There is a lot of meat here for the asking price of Pay What You Want (so, potentially free, but I'm here to tell you it's worth paying for). Despite some rough edges (particularly with regard to determining acting order in combat), Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells has a lot to recommend it if you're looking for a rules-medium fantasy RPG and especially if you're looking for a rules-medium Open Game Licence RPG. That's right! Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells is released under the OGL, meaning that you can hack it to your heart's content, legally! Seriously, give this game a look.

This is arguably the best pure sword & sorcery RPG out there. There are a handful of other systems that claim to do S&S better but none of them are as light as this one and being light is a very big thing when it comes to fast and dirty, puply S&S. Congratulations, Mr. Nogueira on creating this great, tasty mix of the best parts of a few other systems and producing a coherent whole!

(From my blog: http://lonelygm.blogspot.com.br/2017/09/a-review-for-sharp-swords-sinister.html)

One the best aspects of the OSR movement is the DIY attitude. In the last years, this principle gave us not only excellent retroclones but also original games; some of those are of particular interest to me because they’re clearly “built” from pieces of other RPGs, but in a very interesting way. Examples are Aspects of Fantasy, Dungeons & Delvers - Black Book and, of course, Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells.

Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells (or SS&SS) came to my interest originally because the author is a fellow brazilian – and the one responsible for translating to portuguese DCC RPG (one of my all-time favorites RPGs). However, after reading SS&SS I became instantly a fan of this little gem. You can see my review here (http://lonelygm.blogspot.com.br/2016/11/a-review-for-sharp-swords-sinister.html), but the elevator pitch (in my opinion) is that SS&SS is a variant of Black Hack that incorporates a lot of cool rules in order to create a light Sword & Sorcery game. Its classes take the best of others games that I appreciate and its spellcasting system seems to me almost like a lite version of the DCC RPG casting system.

OK, enough for introductions. What Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Addendum is about? First, it is a B&W PDF with 90 pages (the original SS&SS is just 50 pages). Like the core, the Addendum is available as PWYW product at DriveThruRPG.

The Addendum opens with guidelines for using Vocations (the hero’s open concept, like “Barbarian from the Iron Horde”) almost like FATE’s Aspects. This is something that I already did, but it’s great to see the author defining it with more concrete (but simple) rules. For those that don’t like Aspects, there’s no problem: the rules just show you how to use Vocations in a positive or negative way (with Advantage/Disadvantage), also allowing the hero to recharge his Luck.

Next topic is Multiclass. Here SS&SS takes my favorite approach: instead of pre-build kits, it provides simple rules for mixing and matching all Archetypes (Warrior, Specialist and Magic User). Actually, it goes further and lets you built different heroes, like nonhumans. I loved it. My only worry is the balance factor. Multiclass heroes usually requires more XP (game sessions) to advance. I’m not sure that’s the best approach and I’m tempted use in my tables something involving a few “free” Negative Die/Setbacks/Complications per session (or maybe something making Luck harder to recharge, I’m still not sure).

The next topics are a few guidelines for Languages and rules for Zero-level PCs (this last one clearly inspired by DCC RPG). Also inspired by DCC are the Learning New Abilities section, which show us how heroes may gain specific new abilities (like fighting techniques, mystic powers, etc.) and even list a few examples. It’s my favorite approach to PC development and I’m glad to see another RPG embracing it.

Next we get the Blood rule. This basically matches a PC’s Physique ability score as his hit points, which is nice because the game (like many D&D-derived RPGs) is very lethal at lower levels.

The SS&SS Addendum also provides a Sanity & Madness section. I missed more concrete rules here. I believe Madness could be faithful recreated in SS&SS by giving the poor hero a “Madness Vocation”.

Resources & Treasures gives you abstract rules for money and rewards and is another awesome example of the versatility of the Usage Die (I hope to write a review of Dungeons & Delvers - Black Book, which is a game that really shows you how far you can push the Usage Die). Of course, Resources & Treasures is followed by a now classic “Where did my gold go?” table, in perfect Sword & Sorcery fashion (although I missed a gamble aspect to table, like Jeff Rients’ carousing rules).

Next topic is Quick Equipment. It may seem silly, but ready-to-use equipment kits are in my opinion one of the most important rules for any game. Most of my tables hate to buy equipment and when you’re introducing the game to new players (or just want to get direct into action), things like skill/feat/equipment lists are true let downs.

