Notes from a Savage Worlds fantasy campaign (updated with 05/28/08 session notes!)...

[Flynn]

One Shot Session - 04/23/08

Good Morning, All:

Last week, we ended up with three missing players and called the game. This week, however, we only had one missing, and as it was the party's rogue, they elected not to enter into a dungeon delve without the missing party member at their side. Instead, the group decided on a One Shot, leaning towards a Firefly-esque feel. The end result dealt with too many alien animals to really hit that "Space Western" feel, and it was a near-TPK, but we had a lot of fun nonetheless.

The Synopsis:
The good doctor, a pacifistic man by heart, caught wind of that the local Federation had finally located the wreckage of a trader that had crashed on the planet's surface below the space station where the party's ship was currently docked. While the Feds had to fill out all the red tape and send a patrol to investigate, Doc Killraven knew that a timely salvage run could recover some of the cargo for themselves. Rumored to be Advanced Biomedical Research Materials, the party felt that they would make quite the profit if they could get in and get out without being caught. Moving quickly, they took their ship's shuttle craft down to the planet's surface in search of the lost ship.

With Doc Killraven's initial coordinates to localize their search, the pilot Ford Lincoln Mercury flew close to the planet's surface, skimming the thick jungle as the ship's engineer, Brach, located the wreckage in a deep crevice using the ship's sensors. Under the orders of the ship's elderly captain, Hans, Ford put the shuttle down on the narrow canyon's floor after burning away a small clearing in the vine-like vegetation that seemed to cover the ground and walls of this crevice. It was a rough scamper up the vines to one of the tears in the ship's side, although the local vegetation helped.

Just as the last of the crew had made the climb to one of the exposed staterooms, Ford heard a sound on the otherside of the door. Forcing it open, his flashlight revealed a small group of ape-like creatures that became infuriated with the bright beam. Captain Hans stepped out quickly into the hallway, firing a number of bursts into the beasts that charged toward them, before backing down the corridor until his back hit a bulkhead. One of the ape-beasts fell to the rain of bullets, before the lead beast was upon the Captain. Ford held the doorway into the storeroom, using his shotgun to drop another of the proto-simians, and Brach followed up with a quick axe to the face of a third. It took longer to drop the last ape-beast, for it seemed possessed of an uncanny ability to avoid harm, despite the fact that it couldn't land a blow against the elderly man or his crew. Finally, it fell, and Doc Killraven took a few minutes to ascertain that everyone was alright.

Based on Ford's extensive knowledge of starships, the crew quickly found a hatch that led down to the cargo hold. After climbing down, Ford forced the door open and pushed it into the hold, only to reveal that they were not the first to get to the biomedical materials: a large white spider, covered with young, fed on the glowing ooze that poured forth from one of the containers. So large and hideous was the creature that Ford instinctively opened fire, as Brach dropped down the tube to lob a grenade at the beast. The blast took out half the young, enraging the mother spider. Soon Ford was swarmed by the young and the mother alike.

It was a hard battle. Brach retreated back up the tube towards the doctor, as the elderly captain sprang to the aid of his comrade below. The tide of combat turned heavily against the crew members below. Ignoring the spider spawn for the moment, both Ford and Captain Hans focused their firepower on the big spider, as it continued to chew on Ford and fill him with a paralytic poison. Still, it was Hans's shotgun that dealt the final blow that felled the mother, giving Captain Hans the opportunity to start firing on the four remaining spider spawn. The small spiders, despite their general lack of skill, seemed to possess a preternatural combat ability, as they landed blow after blow, wearing away the two primary combatants. Ford fell into a state of shock from which he could not seem to recover, perhaps due to the poison coursing through his system. Shortly after, Captain Hans dropped, bleeding out on the floor of the cargo hold as Brach returned in an effort to take out the rest with another grenade. The doc had pulled Ford back into the tube when Brach fell paralyzed, to be eaten later by the ravenous beasts. In a last ditch effort, Doc Killraven stepped up, took the grenade from Brach's belt and tried to lead the spiders away from his comrades, only to fall to the paralytic poison himself. The only one remaining, Ford staggered forward, as he recovered from his shock, fueled by the last dying breath of the Captain. Ford grabbed the grenade and arming it as he emptied his gun into the spiders. One spider, then another, dropped, but in the end, the last two spiders incapacitated the ship's pilot. The grenade rolled from his hand, and its explosion set off the other explosives that Brach loved to carry. The resulting explosion killed the remaining spiders, and all of the incapacitated crew save Doc Killraven.

It wasn't long before the Feds arrived, discovered the carnage, and rescued the doctor.

