SAKE (Sorcerers, Adventurers, Kings, And Economics) Basic Rules

SAKE is a modular point-buy TTRPG that blends strategy game elements and gives you the opportunity to embody powerful rulers, savvy merchants, fearless adventurers, mad sorcerers, or priests with pacts with strange gods. All at the same time!

SAKE is perfect for those who love to build and create, as you can transform your dungeon loot into grand castles and establish your own domains, fleets, or armies alongside your unique characters.

SAKE includes:

• A robust system for managing domains and generating adventures around them.
• A system for engaging in trade and shipping, complete with all the associated intrigues and risks.
• A system for large-scale battles, complete with troops, sieges and more.
• An abundance of random tables for generating events, dungeons and adventures, ensuring that each game session is unique.
• and of course, magic, exciting early modern equipment (katanas, muskets, plate armour, and grenades, all in the same battle), undead, insane gods, and all the other elements one would expect from an adventure.

Basic Rules

Basic Rules is a simplified edition of the SAKE Core Rulebook, similar to a Quickstart but longer (245 pages) as SAKE is a crunchy game with several modules. This book allows you to experience the full game, including rules for domain building and playing the domain game, rules for dungeon crawling, adventuring in the wilds, chases, and fights. It also covers rules for magic and otherworld, as well as making pacts with gods to channel spells from them.

Several of these modules use their own Character Sheet like sheets (e.g., Domain Sheet for the Domain Game). Those are all linked inside of the pdf. 

The Full Core Rulebook will be published after the Kickstarter campaign and will include:

- More abilities, more equipment, and magical items

- More spell schools (Necromancy, Psychics)

- Asteanic major gods and a whole lot of priest spells

- More establishments for the Domain Game

- Rules for combat on a company scale and stats for companies

- A complete Economics module (Rules for overseas trade, seafaring, sea battles, ship stats, storms, and so on).

Kickstarter prelaunch page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1710384861/sake-sorcerers-adventures-kings-and-economics-rulebook

If you want to be notified of the Kickstarter launch or any other important news about SAKE, you can sign up for the newsletter: www.sake.ee/newsletter/ (I promise not to send too frequent emails).

Or you can simply follow SAKE on any social media platform, where all news will be posted:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SAKEttrpg 

Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/sake_rpg/ 

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@SAKE 

Sorcerers, Adventurers, Kings, And Economics Basic Rules 

2023

ISBN 978-9916-4-2196-3

Game design and writing by Rainer Kaasik-Aaslav

Translated from Estonian with the help of Getter Kaasik-Aaslav and ChatGPT

Illustrations by Midjourney AI; maps, plans, and schematics by Rainer Kaasik-Aaslav

Published by Seventh Son Publishing, LLC

www.sake.ee

sake@sake.ee

© 2023 Rainer Kaasik-Aaslav. All rights reserved.

Core Mechanics 

• SAKE uses a standard 7-dice set (d4, d6, d8, d10, d%, d12, d20).
• Most rolls are made with a d20 (skill checks, attack rolls, spell rolls, etc.).
• Point buy. During play, PCs can earn Experience Points (EXP), which they can use to purchase Skill Ranks, abilities, Health Points, spells, etc.
• Experience Points can be gained through gameplay events and the personality traits of a player character. At the end of each game session, the Game Master (GM) and the players evaluate how much EXP was earned. The amount of EXP earned is individual.
• Hex crawls and dungeon crawls are divided into turns. During each turn, each PC has one action. In addition, the skills and abilities of the PCs combine to form the group’s overall capability, from which Opportunities and Hazards arise.
• Opportunities and Hazards are rolled using a percentile dice (d100).
• Depending on the actions of the PCs, and/or the results of the Opportunity and Hazard rolls, encounters occur.
• To prepare a dungeon or hex crawl, the GM fills out a dungeon or region sheet. These sheets have several parts that are already pre-filled with general ideas of what may happen during the adventure, which speeds up and simplifies the GM’s work.
• Combat is divided into 10-second rounds, during which each character has one Action and one Reaction. The order of Actions is determined at the beginning of combat.
• Actions can be used during a character’s turn for movement, casting spells, attacking, etc.
• Reactions can only be used during an opponent’s Action to disrupt them (for example shooting when an opponent moves).
• Attack and Parrying are determined by opposing rolls.
• Armour provides Damage Reduction, which is subtracted from Damage.
• When fleeing from combat, a separate system is used in which distance is not measured in meters or time in 10-second rounds. The fleeing character must accumulate 5 Escape Points. During the escape, it is possible to attack with ranged weapons or to completely avoid being hit by sacrificing Escape Points.
• Player characters (PCs) may attempt to persuade non-player characters (NPCs) to do something, change their opinion, or believe something. If the Game Master (GM) determines that the NPC is unwilling to comply with the PC’s request, they will set static Difficulty Levels based on the reasons for the NPC’s unwillingness. The PCs can remove these reasons by taking certain actions or arguing with the NPC.
• Arguing can involve using various skills depending on the nature of the argument. For example, Theology can be used to argue about matters of faith, Social Skills can always be used.
• Magic functions similarly to other skills. You can advance your mastery in magic schools (skills) by acquiring ranks, spells are individual Abilities that must be obtained individually.

The core principles of the rules also apply to other modules. For example, the percentile of Opportunities and Hazards is rolled during each turn of dungeon exploration, while in domain play, a similar system of group percentile value is used to roll for Prosperity, Discontent and Corruption. Additionally, just as individual characters have Actions and Reactions during each round of combat, military units also have Actions and Reactions during each turn of battle. Furthermore, just as individual characters accumulate escape points to flee, army units and ships do so when battles take place on a larger scale or on water.

As SAKE is modular, it is easy to utilize only the necessary modules, preventing the game from overwhelming players. If you prefer classical dungeon crawling, you don’t need to worry about world economics or domain ruling. Conversely, you can play SAKE as a domain strategy game, utilizing the random events system in the King module to create content and playing by Domain Turns, never engaging in hand-to-hand combat and only fighting as an army when launching campaigns against neighbouring kingdoms.

Campaign types well-suited for SAKE

Campaign in which the PCs are rulers or chancellors 

In this campaign, the PCs are part of a clan, dynasty, group of samurai bureaucrats, leading priests of a temple, or similar organization with a shared goal and a domain over which they have authority. They must work to protect and improve their domain, collecting taxes from the people living there to fund these efforts.

At the start of the game, the PCs are already in positions of power and, while their adventures may take them anywhere and involve any type of challenge, their overarching goal is to safeguard and expand their domain.

Possible adventure scenarios:

• Conflict with a neighbouring kingdom
• A nature deity that is hostile towards humans and their domains
• Intrigue and drama within the court
• Vassals who are rebellious or a lord who is hostile towards the PCs
• Magic-related issues
• Plague and drought causing problems
• War breaking out
• Hired adventurers making a situation worse instead of better.

Merchant campaign

In this campaign, the PCs are merchants and/or pirates who operate from a base such as a ship or a trading post in a large city. They are driven by the desire to increase their personal wealth and influence and may undertake a variety of adventures that take them across the world’s oceans. This campaign can involve a hex-crawl structure, but it is not required.

Possible adventure scenarios:

• Engaging in piracy
• Exploring and charting new territories
• Negotiating trade agreements
• Competing and battling with other merchants in cities and on the seas
• Surviving a shipwreck and discovering a mysterious island
• Dealing with intrigues and conflicts in major trade centres
• Clearing trade routes of pirates.

Rags to riches campaign

The PCs start as ordinary adventurers, and everything else follows.