The songs of Losse, the role-playing game is based on the novels « the songs of losse » by
Axelle « Psychée » Bouet. The songs of Losse, the role-playing game has been co-written by Axelle « Psychée » Bouet, Emilie Latieule, and Alysia Lorétan. What is the Songs of Losse ? The songs of Losse is a da Vinci-punk planet-fantasy role-playing game set on a remote and foreign world which was not made for humans. Its edition is ensured by Les Editions du Matagot and its release is planned for the spring of 2019. It is also a series of novels that was published by Stellamaris. Losse is a world on which deadly creatures, mysterious powers, forbidden secrets and ancient civilisations mix with renaissance level science, technological wonders built by geniuses and engineers, exploits achieved with levitating ships, pulse weapons and the first electrical machines, as well as the fright of the first exepriments on life. All the inhabited landmass of Losse forms a subcontinent around the seas of separation. A millenium after the Long Winter that was brought about by the singers of Losse and which could have ended human life, societies flourished in some twenty cultures, often led by city-states. Yet, an empire dominates the Seas of Separation : the Hegemony of Anqimenes, a fief of the church of the all- powerful Divine Council. This religion put down all the other kinds of cults, which have become minor, imposes its laws everywhere by means of speech an military power, and decides what is moral and what is impious. Only one city actually counterweighs its all-powerfulness : Armanth, the capital city of Athemaïs. It is the city of merchant lords, the haven for savants and freethinkers, the city of a hundred thousand slaves, the greatest and freest city of Losse
Adventures in the world of Losse the player characters (PCs) are those Losseans who fear none of the dangers of the seas, the ghosts of night and the the demon singers of Losse. They are adventurers, travellers, explorers, mercenaries, pirates, castaways, heretics, progressives, libertarians, savants, engineers, runaways or lost earthlings and they share three common points: their courage transcends the superstitious fear of the unknown, they have decided, either by choice or necessity, to leave a safe home and, whether they seek it or they get into it whithout asking for it, they attract the glory that writes their legend. One can distinguish between four kinds of characters: Tradesmen : scholars, merchants, spies, officers, diplomats and artists, they are employed to solve problems through discussion and bargaining.
Condottiere : hired guns, hired swords , scouts, bodyguards or mercenaries, their task is to kill or protect for money, which can prove more complicated than one can imagine in no time. Night runners : assassins, thieves, spies, cat burglars and other trafficking experts, their main activity is intrusion, theft, stealthy assassination and the art of remaining unnoticed. Explorers : sailors, captains, savants, travellers or even merchants and artefact hunters, they seek new trades, new ressources, new wealth, and also secrets that are forbidden or that have never been discovered around Losse, which is after all far from being totally explored. The Songs of Losse, the role-playing game tends to favor the urban adventures aspect . City-states are the heart of the greatest political plots in the world of Losse and the most dangerous opponent has always been Man. However, travels by land or by sea are very important. They are rich in adventures and surprises during stopovers and the exchanges that can be done there. They are also the opportunity for many dangers such as pirates, local wars, violent attacks by the fauna, catastrophes and other kinds of drama. Finally, explorations are the most intriguing of all the secrets of Losse. Ruins of the ancient ones are a source of treasure and mystery beyond comprehension, but one has to find them and access them first, only thereafter will the strength, the experience and the courage to explore them and come back from them be necessary. The game system It is very classical in its spirit, but in integrates original mechanics that are to be as entertaining as possible. The game system puts forward heroics and action. Based on a scale of 10, an action is solved by adding a trait, a talent, and the result of a 10-sided die roll (d10). The goal is to obtain the highest possible result, more precisely to reach or exceed the difficulty of the action to succeed. The game system also favors a calculated risk which is the choice of the player: the average difficulty is at 15 , it applies almost all the time. The player has to decide whether she is going to take a risk and increase that difficulty to draw advantages and special effects. This is called “trying an exploit” . This can be done in almost all the circumstances and it allows to decide various special
effects. Such advantages, called “Fursa ” may be kept for a later use (like to obtain a bonus on a subsequent die roll) or even transferred to another player. However, failing an exploit has its consequences: the opponent earns the Fursa the player expected to obtain and those Fursa will backfire on her or one of her fellows sooner or later. It is therefore a game of risky gambles, where chance sometimes yields to strategy and calculated risk. Everything can be attempted, almost nothing is impossible, but what is very difficult always comes with a high risk at the measure of the challenge to meet. The Songs of Losse gives prominence to the concept of virtues: honor, courage and wisdom define the basics of a character before more technical traits (such as spirit). These virtues have an influence on the personnality of the hero the player embodies. More than allowing to try extraordinary exploits, they guide her values. Each remarkable action, whether it is a success or a failure, has a consequence on those moral values which are at the very heart of the world of Losse. Virtues influence eveything, but above all, they guide the interpretation of the character in the universe of Losse as an integral part of it. To finish: the Songs of Losse is a game with archetypes , legends and henchmen : a character is defined by her hero archetype , whether she is a fighter, a tradesman, a captain, a navigator, a shaman or an artefact hunter. She is bound to be the best in her chosen field, regardless of her talents and profession. The legend she is going to build is to grow alongside with her adventures and open her to new abilities in her chosen field as her legend gives reality to the narratives and rumors that are told about her. As for the opponents of the characters and heroes of Losse, the most frequent are henchmen : opponents who represent a limited risk as individuals, and who are made to represent a limited threat, just like the enemies who can be met in action or cloak and dagger movies. Of course, when they are numerous, they can represent a real danger. What will the role-playing game be made of ? The role-playing game will be released as a box set which will contain three manuals for the basic version. A map of the Seas of Separation, a screen, two supplementary manuals and scenarios will be added. Later on, a full collection of products is planned, including the first two announced supplements.
The box set: The world of Losse: around 202 pages, will contain the whole world of Losse. It will be for the use of both the players and the game masters and it will describe the laws, physics, flora and fauna, the regions, the peoples, the civilisation, the way of life, the philosophy and the technologies the Losseans use and know. The rules of Losse: around 226 pages, will contain the full game system, including the character creation, the archetypes, the advantages and flaws, the game and combat mechanics, the management of virtues, legend and character evolution, the powers of shamanism and of the Song of Losse, and a full section for equipment. The secrets of Losse: around 145 pages. This manual will contain everything the game master needs to get into the universe of Losse: protagonists, henchmen and creatures, legendary heroes, game advice, a complete setting for adventures and scenarios. It will also contain all the “metaplot” and the secrets behind the world of Losse: the origins of this world, of the singers of Losse, of the lost earthlings, plus the secrets of the ancient ones, of the apostates and of the artefacts of Losse. With that information, the game master has all the secrets of Losse within easy reach to exploit them as he sees fit.
Other contents: the map of the seas of Separation: a complete map to explore the part of the world of Losse where your heroes’ adventures take place. It is richly illustrated and annotated and it contains a guide and scenarios. The Songs of Losse screen: a three-flap horizontal screen, 90 cm in length and 21 cm in height, with a supplement manual “travels”, which provides precious information and inspirations on travelling and moving in the world of Losse, with an adventure background and scenarios. We can also mention the customized dice, bearing the image of virtues, the Fursa tokens, or a block of character sheets.
Futurs supplements :
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