A quick simple system go play out that cool fantasy world you have had stuck in your head for years.

Love this for a one shot, or with a few modifications, mainly by adding Legends of Steal, a campaign. I find that with the right GM, you can get a lot of adventure in 2-3 hours.

Broadsword is a fantastic sword & sorcery game designed for an evening of friendly gaming. The 1PG (one page) design purpose is to generate substantive characters quickly and begin play. Characters have several degrees of randomness, which allows power-gamers to luxury to try new archtypes without cringing. Diversity abounds with some special features, including over twenty different (yet all too familiar) character advantages. Imagine a barbarian with a wild mountain lion as his personal pet. Imagine a skilled sharpshooter whose arrows do more trickery bouncing and influence the game map more than simply deal damage. Imagine a tough-as-nails chainmail bikini clad Amazonian wielding as powerful two handed-sword over her head…wait, where was I? The combat system and use of armor and gear is intentionally let very vague, yet concrete with how contests are resolved. Players looking for many options for resource books will be happier elsewhere; in Broadsword, the referee makes adjudications for armor, weapons, and other gear, although a baseline description is included. For example, an axe may deal 6 damage, but nowhere is found a cost sheet for how characters can spend their silver pieces. Looking for a torch? Okay…keep looking; it’s not found in the core rules. This game is a fantastic way to illustrate the great S&S genre, although intentionally lacks many examples of magic. Spellcasters are given three basic spells, and expected to work with their referees to create more. Sometimes, this freedom can be suffocating, but others may be liberated by it. For the cost of less than $5 and 20 pages, Broadsword offers a storyteller and a group of friends several evenings worth of entertainment. Isn’t that the point of gaming together with friends?

Broadsword does exactly one thing & does it well: simulates the bare-chested hero genre of fantastic adventure epitomized by movies like "Beastmaster" & "The Sword and the Sorcerer". Character creation strikes a good balance between speed & detail. The magic rules are sketchy, but that comes across as a feature, not a bug; spellcasters' magic in S&S adventures is highly individualized anyway. A distinction is drawn between priest & wizard magic that feels like a holdover from other fantasy games, inappropriate for the S&S genre (where priests & wizards are often the same thing), but that rule can be ignored with no ill effect. Rounding out the book are no fewer than nine adventure outlines, each of which has plenty of Howardian flavor. The odd typo occurs throughout, but they don't obscure meaning. The last six adventures form a mini-campaign. It's extremely linear, which may put some people off, but recalls classic chugging, plot-driven stories like "Hour of the Dragon".

In brief, Broadsword is a small package filled with a heap of barbaric mayhem at a great price.

Broadsword is a minimalist but effective RPG engine that offers to recreate the best (and worst) of low-budget/low-fantasy movies taken directly out of the collective recollection of the sword & Sorcery genre of the 70’s and 80’s. It's a great beer and pretzels game for a good evening of good natured mayhem and crude jokes.

Magic system needs to be hacked to be playable and equipment costs were left out of game (intentionally).

Still the game delivers at what it promises.

My original encounter with the 1PG system was Hero Force, which I accused of being needlessly deadly and unsuited to the supers genre. I stand by that, but admit that it fits Broadsword a hell of a lot better.

Heroes are the right type of bad asses you'd expect in any cheesy barbarian flick, and while magic leaves a little to be desired, any worthwhile GM will manage just fine with spells as needed.

Despite the genre focus and the simple rules, it isn't hard to create relatively unique characters, as a reasonable range of special abilities (wild animals as pets, danger sense, etc) give everyone something special.

The scenarios are actually the weakest element of this book, being all a little low-key and limited... Not as epic as I would have done them.

Overall, the product fits the bill well. A few slim sections, but what can you expect of a rules set so small? The cover art isn't to my taste, but the rest of presentation is perfectly suitable.

A great system for one shot/short term pulp fantasy gaming.

The 1PG system is highly adaptable, and fits this genre very well. While info on spell casting is limited, it fits with the genre (as most Sword and Sorcery characters didn't use magic themselves).

A very playable little game, if a bit rough on presentation and lacking a complete set of rules for magic (there are rules for magic, though they refer to another product which you will need to fully understand how said rules are implemented in play). All things considered, a very good buy for the asking price.