Core Principles

Songs and Sagas is based on the following principles:

Self-Directed Exploration

When a player starts the game, they arrive in a location they've never been before. It is their duty, job, or only option to move forward and explore. Each new location is divided into a number of hexes, each associated with a risk rating, and filled with unique details and mysteries that yearn to be uncovered.

Balance of Tension

The game utilizes a clever combination of a deck of playing cards and traditional polyhedral dice to establish a balanced level of player control over the narrative. When a player successfully performs a risky action, they add (mostly) red cards to their hand, gradually increasing the number of black cards in the rest of the deck. Since black cards are always associated with negative outcomes, this design encourages players to strategically burn their cards by returning them to the deck to prevent the deck from becoming overwhelmed with black cards.

Narrative Control

Whether through trial rolls or fate rolls, the game's core resolution engine determines who currently holds control of the narrative and what options they have for their next move. It's not so much about clear-cut success or failure, but rather about who has the power to shape the direction of the story.

Risk-Taking

Whether in moments of success or setbacks, the game always pushes the story forward. It achieves this by providing mechanical rewards to the player in any situation. Successful actions grant players cards that can be used to activate special abilities, while setbacks allow players to earn XP, which will ultimately make them more powerful.

Familiarity with OSR

Built on simplified yet solid foundations, the mechanics will feel familiar but also take interesting twists and turns, allowing for the creation of more grand and epic stories than the traditional OSR experience.

Solo-Friendly

By incorporating oracles, tables, and player-facing actions, the system was designed with solo play in mind from the beginning. Solo players will find it accessible and enjoyable as much as groups, whether with or without a GM.

System

You can expect mechanics to support:

Exploration

Players traverse a hex-grid using rolling tables to define the features of each region, and revealing cards to determine their level of risk and danger.

Risky Action Resolution

When a player character undertakes a risky action, they must make a trial roll to maintain control of the narrative by rolling a d20 + an attribute against a set difficulty rating. The twist is that the GM reveals a number of cards equal to the current region's risk rating, with each black card increasing the difficulty of the action.