Rogues! What is that on the horizon? Could it be? The tell tale dust storm stirred up by an after action report!

Rogues! What is that on the horizon? Could it be? The tell tale dust storm stirred up by an after action report!

I do an autopsy of the three linked sessions of Swords I ran at the recently concluded Dexcon.
https://keithestetson.dudaone.com/swords-without-master-anthology-debrief

Hello Rogues!

Hello Rogues!

I am running three interconnected sessions of Swords at Dexcon this weekend. I plan to tie them together using Echoes of the Past, a shared communally created map, and just general good gamemastering. I think that those three will likely do the trick, but I was wondering what feats all of you might perform is undertaking such a task - especially as I see Epidiah Ravachol has been cooking up new phrases, rituals and such!

Swords Without Master; "Anthology" by Dig a Thousand Holes Publishing; presented by Keith Stetson. An INDEPENDENTLY PUBLISHED GAME - Part of the Indie Games Explosion! Sundered from us by gulfs of time and stranger dimensions dream ancient worlds and ancient tales. Take up sword and staff, pen and ink, and inscribe your own tale in the Anthology. These stories written on air will be composed by us over a series of three linked gaming sessions. Play one session to play a short story; play them all for the full Anthology.

Rogues!

Rogues!

I have a new player interested in being inducted into our arcane order tomorrow morning via the ritual of #SundayMorningSwords Are there two more would would lift sword or staff to trek with him? I would like a semi-strong commitment so I can advise this wastrel what his future holds.

Hello new eidolon!

Hello new eidolon!
https://qissus.deviantart.com/art/Hawke-Tarot-Commission-3-726925499

These Sword in the Stone dice seem perfect for Glumness and Joviality.

These Sword in the Stone dice seem perfect for Glumness and Joviality.

I don't know how Epidiah Ravachol recreates his lovely #SundayAMSwords posts, so I am just sharing his and saying:

I don't know how Epidiah Ravachol recreates his lovely #SundayAMSwords posts, so I am just sharing his and saying:

Rogues! August 13th, report!

Originally shared by Epidiah Ravachol

Sunday Morning Swords: 30 July 2017

#FireInMyBellyEdition

Good morning!

Here's our organizational thread for #SundayAMSwords. All are welcome regardless of familiarity with the game! 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.Occasionally there are other games firing up later in the day for those who wake at a more civilized time. If you don't see one, feel free to fire on up yourself.

Use the hashtag #SundayAMSwords should you desire to chat about your game on the social medias. And bring your breakfast or brunch. Adventurers need their sustenance! And coffee.

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

What rogue would you make with this (rakishly handsome) eidolon?

What rogue would you make with this (rakishly handsome) eidolon?

The Tale of Two Weddings, Interrupted

Cast
Miguel Zapico as Dario: https://plus.google.com/110571442854327851279/posts/cLvckC79KHG
Keith Stetson as Hypatia: https://plus.google.com/113990765511580864989/posts/7Y5CChJE7dJ
Epidiah Ravachol as Overplayer

Our rogues, unsure of which gem on the royal wedding gown is the one they seek, steal the whole gown. The guards give chase and Dario calls butterflies from Hypatia's blossoms to carry them over a chasm. But each butterfly melds into a gem and flutters off: ill gotten gains scattered to the winds. Who else is looking for this gem?

The rogues flee into the catacombs beneath the city gardens and enter a huge, octagonal library, its caretaker an abomination made of the parts of its former librarians. Hypatia's vines tie her her Dario together and they meld to become one destructive force that smashes the golem and distracts the guards. Bits of the golem crawl around the library still, they say.

A week later our rogues stumble from the city, bedraggled and road worn, and find themselves in the midst of another wedding. Dario plays a jaunty tune, but the song has different meanings in the groom's culture than the bride's. He takes offense. Know your audience before you start strumming, Dario. Hypatia tries to smooths thing over by singing the correct lyrics to the groom, but he becomes infatuated with her over his bride; a merry tune taken wrongly, twice.

Infuriated, the bride calls down a giant moth to carry the groom away. Sparks from the bonfire trace butterflies around a bride. The lost butterflies land and take their former shape. The bride is dressed in her own royal gown and armed with fork and knife; she is of the species that eats their mates. Hypatia's roots hold the drunken revelers still, but the alcohol in her veins is as flammable as any other. Fire races across magical roots, engulfing the village. Dario strums faster, fanning the flames. The bride plunges her knife into the usurper Hypatia. When she tries to pull it out, vines hold it - and her - close. Hypatia plucks the sought gem from the gown and sings the glum words of Dario's wedding song to the bride as the vines squeeze tighter and tighter...

My rogue from Jon Cole's game at Camp Nerdly and, hopefully, for #SundayAMSwords to come.

My rogue from Jon Cole's game at Camp Nerdly and, hopefully, for #SundayAMSwords to come.

