Song of Swords

Hey Jimmy, is there anything special about the Polish sabre user who's one of the best fighters around? You've mentioned his incredible loyalty, and that he gave Gizka her scar but can we get more info on him?

He's mentioned as having one of the highest CPs. That makes sense, since it would give him the dice to he able to get in close and deep draw cut everything as Polish Saber demands.

I was thinking about using this system for star wars. Good idea or bad idea?

I've heard of it being done before. I think it works alright.

Ballad would work much better.

The PDF has a word file with star wars equipment and rudimentary force rules. Combining them with Void Powers would probably get good results.

I think he's almost literally just Pan Wołodyjowski.

More like 2011 I'm pretty sure.

Just re-watched John Wick riding off last thread and it was as slick as I remember. Really good visualisation of the sort of fast-paced men in suits action that I want to use Ballad for.

John is totally a Qin-Tao user, who likes his Double Tap.

This one's just really cute.

neat, thanks

>there are people who legitimately do not realize Islam is intended to be a direct successor to Christianity and Judaism

Who cares?

>there are literally people that don't realize they're worshiping the demiurge

Not even the Protestants are as pleb tier as Jimmy's ilk, and that's saying something.

Such a badass movie.

A bunch of people last thread, apparently.

da fuq

He shoots the gentleman in his exposed foot causing him to stumble in pain and shack so John can shot him somewhere more medically vital.

Don't you have more important things right now like beheading slave boys?

Bump

I assume he's the little mustache guy from Potop, reincarnated into SoS.

He probably hates Russians.

Wait, sorry, you said special. Hating Russians isn't special for Poles.

We don't give a crap what your pet of this season's religion is supposed to be, liberal. It Is completelly extraneous to Christianity and recognized as such since the middle ages.

Please no bully.

Who wants a storytime? Trick question, I'm telling it no matter how dead the thread is.

Some of you might remember a few weeks/months ago that someone came asking for players for the Ballad NotAlgeria campaign. Surprisingly, it managed to gather enough people for a campaign. But before I get into the actual murder, I need to give context.

The game is taking place on the island chain of Biskra, a largely arid group of three islands: Biskra Major, Haute Biskra and Basse Biskra. The islands of Biskra were colonies under the country of Arlon, which was annexed by Chiron by the conclusion of the Second War of Containment. Thanks to not possessing any resources relevant to Chironite interests and conquered Arloni apathy, the colony was left alone for a period of two or so years. Despite Chiron's lack of interest an official from the protectorate of Wesel, the self proclaimed Governor-General Stefan Dehlendorf, leads an expeditionary force to Biskra to reestablish control in Richthofen's name. The force is small, consisting of 12,000 men divided into 2 Deventish brigades and 2 Weselite brigades. Dehlendorf personally leads a brigade of modernized standard mountaineers and the other fusiliers, while one General Jansen leads the Deventish troops. In addition to these ground troops, a small naval task force and 'deniable assets' are accompanying. Naturally, this should be enough to occupy any desert backwater, even if only 1/4th of the force is equipped to modernized standards. In the event the force somehow wasn't up to snuff, the deniable assets come in.
These deniable assets happen to be around a thousand or so mercenaries, distinctly separate from the more official ones working the air corridors and field kitchens. These mercenaries are largely Rahoo ground troops and expats from all over the Void. Some of these expats came to form the party, since apparently playing a group of all NotDutch or NotAustrians wasn't a thrilling idea.

He's undefeatable so long as he fights for his country.

What is Arlon supposed to not be?