And that's where the session ended...

The Commentary:

We started off with a Firefly/Traveller-inspired concept for characters. The players elected to do a salvage run, so while they built their characters, I looked through my Star Wars minis for ideas. I came across the Knobby White Spider mini, and built a scenario up around that. To balance that out, I decided to use some purple ape-like demon D&D minis as the warm-up encounter. For stat purposes, I used the "Albino Ape" and "Spider, Giant Tarantula" stats from the "Savage Beasts" fan-created bestiary, since I had that handy. For the smaller spiders, I simply assumed the typical d6 Extra, keeping the giant tarantula's poison ability.

It was a horrid night for dice. The first three rolls of the evening were all critical failures, some mitigated by Bennies (which should tell you that one of them rolled a critical failure again on the reroll). Yeah, it went a lot like that. In the encounter with the apes, the party had a hard time hitting the last ape, and he couldn't roll above a three to save his life. The party survived that encounter without a scratch.

Although the mother spider was bad, the party took a few rounds to burn through its Bennies and then dropped the thing into incapacitated. That's when my dice went nuts. It seemed that 2 out of every 3 d6 I rolled exploded. I was hitting with raises, which caused the party to have to make Vigor rolls against the poison effects. Then the damage would explode, and I was easily dishing out two or three wounds per hit, before soaks. When the PCs ran out of Bennies, they began to drop.

Strange as it was, the whole near-TPK didn't go as bad as I thought it might. The players took it in good spirits, having fun with it and discussing the merits and flaws of gun combat and low Parry scores with modern characters. When Ford finally overcame his Shaken condition, his heroic actions earned a Bennie by unanimous acclaim. Those last few moments were simply glorious, as my dice had suddenly stopped exploding for a few rounds, and it looked like it might be close. Sadly, after a few exchanges, my dice kicked back in again, and Ford went down. I ruled that the grenade gained an extra d6 (total of 4d6) from the explosives that Brach carried on him, and we rolled for damage for everyone. The only one that made it through was the Doc, which was kinda amusing, since he's the one that got them the lead in the first place.

The players loved the chance to use firearms and autofire, and Ford fell in love with the shotgun. I imagine that future One Shots for the group will probably revisit the modern or futuristic time frames, simply to get more gun-bunny time.

I also noted once again that doorways and similar choke points make it hard for all PCs or all monsters to attack at the same time, something to keep in mind if you want to add a little combat variety to your scenarios.

In addition, as a side note, the use of the Pacifism Hindrance can effectively take a man out of the combat scenarios, so count on your party's effectiveness to be reduced by the loss of the pacifistic person in most combat scenarios.

That being said, I can't wait until we get back to the fantasy campaign next week. I think the next session will be a lot of fun, and will definitely prove rewarding for the adventurers.

Wish Them Luck,
Flynn

 

[Rel]

Good stuff, Flynn!

On average, how many bennies would you say you hand out per player per session?

 

[Flynn]

Good stuff, Flynn!

On average, how many bennies would you say you hand out per player per session?

Probably zero to one, to be honest. I've given as much as three in a session, but usually it's one or less.

I also encourage my players to help point them out, and that helps, too, as I'm just not used to doing so in mid-game.

Hope This Helps,
Flynn

 

[Flynn]

Session Notes - 04/30/08

Good Morning, All:

Last night, the whole crew got together once again for our main campaign, and a glorious time was had by all! Over the course of three hours, we explored a barrow and half of a pyramid prison, engaged in five fights, and killed an Archmagus. Needless to say, we had a most excellent evening!

The Synopsis:

Our brave adventurers, having destroyed eight wights, returned to their encampment to prepare for the next day's descent into the Barrow of Esteros, which had been built by the Archmagus Agarean during the Age of Legends. After a brief discussion, they elected to have their body of men remain behind to protect their exit, while the five of them entered into the barrow alone.

Even as they entered into the barrow, their torchlight drew the attentions of five remaining wights, who charged the party like ghost-white forms rushing through the darkness. Steeled by their first encounter with these undead the previous night, the team worked together to keep their foes off-balance until the great dwarven blade Tiwazbrandr could return each foul creature back to death. Reducing the numbers with an initial Concussive Blast, the Magus Chrysander then moved in to support his comrades with his polearm skills. Under the direction and guidance of the Warlord Andrus, Chrysander and Anzjin the Priest were able to help corner and occupy the wights in turn as Thane Yngvar the Stonewall walked up to each and obliterated them.

