Song of Swords: In the Shadow of the Leaves

Last time on Song of Swords:
Las Colinas Malditas
Rahoo air shows, Albish movie industry
Jimmy writes Hollywood into his game just to destroy it
Two years since v1.9.5; no one cares
BoB dev asking about Opaque's website
Brief inter-thread which died because Monday.

Song of Swords is a a tabletop RPG centered around realistic medieval fightan' with a ludicrous variety of weapons and fighting styles, centered around a dice pool system. It's currently in beta, and can be used for both fantasy and historical games.

Call of the Void: Ballad of the Laser Whales is a pulpy sci-fi tabletop RPG about fighting space-nazis and hunting giant whales with harpoons made out of the moon. Its combat system is more modern, based in the early 20th century, but can probably handle combat up to the present day.

MEGA folder containing current version of the game and all supplementary materials. At this time the latest version is v1.9.9:
mega.nz/#F!S89jTT7J!ozFi9GvzaFGHfBa59Ik2-Q

Here's a wiki detailing SoS's fantasy setting, getting filled up bit by bit as Jimmy reveals more details:
tattered-realms.wikia.com/wiki/Tattered_Realms_Wiki

The Legend Will Never die.

I think it's about time we had a good old fashioned historical arms & armor argument, we haven't had one of those in a while.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=GsckeyktMS0
youtube.com/watch?v=izXAoKKHm4g&t=12s
youtube.com/watch?v=dhOxr_Tta5g
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

youtube.com/watch?v=GsckeyktMS0

What do you guys think about Lindo's assessment of halberds here? Is he onto something?

Jimmy, what is Sulla's opinion on the concept of a cheeseburger?

In addition, is the CIS still in control of their equivalent of India?

>it's a lindy talking out his ass video

Not even going to bother watching it.

He's had them before. Or something very much like them--but without cheese. The Ruvians were big fans of ground beef patties, usually with seasoning, something they picked up from some of their conquests in Tujanka. The most popular recipe was essentially a beef Kofta patty, mostly grilled. As I'm sure you can imagine this would make a delicious burger. They generally didn't have them on bread buns but they would be eaten with bread.

Since Sulla's return he's gotten really, REALLY into fondue, so it's probably only a matter of time until it occurs to him to try a cheese melt on such a thing. He might suggest that Ailetta start serving them at her place.


>The CIS in India
No, one of the terms of the treaty of CWII was that all foreign colonies would be released by the Albish. However, the Kintish Raj is essentially still under Albish control, it's just run by Albion-educated Kintish nobles.

I thought it was sort of interesting myself. There's no written evidence to support his theory but there isn't much written about the use of halberds in general. What he says is food for thought though. I'd be interested to see such a thing tested.

Reposting


>Is SoS anywhere near completion? How diferrent is it from TRoS or BotIT?
All of them and Band of Bastards are the same game overall. They're different in particular ways. BotIT (or Bovine) is made specifically for sword and sorcery settings, has a so-called Limelight system for multi-person combats, has wounds levels from one to six. The game's most standout feature is it uses d12s instead of d10s. Strength and Toughness are rolled into one stat. Bleeding is a gradual degredation of combat ability on a combat time scale. Overshock adds a bonus to the attacker's next refresh. It has varying maneuver activation costs depending on your proficiency. Many weapons have odd abilities to encourage you to do things you wouldn't normally try, like thrusting with a mace. (They have a Silver-esque hatred of the rapier as well.) Women are objectively better than men because they can't be hit in the groin as often. It has bare tits on every page and a ton of stolen artwork. Most of the game mechanics are ripped straight from Riddle - some maneuvers' description paragraphs are even almost direct copy & pastes of the text in Riddle's books.

