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Swordbearer was published in two formats, both using the same ruleset, in 1982 and 1985. The 1982 version was published by Heritage, who were normally the publishers of miniatures and produced the game in three booklets with paper covers in an unusual size which fitted into their standard miniatures box. The 1985 edition was published by F.G.U. using US-standard A4 and cardstock covers. The first publication was in a tiny serif font and was broken up into six chapters ("books") namely, Characters, Fighting, Elemental Magic, Spirit Magic, Racial Index and Gamemaster's Guide. The F.G.U. version used an expanded decimal index of fifteen parts, and a small sans-serif font. Throughout both printings the interior art is by Dennis Loubet and David Helber, which is slightly above average in technique and average in terms of creativity. Bill Willingham provided the simple-but-effective cover art for the F.G.U. print, a stark grey and white sword and stylised pommel on a black background with the game title. The text, largely the work of B. Dennis Sustare, with Arnold Hendrick's assistance, is concise, clear and with excellent scope; the entire game comes in at 96 A4 pages (119 pages in the Heritage format). There is a very good table of contents in both editions, however there is no index. Following a handy page introducing role playing games, and two pages introducing Swordbearer it is straight into character generation.
Characters: Categories, Spheres and Skills
Swordbearer's equivalent of attributes are "Categories". These include Mass, Agility, Intelligence, Age, Experience and Social Status, all of which are determined by random rolls. Strength is a sub-category of Mass; it starts of the same, but declines at a different rate and is determined, for humans, with the rather odd roll of 1d10+1d6+2. Agility, Intelligence and Social Status are determined by 2d10, Age on [2d10*2]+10, which determines the number of experience points received, from 1d6 to 4d6, with modifications for Intelligence, from -1 to +3 total (not per die). Characteristics also decline with age, starting with Agility (after 30 years), Strength (after 40), Mass (after 50), and Intelligence (after 60). For every year after the declining age, there is a 1 in 6 chance of a loss of 1 point. Natural death, according to the game system, occurs on average between 97 and 102 which is a little high. Characteristic tests are made on 2d10 plus the appropriate category with sample difficulties of very easy (15), easy (18), average (21), hard (25) and very hard (28).
The broad equivalent of a "class" in Swordbearer is the Activity Sphere of which there are eight: Fighting, Stealth, Town, Country, Magic, Leadership, General Knowledge and Arts & Crafts. A character may have one or two spheres allocated, with an additional bonus of 1d6 experience if they just choose one. Specialised Spheres provide bonuses for determining initial skill levels, which are usually percentage based for a roll-under task resolution system and have category-based defaults (e.g., 'Mass' for the Drinking skill), although some (such as General Knowledge and Magical Skills) are simply "yes/no". For example, if one is specialised in Arts & Crafts 1 Experience Point will provide the character a +3d10 skill rating whereas an unspecialised character will only gain 2d6. Background experience can also provide further benefits; those who specialise in Stealth for example, may have items higher than normally allowed by their Social Status, whereas hardy Countrymen can ignore any two wound points suffered. A 1d6 percent skill improvement is similar to RuneQuest; a check is made by a d100 plus Intelligence and attempting to get over the existing skill level; this may occur onece per session, or immediately if a 01-05 is rolled, a somewhat faster rate than background experience would suggest! As characteristics decline, related skills also decline by 1d6. The distribution of the 65-plus skills (not including specialisations) is quite good although there is, as typical for games of this day, an over-emphasis on weapon skills, with a separate specialisation for each weapon in both weapon use and weapon speed. A competent GM can hack this back to something more reasonable.
