Just in case you are not on that list and would like to see someone in particular write for Risus, just leave a comment here and I’ll pass it along.

These days, typically in snippets of 5-10 minutes, I find myself reading the following RPG materials:

· Various Call of Cthulhu materials (parts of the core book, various adventures, bits from the Dreamlands).

· The OpenQuest core book and OQ’s Savage North adventure pack.

· Various RuneQuest items (parts of the MRQII corebook, parts of MRQII Monster Coliseum, RQ3 Griffin Island).

· Various Rolemaster things (parts of the RM Classic corebooks, Rolemaster Express, some of my old Middle-earth and Jaiman campaign modules, etc.).

· Various Stormbringer and Elric! (Chaosium’s ‘BRP’ version) items (parts of the core books, the amazing Corum supplement, various adventures); etc.

· Recent issues of Fight On! and Knockspell.

Ever since my last S&W campaign wrapped up I’ve been somewhat ‘at sea’. I’m not sure what to focus on next. Most likely I’ll be running Call of Cthulhu for my Toronto group when I return in late December, so that has provided some structure to my procrastination sessions. But I also cannot help thinking about how to tweak and improve my Ilmahal fantasy setting, including thinking about running something set in Ilmahal using a different system (say, OpenQuest, Elric!, MRQII, or RMC).

At least I have a few months to ‘read around’ before making a decision…

SSnS like other games from Rogue Games is a 12° system. It uses two twelve-sided dice with target numbers to determine if you succeed and if so, how many successes you get. For the most part, success are subjective and all becoming really important in combat.

Like other 12° systems, SSnS has five attributes. Unlike Thousand Suns (TS), the players get 45 points to split among them. I'm guess the assumption is that in SSnS, the PCs are a bit more robust than in TS. SSnS also doesn't have a career system but rather just gives the players point with which to actually purchases skills. Since there is the possibility of horror, a Sanity stat is also included. This allows for some Lovecraftean elements to exist as well. Players also get to choose a culture. This gives a couple of base skills and maybe a small bonus or penalty.

One trait of all 12° games are that they have thinks called hooks that every PC gets. Hooks are things that describe special elements of a PCs background, personality, or other relationships to the world around them. I like to think of them as role-playing guidelines. I think they provide a good way to know what a PC is all about and how they might act. Hooks do have the added bonus of allowing for a more effect Action Point usage. Either the GM or the player can activate a hook. If the GM activates it and the player agrees, then that player get a free action point to spend. In general, this combined with the greater utility of action points when tied to a hook, provides a reason for players to create useful hooks and not always have them be positive things. Hooks can be either good, bad, or in some cases just depend on the situation.

Combat in SSnS is like all other 12° games. Like all of them your attack roll not only determines if you hit but also how much damage is done. Each weapon will have a damage factor as well as the maximum damage it can do. For each success you get on your attack you do the amount of points on the damage factor up to the maximum damage listed. This is where dodge (for missile) and defend (for melee) come into play. For each success the defender has, they remove one success from the attacker's number successes. This is why of course, combat goes in reverse imitative order. People with low initiatives go first. This allows the people with higher initiatives to defend against an attack and then also attack by taking the multiple action penalty.

One thing to note in SSnS is that magic usage is frowned upon. Spell users of any type tend to not advertise that they know how to use spells. When a spell is cast, it costs vitality points (think Hit Points) and maybe even some Sanity lose. Basically, it's dangerous to cast spells. This is very much in keeping with the Sword and Sorcery style of play.

One nice thing about SSnS over TS is that is does have an adventure in book. I think this is a great idea for this setting/style. It provides a good example of what Style of setting and game play SSS is aiming for. It's a good reminder that this is not your standard fantasy.

The only negative things I have to say about things is really about the 12° system in general. There are some discrepancies between the various 12° systems. Some of it clearly based of the fact that the genre of game in question is a little different. Others are some basic rules differences. Of course the gentlemen at Rogue Games are actually listening and there is some good information that comes out of their mailing lists for each game.

My overall impression of Shadow, Sword & Spell is a positive one. I had a chance to play a game at GenCon 2010 run by Zach from RPGBlog2. I have to say that was one of the most enjoyable Con games that I've had in a long time. I think that speaks volumes about how easy and fun the 12° system is.