Other Games to Play: 7th Sea Second Edition

So you are cancelling you Dullards & Dumpsterfires subscription and are wondering what to play next. If you in the mood for an entire change of pace I recommend 7th Sea Second Edition from John Wick/Chaosium (https://www.chaosium.com/7th-sea/)

Imagine a RPG where your characters are special, heroes, the center of attention. Are you tired of writing pages of backstory and getting in touch with your PC’s mind and soul only to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time and roll a 1. We all love our DM/GM/Judge for running games but who hasn’t missed a plot important roll and watched the story moving a direction that wasn’t fun. Do you want more agency? Would you like a more cinematic style game? Are you sick of math?

The answer is 7th Sea Second Edition.

Full disclosure time: There are three modules for sale for this system on DriveThruRPG with a fourth entering play testing in early 2023. It is my FAVORITE system of all time (over my 40 years of playing TTRPGs) I will present some of the negative aspects of this game in my recommendation, but I am biased and I don’t care. You have been warned.

7th Sea 2e creates opportunities for all the best parts of TTPRGs to happen and cuts out all the accounting, minutia, and rolling constantly for every possible activity that might incur a minor story change. Your PC is the hero. You have a story to tell and the GM paints the backgrounds for that story to unfold. You work together with other players and the GM to build a combined narrative where those oh so memorable things happen that your group talks about for years after the game’s over.

“Remember that time we were supposed to find the holy book in the library and rumor told that it would not be read by the unworthy and you put a lit cigar in your sleeve so that everyone would think you found the book, but were unworthy and the villain bought your ruse, took the wrong book, and ran away! That was awesome…”

This game is probably as far away mechanically as it gets from 5e and other d20 systems. The GM sets a scene. Describes the who, what, where, and why. Also pulls back the curtain a bit and lets the players know what’s supposed to happen at the end. Players declare “an approach” using their attributes and skills to build a dice pool. You chuck a mittfull of dice and based on how well the player rolls they change the outcome, create something new, solve a mystery, gain treasures, or any other one of the infinite possibilities that players will think up.

This is one of the biggest challenges for 5e players moving to play 7th Sea. Agency. My musketeer is at a costume ball guarding the marquess because she is wearing a priceless tiara tonight. Thieves are going to try to steal it. The player spends the night dancing with many party goers looking for people who don’t belong and when he finds the thief he twirls her over the balcony railing into the waiting patty wagon to haul her to the dungeons. Another party member is going to keep watch and help the musketeer pick the right dance partners.

      5e style game:

      • roll notice (alot)
      • roll stealth to communicate without being obvious
      • roll initiative
      • roll grapple
      • roll contested strength

      At any point during this dice rolling the player could fail and the plan would fall apart. You may drop into a standard combat with the thief which ruins the party and creates a headache for the DM who now has to think out how the story changes.

      Players have to make all of those rolls in order to save the marquess and then the DM has to figure out how to expose clues that may (or may not) lead the party to the plot against the marquess.

      Probability being what it is the DM will have to contrive some other meeting or reason for the party to come in contact with the conspirators and then hope the players don’t roll poorly.

      7th Sea

      • Musketeer
        • Grab 3 d10 for Finesse trait
        • Grab 3 d10 for Athletics skill
        • Roll and make 10s (3+7, 0, 4+4+2)
        • 3 raises to spend
      • Friend (resolve + notice)
        • Grab 3 d10 for Resolve trait
        • Grab 4 d 10 for Notice skill
        • Roll and make 10s (1+5+4, 8+3,4,2)
        • 2 raises to spend
      • Together the party has the 3 raises required to execute the plan and protect the marquess.
      • The 2 left over raises are opportunities for the PLAYERS to add to the story.
        • Spending a raise the party sees the thief taking direction from the marquess’ niece and now the party knows who may be behind all the “accidents” that seem to befall the marquess
        • The other raise is turned into a false tiara that was supposed to be swapped when the marquess when to the powder room. The fake bears a maker mark; another clue.

      The game is much closer to board games like Atlas Games Once Upon a Time or Smirk and Dagger’s Before There Were Stars. Players have to enjoy storytelling and GMs have to be comfortable with sharing the narrative. You will not like this game if you enjoy a more traditional listen, roll, react style of play.

