requirement for global distribution) were not that professional so I am working on adding dot matrix pages instead, I have a friend of mine working on that as I type this. This means that I will need to order a new proof copy if I am able to work out the changes. I may just be paranoid and the blank pages titled Note may be just fine but that is the current situation for the print edition of Sword & Backpack: Reforged. 

With that being said, I have also made updates from the proposed version discussed earlier to the final version. These core updates are:

• I have reduced math completely. There is now an advantage mechanic in place in specific situations. This will keep things simple and make interpreting the rolls faster.
  
• Combat is now all or nothing. Whoever wins the roll off is allowed to deal a hit. This keeps combat fast, dynamic, and fixes action/turn economy in specific situations such as engaging a BBG. 
• Adventurer hits have been increased. 

The final version across the board also includes:

• 9 pieces of art
• A sample adventuring party of 3
• A character sheet

The PDF version will be 20-24 pages long that include note pages (US Letter) so it can be printed out in booklet style at home or at a print shop. If I do not include the cover art page, it will be 20. If I do include the cover art page it will be 24. 

The POD version is going to be 34 pages with 17 note or dot matrix pages that will be US Letter softback perfect bound.  

Finally, here is a sneak peak of the character sheet created by the talented Mr. Gone.

 

 

Orthodox Sword & Backpack Part Deux

 

After extensive play testing and imminent release of Arsenic & Old Lace, the influences of Trollish Delver, Barrel Rider Games, Dungeon Crawl Classics, the 1937 "The Hobbit" as a setting, Crown and Skull, and of course Olde House Rules; I have done some serious tweaking on the "Secret Storyteller's Rulebook" for running Sword and Backpack that I initially discussed in my original Orthodox Sword & Backpack post.

As I was playing around with the bones, I wanted to accomplish a few things (not in any particular order):

1. Honor the Legacy of the Twin City Gamers
2. Reduce Math
3. Honor the Original Material
   
4. A "failed career" that has some impact because lets face it, no one is born an adventurer
5. Smooth Combat
   

I think the FIRST thing is going to be create an example list of failed careers after the players choose their "job" and add the caveat of them writing down why the career failed and what was their call to adventure. Like one of the three jobs, they are considered to have the equipment from their failed career. I also think this enriches characters backstories and opens up role play options. Players can roll, choose, or work with the Storyteller of choosing something else. There may be some other examples as well.

1. Alchemist
2. Astrologer
3. Barber
   
4. Blacksmith
   
5. Butcher
   
6. Cutpurse
7. Farmer
8. Gambler
   
9. Healer
   
10. Hunter
    
11. Mariner
    
12. Mercenary
    
13. Merchant
    
14. Musician
15. Rat Catcher
16. Scribe
    
17. Smuggler
    
18. Soldier
    
19. Trapper
    
20. Vagrant
    

The SECOND thing is going to reduce math as much as possible. In my initial "secret rule book" I used a three tier difficulty to make choosing target numbers quick and characters got to add +5 to their roll if the action fell under the purview of their job. This is also the area where I want the "failed careers" to have an impact outside of lore and I want to keep the three tier difficulty base...so here we go...

• If an action falls within the Job: 8+
• In an action falls within the failed career: 10+
• Everything else: 15+
  

The THIRD thing was to make combat player facing and it is something I spent a lot of time play-testing and I was truly on the fence about it. In the end, I decided to not handle combat this way. I wanted the experience to be more dynamic and engaging for everyone evolved. Plus, I think it would be fun to add a little bit of swing and chaos. For posterity sake I am going to include my original idea below.

• If the characters tactics falls within the scope of their job OR the opponent/hazard is not meant to be strong: 8+
• If it is standard opponent/hazard: 12+
• All other opponents/hazards: 15+

Now, how I ended up to decide how to run it will be that there will be simple initiative (adventurers go first) and then the opponents. Everyone gets a turn and only the active adventurer or opponent as the ability to deal a hit (more on the below). Then the player and the Storyteller will both roll d20s and whoever has the highest result wins and the active adventurer or opponent will get to land a hit. Though, the caveat of this is that if the adventurer's job can be brought to bear then the players gets to add +5 to their roll!

