Yoki's The Riddle of Steel Pages
Introduction
The Riddle of Steel is a great fantasy RPG from Driftwood Publishing. Its combat system is highly involved, while not overly complicate, and has been officially endorsed by ARMA. To discuss the game with its fans, stop by the official TROS Forums.
The game still clings to some old-school concepts, such as the Skill system and task resolution, long skill and equipment lists, but also has a lot of cool features that put the players squarely in the driver's seat. If you want to give narrative (or Story Now) roleplaying a go, TROS is a good place to start.
Choices
Some people seem to think that TROS is all about tactics, but that's far from the truth. It's about making choices, tough choices even! Your first choices come in character generation, where quickly realize that you can't have a high social standing, be a sorcerer, and be highly proficient in combat. You have to choose what's most important to you.
The same applies in combat, you have to consider if you want to attack or defend. Defending can get you in trouble, because your opponent will be attacking. Attacking can get you in trouble, because not defending can get you killed. You must choose, and find the right balance. With the Spiritual Attributes, you choose when it's worth following them. If the GM sets up the right kind of situation, it will often not be a clear-cut choice.
Tactics are important, but it's not what the game is about.
Spiritual Attributes
Spiritual Attributes are motivations for the character, and story elements of interest to the player, such as 'Conscience' or 'Passion: True love for the Princess.'
When these motivations are directly relevant to the roll the player is about to make, they add their rating in bonus dice. When the character acts in accord with these motivations (or has a conflict between them, such as the Princess you love asking you to do a very bad thing, against your Conscience) they go up. They are then spent (lowering their rating) to boost the character's other statistics.
Other TROS Pages
- TROS Introduction
- Combat Cheat Sheet
- Conflict Resolution System
- FAQ and House Rules
- Skill Pools
- Spiritual Attributes
- Campaign — Saithnars Brödraskap (in Swedish)