Mention must also be made here of Swordbearer's use of Social Status, Equipment and Encumbrance rules. Instead of keeping track of every gold or silver coin, a character in Swordbearer was assumed to have general equipment and "household wealth" that would be normal for a particular Social Status and to which some description is provided. When "outfitting for adventures" characters are not only restricted by Social Status for what equipment they are allowed (e.g., a warhorse requires Social Status 15, but a Spear only requires Status 4), but also to a maximum of ten items, representing ease of bookkeeping, spare cash, and encumbrance (the latter having a simple but effective optional system in its own right). Some things do not count towards "an item", but followers certainly can - and furthermore, they can be nested if one's Social Status is high enough! Treasures are described in terms of Social Status ratings as well and, if greater than the finder's existing Status (-1 Status for each share) can be used to increase Status; if the value is not greater than the character's existing Status, they are merely assumed to have a bit of extra pocket change. It is a neat system which evidently has had some influence, especially in more narrativist-orientated games.
A Realistic and Colourful Combat System
Swordbearer evidently aspired to a realistic and colourful. The timescale is usually in 4-second instants or alternatively 20-second periods with ranges calculated on 2.5 feet paces or 20-pace blocs. Actions are declared according to Combat Quickness (Intelligence plus Agility), lowest first allowing for quicker characters to react to declarations. After this, simultaneous movement occurs, weapon use according to order of the weapon speed skill, and finally any special actions. Characters are allowed 1 action per instant which includes strike or parry, aim and fire missile, load missile (higher rates for crossbows, arbalests), draw, sling or string weapon, step, walk, leap, dive etc. Surprise allows a free instant of action and an ambush provides the same with bonus modifiers to strike.
Weapon use is a simple d100 roll-under check with modifiers, with allowance for fumbles and dual weapon use (half speed for each weapon). A defender may attempt to parry, but a weapon can only be used to strike and parry in the same instant if the weapon speed of the opponent is lower. Body parries are allowed meaning that the limb is struck instead, for reduced damage (you can put your arm in the way of an axe-strike). Dodges require an abort of the normal action and a contest of agility (an annoying printing error in the F.G.U. version deletes a critical line of explanation here). Shields automatically parry if the weapon speed of the shield is greater than the attacker's; if not a weapon use roll is required. However, all weapons (including shields) have a breakage number, which can occur through hits, parries and blocks. If this number is exceeded, a roll is made on one of three breakage results tables. Extremely burly characters have to be careful in their choice of weapons as the sheer force of their attack can lead to breakage! In addition to all this there are comprehensive and realistic rules for airborne combat (including, optionally, an advanced square-root equation for exact distance) and for shoves, grapples and wrestling, and less realistic and less comprehensive rules for mounted combat. Good optional rules also exist for exhaustion in combat and courage. Something that is missing is different default values for weapon use and quickness.
Wounds are determined by the weapon in question and modified for +1 damage for every 5 full points above the minimum strength required, which varies for use in a one-handed or two-handed style. If a hit lands, location is determined with a d10 roll with separate charts for humaniods, quadrupeds, lizards, insects, and winged targets. With location determined, armour subtracts from the damage received causing 'wound points' on the lcoation. If the wound points exceed a character's mass, they are killed instantly. If the accumulated number is greater than their mass, they collapse and dying with a minute before they expire. If accumulated wound points in a single location is greater than half the character's mass, the location is disabled, which is particularly serious for the head or torso. If this amount is received in a single blow a serious disablement occurs which, along with fatal wounds that the character recovers from, results in a permanent effect to the location; such as blindness or brain damage for the head, loss of the limb or hand/foot as appropriate, damaged lungs with a persistent cough and so forth. These are incredibly common; a single average blow with a sword, for example, will cause a serious disablement. Swordbearer combat has characters dropping after one, maybe two blows, losing limbs, occasional weapons and shields breaking apart and so forth; it's colourful, fast-paced and very deadly. There are also rules for non-locational damage like poisons and diseases with the delightfully medieval names like Lung Rot, Gut Spasm, Blood Poisoning, Flesh Parasites and the like.
