I was talking to Emily Care Boss​ about the improv concept of a button, which is the note, beat, or line an improv...

I was talking to Emily Care Boss​ about the improv concept of a button, which is the note, beat, or line an improv troupe decides to end a scene on. It's a great concept with quite a bit of potential for a lot of roleplaying games out there, but Swords in particular has mechanical space specifically set aside for this.

Carefully choosing how and when to end a phase is a powerful tool for crafting your story. Being able to recognize those golden opportunities when they're handed to you is a skill worth discussing.

Ending on particularly high or low moments is a great way to emphasize those highs and lows.

Ending moments before an anticipated event gives the Overtone a chance to change and the Overplayer a chance to reestablish the scene.

Ending on a cliffhanger has obvious merit.

For that matter, ending on a Stymie or a Moral can often propel the story forward in a similar fashion.

Telegraphing when you're about to end a phase, like you do with the Ritual of the Long Spell, can sharply shape the drama of the tale by putting the focus on the roll just before the phase's end.

There's a lot to talk about here and I'm curious to hear about your experiences.
http://wiki.improvresourcecenter.com/index.php/Button

http://frikadillycircus.blogspot.com.es/2015/08/actual-play-swords-without-master-en_31.html

http://frikadillycircus.blogspot.com.es/2015/08/actual-play-swords-without-master-en_31.html

Sunday Morning Swords: 30 August 2015

Sunday Morning Swords: 30 August 2015

#EndOfAugustEdition

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 9:30 EDT to start the last group. If you can't make that, check back in a few hours. Another one might fire up at 9 AM PDT for those who wake at a more civilized time (I, myself, will not be able to make the PDT one this morning).

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
http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords

Stat away, my friends.

Stat away, my friends.
http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/12/15/awesome-fan-art-of-a-childhood-classic-gargoyles-by-ryan-lang-2508307

What happens on a moral in the discovery phase?

An eidolon for your Tales of Horror and Savagery.

An eidolon for your Tales of Horror and Savagery.

Warning: it's a tale of horror and savagery.
https://vimeo.com/136119345

Been thinking about Rituals and Tales lately.

Been thinking about Rituals and Tales lately. I don't want to overload the game with them, but there's a lot of room to expand here and it can be done in a reasonable manner by grouping them together in packets or campaigns. We'll play a lot of games featuring Tales of Beauty and Horror and we'll rely on the Ritual of the Unseen and the Long Spell a lot. That sort of thing.

So let me ask you if you've seen patterns in your own games that could be ritualized or patterns in the source fiction you'd like to see supported by rituals, tales or the like.

I figured out who this is!

I figured out who this is!

Takeshi Shinobu
Survivor of betrayal, wanderer, seeker of final vengeance.  Bearer of wounds that will spell an early death, he refuses to give in until he has settled the score.

All that deserves a name
Hiroshi: An erstwhile friend now leading the hunt for Takeshi
The Black Lotus: A band of ronin who Takeshi crossed long ago.
Sparrow:  Takeshi's blade, the only thing he trusts completely.

Feats Heroic
Jovial: Takeshi lashes out in a punishing, ceaseless assault, a loud and wordless growl rumbling from his throat.
Glum: Takeshi sizes up the foe with icy precision, the very air itself growing still before he unleashes a single, precise strike of Sparrow.

Feat Heroic
Adroit Prowess: "Path Through Oblivion".  In the blink of an eye, Takeshi walks the spaces between his foes, cutting down all but the hardiest before they can realize their mistake in crossing him.

Originally shared by Concept Art World

Check out this great concept illustration 'The Last Ronin' by Benoit Godde! http://goo.gl/IqbwcB

I'm not even sure if this is a better eidolon for a Rogue, or a Tale. Perhaps it is in the eye of the beholder.

I'm not even sure if this is a better eidolon for a Rogue, or a Tale. Perhaps it is in the eye of the beholder.