      Character progression is based on a person story with a number of steps to achieve a goal. It’s all very planned out and the player knows what needs to happen to progress. You don’t get XP for being violent and you don’t hit some magic threshold then get a menu of cool new tricks. You want your character to develop better social graces to overcome growing up on a farm so you plan to increase your Panache trait, so you and GM work out the steps you’ll need to do to accomplish it. That makes way more thematic sense versus “I’m done spearing 31 kobolds in the forest and *poof* I now can cast a new spell.”

      Encumbrance, inventory, penny pinching, resting, all the game slowing mechanical stuff required in a 5e style game. Forget it. You are a musketeer in the service of the marquess. You probably have a sword, a musket, a uniform, a place to sleep, and ate a nice breakfast. There’s no requirement in 7th Sea to simulate all the mundane boring tasks associate with just being alive. You also do not need to stipulate exactly all the things you are doing to ensure you have the right equipment. Maybe for heightened drama the GM will say your musket is across the room or you forgot the key you need to enter the room. These are exceptions to enhance the game versus the oh so common “well you didn’t say you put torches in your bag so you stupidly walked 4 miles to the cave and then 200 feet into the darkness before you realized you were missing 6 torches…

      This is a narrative game with scenes like a movie. Each scene progresses the story. It plays much faster than a 5e game. You roll one handfull of dice and use raises to achieve an outcome. Combat/action scenes may let you roll two or three handfuls of dice, but that’s it. You’re not going spend 2 hours rolling the outcome of a 2 minute bar brawl. Just like in the Austin Powers movie henchmen without name tags are easily dispatched. A single raise takes them out. Other systems would have you track the AC, HP, and other stats for Nameless bar parton #2. NBP#2’s only function is to get punched out and give the PC some XP. He’s a speed bump and does not deserve all the accounting and stat track and die rolling. In 7th Sea we pick Brawn+Brawl roll our pool, make raises, spend them to dispatch goons. Done. A 2 minute bar brawl takes 2 minutes IRL. You don’t get enough raises to beat the goons you can try again (after taking wounds) or call it a scene and get tossed out of the bar.

      As a GM you plan a session for a few scenes. You and your players craft the story that unfolds in the scenes. You can leave it on a cliff hanger if you like. I enjoy doing that to my group. It has an easy on/off ramp that help players acclimatize to the game. Some 5e games I’ve played we stopped in the middle of round 5 of combat with many more rounds to go. It’s harder to get back into the game and get excited about what’s happening. Try pausing the Witcher in mid-fight and return next week to press play again.

      Lore and materials

      7th Sea Second Edition was once the most supported Kickstarter in history. It has been sold to Chaosium and is still being sold/supported. It does not get the love it deserves on the convention scene. There is an Asian expansion that is soon to be printed and there are several hardcover/pdf splat books that offer more background material on the setting and named NPCs who do get stats (vs poor NBP#2 above)

      The setting is a Western European Earth allegory in the Renaissance period with a slightly more enlightened central church, magic, and a long lost/dead advanced race as evidenced by ruins and artifacts. Fiction that will help you get into the mood/setting includes: Alexander Dumas (Three Musketeers, Man in the Iron Mask) Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island) Sabatini (Captain Blood) or watch The Prince Bride and Pirates of the Caribbean.

      The nations are all fairly close to their real world companion. Ireland = Innish, France = Montaigne, Italy = Vodacce. You won’t need to read thousands of pages of lore to get a feel for how to portray a Castillian (i.e. Spanish) swordsman seeking revenge for his murdered father.

      There is enough material in the core rules to build and play characters. The extra books give more depth and background. You get more material to work with building your back story and planning growth stories. Some of the books open up new lands (Africa, the Caribbean and the New World) You do not need the extra books to play but they can be helpful.

      The downside

      I warned you that I’d be glowing and gushy and all fan-boi about 7th Sea. The down side? None! Oh okay. There is a missing element of risk in this game. That 1 you roll that kills off a character with an eleven page backstory in the first 10 minutes of play does add risk for the roll and make it more visceral. That anxiety around meaningful rolls is missing in 7th Sea. You will plan out your characters end/death with the GM during session zero. There are ways for the GM to kill you. They are not easy mechanically requiring a lot of circumstances to take place. So that’s #1, it’s a mostly risk-free game.

