History WebOriginal / Steelshod

** Zelde's (Yes, pronounced like [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda that]]) favorite response is to enthusiastically nod her head and say "Ja!"

!Welcome aboard, Wiki/TVTropes!

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Over a dozen [=PCs=] between the author and his two friends, and many, ''many'' more [=NPCs=]. This essentially turns the campaign into several campaigns take place concurrently within the same world, since rarely are all the [=PCs=] ever in the same place. Rather handy for the players, since if they get bored of playing one particular group, they can switch to a different group for a while before switching back.

* AlchemyIsMagic: Alchemy in the world is considered as magic. It's capable of making [[spoiler:thunderbolts in a bottle (explosives), concrete, and highly corrosive gas.]]

** Unferth, after the Svard War to present as the resident GreaterScopeVillain.

* CliffHanger: A lot, and I mean a LOT, of Steelshod's chapters end on one, especially nowadays. Examples include:

* DefeatMeansFriendship: How Steelshod recruits new members, most of the time.
-->[[RunningGag Welcome aboard, [insert character's name here]!]]
* DiabolusExMachina: In the [[FinalBattle final battle for Nahash]], after Aleksandr successfully [[spoiler: persuades [[BigBad Taerbjornsen]] into putting an end to the war, Taerbjornsen's [[PeltsOfTheBarbarian magic bearskin]] suddenly comes to life and engulfs him, and then proceeds to transform into a giant monster and send every bersark in the battle into an [[UnstoppableRage unstoppable rage]].]]
* DumbMuscle: Zelda embodies this trope with GermanicEfficiency. Her freakish strength has been described as being only ''slightly'' below that of your average bersark (and the bersark's strength is supernatural, hers isn't), while all evidence indicates her intelligence is slightly below that of your average rock.

* ExactWords: Aleksandr promises a Svardic priest he will be shown "mercy" if he cooperates. The priest is stabbed through the chest and thrown into a fire while still alive, the burning of his corpse dooming his soul to eternal misery. As Aleksandr notes, this was still more mercy than the Svards showed their victims.

* LoveTriangle: The [[PowerTrio Trio]] encounter one with the princess Isabel Garibaldi, Aistulf Lombard, and Juan in their Spatalia arc. [[spoiler:Turns Aistulf is gay, Juan is dumb as a sack of bricks, and Isabel is using the other two]].

* MundaneObjectAmazement: The campaign's setting is still in the iron age, so ''steel'' is viewed as a fantastically powerful metal akin to what mythril would be in any other fantasy setting, and knowing how to make it in good quality is seen as basically magic. The whole reason the titular band of mercenaries name themselves "Steelshod" in the first place is because just being associated with steel is all it takes to be seen as total badasses.
-->Who the fuck has so much steel that they could outfit an entire company with the stuff?\\

* NemeanSkinning: Svard bersarks wear the pelts of totem animals, with their size and personality changing to reflect the animal. Bersarks with brown bear pelts stand ten feet tall and are immensely strong while Taerbjornsen wears a polar bear pelt and is much larger and stronger. Black bear pelts by contrast result in smaller bersarks who favor ambushes and sniping as opposed to a melee while wolf pelts result in pack-minded scouts.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: A nameless Torathi priest burned a young Svardic woman at the stake due to her practicing some minor witchcraft. This not only ruined the chance for a peaceful union between the Svarden and the Midlands, it also triggered [[spoiler:what amounted to a Svardic holy war intent on wiping out the Torathi faith]].

** Years ago a Torathi priest tried to convert Svards in their homeland, eventually whipping up a witch hunt that burned a young Svardic woman at the stake. This had far-reaching consequences as her death more or less instigated the [[spoiler:Svardic invasion of the Midlands]].

* LoveTriangle: The [[PowerTrio Trio]] encounter one with the princess Isabel Garibaldi, Aistulf Lombard, and Juan in their Spatalia arc.

* WitchHunt: Headed by Father Seville in Spatalia. One of the first things Hubert does after being introduced is rescue a poor innocent girl from his wrath. [[spoiler:And then he finds out that she was being witch-hunted because ''she actually is a witch and was caught red-handed cursing a man for being rude''. Oops]].

* WizardClassic: The Order of Gnomon are one of the last remaining thaumaturges in the world, and the only ones of them we've seen so far, Borthul and Theodorus, fit this trope like a glove.

* WitchHunt: Headed by Father Seville in Spatalia. One of the first things Hubert does after being introduced is rescue a poor innocent girl from his wrath. [[spoiler:And then he finds out that she was being witch-hunted because ''she actually is a witch and was caught red-handed doing witchcraft''. Oops]].