Having warmed up, the party quickly scoured the open sarcophagi in this outer chamber for clues and possible monetary reward, before approaching the large doors at the end of the chamber. Calyt the Shade determined that the doors were not locked, but were barred or bound somehow from the other side, and so Yngvar placed his dwarven shoulder to the door and shifted forward. With a herculean effort, the bar holding the door splintered and the doors flew open to reveal the crypt of the Warlord Esteros, a large golden portal mounted on the far wall, and three Sundered dwarves hiding behind the desecrated sarcophagus of the ancient warlord. Two of the dwarves opened fire upon Yngvar and the others, while the third called upon infernal forces to release a bolt of hellfire at the intruders. Yngvar leapt upon the sarcophagus and began to bear down on the cabalist as Andrus, Anzjin and Chrysander swept in around both sides of the sarcophagus to trap the dwarves between them. Calyt kept the Sundered ducking with his arrows, but these dwarves did not stand long before the gathered might of the party. Scavenging the bodies, the party found a potion labelled by the Church of Joven, as well as silver coins and some jewelry gathered from the coffins in the outer chamber.

Chrysander, remembering the blood portals from the Enchanted Isle of Suzeran, picked up the bloody hand of the cabalist and smeared it on the stone wall within the golden portal. A magic wave of energy surged and rippled, establishing a magic portal to another place far away. Yngvar, ready to slay the Sundered Emperor, strode purposefully through the portal, followed by his comrades.

Two dwarven guards, taken by surprise by Yngvar's arrival, drew their weapons and charged forward, only to be met by the other party members arriving. One, distracted by Calyt's tumbling entrance, found himself suddenly gutted by the Sword of Dwarven Kings, while the other fell to Anzjin's proficiency with the spear. Looking about the chamber itself, the party noted a narrow passage sloping downwards out of the chamber, and an inscription in Achean across the door frame: "The Prison of Ankharem, may it stand imprison forever the one who defied the King." Chrysander recalled the old Achean story of a visitor from a distant land, who first identified himself as Ankharem to the King, deceiving him and attempting to steal the king's treasury. It is said that the visitor was caught and imprisoned for making a fool out of the old Achean king, trapped for eternity in a pyramid north of the wastes beyond Achea. The party realized they were now on the other side of the great Lake Tempest, and proceeded forward with awe and caution.

Calyt the Shade proved worthy of his profession, for he quickly noted and disabled a series of traps along the sloping hallway. He did not think to look for a pit trap at an intersection, but his nimble nature afforded the young Pasalovakian rogue an opportunity to save himself from a deep fall. Avoiding side passages, the group followed the main tracks of the Sundered forces that had previously passed through these corridors, and quickly came up to a chamber bearing stairs leading up. As the party surprised the four dwarves on guard, it was a simple matter to take them down, although Chrysander did attempt a Concussive Blast that failed to do more than stun one of the Sundered long enough for his comrades to be dealt with. Calyt attempted to talk the last one into surrendering, but Yngvar, following his vow to destroy the Sundered, smote to the would-be prisoner. After a brief discussion, and the rifling of pockets and the like, the party chose on of the stairwells leading out of this chamber and climbed to the next level of the Prison of Ankharem.

Atop the stairs, the band of adventurers found a room marked by defaced frescos, with a scorch mark on the stone floor before the ornate doors leading further on. The Magus Chrysander easily determined that the doors were bound by a magical trap, but when no solution to release the trap presented itself, Yngvar interrupted discussions by opening the door, causing a small fire ball to erupt and strike the party. Most dove aside, and Chrysander and Yngvar were only slightly singed by the blast.

However, the opening of the door triggered a reaction from the large body of Sundered that had been waiting in the large temple room beyond. Hellfire bolts and crossbow quarrels flew in, many hitting Yngvar but ultimately leaving him unscathed, given his stalwart dwarven vigor. Within the chamber, five guards, five crossbowmen, two cabalists and the White Magus (an Archmagus in service to the Sundered Emperor) immediately set forth to destroy these intruders. As the guards closed on the main entrance, Calyt placed a sphere of darkness on the stairs leading to the second floor landing, blocking the view of the crossbowmen and spellcasters that waited above. Despite this precaution, Yngvar was compelled by the White Magus to slay his comrades. Before Yngvar could act, however, he successfully resisted the White Magus's efforts and charged forward into the darkness, intent on tracking her down and destroying her. Even as he stumbled up the stairs, the crossbowmen move to other vantage points, loading their crossbows as they moved.