BoB has no setting and is much lighter and smaller than the other Riddle successors. One of its main premises is that you build your weapons from applying various modifiers to a base weapon statline, instead of all of its competitor games where you have lists of dozens and dozens of weapon statlines. However they have yet to release that feature, and at this time they have lists of dozens of weapon statlines. Its most standout feature is everyone uses a TN of 6, and wounds you suffer increase your TN for almost all actions; all other Riddle games have your TNs come from your choice of equipment and utilize a Pain system that reduces your CP as you suffer wounds. They have a lighter version of Bovine's Limelight system for multi-person combats. BoB takes more direct inspiration from the Riddle cousin game, Burning Wheel, even cribbing from it the "Ob" terminology for Obstacle, the number of successes you need to pass a check. Strength and Toughness can be bought up individually like in Riddle. Bleeding is a strategic post-combat concern. Overshock subtracts from the victim's next refresh. Proficiencies are similar to Riddle in that you use a proficiency based on how you use your weapon, necessarily what weapon you're using. BoB also stands out by removing the beloved Reach system, giving a +2 or +4 dice bonus at refresh to whoever currently has reach advantage instead of anything else. Grappling in BoB is extremely lethal. Metal armor caps wound levels at 3, necessitating either grappling or hitting somewhere unarmored to kill someone in full plate. Women are objectively better than men because they can't be hit in the groin at all. BoB is currently going through an overhaul that may change how some of these things work.

Song of Swords has a setting but is designed to work with or without it. SoS has various fantasy races, a large number of elf varieties, and magical people directly empowered by the gods; Bovine refluffs the degeneracy approach that Riddle had toward races to favor barbarians over freemen but otherwise includes only humans, as fits their genre; BoB only has humans. The game's most standout feature is its community manager, noted slavophile, leopard seal enthusiast, and sepsis fetishist Jimmy Rome. Strength is a purchasable stat but Toughness is the average of 3 purchasable stats, making it expensive to raise. (Stats are rated 1 to 10 in SoS; in Bovine they're 1 to 8, in BoB they're 1 to 5. All three games have special conditions that let you rise above these limits.) An important distinction between SoS and the other games is its inclusion of a third die color, making orientation more tactically engaging while keeping it very smooth, fast, and easy. Bleeding is gradual countdown to death on a combat time scale, and death by bloodloss comes extremely quickly. It's worth noting both SoS and BoB have involved rules for medical care and wound infections. Overshock manifests as a knockdown check. It has fixed maneuver costs and proficiencies are used based on what you're holding, not how you're using it. It claims to have over 150 weapons. Its grappling and bind ("hilt push") systems are inspired by Riddle but somewhat different from it. Armor, weapons, and wounds are overall very similar to Riddle. It originally purported to have rules for fighting large monsters in a Dragon's Dogma style but that never happened. Women are equal to men and can be hit in the groin in an identical fashion to them. Instead of Spiritual Attributes, SoS uses so-called Arcs. While similar, these do not give you any in-game benefit like SAs did but instead are your only avenue for acquiring experience points.

Another big difference between the Riddle successors are how they handle multiple wounds.

In SoS, you add Pain and Bleed from all wounds into a combined total. This includes multiple wounds on the same area. (Explosions in SoS are debilitating because they make a dozen level 1 wounds whose Pain stacks up.)

In BotIT, you only combine Pain and Bleed from wounds from different areas. Once you hit someone in the arm, further hits to the arm won't create more pain or bleed. You need to hit another location.

In BoB, you only consider your highest Bleed level and your highest TN adjustment. Wounds below what you're currently suffering do nothing to further hinder you. Your Bleed is worsened if you suffer multiple Bleeds of the same level, and you'll still suffer special effects such as knockdown or loss of limb, but that's all.

Song of Swords and BotIT have both since released sci-fi games. Bovine released a Swords & Planet supplement, for games in that genre. (You know, fighting the bug-men in the gladiatorial arenas on red Mars for the hand of the green-skinned princess. That sort of thing.) SoS released a new game named Call of the Void: Ballad of the Laser Whales (Ballad or CotV for short) which bears passing resemblance to the Riddle games but is mostly its own thing. It's set in a WW1/WW2 level technology world of floating islands and ships that plow the void, running on the biofuel of the space whales that travel freely between the islands. SoS is currently in the process of adapting some mechanics from Ballad to itself, in particular its multi-person combat system.