Oh yes, I did it. I changed it up for combat. So sue me.

The FOURTH thing I was going to do was to hard wire in some resource management in the core so to speak but after much play-testing and introspection I decided against it. I am going to use a simple hit system like it has been done since the dawn of time. Adventurers start with 7 hits. Most opponents will have 1-2 hits and more powerful opponents will have more.  Simple as that.

So, putting this all together, it would look like this...

COMING SOON...

Powered By Sword and Backpack

 

I have had this idea for a long time to attempt to create a Powered by Sword & Backpack movement. Something akin to a game jam that does not end. Since my previous post about my invisible rule book for Orthodox Sword & Backpack (some of the things in my invisible rule book has changed) and discovering that the game was removed off of itch but still exists in an old Tumblr blog has made me redouble my effort. This information made me paranoid that Sword & Backpack my vanish to the sands of time like TWERPS, Dinky Dungeons, and countless others. This is something I want to prevent as I think Sword & Backpack is an important touchstone to the table top role playing game scene. 

 

With that being said, this is more then just historical preservation and a call to arms because this is a CHALLENGE! As James George of Olde House Rules recently stated:

"I've always said crunchy systems are easy to write. It's the minimalist stuff that's challenging." 

I am already working on a hack that is lovingly titled "Arsenic & Old Lace" and I am hoping that it will be ready to be released into the wild sooner rather than later. Though, that is a minor note as a challenge needs rules. I know what you thinking but having some rules will create some uniformity and help keep the original spirit of Sword & Backpack alive. 

Without further ado, here they are:

1. How to Play and Storyteller section

2. At least three "Jobs"

3. Strong Implied Setting

4. Only a Single d20 for Resolution 

5. Invisible Rule Book 

6. Use of the Powered By Sword & Backpack Logo

7. Keep the Spirit of the Dungeonpunk Manifesto alive!

The Sword and Backpack logos were amazingly re-imagined by Luke Herbert (you can find him on IG @herbertappleseed). In addition, you can find the hi-resolution versions of all three styles here!

Orthodox Sword & Backpack

The other night I found my old Sword and Backpack Notebook. This got thinking about the game (as well as some found memories) and all the hacking I did of it which lead me to the thought of, I think I need to go back and read all of the original material. I grabbed my phone googled it up and discovered that the itch store had vanished but the Sword and Backpack Tumbr blog is still active. This lead me to frantically re-download all of the archived material except the playlists. Here is the direct link to the playlists.

Maybe I have an irrational fear of amazing things vanishing form the internet, and this game is something I don't want anyone to lose access to so you can find the all of the original Sword and Backpack files here!.

After my panic calmed down, with my Adventure's Almanac in hand I started to reminisce about the first time I discovered Sword and Backpack and how it actually took my awhile to wrap my head around it. Then I kind of went through a montage of how my ideas about gaming and philosophy about rulings not rules evolved and changed.  

Even though I have fallen out of love with the d20 and the classic 3.x style games, I could not help but follow the white rabbit and answer the question of, "If I was to run Sword and Backpack today with the original material - how would I do it? What would be in my 'Invisible Book of Rulings'?" Then the idea of Orthodox Sword and Backpack popped into my head - and here we are. 

The truth is, I just think the idea of assembling your own Adventurer's Almanac is just rad! Now, for what you all came here for - the "how to" or at least how I would do it.

The Adventurers and what they are good at:

• Adventurers start with 10 Stamina.
• Adventurers gain a +5 bonus whenever dice need to settle a task that relates to their job (Warrior, Rogue, and Sorcerer). Remember everyone can try anything, some characters are just better suited for certain tasks then others. 
• Adventurers start out with one point of Inspiration and it can be spent for a re-roll. 
  

Resolving Conflict and Combat:

• There are only three Difficulty Classes/Levels for all actions (including how hard enemies are). The base is always DC 12 and adjust up or down.
  

