What exactly defines something as Sword and Sorcery?
What games can be said to effectively emulate the Sword and Sorcery genre?
>>47527727
Easy - Tunnels&Trolls
Not so Easy - RuneQuest
Diff - ICE/MERP
>>47527745
What are ICE and MERP?
>>47527745
>RuneQuest
I think RQ6/Mythras could make an excellent S&S game.
>>47527783
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+MERP+role+play
>>47527727
OSR D&D, Crypts & Things, Barbarians of Lemuria, DCC RPG, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.
>>47527727
Swords: No gunpowder. No crossbows; regular bows are for shifty eyed foreigners.
Sorcery: Magic is powerful, at least moderately rare, and at least slightly evil.
The setting at least tries to have the flavor of the pulp novels of the 30s and 40s. R.E. Howard is at the high fantasy end of the scale, Fritz Lieber's Lankhmar is towards the gritty low fantasy end. For low fantasy bordering on weird SF, try Vance's Dying Earth. Tolkien, is right out: he seems to have managed to change the fantasy genre completely.
Runequest works. So does old school OD&D and 1st ed AD&D. There were official AD&D settings for Conan and Lankhmar both; there's also a more recent entire system for dying earth. Really the more modern systems have been so influenced by Tolkien, that your best bet outside of licensed properties is some kind of generically crunchy or dramatic rules light system modded to taste.
Friend of mine ran a Traveller campaign heavy on the psionics and light on the military hardware, for a decent "sword and planet" feel, but this was years ago.
>>47527783
Iron Crown Enterprises, creator of the Rolemaster system, a variant of which was the official Middle Earth RolePlaying system. Known for it's high crunch factor and hilariously brutal critical hit effects.
>>47528474
Let me give you the back of my hand.
>>47530355
>hilariously brutal critical hit effects.
pic related.
bamp
>>47527727
>>47527727
Sword & Sorcery implies that oldschool feeling of noble warriors fighting evil wizards. Magic is rare, and probably unavailable to players. As far as campaigns, you'll want more sinister cults, less dragons, less wandering monsters. Demons, undead, & elder things are good.
Absolutely no magic-as-technology. ABSOLUTELY
>>47527727
>What exactly defines something as Sword and Sorcery?
It's more gritty and down to Earth than high magic fantasy. Magic is not routine and is usually dark, ritualistic and limited in its usage, even if sometimes very powerful (which is to say, you can't just spam spell after spell--casting a spell is a big deal).
Barbarians of Lemuria is great for Swords & Sorcery. Stormbringer (RQ/BRP in the world of Elric) is good too. Old school D&D at low levels can be okay, though shit eventually escalates well beyond the standard range of Swords & Sorcery.
>>47527727
Gritty character driven low or high fantasy that focuses on a particular band of heroes that are driven by their own personal incentives and not by a greater purpose. The focus is on the adventures and unveiling the world through the prism of the party, typically driven by a base instinct of man.
The magic levels are somewhat low, the morality subjective, the villains grey, and the character growth is typically limited (in terms of story). Inspired by tales of heroes, it typically is sword weilding manly men being drawn into a conflict they are unrelated to and sticking around for love - all the while engaging in exciting and dangerous fights.
>>47527745
No.None of those are any good.
>>47533955
Barbarians of Lemuria is not very well thought out or good. It's basically a rip off of Dungeon World.
>>47534589
I've used Barbarians and enjoyed it. What parts of it do you think aren't well thought out?
OP what you want is Dungeon World
It's pretty much objectively one of the best currently out there. It has fast easy to use mechsnics and is perfect for beginners, it's a lot cheaper than most of these other rules bloated systems that cost fifty dollars. There is no reason for extra rules when it is he role playing that matters. Dungeon World is fast and innovative and still feels exactly like the spirit of ADND before DnD 3.5 destroyed the hobby and ruined a generation of role players.
>>47534589
>It's basically a rip off of Dungeon World.
What? How do you figure that? How are they similar, aside from both being rules-light and using 2d6?
>>47534725
>Dungeon World is fast and innovative and still feels exactly like the spirit of ADND before DnD 3.5 destroyed the hobby and ruined a generation of role players.
