Actual Play: Scrolls and Swords II

Well, we certainly had a fantastic time this week with our Scrolls and Swords game. Luckily my dice rolls ended up generating a pretty solid follow-up story to the cliffhanger we found ourselves on at the end of Session One, and everyone at the table seemed to really enjoy the openness of the system, with the ability to do anything with justification and proper dice rolls.

I'm really looking forward to whenever we can run the next session, as I've got some pretty badass character sheets mocked up for the system, which I'd actually like to tweak some using hand-drawing rather than quick and cheap photoshops.

There are still a few random tables I think I'll create as well; it seems that the openness of character creation is a bit intimidating to players who just want to random-roll their character generation.

While considering that, I was also pondering about character improvement through sessions, and realized that I don't really like the idea of 'experience points' for Scrolls and Swords, partly because it's so basic a system that I can't really fathom the process of making it more complicated with leveling mechanics, partially because I'm somewhat intrigued by "experience" actually meaning that; players find themselves with more familiarity with the setting and characters of the world.

Speaking of the world...Updated Map!

There's also the thematic purpose of not really having character advancement; in most Saturday Morning-esque cartoon series, characters don't undergo dramatic increases of power between episodes, they always seem to have what they need to overcome the adversity in each plot.

If anything, I'll simply allow players to change their number between sessions, and possibly give them another 'item from their adventures' if they happen to pick up something interesting in any particular game.


Scrolls and Swords II: Eclectic Boogaloo


You can download the episode here (right click, Save As).