Fate Points and Savage Worlds bennies

I just designed my own Fate points/ Savage Worlds bennies:

Personalized Black Poker Chip Chip, $3.30

Kickstarter: Holy Crap: The Great Sects Change Operation (Only 24 hours left!)

There are only 24 hours left in +Andy Hopp 's Low Life RPG Kickstarter!  For those of you not familiar with Low Life, it's an awesome Savage Worlds setting, the post-apocalyptic world of Oith which is populated by the mutated descendants of snack cakes, worms, roaches, smelfs, and other assorted wacky creatures.  I really can't do it justice, so check out http://muthaoithcreations.com/ if you'd like to learn about the world.  I've been a big fan since the first edition, and I was really excited when the new edition came out last year (I bought 2 copies).  Now there is a new Kickstarter for a book exploring Oith's religions.  Come on, you know that you want to know what sort of gods mutated intelligent twinkies worship, don't you?  If you like gonzo, you really owe it to yourself to check this one out!

Savage Worlds Pulp Era Firearms

So I've fallen a bit behind on Random Table Tuesday, but I came across a pulp era firearms table for Savage Worlds that I started a number of years ago.  I still haven't put strength minimums or pulp era prices in yet, but I think it gives a nice variety of weapons from the early 20th century.  Hopefully I'll find the time to finish it soon.  Enjoy!

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My Game.

   

     Over that past few years, I've been working to whittle down my RPG collection, purging the games that I will never play.  Over the four decade that I've been gaming, I certainly collected a lot of different RPGs, some of which I've actually played, but many of why just took up shelf space.  This really got me thinking about the question of, "What is my game?", and what do I even mean by "My Game."  By "My Game", I'm talking about the game that I think in terms of regardless of what game I'm actually playing.  This isn't to say that I compare other games to it and find them wanting, but rather that it is the game that permeates my consciousness like a native language.  The game that I dream in, so to speak.    

     Way back in the day, circa 1979, the answer to this question would have been Dungeons & Dragons, as that was the game that I played the most and the one which informed my view of roleplaying as a whole.  As time went on, I found myself wanting more, and I was exposed to more varied systems.  I found other games that spoke to me more than D&D, games that let me do things beyond the strictures imposed by that venerable system.  By the time that I was in college, "My Game" was the Hero System.  It gave me free range to create almost anything that I could think of, provided that I had the time and energy to do the math.

     After college, real life intervened, and I gamed less for a good while, but I kept buying RPGs since I had a job and could better afford them.   However, I would still look at everything through he Hero System lens.  As I got back into gaming, and played newer systems, I found many to be very enjoyable.  Savage Worlds is now one of may favorite systems.  I love that I can create adventures quickly and get a session going without hours upon hours of preparation.  Also, I think that Savage Worlds works really well for the types of games that I like to run (Barbarians wandering around the wastelands killing evil wizards).  I'm also a big fan of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.  I love the zero level funnel idea and the whole "You're not heroes" vibe, plus Goodman games puts out some great supplements and has amazing artwork.  Far Away Land is also a great rules light system with some wonderful art and some really fun adventures.

     If I were to run a game today, it would probably be Savage worlds, DCC, or Far Away Land, yet I can't call any one of them, "My Game".  "My Game" to this day  is still the Hero System, even though I haven't played it in over a decade, and very likely will never play it again.  I can't create a monster or a magic items for another system without at least vaguely thinking, "How would I create this in Hero?"  So, what is your game?  What system do you find yourself thinking in terms of even when you aren't playing it, and do you still play it? 