* MoeGreeneSpecial: [[spoiler:Yorrin is on the receiving end of one courtesy of Asmundr, Blood Drinker. It crits, doing enough damage to instakill him, but he still survives thanks to Agrippa and his [[GameBreaker somewhat broken]] "Miracle Worker" ability]].

Nobody... ''[[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil yet]]''.

* WitchHunt: Headed by Father Seville in Spatalia. One of the first things Hubert does after being introduced is rescue a poor innocent girl from his wrath. [[spoiler:And then he finds out that she was being witch-hunted because ''she actually is a witch and was even caught red-handed doing witchcraft''. Oops]].

''Steelshod'' is a series of {{Website/Reddit}} posts on the [[http://reddit.com/r/dndgreentext DnDGreentext]] subreddit by user /u/[=MostlyReadRarelyPost=], based on his homebrew TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons campaign with two friends. It was intended to be a one-shot, but snowballed into [[LongRunners the longest, most intricate campaign the author has ever run]], to the point that it had been going for ''six years'' before he even started posting about it, and shows no signs of ending any time soon. The series focuses around the adventures of the titular mercenary company in a LowFantasy world informally called "Torathworld", with places based off of the real world, such as [[{{UsefulNotes/Spain}} Spat]][[{{UsefulNotes/Italy}} alia]], [[{{UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom}} the Midlands]], [[{{UsefulNotes/Germany}} Kriegany]], [[{{UsefulNotes/France}} Lorraine]], and other places.

** Spatalian Cimarutas made by befana (good witches) are used to ward off evil magic, typically malochio cast by strega (evil witches).

* DumbMuscle: Zelda embodies this trope with GermanicEfficiency. Her freakish strength has been described as being only ''slightly'' below that of your average bersark (and the bersark has supernatural assistance, she doesn't), while all evidence indicates her intelligence is slightly below that of your average rock.

* WitchHunt: Headed by Father Seville in Spatalia.

''Steelshod'' is a series of {{Website/Reddit}} posts on the [[http://reddit.com/r/dndgreentext DnDGreentext]] subreddit by user /u/[=MostlyReadRarelyPost=], based on his homebrew TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons campaign with two friends. It was intended to be a one-shot, but snowballed into [[LongRunners the longest, most intricate campaign the author has ever run]], to the point that (as of this writing) it's ''still going'' to this day, over six years later. The series focuses around the adventures of the titular mercenary company in a LowFantasy world informally called "Torathworld", with places based off of the real world, such as [[{{UsefulNotes/Spain}} Spat]][[{{UsefulNotes/Italy}} alia]], [[{{UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom}} the Midlands]], [[{{UsefulNotes/Germany}} Kriegany]], [[{{UsefulNotes/France}} Lorraine]], and other places.

* AbsurdlyLowLevelCap: ZigZagged. As the campaign was originally intended to be a one-shot, two-shot at the most, all characters, both player characters and [=NPCs=] have a maximum level of 5, and after that would gain "tiers" instead, which are less like levels and more like perks or permanent buffs to the character. At the time Level 5 actually seemed like an AbsurdlyHighLevelCap that nobody would reach before the campaign ended, but [[{{Understatement}} it went on a bit longer than anticipated]], and now there are characters who are Level 5 with 20+ tiers to their name.
* AccidentalMisnaming: Zelde apparently has a bit of trouble with Middish names, and will typically go for the most similar-sounding Kriegar name or word instead.

* BloodMagic: Used by priests of Vlar, though the faith is somewhat divided on whether using blood that is not your own or obtained through [[WarIsGlorious glorious]] means is heresy.

* DumbMuscle: Zelda embodies this trope with GermanicEfficency. Her freakish strength has been described as being only ''slightly'' below that of your average bersark (and the bersark has supernatural assistance, she doesn't), while all evidence indicates her intelligence is slightly below that of your average rock.

* RuleOfCool: In-universe example with Jorg Spear-Breaker. He got his name when he threw his spear so hard that it shattered when it hit his opponent. Pretty much everyone agreed that this was fucking awesome, so he started carrying around spears of intentionally poor quality so that he could do it again whenever he wanted. If he shatters a spear during combat, his nearby allies get a significant buff from the morale boost.

* VestigialEmpire: The old Casalline Empire, which once spanned most of the southern part of the world, leaving most of its technology behind (roads and various buildings).

* DumbMuscle: Zelda embodies this trope with GermanicEfficency. Strong enough to flatten bersarks with a few swings of her mighty axe, and equally as stupid.

NeedsWikiMagicLove.

* AbsurdlyLowLevelCap: ZigZagged. As the campaign was originally intended to be a one-shot, two-shot at the most, all characters, both player characters and [=NPCs=] have a maximum level of 5, and after that would gain "tiers" instead, acting less like levels and more permanent buffs to the character. At the time Level 5 actually seemed like an AbsurdlyHighLevelCap that nobody would reach before the campaign ended, but [[{{Understatement}} it went on a bit longer than anticipated]], and now there are characters who are Level 5 with 20+ tiers to their name.