An Evocative Magic System
Swordbearer comes with an extremely evocative magic system based around elemental nodes and spiritual humours. Elemental magic is based on harnessing the power of essence 'nodes' of pure elemental power made manifest in the material world. There are seven elements (Fire, Metal, Crystal, Water, Wood, Wind, and Light/Darkness) which exist in a circle of dominance which can be used to chain-cast, which speeds the casting of spells. Discovery and identification of elemental nodes is a skill in its own right whereby characters discover the innate magic of the world: "The flames in a fireplace might seem to acquire a life of their own, or rays of sunlight may seem to distance in the air, or ice might shine with an unearthly light..". Once discovered and identified a character must first attempt to contact the node, contain in it an appropriate reflection and then attempt to align it to an appropriate spell depending on which element it is, and the power of the essence node. Some of the equations used to generate the chance of these actions will raise an initial eyebrow, but ultimately they're fairly simple and generate good results.
Casting elemental spells is a simple procedure; simply re-establish contact the node and think of the purpose, a process which takes one instant, but with a Combat Quickness of 0 (but higher if chain-cast through a circle of dominance). Range for all spells is line-of-sight. Nodes however may become consumed with each casting (a roll of 1 on 1d6) and the disadvantage of chain-casting is the multiple nodes can be lost. The rate of loss struck me as a little high; with a loss of a node in every 1 in 6 uses, then the quantity of nodes must be increased which in turn reduces the sense of magic in the discovery and identification of nodes. An alternative is to use the nodes to enchant an item, which significantly reduces the possibility of consumption (from approximately 16% down to less than 3%).
The number of spells per element is quite slight - seven or eight throughout, thus a total of roughly 50 spells - and the descriptions are usually only four to five lines and are limited to 1-3 nodes of power. Liberal interpretations of effects and abilities are required to ensure maximum utility from the spell descriptions, and one cannot escape the feeling that it perhaps would have been better to reduce the number of elements to the traditional four (earth, wind, fire, water) and increase both the number and scope of the spells available to each element. Nevertheless, what is provided is largely well balanaced an appropriate, although some will bemoan the lack of an obvious "fireball" among the spells aligned to that element.
Whereas elemental magic is interesting, spirit magic is enough to send your mind into a twist. Based on a slightly inaccurate presentation of the four humours of the ancients (they use vitriolic, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic rather than the historical sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic) spirit magic represents an innate magic in the psychic realm found in nearly all sapient beings, somes entient beings and even some plants usually located in a "spiritual centre" for the creature (e.g., the heart for humans). Spirit magic is found of two types based on the status of their inhabitant, living or dead. Like with elemental magic, a special skill is required to contact spirit magic nodes - usually starting with the character discovering the one's in themselves! And thus discovering their innate personality. These can be used for appropriate spirit magic spells and, if exhausted, will be temporarily lost but regained after rest. On rare occassions they can be permanently destroyed, or stolen. It is possible for a character to lose all their spirit nodes, and thus lose any sense of purpose and motivation.
It is also possible to contact and contain dead spirit nodes through a complex rite. A common method to achieve this, assuming the character has the skill, is to sacrifice a sentient or even sapient creature which can then be bound into a character's living spirit node. In the example of spirit magic, the young sorceress, Wesp, sacrifices a number of hawks, carefully cutting out their beaks in the quest to psychically discover, contact and contain the spirit nodes that might be contained therein - each hawk has a 50% chance of having a single spirit node in its beak. Bonuses for these rituals are granted for ability in Musicianship, Doctor/Druggist, Artist, Dancing and the like. Like elemental magic, a modest number (6) spells are provided for each humour, although these are given significantly more detail that their more material brethren and are likewise appropriate in their assignment. Spirit magic spells are significantly more powerful than their elemental counterparts are more aligned towards more permanent effects, such as binding lycanthropic abilities, summoning familiars, elementals, ghosts etc and building zombies, liches, and vampires.