Arlon is Space France. Now Space Vichy France under Ballad lore apparently.
The party began with three players, two being notorious drunkards with scheduling problems, but that's not the point.
The self proclaimed leader played by Drunkard Major of the group is Deventish expat Hans van der Kamp, whom spent time in Chiron's prestigious academies, served in the War of Containment, and left the military for unknown reasons. Nationalist and bayonet loving, he more or less brings the bravado to the squad that some of the others lack.
Meanwhile, Drunkard the Lesser plays the part Albish part Northerner Wayne Hargreave, all around psychopath. Gardener before the war, Scout during the war, his peacetime career was ruined after the loss of his arm. Despite his replacement given by the military, it lacks the tactile sense for proper gardening. So in a quest to amass enough money to purchase an arm that does, he hires himself as a mercenary. A mercenary dismissive of human life, obsessed with plants, and armed with a fucking 14.5mm Anti-Material Rifle.
Last is the most normal person of the group, Valerio Idoni. A former Lucani Marine from the war, he went into the mercenary business after realizing he has no marketable skills besides being a murderhobo. A grenade specialized, womanzing murderhobo.
Seeing as how the party was still low on members for a decent squad, they receive three NPC squadmates.
Klaus, an ex-Chironite radio operator.
Udaloy, a Volgin and former Albish Literature Professor, armed with a UC Tipper.
Lastly is De Conti, an Arloni fire support team member armed with an LRAC F1 (no one asked for the actual name) and a Sark SMG. Also has an extreme grudge with the CIS for abandoning his country to die.

I get this feeling like 80% of the lore to Laser Whales is just hidden from me. Is it that it's all alt-history stuff, so if you know the history you can infer what's going on?

Somewhat. A lot of it is also just present in design documents that may or may not get posted. For example, my info on Arlon, Deventer and Wesel mostly come from me filling in the blanks to make the game less Chiron Uber Alles and from a design doc I think Jimmy posted explaining Chiron's protectorates for a game he ran.

The game starts with the party present on a transport ship headed toward Biskra. The ship's mercenary population is predominantly Rahoo whom already came in squads, while the odd ones out got merged into squads much like Squad 7, the player named and player filled squad.

The Squad is greeted by a briefing from a Weselite Officer, which went as following barring some omissions:
It is two years after the war that brought Chiron to the forefront of void affairs. Many sacrifices were made during those trying times, but none greater than that of Arlon and Deventer. While, indeed, the CIS had lost their expeditionary force meant to quell any Chironite aggression, the formerly pacifist nation of Deventer and the CIS' largest ally, Arlon, have both fallen to status as protectorates under Chiron.
Despite it's status as a relatively minor nation, Deventer has had the liberty of still being allowed to manage it's eastern colonies near the Hiramoto Co-Prosperity Sphere and the islands of Vạn Xuân, at the cost of the loss of it's pacifist youth and wealth of art.
Arlon comparatively lost everything. Both having lost it's standing army in the war against Chiron and it's navy scattered and left rusting somewhere in it's former colonies, their greatest loss was their will. Arlon is spent. Assuming that they still had the authority and manpower to exact control over it's colonies, there are few left in it's puppet government that have the strength of mind to wish so.
Unfortunately, Chiron cannot do everything. For two years, Biskra has lay ungoverned by a civilized nation, and we, the Armed Forces of Wesel, lead by our esteemed commander, Governor-General Dehlendorf are here to bring order to this country once again.
Biskra is a beautiful place. Tropical climate, vast deserts and Arlonite built cities cover the landscape of all three islands. Of course, we Weselites will be welcomed by all but the most hostile Biskran citizen."

Sounds like a shitshow waiting to happen.

More shit than a German scat film.
After this briefing and some other minor stuff, the Squad witnesses the return of a recon plane sent toward the island. Riddled with 37mm cannon round holes, the pilot bails out to be scooped up by the nearby ships. Naturally, that's just going too well. Land based artillery has also began firing at the ships, and even strikes a ship transferring troops to another for APC transport.

Things are just as well when they begin to land. Squad 7 alongside a Deventish motorized regiment and other mercenaries land on a beach to capture a small airfield. They promptly begin receiving fire from HMG positions in the minarets of a local mosque. Advancing under cover of other APCs still active on the beach, the Squad moves up to a small urban area where the advance force has already set up an HQ. The party, however, suffers a language barrier in the sense that Wayne can only speak Albish and Ximbri, Valerio has every language besides Deventish, leaving Hans the only one able to communicate quickly with the other forces.