1. Easy, DC 9. Leaping a narrow chasm, sneaking up on an inattentive guard. 
2. Normal/Standard, DC 12. Kicking open a stuck door, picking a poor lock.
3. Hard, DC 15. Swimming against a strong current, climbing a sheer surface with no gear. 

• Characters go first unless they are surprised. It is good to have the players determine order and that order can be used indefinitely unless they choose to change it.
  
• When combat happens, determine initiative, and both the player and Storyteller roll d20s (including bonuses where applicable, the Storyteller adds the opponents Stamina rating to the roll) and whoever result is higher wins. Only the attacker can cause loss of stamina.
  
• All hazards and attacks cause the loss of one Stamina. 
• Most opponents should only have 1-2 points of Stamina. Only the toughest and strongest of opponents should have more.
  

Recovery:

• Stamina is recovered one point per night of rest. Magic or divine intervention may add an additional point of Stamina recovered. 

Silver and Gear:

• Silver Standard is used. A silver coin is worth about $5.00 USD and everything is dealt in silver. 
• Mundane gear and service prices range from 1-20 silver pieces. Anything more exotic and the sky is the limit. 
• All Adventurers start with the gear needed by their Job, bedroll, mess kit, tinder box, 7x rations, 50ft. of rope, 10x torches, a water skin, and 1d20 silver pieces.
  

Sage Advice (Running the Game):

• Do not be punitive or unfair. Keep an eye on what DC's are used and don't make things difficult just to be difficult. Basically don't be a dick and reward good role playing.
  
• Work with Sorcerers before the game to pick their spells from the Magic Supplement #1 or help them create their own from the examples. Remember all spells must have a verbal and manual component (and those components from the examples can be redefined).  Beginning spells should stay at DC 9/DC 12. More powerful spells will increase the difficult of casting further.
  
• Use the d20 of fate! If you don't know the answer to something or are undecided roll that d20 and 1-10 is a no and 11-20 is a yes. You can also use the d20 of fate to give things percentages of chance - ever number on the d20 is 5% percent. So, if the weather had a 30% chance of rain then it would rain on a 1-6.

Feel free to grab a character sheet from my Twin Cities Edition to use for all your Orthodox needs.

S&B: Twin Cities Edition has been released!

After a lot of hard work, my Twin Cities hack of Sword and Backpack has been released. I have been looking forward to this for some time. The “dev logs” can be found here. 

It has been released on Itch. The character sheets are included in the downloads. 

Even though this project has been completed, is it not the end of my love affair with Sword and Backpack.  There are multiple plans I have in the works for this game. 

1. In the near future, there will be an at cost Print on Demand version from Drivethrurpg. 
2. There will be a zine that will include rules for character growth and some adventures. I have not decided on a name for the zine or any specifics yet but there will be something soon. 

S&B Twin Cities Edition

With my big project almost done, I am able to get back to various projects of love. One of my favorite projects is Sword and Backpack.

With this project, I really wanted to pour some love into so I have spent some time acquiring art, layout, and a character sheet for it. 

The artist I have been working with really captures the style and vibe that S&B gives off. You can find him on Instagram @herbertappleseed or Twitter @lukeryanherbert. He is great to work with. 

I also got back in touch with my layout person Jordan Martin after the holidays and the Twin Cities edition of Sword and Backpack is almost done, just a few final edits.

The final bit of good news is that , James V. West designed a character sheet just for my version of Sword and Backpack. I think it came out amazing and completely captures the idea of the game. There is a single horizontal version and a double landscape version. 

I am really looking forward to seeing this out in the wild. It has been a long time coming and there has been countless changes through playtesting and feedback. 

The Continual Evolution of S&B

So, recently I have been really thinking about Sword and Backpack due to my discovery of a gaming club I discovered on campus. I have been revisiting all my research notes about how Arneson and the other Twin City Gamers' played and been brainstorming on how to make Sword and Backpack more accessible to first time players or to people who have only played other more complicated/non-narrative focus games. 

