Flynn
First Post
Good Morning, All:
This post is based on a request or two from other posters that I continue to post about my Savage Worlds gaming experiences, particularly in regards to running a campaign in it.
I ran the first session of my Savage Worlds fantasy campaign Wednesday night. Four of the five players were able to make it (the fifth had a work-related emergency that took him out of state at the last minute), but the session went well with the four characters present.
Being a lover of homebrewed settings, I am running this game on the world of Kintara, in the Great Lake Tempest region. This is a setting of my own creation, and I look forward to seeing how running this in Savage Worlds (as opposed to a D20 system like Fantasy Concepts) will impact the world's development over the course of the campaign.
The Synopsis:
The story begins on Midsummer Eve in the tent-city known as Trader's Point, a "temporary" collection of tents and caravans gathered in a central location for the purposes of trade and occasionally low-key diplomacy. Under the guidance of the Magus Sisuthros, his manservant Rufius gathered together a small band of adventurers, individuals that had recently made a name for themselves with their previous actions. When the Magus did not arrive at the appointed meeting place on time, Rufius became concerned and agitated. The four PCs offered to accompany Rufius in the search for their patron, and soon discovered the dead wizard not far from his ransacked tent.
Chrysander, a former student of Magus Sisuthros, discovered part of a page in the wizard's clenched fist. Obsessed with mysteries, he cast a simple spell to comprehend what was written on the page in an ancient tongue. From what he could tell, the page referenced a long lost relic, a vial containing the Blood of Meritus, which had been shed by the young godling during a battle against a Demon Thane back in the Age of Legends. The Blood of Meritus is purported to grant any of a number of magical powers, from healing to eternal youth. The piece of paper also referenced the Enchanted Isle of Suzeran, a mysterious island that only appears on Midsummer Eve, from midnight until dawn, piercing the veil between the lands of the fey and the Plane Prime. The isle is said to hold vast piles of great treasures, including the ruins of the Tower of the Archmagus Suzeran. Unfortunately, many who go to the island never return.
Sharing his discovery with the other heroes, Chrysander managed to convince them of the significance of such a discovery. The valian Andrus, his dwarven comrade Yngvar the Stonecutter and the contemplative elven priest Anzjin decided to join Chrysander in his quest. After acquiring a rowboat, the four set out for the island a few miles out into the Great Lake. As the full moon rose above, the Enchanted Isle appeared in the distance. However, the party was not the only group interested in the site, for they spied the pirate vessel of Viridia the Red, a Render-Captain known for her violent ways and her attractive looks. Spying a longboat approaching a submerged tower, the party decided to avoid any direct conflicts and so skirted the isle to land away from the small bay.
Braving their way through the fey woods on the isle, avoiding Seelie and Unseelie revels and "mock" battles on this night of transition, the adventurers managed to work their way to the flooded ruins and the shore of the bay undetected. Using a log to help stay afloat, Yngvar and Anzjin (with their ability to see well under the poor lighting conditions) made their way stealthily to the tower and the longboat, determined to take the craft from the watchful pirates. Things did not go as planned, and the two adventurers had to dispatch the four pirates while the two humans struggled to swim to the tower. The two non-humans emerged victorious and unscathed, despite a valiant effort on the part of the pirates protecting the top of the tower. No one from the pirate ship appeared to notice.
Once atop the Tower of Archmagus Suzeran, the four adventurers set themselves the task of clearing out the remaining pirates and gathering what they could before the isle disappeared. Among the first chambers they found below was a shrine of some sort, filled with an array of magical candles and obviously dedicated to heroic individuals. Many of the candles bore names in an ancient script, including Andrus's own. Unnerved by that revelation, the party decided to descend further into the tower.
Below the chamber of candles, the adventurers discovered a room of three dragon portals, gateways to other places. They quickly decided that the black dragon portal probably led to the lair of Avalinadon the Black Death, a black dragon that had slain Archmagus Suzeran and in so doing, caused the magical rift that cast this island into the Fey Realms. Of the other two, one was marked with a small pool of blood. The sagely Chrysander determined that the portals could be opened with blood, and so cut his own palm in his ruthless pursuit of lost mysteries. His blood indeed opened a portal to another locale.
