What is Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™ ?
AS&SH™Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™ (AS&SH™)
is a role-playing game of adventure played with paper, pencil, dice, and imagination. Participants include one referee and one or more players. The referee prepares and presents the adventure material, including circumstances, challenges, quests, and mysteries faced, and the players create player characters (PCs), including fighters, magicians, clerics, and thieves. The heroes of an AS&SH game delve dungeons filled with horrifying monsters, lethal traps, and bewildering puzzles; they explore savage wilderness frontiers and hostile borderlands; they probe ancient ruins and investigate cursed tombs; they match steel against sorcery, and sorcery against steel; and they plunder for gold, gems, and magical treasure in a decaying world inhabited by bloodthirsty monsters and weird, alien beings. |
ACCOLADESAstonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea was published in 2012. The following year, it was nominated for several awards:
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‟What Kind of Character Can I Play?”
The most frequently asked question about AS&SH is, "What kind of races and classes are available for game play?" As a sword-and-sorcery themed game, the races are all human, and the classes are derived from the original fantasy RPG, but with some interesting twists, including several subclasses. Any race can take up any class.
RACES
Nine "pure" races of man (Amazon, Atlantean, Esquimaux, Hyperborean, Ixian, Kelt, Kimmerian, Pict, Viking) are extant in Hyperborea, plus two notable hybrid races (Kimmeri-Kelt, Half-Blood Pict). Otherwise, racial admixtures and men of indeterminate ancestry are considered "common" stock.
CLASSES
The most frequently asked question about AS&SH is, "What kind of races and classes are available for game play?" As a sword-and-sorcery themed game, the races are all human, and the classes are derived from the original fantasy RPG, but with some interesting twists, including several subclasses. Any race can take up any class.
RACES
Nine "pure" races of man (Amazon, Atlantean, Esquimaux, Hyperborean, Ixian, Kelt, Kimmerian, Pict, Viking) are extant in Hyperborea, plus two notable hybrid races (Kimmeri-Kelt, Half-Blood Pict). Otherwise, racial admixtures and men of indeterminate ancestry are considered "common" stock.
CLASSES
- Fighter: a swordsman, bowman, or other warrior type
- Magician: a sorcerer who memorizes arcane formulæ and casts spells
- Cleric: an armed and armoured mystic sorcerer
- Thief: a nimble swordsman possessed of numerous specialized skills
FIGHTER SUBCLASSES
- Barbarian: an outland warrior possessed of feral instincts
- Berserker: a rampaging shock trooper renowned for unbridled battle rage
- Cataphract (Knight): a mail-clad horseman and warrior elite
- Paladin: a champion who crusades for justice and Law
- Ranger: a borderland fighter, frontiersman, and wilderness warrior
- Warlock: a spell-weaving fighter who wields steel and sorcery interchangeably
MAGICIAN SUBCLASSES
- Illusionist: a sorcerer who evokes phantasms and manipulates shadows and light
- Necromancer: a sorcerer who practices black magic and communicates with the dead
- Pyromancer: a sorcerer who manipulates the elemental power of fire
- Witch: a sorceress who brews potions, divines portents, and lays curses
CLERIC SUBCLASSES
- Druid: a mystic sorcerer empowered by ancestral, elemental, and animistic spirits
- Monk: a warrior-priest who strives for physical and mental mastery
- Priest: a chaplain mystic of prodigious spell casting ability
- Shaman (Witch Doctor): a primal sorcerer who confers with ancestral and totem spirits
THIEF SUBCLASSES
‟Who Created the AS&SH Game?”
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea was written by Jeffrey Talanian, illustrated by Ian Baggley, and edited by David Prata. The cover of the original boxed set edition was painted by Charles Lang, and the Hyperborea map was rendered by Andreas Claren. Additional game development was provided by Ian Baggley, Antonio Eleuteri, Morgan Hazel, Joe Maccarrone, Benoist Poiré, David Prata, and Matthew J. Stanham.
AS&SH would not have been possible without the trailblazing efforts of Stuart Marshall and Matt Finch, whose design, development, and publication of OSRIC™ categorically paved the way for AS&SH and countless other traditional gaming publications. Stuart and Matt are to be commended for their courage and innovation.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is dedicated in fond memory to E. Gary Gygax.
- Assassin: a thief who specializes in murder and intrigue
- Bard (Skald): a warrior, scholar, and weaver of enchanted lyrics and/or music
- Legerdemainist: an adept thief who commands the power of sorcery
- Scout: a lightly armed explorer, intelligence gatherer, and stealth master
‟Who Created the AS&SH Game?”
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea was written by Jeffrey Talanian, illustrated by Ian Baggley, and edited by David Prata. The cover of the original boxed set edition was painted by Charles Lang, and the Hyperborea map was rendered by Andreas Claren. Additional game development was provided by Ian Baggley, Antonio Eleuteri, Morgan Hazel, Joe Maccarrone, Benoist Poiré, David Prata, and Matthew J. Stanham.
AS&SH would not have been possible without the trailblazing efforts of Stuart Marshall and Matt Finch, whose design, development, and publication of OSRIC™ categorically paved the way for AS&SH and countless other traditional gaming publications. Stuart and Matt are to be commended for their courage and innovation.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is dedicated in fond memory to E. Gary Gygax.