Bestiary and Advice
The final two "chapters" of Swordbearer is a bestairy and GM advice. The former is simply split into sapient, sentient creatures and elementals, the former which are considered potential for player characters with systematic notes on how to balance the alternative characteristic values with starting experience, including a fairly complex formula if one so desires. All creatures are provided with a full description of attributes and rate of decline, including movement rate, mass and strength, agility, intelligence, age, experience, social status, natural weapons, hit location table and armour, elemental (some species are aligned to particular elements) and spiritual magic, any other special advantages and disadvantages, plus a descriptive piece which discusses habitat, environment, ecology and society. Animals also receive a percentage rating that they are carrying a disease.
Whilst the range provided are standard for European-derived fantasy (e.g., troglodytes, bugbears, centaurs, elves, dwarves, dragons, giants, goblins, gnomes, griffins, kobolds, orcs, trolls etc) a few exceptions must be noted. First are the clannish bunrabs, a skittish humanoid standing 4.5 feet which "resemble a cross between a bloodhound and a rabbit". Dennis Sustare is also the designer of Bunnies & Burrows and perhaps inspiration came from that source. Another exotic inclusion from the other end of the scale are hellborns, egg-laying exoskeletal fire-eating demons "from the pit fires of the netherworlds". Then there are the Skelets, a matriarchial hive-mind sapient insect species and finally, the hunted and feared Moonspiders with their spider-silk technologies and their infatuation towards their life-long mates.
The Gamemaster's Guide is an excellent summary of preparation requirements and methods of ensuring player and character motivation in scenario design and activities "in between" adventures. The notes on campaign worlds and mapping are fairly simple, but is extremely competent advice, especially for beginners. An exceptional travel, terrain, vegetation and visibility chart is provided for those who prefer the wide-ranging wilderness scenarios. The Gamemaster's Guide then moves on to discuss player characters and especially the extremes of "supercharacters" and "oafs" and how to handle each type. Non-Player Characters are discussed in notable detail, including the roles of "extra", "informant", "patron" and "villain", along with standard reactions and attitudes. Customised equipment and combat options are discussed, and finally, the implementation of clerics, religion and the management of magic in the campaign.
A Very Worthy Product
The physical production of Swordbearer was never great, and it is true that for many style does dominante over substance. It is rescued however by exceptional coolness of the magic system, some of the same creatures, and by being a well-written product. The general rule system was realistic, playable and colourful with only a few design hiccups along the way. There is an over-emphasis on the tactical conflict mechanics, but even here there is evident workmanship. Whilst someone more common in past years (e.g., RuneQuest 1st and 2nd editions, the original Traveller, DragonQuest) is an extraordinary combination of content and density of writing. Games like Swordbearer, with their mere c100 pages, compete quite well in terms of scope when compared to the 800+ page monstrosities (and price to match) that are inflicted upon contemporary gamers. If only for the sake of the pitiful remains of the planet's aboreal life less verbosity in game rules would be greatly appreciated. Overall I give Swordbearer I high '3' stars for style and a the most marginal '5' for substance.
Swordbearer is an early to mid 80s fantasy roleplaying game with many of the standard characteristics thereof. From reviews of the distant past to at least one other on RPG.net, it apparently left lasting impressions on the small number of people who were fortunate enough to encounter it. For my own part I was lucky enough to be one of those people participating in a few sessions in my dice-rolling adolescence from some twenty-five years ago (yes, I still have the hand-written character sheet from that time), and more recently reviving a mini-campaign for a regular Friday-night fortnightly group. Whilst many other older game systems still have a dedicated fan base, I have been unable to unearth one for Swordbearer, a situation I sincerely believe needs changing. I have no idea whether there are other fans of this rare gem out there or even if they occassionally still play, but I have set up a mailing list just the same; Swordbearer certainly deserves to be remembered and replayed as a game of high quality.
Style: 1 + .4 (layout) + .6 (art) + .8 (coolness) + .7 (readability) + .3 (product) = 3.8
Substance: 1 + .8 (content) + 1.0 (text) + .7 (fun) + .7 (workmanship) + .8 (system) = 5.0
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