Black Sun Rider

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The author Swen Harder 2017 at the International Game Days 2017 in Essen in front of a poster of the book Riders of the Black Sun

Rider of the Black Sun is a playbook by the German author Swen Harder , which was published in 2012 by Mantikore-Verlag . The game is based on the principle of well-known game books such as Lonely Wolf and combines reading with a role -playing system based on classic pen & paper role-playing games . In 2014 the playbook was awarded the German Role Playing Prize.

Style of play

Backstory

The backstory of the Romas Riders of the Black Sun is a classic fantasy story. The reader takes on the role of "Ugarith", a master of the night who wakes up in the bedchamber of the sun priest Kathum, the priest-emperor of the goddess Kar, and can no longer remember his name or how he got here. The priest lies slain in the room and the protagonist has the man's blood on the hands. His job is to escape and find out who he is and how the priest was murdered.

Rules of the game

The rules of the game for the game book build on the one hand on the rules that apply to all fantasy game books and supplement them with character development based on pen & paper role-playing games . The player and reader uses an "adventure sheet" as a character sheet, on which his character traits such as strength, karma, skill, anger and riding abilities as well as objects, weapons and money that have been taken along are noted. In addition, the player can record fate points received and take notes on the story. In addition, there is a battle sheet, a lunar calendar and a map of the fictional world of northern Pakonia in the book and also as a download.

The reader and thus the protagonist of the novel can steer the story at the ends of the individual sections within the sections through various decisions and also through random mechanisms and fights in different directions, which results in a different story in each case. The pages of the book, on which moon phases and cubes are depicted, which influence the result when a page is opened at random, serve as a random generator. In some places the story can also lead to the death of the protagonist, with which the respective story ends and the player has to play the current chapter again. Some decisions lead to bonus chapters at the end of the book that can further influence the story.

Background and reception

Rider of the Black Sun is the first playbook by the German author Swen Harder. The 1st edition was published by Mantikore-Verlag on October 24, 2012 for the international game days SPIEL '12 in Essen as a standard version and in a special edition limited to 111 books with a red dragon stamp with serial number. In 2013 the book received the RPC Fantasy Award at the Role Play Convention in Cologne and in 2014 it was awarded the German Role Play Prize, with Per Dittmann ("Erdenstern") taking over the laudation .

By 2017 the book was published in six editions, each accompanied by a special edition. As with Harder's second playbook, Metal Heroes - and the Fate of Rock , which was published later , the illustrations were adopted by the Berlin graphic artist Fufu Frauenwahl, with the second edition having a new cover and a graphic revision. The content of the edition has also been revised and an epilogue has been added. According to the publisher, Rider of the Black Sun is the most comprehensive playbook ever published with more than 1,350 sections and around 750 pages.

In 2017, the author started a campaign on Kickstarter.com to finance an English-language edition, which raised more than € 40,000 with almost 1,000 supporters.

In November 2018 the 7th edition of Reiter der Schwarze Sonne was published and for the first time as a hardcover. Due to the successful Kickstarter campaign, elements from the English version could also be transferred to the German version. In addition to further illustrations, a bonus chapter with a female main character has been added. Thus the scope increased to 1,406 sections.

Selected editions and translations

  • Swen Harder: Rider of the Black Sun. 1st edition Mantikore-Verlag, Frankfurt 2012. ISBN 978-3939212-60-7
  • Swen Harder: Rider of the Black Sun. 8th edition Mantikore-Verlag, Frankfurt 2017. ISBN 978-3961880805

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b Adventure sheet and rules for riders of the black sun. (Some materials can be downloaded from the Official Website )
  2. ↑ RPC 2013: The Fantasy Award - Video of the award ceremony with Mháire Stritter. buffed.de, June 24, 2013; accessed on December 22, 2017.
  3. ↑ The winners of the German Role Play Award 2014 on deutscher-rollenspielpreis.de; accessed on December 22, 2017.
  4. ^ Rider of the Black Sun , campaign on kickstarter.com; accessed on December 22, 2017.
  5. ↑ Swen Harder: 7th edition published as hardcover - rider of the black sun. Accessed December 24, 2018 (German).

Web links