Walking through the portal, the four adventurers discovered a long hall of dragon statues, welcoming them to this long-lost site. From the shadows, four pirates threw themselves on the adventurers, seriously wounding three of the four. Despite their wounds, the band worked well together, and overcame their attackers. Taking some time to attempt to heal some of their wounds, the party realized they had perhaps less than three hours left before the Isle vanished again for another year, and so proceeded out of the hall of dragons.
This is where we wrapped up for the session.
Commentary:
This adventure, as some of you may have already guessed, is a conversion of a D20 module. (If you know which one, don't spoil the surprise, just in case one of the players happens to read this thread.) I first started by converting the background material to fit the homebrew setting that I'm running. After that, I had to convert the scenario to Savage Worlds mechanics. I had trouble with the traps at first, until I found an example to look at in one of the Fantasy Toolkits, and the rest really was easy. Stats-wise, it took maybe 10-20 minutes to do all the conversions. It took a little longer to do my notes up, of course, but all in all, the conversion process was painless.
In regards to the ambush, I've noticed that it's an ugly thing when someone gets "the drop" on you in Savage Worlds. Only a poor damage roll saved the priest from suffering the two to three wounds that the others had received at the hands of the pirate ambushers. The players are definitely looking forward to the time when they, too, can get "the drop" on some bad guys. Combining that with a Called Shot to the head and a wild attack, you can easily gain a +2 on the attack roll and +10 damage, at the cost of only a -2 on your Parry until your next turn. I didn't do it to them, but they are putting the rules together now that I've shown them some of the things that can be done.
So far, I'm very pleased with the progress of the game. The system definitely works for the fantasy genre, and I'm looking forward to resolving the adventure in our next session this coming Wednesday.
Wish Them Luck,
Flynn
This post is based on a request or two from other posters that I continue to post about my Savage Worlds gaming experiences, particularly in regards to running a campaign in it.
I ran the first session of my Savage Worlds fantasy campaign Wednesday night. Four of the five players were able to make it (the fifth had a work-related emergency that took him out of state at the last minute), but the session went well with the four characters present.
Being a lover of homebrewed settings, I am running this game on the world of Kintara, in the Great Lake Tempest region. This is a setting of my own creation, and I look forward to seeing how running this in Savage Worlds (as opposed to a D20 system like Fantasy Concepts) will impact the world's development over the course of the campaign.
The Synopsis:
The story begins on Midsummer Eve in the tent-city known as Trader's Point, a "temporary" collection of tents and caravans gathered in a central location for the purposes of trade and occasionally low-key diplomacy. Under the guidance of the Magus Sisuthros, his manservant Rufius gathered together a small band of adventurers, individuals that had recently made a name for themselves with their previous actions. When the Magus did not arrive at the appointed meeting place on time, Rufius became concerned and agitated. The four PCs offered to accompany Rufius in the search for their patron, and soon discovered the dead wizard not far from his ransacked tent.
Chrysander, a former student of Magus Sisuthros, discovered part of a page in the wizard's clenched fist. Obsessed with mysteries, he cast a simple spell to comprehend what was written on the page in an ancient tongue. From what he could tell, the page referenced a long lost relic, a vial containing the Blood of Meritus, which had been shed by the young godling during a battle against a Demon Thane back in the Age of Legends. The Blood of Meritus is purported to grant any of a number of magical powers, from healing to eternal youth. The piece of paper also referenced the Enchanted Isle of Suzeran, a mysterious island that only appears on Midsummer Eve, from midnight until dawn, piercing the veil between the lands of the fey and the Plane Prime. The isle is said to hold vast piles of great treasures, including the ruins of the Tower of the Archmagus Suzeran. Unfortunately, many who go to the island never return.