The Squad has air support. The problem is the air support needs to land and rearm, which it cannot because: While the forces are in control of the airfield, highly elevated enemy MG positions are capable of gunning down anything trying to land. So Hans comes up with a plan. Wayne stays alongside a Deventish Fire Support Team to, well, provide fire support. Hans, Valerio, Udaloy and De Conti move up through some woodland to get closer to the enemy positions. Unfortunately, the group was spotted by the enemy, and not just the enemy Dushmen but also their mercenary allies. Thanks to the fact that the mercenaries received actual formal training, the two man fireteam bolstering the enemy flank give Hans a nasty bullet to the arm, but not before Wayne takes out one of them and two of the MG nests. Now that their airfield is under less threat, their air support (Iceberg 1 and 2, flying notBF-109s) resupplies.

>Not even the Protestants
>Implying anyone but the Protestants are as shit as Protestant-tier

>anyone who isn't choking on the Pope's wrinkled dick as hard as I am must be shit-tier
Typical Catholic

If Jimmy is a typical catholic, the answer is blood sacrifice and fucking Thulsa Doom demons.

Protestants are at least Christians.

I assume things were quickly resolved thanks to their air superiority?

This is rounding up the end of the session. Now that Iceberg 1 and 2 are rearmed, Valerio takes this as an opportunity to deploy a smoke on enemy forces occupying buildings outside the Mosque. Strafed by cannon rounds and hit by a 500kg bomb, enemy forces in an urban sector are completely wiped out aside from the mercenary, whom escapes after exchanging shots with Wayne's AT rifle and Hans' inaccurate rifle fire.

However, this leaves one last problem: An enemy APC has arrived on scene with a 20mm autocannon and an ATGM, with Wayne's rifle shots being mostly ineffective against the body of the APC and the Deventish fire support being gored by the missile. However, a lucky shot from his AT rifle jams the turret's turning mechanism, causing the APC and in turn the rebels to retreat due to lack of firepower. Hans, in his brilliance, decides to pursue with a bayonet charge: Into a friendly Deventish KCT. Not being a pushover, the KCT uses a defensive disarm on Hans and gets him to calm down. Calmed down, Hans continues onward. After minor cleaning up of sporadic resistance, the mercs get a well deserved rest in a transport heading to the capital and a nice orange sunset. Well, orange sky. More of an orange glow, from the fires burning the city.

> Sola fide is a legit doctrine I swear guise!

>charging friendlies
He could have at least succeded, sounds like dead weight.

Two notorious drunks and the game actually progressed. That's impressive in its own right.

He's one of the only people with melee proficiency and actually had a pretty sizable pool. He just happened to go against an operator with a ridiculous pugilism prof.
It is, but it's still a bit annoying when several days we've had to progress without Hans. Wayne's player actually did pretty well showing up most days.

Star Vampire Lore when Jimmy, you're far, far overdue

He's too busy not making Song of Swords.

We've gotten single page done, so I guess I'll accept the lore silence on that end due to editing and leaving a surprise for the KS launch, but then I'll demand lore for Weltraumwal. Something to keep the threads alive. We need transfusions, it has been too long since we were first told of SOON

Hey SoS. I have a question about historical fightan. Given the sheer effectiveness of pikes, and their simplicity, is there any reason why they were not perpetually used from inception? Are there any weaknesses of pike formations that caused them to be abandoned, or to not catch on among more primitive peoples? Was it just organizational difficulties? Were pikes less effective against enemies without cavalry?

It was probably because they weren't much good in one on one fighting, and so nobody had a concept of making a spear that long to use in formation.

There aren't really any organizational difficulties with pikes
Really, a lot of human development going awry comes down to the sheer ridiculous inefficiency of thinking outside the box (abandoning accumulated knowledge is usually a bad idea, keyword being usually), and the fact that it was much harder to actually test anything empirically before, especially with regards to theorycrafting (notice how shitty armchair generals are on Veeky Forums? Imagine those, but without half the benefit of hindsight or higher education)

My understanding is that Romans beat the phalanx at Cynocephalae, so didn't keep up the use of pike in the mediterranean. Over in the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, beyond Roman influence, they were still using Macedonian phalangites till the 2nd century AD, before they got toppled themselves.