Drunken Luck is our next academic topic, and it’s an awesome variant rule for heroes that bet in their liquor to keep kickass-ing (which reminded me of the equally great rule from the D&D 5E playtest).

Adventuring Companions is a rule to form bonds between the PCs.

Journeys and Travels is a good cut-scene rule, for when you the party must get to the next spot, but the referee also wants to keep verisimilitude – so the PCs make a Luck check to avoid hazards.

After travel hazards we get rules for ‘Strange Effects of Ancient Spellbooks’, 20 new spells, True Names and True Sorcery. This last one is where you get those earth-shattering spells and dooms usually employed by the Evil Wizard of many S&S sources. Here are the guidelines for spells that target armies and affect entire fortifications. While the SS&SS Addendum does provides concrete rules for using True Spells (including the caster sacrificing ability score points permanently), I prefer the old Swords & Wizardry approach, where you basically threat high-level (or epic) spells as unique magic items.

Still talking about the arcane, we get a lite but very flavorful rule for Arcane Corruption, where the more spells a Magic User knows the more inhuman he gets. The next wizardly topics are Rare Ingredients and Drugs & Other Preparations (yes, lotus dust is here).

All those variants and additional rules don’t encumbrance the game and rarely occupy more than a page or two. In fact, it’s amazing how broad the SS&SS Addendum is, because we just reached the middle of the PDF.

Next part is a Monster Generator. This is the supplement’s biggest section and is mostly covered by system-neutral tables with basic ideas and descriptions for monster (aberrations, animals, beings from the future, undeads etc), although at the end we get a list of 100 special abilities (with rules), besides suggestions for monsters’ Weaknesses and a rule for Mooks.

After the monsters we get an excellent rule for creating Rumors, in which the entire table participates. This is a brilliant way of engaging the players, besides helping the referee. I’m extremely tempted to use it in all my tables right now.

SS&SS Addendum isn’t done with us yet. So we get tables and rules for Forgotten Artifacts, Random Life Events, “What Has Changed Since We Left?” (a table used when the PCs return to a town or outpost they’ve visited before) and an Adventure Title Generator.

The SS&SS Addendum is a perfect example of a supplement that highlights its’ Core Book without changing the game’s strong points. There’s so much stuff you can use here that I can’t recommend it high enough – be it for SS&SS, Black Hack or other similar fantasy games.

(From my blog: http://lonelygm.blogspot.com.br/2016/11/a-review-for-sharp-swords-sinister.html)

Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells (SS&SS) is a "rules light sword and sorcery role playing game with Old School spirit", which is a very accurate description of this new RPG. It isn't a retroclone (maybe you could call it a “second” or “third generation” retroclone) but it does attempt to capture the general OSR feel and style (in fact, it borrows mechanics from others famous games, especially The Black Hack). My main interest with the SS&SS is because it is – as far as I know – the only OSR game published by brazilian authors in english. This review is based on the PDF offered through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow.

SS&SS's core mechanic is quite simple: roll a d20 against an Attribute. You succeed if roll equal or lower. This is like The Black Hack and it is an approach that I enjoy – simple and very easy to teach.

SS&SS also employs Usage Die (again from The Black Hack). The Usage Die is a clever mechanic used to keep track of ammo, food and other expandable resources. Basically, you roll a die and if you get a 1 or 2, that resource is spent. Otherwise, you just keep rolling.

SS&SS also uses Positive and Negative Dice, which is a just different name of D&D 5E's Advantage and Disadvantage mechanics (at the first, the new nomenclature caused a bit of confusion for me – I thought it would be something like Shadow of the Demon Lord's Bane/Boon Die).

Other core mechanics is Pushing the Roll – a gambit mechanic where you ask for a second chance, but if you fail the referee can choose something particular nasty to happen to your PC. Again, simple and very easy to implement.

The last core mechanic is the Luck Roll. This mechanic is basically SS&SS's take on Luck Points/Attribute - it’s determined by the chosen Archetype (Class) and it works like Usage Die. It kinds of overlaps with the Pushing the Roll rule, although Luck offer a few twists to the PCs.

SS&SS uses 4 Attributes (generated by rolling 3d6): Physique, Agility, Intellect and Willpower; and 3 Archetypes (Classes): Warrior, Specialist and Magic User (cool, no Clerics!).