Ultimately, all the Riddle successors are slightly different but undoubtedly distinct, comprised of different combinations of familiar and new mechanics. BotIT has emphasis on its genre setting, BoB has emphasis on its mechanics, and SoS has split emphasis on its setting and mechanics.

The story of how Ballad of the Laser Whales came to be is literally that Jimmy went into a Fey Mood one day, got some seashells or whatever and made a better game than SoS in under 24 hours.

The guy who made BotIT came and shit talked Song of Swords, so Jimmy made a game out of his insults to spite him.

And then the BotIT guy died of cancer, so I guess we win. RIP that guy, your shade created a greater game than any of us could know.

I think it was Ian Plum who died, he was more of a third party. Jimmy just assumed he was a BOTIT guy.

BoB thanks Ian Plumb in their opening.

Meanwhile, Jimmy thanks Margaret Thatcher.

Well yeah, everyone should be. I'm pretty glad the USSR is gone and Malvinas Brittanias. Aren't you? Why aren't you thanking Margaret Thatcher, faggot?

You will never give as little of a fuck as Jimmy Rome.

>grilling a chappli kebab
disgusting
Seekh kebabs are for grilling, chapplis/patties are for pan-frying

>implying anything grilled is bad

Why the hell are there so many TRoS-alikes? It seems odd for such a niche game

The main draw is probably the combat systems.

It was a fun game, but it had problems. The combat system is 10/10, everything else was okay or bad. The TRoS forums split along different philosophies for how to fix what was bad. Veeky Forums loved it because of John Galt. Plus it coincides with the slow popularization of HEMA.

>tfw you will never be able to rock a cilice as well as Jimmy's smooth, boyish thighs

It's such a stark departure and vast improvement over "roll to hit, roll damage, repeat," that people really take to. I'd never heard of Riddle of Steel until I stumbled into the arms and armor threads that /SoS/ is. I was in th threads for months not knowing what the he'll was going on, but after the first full fecht I saw I was hooked.

A game where stabbing someone in the dick is a viable (even preferable) tactic will always have a place on Veeky Forums

>A FUCKING LEAF

Hey Programanon, I submitted a pull request a while back, not sure if you still need my username, as I believe it should be there. I've actually fixed a shitload of things since that pull request, but I'm waiting for the first to get accepted before jamming another in, if that makes sense.

Is there a way for the two of us to communicate directly until we get this thing rushed out? It shouldn't take too long to get it sorted out from what I can see, but I think it'd be wise for us to discuss what'd be the best course of action for the overall layout and such.

Real talk, what the fuck is anima armor? It's listed under lamellar but I can't seem to find any good info.

Anima Plate is a sort of plate armor designed to resemble older Roman Laminae. The SoS definition of it includes some articulation.

So basically it's really fancy plate armor with overlapping plates that can slide past each other allowing the wearer to move a bit more.

Essentially, this.

thanks m8s

Anyone care to help me stat these guys' armor?

Guy on the left is wearing lamellar with a pot helm and probably a coif. The guy on the right is wearing a heavy padded coat (it seems) over a mail coat with long sleeves. His turban is also probably wrapped around a skull cap.

Sorry, been a bit busy with finals for the last few days. I got you merged in, and added as a collaborator, so you can merge your own stuff in the future if need be.

Getting shit done, lads? I like it.

SoS has basically become a cult at this point. You can't trust anyone on the internet unless they're also a dickstabber.

> The guy who made BotIT came and shit talked Song of Swords, so Jimmy made a game out of his insults to spite him.
...I feel like this is a story I need to hear.

> And then the BotIT guy died of cancer, so I guess we win.
Can confirm. Ian Plum was the guy who ran/owned the trosfans forums and sold copies of the game after the publisher abandoned it.

The details are not 100% clear, but one of the BotIT guys made a joke about SoS being a more "gonzo" sort of game with whales with lasers strapped to their heads, hyperbole describing the high-fantasy elements of the game.

This apparently cut Jimmy deeply, so he produced Ballad of the Laser Whales, literally a game about space nazis hunting laser whales. It was a big hit, and credited it to the guy who died of cancer. He has said that it will haunt him for the rest of his life that the guy died before he could see the game.

