• NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.

[Savage Worlds] New GM to SW and Sundered Skies...

What about something like Beasts and Barbarians (possibly using either Moscow Connection's gritty dial, Clint's lethality dials, or the Deluxe edition's dials) for grim and gritty?

I haven't given them a look but I'd certainly consider it. I just happen to really like WFRP (2e) for grim and gritty stuff. I used it very successfully for my "Warhammer Pirates of the Caribbean" game. Rat Catchers and Vagabonds galore!

Weren't you an RM author?

Even though I don't play RM anymore, I still get use out of my books as inspiration and Campaign Law for world building.

Yep I sure was. Please don't take my comments above as a slam against the system either. We played it almost exclusively for a dozen years. I think however that it is no coincidence that we stopped right around the time my gaming group all started having kids. It's a very time intensive system full of explicit detail. Since then my evolution as a gamer has trended very much toward the "rules lite" end of the spectrum.
 

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Rel --thanks! You've given me plenty of inspiration there for how to incorporate some low-fantasy magic into my sky pirates game. Need to draw on some voodoo / ritual magic stuff and was thinking "Where do I find that?"
You're reassured me that I don't need to... just flavour the mechanics that already exist. Cheers!

amerigoV --you'll probably see me on the PEGInc.com forums with the same name ;) I've been browsing there a bit but haven't posted anything yet.
 


...I wrapped up the big finale of my year-long Savage Worlds Gothic Horror Fantasy game on Wednesday night...I came away feeling like it was the best campaign I've ever run and I've been GMing for 30 years now.

Yeah, my Tour of Darkness campaign was one of my best in about 30 years.

I do think SW has a certain "feel" to it that is supported well by the rules. I think "cinematic" is a reasonable word to describe it. I might also call it "mid-fantasy" when applying it specifically to that genre. And for a different job then I might use a different tool.

Agreed. Some games remain better for a certain feel.

This also has the benefit of eliminating one of my least favorite things about D&D, which is the "magic item treadmill". The few (total of 6 or 7 over the course of a year) magic items that the PC's accumulated in the game I just ran were very heavy on flavor and very light on mechanics.

Making magic more magical is a big bonus. A +1 really means something in Savage Worlds.

...any time he wanted to "wolf out" he would wolf out in specific ways...

Did he become an awesome basketball player? :)

Mostly I just love that it has such lean mechanics. It's a very tight game, generally with one fairly obvious way to adjudicate most situations. That makes it very easy to run with little or no preparation or to adapt when your players take the game in unexpected directions. The fairly rough "granularity" of monster stats also makes them very easy to make up on the fly or to run without flipping open any rulebooks...I ran a year's worth of awesome SW games with two small books (Explorer's Handbook and Fantasy Companion). I dig that level of efficient fun.

One of the design goals that really appeals to me, too.
 

...I think however that it is no coincidence that we stopped right around the time my gaming group all started having kids...Since then my evolution as a gamer has trended very much toward the "rules lite" end of the spectrum.

Yes, that was around the time I discovered Savage Worlds and began not to "grok" new games anymore.
 

Were-wolf stuff

I actually like that take on the Were-wolf.

It's similar to what I was thinking about trying (that is using the "Super Powers" arcane background) since it seems a lot easier then trying to tinker with the Horror Companion's were-wolf race and dumping a large number of racial abilities onto a character.
 

OK - so we had our first session on Saturday and it was friggin awesome.

Yes.... we had like 6 hours to hang and play, yes... almost 3-4 hours were spent on character creation. But I have a great party to Marshal. I have:

  • A crazy, mean Clint Eastwood style bounty hunter ( our only real Shooter )
  • A Kwai Chang Caine inspired Chinese Martial Artist who is "enlightened".
  • A German Mad Scientist that has ticked off some German gangsters and has now come west, but is drawn terribly to the Kansas Scientific Symposium.
  • A New York sleazy, hyper-gambling Huckster that is trying to escape the East and find out who his "Manitou" is and how to manipulate him for power.
  • A 20-something black man (that would in today's vernacular be considered autistic) that has been "blessed". He was "saved" from slavery a year before it became illegal and was pushed into the Underground Railroad to western Pennsylvania at 7 years old. Eventually, after wandering and working for 17 or so years, he met the Huckster, who found his luck change, he took him in and has taken VERY good care of him. Nice clothes, regular baths, lots of food, etc.... (something about the dissonance between the Huckster's connection to the Manitou and the Blessed connection the man-child has.)

Anyways, I'll post a session update in a day or so. It was really, really fun!!
 

My campaign first game was a monster hunter game. It was sort of a cross between Special Unit 2 and the Men in Black.

The characters were

A hacker bordering on morbidly obese. He was recruited by the Agency after a fellow hacker turned him in as part of a plea bargain. He is the team's computer and tech specialist and tends to stay in the van. He earned the nickname, "Whale" from one of the PC in the first adventure. He has a cyber relationship with an MIT coed whom he has never seen.

An ex-special forces operative working, who was recruited in the organization after stumbling across a monster on one of his missions. Think Casey from Chuck and you pretty much have this guy's personality.

An arrogant reporter for the local college newspaper, with a reputation as a yellow journalist by his peers. He is, completely, into conspiracy theories and has his version of the "Wall of Weird".

Adventure 1: While investigating a rash of local kidnappings, college kid stumbled into a stakeout being conducted by the other two characters, who were on the lookout for a goblin that was abducting local children for food. In order to prevent him from blowing the stakeout, the ex-special forces guy drugs him, stuffs him into a large sack and places him in the van at which point the hilarity ensues.

The reporter comes to as the van's back doors open. He watches as the ex-CIA guy throws a sack into the van and climbs in.

