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Shadow of the Prince of Darkness
A Fantasy Role-Playing Game of Epic Narrative & The Tarot
Swansong n.
The fabled song of a swan just prior to its death,
one's last work or final appearance.
Freewill is a coveted possession of the few - the heroes.
Create a hero and carve out your own epic.
Harness the rich symbolism and story telling power of the Tarot deck.
Swansong focuses heavily on the player characters and their unfolding stories. Each PC will be driven to reach their individual goal, whilst at the same time being influenced by their ego.
Ultimately the characters must face their own personal demons under cosmic judgment. Only if this trial is passed can they go on to confront The Prince of Darkness - whatever form he takes.
And if they should falter - It will be their swansong.
The game system is flexible and robust, Swansong excels at period drama, high fantasy and super heroic game genres.
The Tarot based resolution system is quick and elegant, sharing narrative input between players and the GM.
Featuring a swift and tactical combat system, victory can be won or lost in an instant. Battles are fraught with risk and reversals of fortune, with inter-player psychology as decisive as a meaty stat line. Also, the yielding mechanic means you can fold if the fates fail you!
Swansong incorporates a Celtic cross scenario generator, providing you with the means of creating countless role-playing plots.
On The Game
"The combat system is fantastic, as well—while it is simple, it's very tactical and interesting... you can trade effectiveness in the current arena for power in a later arena—in this case, your choice of action, and stealing away narration by not challenging actions... what I like about this game is how freshly it approaches standard role-playing ideas... It's not like any game I've seen in a long while." - Clinton R Nixon
Review by Clinton R Nixon of CRN games fame. Ah, it seems RPGtalk is dead.
RPG.net review by Charles Green
Review and actual play report from Alistair Law in Cainite Gamer issue 2.
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Book £10 GBP PDF £3.99 GBP
Also on IPR or Leisure Games.
The Swansong Tarot deck is also available.
Now online, the Swansong
It does all those pesky calculations for you and creates a printable character sheet.
A house rules page for Swansong is now up.
Check out the alternative Flair point cycle inspired by Primetime Adventures.
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You can buy the Swansong PDF from DriveThruRPG.
RPGnow also has some great Swansong bundles.