The songs of Losse, the RPG : presentation and information
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 :
Armanth, the city of the merchant lords: around 155 pages. The supplement will describe the famous city-state which counterweighs the Hegemony of Anqimenes and which represents the very image of liberty as well as that of decadent heresy for most of the Losseans. Detailed information about the city, its inhabitants, its leaders, its secrets and also the merchants guild, the court of shadows and on the rest of Athemaïs, the region whose capital city is Armanth, without forgetting a few new creatures, advantages and flaws and models of typical archetypes of the city will be found there.
Da Vinci-punk: around 96 pages. This supplement will approach all the information about the technologies and sciences in the world of Losse, including what concerns da Vinci-punk : extraordinary machines, improbable weapons, modern artefacts, automatons and levitating ships. The information found there will be about the secret society of archivists, rules about building, invention and crafting, air and sea combat, without forgetting a few new creatures, advantages and flaws and a few models of archetypes.
Other supplements are planned, with a total of 5 for the main collection: one on the Song of Losse and shamanism, one on the Church of the Divine Council and one on the fauna and flora of Losse. But we also have a lot of documents to plan a detailed atlas on the peoples of Losse, a supplement on apostates, plus a full, ready to play campaign!
The authors
Axelle “Psychée” Bouet: illustrator, creator and novelist. The Songs of Losse were born of her feverish imagination, after a private discussion with Igor Poulouchine, which resulted in this somewhat crazy world. She likes to say that it is “the sum of her worst dreams and her most wonderful nightmares”.
Alysia Lorétan: model maker and graphic designer, great role-player, she has taken part in the project since its very beginning. Some of the characters of the novels come from her imagination and she has co-written several major chapters of the role-playing game. We owe her the concepts and rules on the Song of Losse, shamanism and part of the “metaplot”of the universe.
Emilie Latieule: human ressources manager, poetess and essayist, and also counter for Vampire, live action role-playing game (LARP) in a local association and a national federation. Jawaad and Sonia, the characters of the novels, are her creation. She has written almost all the chapters on equipment and the rare and legendary objects of the world of Losse.
Les romans Les Chants de Loss
The Songs of Losse extend on 9 volumes. The first two are published at les éditions Stellamaris. They tell the story of Lisa, an earthling lost on Losse who started at the lowest level in the social hierarchy. She will be broken, enslaved, traumatised and conditioned. When she thinks she has lost everything, she will regain her freedom thanks to her intelligence and her courage in a sexist world which is as cruel as it is wonderful and exotic. Plus, she is a Singer of Losse, she has a destructive and irresistible power. A weapon that cannot be stopped by anything.
She will become a tool, then the standard of a fight for freedom, that of a part of the people of the Seas of Separation. Driven by human, social and scientific progress, they will fight against the all-powerfulness of the Divine Council, a highly powerful empire and a tentacular monster which is established everywhere and which regards itself as endowed with the legitimacy to steer the destiny of mankind and to impose its dogmas to them.
This struggle will carry everything away, including Losse itself who, through its shamans, will have to choose a side in a conflict which will unveil the astounding and vertiginous origins of a mystery which has persisted since the dawn of time. Who are the Losseans? How did they reach Losse, that world which is not made for them? And, finally, Who brings earthlings on Losse, and why?
What can you find on this site?
All the working, or beta version of the role-playing game and the world of Losse shared as they are discovered. Thus you will be able to read and explore the world of Losse with us and search the ressources and documents on the future role-playing game manuals. We can only encourage you to subscribe to this blog in order to be aware of the latest news and articles.
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