Hypatia

All that deserves a name
The Virgin Wood - My forest mother, from whom I was born, and into which no thing on two legs has ever stepped.
The 10,000 Blossoms - The flowers of the forest and their myriad effects.
Winnower - My sword, and the only thing I carry that is not an outgrowth of me. It hews through vegetation as if it were smoke.

Feats heroic
Jovial: The 10,000 blossoms bloom with a cacophony of color, dulling eye and nose with their intensity
Glum: The wood grows over everything, slowly and inexorably.

Trick Haven — A forest glen, where there should be no forest, concealed from those not by Hypatia's side.

Eidolon by Barry Windsor-Smith

Just TPK'd a Swords party.* Achievement unlocked!

Just TPK'd a Swords party.* Achievement unlocked!





*Okay, okay, because of the nature of Swords they actually all decided to die while I happened to be Overplaying. DON'T RUIN THIS FOR ME, OKAY?

Hey Patrick Brannick, Epidiah Ravachol (and maybe Miguel Zapico) as well as others!

Hey Patrick Brannick, Epidiah Ravachol (and maybe Miguel Zapico) as well as others!

Any interest in venturing Starward tonight at 7PM EDT? I would have to rearrange my schedule, but I will.

Oh, I will.

Thursday Evening Swords (Shuddup, It's a thing!)

Thursday Evening Swords (Shuddup, It's a thing!)

Here's our organizational thread for ThursdayPMSwords. All welcome regardless of familiarity with the game! Comment below if you're interested in playing this eveing 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 7:30 PM EST to start the last group.

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

P.P.S. If we have six players, I'll split us into two groups. 5 Rogues is too many for one session!
http://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/blog/2014/7/14/sunday-morning-swords

Would folks be interested in Swordsing at non-Sunday morning times?

Would folks be interested in Swordsing at non-Sunday morning times? It's been so long since that's actually happened that I no longer even check the feed, but I still have a jones to play. Any takers?

Epidiah Ravachol is locked in his trivia dungeon, and I believe Michael Miller is out injecting people with...

Epidiah Ravachol is locked in his trivia dungeon, and I believe Michael Miller is out injecting people with radioactive animal saliva to create more players for Sunday Evening Superheroes, but... maybe you're free?

I'm up for classic Swords or that newfangled Starward, whichever people prefer.

Originally shared by Epidiah Ravachol

 
Sunday Morning Swords: 24 January 2016

#WintersWrathEdition

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 EST to start the last group. If you can't make that, check back in a few hours. Another one will fire up at 9 AM PST 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

STVe

STVe

A #Starward  rogue (art by Wouter Gort)

Items Deserving Specific Designation
The Upgrade - The installation of Version 2.0 software the indicates an android's entrance to adulthood. The installation STVe and his ilk have fled.
The Transistors - STVe's gang of greasers. Literal greasers.
Tachyon Drift - Illegally modded space motorcycle. Dangerously fast, as well as just dangerous
Hybrid cables - The non-spec cords hanging from STVe's right hand. Can transmit information to sentient beings and electrical impulses to all.

Distinguishing Performances
Glum - Cold, blue light flickers from STVe's cathode ray display while the servos in his left hand crush the obstacle before him.
Jovial - STVe jumps on Tachyon Drift and flies circles around his competition.

Trick
Canny Cognition - STVe jacks into the Galactic Central Core system, jumping lines of code like an acrobat and chases down the 0s and 1s he seeks.

I'm sick again/still so I'm not sure how early I can get up tomorrow morning, but how awesome would it be to have ...

I'm sick again/still so I'm not sure how early I can get up tomorrow morning, but how awesome would it be to have #SundayAMStarward ? 

(Sooooo awesome)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4nYXSvbVX-AZ2JLTTFpN241MDg/view?usp=sharing

Timon the Wanderer

Timon the Wanderer 

All that deserves a name
The ravening horde: a pack of wolves that hound Timon, occasionally thwarting him, occasionally aiding him.
Aargos: Timon’s homeland. It nows lies in ruin, as do many places where Timon has trod. 
Stirge: Timon’s spear. It hungers.
The brume: when looking upon Timon it is hard to perceive him clearly. Instead it seems as if he is viewed through a mist, or from several angles at once.

Feats heroic
Jovial:  Stirge drinks deeply from those who stand before Timon.
Glum: Timon pounds the base of Stirge against the obstacle in his way, reducing it to dust.

Trick Compact—Write down a new agreement for the Ritual of the Companion.  “...and we cause incalculable mayhem.”

Eidolon by Nate Marcel

Hoping to rouse my bones early tomorrow and join old comrades for new adventures. Who else is so inclined?

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.

If you only know Leiber from Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, you are missing out.

If you only know Leiber from Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, you are missing out. Here is a masterful short story about what a modern (well, 1941) ghost would be like. It pops back into my mind from time to time, usually at the worst times.
http://www.unz.org/Pub/Unknown-1941oct-00100