Latest addition:
Philippe DeBernay sent me a suggestion to replace the "luck token"
idea - nothing to carry! He kindly gave me permission to post his
idea about slip knots as luck tokens here.
I have simply scanned the portion of his letter dealing with slip
knots and posted it here as jpg file (214 KB), as it contains a
useful illustration:
Slip Knots as
Luck Tokens (jpg)
Thanks, Philippe!
Sherpa
character cards and GM aid sheet by Bob Portnell - thanks, Bob!
Bob also wrote a review of Sherpa published in Pyramid Magazine.
Since that's copyrighted material, we can't reproduce it anywhere,
but if you're a Pyramid subscriber you can read it at
this
Pyramid link. (July 2006)
An
RPGnet review of the RPG Sherpa by Lafe Bagley. Thanks,
Lafe!(September 1999)
Another
RPGnet review of the RPG Sherpa by Michael Richter. Thanks, Michael!
Lafe also has a good idea for Sherpa: Proficiencies
(Aptitudes) and Deficiencies (Ineptitudes). Basically the GM may allow
you to take one aspect of your Profession at +1 if you take another,
equally valuable aspect at -1. This is a minor enough addition that
a character sheet still fits on a business card. Lafe's example is
of a cop who has Streetwise at +1 (grew up on the streets herself)
but Diplomacy at -1 (blunt personality; doesn't suffer fools gladly).
So this would look like, on a character sheet:
Apt: Streetwise
Inept: Diplomacy
Or it would be simpler and probably just as clear to write:
+1: Streetwise
-1: Diplomacy
Thanks, Lafe, nice idea - I'm going to use it!
Blatant Advertisement
You are about to link into the web version of Sherpa,
which is free. It's also only about 80% of the finished product,
and not nearly as well edited - in fact, it's the first draft of
what is now about the 10th draft in the commercial version, and I
tend to write poorly at first and get better with each draft. But
it's free, and it works, and you can play with it and see how you
like it.
What is it? It's an RPG that you can play outside - even while
hiking. It uses a digital watch with a stopwatch feature as a
randomizer and a character sheet fits on the back of a business
card. Hence, you don't have to deal with full-size character sheets
or dice while on a hike - just tell the story, which is fortunately
easy to do while hiking. Oh, you don't have to hike - you can laze
around the beach if you'd rather.
Sherpa was not specifically designed as a live action
RPG (LARP) - but I suppose you could use the rules for a LARP if
you wanted to.
The finished version of Sherpa is available from Two
Tigers Games - see below. It includes everything of value in the web
version, minus some extraneous verbiage, plus:
- More detail on the wound and stun rules
- Multiple combatants
- A discussion of monsters, animals and scale
- More sample characters, including a complete, ready-to-run fantasy
party for spur-of-the-moment games, and some sample NPCs
- More sample Professions, and some of the others more detailed.
- A more thorough index
- and probably some other stuff I can't remember at this time
Sherpa is available in two printings. The only
differences between the two printings are:
- One has a cardstock cover with a poor quality reproduction of
a nice drawing by Kelly Bennett (whose work has appeared in Lost
Worlds game books) while the other has a very sharp two-color
graphically designed cover by Chris Adams - it looks a lot better, but
that's not Kelly's fault!
- The Kelly Bennett cover edition has some mild errata (see below)
which has been corrected in the Chris Adams cover edition.
- The Kelly Bennett cover edition is cheaper but in limited
quantities.
Both are nicely formatted booklets, with sidebars and other
eye-pleasing gimmicks. Sherpa is 30 pages in an 8.5"
by 5.5" format (roughly A5 size for you non-Yanks). It's easy on
the eyes and very readable - and much more convenient than
carrying around a printout of the web version.
You can order a copy of:
- The Kelly Bennett cover edition for US$5+shipping, or
- The much sharper Chris Adams cover edition for US$8+shipping.
Either edition has an additional shipping/handling charge of:
- $3 in North America,
- $4 elsewhere.
Order from:
Two Tigers Games
P.O. Box 465
Plymouth, NH 03264
USA
Make the check or money order out to Steffan O'Sullivan, please.
Note as of August, 2009:
I can no longer accept PayPal. They angered me once too often so I
deleted my account. (Which was not easy to do, angering me even more.)
However, the New Hampshire Humane Society
does accept PayPal! Simply make a donation to that organization
of at least $11 (North America) or $12 (elsewhere), take a screen
shot of the "printable receipt," and email that to me (sos at panix
dot com). I'll count that as if it were payment to me and I'll
send you a copy of Sherpa. (No, I don't get any
money out of it, but that's okay: I could use the good karma. And,
since it's local and I've been there, I know this is a
worthy, well-run, non-rip-off charity.)
Thank you for your attention. You may now link to the web version of Sherpa,
which will not be updated, even if the booklet version is. Enjoy!
Errata
In the printed book with the Kelly Bennett cover, on p. 16, change
the entire short paragraph starting "Stun damage is also cumulative ..."
to:
Stun damage dissipates fairly quickly: moderately stunned characters
miss one combat round, severely stunned miss two.
Apologies for the error - the Chris Adams cover edition has
corrected this. My thanks to Brian S. Anderson for pointing this
out.
E-mail address: sos at panix.com
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