I’ve been hard at work on Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery this week. No idea when the next public beta will be available, but I hope by the end of the month.

I’ve finished the initial pass through the monsters, adding sections on animals (including giant and dire animals) and humans, as they are the main “monsters” in many swords and sorcery settings. I’m now working on “ancient” magic items — the standard type of D&D magic items. In most S&S campaigns, these will probably be the creations on long lost civilizations, perhaps even non-human civilizations. They will be very rare, many can even be unique items — or items that only exist in legend — if that’s what the GM wants. Recently created magic items will mainly be potions and items with spirits bound to them (and providing the item’s power).

Magic swords and armor can be made by any master weaponsmith or master armorer, provided he or she has enough meteoric iron and time. A +1 item will take a full year to create. A +2 item will take 4 more years (total of 5 years). A +3 item is a lifework, requiring first creating a +2 item and doing 20 years additional work on it — for a total of 25 years. +4 and +5 items are possible in theory but would be the work of generations of craftsmen as a +4 item would require 125 years to create and a +5 item 600 years to create, with the original/current craftsman’s specially trained apprentice taking over the task — if the chain of master training replacement gets broken, the item can no longer be successfully improved. Magic weapons and armor are especially good for binding spirits so once you have the magic item, giving it intelligence and additional powers is relatively easy. Naturally, most +3 or better weapons and armor will be the stuff of legend.