      Player agency works well with players who want agency and wish to add to the story. If you have passive players who do listen-roll-react this game will not be fun. Those people engaged with the story will be constantly dragging the L-R-R player along because the later won’t be contributing creatively to the story. No group is 100% creative/active/engaged every session, but a few folks at the table besides the GM need to be creative and engaged. #2 L-R-R players will be unhelpful playing scenes

      #3 is alpha gamers. If you have a growth story and need to sail on a ship as a step in your story and you are an alpha… You’ll spend your raises and drag the story away from a common goal or out of the GM’s planned space. This can fragment a game. It’s a task the GM has here that is not present in other games. Crafting scenes that can satisfy a few characters stories and move the overall story along.

      Magic breaks the game by design. From the mouth of the maker (John Wick) he built the game that way. Magic should be this amazing culminating moment of the story. Firearms are also not mechanically correct in the game. Same situation as magic, Mr Wick said he wanted that tense moment when a pistol gets drawn and pointed to be a severe and dramatic moment.

      Conclusion

      Even before the OGL idiocy I was telling people about this game and I stand by my previous declaration: EVERYONE SHOULD TRY THIS GAME at least once. You can see the game played by the author on YouTube (search: Starter Kit 7th Sea) and download for free the 7th Sea quickstart from the Chaosium web site. This is the best game for creative groups who like telling stories together without becoming part time accountants and mathematicians.

      D&D Begone, my take on things

      There’s a lot of churn and chop in the TTRPG industry thanks to Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro trying to change the foundation of the Open Game License. There’s a lot of coverage on lots of web sites about this. If you need more background, check out the Youtuber DndShorts at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4kGMsZSdbY

      My opinion:

      The game Dungeons and Dragons has been in a toilet spiral since the fourth edition and WotC is still trying to migrate the TTRPG game to a video-game style of play. 5e was an attempt to stifle Paizo and other companies who were trying to fill the space of table top, paper and pencil, printed book games. Now in the 2020s WotC thinks they can try this again with software (video-game engine VTT with AI DMs) and XboxLive/PSN style subscription fee for pdf over printed books. In order to make this transition complete WotC/Hasbro needs to make the traditional TTRPG market place undesirable and that means doing away with 3rd party content and making home-brew content difficult to use in the new setting.

      My prediction:

      How will this all play out? Badly for Hasbro. There is already an entire industry pushing out solo role playing experiences using video-game engines. There’s another entire industry pushing out team based playing experiences. Assassin’s Creed to Horizon Zero Dawn, Grand Theft Auto to World of Warcraft. In fact some of those video games produce paper and pencil TTRPGs. Why make a TTRPG out of Sea of Thieves or add a Conan Exiles source book to the Conan TTRPG?

      Because people WANT to sit around a table (physically or virtually) with other people and IMAGINE. They want to tell their own stories using an intellectual property that they love.

      In Conan Exiles you cannot talk to the dragons on the map. They just bite you. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a chat with them and find out why they sit in ruins at a bottom of a hole in the desert surrounded by undead hyenas? Perhaps they are lonely and doubtless annoyed with all the yowling dogs.

      The silver lining

      Just like the birth of Paizo during the 4e idiocy we will see a birth of something new as a result of this OGL/One D&D idiocy. Some of the vendors who are committed to printed books and paper and pencil will gain market share. Games that should be household names (7th Sea, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Savage Worlds, etc) will fill the void left when DnD becomes as half-assed quasi-MMO with no player agency and stifling IP rules and the players just wander off.

      That’s WotC/Hasbro’s silver lining here. The public outcry is a gift. If they had just rolled out One DnD they have just faded into obscurity with other niche MMOs. WotC/Hasbro here’s your chance not to suck…

      Autumn updates

      Some updates for Gamemeisters’ fans….

      There’s a new Explorer’s Society module in the works based on a Lefanu story (no not Carmilla) that is entering play testing soon. It will be a true 7th Sea single shot with only four main sequences/scenes and set a of pre-generated heroes. My hope is that people see it as an easy on-ramp for the BEST TTRPG game. Keep an eye on DriveThruRPG.

