I'll be missing the next two weekends of #SundayAMSwords due to travel and conventions, but don't let that stop...

I'll be missing the next two weekends of #SundayAMSwords  due to travel and conventions, but don't let that stop you!

Also, if you happen to be going to Metatopia, we should try to put together a live Sunday Morning Swords!

Built upon the innards of some ancient machine...

Built upon the innards of some ancient machine...

How would you tweak, hack, take away from, or add onto Swords without Master to play a game of Fantastic Four,...

How would you tweak, hack, take away from, or add onto Swords without Master to play a game of Fantastic Four, X-Men, or Avengers style comic book action?

I can think of a number of aesthetic tweaks I would make, just to keep a handle on tone and theme at the table. Glum and Jovial would be Iron and Gold (purely aesthetic, as I said), and I'd rename the phases a little (Rogue Phase is the Heroic Phase, for example). 

I can't imagine Morals or Mysteries needing any changes, as superhero comics are full of morals and mysteries as it is.

Share your ideas! SwoM is already a really decent engine for superheroics (as Tim Franzke's GotG idea basically indicates), but I'm curious what dials we could tweak to really focus the playstyle.

Necronauts

Necronauts
#OctoberChallenge

Eidolon or Simulacrum:
http://www.deviantart.com/art/The-Astronaut-s-Tomb-193767385

Floating as if untouched by gravity, the necronauts haunt the strangest of structures left from the old world.

They are ancient corpses wrapped in space suits that, when awoken,  seek to free themselves of this forsaken planet. They are purposeful in their actions, but mindlessly disregard the safety of those around them and will work to efficiently eliminate any who stand in their way. 

Thunders: Dust, debris and random objects begin to float as if weightless. Ancient klaxons and warning lights suddenly coming to life.

As seen on #SundayAMSwords
http://www.deviantart.com/art/The-Astronaut-s-Tomb-193767385

The Saffron Queen

The Saffron Queen
#OctoberChallenge  

Eidolon: http://www.city.funabashi.chiba.jp/kids/work/0007/p000477_d/img/002.jpg

Inscrutible behind her faceplate, The Saffron Queen dreams her dark dreams and charts her dark plans. Commanding the ancient might of ages past, she seeks to shape the future in her own image.

When ancient magics surface, can the designs of the Saffron Queen be far behind? Her minions, constructs, automata, and fleshier servitors scour the world, seeking the secrets of the past that lie long buried. It is said that all who have gazed upon her unshielded face have withered to ash at the sight.

Jovial becomes Poisonous when the Saffron Queen is present.

Thunders: Still-smoking bootprints burned into solid rock. The high-pitched buzzing of ancient devices.

As seen on #SundayAMSwords
http://www.city.funabashi.chiba.jp/kids/work/0007/p000477_d/img/002.jpg

The Price of Sorcery.

The Price of Sorcery.
A Tale Told in Sunday Morning Swords

Link to opening simulacrum: http://www.artstation.com/artwork/white-castle-1632dfa5-bce0-45ac-9fc4-d752b68591f6

Gammon blathering excitedly. “This was the gateway to the heavens. They brought back magic—and its price!” Umsa holding the lens of an ancient lighthouse aloft. A green light from the tower’s peak—a glowing beam from tower to lens, to a circle of green against the clouds.

The lone sentry joined by numberless fellows. Dario brandishing the symbol of ancient sky-travellers: http://www.soviet-power.com/pictures/KOL-5-11.jpg Gammon leaping “No! They fought in the Frigid War!” Gammon levitating towards the tower—riding the light. Umsa’s mighty steed Petril deflecting sentries’ crossbow bolts. Umsa falling to the ground.

Umsa & Dario bound to telephone poles with electrical wire. The sentries’ yurts and bonfire. Above, Lizard creatures chasing green light in the sky (like flying cats). Dario’s haunting whistle distracting enemies.

Dario & Umsa climbing the vines to the cockpit. Inside, strange chairs facing the heavens. Gammon, stripped of robe, carving ancient equations into his own skin. “The first price of magic is blood.”