AD&D or Basic? Because AD&D has a lot of clutter.
>>47534747
That is the similarity, except Barbarians of Lemuria has none of the depth and roleplaying mechanics that Dungeon World has to allow for truly entertaining storytelling. It's just D&D with 2d6 and different amounts of hit points. It's not even a real game.
>>47534763
Both. It replicates the feel of those games withut the clutter because it uses one extremly innovative core mechanic that allows for in-depth storytelling, unlike the boring binary success that most other roleplaying games use (including D&D).
>>47534770
You shouldn't need mechanics to roleplay.
>>47534725
>>47534770
>>47534782
Nice shitposting, anti-DW nerd. You're lamer than True AD&D guy. Good to see someone carrying Virt's retard stick.
You're right about one thing, though; I'll grant you that DW does a pretty good high power Sword and Sorcery, though. It's more magical than Conan, but about right for a Nifft the Lean or higher end Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser kind of game.
Barbarians of Lemuria is a great system that has nothing to do with DW, though.
>>47534782
Okay, so you're a troll. Still, I'll respond for those watching at home.
>It replicates the feel of those games withut the clutter because it uses one extremly innovative core mechanic that allows for in-depth storytelling
Old school D&D had a bunch of different subsystems and no core mechanic. Attacks and saving throws are d20, roll over. Ability checks are d20, roll under. Thief skills are percentile, roll under. Surprise is on a d6. Initiative is on a d10. Morale is 2d6. Only new school D&D has a unified core mechanic.
>>47534921
Except Dungeon World has none of the extra rules that makes post-3.0 D&D a piece of shit as well as almost all other roleplaying games.
>>47534845
Not even going to reply to this non argument. Grow up baby boy.
>>47534835
You don't need mechanics to roleplay, you are right, and Dungeon World doesn't force them on you; rather, the mechanics are used when you want to use them to promote a dramatic atmosphere and allow characters to use their abilities.
You can roleplaying without using the rules, just like in any other system. This isn't any gay-ass social combat crap; this is a simple core mechanic that allows for any action to be resolved in a fast, simple, and multi-faceted way. Success is not just pass fail; it has multiple possibilities in the Dungeon World game engine while still staying very fast, light, and flexible.
>>47534921
He was saying DW is intended to replicate the feel of old school AD&D, but with a simple, unified core mechanic. Which is true. The troll part is all the shit after that, about "allows for in-depth storytelling" and stuff.
He knows enough to include a grain of truth in his trolling, but he's still pretty shit at it. I rate it 4/10
It doesn't help that "overblown Dungeon World fanboy" was one of virt's favored techniques, and has kind of been run into the ground to the point where it's too obvious. Not that virt was good at it, either. I remember once that clown accidentally left his name on right in the middle of an "I love Dungeon World" shitposting spree, spoiling the whole thing.
>>47534725
Now this is shitposting.
>Dungeon World shitposting thread
Talk about a blast from the past.
>>47527727
Barbarians of Lemuria and Jaws of the 6 Serpents.
>>47527727
>define
>Sword and Sorcery
1. A setting in any place or period where real, non-flea-market swords were common fashion accessories.
2. But with (low) magic.
>DW was first published in 2012
>BoL was first published in 2009
>Barbarians of Lemuria is ripping off dungeon world
>>47537248
>BoL was first published in 2009
Yeah, but it's also been around since the mid-90s at least. That's when the original free pdf was around.
Jungles, deserts, sorcerers, barbarians, thews.
Not castles-and-knights pseudomedieval europe.
>>47538172
You forgot pantherish speed.
>>47527727
Dark Sun is an excellent example of Sword & Sorcery.
>>47540825
Something like Valley of Dust and Fire make the setting seem much more High Fantasy to me though.
>>47542453
VODF is an in-setting anomaly though, it's an alien and terrible place even compared to the rest of Athas.
I mean, it's Boris's pad right?
>>47534589
>>47534725
>Dungeon World
Is just a shitty ripoff of Vince Baker's mechanics and OD&D's base assumptions to get retarded narrativists to play D&D without realizing it, complete with "ironic" class descriptions and a fraction of the material published for it.
There is exactly zero reason to play Dungeon World over any OSR game.
