Two of my playtesters are also game designers, and one made the comment that during the dice mechanic, there are many points in which dice are being removed from the resolution and each of those moments should mean something. There should be a narrative, in-game response to the process of task resolution with dice.

He was absolutely correct, but I so wished he weren’t at the time, because I was having a hard time trying to figure out how all this could work. A lot of ‘but!’ came into my head and a few made it to my tongue.

Not to worry, as there were still six people around the table, and brainstorming ensued. This led to a new interpretation of the task resolution system, one in which each action during task resolution has an in-game component.

The biggest stumbling block so far is group involvement in a single task. Right now, all task resolution is dice vs. dice, as in the GM rolls dice that reflect the difficulty of a challenge against a player rolling dice for a character. When a group tries, for example, to find a single individual or accomplish some other task that is a single challenge, the number of dice used by the group overwhelms the challenge, but adding in extra dice to compensate for the number of characters inflates the challenge ridiculously.

Still working on that and we’ve scheduled another playtest session, so hopefully we’ll soon have a group challenge mechanic. Right now, I’m using “number of successes,” but it doesn’t feel right as it is totally removed from the main task resolution mechanic.

In case you are interested, you can find the original playtest rules here, and the new playtest rules here.

And the post title refers to the Latin for “where are you going?” rather than the novel and movie by the same name.

The numbers speak for themselves.

You can find Kiss My Axe here.

You can find Suffer the Witch here.

You can find our catalogue here.

More info on the podcasts on which I appeared soon.

Sales for January 2012
Albenistan
Raid On Ashkashem, 2
Khorforjan Gambit, 2
Qalashar Device, 2

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms, 5
Gifts of the Elder Gods, 3
For Simple Coin, 3

Covert Forces
Blood and Guts 2: In Her Majesty’s Service, 2
Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section, 1
Covert Forces Redux, 1

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers, 16
Kiss My Axe, 55
Suffer the Witch, 38
Sword’s Edge System, Free Rules, 62
Sword Noir, 27
The Kheufer Scrolls, 18

Other
Operation Nearscape, Free Product, 10
Relief Effort (Charity Product), 1

Total Sales to Date
Albenistan
Albenistan: Election Day (Modern Dispatch 113): 30
Khorforjan Gambit: 100
Qalashar Device: 113
Raid On Ashkashem: 154

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms: 35
Gifts of the Elder Gods: 31
For Simple Coin: 54

Charity Products
Relief Effort: 55

Covert Forces
Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section: 91
Covert Forces: 100
Covert Forces Redux: 148
In Her Majesty’s Service: 129

Other
Cyber-state Avatar Toolkit: 35
Line Zero: 32
Operation Nearscape, Free Product, 274

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers, 66
Kiss My Axe, 89
Suffer the Witch, 38
Sword’s Edge System, Free Rules 850
Sword Noir 290
The Kheufer Scrolls, 111

Number for Modern Medieval, Roles & Classes, and Treasure Chest: Unlocked not included as these lines have been discontinued and their numbers will not change. Those numbers were included in December sales, if you are interested.

You can find Sword Noir here.

You can download the audio here.

Or you can listen right now.

And these adventurers, lately come from the sea, lost and in need of aid? Can they save the village of Kalved?

Suffer the Witch, an adventure for the Viking RPG Kiss My Axe: Thirteen Warriors and an Angel of Death, was created for Gen Con 2011. It is a challenge for 4 – 6 starting characters. Pre-generated characters are included, but the adventure can be run with any newly generated Kiss My Axe character. While the adventure does not require the use of Kiss My Axe, the narrative characters and some situations are based on that system and would require modification to use with another system.

You can find Suffer the Witch here.

Small note: the numbers for Sword Noir had been skewed by print copies sent out for review and those provided as comp copies. The new total is correct and reflects only those copies sold.

Total Sales for December
Albenistan
Raid On Ashkashem, 2

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms, 1
Gifts of the Elder Gods, 10
For Simple Coin, 1

Covert Forces
Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section, 1
Covert Forces Redux, 2

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers, 6
Kiss My Axe, 34
Sword’s Edge System, Free Rules, 39
Sword Noir, 11
The Kheufer Scrolls, 8

Other
Operation Nearscape, Free Product, 10

All Time Total Sales
Albenistan
Albenistan: Election Day (Modern Dispatch 113): 30
Khorforjan Gambit: 98
Qalashar Device: 111
Raid On Ashkashem: 152

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms: 30
Gifts of the Elder Gods: 28
For Simple Coin: 51

Charity Products
Relief Effort: 54

Covert Forces
Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section: 90
Covert Forces: 100
Covert Forces Redux: 147
In Her Majesty’s Service: 127

