We had the next session of the Annals of the Night Chalice last weekend in @KevinKulp and @Multiplexer 's Swords of the Serpentine, which means last Friday I got around to posting the write up for the session prior to that!
It's the one with contemporary song lyrics for the title! How avaunt guard of me! Chapters 15-18 at the bottom of the page.
https://subplotkudzu.blogspot.com/p/annals-of-night-chalice-book-1.html
The _Gumshoe_ system revolutionized investgative games by rejecting “do I find the clue” skill checks, but _Sword of the Serpentine_ is the first _Gumshoe_ system I’ve been exited about getting to the table. I’m curious about the “daring heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery” in its Venice-like setting “rife with skullduggery and death” and the game’s interesting take on fantasy gaming.
A GUMSHOE roleplaying game of swords & sorcery! by Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner When it’s summer, you smell her before you see her. As you come around the curve of the Serpentine river the scent of the open sea is replaced by the stench of low tide, of boat tar, of rare spices spilled from a smuggler’s ship; of cooking smoke and human waste. Bells ring out across the water and echo like the song of ghosts, loud enough to almost drown out the chanted prayers of your ship’s rowers. You round the bend past the lower fort and there she is: the great city of Eversink, sprawled out on scores of islands across the sheltered water. Her jeweled and crystal turrets are reflected in a shimmering bay full of hundreds of brightly colored boats. Architecture from a dozen eras towers above a tangle of grand plazas and narrow canals. Temples to her goddess rise above the mansions and tenements, calling her people to prayer. She may be ancient and corrupt, slowly and inexorably swallowed by an endless bog; but she’s alive in a way most cities aren’t. She’s a melding of faith and stone and wood and water – and mud – that’s unique in all the world. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve come to kill a rival, earn a fortune, learn a secret, or hire an army. You’re home now, and the Sinking City will embrace you. All you need to do is survive. Swords of the Serpentine is a sword & sorcery game of daring heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skullduggery and death. The rules adapt the GUMSHOE investigative roleplaying system to create a fantasy RPG with a focus on high-action roleplaying and investigation inspired by the stories of Fritz Leiber, Terry Pratchett, Robert E. Howard, and others. Your characters will discover leads that, if followed, propel them headlong into danger and forbidden knowledge. A lead might point the way to sunken treasure, jungle ruins, the missing key to a sorcerous trap, or the true identity of a notorious murderer. The GUMSHOE game mechanics ensure that you’ll always notice leads if you look for them. It’s up to you to choose which one you'll follow into whatever perils lie ahead, in hopes of fortune, glory, justice, or just staying alive another day. If you want to track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt and decadent city, clamber through underground ruins to sneak into an enemy’s home and rob them, or wage a secret war against a rival political faction, you’re in the right place. Swords of the Serpentine offers: A fantasy city of mystery and magic inspired by Lankhmar and Ankh-Morpork Tools for fast and effective character creation A customized combat system that opens the door for cinematic, heroic battles Social combat that targets your enemy's morale, letting you defeat some foes through wit, guile, and threats Sorcery that allows you to rip apart a tower with the flick of a hand—but are you willing to pay the price in corruption to body and soul? Powerful allegiances that give you influence in one or more factions across the city, but which can earn you equally powerful enemies... Streamlined abilities that power four distinct types of heroes, and which you can mix-and-match across professions to customize your character further Gameplay and rules mechanics that encourage players to help build the world they're adventuring in Rules for death curses, true names, alchemy, sorcerous items, ghostly possession, political manipulation, and more! [col span__sm="12"] [tabgroup style="tabs" nav_size="small" align="center"] [tab title="First time GMs"] GUMSHOE 101 - Kevin Kulp’s helpful overview of GUMSHOE. Giving Out Clues in GUMSHOE - GM-facing advice on the most central element of a GUMSHOE game. How to Read the Rules - A quick start guide to Swords of the Serpentine. Three Things About Eversink - An overview of the more flavourful aspects of the Swords of the Serpentine's city setting. [/tab] [tab title="Articles"] Exploring Bookhounds of Eversink - Kevin Kulp looks at five different ways you might set up a SotS Bookhounds game in Eversink. Strange Bedfellows: Manipulating Politics in Swords of the Serpentine - Kevin Kulp on the tools players can use to manipulate political factions. Social Combat in Swords of the Serpentine - Kevin Kulp explains the robust and fun social combat systems in Swords of the Serpentine that let you defeat a foe without laying a finger on them. The Cost of Corruption - Sorcery in Swords of the Serpentine - Kevin