he Riddle of Steel (abbreviated as TRoS) is a role-playing game (RPG) created by

Jacob Norwood and published by Driftwood Publishing. It is designed for role-

playing in a typical sword and sorcery or high fantasy gameworld environment.

The title of The Riddle of Steel is inspired by several references in the movie
Conan the Barbarian, including a line of dialogue in which the villain, Thulsa
Doom, asks the captured Conan, "What is the riddle of steel?" Doom answers this
question by explaining to Conan that the true strength of steel is in the hand that
wields it � in other words, it is the resolve and commitment we bring to a task,
not the quality or quantity of tools we use in performing it, that is the most
important factor in determining success. This theme strongly influenced the design
of Riddle, most particularly in the implementation of spiritual attributes.The base
mechanic of the game is a die-pool system; to accomplish tasks, players roll a pool
of ten-sided dice against the target number, or TN, of the task, with the number of
dice equalling or beating the TN determining degree of success.

The game's combat system is based heavily on Jacob Norwood's real-world historical
martial arts studies. He is the president of the HEMA Alliance, was a Senior Free
Scholar in the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts, and John Clements, the
director of that organization, recommends the game for its martial realism. This
combat system is usually marketed as one of its key selling points. The other
primary hallmark of the game is the character design aspect known as spiritual
attributes, often abbreviated "SAs" by game fans.

Each player in TRoS defines up to five spiritual attributes for their character,
specifying the areas in which they want that character to excel and demonstrate
heroism. Possibilities include: faith (defending a religion or philosophical
worldview), passions (love, hate or other strong emotions for someone or
something), conscience (personal ethics), drive (a particularly strong intent or
purpose), destiny (a future foretold), and luck (general good fortune and
coincidence). This system allows players more control over the in-game performance
of their characters, by granting the player extra dice whenever the character faces
an obstacle in a situation where the player wants his character to shine. It brings
a slight cinematic atmosphere to the game in that the hero can suffer defeat, but
has uncanny luck and persistence in the crucial elements of the story.

The Spiritual Attributes also serve as the game's character improvement and
development mechanic. Points are awarded to the attributes by the game master when
characters act according to these attributes, and spent by players to increase
attributes, skills, weapon proficiencies and other character aspects.The game,
especially the combat system, was heavily influenced by the Polish historical role-
playing game Dzikie Pola.[citation needed] The official fantasy world of the game,
Weyrth, also shows strong influences of Polish and Eastern European history among
its imaginary cultures and peoples, particularly in the nations of Zaporozhya (from
the Polish historical term for Ukraine) and the Rzeczpospolita, the Polish word for
"Commonwealth". For historical inspiration, see Zaporizhia, Rzeczpospolita and
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.