I'm pretty sure the Eastern Romans readopted the pike later on. But I think you're right, the pike was pretty far from the Roman style of warfare that they didn't really want or need it. They had a good thing going already.

What I'd like to know is if phalangites survived as auxiliary or garrison troops.

Pikes do have some difficulties. It's fairly hard to get untrained men to walk in perfect formation, and even harder to get untrained men to be able to change direction when they're in formation. Pikes are just unwieldy.

The formation didn't really go away, though. The shield wall of the Late Empire and Migration Period is basically a hoplite formation, with bigger shields and smaller spears. Then as that began to die, pikes and longer spears began to come back to the battlefield until everyone had a pike.

And then they made it so everyone had a pike that reached out several hundred feet and made a lot of noise.

Then, we made weapons that can send out so many pikes, each individual soldier is his own pike block.

There's also the super secret club-treehouse Skype group.

What's Song of Swords? Can someone give me a tl;dr?

>bigger shields
Even the biggest round shields were only as big as the aspis, though some oval and kite shields were longer, they were not as wide, reflecting the extra coverage of hauberks vs breastplates and the lack of greaves that was common in the era.

I'm pretty sure there have been lore snippets on star vamps, but it's changed a couple of times.

It is a historical combat sim in grim dark slavia where most edgy fag lords play seaelf slutbuckets. combat itself is pretty good though.

Do you know the P&P game The Riddle of Steel? SoS is one of the successors of it.
Basically It tries to model actual melee fighting as close to actual melee fighting as for a game possible (while still being fun to play). And (even though I only have experience with Ballad, a game using pretty much the same system as SoS) it works quite well. Combat is quick, dirty and complex.

It's a d10 dice pool based game designed to make combat realistic, fun, and dangerous. Opponents declare maneuvers, which at it's most basic is swing/thrust vs block/parry/dodge, assign a number of dice from their combat pool and then roll against the Target Number of their weapon, shield, or dodge. Whoever rolls the most Successes wins. You then determine level of wound(if the attacker wins) based on strength, weapon damage, and number of Successes vs the target's Toughness, Armor Value, and Successes. Even low level wounds will often have an impact and can start a death spiral of Shock, Pain, and Bleeding that will doom a combatant.
There are dozens of advanced maneuvers like disarms, trips, hewing shields, binding weapons, grappling, and a fairly advanced unarmed combat system but none are essential for basic play.

While this may seems complicated and clunky, in practice after a short learning session combat is smooth and fast paced with the level of lethality adding a legitimate feeling of danger and excitement rarely found in ttrpgs, in my opinion.

Character creation can take a while, but the level of detail you're forced to go through with each one gives, at least for me, more attachment and it's fun coming up with a half dozen characters who each will play completely different. I've grown more attached to single use tournament characters than I have for PCs I've ran for months in other systems.

A historical fencing simulator made by Californians at the behest of a mysterious Serb.

It's a child system of Riddle of Steel and it a bit of an autistic middle child. It's system that says "Yes I would like to simulate: parrying, stepping in, delving a pommel strike to the face to stun, use that opening to wrestle him to the ground, draw my stiletto and slide it between his armoured neck joints and do that in four discrete rolls assuming it all goes to plan.".

That's not an easy feat and I don't think it's an easy system to get into but once immersed it is one of the most pleasurable combat experiences to execute on the market.

Five rolls nigga
>Stepping Parry
>Pommel Strike
>Clinch
>Quickdraw
>Joint Thrust

I'm sorry, I originally meant to write that shield walls were like hoplite walls, with bigger shields than a Macedonian phalanx and the shorter spears. From what I know, many (but not all) later period round shields are my much more hoplon sized than pelta sized.

Quickdraw wouldn't be a roll in that situation.

>H Reach weapons automatically succeed.
>Stiletto
>Dagger
>1H
>H

Suck my dick.

