Seven Leagues is a role-playing game of fairy tales, in which players assume the role of nearly any fairy tale character they can imagine. Here, “fairy tale” is used in a very broad sense, and indeed any sort of fantasy game could conceivably be played using the rules for Seven Leagues. However, the design focus is traditional fairy-tale stories, a genre that has received little attention from the RPG industry.
The mechanics of Seven Leagues are designed to facilitate collaborative storytelling, which in turn enables players (or “Protagonists” in this case) to influence the story directly, rather than leaving it solely in the referee (or “Narrator”). This is a critical point, and one in which Seven Leagues succeeds greatly. In a game such as this that emphasizes atmosphere, characterization and story, the mechanics must not interfere; indeed, the mechanics should facilitate these goals to allow maximum enjoyment of the game. Seven Leagues does this, and does it well.
Written by Hieronymous and published by Malcontent Games, Seven Leagues is available in both PDF and in print (on demand). This review is based on the 126-page PDF, though the author informs me that the print version is identical in terms of layout. Information about the game can be found here.
The layout is clearly intended for on-screen reading; it is in landscape format, and has a large amount of white space at the borders, and at the ends of chapters. There is therefore a lot of white paper if it is printed (indeed, pages 42 and 90 are both entirely blank – other than page numbers - for some reason), and presumably this also applies to the print version. There are very few typographical errors and the writing is generally clear and effective.
The cover and the 70 small interior illustrations are scans of public-domain art of varying resolutions. There is a variety of subject matter depicted; overall, the art reflects the atmosphere of the setting extremely well. There is also one full-page map, and a two-page character sheet included.
One flaw worth pointing out is the lack of an index. The table of contents is too general to suffice in locating information, so the lack of an index is a problem.
The book opens with the obligatory “What is a Roleplaying Game?” discussion. There is a different viewpoint emphasized here, in that Seven Leagues explicitly focuses on the social interaction between players, and on the linguistic aspects of storytelling. From there, we move directly into character creation.
Characters
All characters in Seven Leagues, be they Protagonists or Antagonists (non-player characters), are unique creations. While some characters might resemble “traditional” fantasy RPG archetypes, there are no basic frames upon which character are built. This gives players a great deal of flexibility, and allows a wide variety of games to be played.
Another interesting aspect of Seven Leagues characters is that they do not, in general, die. They can certainly come to harm, and may even fade out of the game from time to time, to later reemerge in a different form, but they are essentially immortal. This certainly focuses the game on storytelling rather than “gaming”, so to speak.
Characters are defined more by words than by numbers. A character’s Aspect is his essence, a three-word descriptor such as “A mighty warrior”, “A fairy princess”, or “Guardian of forests”. A character’s Aspect is more than merely descriptive, however; it can also come into play in conflict resolution. Virtues are more traditional RPG fare; they are Head (a character’s mental abilities), Heart (courage, charisma and wisdom), and Hand (physical abilities). Each Virtue is rated from 1 to 7, and the sum of the three must be 13 for a beginning character.
Characters also have Charms, which are special or magical talents which are implied by the character’s Aspect. They are given one-verb descriptions, and do not have numerical ratings. Charms must be considered carefully (each character receives a limited number), but the point is not to have the “most powerful” Charms. Indeed, given the game mechanics, “most powerful” really has no meaning. Selecting Charms that are especially appropriate for the character’s Aspect will provide more opportunity for Narrative Modifiers, regardless of how “powerful” the Charm might seem on its face.
Taboos are the opposite of Charms; they are limitations or hindrances on the character. A character may have only a limited number of Taboos, and for every two Taboos, the character can add one additional Charm. So in some sense, Charms and Taboos mirror the advantage/disadvantage mechanics present in many games.
Finally, a character is fleshed out with a Legend, which is a short description of the character’s history and personality. While such description is encouraged in many games, and is used by many players whether encouraged or not, Seven Leagues actually ties the Legend to the gameplay. To accomplish this, the player underlines Keywords in the character’s Legend. Keywords can be used during play to directly affect the details of the story, to a certain degree.
Character creation takes only five pages, and is quite succinct. From there, we move on the core mechanic.
Roll 13
To pick a nit, the section on character creation describes modifiers to a character’s “Roll 13” (the core mechanic), but this mechanic is not discussed until after the character creation section. Conflict resolution (which is the mechanic’s purpose), is in turn not discussed until after “Roll 13”. I would have preferred the order Conflict Resolution – Roll 13 – Character Creation, to reduce the need to flip ahead to comprehend what you’re reading.
