The last book of the original 7th Sea 2e Kickstarter has been released to backers.

Overall its okay, except I don’t like the map - they took a slice of Marks original map, edited some of the titles, but strangely left some of them alone.

I mean we have Quamontaine still on the map and I was sure it was excised in the rewrite. Shrug.

It’s been a rough landing but I am glad it’s done. Now to wait the eternity that will be for the remainder of the Khitai backer books…

I've recently gotten into 7th Sea and noticed there wasn't a ton of information about the Syrneth. I know this is just because it lets you pick how they feel more yourself, but I was curious from people who'd read other supplements and played 1e how they felt before I ran a game

I wasn't sure if playing them as like "Conan style Atlantis" where they just have more magic and better technology was more generally accurate, or Assassin's Creed Isu "technology is bordering on magic and sci fi holograms and stuff"

2 weks ago I poster the lego version of the playable character of our first campaign and as I promised I have now made the main NPCs of this campaign (plus some tiny reworks at our main characters). In the firat photo we have our main characters ELLIE the scientist, PHINN the Bard, AALYA the circus performer/athlete now with her monkey companion FELIX, ULRIK the soldier and EMMA the swashbuckler; the second photo shows the 3 other main crewmates of the Ship:

the first one is the Captain of the Ship ALTIANO DOGGREAN, he is a very expwrienced and well trained sailor with lots of experience as a commander and soldier, he is shown here with his old swords form his days in the Voddace Army and a map;

DAMIEN is a young sailor who recently graduate form Avalon's Army Accademy and is also the best friend (and protector) of Ellie, he has a gun and his Army's sword and here is also shown like for most of the campaign with a white shirt and some knight-like protection on his pants;

VIKTOR is the main cook/fisherman/ builder of this ship and is from an unknown town in the North of the World, he was edile fromnhis city as a "war criminal" with zmlot of ex-soldier form his town, he is alos shown in his alternative outfit which he uses for exploration and battles, he is also a very skilled fighter and uses a long sword, a spear, a rifle and a traditional vicino style axe.

In the last photo there are the main antagonists of the 3 major arcs of the whole campaign, the first 2 are the DOURIDGE BROTHERS VICTOIRE (the angrier of the 2 and a skilled swordbuckler and with a good taste for gold and other "rich people's stuff") and VERTAND (the calculative of the 2 who commands all of theis ships for their attacks); the 3rd figure is of ANDRIJ KUMANOV, a pirate captain and Ulrik's ex-capain when the 2 where in the army in their homeland, now he hates Ukrik and wants to kill him for betraying him years ago; the last one is RED WAVE (his real name is unknown) a pirate captain who controls the Island of "WavePort" , he is ruthless and uses mainly firmarmi like his guns that hebuilds himself.

Hey good morning. In a debate with a player of mine, and under the requirements for Sergeant Knight (I understand these are recommendations), it simply says "Athletics 5" which is very confusing. Technically, the skill is "Athlete" and it has 9 knacks? My inclination was to rule 4 knacks at rank 5, but of course my player doesn't want to invest that much XP... so hoping there was some sort of official clarification on what the intent was.

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TIA.

I love the secret societies (mostly) and love the idea of characters being recruited if it fits their story.

One of my players is a proud swordsman and poet who loves throwing rocks at the arrogant and foolish among the upper class - basically Cyrano de Bergerac. He's built a decent Reputation score, has published a few poems bashing various nobles, and has built a friendship with an NPC who is a member.

Would you have him spend experience points to join, or just let him in once he meets the Rilasciare's requirements? Five points at character creation is a fairly hefty cost that possibly ought to be balanced out with experience. But at the same time, earning something through gameplay should be rewarded. I could go either way here, so I'm curious about opinions.

I'm preparing for a high-stakes card game for my players, but I've struggled with how to make it engaging and not devolve into actually playing card games (which rely on chance in a way that doesn't reflect the character's abilities).

My solution I'm currently leaning towards: make the card games into combat.

I'm somewhat adapting the idea of social combat from the Noblesse Oblige sourcebook, but here's my plan so far. The characters involved roll Initiative with Panache as they would in a fight. They can then maneuver with attacks, which would use Wits + Gaming knack, trying to beat the TN of their opponent's Wits x5. A successful hit does damage (which I might determine by an actual hand of cards that each player draws?) and a dramatic wound means they do a chunk of money damage (maybe 1 dramatic wound = 100 guilders). Instead of players being eliminated when they suffer twice their Resolve in Dramatic Wounds, they're out when they lose all of their money.

Other maneuvers would be to Parry an oncoming attack (possibly the equivalent of calling someone's raise, in card terms) by using Wits + Gaming as an active defense. Then you could Bluff, which would be like a Feint, with a TN of your opponent's Resolve x5, instead of their Wits.

Still brainstorming, including trying to think of other maneuvers including using Sleight of Hand to cheat, etc. So I'm all ears for additional suggestions or feedback!

Me and my friends, finkshed last year our first 7th Sea campaign, and now (while we are doing our second campaign) I decided to make the lego version of our first party.