At the doorway, the Warlord Andrus rallied his comrades to meet the assault of the dwarven guards, and so they began to work their way into the room, fighting against the ground troops. Yngvar made it up the stairwell, moving slowly due to the darkness, before closing in on the White Magus. Before he could hit the spellcaster, however, she teleported to a distant landing, out of harm's reach. Meanwhile, Anzjin the Priest cast a spell of Speed and rushed up the stairwell to help Yngvar on the upper level, as cabalists continued to support the crossbowmen in attacks against the rest of the crew on the ground below.

Calyt came up with a brilliant plan, and turned himself into a bat. Fluttering out and staying close to the wall, the bat named Calyt began to fly towards the White Magus. One of the cabalists recognized the unusual nature of a bat in this temple, and so contrived to spend the last of his Essence casting a Hellfire Ball such that it encompassed the bat, the Warlord Andrus and the Magus Chrysander. Sadly, the Forces of Darkness were not with this young cabalist, and the ball did virtually no damage to any of its intended targets. Indeed, the Black Court was so displeased with his use of power that it burned the cabalist instead and left him stunned.

Yngvar leapt from one landing to the next as he rushed to get to the White Magus, leaving Anzjin to deal with the stunned cabalist. As Yngvar closed on his target, Calyt flapped his little bat wings to get into position near the White Magus, then transformed back and attacked, surprising the Archmagus so thoroughly that he easily incapacitated her. Out of rage, one of the cabalists launched a series of bolts at Calyt, incapacitating the rogue as Yngvar continued to move forward and finished the fallen White Magus with a killing blow from Tiwazbrandr.

Once the White Magus fell, it was a simple matter to remove the rest of the Sundered, for the cabalists had run out of Essence and were poor fighters when it came to hand-to-hand combat. Anzjin and Chrysander rushed to Calyt's aid and through the use of the Gauntlet of Joven and Anzjin's divinely granted healing powers, they were able to restore the rogue to full health. The remainder of the party, though occasionally stunned and frequently dissheveled, managed to survive the extensive combat unscathed.

And that's where we ended the session...

The Commentary:

This was the first big session of the "dungeon delve". As the characters are on the upper end of Seasoned, this was in many ways the same as a mid-level (8th or so) D&D experience: small encounters were handled quickly and decisively, while mundane traps were demonstrably on the end of their effective range given the party's skills. Of course, by sticking to the straight-forward path, many of my more entertaining traps were not encountered. That's okay, though. I also got the chance to demonstrate that a number of the traps had been previously sprung, to add to the verisimilitude of the scenario.

We got started late, as usual, but gamed an hour extra, so we effectively got three hours of game time in last night. During that time, I was able to run four minor combats, some traps, descriptive and exploration play, and a final big encounter. This session served as a fine example of how Savage Worlds encourages a great gaming experience, as the players worked very well together, using tactics such as Agility tricks to set up the bad guys for one another, being effective even against targets immune to your attacks, and so forth. Normally, Calyt is my go-to guy for cinematic action, but last night, I saw players trying new things left and right (some new to them, some new to us all at the table): grappling, bull-rushes/pushing opponents, Agility tricks, Taunts, cinematic leaps, finishing moves, stealthily attacking to get the drop on an opponent.

I loved the use of the terrain in the temple room, with the large spell effects, the movement up the stairwell, and watching the combat just flow with a vibrancy and life that made it a joyous experience as a GM. In the beginning, Andrus thought this might lead to a TPK, with the party of five facing ten Extras and three Wild Cards, one of whom was effectively Legendary. Indeed, it was a hard-fought battle, and they gave it their all. As I mentioned above, they made it fun with their cinematic choices of actions, and by the end of the day, as usual (it seems) Calyt was down and the others had barely escaped damage themselves. Only one person had a bennie left (Anzjin), and he used it to insure that Calyt was healed up entirely after the combat was over.

I also gave out some treasure for the party, and let the bad guys use some of it when in dire straights (several potions got drank in the process of fighting the enemies, for example). The party gained several hundred silver in coins and jewelry, two healing potions, a potion of speed, a potion of arcane shield and a few potions and items that have yet to be identified. (Archmages are supposed to carry magic items, so I had a little fun with it.)

I am constantly surprised about how good everyone seems to feel after a Savage Worlds game, whether it goes well or not, as the players that participated in last week's near-TPK scenario were still talking about it with good feelings before we began last night's session. This is the only system I've ever seen where I've experienced that with my players across the board. I think it's the adrenaline rush you get from playing. Who knows? Whatever the secret is, I am finding that I like it a lot, and am still very pleased I made the choice to run my campaign under this system. With six months under my belt now and going strong, my experiences with Savage Worlds have all been fantastic.