Originally shared by Concept Art World

Check out this great concept illustration 'The Last Ronin' by Benoit Godde! http://goo.gl/IqbwcB

Sunday Morning Swords: 23 August 2015

Sunday Morning Swords: 23 August 2015

#NeedMeSomeCoffeeEdition

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 9:30 EDT to start the last group. If you can't make that, check back in a few hours. Another one might fire up at 9 AM PDT for those who wake at a more civilized time (I, myself, will not be able to make the PDT one this morning).

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
http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords

If a game is only going to have 2 dice, they might as well be cool.

If a game is only going to have 2 dice, they might as well be cool. This set of dice from Kickstarter seemed particularly SwM to me.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1422641660/fablestone-dice-bone-origins?ref=category

Went to see Art of the Brick tonight and came back with some amazing/terrifying eidolons for Swords Without Master.

Originally shared by Keith Stetson

Went to see Art of the Brick tonight and came back with some amazing/terrifying eidolons for Swords Without Master.

http://frikadillycircus.blogspot.com.es/2015/08/actual-play-swords-without-master-en.html

http://frikadillycircus.blogspot.com.es/2015/08/actual-play-swords-without-master-en.html

I'm preparing to overplay a game soon but the phases are still fuzzy to me.

I'm preparing to overplay a game soon but the phases are still fuzzy to me. Could someone explain how they flow from one to the other, and how the rogue phase differs, content wise, from a perilous phase? Do the phases blend throughout a narrative unit? Let's say the rogues are discovering the world, and danger appears: do I switch straight to a perilous phase?

I had an opportunity to run Swords without master for a group of folk who play in my boffer larp, and it went really...

I had an opportunity to run Swords without master for a group of folk who play in my boffer larp, and it went really well - I was jittery because they didn't have a lot of indie rpg experience, but once we got through the first couple of phases everything clicked really well.  

Something that I used that I haven't seen specifically mentioned anywhere (though I could just have weak google fu) is a bluetooth controlled multicolored lightbulb to denote the tone shifts.  I snuck the bulb into the playspace ahead of time so I could change the color with the roll of the first overtone - had a pretty good wow factor.  I think it was a cool way to accentuate the shift and folks responded well to it.

Sunday Morning Swords: 16 August 2015

Sunday Morning Swords: 16 August 2015

#TraditionEdition

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 9:30 EDT to start the last group. If you can't make that, check back in a few hours. Another one might fire up at 9 AM PDT for those who wake at a more civilized time (I, myself, will not be able to make the PDT one this morning).

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
http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords

Anyone down for a game tonight?

Anyone down for a game tonight?  I'd like to try my hand at being the overplayer and using some of the aspects of SWM that I have yet to experience in my limited experience so far.  

First I'd like to go with the Nexus variation of the game in which Glum/Jovial are replaced with Chaotic/Orderly. Plus I'd like to start the game off with a Tale of New Beginnings highlighting how the rogues meet. Finally, if we are able to make this a weekly thing, I'd like to use the Echoes of the Past trick to tie the games together.

I know it's a bit short notice, but let me know if anyone is interested in getting a game together tonight, perhaps around 8:00 pm Eastern Time.

Why do I have this itchy feeling that I'm going to live to regret posting this?

Why do I have this itchy feeling that I'm going to live to regret posting this?

Originally shared by Christopher Mennell

I want to run an adventure based on this image.

ran a sunday pm swords of sorts for some members of the gauntlet community

ran a sunday pm swords of sorts for some members of the gauntlet community
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUGACpn2s_8

Sunday Morning Swords: 9 August 2015

Sunday Morning Swords: 9 August 2015

#HotCoffeeEdition

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 9:30 EDT to start the last group. If you can't make that, check back in a few hours. Another one might fire up at 9 AM PDT for those who wake at a more civilized time.

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
http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords

Sunday Morning Swords: 2 August 2015

Sunday Morning Swords: 2 August 2015

#GenConSchmenConEdition

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 9:30 EDT to start the last group. If you can't make that, no worries, we'll fire another one up at 9 AM PDT for those who wake at a more civilized time.

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
http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords