Sam

ple

file

Sam

ple

file

1

Sam

ple

file

A word from the authorLesser Shades of EvilTM took way too much time to develop. Not only did it ruin me financially

and socially, it almost did away with me completely! More times than I wish to remember I foundmyself slumped over a keyboard, plagued by nightmarish visions of myself growing old and dyingwithout ever having written the two words I longed for more than any other: THE END.

But curiously enough, through all the crumpled papers, scribbled notes, headaches, frustrations,thousands of spent dollars and discarded pages, the thought of abandoning LSoE never occurred to me.

How could I abandon it: I simply love it, and I hope you do too!

Though the game has many elements of religious significance, let me stress that I do not believe inthe words ''good'' and ''evil''. I believe there are as many definitions for those words as there are people!We act according to our own moral codes, our own instincts, our own conscience, with evil or good beingwords spoken by those that see us live our lives and either agree with our decisions or not. But thenagain, do we have the power to take decisions at all? Are we able to overrule our instincts, our drive andnature? If not, then everything we do, every time we touch or hurt or love someone, we do it becausewe have no choice. Thus, the game tries to focus some of its attention on character weaknesses, instinctsand nature.

I believe that if players act out their characters convincingly, the game will be fun no matter if theircharacters are sinful or virtuous. Although ''virtue'' is a better, kinder word than "sin", bear in mindthat each and every one of us has "sin" as their middle name, yet few among us would consider our-selves "evil". We have all lusted, we have all bitten our lips, clenching our fists in anger, imagining sce-narios in which the target of our wrath suffered nameless atrocities. We have all feared or been corrupt-ed, we have all spoken lies -small white ones and some darker still- and too few among us would glad-ly give some of our small fortunes to those that may very well need them more. Our virtues and sinsare what make us human and when they mix, life becomes that much more interesting and complicat-ed. If this game is designed correctly, then you might discover how much fun that can lead to throughthe complex characters you will play. But enough talking of things you probably know already, andlets get down to the business of explaining what the Lesser Shades of EvilTM game is all about.

May your words be heard, your loves plentiful, your aim true and your life long...

Have fun...!

Pierre Kakos

ISBN: 978-2-9809783-0-2Dépôt légal - Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 2007Dépôt légal - Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, 2007

2

Sam

ple

file

LESSER SHADES OF EVIL

Written and created byPierre Kakos

Layout and graphic designMyotte Bellamy Productions (www.myottebellamy.com)

Jamie Wallis (www.jaytype.com)

EditingInna Gutnik

Cover artFrank Picini (www.frankpicini.com)

Interior artTorstein Nordstrand (www.torsteinnordstrand.com), Josée Brisson , Raphael Letertre ,

Martin McKenna (www.martinmckenna.net), Larry Elmore (www.larryelmore.com),Keith Scaife , Adéline Lamarre (http://www.phenixs.org/~vaar), Michel Lacombe,

Alexandra Myotte, Guy England, Kwansoo Park, Dan Williams

Map designsJosée Brisson

3D weapon designPierre Kakos

PlaytestingLaurent Scott, Michael Difiore, Christian Blanchet, Paul-André Messier, Yan Lefebvre,

Eric Desbiens, François Tremblay, Mathieu Quirion, Emilie Fay-Durand, Michel Hardy,Henry Obry, Christian Lassonde, Sebastien Gagnon

Additional helpLouise Parent, Jérémy Parent, Michel Kakos, Dao Chiem, Chris Moseley,

Lesser Shades of Evil is Copyright © 2007 by Ravencross Publishing enr. and its licensors. All rightsreserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or format, electronic or otherwise, withoutthe prior and written consent from the author (except for blank Character sheets and the Game and Combat HelpSheet) . The mention of other companies, products, movies, books or authors in these pages is not a challenge tothe trademark or copyright in question.

This is a work of fiction, all the characters and the storyline are fictional and any resemblance to people,places, organizations or events, historical or otherwise, is purely coincidental. This game requires maturity toplay. It neither encourages nor condones acts of violence, racism, sexism or general mayhem, and is intended formature readers.