Reading through my notes, my first task was clear. I needed to change the single dice mechanic. I followed my research and decided on 2d6. Another bonus of this, is people can raid their board games for dice. During this part of my rewrite, I had a very difficult choice to make things opposed rolls like MAR Barker's Perfected or to use target numbers. I went back and forth between these two options for a long time and I finally decided on target numbers. This is because target numbers give a little more structure and makes it easier for storytellers to bump up the difficulty to show how dangerous a threat is or how difficult a task is (all without the need for additional math!).

My next task to resolve was to make sure to include just enough structure so new Storytellers have consistency for rulings for task resolutions, combat, etc. This was already done in my Breakfast club edition so it was just a matter of converting everything over to the new 2d6 resolution mechanic. 

So, after I finished the above revisions, I wanted to look at my use of Wounds or Hits. I decided rather quickly that I needed to reduce the starting hits for the adventurers (which I did). I also realized that I needed to change the terminology of wounds or hits because those words bring combat to mind and the wounds that result from such actions. I am renaming wounds/hits to Stamina. The idea of Stamina as it is a catch all for the adventurers entire well being - mental, physical, and emotional. If the fiction dictates, Stamina can be lost through fear, exhaustion, and other factors. A storyteller in theory could also give Stamina to extended tasks, very complicated situations, and even social situations like a court room. I think using Stamina really opens up many unique possibilities. 

I have been sitting on these revisions for a few weeks and been carefully rereading them and making sure I did not miss anything. While doing this, I started to listen to a live play podcast and in doing is so, a lot of inspiration hit me for Sword and Backpack and just about any other OSR style game I play or run. With this new found inspiration, I went back to the forge. I really wanted to include some of the old school soul in additional to all of the narrative goodness that is already there. I decided to add a forth job, the Cleric. This goes a long way to adding that old school flavor. 

I then toyed around with the idea of an appendix that included my rulings from my own table. To be honest, I actually added this section and sent it to some people to get their opinions. Though, after some feedback and more thought on the matter I decided to remove this section as it changed the vibe of the document and Sword and Backpack. 

I am also using the manual from Kung Fu Hustle as inspiration for the cover!

 

Advanced Sword and Backpack Redux

In my Breakfast Edition of Sword and Backpack I included a page titled Advanced Sword and Backpack. It was lack of a better term that I choose this verbage but when I run out of booklets I would change it to Campaign Play or something along those lines. In gaining more experience with Sword and Backpack I am planning on making these adjustments as well.

Character Advancement
Players can earn 1-4xp per session. Every 20xp can be spent in the following way:

• Gain +1 Wound
• +1 to their Primary Job (Max +6)
• +1 to a Secondary Job (Max +3)
• +1 to a Side Job (Max+1) 
• Can write down an interesting specific fact about your character where you can bring a class bonus to bear in a situation that would otherwise not call for it.

Armor

My initial thoughts on advanced armor was armor would increase your wounds depending on its rating. +1 for light, +2 for medium, +3 for heavy, and shields would add +1 and could be sundered to ignore a successful hit.

After some experience I have decided that that system really does not work well for the flow of S&B. So here are the updated armor rules:

• Describe your armor however you want. When you lose your final wound, your armor saves you and you keep fighting as if you are at 2 wounds. You must spend time repairing your armor after such an encounter or pay to get it repaired
• Shields do not add any bonuses but can be sundered to avoid a successful hit. Shields sundered need to be replaced as only magical shields can be repaired

Gold Standard
I used the simple reference to gold pieces/points because it was on the character sheet and part of the original. Though, to be honest I have never been a fan of the Gold Standard found in classic Dungeons and Dragons style games  as the conversion rates start to get ridiculous and just way to much accounting.

I would suggest and I personally use for all of my games the Silver Standard. All prices are in silver and if you must two coppers equal one silver. Skerples gave me the head cannon that a silver coin is equivalent to approx. $10.00 USD. So I would make Coppers equal $1.00 USD and that would provide a conversation rate of 10 coppers to 1 silver.

S&B Classes, Races, and Professions

I have noticed that I have gotten two of the same questions regarding Sword and Backpack from people new the to the game and that style of game. The first question is;

What about all of the other classes such as the Ranger, Cleric, Warlock, Monk, etc?