Each Archetype determines your Hit Dice (and thus Hit Points), Luck Die and Special Abilities.

The Archetypes' Special Abilities are iconic and seem to me be partly inspired by DCC RPG (like the Warrior's Improved Maneuvers, the Specialist's Luckiest of Them All and the Magic User's Blood Sacrifice). They are short, easy to use and just flavorful (in other words: I loved them).

After picking an Archetype, you must define your Vocation (for example, you're a Warrior with the Berserker Vocation or a Magic User with a Necromancer Vocation). Vocations are open-ended backgrounds/concepts that are used by the PCs to gain Positive Dice

The next step is rolling a Complication for your PC, which is a nice way to spice the character's background (in part explaining why you’re an adventurer). “Nice” stuff like been addicted to Sorcery, in debt to a corrupt noble or hunted by the Assassin's Guild. The cool part about Complications is that you can trigger them, once per session, to improve your Luck Die (in exchange, the referee is given free rein to place the Complication somewhere in your near/far future).

Weapons in SS&SS are simplified and divided in 3 categories. Armor reduce damage and shield (my favorite rule here) gives you a number of Negative Die to use on a roundly basis against attacks.

SS&SS has an interesting approach to Initiative. If I got it right, it's based on the Hit Dice size (which usually means Warriors go first). Ties are settled by an Agility checks. Agility also works as AC here, since armors reduce damage. SS&SS employs simple critical and fumble rules. Healing uses a Short/Long Rest dynamic. The game also uses a Powerful Enemy rule, also taken from The Black Hack.

Spellcasting in SS&SS requires a Willpower check. SS&SS has a simple but evocative rule for failing at spellcasting: the magic doesn’t work and the Magic User can choose between losing access to the spell for the day or not. If he chooses to keep the spell available, he suffers a complication devised by the GM. The book offers some guidelines, but this is by far may favorite part of SS&SS as it kind of allows you to run a "light version" of games like DCC RPG or Warhammer Fantasy. And yes, things get better (or should I see worse?): if the Magic User rolls a natural 20, he must check on a Spell Catastrophe table (sweet!).

SS&SS Spell List is short on description but more than enough for any referee running such light games. We're also offered guidelines on how magic item should work (and the price that PCs must pay to use them).

The next part deals with Opponents, with a short list of adversaries and basic rules for creating them (again we see a strong influence of The Black Hack).

Leveling Up is based on the number of adventurers survived and employs an Improvement Roll rule (can you guess from which game?).

SS&SS closes with an adventure generator appendix and a (very good looking) character sheet.

In end, SS&SS presents an interesting variant on The Black Hack, with more crunch and a stronger flavor toward Sword & Sorcery and Dark Fantasy. You can use it with minimum effort to run Warhammer Fantasy, DCC RPG adventures, Conan, Lankhmar, The Black Company and similar settings… I see myself using even for The Witcher and with minimal fuss it’s easily adaptable to other low magic genres, like Lord of the Rings.

Muito bom! Ótimo para "chegar e jogar". Parabéns Diogo Nogueira!

I was able to read the content and assimilate the rules in less than thirty minutes. The book was written in an elegant way with solid rules and easy to understand. The inside pictures are excellent! A great product!

I really like Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells rpg. It is easy and fun to play. It runs on just a few simple and fast mechanics and requires very little preparation. I also enjoy the art. Both mechanics and art are a great fit to the Swords & Sorcery genre. This a perfect little rpg. It is what I run at my gaming table now.

Sword & Sorcery Turned up to 11 http://dieheart.net/sharp-swords-sinister-spells-review/

Excerpt:

Mighty thews power Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells. You’ll get everything you need to play. It doesn’t come with batteries (a.k.a. its own campaign world) though. The game will be familiar to D&D old-schoolers and is laser-focused on the Sword & Sorcery genre. SS&SS has excellent character options, distilled rules and an elegant magic system. Plus, it stays consistent in its workings. That makes it easy to learn and easy to run.

Also this one goes directly on my top 5 of its kind, and I've read dozens of them during the last weeks. Very good in all its aspects, and I love the magic system so much! I also hope in a physical release and more adventures and monsters ...maybe in Europe to avoid the horrible high shipment costs! :)

I'm mostly reviewing the quick but cute {1d6}{1d6} tables: one d36 for a PC background detail hook that'll be a recurring complication, and the adventure idea creator (6 tables of d36) (I skimmed past the core mechanics themselves to read later; I've already got a few favorite engines, but I'm always interested in good idea-tables.)