Outcomes of uncertain actions are resolved using the Roll 13 mechanic. This is simply a d12 roll, plus the appropriate Virtue, plus or minus other modifiers. If the result is 13 or higher, the action succeeds. Circumstantial modifiers are applied depending on the relative difficulty of the task (+3 for average, -4 for very difficult, or 0 for pretty hard, for instance).
Narrative Modifiers are also always available. A modifier ranging from -3 to +3 can be earned through the player’s narration of the character’s actions. If the description is evocative, colourful, and particularly appropriate for the character, a +3 bonus can be awarded by the Narrator. Insipid or uninspired descriptions can and should be similarly penalized.
Conflict Resolution
Conflict in Seven Leagues is resolved in a narrative fashion, rather than a structured blow-by-blow account. Conflicts are not fixed in duration or in nature. Conflict often involves combat in some form, but not always; any sort of contest or confrontation can be a conflict.
The first step in conflict resolution is the Overture. To begin the Overture, each participant rolls a d12 and adds his Heart score; the participant with the higher result will open the narration in the Crescendo. This Courage Roll, as it’s called, is essentially an initiative roll, familiar from a great many games. It seems out of place in this game, particularly considering that it is a unique mechanic (Roll 13 is not considered). It seems to me that this mechanic is unnecessary; some sort of narrative approach would have been more a propos to Seven Leagues. This is a minor quibble, of course.
To complete the Overture, each player declares the Victory Conditions for his or her character, which is the object of the conflict. The Narrator then declares any circumstantial modifiers that will apply to the conflict.
The winner of the Courage Roll in the Overture now begins the Crescendo with an Embellishment, which is simply the player’s narration of an act or a short series of related acts undertaken by the character. Players are encouraged to be vivid in their narration (indeed, such narration is the cornerstone of the system), for each Embellishment is given a Narrative Modifier by the Narrator, ranging from -3 to +3 as discussed above. The narration then passes to the loser of the Courage Roll, who makes another Embellishment, after which the narration passes back again. This continues until one player declares Embellishments to be over, at which point the other player makes one final Embellishment. Each player then totals the Narrative Modifiers he received from his Embellishments. An informative example involving Baba Yaga and a young child is provided, to illustrate how Crescendo operates.
In the Finale, each character Rolls 13 using the appropriate Virtue, cumulative Narrative Modifiers, and any circumstantial modifiers that apply. The character with the higher total, with a minimum total of 13, is the winner as per his Victory Conditions. If neither character scores 13 or higher, or in the event of a tie, the conflict ends in a stalemate. Since any number of Embellishments, in theory, can occur in a conflict, the Narrative Modifiers will generally be more important than the applicable Virtues in determining a winner. This again emphasizes the narrative, rather than the numerical, aspects of Seven Leagues.
Defeated characters are generally incapacitated for a time; however, the Narrator may assign other results as appropriate, such as the loss of a Keyword, Virtue point of Charm, or the addition of a new Taboo.
The Rest
The author provides sound advice for adjudicating Charms and Taboos, and for administering Disasters, which are essentially treated as Antagonists with simplified mechanics. Provisions are also made for character growth, based on the cumulative Narrative Modifiers earned by the character, which are “spent” to acquire new Charms, alter existing Charms, alter or remove Taboos, or add or change Keywords. Strangely, no allowance is made for an increase in a Virtue, despite the fact that a Virtue can be reduced in defeat.
40-plus pages are devoted to sample Protagonists, Faerie Provinces and associated Antagonists, the great majority of which are quite interesting and illustrative of the flexibility of the system. Three sample adventures (“Tales”) are also provided to get you started in the game.
The relative coverage of the game system and the setting information is not intended to be reflective of their relative qualities. The setting information is excellent, and provides much material to use in a Seven Leagues campaign. This review focuses more on the game system to illustrate its effectiveness at enabling collaborative storytelling.
Style: 4
Despite a few layout problems, Seven Leagues scores high in Style; I found it difficult deciding between a 4 or a 5. The writing and illustrations are evocative of the magic of the setting. Buyers of the print version may find Style closer to 3 (though still likely a 4), since the book is designed to be displayed on screen, and the landscape layout and substantial white space is less appropriate in print.
Substance: 4
Seven Leagues succeeds very well at what it sets out to do. Given the source material, the game could easily have descended into using a campy or edgy style. But instead the author treats the source material seriously, as a legitimate genre, which it is. The system of narrative conflict resolution reflects the fairy-story genre, and supports it well. System does matter, and here the system is good.
Review Summary