Swords of the Serpentine - Review

I play tested this in January 2019. It's was available for pre-order May 2020. It finally shipped July 2022.

When I signed up for the play test, I was a bit leery of it. I mean how many fantasy RPGs are out there and what would make this different? On the plus side, this was co-authored by Kevin Kulp, who wrote Timewatch, one of my favorite games.

Below are examples from the play test.

Character Creation

There's a lot of customization where you can write several phrases ("What is Best in Life?" from Conan the Barbarian) which helps describe your character and give you an edge when needed.

The Adjectives are self selected for flavor and to help you decide how your character would act in a situation when faced with indecision.



You also pick your alliances and enemies right off the bat, so everyone already has built-in drama.

And Character-defining gear adds 1 pt of Grit, but it's also cool that there's an incentive to create character and backstory based on your gear. Below is gear for a proto-Conan.

So, character creation is colorful and full of flavor.


Investigative <==> General Abilities

One of my complaints about Gumshoe is that combat is a bit lack luster. Night's Black Agents has improved this with Cherries, abilities at 8+ give you special abilities.

Swords of the Serpentine solved this by allowing Investigative abilities to be used in combat. For instance, you can use your Vigilance (Notice skill) to note an uneven spot on the floor (Player defined), so during combat, you can force your opponent to step on that crack and give you a bonus.

This adds more storytelling to a combat scene.

Also vice versa, a high general ability would give you Investigative skills. For example, a high Warfare (Combat skill) means that you have Investigative skills pertaining to weapons and armor.


Sway vs Warfare

Warfare is your standard sword combat. Sway is affecting the morale of an opponent or opponents. With enough sway, you can make your enemies flee (or retreat from) combat. You can insult your enemies until they run away crying. Very cool.


Sorcery

Yes, there's magic and you can use magic to affect your enemy's Health or Morale. Minor magic is exactly the same as doing the same action physically such as swinging a sword, firing an arrow, picking a lock, but to an observer, it is done magically and is more done for flavor. e.g. people climb up the stairs, but you just float. You point your finger at someone at a distance and you can hurt them as if you fired an arrow at them. It's all for flavor.

But there are major magics where you spend Sorcery. You increase your effects and cause as a side effect a blight (your choice: randomly, evenly everywhere, focused on an area, or on yourself). Powerful and illegal in the city.


The World - Eversink

But what is best in life? A kick-ass world that's different and new.

The main selling point of Swords of the Serpentine is Eversink. The city is built on a swamp. Think Venice filled with canals where various buildings continue to sink into the earth and new floors are built upon the old. The rates of sinking vary throughout the city, some take decades to sink one inch and others drop ten feet in one day. New construction changes the city everyday. Think Winchester Mystery House where an alleyway leads to swimming pool whereas yesterday it was someone's roof. People aren't buried, but exposed to carrion birds or sunk into the marshes. Their souls are remembered by funereal statues, but if destroyed their spirits return to the land of the living. so throughout the city are multitudes of funereal statues; grand ones for the rich and powerful, small clay ones for the poor.

The city has 12 factions fighting each other for control of the city. So lots of intrigue and missions for the PCs.

The city is old, so there are rules and regulations buried deep in time. My favorite skill is Laws and Traditions where a PC can declare a law on the spot and it would be true for the entirety of the campaign "except on Tuesdays." 😊

The monetary system is Byzantine and deliberately confusing in mockery of old D&D and old British money.


Summary

I'm really excited this is seeing print. I've already paid for my pre-order and I'm excited to see the final product. Do we need another fantasy RPG? Yes, if it's Swords of the Serpentine. 😊