| Roleplaying with an Edge | |
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The Riddle of Steel core rulebook cover |
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| Designer(s) | Jacob Norwood |
| Publisher(s) | Driftwood Publishing |
| Publication date | 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| System(s) | Custom |
The Riddle of Steel (abbreviated as TRoS) is a role-playing game (RPG) created by Jacob Norwood and published by Driftwood Publishing. It is designed for role-playing in a typical sword and sorcery or high fantasy gameworld environment.
The title of The Riddle of Steel is inspired by several references in the movie Conan the Barbarian, including a line of dialogue in which the villain, Thulsa Doom, asks the captured Conan, "What is the riddle of steel?" Doom answers this question by explaining to Conan that the true strength of steel is in the hand that wields it – in other words, it is the resolve and commitment we bring to a task, not the quality or quantity of tools we use in performing it, that is the most important factor in determining success. This theme strongly influenced the design of Riddle, most particularly in the implementation of spiritual attributes.
In terms of GNS Theory, The Riddle of Steel may be classified either as a narrativist game with simulationist system features or as a simulationist system with powerful narrativist elements.
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The base mechanic of the game is a die-pool system; to accomplish tasks, players roll a pool of ten-sided dice against the target number, or TN, of the task, with the number of dice equalling or beating the TN determining degree of success.
The game's combat system is based heavily on Jacob Norwood's real-world historical martial arts studies. He is the president of the HEMA Alliance, was a Senior Free Scholar in the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts, and John Clements, the director of that organization, recommends the game for its martial realism. This combat system is usually marketed as one of its key selling points. The other primary hallmark of the game is the character design aspect known as spiritual attributes, often abbreviated "SAs" by game fans.
Each player in TRoS defines five spiritual attributes for their character, specifying the areas in which they want that character to excel and demonstrate heroism. Possibilities include: faith (defending a religion or philosophical worldview), passions (love, hate or other strong emotions for someone or something), conscience (personal ethics), drive (a particularly strong intent or purpose), destiny (a future foretold), and luck (general good fortune and coincidence). This system allows players more control over the in-game performance of their characters, by granting the player extra dice whenever the character faces an obstacle in a situation where the player wants his character to shine. It brings a slight cinematic atmosphere to the game in that the hero can suffer defeat, but has uncanny luck and persistence in the crucial elements of the story.
The Spiritual Attributes also serve as the game's character improvement and development mechanic. Points are awarded to the attributes by the game master when characters act according to these attributes, and spent by players to increase attributes, skills, weapon proficiencies and other character aspects.
The game, especially the combat system, was heavily influenced by the Polish historical role-playing game Dzikie Pola. The official fantasy world of the game, Weyrth, also shows strong influences of Polish and Eastern European history among its imaginary cultures and peoples, particularly in the nations of Zaporozhya (from the Polish historical term for Ukraine) and the Rzeczpospolita, the Polish word for "Commonwealth". For historical inspiration, see Zaporizhia, Rzeczpospolita and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.