Kulp explains how sorcery is both narratively and mechanically expensive in Swords of the Serpentine. The Eversink Post Office - Emily Dresner with an article about The Great and Distinguished Eversink Guild of Letter Deliverers (aka the Post Office). The Iconic Hero: Fantasy Classics in Swords of the Serpentine - Kevin Kulp looks at modelling classic fantasy heroes, such as Robert E. Howard’s Conan. The Iconic Hero: Elric of Melniboné in Swords of the Serpentine - Kevin Kulp looks at two ways to play Michael Moorcock's classic antihero. One-Hero Play: Two-Player Adventures in Swords of the Serpentine - Kevin Kulp on the changes needed during character creation for a one player, one GM game. Swords of the Serpentine guidelines - Collected guidelines Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner used when writing the game. Why GUMSHOE for Swords & Sorcery? - Kevin Kulp on the match of system to setting in Swords of the Serpentine. Words of the Serpentine: Finishing the Book - Kevin Kulp on reviewing the print proofs and the home stretch. What Kind of Hero Are You? - Swords of the Serpentine has any number of ways to be a hero. Kevin Kulp looks at some of the options. [/tab] [tab title="Pre-generated characters"] Swords of the Serpentine Hero Generator - Matthew Breen's online tool allows you to build a character from scratch, or randomly generate a starting template for inspiration. Export a finished sheet as a PDF, or create a short-form stat block. Four Heroes: Your Swords of the Serpentine source for pre-made heroes - Kevin Kulp's short series featuring sample Heroes for each profession. Four Heroes 1 - Sentinel, Sorcerer, Thief and Warrior pre-generated characters. Four Heroes 2 - More Sentinel, Sorcerer, Thief and Warrior pre-generated characters. Four Heroes 3 - Six pre-gens, as used for The Dripping Throne adventure, featuring Sentinel, Sorcerer, Thief, Warrior, pre-gens along with two mixed profession preg-gens, Sorcerer / Thief, and Sentinel / Sorcerer / Thief. [/tab] [tab title="Templates"] Download a blank character sheet for Swords of the Serpentine Download a blank character sheet in black and white for Swords of the Serpentine Download a blank character sheet with no background for Swords of the Serpentine Download an easily customizable character sheet and character keeper for Swords of the Serpentine, created by Kevin Kulp (March 2025). Contains descriptions of all abilities. Please copy to your own Google Drive to edit. Download a blank character sheet (A4) for Swords of the Serpentine, created by Jonathan Fish Download a blank character sheet (US letter) for Swords of the Serpentine, created by Jonathan Fish Download a blank character sheet (A4) in Polish for Swords of the Serpentine, created by Blaze Sanecki Matthew Breen has designed some fantastic resources on his website: Swords of the Serpentine Hero Generator - Build a character from scratch, or randomly generate a starting template for inspiration. Export a finished sheet as a PDF, or create a short-form stat block. Adversary Builder - Create stat blocks for Adversaries and Monstrosities. Use existing Adversaries as a template, or start from scratch. Triskadane Deck - Deal a hand of cards to populate the Triskadane, Eversink's secret ruling council. The membership of the council and their faction affiliations can help determine the political climate of the city. Name Generators - Generate names for people, professional societies, thieves' guilds, and more. [/tab] [tab title="Adventures and scenario seeds"] The Dripping Throne - An adventure seed for one or two game sessions by Kevin Kulp. Sin-drinker - An(other) adventure seed for one or two game sessions by Kevin Kulp. Rebellious Factions Part 1 - Kevin Kulp with advice, NPCs and adventure seeds using the first six of Swords of the Serpentine's factions. Rebellious Factions Part 2 - Kevin Kulp with advice, NPCs and adventure seeds using the first six of Swords of the Serpentine's factions. Eversink Villains - Over on her blog, Emily Dresner has a series of villainous 'Sinkish NPCs, along with accompanying plot hooks: #01: Silvio Langella, Enemy of Stephanos Everywhere #02: Gaspar Bruni, Lord of the Hermitage Mailroom #03: Insanity Forrest, Mad Mage of the Sea #04: Ventura Rotunno, the Prince of Pants #05: The Cult of Vetyx, God of Riches and Honor #06: Clive the Barbarian Attacks! #07: The Nautilus #08: The Vampire of the Opera #09: The King of Harbor Approach [/tab] [tab title="Actual Plays"] Kevin Kulp runs Sots for ENWorld's Morrus and Peter - PodBean link * YouTube link Kevin Kulp's Twitter play-by-poll thread Twelve-Sided Stories' Blades of Eversink follows the exploits of sellsword friends in the city of Eversink. Follow Commander Pulsar's intrepid Denari's Half Dozen on YouTube or Twitch [/tab] [tab title="Reviews"] Gnome Stew's Jared Rascher reviews SotS Zoar Game Geek's SotS review The Walking Mind - Rob Donahue's SotS review SotS on RPG.net [/tab] [tab title="Interviews"] Twelve-Sided Stories talks with SotS writers Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner Dicegeek talks SotS and giant shark movies with Kevin Kulp Iconic Podcast talks with SotS writers Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner [/tab] [/tabgroup] [/col] People who bought this also bought Brought to Life.
