The Big Reveal

The Rules of the Game

I suspect this post may ruffle a few feathers – and perhaps even leave some readers disappointed.

When I first began work on Secrets of sha-Arthan (then called The Vaults of sha-Arthan) in June 2021, my plan was simple: build the game atop an established old school ruleset, most likely Old School Essentials. There were two practical reasons for this choice. First, it spared me the effort of constructing an entirely new system from scratch. Second, it gave future players a leg up, since the rules would already be familiar to anyone versed in old school fantasy RPGs. In theory, it was the perfect compromise: efficient, accessible, and true to form.

So, I set to work on what was essentially a re-skin of Old School Essentials, swapping out its familiar components, like character classes and monsters, for ones more in tune with the world of sha-Arthan, while keeping its underlying mechanics intact. The idea was to clear the rules off my desk quickly so I could focus on what really mattered to me: the setting. Secrets of sha-Arthan was never about system first; it began as a personal project to bring to life the kind of strange, layered “secret sci-fi” world I’d long wanted to explore. Designing a brand-new ruleset felt like a distraction from that goal, a detour I had little interest in taking.

Then something unexpected happened: I started wanting to create my own ruleset. I hadn’t planned on it and the reasons why aren’t all that important. What matters is that, despite my original intentions, I began to feel drawn to designing mechanics I felt were uniquely suited to Secrets of sha-Arthan. The result remained broadly compatible with most old school retro-clones, but it introduced its own twists, like renamed ability scores, point-based character creation, a skill system, a new take on armor class and hit points, and more. Before long, it was evolving into something like what Ron Edwards once called a “fantasy heartbreaker”: a deeply personal system that tries to do things just a little differently but is, at base, still very derivative of an existing game (generally Dungeons & Dragons).

To make things even more complicated, I soon thereafter fell down another rabbit hole, this time involving Chaosium’s venerable Basic Role-Playing system and its many offshoots. I’ve been a fan of BRP ever since my first Call of Cthulhu session back in 1981 and, over the years, I’ve played and enjoyed more than a few of its variations. When Chaosium released a new edition of BRP last year, complete with an open license for publishing, I started toying with the idea of using it as the foundation for Secrets of sha-Arthan. It was a tempting prospect. In the end, I decided against it. As much as I admire BRP, it’s more intricate than I wanted, especially when it comes to combat (which I hate).

The truth is, I prefer simple rules, ones that stay out of the way and are easy to remember during play. Running my decade-long House of Worms campaign using Empire of the Petal Throne has repeatedly taught me that a loose framework is more than enough to support a deep, long-running fantasy RPG filled with memorable moments. Since Secrets of sha-Arthan was born in part from my experiences refereeing House of Worms, it seemed only natural to follow a similar path: use a streamlined, straightforward ruleset that provides just enough structure to build on, without bogging things down.

That’s when I realized the answer had been in front of me the whole time: I should just use Mörk Borg.

I’ll go into more detail about that choice – and what it means for the game – in the next couple of posts. Stay tuned!