Also, I typically spend no words on art as it has no effect on gameplay, but not only is the art/layout and excellent example of how to publish an RPG, many pieces not only can, but are begging me to be used as player handouts.

As a quick show-n-tell, here's an off the cuff PC and first adventure: stats are straight 3d6 in order, with four stats instead of the classic 6: 11,11,6,9 -- Bob now has a dump stat of INT and is otherwise average. 3 classes, I'll go for "totally not a thief" and get this engine's version of the industry standard perks. Vocation: player spins their PC however they want and mechanically get a die-boost when it's justifiable -- I declare Bob's a failed wizard's apprentice who spent years cleaning up after toxic and reality-corrosive experiments at the Unseen University.

first table! "Why...?", {1,6} Bob has a debt to a supernatural entity. Heh; how about Bob's department's master wizard was expecting to still have a corporeal body at the end of the experiment, and after Bob's poor handling of a task leads to disaster, Monsieur Suddenly Immaterial's teeth grating can be heard from the astral plane. the wizard's rage is only kept in check by the fact that only Bob can restore him to his body.

Game effect: whenever Bob's player invokes Bob's complication for a die-boost, the GM has this fuming poltergeist will at some point make a demand that makes Bob & friends' life difficult.

On to the adventure generator! goal {4,3} "guard/protect an important person" important location to the plot {1,2} "ruins of ... a sorcerer's tower" antagonist {5,3} "intelligent monster... an alien" supporting character {4,4} "a mythological creature" complication {1,4} "the characters' weapons are useless" quest reward {1,2} "giant precious gem"

Going with the first idea that ties the above together: Guard S.I.'s body from a body-jumping Yith, while the competent apprentices go find and recover the Gem of Ultimate Shiny from the "Tower of Arrrgh..." so S.I. can use it as the lens for a soul-bind. "Team A" never returns, so it falls to our PCs to pick up the pieces: the gem is (a) the size of a table and (b) all of Team A have been astrally trapped in the gem upon laying a finger on it. So the PCs have to convince a Daoist golem to carry the untouchable gem, but it's holding up a load bearing wall in the Tower.

The Old School Blues Podcast did a nice 45 minute, honest review and you call listen in here http://dgstexas.com/2016/12/04/old-school-blues-podcast-episode-7/

Familiarity and innovattion walk side by side in this rules-set for classic adventures. Great art and writing!

Functional system, simple and classic, where we can use really useful tools to a narrative game, Worthy of a true Old School. Good Mechanics, Well flowing, Without so much information, What more convulsion and hindrance, What amuse. Really very whimsical, with good art and attention to what is essential in fact, to play a good Role Playing Game.

This is a OSR RPG system that carefully grabbed all necessary rules do play. Inside of the 64 pages you'll get rules for everthings: fightings, level up, traps, monsters, background, items and etc. The system proposes a light-rule system that keeps the OSR atmosphere without the "OSR bugs" like "D20 equal to or greather than vs D20 equal lesser than" issues that are very common against Attribute vs Attack rolls. Here the Dungeon Master (or Referee, in terms of the book) controls all the bonus, which lets the players just to have fun and roll the D20. In other words, you would never see a player thats miraculously finds some deep bonus or advantage inside of an optional rule in the book. Instead of that, the players are encouraged to build their own background with theirs own flawns, which makes every character unique and useful in a given situation.

In a OSR game two warriors are usually pretty much the same unless by their attribute score and equipment. Here, two warriors are completely different because of the vocation and complication rules.

The "character sheet strategy aspect" was totally cutted off in order to provide the role play and improvisation side.

It is impressive how much this game is rules light and does have lots of mechanics for a good and immersive roleplay.

Nevetheless, the book has lots of rules to create random adventures, random encounters and it is very easy to build enemies.

Give a try, this is a special hidden gem in the RPGNOW.

I first downloaded this for $0 but after one quick read thru I immediately returned and paid for another copy. This looks very promising on first read and I look forward to playing this. There is also lots of excellent art to inspire the creative juices.

Just on this first brief read I get a little bit of a Dungeon Crawl Classsics vibe. Not that the rules bear any resemblance but the take no prisoners, gonzo possibilities do.

It is well worth a checking out.