If the Gumshoe Fits: The Thomas Pynchon Experience
https://www.bookforum.com/print/3202/if-the-gumshoe-fits-62416
#HackerNews #If #the #Gumshoe #Fits #Thomas #Pynchon #Experience #PynchonFans #Literature #BookForum
Matt and Art dive into a Swords of the Serpentine discussion and session zero this week. One note, the Actual Play won't happen until later this fall for scheduling reasons.
@pelgranepress @foundryvtt #swordsoftheserpentine #gumshoe #ttrpg #actualplay
RPGaDAY2025 - Day 14 - Mystery - The Three Mysteries
The three different approaches to Mysteries in RPGs
https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2025/08/14/rpgaday2025-day-14-mystery-the-three-mysteries/
RPGaDAY2025 – Day 14 – Mystery – The Three Mysteries
What’s #RPGaDAY2025 ? See the details here.
Day 14 – Mystery
Honestly, most RPG adventures are mysteries in one sense or another. Most adventures involve the players discovering some scheme or exploring some mysterious place. What I’m going to talk about here is a mystery in the classic sense – a crime has occurred and the players need to uncover the culprit.
There are different methods that different styles of RPG have used to run mystery games. Here’s the three big ones:
Trad Games
In the large majority of RPGs, there aren’t any specific mechanics for solving mysteries. If you’re trying to find a clue by searching, investigating, or just talking to somebody, you have to make a skill roll (or other mechanic). If you fail, you don’t get the clue. Call of Cthulhu is probably the most common example of this kind of game.
In theory (and often in practice) this can gum up the works. If the players don’t have the clues, they can’t solve the mystery. There are ways to deal with this; the Alexandrian’s Three Clue Rule is probably the best known method.
Gumshoe System
In Robin D. Law’s Gumshoe system (Trail of Cthulhu, Esoterrorists) deals with the clue problem in the easiest way possible. Whenever the player investigates anything, they automatically get the clue. They can spend points to get extra information if they wish.
This removes the whole not finding the clue issue, but the players still need to interpret the clues to solve the mystery.
If you’re interested in messing about designing a game with Gumshoe, Pelgrane Press has a Gumshoe SRD that is free to download.
However, an easier method of learning and adapting Gumshoe is Against the Unknown by Thomas McGrenery. It’s essentially a stripped-down version of Gumshoe, with no setting. Like the SRD, it is under a Creative Commons license. I made a character sheet for it here.
Brindlewood Bay
A PBTA-style game from Jason Cordova, in which the players are all elderly women in the New England town of Brindlewood Bay, who solve local murders.
The GM is given a crime, a number of suspects, and a series of clues. The players interact with the places and people, by using their PBTA-style Moves. If they succeed, they collect some of the clues. The clues aren’t necessarily attached to a particular person or place, so the GM will need to improv which clues the players get.
When they have enough clues, the players can present their theory of the murder. They then make a Theorize roll, adding the number of clues to the roll, If they succeed with a 10, they’ve uncovered the murderer. The adventure doesn’t specify who committed the murder. The player’s theory automatically becomes fact.
This game is popular enough to have spawned a large number of “Carved From Brindlewood” hacks. Here’s a list at itch.io.
Which Style Should I Run?
No mystery here – whichever one you want.
I think that the old-school trad one works fine if you’re comfortable with the players’ ability to figure stuff out, and if they’re OK with the possibility of failing to solve the mystery.
Brindlewood Bay (and it’s many relations) is a delight, but it does require a bit of improv and the ability to think on one’s feet. Not all GMs (especially newer ones) would be comfortable with that.
I myself kind of lean toward Gumshoe, mostly because I like the process of making up the plots, but don’t find the whole rolling for clues thing that fascinating.
If there’s some indie mystery system I’ve missed, feel free to put it in comments.
Just One More Thing…
If you’re running any style of mystery, I’d highly recommend GURPS Mysteries by Lisa J. Steele. For the most part, it’s not GURPS-specific. It’s mostly a lot of good advice and ideas for running mystery games that should work with any system.
Since the next session is coming up this Saturday, it's time to have added to Swords of the Serpentine game - Annals of the Night Chalice - write up. If you're keeping track at home, this is the session where they meet "this Barnabas Collins Motherfucker"
https://subplotkudzu.blogspot.com/p/annals-of-night-chalice-book-1.html
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