A trapdoor in the floor of the small room opening. Below it, the distant promise of twinkling lights across a gulf of darkness. A thick white glove emerges—a bulky suit—a glass helmet, skull within: A Necronaut! Necronauts floating free of gravity’s shackles. 

Umsa & Gammon falling into the gulf of darkness. Dario clinging to the trapdoor’s edge. Dario and the box, adorned with yellow circle and three black trumpets. What did the ancients find which needed to be contained? A massive rumble from below.

Umsa seizing metallic arm and hurling up toward Necronaut, shattering cockpit. Green lizard winged things settling and chanting around a broken cockpit. Gammon at the bottom, dancing on a panel of lights. “My god, it’s full of stars!”

Petril lowering a vine for Umsa & Dario to escape. The bloom of green fire from beneath the tower. Gammon riding the gateway to the heavens.

Our players: Emily Care Boss  as Umsa, Miguel Zapico  as Dario, Epidiah Ravachol  as Opverplayer, me as Gammon. #SundayAMSwords  

Our virtual tabletop: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1ekxaJRoG-XFfr2N9cTxEGFoTX-CXJfyD0-O1jnbNOe0/edit?usp=sharing
http://www.artstation.com/artwork/white-castle-1632dfa5-bce0-45ac-9fc4-d752b68591f6

Sunday Morning Swords: 26 October 2014

Sunday Morning Swords: 26 October 2014
#TofuScramble  

Good morning!

Here's our organizational thread. Comment below if you're interested in playing this morning and mention if you're comfortable being an Overplayer and whether or not you have play Swords before.

When we get an Overplayer and three or four Rogue Players, those players will run off and start their hangout. For now, let's focus on getting everyone into a group. We'll probably wait until 9:15 or 9:30 EDT to start the last group. I will be a swing player, jumping in where needed to fill out the final groups so we can make sure we have 3-4 Rogue Players in each group.

Feel free to enjoy some breakfast or brunch while playing. I know I'll be having some coffee and tofu scramble, myself.

Also, feel free to use the hashtag #SundayAMSwords should you desire to chat about your game on the social medias.

P.S. Got some tips on how to do this and links to useful files here: http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords

From the recent Shut up & Sit Down news section. Check the bolded bit!

From the recent Shut up & Sit Down news section. Check the bolded bit!

AND FINALLY! Last week we mentioned that we loved the sound of upcoming miniatures combat game Conan: Hyborian Quests, but it turns out that an older Conan game, 2009 strategy title Age of Conan, is getting a new lease of life on Kickstarter.

You should care about this because as part of the Kickstarter the game's new publishers are creating a new, boxed expansion, Age of Conan: Adventures in Hyboria. And you should care about that because the expansion will come with a mood wheel, determining whether Conan himself is happy, melancholic, angry or that one mood where your friends want you to come out but you can't be arsed but you KNOW that if you do go out you'll have a good time.
http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/games-news-131014/

Some great pieces for #sundayamswords

Some great pieces for #sundayamswords

Originally shared by Mark Delsing

Some great post-apoc-ish imagery amongst the other random brilliance here.

And that Rambo poster is pure gold.
http://abduzeedo.com/mesmerizing-illustrations-yuri-shwedoff

I wrote a love letter to Swords Without Master.

I wrote a love letter to Swords Without Master. I am sure I missed something wonderful about it, though, so go set me straight!
http://keithstetson.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/why-i-love-swords-without-master/

I just realized--I followed this guy on DeviantART a while ago, and his works are FILLED with eidolons/simulacra.

I just realized--I followed this guy on DeviantART a while ago, and his works are FILLED with eidolons/simulacra. Browse to your heart's content.
http://chris-garrett.deviantart.com/

Going back on my word to get all three of them in here.

Warmer or cooler colors?

Warmer or cooler colors?

(Last poll on the topic, I swear.)

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you were designing the back of some cards for a game of murder and sorcery.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you were designing the back of some cards for a game of murder and sorcery. Which of these would most appeal to you?