Modern Medieval
Gunpowder Plots: 73
Man-At-Arms Advanced Class: 36
Mercenary Advanced Class: 39
Spy Advanced Class: 34
Modern Medieval Compilation: 46
(for Japanese Disaster Relief)

Other
Cyber-state Avatar Toolkit: 35
Line Zero: 32
Operation Nearscape, Free Product, 264

Roles & Classes
Capable Hero: 84
Combat Hero: 83
Counter-Terrorism Assaulter: 95
Covert Hero: 92
Spec Ops Recce: 93
Special Operations Marksman: 93
Talent Trees Assembled: 68

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers, 50
Sword’s Edge System, Free Rules 788
Sword Noir 263
The Kheufer Scrolls, 93

Treasure Chest Unlocked
Gems: 66
Incense: 7

Kiss My Axe uses the same underlying system as Sword Noir – the Sword’s Edge System – but it has been altered to provide a greater focus on combat, kind of important for Vikings.

Suffer the Witch is the one-shot used at Gen Con 2011, though updated to reflect both the experiences at Gen Con and further consideration of the scenario. If you played Suffer the Witch at Gen Con, you’ll find the establishing portion of the adventure slightly different, but the actual conflict and the characters themselves are pretty much as presented at Games on Demand in Indy.

For those of you interested, the budget for Kiss My Axe is just over $ 1,000. On the assumption that 75% of sales are PDF only and 25% are Print, I’ll need to sell 320 copies to break even (270 PDFs and 50 Print). Right now, with Sword Noir, we’ve sold 219 PDFs and 47 Print copies. Sword Noir has been out since April 2011, so that’s basically 8 months of sales. Sword Noir had a bigger budget than Kiss My Axe, but I expect to see fewer sales of Kiss My Axe. Given all that, there is some hope that Kiss My Axe will turn a profit within a year. That would be awesome.

You can find Kiss My Axe: Thirteen Warriors and an Angel of Death here.

You can find Sword Noir, the Sword’s Edge System, and other awesome Sword’s Edge Publishing products here.

Heroic Character Creation

Not all characters in the game are heroes, but all PCs are. These steps are for creating Player Characters or other heroic characters. Later, in Heroes, Regulars and Minions, there is a similar list of steps for regular and minion characters.

A Character is made up of Aspects, Prowess, Traits and Other Qualities. Each of these is divided further into ten Qualities that help to define a hero. Aspects include Concept, Faculty and Seafaring. A characters Prowess is measured in Fighting, Style and Protection. Traits are defined as Physique, Charisma and Cunning. Lastly characters may have Other Qualities that help to make them distinctive.

At character creation each of these Qualities has a default starting Rank. To help customize your character, you receive a total of six Ranks to spend on increasing your character’s Qualities.

What follows is a summary of the steps you could take when building a heroic character. Each point is discussed in more depth later in the text.

1. Create a Concept. This Quality relates to what the player intends the character to represent. The Concept has a default Rank of Good. This Rank can be advanced using the six Ranks available at character creation, but this is not mandatory. See Aspects.

2. Create a Faculty. This Quality represents a character’s secondary aptitude, is not necessarily linked to the character’s Concept, and is usually a skill or talent. The Faculty has a default Rank of Good. This rank can be advanced by spending Ranks at character creation. See Aspects.

3. Give Seafaring a Rank. Seafaring is a common Aspect for all Vikings. If you are creating a character who is not a Viking, replace Seafaring with a skill or talent linked to the character’s culture. Seafaring (or cultural skill) has a default Rank of Good. This rank can be advanced at character creation. See Aspects.

4. Rank Prowess. Prowess is divided into Fighting, Style and Protection. Fighting begins at Good. Style and Protection begin at Average. Each of these can be advanced at character creation. See Prowess.

5. Rank Traits. The Traits Physique, Charisma, and Cunning all begin at Average. These ranks can be advanced at character creation. See Traits.

6. Create Other Qualities. If the player has not spent all six Ranks provided at character creation, the player can use the remaining ranks to create and advance Qualities. A Quality is a short descriptor of some attribute of the character. A new Quality begins with the rank of Good, but may be advanced by spending more ranks. It is linked to a Trait. See Qualities. Remember, the player has six Ranks total to use at character creation to advance Aspects, Traits, Prowess and other Qualities.

7. Create Pivots. This is a goal or other character quirk that helps to define the character. Completing a Pivot provides Fortune Points for a character. The character may have up to three Pivots. Ranks are not used to create Pivots. See Pivots.

For our heroic character—basically, a Player Character—let’s have Helfdan Tokesson. I envision Helfdan as a poet-warrior who has many a dalliance as he trades and raids across Europe. For his concept, I’m going with Skald. This starts at Good. I’m going to spend one of the six free Ranks available at character creation to increase the concept to Great. I now have five free Ranks I can spend.

Helfdan happens to be very perceptive. He can read people very, very well. I’m giving him a faculty of Insight. This is at Good. I’m going to use one of the five free Ranks remaining to increase his faculty to Great.

Helfdan is damn sure a Viking, so he gets Seafaring at Good.

Helfdan gets Fighting at Good. I have four Ranks left, but I have plans for those Ranks, so I’m not going to spend any and I’ll leave Fighting at Good.

For Style, I’m going to spend one of the four remaining free Ranks to give Helfdan a Style. I imagine him as a pretty flamboyant fighter, using everything around him in the fight, and being very kinetic. As such, I’m calling the Style “Swashbuckling.” The term did not exist in the Viking Age, but for everyone playing the game, it should engender images of Captain Blood, the Three Musketeers, and Scaramouche. This leaves me with three free Ranks.

While Helfdan could get Protection, it doesn’t really fit with my character conception, so I’m not going to spend any of his three remaining Ranks here.

I’m going to spend two of the remaining three free Ranks for Helfdan and increase his Wit to Good and his Charisma to Good.

I have one free Rank left for Helfdan, and I’m going use it to create a Quality. I’m calling this one “Charming Rogue,” and linking it to Charisma. I only have one Rank, so I’m leaving it at Good. I am also going to assign Helfdan a Weakness (see Weakness below) which gives me another Rank to work with. I’m going to create a Quality called “I Know a Little . . .” at Good, and it refers to the common ‘I know a little French/German/Dutch/etc.’ so that Helfdan can usually understand parts of the conversations going on in foreign languages. Given that it is about languages, I’m linking it to Wit.

Helfdan has no Ranks with which to purchase an Item. Plus, it does not readily fit with the character concept.

And you know that I have to give Helfdan the Weakness “Loves the Ladies” at Basic, because it fits so well into my image of him. Taking this Weakness provides another Rank that can be spent at character creation. If you recall, I spent that rank creating the Quality “I Know a Little . . .” at Good.

While Helfdan may gain Fame later through the game, he has none now.

Helfdan’s Pivots will be “Talk My Way Into It,” “Buckling the Swash,” and “Saga of Greatness.”

For “Talk My Way Into It,” the Pivot will be “Words can be as effective as weapons. Luck is gained when the character gains an advantage or victory against a clearly superior opponent through words.” “Buckling the Swash” will be “What’s the point of a fight if you can’t have a little fun? Luck is gained when the character fights in an unorthodox, cinematic and amusing fashion against an opponent that clearly outclasses the character.” Finally, “Saga of Greatness” will be “When I declaim the glory of another, I bring glory to myself. Luck is gained when the character gains an ally or subverts an enemy through the use of saga or verse regarding the heroism of some third party.” That last one is going to be tough.

Helfdan Tokesson
Concept: Skald, Great               Fighting: Good
Faculty: Insight, Great              Style: Swashbuckling, Good
Seafaring: Good                         Protection:
Phy:     Wit: Good     Cha: Good
Charming Rogue (Cha, Good); I Know A Little . . . (Wit, Good); Loves the Ladies (Basic)

Pivot: Talk My Way Into It: Words can be as eff ective as weapons. Luck is gained when the character gains an advantage or victory against a clearly superior opponent through words.

Buckling the Swash: What’s the point of a fight if you can’t have a little fun? Luck is gained when the character fights in an unorthodox, cinematic and amusing fashion against an opponent that clearly outclasses the character.

Saga of Greatness: When I declaim the glory of another, I bring glory to myself. Luck is gained when the character gains an ally or subverts an enemy through the use of saga or verse regarding the heroism of some third party.

Gifts of the Elder Gods was meant to be SEP’s last planned release, and was scheduled for the first quarter of 2012, but with KMA delayed, I wanted to put something out in November to keep SEP’s visibility relatively high. It may not worked out as well as I would have liked, but we’ve had good numbers for the last week in November, so it might be doing its job.

December should be interesting, with the release of Kiss My Axe. I hope it will perform as well as (or even better than) Sword Noir, but I honestly have my doubts. Since its release in April of this year, Sword Noir as earned $958 against a budget of $1350. That sounds great, except the numbers are down lower than expected (I had hoped for at least 10 sales per month). If we continue forward with only 4 sales per month, it’ll take another two years to get into the black. I had projected two years total, so that would be one third longer than anticipated to make a profit. Not good.

Total Sales for November
Albenistan
Khorforjan Gambit, 3
Qalashar Device, 3
Raid On Ashkashem, 3

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms, 1
Gifts of the Elder Gods, 18
For Simple Coin, 2

Covert Forces
Covert Forces Redux, 4
In Her Majesty’s Service, 2

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers, 5
Sword’s Edge System, Free Rules, 25
Sword Noir, 7
The Kheufer Scrolls, 5

Other
Operation Nearscape, Free Product, 20
Relief Effort, 1

Total Sales To Date
Albenistan
Albenistan: Election Day (Modern Dispatch 113): 30
Khorforjan Gambit: 98
Qalashar Device: 111
Raid On Ashkashem: 150

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms: 29
Gifts of the Elder Gods: 18
For Simple Coin: 50

Charity Products
Relief Effort: 54

Covert Forces
Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section: 89
Covert Forces: 100
Covert Forces Redux: 145
In Her Majesty’s Service: 127

Modern Medieval
Gunpowder Plots: 73
Man-At-Arms Advanced Class: 36
Mercenary Advanced Class: 39
Spy Advanced Class: 34
Modern Medieval Compilation: 46
(for Japanese Disaster Relief)

Other
Cyber-state Avatar Toolkit: 35
Line Zero: 32
Operation Nearscape, Free Product, 254

Roles & Classes
Capable Hero: 84
Combat Hero: 83
Counter-Terrorism Assaulter: 95
Covert Hero: 92
Spec Ops Recce: 93
Special Operations Marksman: 93
Talent Trees Assembled: 68

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers, 44
Sword’s Edge System, Free Rules 749
Sword Noir 265
The Kheufer Scrolls, 85

Treasure Chest Unlocked
Gems: 66
Incense: 7

Two fur trappers hunted by a spirit of hate that feeds on the very fear it engenders.

An arrogant apprentice to a vain wizard finds himself in a race to unlock secrets hidden for centuries.

MacBeth, beloved King of the Scots, faces his last day and learns his name will damned.

A cunning sorcerer has decided he will not be a victim, he would rather be a victor.

These are the wizards and warriors that populate Gifts of the Elder Gods. Join them in their adventures, touched by magic and the supernatural, with wits and weapons of mysticism or steel to overcome the snares of diabolical enemies.

Gifts of the Elder Gods is the new short fiction collection from Fraser Ronald. You can find it at RPG Now and Drive Thru RPG. It is available in PDF, ePub, and mobi formats, with print-on-demand coming soon.

Kiss My Axe is slated for release this month, both PDF and print. That should get things moving. In December, I’ll be releasing the adventure Suffer the Witch, and then we’ve hit the end of my release queue.

What will happen after that? I don’t know. I’ve completed the first draft playtest document for Centurion: Soldiers of Rome. I might see about crowdsourcing that through Indie-A-Go-Go since Canadians can’t use Kickstarter, but we’ll see. Until Sword Noir and Kiss My Axe earn back their investments, I’m not keen on putting more money into another game, especially since my family can really use the money right now.

Sales for October
Albenistan
Albenistan: Election Day (Modern Dispatch 113), 1
Khorforjan Gambit, 2
Qalashar Device, 2
Raid On Ashkashem, 2

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms, 1
For Simple Coin, 2

Covert Forces
Covert Forces Redux, 4
In Her Majesty’s Service, 2

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers, 7
Sword’s Edge System, Free Rules, 25
Sword Noir, 9
The Kheufer Scrolls, 8

Other
Operation Nearscape, Free Product, 234

Total Sales To Date
Albenistan
Albenistan: Election Day (Modern Dispatch 113): 30
Khorforjan Gambit: 95
Qalashar Device: 108
Raid On Ashkashem: 147

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms: 28
For Simple Coin: 48

Charity Products
Relief Effort: 53

Covert Forces
Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section: 89
Covert Forces: 100
Covert Forces Redux: 141
In Her Majesty’s Service: 125

Modern Medieval
Gunpowder Plots: 73
Man-At-Arms Advanced Class: 36
Mercenary Advanced Class: 39
Spy Advanced Class: 34
Modern Medieval Compilation: 46
(for Japanese Disaster Relief)

Other
Cyber-state Avatar Toolkit: 35
Line Zero: 32
Operation Nearscape, Free Product, 234

Roles & Classes
Capable Hero: 84
Combat Hero: 83
Counter-Terrorism Assaulter: 95
Covert Hero: 92
Spec Ops Recce: 93
Special Operations Marksman: 93
Talent Trees Assembled: 68

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers, 39
Sword’s Edge System, Free Rules 724
Sword Noir 258
The Kheufer Scrolls, 80

Treasure Chest Unlocked
Gems: 66
Incense: 7