Try the Svavelvinter RPG – in English


Resten av detta inlägg blir på engelska.

One year ago, in June 2012, the Swedish RPG Svavelvinter (Winter of Brimstone) was released by Fria Ligan. Based on Erik Granström’s The Fifth Conflux series of novels, with its peculiar style of Renaissance/Babylonian fantasy, Svavelvinter RPG was a big hit – the first print run sold out in three months and it was awarded Best RPG of 2012 by both the Fenix RPG magazine and the Boningen games blog.

Now we give a taste of the game to an international audience. A compact quick-start rules document and the complete introductory scenario from the full game, The last days of Arhem, can be downloaded here, free of charge (just click the link and the download will start automatically). The zip file also contains complete character sheets for the premade characters used in the scenario. Huge thanks to Peter Larsson for the translation and to Dan Algstrand for the layout work!

So what kind of game is Svavelvinter? Ruleswise the main sources of inspiration are story-driven games like Burning Wheel, FATE, Solar System, Lady Blackbird and Apocalypse World. The game lets you choose between two specific styles of play – “character driven”, that supports a Story Now agenda, and “classical”, which is focused on more traditional adventuring.

The full 352-page game (so far only available in Swedish) also contains a complete map-based strategic conflict rules system called the Game of Shadows, as well as a comprehensive system for making and fulfilling grand prophecies that can guide the story arcs of whole campaigns.

 Tracoria – the setting

Tracoria is a merchant empire in a fictional renaissance world. The four main islands are populated by a number of peoples and cultures that have tried to dominate each other throughout history. The island Paratorna is currently milking the neighbouring isles for their riches, spurred by a religion that adores money and commerce. All across the region, people despise the arrogant, false and amoral Paratornians, who, while displaying a certain charm and practice equality between the genders, are also blatant xenophobes who distrust arts and academia. When the profitable Paratornian sulphur monopoly collapses, many of their neighbours see an opportunity to lift the yoke, especially since the mythical “Fifth Conflux” is approaching, a point of destiny in time and space that is expected to reshape the world.

The Tracorian world is similar to Renaissance Europe of the early 16th Century, but with notable differences. It is an animistic world where living clouds, mountains and winds coexist with dragons and other mythical beasts. Life clings to the surface of the continental shields of gigantic beings submerged in the magma below. These shields have been forged into a world sphere in order to protect the burning Furians within. The entire world shows many signs of having been put in place according to some divine plan, but the actual work has been delegated to befuddled servants. In this way reality is a flawed and poor implementation of a divine design. Magic works, but rarely quite as expected. Magicians are feared but also suspected of interfering with the divine plans even further and are often hounded by clerics. Most powerful of all are those who know “The High Speech”, the forbidden words of the gods’ that command creation and reality.

Sources of inspiration for the Tracorian world include the Italian Renaissance, the Roman Republic and our current commercially focused age. The polytheistic religions are borrowed from old Mesopotamia.

 

Kommentarer

    Alan Kellogg skriver:

    Call it ”Brimstone Winter”, sounds more arty.

    Peter skriver:

    In the quick start rules translation, we opted for keeping the Swedish title, [/i]Svavelvinter[i]. We didn’t think the literal meaning of the title ”Brimstone Winter” would necessarly add that much sense or context for non-Swedish readers as it refers to event in the novels, and to the original 80’s campaign on which the game is based. Very happy for your thoughts on this, though!

    bjorn skriver:

    Great idea!
    Som boende i Holland spelar jag inte med svenskar och det e trevligt att inte behöva översätta allt 🙂

    Ian Borchardt skriver:

    Is there a PDF of the full game available?
    This give me another excuse to learn Swedish.

    Tomas skriver:

    There is a PDF, but so far we haven’t sold it separately – a free PDF was instead made available to everyone who bought the printed book. Now the book is out of print however, so we might have to do something about that!

    TomasFriaLigan skriver:

    Oh, maybe I should add that the PDF of the entire game is included for anyone who pre-orders the scenario coming this August: Tricilve – Lojalisternas tid (”Days of the Loyalists”). Our web shop doesn’t support shipments abroad yet, but we are happy to send it abroad anyway, no extra charge.

    Link (all in Swedish, I’m afraid)

    Peter skriver:

    This means a full, full-colour and fully laid out PDF (the core rules are some 350 pages) + a scenario/campaign written by the fantasy novelist who wrote the original campaign, novels and the setting (Erik Granstrom), and a map of the core urban setting (the capital Tricilve) for a measly 178 SEK. That’s €20.5, £17.5 or $27 depending on currency.

    Peter skriver:

    Reading RPGs is a great way to improve a language. I have the excellent game Miles Christi (and a multitude of comic books) to thank for picking up what French I have.

    Kryss pigott skriver:

    Is there anywhere I can buy the English version or are both out of print now?

    Tomas skriver:

    Hi!
    There is no English version of the full game, only the quickstart set, which is still available for download above.

    krysstofer Pigott skriver:

    oh ok what about the Swedish version? i dont mind learning a new language XD

    krysstofer Pigott skriver:

    i mean i found the download page for the maps but i would like to buy it XD you know support the awesomeness

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