      The underdark wandering Von’Gleas is at it again and musing poetic about our favorite dark elves. Look for another installment of our crafty wizard’s travel journal as he moves in dangerous circles. He may even shift dimensions and explore other dark elf lands…

      Did a ton of shopping and chatting at GenCon. Nothing ready for prime time yet…

      Vermont scifi & fantasy expo

      Gamemeisters is proud to sponsor Red Hoodie Games at the Vermont scifi & fantasy expo this weekend (23-24 April) head over to the Champlain Valley expo and see Red Hoodie content and play a scene from The Painter & the Pirate.

      Von’gleas’ observations: Drow middle class

      The astute observer will notice that most surface folk only interact with the top or bottom of the drow social orders. You are either the enemy of a matron mother and find out that unfortunate fact when you lay bleeding to death at her feet after a string of misfortunes that have left you depressed and destitute. –or– You fall prey to the lower class dark elf where you are left in a filthy alleyway dying and penniless not really sure how you arrived in such a sorry state of affairs.

      In either case goodly races see the same results from interacting with high or low society drow and wind up avoiding them altogether. While the implementor of such a stratagem is often longer lived for it they do miss out on a broader understanding of the dark elf in the middle, the so called middle class. Truly there are many classes in this social strata: merchants, crafts people, functionaries, minor houses, ecumenicals, and military. One cannot people an entire city with nobles and beggars and expect it to last as long as Menzoberranzan. Who trades with others to get goodies for the nobles? Who patrols the city streets looking for troublemakers? Who craves Sava pieces? Who ensures there’s enough poison to buy on a Friday night? Who ensures the slavers get paid for their latest batch of bugbear captives?

      Yes there is a population of nobles who fill some of these roles and there are the unfortunates who are enslaved by the dark elves who provide unskilled and minor skilled labor. One could argue that sufficient magical power could replace some of the goods and services provided by commoners, but then from whom would a powerful house demand respect? After all the drow are refined in their social structures and culture. Unlike bugbear culture, which is much more brutal and based primarily on physical power and instincts the drow have a need for respect, fear, and even adoration from their fellows.

      The whole swath of unseen and under appreciated citizens never make it into the history books or epic poems. There is a restaurant in Eastmyr with the best roasted rothé in a mushroom sauce. It’s run by a woman named Keba’ryn and her consort Bertarl. Any night of the week you will find the place packed with other commoners laughing, drinking, and remarking about how delicious the roasted rothé is on this particular evening. The waitstaff changes every few years. Keba’ryn has a keen eye and a quick dagger throwing arm so those staff members who skim checks or spend too much time sampling food and drink wind up terminated from the establishment’s employ as well as their lives in some cases. The local constabulary (such as it is in a drow city) shant bother with a dead lower middle class waiter. The stray flying dagger is a hazard anyone needs to guard against when traveling in the cities of the Spider Queen’s children. Paradello’s (the name of Keba’ryn’s fantastic eatery) is just one example out of hundreds of the mundane, boring, and pedestrian locales where the astute traveller can find these common folk.

      All these establishments, businesses, and homes are crammed into the cities common areas (Eastmyr being the highest concentration) and peopled with thousands of common folk like Bertarl who go about their lives day in/day out reveling in minor triumphs and chagrined by lesser inconveniences. None of them important enough to be documented along side the Do’Urdens or the Banres, but there nonetheless.

      Most of these citizens have modest lifestyles and some small measure of wealth. They start in family units that are not quite houses with a mother and one or more consorts. The doctrine of infant sacrifice is not practiced in the middle class so male children are more prevalent here than in the nobility. Education is conducted in the home or the child is apprenticed out to another common family if there are too many children in the household already. Apprentices who prove too clumsy or too distracted to learn tradecraft can find work in the barracks of the city guard. Not quite squires or pages these errand boys (nearly all are male) are used to ferry message, clean, mend clothing, sharpen weapons and other tasks that are viewed as unworthy of a solider. Eventually the page achieves the appropriate age to become a solider or guard and they continue on serving in the same unit where they were apprenticed.

      Commoner females have a similar entry into religious life serving in the same chamber-maid modality for priestesses or other clergy. Eventually they grow into roles as functionaries, managers, or bureaucrats.

