Play the game inspired by Beowulf and the Mahabharata; the King of Elfland's Daughter and the Adventures of Baron Munchausen; Contes du Temps Passé and the Thousand and One Nights; the Brothers Grimm and Baba Yaga. In Seven Leagues, you assume the role of a fairy-tale characters - not just those of the classic stories of Perrault or Fontaine, but also inspired by modern tales of enchantment, from magical realism to gothic urban magick. Your character will enjoy powers and limitations well beyond those of the Mortals telling their stories - the only limit is your imagination.
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| Purchase Seven Leagues | Free Demo |
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| Character sheet b/w — Character sheet color | |
Seven Leagues uses an extremely simple system of character creation based on words and narration. If you have a little imagination, can write a grocery list, and can add to 13, you can make a character in about 5 minutes. Roll 13, Seven Leagues' elegant action system, rewards good descriptions, not nitpicking over complex rules.
This is a genre which calls for, simple, evocative rules. Those coming to Seven Leagues from other games might look herein for rules for imposing game balance, or detailed progression tables, or 'crunchy' game mechanics. Those are all very fine things, but you won't find them here. Rather, Seven Leagues is designed to use collaborative storytelling and narration as the basis for its mechanics as much as possible. The point here is to come as close as possible to the paradoxical imaginings of tellers of fairy tales - be they modern or classic.
Many roleplaying game rules are rooted in mathematics and simple probability. Those elements are certainly here, albeit in a simple form, but many of this game's rules are based in language and grammar. The Oxford English Dictionary has over 290,000 entries and well over half a million word forms. If you are reading this you probably have a vocabulary of some 20,000 words. Language, and the grammatical engine that makes it run, therefore seems like a fine underlying mechanic for a game that attempts to tell collective stories.
Seven Leagues is divided into three main sections. Once Upon a Time... outlines the mechanics of character creation and game play, and includes seven sample characters for Players and Narrators alike to use as templates or inspiration. The Hut on Chicken Legs discusses the Faerie world and the kinds of adventures to be found there, and includes several sample Antagonists. Finally, the Tales gives the beginning Narrator a place to start - don't read these adventures if you plan on being a Player.
Copyright 2005-2006, Hieronymous.
Illustration by Giovanni Battista Piranesi