Spellswords

Spellswords (Spell - Swords) is a high fantasy table top roleplaying game using a success based system with inspiration from games like Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire the Masquerade, and Pathfinder. The game focuses on a wide variety of races called the Kind, and their life in the world of Ivorun. Players can pick from 14 official races and 6 official classes to make wonderful adventurers for whatever setting they find themselves in. The game uses a point currency system, and utilizes statistics and abilities unique to certain classes. Additionally, players have 14 skills of which they can develop to get master talents, and an abundance of items they can choose from for the betterment of their characters.

Spellswords has been in development for 2 years. Throughout this time the game has undergone many changes to it's overall system and playstyle. The two biggest changes came in the form of the game's dice. At first, Spellswords functioned like a game of Dungeons & Dragons, with different dice representing damage, health, skill modifiers, and of course the d20 as the die to rule them all. When the game first changed, the d20 was kept on as your main rolling die, and the d6 was used to calculate every other roll, however this version only lasted a short while before the game was changed again, this time to a success based system relying solely on the d6.

The Spellswords of today is a wonderful system, that as the creator, I always find myself having fun looking back at the hundreds of different Talents, and thinking of new and exciting things I could add to make the player experience greater than before! It is my dream that someday I can sit down at a table with a group of friends, take out my character sheet, and be one of the players enjoying their first homebrewed campaign of Spellswords.

For a better look at Spellswords, you can follow the link below.

Commissioned Art

The image to the left is the first piece of artwork commissioned for Spellswords. The piece features an unnamed mage studying magic in a dark room with a djinn and an imp. The piece was commissioned to be the cover for Teller’s Guide to Spellswords, and the artist is to be credited within the book upon its completion. the following description was given to the artist when the commission was first requested:

A young girl is reading through a book. The girl is wearing a wizard’s hat with a wide brim and the point slumped backwards towards her right side. Beneath her hat, her hairline splits wide at the forehead, the split occurring more towards the left side of her face, with some strands traveling in either direction down just to the ears in length but only covering the sides of the forehead. A braid can be seen falling out of the hat and behind her right shoulder. She has a wide-open mouthed smile, clearly conveying amazement and excitement at the contents of a magical book. She wears a cloak that covers her shoulders down to the forearm over a leather tunic. her waist is covered by a dress that falls down a few inches past her knees. She sits with her legs apart, one leg raised slightly while balancing the open book on the either leg. The book is split down the middle, the pages seemingly flipping on their own accord with tiny magical images floating above the pages. Such affects are up to the artist’s discretion. She sits on a wooden chair leaning back so we see her face as if looking up from a knelt position in front of her. Behind her right shoulder is a floating blue man. The man has a bushy beard and bushy eyebrows, and is looking down at the book quizzically, one hand scratching his temple, the other stroking his beard. The man appears to be floating and may be lying flat on his stomach on air. He also appears to be nude as far as we can see (but nothing lude). Perched on the backend of the chair and peaking around the girl’s left shoulder is a small emaciated looking creature with leathery bat wings and two small horns jutting out its forehead. the creature has talons like a bird, clawed hands, and a goatish lower body.

Original Artwork: Ji Kon

To the right are four mockups of the Shadow god of Prowess, Ji Kon. The uncolored sketch was drawn by the same artist that drew the cover for Teller’s Guide to Spellswords. The god was conceptualized after a nightmare involving a needle-toothed ape creature and a giant stinkbug. After the ape was written into the game as the Skunk Ape, a devil from Avernus, the god was created as an eidolon for the apes beyond Levurnicus, the creator and ruling god of Avernus.

Alongside other bugged themes gods in an alternate plane of existence, the Shadow’s god of Prowess plots to move into the Waking World, where it shall usurp dominion from other gods such as Rabbia, Perculious, and Levurnicus.

Original Artwork: Perculious

Over 1,000 centuries before the creation of Kind, Titans, monsters, and gods foreign to this celestial body existed in constant opposition. One such god to grace this rock with its presence was Perculious, who's great fiery cape spanned the horizon, incinerating all that he passed. The god burned away at the unmoving Titan Tygaghast, melting its shell down into a refined metal. Its attempts to torture the Titan further were stopped by the Undying King, Malik Alsahali, whose body could not be burnt to nothing by the god’s brilliant flames.

Striking away at Perculious with an antimagic sword, the god was forced into the vast chasms and tunnel systems of the celestial body, where it hid in an attempt to recuperate. However, during his recovery, the Monster Queen Kosmicher scattered pieces of the Undying King across the globe, his head landing within spitting distance of the gods hiding spot.

To prevent the god from ever reclaiming a hold on this world, blood gushed forth from Malik’s decapitated head, surrounding the hiding spot in a layer of earth enriched by antimagic. Today, this layer is known as the Abyss, and remains an eternal prison for the terrible Perculious.

Original Artwork: Rabbia

The first daughter of Galdur is a goddess revered by the mortal Kind and gods alike. Rabbia commands the unbridled wrath of nature in a living body. She’s responsible for the creation of the fishmen, merfolk, lamia, and furkin. She was one of many gods involved in the mysterious origins of the goddess Loxi Eyecatcher. She tore an unerring arrow from her heart and lived. She stole dominion over the elementals from the god Vooruitgang. She created many of the spirits that plague the Kind’s expansion into the depths of the plane’s wilds.

Maps of Ivorun

The images above are maps generated in a free map making application. The maps follow a design drawn originally on paper and feature the continents of Borumstadgat, Hygurshvaal, and Quithog as they appear in the game’s current setting.