The Riddle of Steel (TROS)

"The Riddle of Steel - Roleplaying with an Edge" is the title of an indie tabletop role-playing game created by Jacob Norwood (pub. Driftwood Publishing 2002). The written genre is low-fantasy to "sword and sorcery" in a medieval world; additional rules were published for high-fantasy elements and renaissance settings. Despite being discontinued, TROS has retained a small but zealously devoted fan base.

Notable contributions to the TT RPG genre are: 1) Spiritual Attributes, which grant experience points (and upgrades) to a player only when the character acts according to his motives/beliefs; 2) a combat system that is recognized as realistic by renaissance military historians; 3) an unflinching embrace of unbalanced characters, especially regarding sorcerers.