Sharing his discovery with the other heroes, Chrysander managed to convince them of the significance of such a discovery. The valian Andrus, his dwarven comrade Yngvar the Stonecutter and the contemplative elven priest Anzjin decided to join Chrysander in his quest. After acquiring a rowboat, the four set out for the island a few miles out into the Great Lake. As the full moon rose above, the Enchanted Isle appeared in the distance. However, the party was not the only group interested in the site, for they spied the pirate vessel of Viridia the Red, a Render-Captain known for her violent ways and her attractive looks. Spying a longboat approaching a submerged tower, the party decided to avoid any direct conflicts and so skirted the isle to land away from the small bay.
Braving their way through the fey woods on the isle, avoiding Seelie and Unseelie revels and "mock" battles on this night of transition, the adventurers managed to work their way to the flooded ruins and the shore of the bay undetected. Using a log to help stay afloat, Yngvar and Anzjin (with their ability to see well under the poor lighting conditions) made their way stealthily to the tower and the longboat, determined to take the craft from the watchful pirates. Things did not go as planned, and the two adventurers had to dispatch the four pirates while the two humans struggled to swim to the tower. The two non-humans emerged victorious and unscathed, despite a valiant effort on the part of the pirates protecting the top of the tower. No one from the pirate ship appeared to notice.
Once atop the Tower of Archmagus Suzeran, the four adventurers set themselves the task of clearing out the remaining pirates and gathering what they could before the isle disappeared. Among the first chambers they found below was a shrine of some sort, filled with an array of magical candles and obviously dedicated to heroic individuals. Many of the candles bore names in an ancient script, including Andrus's own. Unnerved by that revelation, the party decided to descend further into the tower.
Below the chamber of candles, the adventurers discovered a room of three dragon portals, gateways to other places. They quickly decided that the black dragon portal probably led to the lair of Avalinadon the Black Death, a black dragon that had slain Archmagus Suzeran and in so doing, caused the magical rift that cast this island into the Fey Realms. Of the other two, one was marked with a small pool of blood. The sagely Chrysander determined that the portals could be opened with blood, and so cut his own palm in his ruthless pursuit of lost mysteries. His blood indeed opened a portal to another locale.
Walking through the portal, the four adventurers discovered a long hall of dragon statues, welcoming them to this long-lost site. From the shadows, four pirates threw themselves on the adventurers, seriously wounding three of the four. Despite their wounds, the band worked well together, and overcame their attackers. Taking some time to attempt to heal some of their wounds, the party realized they had perhaps less than three hours left before the Isle vanished again for another year, and so proceeded out of the hall of dragons.
This is where we wrapped up for the session.
Commentary:
This adventure, as some of you may have already guessed, is a conversion of a D20 module. (If you know which one, don't spoil the surprise, just in case one of the players happens to read this thread.) I first started by converting the background material to fit the homebrew setting that I'm running. After that, I had to convert the scenario to Savage Worlds mechanics. I had trouble with the traps at first, until I found an example to look at in one of the Fantasy Toolkits, and the rest really was easy. Stats-wise, it took maybe 10-20 minutes to do all the conversions. It took a little longer to do my notes up, of course, but all in all, the conversion process was painless.
In regards to the ambush, I've noticed that it's an ugly thing when someone gets "the drop" on you in Savage Worlds. Only a poor damage roll saved the priest from suffering the two to three wounds that the others had received at the hands of the pirate ambushers. The players are definitely looking forward to the time when they, too, can get "the drop" on some bad guys. Combining that with a Called Shot to the head and a wild attack, you can easily gain a +2 on the attack roll and +10 damage, at the cost of only a -2 on your Parry until your next turn. I didn't do it to them, but they are putting the rules together now that I've shown them some of the things that can be done.
So far, I'm very pleased with the progress of the game. The system definitely works for the fantasy genre, and I'm looking forward to resolving the adventure in our next session this coming Wednesday.
Wish Them Luck,
Flynn
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