Through Sunken Lands

[SeaJay]

I'm thinking of buying Through Sunken Lands, but have a few questions I was hoping someone might be able to answer for me.

> Does it have dwarves, elves, halflings, or humans, only?

> What's the level cap?

Thanks all.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

The characters default to human, although there is one character type called 'the eldritch' which is basically a Melnibonean stand-in. If you wanted more traditional races it would be easy enough to add them, as Through Sunken Lands is pretty OSR at its core.

XP, attack bonuses, and saving throws for the three classes and various playbooks go up to level 10, although I would have to reread through the rules more thoroughly to see if that's a hard cap on levels or if you can just extrapolate on any levels above that.

 

[SeaJay]

Thank you for the info

Sounds very interesting.

 

[apOweyn]

I haven't played it yet, but TSL is a sword-and-sorcery adaptation of Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures. So I expect that, mechanically, they're very similar if not identical.

BtW has a free supplement covering Elves, Dwarves, and the like. You might want to take a look and see whether they could be incorporated into your game readily enough.

 

[Toadmaster]

Beyond the Wall, Grizzled Adventurers and Through the Sunken Lands are closely tied, so it should be fairly easy to move bits around if you wanted to add something.

Sunken Lands assumes humans only, and because S&S generally assumes more proficient heroes PCs start at 2nd level. Levels cap at 10 in all three games.

These are among my favorite "OSR" games, I really like their take on "D&D" keeping things pretty simple, but also flexible. D&D is the obvious core rules inspiration, but the games are not just a cut and paste job, the authors have added their own distinct flair to set their games apart.

The lifepath system used has an interesting element built in to tie the PCs together as a party.

The games are set up to allow a group to just jump into a game without a lot of downtime for chargen and dungeon building. They have a focus on making the games easy for people without a lot of time, so they try to get right to the playing.

 

[SeaJay]

Beyond the Wall, Grizzled Adventurers and Through the Sunken Lands are closely tied, so it should be fairly easy to move bits around if you wanted to add something.

Sunken Lands assumes humans only, and because S&S generally assumes more proficient heroes PCs start at 2nd level. Levels cap at 10 in all three games.

These are among my favorite "OSR" games, I really like their take on "D&D" keeping things pretty simple, but also flexible. D&D is the obvious core rules inspiration, but the games are not just a cut and paste job, the authors have added their own distinct flair to set their games apart.

The lifepath system used has an interesting element built in to tie the PCs together as a party.

The games are set up to allow a group to just jump into a game without a lot of downtime for chargen and dungeon building. They have a focus on making the games easy for people without a lot of time, so they try to get right to the playing.

Thanks for the info

 

[Uferschnepfe]

As some already said, you can mix and match TSL and BTW (I don't know Grizzled Adventures) to your liking.

But in adding Dwarfes, Elves & Halflings you take away a lot of the world building that went into TSL.

It wants you to play in the tradition of Moorcock & Co.

A game close in spirit would be the Black Sword Hack.

The core classes are Warrior, Mage and Rogue. There are no Clerics. But the book comes with playbooks which offer dual class options and add some seasoning to the base classes. They are called the Cosmic Champion, the Accomplished Sellsword, the Eldritch Sorcerer King or the Pirate Captain.

The system is IMHO superior to traditional clones like Old School Essentials.

Let's take a look at the Magic System:

Spell books have no mechanical side, they just exist to learn new spells. You do not get new spells by leveling up, you have to find them.
Carrying a spell book gives the character the opportunity to share, exchange or teach spells with/to NPCs.

There are three types of spells: Cantrips, spells and rituals. There is no memorization.

The most reliable form of magic comes from spells. You are able to cast spells per day equal to your level. All spells are level one but become more potent the higher your level. In a sense spells resemble the magic system from Wonder & Wickedness or Vaginas Are Magic.

You can cast as many cantrips as you like as long as you make the appropriate skill check (which is a roll under check on either INT or WIS). When a check fails, the mage has to decide if his magical energy runs dry (no more magic until after a long rest) or of the cantrip makes things worse.

Rituals are the most potent form of magic. Rituals have levels and the caster has to be of equal or higher level to be able to cast the ritual. Rituals take one hour per level to cast and need special ingredients. Just like cantrips, the casting of rituals need a skill check.

There is a very interesting and easy mass combat system included.

TSL comes with three "adventures" or scenario packs which are basically improvisation tools to make up short scenarios playable in a single evening.

Please be aware that there is a limited edition of 200 offset books in a slipcase which comes with around 14 additional pages of material (3 character playbooks and a scenario playbook) but sadly is of questionable quality.

 

[Rob Necronomicon]

One of my all-time favorite OSR games. Elegant, simple and dripping with S+S vibes. I love BtW as well.

 

[SeaJay]

As some already said, you can mix and match TSL and BTW (I don't know Grizzled Adventures) to your liking.

But in adding Dwarfes, Elves & Halflings you take away a lot of the world building that went into TSL.

It wants you to play in the tradition of Moorcock & Co.

A game close in spirit would be the Black Sword Hack.

The core classes are Warrior, Mage and Rogue. There are no Clerics. But the book comes with playbooks which offer dual class options and add some seasoning to the base classes. They are called the Cosmic Champion, the Accomplished Sellsword, the Eldritch Sorcerer King or the Pirate Captain.

The system is IMHO superior to traditional clones like Old School Essentials.

Let's take a look at the Magic System:

Spell books have no mechanical side, they just exist to learn new spells. You do not get new spells by leveling up, you have to find them.
Carrying a spell book gives the character the opportunity to share, exchange or teach spells with/to NPCs.

There are three types of spells: Cantrips, spells and rituals. There is no memorization.

The most reliable form of magic comes from spells. You are able to cast spells per day equal to your level. All spells are level one but become more potent the higher your level. In a sense spells resemble the magic system from Wonder & Wickedness or Vaginas Are Magic.

You can cast as many cantrips as you like as long as you make the appropriate skill check (which is a roll under check on either INT or WIS). When a check fails, the mage has to decide if his magical energy runs dry (no more magic until after a long rest) or of the cantrip makes things worse.

Rituals are the most potent form of magic. Rituals have levels and the caster has to be of equal or higher level to be able to cast the ritual. Rituals take one hour per level to cast and need special ingredients. Just like cantrips, the casting of rituals need a skill check.

There is a very interesting and easy mass combat system included.

TSL comes with three "adventures" or scenario packs which are basically improvisation tools to make up short scenarios playable in a single evening.

Please be aware that there is a limited edition of 200 offset books in a slipcase which comes with around 14 additional pages of material (3 character playbooks and a scenario playbook) but sadly is of questionable quality.

Thanks for the reply. I should have clarified, that I'm not after demi-humans in my sword and sorcery.

Is the limited edition the one known as the "Bronze book", or something?

 

[SeaJay]

One of my all-time favorite OSR games. Elegant, simple and dripping with S+S vibes. I love BtW as well.

Yup. Just spent nearly £70 on BtW and BtW - FA, and now I'm very probably going to buy the premium hardcopy of TSL. They do look like very good games.

 

[Uferschnepfe]

Thanks for the reply. I should have clarified, that I'm not after demi-humans in my sword and sorcery.

Is the limited edition the one known as the "Bronze book", or something?

Yes, it's the bronze edition.