>Plum
At least spell his name correctly.

I was just going by the spelling used.

You fucked up man. You fucked it up. It's all over now.

I have brought shame upon my family. For this, I commit honorabru sudoku.

youtube.com/watch?v=izXAoKKHm4g&t=12s

99.9% odds this is Jimmy Rome.

Dunno, one of my friends has a massive hard on about how bread and grain is handled in settings.

Is your friend also a leopard seal enthusiast who calls himself Rumble?

I do not believe so, but it's been a while since we last hung out.

>only subscribed to PewDiePie and a Bishop
HM

I think I found your friend.
youtube.com/watch?v=dhOxr_Tta5g

Shitty memes? You might be on to something.

Are there Immortals in the void Jimmy?

...

Why the uppercase? Zells exist, so.

Took me a second to realize HP didn't mean hit points.

Could RoS's manuveres be re-tooled for dogfights?

No problem, I'll try to figure out how to make sure I don't take a wrecking ball to any sense of good practice with regards to git

I'll fail
>Trusting people who stab people in the dick
Risky stuff

Persian Immortals maybe?

>Ballet of Biplanes
>Airplanes in Allegro
>Dance of Dogfighters
>Baritone Barons and Jazzy Jets

Isn't this the plan for Ballad?

I'm working on a big fuck you build in SoS. I was thinking of an armored paviser with shield trick and special move, brandishing a double barreled wheellock dragon for ridiculous melee-shooting.

I like the idea of declaring blue, total blocking or somesuch, and then quick-draw blasting someone's head off. It seems that I could drop 2 shots at MP+1 at TN 4, though I wonder if TN 4 might have diminishing returns. I could take high caliber and deal +1 damage at TN 5, though I doubt that's worth the trouble. Shot would mean that I'm dealing a fucking mountain of scatter too, which would be nice for combining hits to overcome armor.

Thoughts?

I think that's more naval warfare than dogfighting

TN4 has "diminishing returns" in that it's not as big an increase from TN5 as TN5 is to TN6 (with e.g. 10 dice, you go from a 20% increase from 5 to 6, to a 16.66% increase from 6 to 7), but damage is not the most important thing with Shot, just hitting at all is, often, so High Caliber is complete ass 90% of the time

would high caliber be less ass if I were using ball ammo? I doubt either would make a big splash against someone with fuckhueg TOU and/or bulletproof armor.

Well, I just started to read the english HP books (not my native language) and
>rather weak and specific Divinations
I'm not sure about that. In book two (which I just begun) dobby does some magic at the dudleys house in the beginning, and the Ministry IMMEDIATELY knew there was some magic done in that house (though they did not know it was not harry) and a letter arrived just moments after.
And in the first book the letter always addressed harrys location pretty exactly ("The Cupboard under the Stairs; 4 Pivet Drive" or (something along the line of) "The Floor of the Hut on the Rocks; Outer Sea").
But all in all I agree that DnD wizards are likely to come out on top. The only thing that (at least what I can think of right now) HP wizards have over them is not having a limit as to how many spells to cast.

I just the part about the crocodiles.

You've got two barrels, one for shot, one for scatter.

Jimmy's talked about fighter combat before.

>SoS style fighter combat

>
If you would like the Based Leopard Seal of Civic Nationalism to bless your home and ensure the continuation of your people and a future for your children, leave a comment saying "Swim Safe, Seal!"

It's him.

Swim Safe, Seal.

High Caliber is ass. Don't use it. In melee shooting you want scatter ammo always and you want the lowest TN possible. You don't want them having any chance of defending, right? Get the lowest TN you can. Against this hypothetical B-din with a main gauche your hit chances raise significantly, and your chances of doing the same amount of damage as the TN 5 shot go up too.
Also, unless they're unarmored across the whole area or something, never shoot at the Chest or Belly. Those thrust tables have 4 results, not 3, which will cut down on the amount of stacking up your Shot ammo will do. That means less chance of instant kill.

top stuff bruv, thanks. I was thinking of thrusting my dragon at their chest for the +1 TMZ but I see your point regarding the 4 rolls. This is really good analysis, I'm glad someone is still around who knows stuff and cares.

