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Sagatafl is a rules system, for roleplaying gaming, that I've been working on since early 2001. I created the roll mechanic (and the attribute list) back in 1997, but then didn't do much more with the system until 2001. In the mean time, I created a simple rules system called Multiclass (hosted by John Kim here, and now also available at this site here). I also created the Ærth (AErth) historical fantasy setting, and ran a campaign in it, using the Quest FRP v2.1 freeware rules system (Quest FRP is currently in a confusing "between editions" state, but the website is here. Older editions, at least v2.0, can still be found on some FTP sites). Eventually I got tired of the inflexibility of Quest FRP (the character creation rules were extremely limited, relative to my ability to "dream up" characters, and my attempts to make Quest FRP more flexible caused much more frustration and inelegance than actual flexibility), so I stopped using Quest FRP, and then I spent some months looking into trying to fix GURPS 3rd Edition revised (4th edition has just been released, link here, but it isn't much better than 3Er, overall). Eventually I realized that I'd have to put a huge amount of work in to fix GURPS, it'd amount to tearing down the system and re-building it from scratch, creating an end result that few GURPS users (only those few who themselves are capable rules engineers) would recognize as derived from GURPS. All that effort would be better put into designing a system of my own, from the bottom up (that way I'd get much closer to what I wanted), so I resumed development of my own system, FFRE. I also created a mailing list at YahooGroups, here, in late 2001, where I periodically release information and "preview" files. Click here to see what is new on the site. On this site will also be a personal area (no real content so far, though), contact information, a collection of links (no content so far) and quicklinks (already fairly complete), and information on the Ærth historical fantasy setting. And here's a link to my old multiclass RPG, which John Kim has kindly hosted for the last couple of years. Don't hold your breath. This website isn't a rush project, I'll probably be very slow at building this site, especially at first. Depending on how eager you are for information, you should check this site every eight, four or two weeks. Or if you want the latest and juiciest, as fast as possible, you can join the mailing list at YahooGroups. Meanwhile, here are some files that I have deemed suitable for public previewing, as they have gone through a minimal amount of quality checking. There are still more typos, spelling errors, grammar errors and mistakes than I'd accept in a fully formatted "rule book" release, though. All of these are in PDF format, and Metric (A4):
A sort of Designer's Notes, wherein I try to define who is and isn't in the target audience for Sagatafl. 2 pages. Download who should use FFRE v02 A 36 page summary of some of the rules. A kind of "FFRE Lite". Download FFRE Basics v010 A document describing how Familiars are "bound" or "uplifted" (some characters prefer one term or the other - game-mechanically it's one and the same concept), and what "options" are available to the character performing the process. I consider this document to be pretty much finished. It does all that I want done, the way I want it done. If I make a v4 version of this document, it will almost certainly not contain any new or changed rules, but only improved explanatory text and maybe some more examples. Download Familiars v03 A document containing a selection of magic items, intended to demonstrate the versatility of the system. The items in the document mostly make use of the standard, most popular options, rather than exploring the "edges" and "corners" of what the system permits. These items were made with the v128 Enchantment rules, and there is no guarantee that they will conform perfectly to future rules modifications. I do think I've gotten the Enchantment rules "mostly right" by now, though. Download Sample Magic Item v10 (PDF) . Because of minor layout problems with the Writer/OO version of this document, I'm also making it available in MS Word format (compressed with zip (use WinZip or a similar program to unpack because Word documents take up a lot of space compared to PDFs). Download Sample Magic Items v10 (MS Word, compressed with zip algorithm) . Compared to the v7 document, the v10 doc contains a few new items (seven or eight, if I recall correctly), and all the items have had their Perk Point cost changed, according to a new rule which sometimes gives much more reasonable costs. As an example, the Cloak of Comfort now costs only 5 Perk Points, compared to 21 PPs using the old system. Much more reasonable. Likewise, a Minor Sword of Fire now costs 14 PPs instead of 28 PPs. Medium-powered items tend to cost the same as before, whereas high-powered items are slightly more expensive. Some of the new items take advantage of this rules change: Cheap and low-powered magic arrows, and a similarly cheap and low-powered magic sword. Essence costs are unaltered. A one-page document, containing information extracted from the large spreadsheet below. It summarizes the "to roll" probabilities for some of the most common skill levels and Roll Difficulties. Download prob cheat sheet 11 here. (All of these documents still use the old name, FFRE, because they were written before I secured the sagatafl.org domain. Some of them also use the old term "Life Force", which has been replaced with "Essence". Game-mechanically, there is no difference, though). A document containing the Enchantment subsystem, rules and options for how characters can make permanent magical items (by using a learnable skill - another way is to use some kind of Inborn Powers, but that subsystemhas yet to be published). Note that these are updated rules (v151 Enchantment rules) and therefore the Sample Magic Items from above do not conform perfectly to the new rules. New Sample Magic Items will be uploaded at a later time. Download Enchantment v153. This document shows the versatility and permissiveness of the Sagatafl Enchantment system. The design intent was to make a framework that can re-create, without GM intervention and with miminal "GM interpretation", most (if not all) of the magic items of legend and myth. Examples of how the Enchantment rules are used will appear later. To read PDF files, you need the Acrobat Reader program from Adobe (the PDF format is pretty much standard, these days. Your computer probably already has Acrobat Reader installed. If not, you can download it from here). Finally, there is this MS Excel 2000 spreadsheet (I have not tried, but I expect it will load seamlessly into Open Office's "Calc" spreadsheet), which shows the probabilities for single rolls with the Sagatafl roll mechanic, for any number of dice from 1d12 to 16d12, from any Roll Difficulty from 2 to 17, both the "to roll" probabilities, the "two roll equal to or worse" probabilities and the "to roll equal to or better" probabilities. Click here to download it (then use winzip or a similar program to uncompress)... For those craving more than this, there is the FFRE-Discussion mailing list at YahooGroups, here, where much more material is available. On there, I am less shy about releasing material before it has been thoroughly spell-checked. Go there if you want more material. At the moment, the mailing list is also one of two (or three) ways to contact me, the other being my email address (the third is face-to-face, in Copenhagen, if we happen to meet). |