Sunday Morning Swords

Sunday Morning Swords
#CarryOnEdition

Good morning!

Here is our gathering point. Comment below to play, and mention if you have played before. Also mention if you're comfortable being Overplayer. Non-left-coasters and new players welcome.

I'll start a Hangout about 9:15 Eastern and invite everyone who commented. From there we can work out different groups if needed. Feel free to enjoy some breakfast while we play.

Also, use the hashtag #SundayAMSwords should you desire to chat about your game on the social medias. Visit http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords for more info and tips.
http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords

Do not even think about using this as your eidolon or simulacrum. Just don’t.

Do not even think about using this as your eidolon or simulacrum.  Just don’t.

Tigtone - "The Begun of Tigtone"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-J3nJerAyQ

Y'know, SWM would make a great RPG for playing a game inspired by a concept album.

Y'know, SWM would make a great RPG for playing a game inspired by a concept album. You have ready-made eidolons/simulacra that have a sort of unity to them, and concept albums in particular are heavily about moving from one mood to another.

"Combat in 15th century armor"

"Combat in 15th century armor"
Lest you think heavy armor makes you slow or stiff! It seems the main trade-off is the stamina required before tiring.

This reminds me of a book I read where a modern man was transported to the 15th century, and observing some knights sparring on horseback, was amazed at the speed of their sword strikes and parries. He realized they train daily, for years, and get quite skilled at swordplay and moving in armor. A slow knight is soon defeated, after all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hlIUrd7d1Q

I shall be away again this weekend and unable to play #SundayAMSwords

I shall be away again this weekend and unable to play #SundayAMSwords . That is, of course, unless I can get my mother-in-law to play a game on her birthday. She is saintly, but perhaps not that saintly. Carry on without me, rogues! And I shall soon return.

Our Record of Sins and Troubles

Our Record of Sins and Troubles
#OctoberChallenge  

A book cast in bronze, everchanging when no one's gaze is upon it.

Written by a lost colony of exiles, Our Record of Sins and Troubles is an account of their plight and crimes that are too terrible to speak of but too vile to let pass unremarked upon. They bound the record in a bronze book and hid it deep within the ground where it calls out to wanderers, seeking someone to unburden itself upon.

Seeker of Our Record (Glum Mark)—The sibilant whispers of Our Record reach out through the earth to invade the unquiet mind.

Thunders: Books, scrolls and other writings going missing when they are most needed. Strangers confessing their sins to any who will listen.

It looks like I'll be traveling this Sunday morning and will be unable to join you fine rogues for #SundayAMSwords...

It looks like I'll be traveling this Sunday morning and will be unable to join you fine rogues for #SundayAMSwords  this week. I leave the tradition in your capable hands.

I must admit to being a little jazzed about the new poll feature on Google+, and it's got me pondering uses for it...

I must admit to being a little jazzed about the new poll feature on Google+, and it's got me pondering uses for it in the community.

*Once upon a #SundayAMSwords *

*Once upon a #SundayAMSwords *

Link to opening simulacrum: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/368943394447008467/

Moving through successive townhouses to gain admittance to the Oracle. The supplicants pleading for insight. Peeled feather-like strips of living tissue used as strips of divinatory wisdom. Gammon hearing the whirr of fans and hard drives. The smell of small burnings. Lord Malivrax adorned with trophies crafted of ancient, forgotten baubles.

Yakoné’s finger to the Oracle’s beak: “What gives you the authority?” The peeled feather wrapping Yakoné’s eyes. “The powers that made your tattoo inks have empowered me.” Blindfolded Yakoné swinging axe devastatingly through the supplicants. Blood feeding grooves and carvings on the ground. Lord Malivrax cradling a fallen attendant. Yakoné cocooned by the wings of a bird-like Oracle. “Wizards are at least honest in their evil—priests couch theirs in pretty lies.” Backhand shield-punch to the beak. The peeled skull, freed from its wrappings, proving too fragile. Glowing yellow liquid oozing from the shards.