3

Sam

ple

file

Special thanks

A personal thank you to Mr Jeremy Parent of the CLD, for sticking up for us and mak-ing it possible to write this book. Without your help, I would have starved a long time ago.

Thanks to my mom for everything (literally!) and encouraging me to keep on and to mydad, who unfortunately passed away prematurely (as people always do).

A big thumbs up to Myotte Bellamy Productions who came up in the last leg of this proj-ect and quite literally saved me from insanity. I encourage anyone in the book makin' busi-ness to give them a call.

A warm thanks to Torstein Nordstrand, Martin McKenna, Larry Elmore and KeithScaife, who made it possible to have their wonderful, timeless art into this book for a price Icould afford. Great people too!

Thanks to Jamie Wallis for the design work and for the advice. Quite a talented designguy!

Thanks as well to Inna Gutnik, whose help in brainstorming, grammar and editing wascrucial.

Thanks to my girlfriend Mel, for simply being great and putting up with me.

Thanks to my brother Michel for scaring me to death in horror adventures. Thanks toFrancois Tremblay, the first one to read my very first draft in 1997 and give me valuableadvice and Yan Lefebvre (my friend and partner in crime since we were small kids). Thanksto Paul-Andre Messier and Michel Decarie (if one day you see an impulse-engine poweredflying saucer, the former's probably the one that designed it and the latter the one that jurry-rigged it from his garage), Bianka Monette (an all around great gal and main character ofmy next book, Life after Simpler) and Dao Chiem for lending me hard cash to buy the com-puter on which this was written and cursed over. Thanks to my friend Eric Desbiens for beingwho he is, Yan B for the appartment, Marc, Vivan, Guillaume and Yanique. A tip of thehat to animals for being the natural, beautiful things that they are; dogs in particular, for pos-sessing all the good of humans and none of the bad.

And as a final note, I would like to thank the nameless people that first inspired me to cre-ate the world of LSoE; you know who you are; you buy massive yachts, you gold-plate yourcars and walk around with miniature dogs in your purses for decoration. You eat in restau-rants serving endangered animals and buy the big beamer because it costs over a hundred-Kand your equally unimaginative neighbor has one. You would rather invest in a shiny dia-mond for your front chompers than in something worthwhile, like creating something or giv-ing a little back to the poor, the animal shelters or those in your family and friends that may

need it to live. You value your life based on your possessions and what people say ofyou instead of what you accomplish. In my opinion, if you people exist, then in thegreat universal balance, there must be some really great people living in the world tobalance you out. My goal in life is to meet as many of those as I can.

4

Sam

ple

file

Resources and inspiration

Philip Jose Farmer, The world of tiers. A wonderful example of alternate worlds. A greatread for action fans.

Roger Zelazny, Amber chronicles and The Lord of Light. Read all of them. Read themmany times. Point is they portray the feel your games should have, or at least how I see theambiance of the world of LSoE. Mr Zelazny's clever writing is simply timeless.

Richard Morgan, Altered carbon. Good reading, and set in a future where people cantranspose their minds into other bodies when they die.

Greg Egan, Diaspora. A community way off in our future in which humans are entirelydigital.

OTHER INSPIRATIONS (among countless others that I forget)

Authors: H.P. Lovecraft, Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert, E.E. "Doc" Smith

Movies: The Truman show, Hero, Blade runner, the Matrix, Kung-Fu hustle, TheCrow, Dune, The village

Anime: Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Akira

Music: Nine Inch Nails, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Spiderbait, Les Cowboys Fringants, theOffspring

Games: Talislanta. Such a rich, bold setting. I fell in love with it, and bought every incar-nation of the game (from red to blue). Great work! Buy it! Battlelords of the 23rd century.Man did we have fun playing that game. After that killer chemistry exam in high school,blowing up aliens with nuclear land mines was a good way to relax with friends. Greattimes...!