In Sword and Backpack, additional classes are not needed for two reasons. The first one being is that all of these additional classes are just specializations of the core classes with different flavor and flare. The difference between a Wizard, Warlock, and Sorcerer is their origin of magic and their backgrounds. Same goes with the Fighter/Cleric/Ranger/Monk and the Rogue/Assassin/etc. This leads me into the second reason which is the different abilities of these classes. Once you start adding in all kinds of class specific abilities you start to lose the soul and the whole point of Sword and Backpack. 

What about all of the different races?

Outside of different numeric bonuses and various abilities races are about flavor, culture, and background. For Sword and Backpack, there is already a heavy stacked bonus right out of the gate so adding anything numerical would push things into the ridiculous range. Adding various abilities would also defeat the purpose of Sword and Backpack for its easy of use and story focus (the power and draw in my opinion is the great player agency and fiction). So, if your campaign wants to include races other then human, it is a fiction and flavor point. There does not need to be any mechanic benefit or detriment to being one of the many fantastical races out there. 

 

This brings me to Professions in Sword and Backpack...

I have always been a fan of giving characters motivation and things to do outside of combat, treasure hunting, dungeon delving, etc. This types of things also give them unique skill sets to solve various problems they come across. An example of this is in one of the games I was in, the character decided that she used to be a midwife and during the course of an adventure delivered some babies, tended to pregnant women, and saved some lives. Some of this led to some interesting story hooks and the party was off on a side adventure. Giving characters a profession gives them more depth and shows what their life was like before becoming an adventurer. 

Mechanically speaking, any use of skills that would fall under this profession that would require a roll would get the class bonus of +5 and the character would have a kit (various tools, a few simple supplies, etc) to help them in their profession. Simple as that. There are a lot of games that have tables of "failed professions" and there are a lot of those lists that can be found online as well. I will point you to a list of Medieval European Professions that should give you some ideas. 

Adding these professions to a Sword and Backpack game also has the bonus of creating some of the classes that are not in the game. You have a player that wants to be a holy warrior with healing skills (a Cleric)? That player should be encouraged to be a Fighter with some type of medical profession related to a Religious order. 

Running S&B

I have talked about Sword and Backpack in depth here. As I mentioned in that post, when I first discovered it I had some difficulty grokking it due to the fact that I have never played a game like that or even been exposed to that type of story focused game. Since my writing of my own Sword and Backpack Hack, I have had a lot of experience running it and been exposed to game designers and other games that have helped me how to run Sword and Backpack more effectively. I also know some of the language may be unclear in the original game and my Breakfast Club hack so I will try to expand on things here. 

Difficulty Rating: Difficulty ratings are discussed as ranging from 1-20 (because of the d20 used). It is important to keep in mind that when an action falls into the class ability the player will get a +5 on the roll. I know from my experience it can be distracting trying to figure out Difficulty Ratings for each monster or task. There are two techniques that can be used (or mixed and matched) to make the experience run a lot more smoothly. 

1. Set the standard difficulty rating at 12. Then, if a task (or monster) is easy then subject three for a new difficulty rating of 9. If the task (or monster) is hard then add three for a new difficulty rating of 15. These numbers work well with the class bonuses and without them.
2. Designate areas of the town/map/rooms of the dungeon/etc with set Difficulty Ratings. Then everything within these areas have the same difficulty rating. This includes monsters and any other tasks that require a roll. 

Monsters: Especially coming from the classic Dungeons and Dragons experience, it is easy (and a go to) to make monsters more difficult by increasing their HP or damage output. This strategy does not work very well with Sword and Backpack. This is because increasing the Wounds can create a combat slag and increasing damage can be very deadly for the player characters. The more effective way to increase difficulty of a monster is to increase its difficulty rating. In my Breakfast Club hack there is listed suggestions for Wounds, etc.

The Wizard's Magic: I would highly suggest (it also makes it more fun and interactive. Plus it helps with immersion) for the wizards to create their own spell books and write their spells with whatever verbal and manual component they want. Then, when the wizard casts a spell the player would make the physical movements and say the magical words to enact the manual movements. Great examples of this can be found here.