** After slaying a Thaumati demon, Aleksandr's sword seemingly becomes possessed by it, turning black. Binding the demon with a mixture of Thaumati runes and Torathi scripture restores the sword's original colour and gives it the ability to literally burn away evil magic. The process is quite painful, and the more under the influence of evil magic you are, the more painful it is to burn away.
** Spatalian Cimarutas made by befana (good witches) are used to counteract Malochio made by strega (evil witches).

** Zelde's (Yes, pronounced like [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda that]]) favorite response is to enthusiastically nod her head and say "Da!"

* SatanIsGood: The Torathi faith worships the snake from the Adam and Eve story as the one who freed humanity from the GildedCage where they were subservient to the creator god, gave them knowledge and free will, and taught them how to be self-reliant. Of course, that means Torathi priests/priestesses can't do any "fancy cleric bullshit" and ask Torath for blessings or to smite their enemies or anything, because Torath expects you to help yourself.

* AntiMagic: The Spatalian Cimarutas, which heat up when they encounter bad magic.

--> Welcome aboard, [[PowerTrio Trio]]!
* DiabolusExMachina: In the [[FinalBattle final battle for Nahash]], after Aleksandr successfully [[spoiler: persuades [[BigBad Taerbjornsen]] into putting an end to the war, Taerbjornsen's [[PeltsOfTheBarbarian magic bearskin]] suddenly comes to life and engulfs him, and then proceeds to transform into a giant monster and send every bearsark in the battle into an [[UnstoppableRage unstoppable rage]].]]

* TheEmpire: First it was the Svards, then the Ruskans, then the Lorranettes, and now it's shaping up to be Cassala.

* FantasticSlurs: The countries have their own slurs for each other, such as "Spits" (Spatalians) and "Loonies" (Lorranettes).

** Dueling skill and abilities good enough that he can take on bearsarks solo.

* MundaneObjectAmazement: The campaign's setting is still in the iron age, so ''steel'' is viewed as a fantastically powerful metal akin to what mythril would be in any other fantasy setting, and knowing how to make it in good quality is seen as basically magic. The whole reason the titular band of mercenaries name themselves "Steelshod" in the first place is because just having three steel weapons among them made them total badasses.

* SatanIsGood: The Torathi faith worships the snake from the Adam and Eve story as the one who freed humanity from the GildedCage where they were subservient to the creator god, gave them knowledge and free will, and taught them how to be self-reliant. Of course, that means there's "no fancy cleric bullshit" in the faith, because Torath expects you to help yourself.

''Steelshod'' is a series of {{Website/Reddit}} posts on the [[http://reddit.com/r/dndgreentext DnDGreentext]] subreddit by user /u/[=MostlyReadRarelyPost=], based on his homebrew TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons campaign with two friends. The series focuses around the adventures of the titular mercenary company in a LowFantasy world informally called "Torathworld", with places based off of the real world, such as [[{{UsefulNotes/Spain}} Spat]][[{{UsefulNotes/Italy}} alia]], [[{{UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom}} the Midlands]], [[{{UsefulNotes/Germany}} Kriegany]], [[{{UsefulNotes/France}} Lorraine]], and other places.

* AbsurdlyLowLevelCap: ZigZagged. All characters, both player characters and [=NPCs=] have a maximum level of 5; however, they can gain an infinite number of tiers, acting less like levels and more permanent buffs to the character.

* CrystalDragonJesus
** Torath is a snake god specifically made a as a joke to invoke this trope

* FantasticSlurs: The countries have their own slurs for each other, such as Spits [[note]] Spatalians[[/note]], and Loonies [[note]] Lorranettes[[/note]].

** -A number of alchemical pots for any situation, including Thunderbolt, Dragonfire, Eyeburn, and Stone Tar.
** -An elite team of thieves, assassins, and spies called "Shadowsteel".
** -A widespread network of agents that can, among other things, bring him information, spread his rumors, and assassinate his targets.
** -Dueling skill and abilities good enough that he can take on bersarks solo.

* AbsurdlyLowLevelCap: All characters, both player characters and [=NPCs=] have a maximum level of 5. However, they can gain an infinite number of tiers, acting more like levels and giving buffs to the character.

** The saga appears to be set in the equivalent of the early middle ages while still having a very not byzantine-like roman empire-like Cassala.

** Zelde's (Yes, pronounced like [[TheLegendOfZelda that]]) favorite response is to enthusiastically nod her head and say "Da!"

** Unforth, after the Svard War to present as the resident GreaterScopeVillain.