Sword and Magic: Adventures on Fomalhaut

Gabor Lux (a.k.a. 'Melan') has made available, in English, the core elements of his RPG Sword and Magic. Also available are three scenarios set in his wonderfully weird world of 'Fomalhaut' in a document called Towards Fomalhaut (all three scenarios were published previously in either Fight On! or Knockspell).

Both documents are available (for free) here. (And there are many other cool things to be found at Lux's Fomalhaut website.)

The Sword and Magic RPG is essentially a 'light d20 game' with a strong 'weird fantasy' or 'swords and sorcery' feel to it. The works of Clark Ashton Smith and Jack Vance seem to be the primary literary influences. (A list of 'recommended media', which includes some CRPGs and the film Zardoz, is included on page 20.)

The S&M races are all human variants (e.g., Terrans, Amazons, Cavemen, and Northmen). The classic four D&D classes (fighters, clerics, thieves, magic-users) are included, as well as some subclasses (e.g., archers, amazons, illusionists, etc.).

An interesting 'primer' on Lux's approach to running FRPGs is included on page 22. It's worth downloading S&M for the primer alone.

Gabor Lux's adventures, for both Fomalhaut and the classic Wilderlands setting (from Judges Guild), are consistently weird, evocative, and challenging. The the S&M setting fits them well.

Given the price, fans of 'old school' fantasy role-playing have nothing to lose by checking them out!