Songbirds 3e is one designer's attempt to make their ideal dungeon adventure game, an impulse so common that it has a name: a fantasy heartbreaker. unlike many of these spirited-but-doomed attempts, i think Songbirds 3e genuinely lands on something magical - so i stopped myself early in, and decided to share the whole book as i experience the rest of it. i hope you enjoy tagging along!
Songbirds 3e is a tabletop roleplaying game about undeath, supernatural powers, and the blue dreams of the moon. In the game, you create a strange survivor of the world who was chosen (or cursed) by Death. Spirits aren't able to pass on to the afterlife and grow monstrous with each passing day. You know the songs to send them on. You have the abilities that help you find them. You are the canary in the coal mine. [...] It's everything that I want in a dungeon crawler and what I use to run my home games with.
(cw for drawn gore beneath the readmore)
the above wound up just being coverage of Chapter 1: Creating a Songbird, so today it's time to get back to the book with a read-through of Chapter 2: Adventuring Equipment! i'm very curious to see what kind of gear these undead heroes get to haul around...
onto Chapter 3: Magic now, and i'm terribly excited - a bit of peeking ahead has shown me that there are five different magic systems in store for us here...
spells are drawn in chalk, and not quickly - no cantrips here!
casting their rituals takes time (either "dungeon rounds" or "segments of time") and has a Cost, usually in Coin (taken from a Songbird at the ritual's completion). some fun setting work gets done here; every spellcasting Songbird is told to draw their own unique sigil, which is present in every ritual they draw (and thus can be identified and traced), and it's noted that most Songbirds take pains to fill their personal grimoires with lies to confuse any would-be thieves.
first off are four Tomes, as introduced prior: the spellbooks left behind by other mages in the world. the Book of Black and Draconomicon feel pretty classic, though nothing is a straight port from D&D, while the Agora Apocrypha and Our Crescent Goddess get a little stranger here. there's 12 spells here, 3 in each of the 4 Tomes.
second are Songs, which the text notes can be cast through singing, dancing, playing an instrument, or even meditating. unlike the fire-and-forget rituals found in Tomes, a Song must be continuously performed to function - with saving throws to keep concentration when in peril. my favorite thing here is this sidebar explaining where the Coins go when you cast a Song:
Songs have a slight 'support' bent, and are just generally a little bit weirder than Tome rituals. i like them a lot! you get 10 in this bunch.
Draconic magic seems awfully sinister. their Costs are paid with the caster's HP, and most of them are pretty cruel supernatural commands who harm those who dare refuse. i like how distinct Draconic magic is from the other systems, and how immediately clear its rules are. there's 10 Draconic 'words' here.
rare and powerful, Summons have more specific Costs than a typical spell, need the being's true name (only given to those proven 'worthy'), and must be called at a temple to them. living plot devices, all of the Summons are potent and strange; i like them a lot. Final Fantasy fans are very intentionally feasting here. 6 Summons are listed, but the format for writing your own is super clear.
last but absolutely not least are Psychic Powers, which i'm just gonna post in their entirety:
back in Chapter 1, i mentioned those 10 Blessings/Curses - a few of them give your Songbird some starting access to magic! The Blue Mage gets a Tome of their choice, The Songbird Maiden picks 2 Songs, and The Sorcerer gets a fallen star (which happens to be the Summon Phoenix/Avion's unique Cost), so that variety can express itself in a group right from the jump. your gang of Songbirds will feel distinct from one another!
i tend to really dislike bulky, complex magical systems, so each of these fitting in a page or two (while being massively flavorful!) is a joy for me. this book continues to be an absolute blast! next time, we'll peek into Chapter 4: Time...
