Scenario, rules and player’s guide update
Greetings dear backers and visitors! This month has been very intense in the development of the world of Of Iron & Thorns.
Dead Skin Masks
A final draft of the scenario set in Modena (Mutina) Dead Skin Masks has been finally completed, but that is not the only news I have to announce here. In the spirit of three following the development of this strange uchronic universe (Guelphs, Ghibellines and Evil, for example), I am working at the same time on two other texts that have progressed these days.
The OSR Proprietary System
The first is an initial outline of the OSR rulebook that will form the basis of future adventures and supplements. It is a rulebook that is backward compatible with all editions of D&D (and AD&D) that we are developing together with the talented Nerdura Games. The rulebook starts from the inspiration of the old editions of D&D for simplicity and basic mechanics including levels, alignments (a bit different) and base stats but leaves behind smoky concepts such as armor class and hit points, preferring a system that at the same time is more flexible on storytelling but also allows in perspective to be played at very high levels, that of the saints and heroes of the chivalric epics. The rulebook is currently in this first alpha about 20 pages, not counting the bestiary and appendices for conversion of official D&D modules. It will have to go through an initial playest phase before being officially released. I have already penned a first draft of bestiaries that include the monstrous denizens of the dungeons under Bononia (from Ulysses Aldrovandi’s bestiary) and the frightening evil abominations children of the woodland sabbaths.
The Player’s Guide
Finally, work continues on the Player’s Guide, which currently passes 40 pages. A sample spread is given above and could only be dedicated to the great enemy of the setting, the very opponent Frederick II, whose counterpart in our world was born on this day, in the year 1194.
