Legends of Steel (LoS) is a solid little Swords & Sorcery roleplaying system invented and written by my good buddy Jeff Mejia, author of Broadsword, a mini-swords & sorcery game, which is soon to be published by Deep 7 for their 1PG system.
LoS is just going through its first proof-reading stage and I was honoured that Jeff chose me to take part in this. I have just finished a read-through of the 60-page players' guide and sent Jeff my comments. The game is very simple - it's core mechanic is percentile dice against a score rated one to 100 - and solid enough to withstand some serious playtesting (just look at how long Call of Cthulhu, with a similar mechanic, has lasted virtually unaltered while other games have either died or undergone regular re-inventions).
I'd imagine it plays fast and loose, as befits the genre, with an emphasis on over-the-top action rather than navel-gazing and introspection.
LoS takes as its main influence the Pulp writings of Robert E Howard - the creator of Conan - as well as great films like Deathstalker and Beastmaster and pulpy TV shows like Xena and Hercules. So, as you may have guessed, Jeff knows his pulp!
LoS is just going through its first proof-reading stage and I was honoured that Jeff chose me to take part in this. I have just finished a read-through of the 60-page players' guide and sent Jeff my comments. The game is very simple - it's core mechanic is percentile dice against a score rated one to 100 - and solid enough to withstand some serious playtesting (just look at how long Call of Cthulhu, with a similar mechanic, has lasted virtually unaltered while other games have either died or undergone regular re-inventions).
I'd imagine it plays fast and loose, as befits the genre, with an emphasis on over-the-top action rather than navel-gazing and introspection.
"... a man with guts and cold steel in his hand can overcome anyJeff is also running the online Pulp era game I am participating in, Swords of Skartaris, where I have taken the role of fiesty Chinese aviatrix Anna Xian who, unfortunately, crashed the airship she was piloting due to a 'supernatural storm' and has stranded herself and her colleagues in the 'hollow earth'.
obstacle"- page 60, Legends of Steel
LoS takes as its main influence the Pulp writings of Robert E Howard - the creator of Conan - as well as great films like Deathstalker and Beastmaster and pulpy TV shows like Xena and Hercules. So, as you may have guessed, Jeff knows his pulp!
It has also stirred memories in me of the game that Nick and I designed back in our schooldays: The A-Game, based on the great TV action shows of the early 80s - particularly the A-Team. We were very proud of it because we felt it captured the flavour just right - namely, no one ever died. There were lots of explosions and people being thrown through the air, but bullets always seemed to hit buildings, walls, water butts etc near to people; so gunfire was a suppressing tool rather than a killing/wounding one.
I even remember drafting a supplement which was basically a list of NPCs, namely characters from shows like the A-Team, Magnum, Streethawk and that ninja one with Lee Van Cleef.
Sadly, as computers were not so easily accessible in those days, all hand/type-written material relating to the A-Game has long been lost to the dustbin of history. However, I do remember at least one playtest with a gang of classmates in our form room - a violent cop show. Their characters eventually became SOU12 (the elite police unit) in HeroPress and some of these still appear in Knight City.
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