5

Sam

ple

file

Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction 1Welcome to Lesser Shades of Evil 8Lyra Kingsway's Message 9The End of an Age 2820 Questions About Angelions... 30

Chapter 2: Game Mechanics 39Tasks 39Resolving Tasks 45Heroic Actions 49Opposed Tasks 50Building/Repairing Things and Lab Work 53

Chapter 3: When All Hell Breaks Loose 60Initiative 61Combat Sequence 64Animal and Monster Attacks 66Close Combat and Special Rules 66Ranged Combat and Special Rules 70Damage and Wounds 72Special Armor Rules 77Special Weapon Rules 78Other Damage Sources 82Attacking Inanimate Objects 83Damage Results 84Healing 86Using ''Powers'' 87Gravitational Powers 92Electromagnetic Powers 98Divine Powers 103

Chapter 4: A Legend Is Born 1091) Character Type 1102) Mental Attributes 1373) Choosing Your Cardinal Nature 1404) Weaknesses 1435) Masteries 147List of Masteries and Master Abilities 1516) Flesh, Bone and Steel 162Building a Body from Scratch 162Modifying a Body Template 1737) Wealth & Possessions 1908) Starting Traits 1949) Additional Points 194Traits & Flaws 19410) Description & Final details 206

6

Sam

ple

file

Chapter 5: Items Of Power 208The Age of Little Wonders 210A Primer on Second Age Artifacts 213Godshards and Black Artifacts 220Awakened Artifacts 263Common Artifacts 272Weapons Table 281Armor Table 283

Chapter 6: Behind The Veil 285Your Job as GM 285Drama Trumps 287The Assistant GM 288Introducing Players to Lesser Shades of Evil 289Adventure Seeds 295Running Campaigns When... 298Sample Non-Player Characters 301Character Evolution 306Purchasing New Bodies 317

Chapter 7: The Second Age 321The Kingsways 323The Unconquered Lands 333Geography and Wildlife 334People of the Unconquered Lands 335Mortal Timeline 336Daily Life 348Northern Birthland 374Southern Birthland 380Western Ebuleon 382Eastern Ebuleon 387The Land of Fire 391Angelions of the Unconquered Lands 395The Watchful Eye 406The Genomancers 411The Fell Kingdoms 417People of the Fell Kingdoms 4223 Example Fell Kingdoms 426Game and Combat Help Sheet 449Index 451Character Sheet 456

7

Sam

ple

file

Welcome to Lesser Shades of EvilTM

Father, I see hatred in your eyes. Youwish for me to feel pain? Know then that I

have let my spirit wander, seeing all thethings within this world you crafted. I find

many to be excruciatingly beautiful.Yet for all these things that I have seen

and touched, I never had nor will I ever haveany power over them. I am not fooled bythis illusion of life. I am no more alive thanthe grain of sand within the sandstorm. Bothit and I are bound to our destinies. I cannotescape mine, nor can I change it. I can onlyobserve it. So father be content; your wishhas come true. It seems I am to be thedestroyer of your world, but I dearly wishit could have been otherwise.

-Corvus Kingsway-

Lesser Shades of EvilTM is a roleplay-ing game dealing with immortality, powerand human weakness. The stage is the

world itself and the storyline will cover thousands of years; this book is only the beginning, yourguide into the world of LSoE at the dawn of the Third Age.

Many aspects of the game involve deception and illusion; that being said, as a player, stop yourreading here! Further reading may spoil your enjoyment of the first few adventures! As the GM,you are encouraged to read the book from cover to cover and become familiar with the rules. Byreading the Behind the Veil chapter, you will be given choices as to the the first adventure yourun, what sections players can read and when, and ultimately what their characters can becomeafter a certain number of adventures have passed. The first upcoming supplement will allow themto build realms and kingdoms and acquire truly epic abilities while describing the major powersand secret orders that may seek them out. Further books will allow your players to take com-

mand of the Third Age and lead it where they may. Who knows, some of the charactersfrom your group -and their realms- may be featured in these supplements!

Chapter OneIntroduction

8

Sam

ple

file