Yakoné’s climbing up the statues and rotunda—Gammon on back, Malivrax hanging from axe. Blood nearing the whirring machine. Gammon abseiling down voltmeter wires—grabbing drives and motherboards before sacred spirits of volts and fluids, launch another battle in their war eternal. Lord Malivrax on ladder platforms. Guardians fall before the never-bending light. Malvrax falling into a crowd of angry cultist arms. Escaping, but at cost of another armor chunk.

Yakoné peering at the glowing yellow and purple mist within Malivrax’s chest cavity. The supplicants reverse engineering the Neon Knight from a trophy taken from his armor. Gammon communing battery and motherboard and else. “It doesn’t work. I failed the rites.” The device forgotten for weeks.

Weeks later, we stand over the just-defeated corpse of the goatsucker: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/368943394447008459/

A muttered three-syllable sound from the forgotten device. An amalgamation of armor pieces, bits of skull, a single wing: The “little brother” Neon Knight, come to best his progenitor. Gammon enveloped and snipping from within. Glowing yellow fluid burning runes into Gammon’s face. Lord Malivrax drawing and facing the mockery. Will it be strong enough to end his tenure as the last Neon Knight? Staring. Raising swords. Charging. A single pass. The mockery falls.

Speaking the ancient funeral rites over the pyre. Reattaching the bit of armor. Ruins of pyramid and tower, palace and stardust ahead. Arguing over which type of music to conjure from the motherboard.

Link to the virtual tabletop: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1BCoxp7iwsW9078hyApINLLiRrGPcd_woY8ujg8RWmB8/edit

Players: Epidiah Ravachol  (Lord Malivrax), Jim Crocker  (Yakoné), me (Gammon), Keith Stetson  (Overplayer)
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/368943394447008467

Sunday Morning Swords: 5 October 2014

Sunday Morning Swords: 5 October 2014
#Hashbrown  

Good morning!

Here's our organizational thread. Comment below if you're interested in playing this morning and mention if you're comfortable being an Overplayer and whether or not you have play Swords before.

When we get an Overplayer and three or four Rogue Players, those players will run off and start their hangout. For now, let's focus on getting everyone into a group. We'll probably wait until 9:15 or 9:30 EDT to start the last group. I will be a swing player, jumping in where needed to fill out the final groups so we can make sure we have 3-4 Rogue Players in each group.

Feel free to enjoy some breakfast or brunch while playing. I know I'll be having some coffee and hashbrowns, myself.

Also, feel free to use the hashtag #SundayAMSwords should you desire to chat about your game on the social medias.

P.S. Got some tips on how to do this and links to useful files here: http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords

Came up with an amazing new hack brainstorm...this is after seeing an RPGGeek thread about playing as robots.

Came up with an amazing new hack brainstorm...this is after seeing an RPGGeek thread about playing as robots.

Rogue Robots (or something like that)

Moods: Mechanical (harsh, forceful, technological, powerful) and Emotive (human, cheery, gloomy, agitated, surprising)

Rename "Feats Heroic" to "Subroutines". Use lots of spiffy sci-fi eidolons and simulacra.

Sharing again for ocober challenge

Sharing again for ocober challenge

Originally shared by Lenny Pacelli

Perils: Carumuri
It is known that several citizens from the city of Splendors are afflicted by a singular sickness: The Carumuri.

Like a plague, those demonic parasite infest their host's body till they are strong enough to leave. Those who bear the plague are marked by a languid look, like melted flames.

Thunders
Jovial - behind a door a man screaming in pain, and soon after a frenzied scratching on the door.

Glum - people dancing and feasting in a public garden, but their passion and euphoria it is ephemeral. On their faces they carry the cumbersome shadow of their inescapable destiny.


(It is the first time I try to do something like that, forgive me if it is lame!)

October Eidolon & Simulacrum Challenge

October Eidolon & Simulacrum Challenge

Let's build our own Book of Perils. Monsters!
http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/9/29/october-eidolon-simulacrum-challenge