The bag is moving and a muffled voice comes from inside.

The reporter accuses the two of kidnapping children to feed to the "Whale" (referring to the Hacker who is monitoring the surveillance equipment). He then says one kid won't be enough and suggests that the Hacker will eat him too.

Suddenly, a monstrous arm works way out of the back and the ex CIA guy beats on it until it recoils into the bag.

The agents not knowing what to do with the reporter decide he knows to much and take him back to their base to let the superiors decide what to do with him.

Back at the base they try to recruit the reporter. Being an arrogant :):):):):):):) the reporter starts insulting everyone leading ex-CIA guy pulling out a gun, but Hacker stops him from pulling the trigger.

As Hacker leads ex-CIA guy out of the room to calm down, a small demonic monkey with wings that has escaped its cage sneaks in and starts trying to attack the reporter.

Ex-CIA guy puts a couple of rounds into various parts of the office- the wall, the ceiling, a couple of books on a shelf- before nailing the little bugger.

Someone comes barging into the office shouting and gun drawn with agents behind him. It is the section chief and he is not happy.

Some talking and the reporter joins up with the team (It beats being lobotomized).


Adventure 2: Was "My Lucky Charms" a pre-published one sheet from 12 to Midnight. The agents search for missing people in a Texas town leads them to a Leprachaun.

Agent 3: It turns out the Hacker has been having a cyber romance with a college coed at a University in Massachusetts. The catch neither has seen pictures of one another and, now, she has called him for help. Two of her roommates have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.The team is off to Massachusetts.
Upon arrival, Hacker gets cold feet. Not only does he have to leave the van on a mission, he becomes self-conscious of his weight since this wil be the first time the two will see one another. What does he do? He tells ex-CIA guy to be him.

They meet Hacker's cyber girl and she is smoking hot. She brings everyone up to speed. Her roommate disappeared a week ago and a few days later another of their friends was found murdered. Reports are that the body was torn apart and authorities are saying it was an animal attack.

The guys investigate the rooms of the missing girls with Hacker trying to stay in the background. Ex-CIA keeps flirting with the girl, but as more time passes through the search, the more she keeps glancing at Hacker.

The initial investigation turns up one thing the girls shared in common a class on Demonology, Witchcraft and Religion.

Further investigation leads to an on-campus class where an instructor and her class are putting together an exhibit on the class subject.

Reporter, being a college student (or, now, former student) is put into the class with a little work form Hacker. As luck would have it, Reporter is the only guy in the class. Being a charmer, Reporter learns that the missing students were part of an occult group that met a local shop of dealing with mystical curios and paraphernalia.

Ex-CIA guy and Hacker go to investigate with Ex-CIA guy breaking in through an open window.
In the meantime, Reporter goes to investigate the teacher. He shows up at her door asking for tutoring hellp to catch up. The teacher tells him to show up the next day during office hours, but Reporter works his charm and so she invites him in.

Cut to EX-CIA guy, lets Hacker in through the back door and heads to basement where he finds an open door to a secret room. Inside, the shopkeeper is dead. The body is in on top of a broken pentagram in the floor.

Hacker, in the meantime, manages to find a ledger with evidence linking the teacher and the shopkeeper to business transactions- nothing out of the ordinary since she teaches a class on the occult.

Cut to Ex-CIA. He turns to see a growling Hellhound. " Hacker, who let the dog out?"

Meanwhile, Reporter and the teacher on the couch. She gets up to get a drink and comes back with two glasses of wine. Suddenly, she is becoming Mrs. Robinson. A little more conversation and she needs to go slip into something more comfortable.

Back at the curio shop, Ex-CIA and Hacker are fighting the Hellhound which pins Ex-CIA to the floor. Hacker reaches for the nearest thing he can find, a rusty dagger and stabs the Hellhound, killing it.

The two agents go back to the basement where they find a journal. Inside, are notes that the teacher and shopkeeper have been leading a cult of demon worshippers. The teacher has been the leader and has been recruiting students. When two students tried to leave the group, a demon living beneath the campus was summoned to kill them.

There is also a picture of a dagger that is used to summon and bind the demon. It can also kill it. Well, as luck would have it, it is the same dagger that Hacker has in his hand.

Back at the teacher's home, things are getting hot and heavy on the coutch. The teacher leads Reporter back to her bedroom which is lit by candles. They fall on the bed peeling off clothes. She turns him on his back and pins his arms above his head.

As Reporter gets turned on by her dominance, his expression turns to horror as her visage turns to that of an old crone.

The bedroom door slams shut.

Reporter makes some quip about her being really old and not being into old people while attempting to break lose, but she is too strong.

She raises her arm and prepares to slash his throat.

Suddenly, the door kicks open and Ex-CIA opens fire. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
The witch slumps dead right on top of Reporter as if a tired lover.

The agents ride Reporter about doing, "Grandma"

Later at the dorm involves Hacker prepares to come clean. coming clean to the girl. Before he can do so, someone comes yelling in the dorms. There was murder in the center of campus.

Eventually, the agents learn of tunnels beneath the campus and investigate. They track the demon through the tunnels to a nearby cave and kill it.

Wrap up: Hacker admits the deception. However, she had figured it out back when she first met them. There was no way that Ex-CIA was a computer and technical genius.

Hacker gives a speech about how she must be disappointed now that she got to see him. To his and everyone else's surprise, she wraps her arms around him and plants a big kiss on his lips. She doesn't care about his weight. She already like him from the conversations. Plus he didn't hesitate to drop everything and come help.

Unfortunately, the team need to leave so the two can't spend more time together, but ex- CIA has a bit of a romantic streak. He give Hacker forty bucks and tells him to take her to dinner.
 

Into the Woods

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