At any rate, next week should see the end of this "dungeon delve", and then the party will decide what they're going to do next. The next encounter should be mostly roleplaying with one or two big combat scenes, but then again, who knows. Maybe they'll actually try some of the side passages...

Wish Them Luck,
Flynn

 

[Flynn]

Probably zero to one, to be honest. I've given as much as three in a session, but usually it's one or less.

I also encourage my players to help point them out, and that helps, too, as I'm just not used to doing so in mid-game.

Hope This Helps,
Flynn

Oh, I almost forgot! This last session, I gave out an average of one-two bennies A PERSON, due to the excellent cinematic efforts and just cool things that the players did over the course of the gaming session.

It Was Great,
Flynn

 

[cr0m]

Hey Flynn,

I really enjoy reading these after-action reports. The game sounds like a lot of fun, as do the players, and the commentary is excellent. I'm seriously considering SW for a D&D inspired game now. Which books do you recommend for running an overland/dungeon-crawl game?

Cr0m

 

[Flynn]

Hey Flynn,

I really enjoy reading these after-action reports. The game sounds like a lot of fun, as do the players, and the commentary is excellent. I'm seriously considering SW for a D&D inspired game now. Which books do you recommend for running an overland/dungeon-crawl game?

Cr0m

You can make do with just the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition for $10, and some of the conversion downloads you can find online as sites like SavageHeroes.com. If you go that route, I'd highly recommend googling "Savage Beasts PDF" and downloading that bestiary. Also, check out the Shark Bytes fanzine for some good material. Many fans will also point you to the Advanced Dungeons & Savages 1st Edition D&D conversion document.

In terms of duplicating a D&D feel, I would also suggest the following products, as your budget can handle it:

* Savage Worlds Fantasy Bestiary - More monsters, and some great NPC stat blocks!
* Savage Worlds Fantasy World Builders Toolkit - Spells, Edges and some other nice additions.
* Savage Worlds Fantasy Gear - Magic items!
* Savage Freeport - More D20-isms converted to Savage Worlds, including domains, gear, monsters and NPC stat blocks!

You could get Evernight or Shaintar, but truth be told, if you're looking for a D&D-esque feel, you don't need 'em. The four above would do you quite well for a campaign or two.

Please let me know if you need any other assistance,
Flynn

 

[cr0m]

Awesome. Thanks Flynn. I'm going to hit my FLGS on my way home from work today and get the Explorer's Edition and check it out.

Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[SavageRobby]

In terms of duplicating a D&D feel, I would also suggest the following products, as your budget can handle it:

* Savage Worlds Fantasy Bestiary - More monsters, and some great NPC stat blocks!
* Savage Worlds Fantasy World Builders Toolkit - Spells, Edges and some other nice additions.
* Savage Worlds Fantasy Gear - Magic items!
* Savage Freeport - More D20-isms converted to Savage Worlds, including domains, gear, monsters and NPC stat blocks!

You could get Evernight or Shaintar, but truth be told, if you're looking for a D&D-esque feel, you don't need 'em. The four above would do you quite well for a campaign or two.

Thats a great list, Flynn (although I'd add the Shaintar Player's Guide only because its such a "classic" fantasy setting, and its good to see how that has been Savaged). I'd also suggest looking at the Savage Worlds Horror GM Toolkit for additional inspiration, rules and powers, and Runepunk for its take on Racial Edges but mainly for its incredibly awesome Summoning/Binding rules. (I don't know if there is just a Player's Guide or if you have to get the full blown book.)

I can't wait to check out Savage Freeport. (I've been waiting for it to show up in Smith and Robards - oh and look, there it is!) Is it as good as it looks?

 

[Flynn]

Thats a great list, Flynn (although I'd add the Shaintar Player's Guide only because its such a "classic" fantasy setting, and its good to see how that has been Savaged). I'd also suggest looking at the Savage Worlds Horror GM Toolkit for additional inspiration, rules and powers, and Runepunk for its take on Racial Edges but mainly for its incredibly awesome Summoning/Binding rules. (I don't know if there is just a Player's Guide or if you have to get the full blown book.)

I can't wait to check out Savage Freeport. (I've been waiting for it to show up in Smith and Robards - oh and look, there it is!) Is it as good as it looks?

Yes, Savage Freeport is definitely as good as it looks. Had this been around at the start of my campaign, I'd be using some variant of the domain rules found within, and I'd definitely be taking the simpler approach to Magic Items detailed in the book. I'd definitely recommend it!

With Regards,
Flynn

Oh, and I almost forgot: If you like horror in your fantasy, you might also enjoy picking up the Savage Worlds Horror Bestiary, too. It's got a lot more monsters for you, but then again, I just love monster books.