These are our five travellers, who came togheter when 4 sailors took on their ship called the "Tide Cutter" a young and wealthy scientist, and travelled togheter in search of a misterious island: ELLIE DARCASTLE, a young and noble scientist from Avalon, she is very intelligent and is able to cure wounds and sail, she is not able to fight but she is a great support;

PHINN is a Bard that is able to play lots of instruments (he has a mandolin, a flute and some percussion) but he creates illusions with his mandolin, he travelled across multiple countries but he's originally from an orphanage in one of Castille's biggest cities, he is now 30 and sails with this crew to pay a depth with his saviour and friend Ulrik (usually he don't fight but he prefers to create illusions of him or others to help his friends, and is usally the best at convincing others);

AALYA she is an ex-circusperformer who became a pirate/sailor to travel around this world and learn more about the necklace that she has (the only thing that she know of her family, who abandoned her 27 years ago), she is very athletic and strong, she fights with her bare hands and fists and is the strongest among this crew (and yes, she is from that "misterious island");

EMMA DOTTNIM is a well trained swordbuckler from Voddace around her 30s, she always carriera with her her cutlass and her 2 knives and is always ready to fight (or go to the nearest pub, depends on the moment) and is the one who decided to took Ellie on board;

ULRIK BAZAVIRIK, is the oldest of the crew (he is 47) and he was a member of the Ussurian royal guard but when he was young (after he saw the corruption that his country was full of) he and 3 other guarda decided to flee from Ussura and go to the Sarmatian Commonwealth, where he and his former gaurd-mates entered the army of this revolutionary nation to help them and protect everyone, and not only the whealtiest; he is an expert sailor/explorer and soldier and he has multiple weapons (his traditional Ussurian sword, a little Round shield and a rifle) he is also very talented at fighting using his own strenght and he is the captain of this crew.

I will post also some notable NPC of our campaign and also in a future moment, the players and NPC of out second campaign

I'm curious how other GMs have tweaked the 1st edition game system.

From what I've seen, the most common complaint is how unspent Drama Dice convert to bonus experience points, and instead many people change it a bonus experience point per earned Drama Die.

In addition to that, I also allowed players to pick a Virtue for free at character creation, instead of paying 10 points for it. They're powerful, but I don't think anyone will pick them when they could instead take a Hubris and gain 10 points, and they're limited by Drama Dice anyway, which are a valuable commodity.

I also gave each player three free points to choose Backgrounds. Similar to the Drama Dice rules, I don't really like how they earn characters extra experience points, so instead i just used them to help the players craft their back stories and for plot hooks.

I'm particularly curious if anyone took on the Roll and Keep system more directly, as it is weighted so heavily in favor of having high Traits over a diverse set of Knacks. I try to really reward players for engaging with their Knacks, even if they're using one that isn't quite right (Politics instead of Socializing, for instance) and definitely enforce the rule that if you don't have a relevant Knack, your 10s don't explode on your roll.

I apologise for the double post on a similar topic, but I have understood a great deal more since my last post and only have one final doubt that I'd like to clear up since it's relevant to my future player character.

The topic are the so-called "Spells" used in Heka sorcery, page 186 of "Lands of Gold and Fire".

The rules say that unlocking a Spell requires picking the "Sorcery" advantage a second time. They also imply, though it's a bit less clear, that "creating" a Spell (which is different from "activating" it) costs you a dramatic wound.

What I don't understand is this:

1) Is a spell consumed upon activation?

2) If they are consumed, and they cost you a 2-point advantage and a dramatic wound each time, then what is the advantage of using a Spell over just using the regular corresponding Talisman/Inscription?

The relevant section of the rules says: "Activating a Spell simply requires that the Heka worker speak her unique phrase. When you activate a Spell, you may use either the Talisman or Inscription effect of that pictogram. When a Spell is active, using other Talismans or Inscriptions costs two Dramatic Wounds instead of a Raise. Working too much magic demands much of the Heka worker's ka, which can be fatal."

Will be grateful for any advice, I've been struggling with trying to understand this mechanic for days.

2nd edition btw. It's on page 186 of Lands of Gold and Fire.

Not sure how much I can write here from the manual, so I'll limit myself to the essential bits:

"As a Heka worker, you begin each Scene with one Talisman or Inscription for each instance of the Sorcery Advantage you have."

What does this mean? It says later that "On your turn, spend a Hero Point to create a Talisman or Inscription", and later still it tells you how to activate those Talismans or Inscriptions. So, if you need to both create and activate them during the scene, what exactly do you start the scene with?

It also says "this simply allows the Sorcery to be activated once for each level of the Advantage you have".

Does this refer to the creation of the Talismans/Inscriptions (since it's in that section of the rules) or to their actual activations? And if it refers to the activations, which also cost a Raise or a Wound, does this mean that with a single Sorcery advantage I can only activate a Talisman once per scene even if I were to pay the cost multiple times?

Finally, regarding the Earth Strength Talisman on the same page: if I take the Sorcery advantage, say, four times (over the course of the campaign), and therefore can activate the Talisman four times paying a wound each time (instead of a Raise), does that mean I can basically act five times in a row assuming I have the most Raises?

The Talisman is an instant effect that gives you "one free Raise for any Action that uses Brawn". So, I activate the Talisman, use the free Raise to take an action, then pass the turn. I have the most Raises so it's my turn again, I activate the Talisman, use the free Raise to act, and so on four times before finally acting using a real Raise. Does this work? Isn't it too strong?
Also, can I combine this with Dueling or does Dueling only work with Finesse and not Brawn?

Sorry for the many questions, I'm a noob and theorycrafting is how I learn new systems. Thank you for your help!

Some of the questions seem like they are up to the gm for the plot's sake so I think that what I need to do before I run the session is detox from the dnd mindset. I will ask tho, mostly because I worry and I want to be fair to the players. I don't want to deny them an advantage they might have had.

1. I noticed that there is no starting equipment. The part about wealth says that they can afford every necessity. So I am to assume that in the beginning they have the basic equipment described by their skills? Like swords and daggers or whips as described by their duelist schools or advantages and skills?
2. Is there anything more I can read about artifacts? How to make them, what powers to give them etc.
3. The players that start in a secret society have zero favour and they have to earn it along the game?
4. In a fight would it be possible to use wits+weaponry if a player wanted a more Sherlockian way of fighting. Eg the discombobulate scene in the Sherlock movie?
   

That is all for now! ^_^