The Superhero Dilema

      I like superheroes.  I've really enjoyed the recent Marvel films, I still read Batman comics, love playing the Arkham games, and really like watching the Awesomes, but for some reason, I've never been that crazy about superhero roleplaying games.  Oh, I've played them.  In college we played Champions occasionally, and a few years ago we played a friend's home-brew system, but I've always been more a fan of guys with swords.  So where am I going with this?  Well, lately I've been feeling the urge to run a superhero game, and as usually happens, I'm debating which system I would use.  In my mind, the game would be a one-off, rather than a regular campaign, and I would want the flexibility to create characters of varying types.
     To me, the seemingly obvious answer is Champions / Hero System, but it's not as clear cut as all that.  While I know that Champions and the Hero System have a bit of a reputation for complexity, the core mechanics (3d6 roll under) is pretty simple.  The heavy lifting comes with character creation, which is a bit of a double edged sword.  While Champions lets you create just about anything you can conceive of, it can get a bit overwhelming if you don't already have a concept.  Building the powers can be a bit of a turn-off to some, but once the characters are done, the game flows pretty smoothly.  Combats do tend to take a bit of time, but that's pretty much in keeping with comic books where you generally only see one big fight per issue.
     Mutants and Masterminds of course is in the mix.  I love the DC Universe supplements which means that I'd never run out of ready-made antagonists, but it doesn't seem to be that much lighter then Champions.  Character creation still seems to be the stumbling block for new players, but man is it a beautiful book.
     GURPS is that game that I've always wanted to love, but just don't quite.  Sort of like Champions without all the stats, which is probably why I'm not that fond of it.  Had I come to GURPS before I'd ever played The Hero System, I'm guessing that this would have been my go-to game, but it didn't happen that way.  Plus, I'd need to tote around at least 3 books just to do character creation.
     So maybe Savage Worlds?  It's a great system for pulp games, and would probably be awesome for a costumed vigilantes fighting Nazis type game, but I'm not sold on it for straight up Superheroes.  I need to do a d6 only have for Savage worlds, as I'm just a fan of using d-sixes and.
     Finally, we come to Icons.  I picked up the Assembled edition last winter and it really seems to scratch that more rules light while still doing supers itch that I seem to have.  I like the idea of random superhero creation, and it uses all six sided dice.
     In the end, this doesn't really go anywhere.  I doubt that I'll run anything soon, but it may e a fun diversion for the times when all of our regular group can't get together.  I think that either Champions or Icons would win out, but who knows?

Savagery and Sorcery

So for quite some time, I've been playing around with the idea of running a game that I call The Savage Sorcerers of Sungor.  It was intended as a Savage Worlds fantasy setting.  The idea was to have a game world that was inspired by Thundarr the Barbarian, the Den and Taarna segments of the film Heavy Metal, and Gamma World.  This was then all to be done up to look like a Frank Frazetta painting.  Now this all sounds and looks good in my head, but of course things have been holding me back.  I kept telling myself that I didn't have time and was too busy to work on the world, and maybe partly that was true, but the real issue that was holding me back (beyond laziness) was that I didn't have a map.  I could see places in my head, but they had no spatial relationship to one another.  I knew what things were, but I had no idea where they were.  I needed a map, and started digging through my folders to find one.  I had worked on a map a few years ago that I really liked and thought that is might just do, so I cleaned it up in GIMP and I was pretty happy with the results.

I like this map a lot.  I could do a lot of things with this map, but this map isn't Sungor.  Something just wasn't right, and honestly I couldn't say what.  It just didn't feel right for the game that I wanted.  So things languished again as I had no map.
I've been meaning to play around with Campaign Cartographer for some time, and owing to having lots of unplanned free time over Christmas while I fought off some sort of virus, I got the chance.  I loaded the map above into Campaign Cartographer and traced it, adding some land to the west along with a few more islands, and then I set to work adding in the terrain.  What I wound up with was this:

Now this is more of what I imagined Sungor looking like.  It has the Smoldering Sea where the ancient and terrible city of Sungor lies.  It has the Great Bog, where the mighty hero Yaard was birthed.  It has the Western Wastelands, home to all manner of mutant horrors.  It has the trackless Jungle of Hroon with its lost cities and giant serpents.  It has the vast Crater of Uul, wherein lies the sinister city of the Wizard Lizards.  In short, this was the map that I was looking for.  Well, maybe a bit more brown, but I'm still learning the tool.  So, does this mean that I'll run the game?  Maybe, but even if I don't, I've got a map to start from and something to start working on adventures to amuse myself.
I did a bit of adjustment to the background color to make some of the terrain features easier to see.  I'm still not sure which version I like better, but this one certainly prints better.

