Spes Magna Games

Now that my barbarian’s warcry has your attention, it’s time to announce that Barbaric Traits is available for $1.26 US at DriveThruRPG. This PDF presents 36 new character traits, and they’re not just for barbarians. Indeed, these traits can help flesh out any character that hails from some savage frontier where honor and sharp steel matter more than manners and shiny coins.

Inspired by the works of Robert E. Howard and a certain cartoon barbarian with a sun sword, these 36 traits are divided evenly between Combat, Faith, Magic, and Social categories. Now your savage hero can become Blood-Mad, utter a Motivational Expletive, practice Poisonous Sorcery, or benefit from knowledge gained as a Barbaric Ambassador (to mention just one-ninth of the traits packed into this PDF).

Barbaric Traits is 11 pages of black-and-white, printer-friendly crunch.

On the homefront, I’m back to work. I’ve been hired as the library coordinator at West Houston Charter School, soon to be the Aristoi Classical Academy. After a year of unsteady to no employment, I’m once again working full-time in education. It might not be in the classroom, but WHCS is a great school with a new principal whose skill and vision promise nothing but more greatness.

Regarding Spes Magna Games, there are two more PDFs coming down the pipe. First will be Ars Metamagica, a retooling of the metamagic system that requires neither feats nor skill ranks. After that should be the short adventure Down the Rabbit Hole.

I also need to revamp this site a bit. I want to add a complete products page that includes links the stores at Paizo.com and DriveThruRPG.

Well, August is shaping up to be a good month, at least in Spes Magna world. Sales are going well at both DriveThruRPG and Paizo. On the former site, In One’s Blood actually hit number 32 on the Top 100 Small Press Items list. I’ve gotten a few good reviews as well. The aforementioned In One’s Blood has a 5-star review at Paizo and a 4-star review at DriveThruRPG. Making Craft Work received three 5-star reviews at Paizo and another at DriveThruRPG. Rewarding Roleplaying has a 5-star review at Paizo.

With the constant stream of rejections from prospective employers this week, it’s nice that at least that much goes well.

The Barbaric Traits Preview PDF lands in Quid Novi? subscriber in-boxes this Sunday. This preview of character traits inspired by Robert E. Howard and Thundarr contains 12 new traits, divided evenly between the Combat, Faith, Magic, and Social categories. The for-sale Barbaric Traits PDF sits on my table in very rough draft form. The for-sale PDF offers 36 new character traits. I’m shooting to have it available for public consumption by about 15 August 2010.

Playtester volunteers still have their capable hands on Ars Metamagica. I’ve received some insightful feedback already. A couple of playtesters homed in on some unintended quirks in the system. I’ve got high hopes for this PDF. Ars Metamagica guts the metamagic feat system in the core rules, replacing it with a metamagic check system not tied to either skills or feats.

My adventure-writing funk still hasn’t completely passed. My much delayed The Case of the Purloined Princess still remains unfinished. A shorter adventure, Down the Rabbit Hole, is closer to completion. I’m not sure why I’m having such a hard time getting these done. I used to love writing adventures.

On the homefront, I got sick and tired of sitting around the house this week. My daughter was visiting one of her friends. I woke up my son Giant Boy and urged him to get bathed and dressed posthaste. We then walked about a mile to Denny’s and split the discount biscuits and gravy, pancakes, eggs over easy, sausage, and hashbrowns. After breakfast, we mosied over to the movie theater and saw Salt. It is a wildly improbable action flick, which, as Roger Ebert notes, manages to do everything that bad movies do in a really good way. Giant Boy and I then trekked through the 100-degree Fahrenheit heat to relax in the dim, air-conditioned comfort of our living room.

Tags: Salt movie

I’ve recently been re-reading the Berkley Publishing Corporation’s authorized editions of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories published under the titles The Hour of the Dragon, People of the Black Circle, and Red Nails. Howard’s tales have stood the test of time for about four score years, and they remain fertile fields for fantasy RPG inspiration.

While Howard’s vibrant prose holds my attention rapt, I wasn’t so awed that I couldn’t pause every now and then to jot down a noteworthy adjective or colorful phrase. Out of this list grows new the traits for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Here’s a sample of one each combat, faith, magic, and social traits.

Battle-Born: You were born under and/or into violent circumstances. Perhaps you were born on the field of battle when raiders attacked your village. Perhaps from an early age circumstances forced you kill or be killed. You have learned to face down unfavorable odds and still emerge victorious. You gain a +1 trait bonus to attack rolls in melee combat when you are threatened by more than one foe.

Barbaric Mythology: You grew up among so-called barbarians. Against the night, your people would light bonfires and gather to hear tales of gods and demons, heroes and villains, and intrigues and wars. You gain a +1 trait bonus on any two of Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), and Knowledge (religion). One of the two chosen skills is always a class skill for you.

Superstitious: You know the world is a dangerous place influenced by unseen forces and malevolent spirits. The unwary and incautious are more likely to fall victim to these malign supernatural powers. Fortunately, you are well-versed in the little rituals and taboos necessary to defend yourself against harm. You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against the spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities of evil creatures.

