Vain the Sword 2e

 Click this sentence for the link.

Highlights

• Continuing in the vein of bronze age folkloric lots.
• Three attributes: THEWS, LORE, and GRACE
• Roll-under.
• rephrased defense and based it on what parts of the body are covered.
• added orisons, small chances most PCs have of their prayers being answered.
• Injuries quickly resolved by the Table of Consequences
• Changed around some folk.
• a collection of classic and strange base classes, each up to level 4
• Fully-bunted XP rules
• Society! Arcana! Gigre!
• an appendix N
• List thanking playtesters added

The Name is not the Point (magic sword generator)

 Thanks to semiurge, Vayra, Regalia, Renefor, and most fully ☆ deus ex parabola.

There is a grand epic written in blades-- the sword-song Cov Cuvaʒuth. Every sword possesses some of the song, but the strongest phrases makes stronger swords, intelligent weapons with a will to realize their three-word volition. 

Scholars try desperately to understand the thread of the epic by compiling lists of famous swords and their wielders, or by searching scriptures for convergent passages with known blades, or composing inspired passages themselves while studying martial arts. Grey monks gather swords, orbseekers scatter them, but ultimately both are in vain-- the swords shall be set in order when the end-times come, and the seer-giant Calamus returns to redeem the ocean.

The secret advantage of the THREE WORD SWORD template is that it forces you to describe an object more fully, to consider its actual physical properties. But the name is not the point-- you can and should do this with any object that's the focus of a scene. Don't let a shield stay a shield or bread be bread. 

Scenario: The Surrender of Lischon

 This is a scenario for up to ten first-level characters, set at the end of a war in the ancient history of Mesomergos. It is meant to be played with Vain the Sword, but any other dungeon game will do.

Players build their characters as normal, but take on the role of one of ten central figures during the surrender of the city of Lischon by the Duke Shan to invading forces. Over the course of the scenario, PCs will cause problems for each other as they wrestle to decide under what circumstance death is preferable to surrender. Each character starts with some kind of asset, whether it is additional items, magic, or even small dungeons that they can hole up in.

The titular surrender is underway when the scenario begins, and though it is almost impossible to turn the war around, that option is technically available, though sections with titles like "Crushing Resistance" and "Attempts to Flee the City" imply the difficulty in trying. What's more, as the invading forces encounter more resistance and inconvenience, their ire increases.

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"The Surrender of Lischon" is 13 pages, with one title page listing the cast of potential PCs, two quickly summarizing play for a DM, and ten one-page character prompts, including three dungeon maps by Dyson Logos, used under a commercial license.

Updated Mesomergos Generators

I have updated various things in the face of updates to the VtS rules. The following are offered because I keep breaking or adding to the old generators. Note a couple brand-new generators, made necessary by a certain player's plunging into glorious war.