Win the score with steel or nerve, spend it by dawn, and never read the serpent-script aloud.
image slot · Serpent Throne, the world
The world
Where it happens
The serpent-kings’ empire fell an age ago, and the world that grew over its ruins is loud, hot and hungry: walled city-states drowning in silk and knives, a grim hill-north that bows to no one, a river empire where the old cult never died, and corsair isles living off everyone’s trade. Under it all sit ruins of something that was never human. You are a sword for hire, a roof-runner, a reaver, a corsair.
A session is a score: a tomb under the dunes, a caravan through raider country, a ransom, a prize ship taken at dawn. You win it with steel, wit or nerve, and the Spree burns the silver into contacts, reputation and tales — you wake broke, with a name that opens doors and a grudge that hunts you. Magic is real, pre-human and priced: there are no spells to cast here, only rituals, relics and bargains, and every one of them costs Doom.
image slot · the pressure that drives play
What drives it
Doom, the price of sorcery
Doom runs from 0 to 10 and rises every time you touch sorcery: a rite worked, a cursed relic kept, a deep ruin desecrated, innocent blood spilled for silver, the serpent-script read aloud. The bands run unmarked, shadowed, marked, hollowed — and at 10 the Outer Dark claims you, and the gamemaster resolves what walks away wearing your face. There is no magical healing either: rest, bandages, a chirurgeon, grit.
image slot · Serpent Throne, how it plays
How it plays
The systems you can ask for
These mechanics are original to Serpent Throne — you will not know them from any rulebook. Read them here, then simply ask your gamemaster for any of them at the table; the engine enforces every number.
Doom
Sorcery has no slots and no casters — every rite, relic and bargain is paid on a meter that does not haggle.
The Spree
Carousing downtime burns treasure into contacts, reputation and rumors — wealth never accumulates, legend does.
Your ship
A corsair galley is property and crew in one: its hold is a stash, it fights as a companion, and at zero it drifts, never sinks.
The weakness engine
The things under the ruins shrug off plain steel — ancient bronze, fire, funeral oil and ward-salts bite.
Gritty survival
Rations, hard encumbrance and opportunity attacks are all on — the Brazen Age is hungry.
Guilds of the age
The Red Banners, the Veiled Hand, the Free Sails — and the Coil, for those who walk the dark path.
“Spend the silver tonight. The grudge keeps till morning.”
image slot · the cultures of Serpent Throne
Who you can be
10 cultures
portrait · Skarn
Skarn
The grim hill-north: mountain-bred, winter-willed, bows to no one.
portrait · Averran
Averran
The heartland kingdoms of letters, law and drilled spears.
portrait · Velessi
Velessi
The silk city-states: gutter-quick, with the tongue of the markets.
portrait · Korvath
Korvath
The corsair coast and isles: sea-legs and a reaver’s eye.
portrait · Hrimvar
HrimvarPremium
The frost-coast sea-wolves of the white north.
portrait · Qeshite
QeshitePremium
The serpent river-empire, where the old cult never died.
portrait · Vaskari
VaskariPremium
The endless steppe: born to the saddle, hunts with the horn-bow.
portrait · Krael
KraelPremium
The wildwood tribes; the forest remembers through them.
portrait · Vhal
VhalPremium
The pale far north, witch-marked and cold of patience.
portrait · Mbezi
MbeziPremium
The gold kingdoms of the far south: lion plains and witch-finder courts.
image slot · the roles in action
What you can do
10 roles
Reaver
The northern war-fury with a Battle-Fury pool and an iron hide.
Thief
Roofs, locks and purses; sneak attacks and the gutter network.
Sellsword
The professional: formation discipline and an employer’s measure.
Corsair
Boarding actions and ship-handling; the ship is property and crew.
Tracker
The wilds: bows, beast-lore, reading ground, the patient kill.
OccultistPremium
The forbidden path: rites, wards and serpent-script, every power priced in Doom.
Pit-FighterPremium
The arena legend: grapples, dirty tricks and unarmored swagger.
AssassinPremium
Poisons, disguise and the quiet kill.
Tomb-BreakerPremium
The relic hunter: wards, traps and the lore of dead empires.
Caravan MasterPremium
The face: routes, tolls and a friend at every gate.
image slot · the arms of Serpent Throne
The arsenal
Arms, and what they cost
Real rows from the engine's own tables: the dice are the dice, the prices are the prices. Your gamemaster cannot fudge them, and neither can you.
Broadsword1d8
The trade of the age; it settles most arguments south of the hills.
Great-axe1d12
A hill-country answer to city manners.
Hornbow1d8
Steppe-made recurve; death rides cheap at a hundred paces.
Ancient bronze blade1d6
Temple-bronze of the old empire. The things below remember it.
Funeral oil (flask)20 silver
Coat a blade and it counts as sanctified for the fight.
Bronze mailAC 15
The age’s good answer; the panoply of kings costs thrice more.
… and 60 more priced pieces in play.
image slot · what hunts you in Serpent Throne
The opposition
What hunts you
Every foe is statted before the fight starts; what your party learns about them is recorded, hunt by hunt.
Bandit captainHP 32
Men with knives. Fight them like men.
Giant constrictorHP 33
The god’s spawn: it grapples first and squeezes after.
The Hooded VoiceHP 65
The cult’s speaking shadow; the knife-priests answer it.
Bronze temple guardianbane: bronze
A construct that ignores plain steel; only the old bronze bites.
Demon of the Outer DarkHP 55
It knits shut unless you bring bronze or fire.
Serpent-king revenantHP 85
A crowned thing that remembers its empire.
… and 25 more in the bestiary.
Begin a Serpent Throne campaign
Connect lorewend to your AI, make a character, and tell the gamemaster you want Serpent Throne. The free tier plays a full campaign.