Well shit, you got me there. I wasn't aware of that clause and I don't know if I like it. It kinda makes sense, but in another way it does not. Particularly when you've just clinched a motherfucker. Do remember that an action is said to be iirc about a second or two. So in the space of three maybe five seconds you've parried, moved in, struck and then grappled and you're saying you'd be absolutely able to draw? But on the other hand, a stiletto is only what 6" blade?

Oh, ok we'll agree to agree then. You do see a lot of theuros style shields as well iirc.

The first three actions there are all conceivably one smooth motion, but yeah, things let a bit wacky when you're trying to put it all into time. I've abandoned keeping track of how long anything takes, and have gone into a slightly more cinematic way of looking at it.

Excuse me, the most edgy people play brown Slavic proto-socialists and/or brown Slavic proto-Nationalists

Dickstab & Sepsis simulator 2013

And its offshoots, Nazi Flying Ships simulator 2015 and Mecha Simulator 2016

And they are all in early access.

Speaking of the new game with border between China and Finland, here's a character creator from some strange anime mecha game.

Would probably work well for making Metal Gear levels of tragic backstories.

That was a great thread.

I personally liked the girl I rolled that slowly just lost everyone she loved. Not to death or anything like that, the parents, the little sister and the lover just disappeared, one after another.

I think I made the Kill Bill comment on that.

Oh we're doin' this. Come on baby let's roll me a waifu.

Yeah, the girl who loved everyone she lost and has a gun.

And Batman amounts of money, and access to big fucking robots.

I can hear her razor-edge dialogue.

>With this pistol you took the last thing I had, so now I'm going to use it to take everything from you.

Rolled 3, 2 = 5 (2d6)

OK, Jimmy.

Alex Tannenhauser
Human
Hilt of the Saber [Bismark]
Low-Middle Class
Tragic Parent Loss (Died in War)
Three Siblings (Fuck rolling for this)
Family Situation Horrible (Everyone mutilated/crippled or dead. My sisters are the cast of Katowa Shoujo.)
Objective: Clean family's name (They're all cripples what am I supposed to do)
Friends/Enemies
Friends: None. No friends.
Enemies: A relative hates me because I caused the death to people dear to him (the rest of the family Who's fucking left to hate me!?)
Would try to harm me through indirect means (Is this one of the crippled siblings? You mad I left the iron on bitch?)
Deep in a relationship!
One of us is dangerously jealous (it's me, look at my family life I've probably got abandonment issues)
Hair: Brown Bangs over one eye
Eyes: Grey
Personality: Scheming and treacherous
Most important thing is: Honor (I'm a woman do I even know what honor is?)
Precious belonging: A Letter (it's a letter I mail to myself every week, adding “good work making it another week!” to the bottom each time)
Most valuable relationship: A brother or sister (It's the one who hates me.)

I'm an emotionally vulnerable girl with dead parents, and looks after her crippled elder sister who is secretly trying to kill me for burning down the house when we were kids. I'm obsessed with honor and status because I live on a planet called fucking Bismark, and want to restore the Tannenhauser name from one associated with failure and burn wards to martial glory.

Would play. What's this game about again, maids or giant robots? Why were talking animals even an option?

Rolled 3 (1d6)

Aww, no chance of Cossack.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

Blade of the Saber.

Rolled 3, 5, 5 = 13 (3d6)

Inara

Can someone link the original thread?

Rolled 2, 2 = 4 (2d6)

Second Son, I can dig it.

Rolled 3, 4 = 7 (2d6)

Oh shit my parents is dead.

It's about space mechas, Jimbo.

It's shoujo space mechas game, with blue haired and ruby eyed "hated" humans, who are special and shit, with animals that can talk and are just as intelligent as humans.

From what I understand it's a Portuguese about space opera mechs with Napoleonic trappings. The sward in the cluster of stars that the setting encompass that gets wealthier the closer you get to the hilt.

Translates as Space Light Brigade, we just had a thread >48561176

>coffee is drawing gemshit for /co
>instead of drawing SoS-stuff for us

What a slut.

Which is not a fucking surprise in this generator.

If your parents aren't dead by the time you generate them, there's also a change they are dead later, disappeared or just hate you.

They deserve him more than we.