Hold up a sec. Shot has a 9/10 catch chance. Does that apply to the main primary shot only? It'd be absurdly OP if it applied to the scatter hits so I guess it does.

>double barrel scatter
>18 individual opportunities for +4 pain

How are you getting TN 4 with the dragon? You start at 6, wheellock gives you -1. Where's the other -1 coming from?

special move

Ahh, okay.

>7 + 7 = 18

Getting on someone's tail could mimic grappling, thrust would be precise shots while strikes would be more of a strafe.

Double barrel scatter hits won't combine together. Each scatter shot only combines with itself.

>heavy shot
>scatter 8/6

You're correct, but 9 chances to combine is still good.

That's if you're using heavy shot. user above was asking about dragons. They only have normal shot.

You're correct, I was originally thinking of using a blunderbuss and then changed to the dragon but failed to change my ammo back. Good catch user.

It seems I don't have write access, because I can't Push my branch at all, not sure what's going on. It's not the issue of having a different history, so if I do have write access, I'm sorta lost on the problem

I did the math for the likelihood of normal shot scatter shots stacking on a typical 3/4/3 thrust target zone.
This counts the scatter shots only, not the primary shot.

Rounded to two decimal digits
2 stacks = 11.66%
3 stacks = 56.32%
4 stacks = 25.73%
5 stacks = 05.73%
6 stacks = 00.56%

So the majority of the time, you'll get 3 stacks on one area. Respective to whether you hit soft or hard armor that's 18 or 9 damage. From there your primary shot lands somewhere, maybe landing on the main stacked area and adding 5p+BS damage to it. 3 stacks isn't going to hurt someone in plate armor. You'll need the primary shot with lots of BS and/or 5 or more stacks to do that.

Freaky Fact Friday:

SoS will never be released in a completed form. Jimmy is actually a demon who feeds off blue balls.

For Heavy Shot

Rounded to two decimal digits
3 stacks 23.95%
4 stacks 47.09%
5 stacks 21.72%
6 stacks 06.13%
7 stacks 01.03%
8 stacks 00.08%

Again, your primary shot's going to land somewhere. That'll add at least 7p if it's a blunderbus or 19p if it's an abus gun. If a blunderbus shot with 1 BS stacks with a 3-stack, then you've got a minimum of (6p + 9p scatter + 1 BS) = 16p damage. That'll cause a wound even through a stechhelm's 13 AVP. But if you're unlucky you may get a 4-stack with the primary shot not landing on the 4, which will probably result in no damage to Hard armor.

>16p damage. That'll cause a wound even through a stechhelm's 13 AVP.
If they have TOU 2, which no one will have. So 3 stacks isn't enough to get through that. But against 8 AVP plate you're doing good.

You say that as if it's something we don't all already know.

I'm very much of the opinion that firearms need to be reworked in light of Laser Whales. The new system is so much better, even if you were to drop the autistic way of calculating damage by caliber.

It does seem that plate armor is effectively bulletproof, especially against people with modest toughness. I mean, 6+ Toughness is effectively godlike, it seems. Do you think SoS will go to 4 TOU standard like CotV has?

>It does seem that plate armor is effectively bulletproof,
There's no way you could possibly think that unless you haven't read SoS.

I doubt it, Tou in SoS is usually used to represent the hans type figures of history that were just plain tough. If you get rid of it, the system quickly becomes hyper rocket tag. One solution to this would have the traits that affect toughness make up a different compound stat that aids in lessening the pain/stun felt from a wound, but that could be easily broken and subject to whiny autism like str caps. Another idea is to remove str from the roughness equation and sub in another stat. This would help with the super tough and strong murder hobo issue while still keeping toughness as a reasonable stat that grows slower.

>Structural MIG welder. Also I'm a leopard seal.
Yeah, nah. Jimmy isn't a leopard seal.

Maybe Jimmy Rome is a selkie, shedding his sealskin and gaining hands with which to shitpost?