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SWORDS AND SORCERY
Quest and Conquest in the Age of Magic
- Separate Army and Quest Game, plus Role-Playing Version
- Full Background “History” and Characters
- Professionally Illustrated by Tim Kirk
The Valley of the Great Sword is a much warred over area on a small planet in a trinary system many lightyears and eons removed from Terra. Superficially, there is no great difference between this highly prized region and any other coveted area that nations have fought over since time immemorial. But the Valley, and indeed the whole planet, guards a secret so valuable that few off-planet visitors that have visited that remote corner of the galaxy have all been mercilessly killed. For the Valley is an area of great magicks, where technology has all but disappeared.
Long ago in the Age of the Great Upheaval (which not even the oldest of the denizens of the Valley can recall), the Council of Wizards abolished all weapons that were more advance than those used in Earth's Middle Ages. This was because (most scholars have it) mages could be killed by long range weapons before they could employ their defensive spells, and greatly feared the advent of mass-produced technology. But the population of that world trusted mages no more than you and I, and there followed a series of great wars which succeeded in devastating all areas of the planet with the exception of the Valley (called Ararlve by the ancients).
A great meeting was held at the Altar of the Elder Gods, and its purpose was to determine whether the Human race should be allowed to survive. The Dragons, The Swamp-Creatures and the Spiders all vociferously argued for the extermination of all mortals, as they greatly feared the return of wizards who would be able to challenge their power. But the Elves and Dwarrows who are kin to Man showed mercy, and the meeting finally resolved that mortals would forever be excluded from the Valley. Grisha, then the greatest among Dragons, prophesied that the Elves and Dwarrows would meet their doom at the hands of Men. This so enraged Gwaimallion Elflord that he joined Grisha in mortal combat and slew him on the spot. As Grisha died he pronounced his deathcurse upon Elves and Dwarrows, “My prophecy shall come true within three Ages!”
It was a shaken group of creatures who adjourned the great meeting. But none would for get Grisha's curse, and many sought to destroy Men in any way possible. Even some of the Elves and Dwarrows, fearful of the prophecy, sought to kill Men wherever they might be found. But the human race is a hardy one, and is not so easy to eliminate. For an entire Age, Men throughout the planet barely survived, running from their many oppressors. But when the Second Age dawned, the other races began to accept Men, and rudimentary civilizations developed.
Since the beginning of recorded time, all races have shown equal adeptness at handling manna, the energy from which all magic emanates. But only the race of Man can create power items, which are great storehouses of manna. And with these power items the race of Man evolves superhumans adept at handling the items. It is this chain of events that all other races fear, for a united human race can defeat all other inhabitants of the world combined once they reach this stage.
And so, at the beginning of the Third Age A.U. (After the Upheaval), the race of Man began to dominate once again. The reappearance of Wizards and the conquest of half the world occurred in less than one century. The Elder Races recognized this threat for what it was, but they were unable to co-operate amongst each other due to age-old differences. The situation became dire when the various nations coalesced into the Second Empire. Soon all lands but the Valley were Human-controlled.
The Valley, root of the most powerful magic, from which the power of Man stemmed, now ironically provided refuge from Man. The Valley could not be tamed by Man, and in its own defense it produced great amounts of manna. At this point, forces of the Empire invaded the fabled city of Urf Durfal on the outskirts of the Valley and sought to conquer it in one swift stroke. Leading the charge into the Valley was Emperor Coron the Unconquerable, and his defeat at the hands of Zurik Bladebreaker Dwarfking signaled the rebirth of the ancient races. But that was not all, that was coming back to the Valley. Two great and evil wizards each sought to be the Dark Lord, while a renegade noble sought to establish a separate nation in the heart of the Valley. Contact was made with the inhabitants of the daemonic plane, and all sorts of demons, minor and major, roamed the Valley. To cap it all off, discovery of several of the ancient and most powerful power items occurred. The Empire had a most formidable challenge.
Swords and Sorcery is a game portraying the climactic period of the War against the Elder Races. The Army Game, which deals with the “historical” battles of the war, uses a fairly simple combat system so that the Players may better explore the detailed spell lists, the Diplomacy rules and the various game mechanics that deal with all the elements necessary to fantasy. Twelve Scenarios, beginning with the aforementioned Coron's campaign in the Valley and concluding with the final attempt to capture the Valley by the Empire, deal with all the “standard” fantasy situations. Each Player is given control of an army and one or more Characters. While the individual army units are important, it is the Characters who dominate the Army Game, by their leadership and (for those with magical abilities) their spell-casing abilities.
Also included in the Swords and Sorcery package is a Quest Game, which involves the Players using the various Characters during periods where there is a lull in the War. A Player will be given a specified number of Characters and objective, and seeks to perform better against the nasties or villain than his opponent(s). Of course, your brave fighter may be vanquished by a fearsome troll before he is able to battle the guardian of the sword he seeks, or your Magic User may be defeated by a Spectre. There are great perils in the Valley. It will not do for a Dwarf to go merrily traipsing through the provinces of the Elves, else he be captured and need to be rescued by his kindred. But a band of battle-hardened adventurers can defeat nearly any threat that besets them – the challenge is to avoid the death of one or more of the brave questers. All of these possibilities are handled by such rules as the expansion of the spell list, a detailed personal combat routine, and even a Section on how to create your own character, if those provided with the game do not satisfy.
Swords and Sorcery includes a 22” by 35” game-map which portrays the Valley of the Great Sword, 400 four-color counters which represent many different races – Human, Elf, Dwarf, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Spider, Dragon, Swamp-Creature, Cronk, Demon and Monster – that live in or intrude upon the Valley, 56 illustrated cards, consisting of 40 Character illustrations, 10 Magic (or Power) Item illustrations, and 6 Monster illustrations, and a lengthy rules booklet including an extensive fantasy background.
Swords and Sorcery represents the culmination of over a year's work, and includes a wide range of fantasy elements.
This fantasy wargame is really two games in one. The Army game uses SPI zones-of-control and a combat results table. Forces include elves, dwarves, orcs, spiders, swamp creatures and a host of others set in a fictional valley on a fictional world. Some of the more exotic inclusions are memorable for their pun value: Unamit Ahezredit, Logarithm Son of Algorithm; places such as the Evelyn Woods and the Stream of Consciousness, as well as the notorious Hills of Avalon; and peoples such as the Corflu (Correction Fluid) Cultists, the (communist) Orcish Revolutionary Council, and the dreaded Killer Penguins. X the Unknown could potentially conjure the SS Wiking Division. The Quest game is concerned exclusively with characters and is akin to a role-playing game.The game appeared with two covers: a blue box with a Tim Kirk illustration and a red box with a John Butterfield illustration. The games are otherwise identical.
Adventure, Fantasy, Wargame · Action Points, Hexagon Grid, Ratio / Combat Results Table, Role Playing, Simulation, Variable Player Powers, Zone of Control
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