      Whether apprenticed or home schooled the commoner drow learns a set of skills commensurate with their position in the mundane machine of middle class life. Females eventually take consorts and may decide to reproduce to either fill an open position in their enterprise or carry on their legacy. While commoners are not driven by goals of world domination they still do have an urge to see their bloodline persist and thrive in the future.

      Elder care is not a service found in dark elf society and thus elder commoners are a rarity. Some forward thinking drow will save a portion of their wealth to use when they decide to stop working. More likely the elder drow will have amassed enough secrets or connections to live off extortion or graft until the victims rise up and end the commoners retirement permanently.

      Often these bloodlines are focused around the establishments more than the concept of family. Keba’ryn has no official surname, but is known as Keba’ryn Paradello. Keba’ryn’s aunt, the previous owner was also known by that surname until Keba’ryn killed her to inherit the place. While they are commoners and separated from the intriques of the noble houses and famous individuals, they are still drow.

      Pieces of Soul

      A kidnapping and a chase brings the heroes to the dark and mystical mountains of Eisen where they must confront an ancient horror. Can they rescue the victim? Can they stop the evil plot of a creature who’s lived for centuries?

      You and your 7th Sea second edition group can find out. This is the last installment of the Tale of Art, Love, and Fear story arc now available for purchase at www.drivethrurpg.com

      Running X2: Castle Amber again after 40 years

      It’s been almost 40 years since I first brought a group of friends into The Castle Amber. Last night the grey mists swept in and the party awoke in an elegant foyer. Their hirelings and pack animals are waiting outside in the thin band of grass between the walls of the chateaux and lethal fog.

      Rather than running this as a B/X we are using DCC for the mechanics and that has been a complete blast. The off the wall encounters and strangeness of the Amber family makes this such a fun adventure.

      Why not break the boredom of centuries ensconced in a mansion by watching some unexpected guests wander around and get into trouble. Perhaps some family squabbles will be set aside (or resolved at sword point) by presence of these interlopers. At least it’s something new for the inhabitants.

      For the adventures: adventures, riches, and really wild times. So far they’ve boxed, been blinded, and fought deadly slimes and oozes. I can’t wait to see what they do after lunch.

      Missed GenCon this year

      So normally this is where I’d post my GenCon haul and talk about the ones that got away or the ones that other people stood in line for and didn’t tickle my fancy. Alas with the shift in schedule I was not able to make it to GenCon. I didn’t even make it to Indy. Last year I took a trip to Sun King Brewery in downtown Indy because I was so bummed out that the con was cancelled.

      I did poke into the web site and the discord a few times during the convention but it’s not the same. I wish there was a consolidated place for vendor announcements, like a discord channel that’s only for “Hey check out the new blah blah blah from narscholb enterprises <link to product>”

      It’s one thing to wander the exhibit hall and talk to the vendors and see what’s for sale, but online I get lost in the chatter. Boardgamegeek had a good post about things announced, that’s where I watched for things.

      The Faux Marquess

      The second adventure in my A Tale of Art, Love, and Fear is now available for purchase on drivethrurpg.com here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/354526/The-Faux-Marquess

      This second 5-7 step story for 7th Sea second edition is a follow on adventure from The Painter and the Pirate, also for sale at drivethrurpg.com. The heroes attempt to find a woman that everyone thought had perished in a storm at sea. She’s very much alive, looks like a missing marquess, and has amnesia.

      This second adventure offers more chances for fighting and chasing as the heroes work with or against one or both villains to help the “Marquess”

      DM Interludes

      I started going through old character backstories and bits of prose that I have drafted through the years and decided that it would be a neat exercise to make a sort of radio drama. I’ve recorded one and decided that maybe it would be a neat thing for DMs to play between scenes or if they need some sort of break in an online game (for the bathroom, or to refill a drink, etc) so I have recorded The Roadside Knight it is a story told by a cavalier at his camp near the road he travels protecting the small folk from bandits.

      The Roadside Knight

      • Genre: Fantasy (mention of elves and knights
      • Length: 25 min
      • Background sounds: campfire, horse, and brook
      • Story: A knight handles some bandits with sharp wits and an even sharper sword