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Sine Nomine's "Silent Legions."

Started by danskmacabre, July 06, 2015, 10:23:11 PM

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danskmacabre

Silent Legions is the latest RPG book from Sine Nomine.

I bought the PDF about a week ago (there is a Hard copy + PDF bundle, but I didn't think I'd be interested in getting a hard copy)  and have been reading this through a few times.

For those who don't know, Sine Nomine (Kevin Crawford) has produced several RPGs in different Genres.
I have:
Stars Without Number: (Scifi in the style of Traveller)
Other Dust: (Post Apocalyptic)
Scarlet heroes: ( A one DM/player fantasy RPG set in the Red tide world).

I have the hard covers of SWN and Other Dust.

I ordered the hardcover for Silent Legions last night to add to my collection and it'll look very nice next to SWN and OD.

These RPGs are all OSR based rules set and very compatible with each other. They're all designed to be run using a Sandbox style gaming.
 
Silent Legions is done in a very similar way, but with a horror theme.

It looks and kind of feels a lot like "Call of Cthulhu" in mood, although it has advice to for running many styles of Horror RPGs.

As usual it has lots and LOTS of various tables for generating plots, campaigns, monsters, factions, events and all sorts of things.
The character gen is VERY simple and the game mechanics are in general very simple.
There IS a magic system, which is horror appropriate. nothing that over the top, but interesting.
As well as optional disciplines and abilities like that.

The combat is the most deadly of all of his RPGs, with an added element of "Slaughter dice"
which means most attacks you roll an additional dice with (the dice type varies) and if you roll 6 or greater, the damage is tripled, although it often doesn't work on monsters in the game.
This means combat is the most deadly of all his RPGs.
I would certainly not be using this mechanic for SWN or OD, as it's a truly deadly addition to the combat, but as  this is a Horror RPG  set in our times, it's more investigation, RP based than pure adventuring you might see in a SCIFI or Fantasy RPG.
In SL, getting stabbed with a knife is truly something to be feared, especially at lower levels.
and really, in RL getting stabbed with a knife is a very bad thing, which is how it's portrayed in this game

I probably won't be running this at a tabletop, as I'm currently running 5E and playing CoC and a Rifts campaign using the Champions rules set.
But I will be running it at some stage soonish on rpol.net , as the simple/fast rules are very suitable for forum based RP.

Anyway, if you're looking for a horror based OSR, deadly, Sandbox RPG, this is really good.
It's worth getting just for the various horror based content tables even if you're not going to run the game itself and use something else (such as CoC).

If you just get the PDF, it's well worth it. It has a decent index and the index contents are all hyperlinked internally to the appropriate sections.
There's a very useful bookmark set up as well.
I wanted the Hard copy as well, as I like to have a hard copy of an RPG if I actually intend to run it.

Orphan81

The whole point of Silent Legions is to create "Lovecraftian" style Horror Games that don't rely upon any existing mythos what so ever. The game is all about giving tools for making up your own alien pantheons and races, along with your own cults and blashempous texts, without relying upon anything that came before.

In this day and age, where Cthulu is a household name, this type of game is wonderful for actually surprising your players again, and making them work to figure things out, rather than falling back on common knowledge.

It's good stuff, and I'm really happy I backed it.
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Necrozius

It's a fantastic resource for generating your own Mythos nasties for ANY rpg, really. It's a super valuable book for any Game Master out there who likes to include sinister cults, evil aliens and Great Old Ones that don't rely on clichés.

I've already used it for cult generation in D&D and I've prepared new creatures for CoC or Dark Heresy- er, once I actually get around to running either system again.

The Butcher

I picked it up just for the scenario and setting generation resources. I intend to use it with CoC, like I used SWN with Mongoose Traveller. If Kevin Crawford is writing, I'm buying.

danskmacabre

Yeah it's a great read and I'm itching to run it.

I reckon my CoC GM will like this book too to use for his CoC7 th Ed campaign I'm playing in.

AsenRG

#5
I'm definitely glad I backed this KS, which, alas, I can't say for all the KS campaigns:).
Also, I'm running a game set in modern Russia with it. My treatment of the setting and its mythic creatures is likely to give fits to some people I know;).
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danskmacabre

I want to run something on rpol.net, but not sure where I will base the campaign.

I'm tempted to run it set in a Middle Eastern country or Mediterranean perhaps.
Setting it roughly now in Istanbul would be interesting.
Lots of interesting ruins and stuff to use. I especially like the idea of using those underground cities in Turkey.
But I've only been to Turkey a few times and not an expert with it geographically or historically.

Alternatively, setting it in a modern period in London and the UK in general would be nice and I know it well and lots of history there to work with.

danskmacabre

For those who are interested, I've set up a Silent Legions  rpol.net campaign here:

http://rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=64107&date=1436283237

Spinachcat

I've run Stars Without Numbers once...I've used the book for dozens of games. After reading through Silent Legions, I imagine SL will be a go-to resource for many, many future games.

My hope is to run a SWN vs. SL in the future! AKA, OSR Dark Heresy!

Chivalric

I just read through the preview.  It sounds cool.  Most of my Cthulhu type play has been very scenario driven while this game talks about a sandbox approach.  How is that idea developed in the full game?

RPGPundit

It sounds extremely interesting.  

Someday, but not anytime soon, I might get around to making an Occult RPG.
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Teazia

It seems like Kevin has done it again.  I wonder how much he is making this year on rpg sales?  I recall he did very well in 2013 or 2014.  

Good on him for being successful!
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RPGPundit

Quote from: Teazia;840622It seems like Kevin has done it again.  I wonder how much he is making this year on rpg sales?  I recall he did very well in 2013 or 2014.  

Good on him for being successful!

Yes.  I don't do too bad, but I bet I'd love to make as much off my RPGs as he does.
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Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

danskmacabre

I think Kevin has a pretty loyal customer  base.
For me I've bought most of his rpg material that he sells. .

He has a nice range of RPGs now that are compatible with each other and they're great for running online or just at short notice at the tabletop, as the rules are really easy.

It Does help that he publishes a lot of free stuff as well. As it means his products are well supported and it feels more like a living product.

He also stays in touch on the various social media sites and answers questions.

I think making the sandbox style rpg material with all the various tables has been an advantage for him,  as it can be used for other rpgs,  so people might buy his rpgs just for the tables,  even if they don't actually  run it.

Oh,  and if I u buy the hard copy, you always get the pdf thrown in for free, which is really nice and often is the difference for me between buying something and not.

3rik

Silent Legions is the first ever OSR product I became sufficiently interested in to actually get it. I backed the Kickstarter and think it's an absolutely excellent game. And this is coming from someone who until very recently never played D&D. So yeah, I suggest anyone remotely interested in the game's premise to pick it up.

I've also become somewhat intrigued by Spears of the Dawn, but I'd rather have a slightly less fantastical and more historical African-based fantasy setting, like what Pundit did with Arrows of Indra.
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