Iron Nerves: You don’t scare easily. You don’t rattle easily. Nothing seems to phase you, at least not for long. You gain a +2 trait bonus to Will saves against fear effects. If someone uses Intimidate to demoralize you, you are demoralized for 1 fewer rounds (to a minimum of 1 round).

In other news, Spes Magna Games PDFs are now available at DriveThruRPG. Check the link in the sidebar to the left. Quid Novi? subscribers please note that the ultra double-dog top secret discount code does not currently work at DriveThruRPG. I’ll fix that once I figure out how.

Tags: Conan

Take some time to check out Troll in the Corner. They’ve got some intriguing content on their website.

I was first clued in about this company via a Pathfinder book giveaway contest. It’s sort of an Internet honey-do list. Visit here. Like this. Follow that. Complete the instructions, and you get a chance to win nifty Pathfinder stuff, including three hardback books: the bestiary, the core rule book, and the GameMastery Guide. You can read all about this spiffy contest by clicking on this sentence.

If you’re not into contests, I heartily recommend you check out the World of Aruneus patronage project. This looks like some good zombie-smashing fun. Makes me wish I had a full-time job so that I could jump in at least the $10 level.

If you’ve not checked out the Spes Magna Store, now’s a good a time as any. Our catalog includes these great PDFs:

5 Adventures, 25 Rooms $1.11
Want to run a short adventure? Stuck for ideas? Let 5 Adventures, 25 Rooms break your writer’s block.

5 Adventures, 25 Rooms offers content previously available only to Quid Novi? subscribers. In this 19-page PDF, you’ll find five adventure synopses, one new template, and two new monsters. The adventure synopses assume a fantasy setting, but otherwise strive to be more or less system neutral. These synopses are not complete adventures. Instead, each synopsis is more like an adventure seed. You provide the maps and the game mechanics to make that seed grow into a fully realized scenario.

Throughout the PDF, you’ll find suggestions for adapting the synopses to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The template and monsters are fully compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Fencing & Firearms $3.00
Have you ever watched a movie full of swashbuckling goodness and thought, “This would make a great game?” I know I have, and long before I played RPGs. As a kid, I loved Errol Flynn and Tyrone Powers. Many a Saturday was spent pretending to be Captain Blood, Robin Hood, or Zorro. And let’s not forget the Three Musketeers, Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver, and, yes, even Don Quixote.

The roleplaying aspects of the swashbuckler genre work well-enough with any game system. Tongue-in-cheek humor and traded bon mots don’t require game mechanics. Swashbuckling combat must be fast-paced, highly mobile, and full of flashy attacks. Unfortunately, the world’s most popular roleplaying game’s combat system doesn’t score high marks in these areas.

Fencing & Firearms (F&F) respects the core mechanics of the game but still addresses widely perceived problems with the combat rules. F&F doesn’t change racial traits, class features, or skills. It has as little impact on core rules feats as possible. Our primary goal is that DMs can take this book and drop it into their games with a minimal amount of work. F&F focuses on:

* speeding up play,
* keeping each player involved even when it’s not his turn,
* providing all players with more combat options, and
* making combat maneuvers easier to use.

And this is just the first part of F&F. The second part deals with black powder weapons and how to use them with your game.

Gazae et Monstri: Treasures & Monsters from Greek & Roman Myth $0.99
This 14-page PDF includes 6 magic items and 5 monsters drawn from Greek and Roman myth. Arm your fighter with the cesti of Eryx. Quest for Pandora’s box. Trade blows with the mighty Antaeus, or match wits with the terrifying Python.

In One’s Blood Preview $0.00 (FREE!)
The In One’s Blood Preview includes:

* 3 new sorcerer bloodlines: Ooze, Plant, and Vermin
* 9 new spells, such as cloud of stingers and ooze shape
* 1 new monster: the dreaded behemoth pudding

The for-sale edition of In One’s Blood will include more arcane goodness, adding Aquatic, Divine, Giant, and Psychic bloodlines, more spells, et cetera.

In One’s Blood $1.26
Want more bloodlines for your sorcerers? Want more sorcerer/wizard spells? Then today is your lucky day because In One’s Blood is now available for purchase! This new, 25-page PDF includes includes Aquatic, Divine, Giant, Ooze, Plant, Psychic, and Vermin bloodlines; 15 new spells, including conqueror worms and ooze shape I-III; and 1 new monsters, the behemoth pudding.

Latina Facta & Versatile Performance Redux $0.99
Two PDF products in one! Latina Facta includes 15 new feats based on Latin sayings. Versatile Performance Redux introduces an alternate Versatile Performance class feature for bards that uses terminology related to acting, music, and dance to represent bardic talents.

Making Craft Work $0.99
Do you wish the rules for the Craft skill made sense? Do you wish it were possible to craft equipment and still have time to adventure? Well, your wishes are our commands! Making Craft Work presents a new system for the Craft skill that uses complexity rather than price to determine how long it takes to finish an item. This is an 8-page, black-and-white PDF.

Rewarding Roleplaying $1.50
Want to encourage your players to immerse themselves more in your game? Want your DM to reward roleplaying skills but don’t like the arbitrary nature of trying to determine who roleplayed well? Then this PDF is for you. Rewarding Roleplaying links player-defined roleplaying goals to a robust Action Point system that increases character flexibility and success while reducing in-game reliance of a character’s equipment.