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
As of October 30 2018, I have so few copies remaining that I have
increased prices, sorry. You may buy a copy at the
RPGGeek
Marketplace. I donate half the money received to the NH Humane
Society, a good organization.
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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