The Riddle of Steel - Tournament of the Mad King
⚔️💀Gladiators of the Mad Kings Tournament do not fight for survival, they fight for the release of a true death.💀⚔️
TYPE
SYSTEM
LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCE
AGE
$10.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Saturday - 11:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 1–2 hours
0 / 6 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
Gladiators of the Mad Kings Tournament do not fight for survival, they fight for true death. Those who die are returned to the living by the eldritch powers of the King's necromancers; stained and corrupted by the dark magic. Only victory will bring the mercy of death. 💀 Battle Royal / Tournament style PvP game set in a Dark Fantasy world using the infamous "Riddle of Steel" RPG combat system. Expect HEAVY combat and light role-playing. ⚔️ Setting Influences: Robert E. Howard HP Lovecraft Berserk Demons Souls/Dark Souls Bloodborne
Game style
Combat Heavy
Roleplay Lite
Rules as Written (RaW)
Tactical / Crunchy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
4.8
(5)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Creativity, Rule of Cool, Storytelling
About me
Hi! I'm Ace, the Game Master with a Masters Degree in Leadership Studies, TESL and Online Course Design. Did I choose that major to become a leader and climb the corporate ladder? Hell no! I started down that path to better my communication skills and become the best game master I could possibly be! Was it worth it? Probably not! Most people don't go into thousands of dollars of debt just to run better games but for some wild reason that is where I end up. My final project was the creation of a "Learning TTRPG Course" that focused on teaching communication skills and the English language through task-based role-playing activities. Anyways, all of this is to say that I have spent a lot of time learning communication skills through the lens of a Game Master and applying those skills in games. I have several years of experience running games both privately for friends and publicly as a coordinator for my college's TTRPG club. If you choose me to be your GM I promise to bring this knowledge to the table to create the best experience I possibly can! You also might help me put a dent in those student loans... Check out my blog, I write about how to apply communication skills to improve your ttrpg experience. https://ttrpgteamwork.substack.com/
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Players will create their characters using The Riddle of Steel QuickStart rules which will be provided by me or found online. We will not be using the magic system. Players will battle each other and occasionally NPCs run by me. If your character is victorious they will be granted a 'true death' and you may create another. If your character perishes they will be returned to life with a beneficial 'corruption' to fight again.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Please read through the QuickStart rules or do other research to get a grasp of the combat rules. They are quite complicated. The game will be played through Discord and will not require a VTT. Please have a dedicated headset microphone to avoid unnecessary noise.
What Ace brings to the table
This game will be all about intense tactical combat with some light role-playing moments. We will be sticking strictly to the rules due to this being a PvP game.
Homebrew rules
We will likely add additional rules/materials from the core books (TROS, Flower of Battle and the Companion books) as the game progresses but to start we will be sticking to the rules as written in the "Quickstart Rules" PDF available online. Once players have these down we will consider expanding.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Ace creates a safe table
The themes and descriptions in this game will tend heavily toward gore and violence. We will discuss this more in session 0. Homophobia, Transphobia, Sexism and Racism will not be a part of this setting.
Content warnings
Safety tools used