Spells that deal damage should be limited to one wound and spells that hinder foes, assist the caster (or their allies), or have multiple targets should last 3-4 rounds/targets. Spells outside of combat should have a duration that makes sense for the fiction. 

Tactical Combat: Due to class bonuses, I would avoid giving out modifiers in actions except for the -3/+3 that I mentioned under Difficulty Rating in this post. During combat, I think it is import to award players for creative and smart decisions. This could be a well laid trap, having the high ground, possessing the monsters weakness or bane, etc. 

Magic Items: Once again, due to the class bonuses it is important to avoid any type of magical items that provide numerical bonuses. Plus, those types of magic items are boring. It is important to keep magic items exciting, mysterious, weird, and wondrous. An example would be a ring that allows the user to turn into a mouse or a cat. A post found at the Trollish Delver blog explains this idea really well. 

Sword and Backpack

Sword and Backpack is a fantasy game designed by Rothbard and Gazpus that is 100% focused on story and the characters. The only mechanic that exists is rolled a d20 and adding a +5 (if the action falls within your job/class) vs. A target number. The original game can be found here and it is four pages long. What is more is that the pages are formatted to be cut out and taped/glued into a small moleskin notebook. This transforms the notebook into your character sheet and the Chronicle of your adventures. It does not take much effort to assemble it either:

Just reading through the game and the supplemental material was immediately inspiring to me and really changed the way I viewed gaming. It also led to some great adventures and role play moments. 

I finally hit some difficulty with when introducing it to new players or players who have only played crunch heavy games as Sword and Backpack is extremely freeform. So, I went to tinkering with it and all of my early attempts over complicated it which made it lose its soul. I eventually gave up the tinkering until I came across Cecil Howe's Hack and things just clicked (he cracked the code to tinker with it) and I went to work tweaking it after getting some experience playing Cecil's hack. Cecil Howe was kind enough to let me use his work and art on my version as long as I gave him credit. 

You can find my "Breakfast Club" Edition (Hack) here and the cover here. It is already formatted in booklet form and yes, the red cover is inspired by Kung Fu Hustle.

Here is also a four panel character sheet that was put together by Mr. Gone.

The core differences in my "Breakfast Club" Edition are:

• Changed how class bonuses interact with difficulty ratings
• Structured combat
• Added a wound/effort system
• Added a set of optional "Advanced" Sword and Backpack rules that are focused for campaign play

 I would also highly recommend reading the Sword and Backpack Broadsheet Collection. They are a best of GM and Player advice for this game but can honestly be used across the board.

The most powerful thing about Sword and Backack is that it is more then a game, it is a philosophy and that philosophy can be summed up with the Dungeon Punk Manifesto:

1. BETTER LIVING THROUGH ADVENTURE

2. BE AN INTREPID ADVENTURER AND EXPLORER FIRST, A HACK AND SLASH TOURIST SECOND.

3. EXPERIENCE > EXPERIENCE POINTS

4. WARRIOR = DRUMMER, SORCERER = GUITAR PLAYER, ROGUE = BASS PLAYER. EVERYONE SINGS.

5. A GOOD ENCOUNTER SHOULD BE LIKE AN AWESOME 7" SINGLE; A GREAT ADVENTURE SHOULD BE LIKE A SECRET $5 WAREHOUSE SHOW; THE BEST CAMPAIGNS SHOULD BE LIKE AN EPIC TOUR.

6. YOU ARE YOUR CLASS, BUT YOUR CLASS IS NOT YOU.

7. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS AN INHERENTLY EVIL ORC.

8. A SWORD AND BACKPACK ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS.

9. D.I.Y.: DUNGEONCRAWL IT YOURSELF.

10. YOUR CHARACTER SHEET AND YOUR DICE ARE YOUR PERSONAL TOTEMS. TREAT THEM AS SUCH.

11. ADVENTURE AND STORY TRUMP THE RULES.

12. IN FACT, WHEN IN DOUBT, SCREW THE RULES!