Savage Worlds: Creating a Character (Step by Step)

This week, we will create a character for savage worlds.  So that we can see how the same character looks across game systems, we will once again be creating Korgrym the Unrelenting, barbarian hero extraordinaire.

In Savage worlds, you first begin with the character's race.  Korgrym may be savage, but he is still human, which means that he will start with one free Edge, which we will explain later.

Savage Worlds characters have five attributes:

Agility - How nimble, quick, and dexterous the character is
Smarts - How smart the character is
Spirit  - How much wisdom and willpower the character has
Strength - How physically strong the character is
Vigor - How tough and resistant the character is to disease and harm

Attributes are associated with dice.  the Larger the die, the better the attribute.  Each attribute starts out at a d4 in each attribute and has 5 point with which to raise them.  Each point spent raises the attribute to the next larger die, d4 -> d6 -> d8 -> d10 -> d12.  No attribute may be raised above a d12.

Korgrym is strong, and tough, and quick, but not very bright, so his starting attributes are as follows:


Agility -    d6  for 1 point
Smarts -   d4
Spirit  -     d4
Strength - d8  for 2 points
Vigor -      d8  for 2 points

Now it's time to choose skills.  Each character has 15 points to spend on skills, and each die type costs 1 points, starting with d4 as long as the skill is less than or equal to the attribute that it is linked to.  Korgrym chooses the following skills:

Fight -             d8 for 3 points
Climbing -      d8 for 3 points
Riding -          d6 for 2 points
Stealth -          d6 for 2 points
Intimidation - d6 for 2 points
Swimming -    d6 for 2 points
Survival -        d4 for 1 point

Next, we figure Korgrym's Derived Statistics.

Charisma is 0 unless you have Edges or Hindrances that change it.  We haven't chosen Korgrym's Edges or Hindrances yet, so we'll say that is 0 for now.

Pace is 6" for humans

Parry is 2 plus half of Korgrym's Fighting skill, so it's 6.

Toughness is 2 plus half Korgrym's Vigor plus Armor, so for now it's 6

Now, it's time to chooses Edges and Hindrances.  Edges are special powers/skills that can be purchased by buying flaws or Hindrances.  Each character may take 1 Major Hindrance worth 2 points and 2 Minor Hindrances worth 1 point each.

For 2 points the character can:
   Raise an attribute one die type, or
   Choose an edge

For 1 point the character can:
   Get another skill point, or
   get additional starting money equal to their starting funds (normally $500)

Korgrym decides to get the maximum amount of points possible and takes 1 Major Hindrance, and 2 Minor Hindrances.  For his Major Hindrance, Korgrym takes:

Bloodthirsty - He can never take prisoners, and suffers a -4 Charisma penalty if his bloodthirsty ways are known

For his Minor Hindrances, Korgrym takes:

Illiterate - since he can't read or write
 and
Outsider - to reflect his status as an outland barbarian

In exchange for these Hindrances, Korgrym raises his Spirit by 1 die to a d8 and takes the edge:

Loincloth Hero - which allows him to make a free soak roll against damage whenever he is unarmored.

Korgrym's final abilities are:


Agility -     d8
Smarts -    d4
Spirit  -      d4
Strength -  d8
Vigor -       d8

Charisma    0/-4
Pace            6"
Parry          6
Toughness  6

Fight -             d8

Climbing -      d8
Riding -          d6
Stealth -          d6
Intimidation - d6
Swimming -    d6
Survival -        d4

All that is needed now is to buy some gear and go adventuring.  Here is Korgrym's final character sheet: