Designing Arrows of Indra

Bill and I didn't design Arrows of Indra so I can only talk about our experience publishing the book. The writer and designer was TheRPGPundit who wrote Lords of Olympus and GnomeMurdered. When I first heard about the Pundit's idea for an old school Epic India RPG, it sounded like a great concept to me. I checked out some of his other books and saw he was a skilled writer and talked to Bill about publishing it. We both agreed it was a good idea. 

Bill had been involved in the Old School Renaissance for some time. In fact he was the one who introduced me to games like Lamentations of the Flame Princess and OSRIC. And Bill wasn't someone who was afraid of innovation or of new systems. He played new games all the time, yet he also had a love for the simplicity and feel of the old school. Because of Bill's interest I had taken another look at earlier RPGs and started running my own 2nd edition Ravenloft game. So this was a project we felt good about even if our other products were all focused "genre" RPGs. 

We didn't know what it would be like working with Pundit. We had worked with writers before but for modules or supplements, not for a full game. Bill was enormously pleased by Pundit's material when it first came in. He commented to me on several occasions about how well thought out Indra seemed. It was an interesting period because we got to take a little break on design ourselves and spend more time doing things like play testing the manuscripts Pundit sent us. This also gave us the time we needed to work on Sertorius. 

Arrows of Indra is an OSR game that using the d20 mechanic and is set in the Bharata Kingdoms where players can be Kshatriya warriors, Yogis, and more. It is inspired by epic Indian mythology, with a particular interest in the Mahabharata. The book contains all the rules, monsters, and setting information you need to play. 

There is a lot I like about Arrows of Indra but one thing that has always stood out for me is the way it handles things like The Enlightenment Powers and the Advanced Class Skills. I liked both the individual entries for these but also the system around them. That there are rules for Divine Intervention also impressed me. I also think it fills a very important niche in the OSR spectrum of the hobby. 

You can find Arrows of Indra in PDF here: ARROWS OF INDRA PDF
It is also available in print here: ARROWS OF INDRA PRINT