The Dark Lore

In the  previous article , I introduced my setting for Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells (Ss&Ss from now on). Thing is, I introduced it to myself too, since it's still growing and I don't honestly want to draw a complete canvas. Still, I want to provide you (and myself) with enough meat to feel comfortable and ready to go, same feel I have whule reading and re-reading the rulebook.  As Nogueira states in his masterpiece, let me paraphrase him, Ss&Ss is a simple but yet concrete project, which doesn't fall apart in the OSR ocean, bringing in an adult and smart old school spirit design.  "Fragments" is not intended to be particularly low magic, as it is usually intended. It is a world full of crystal like structures where fragments dusts of many colors dot the landacape, often hiding their raw and dangerous nature behind the chromatic havok.  Here we go with a few design notes about Fragments, crystals and all the hell going on with colours

Ok, this is great stuff, ladies and gentleman. It' plenty of in depth resources/reviews about Ss&Ss, so I'll just jot down what compels me the most: why this game is absolutely awesome. This game is published by  Old Skull Publishing  and written by Diogo Nogueira, a kind guy you should really meet on G+. It's a less than 50 actual pages long full fledged game, with more meat than you might even imagine: it has personality, doesn't clone anything. It is loosely based on our favorite game, but the author puts enough fun into the mix to make it a completely different beast.  I'm not against classic d&d, but I always support cleverness. Nogueira is a clever guy, who discovers the truth above all else: nothing can be created from scratch, but you can get what you know and improve it following your istinct and tastes. Not only he does this at full power: Ss & Ss is an insanely refreshing game, with tons of inputs. All within one book, with the prop

This mini, but still deep setting, will be my attempt to provide a **sinister world for a sinister game .  It's not low fantasy or particularly tied to a specific era; you will find tons of dark fantasy reference, clear inspiration to some videogames, books, comics and movie. It's a sandbox, themepark world that I'll like to play in and that will hopefully help you to create your base setting. Recently I'm mosty play FATE Accelerated and it is a storytelling based game with tons of dramatic and pulpy elements… well, Ss&Ss is one of the few games still grabbing my attention and brings that kind of freedom (complications, vocation, story-based abilities, etc) that I love. Take this sense of freedom, mix it with a very strange world that find its roots in the concept of macro isolation and boom: you will have a perfect framework to weave some good stories with your players! Last but not least, I wanted to give each of the game's options a place a

Here it is, my first actual article in this blog! I'm honored and thrilled to allocate this first spell slot for this big-little jewel by mr. Mikael Hassel, which is (my bad) a recente discovery for me, but already dominating my library (his Dungeon Questing RPG is on its way too!).  I'm happy to share with you my enthusiasm for its work so... let's go! What is Dark Sagas RPG? Short answer: an awesome modern game with a lovely old school feel. This is not about emulating THE fantasy game, just grabbing some inspiration, reworking everything under the smart sign of a straightforward 2d6 engine and adding a tasteful sandobxy setting into the mix. A full game in 272 pages, available on print as a pdf (it is a steal, please grab one copy, links at the end of the article!).  Strong classical feel on every page, while keeping things fresh and interesting with major tweaks. As the author stated, this is a game you can bring with you (digest size) along with a bun

Hey everyone, Marco here, Artemis on google+! This is a blog about "dark" roleplaying. I talk about dark fantasy, grim old school feel and sword&sorcery gaming.  I'm a compulsive GM and still finding new inputs everyday from many underrated authors. I already have a blog B/X oriented, but it is mostly used as the "campaign diary" of my Chronicles of Amherth Labyrinth Lord campaign. You can check it out  HERE ! For those italian speaking followers,  THIS IS  my Dark Tales and Shiny Loot blog, in which i write about OS and modern gaming (with a focus on White Box FMAG on one side and Fantasy AGE on the other, but still including many reviews).  Here you will not find any coherent approach. This is a personal space, not meant to be objective by any mean. Here's what I love, here will find all the work I give my life for. Homebrews, new options, reviews and (probably) some gameplay report.  I will not use any particular game as a central