Last week when I posted about catching the GM bug again, one of the ideas that was floating around in my head was for a Savage Worlds Horror campaign. So I figured that I’d share some thoughts about why I think Savage Worlds is great for horror games. Like I said originally, I want the campaign to be slightly more cinematic than Supernatural.
First and foremost and the easiest answer is that I love Savage Worlds but there some logic behind my decision. As a GM, Savage Worlds is easy to play with. Monsters and NPC’s are a breeze to create. For this campaign, I’m planning on converting several published adventures from a variety of sources. That ease of creation carries over to conversion aspect as well. Prep time can focus story rather than number crunching. Along those lines, light rules means that during game sessions the group can focus on mood and story rather than referencing a rules tome.
One of things I’ve heard people say is that Savage Worlds is a pulp game. Sure it can handle a group of heroic player characters against an army of mooks without a hitch. But once you start adjusting a few knobs here and there combat can be deadly. For really good examples, just turn to Reality Blurs’ Realms of Cthulhu for Savage Worlds. A little tweaking to the Wild Die mechanic and your party can still probably take on those mortal mooks but they better watch out against a couple of zombies.
Of course, the deadly combat can be a double edged sword (no pun intended). While Savage Worlds is great at running larger combats, sometimes the party against one Big Bad can be a let down when a player character draws a Joker on the first round of combat and then Aces several times on his damage. The players may feel great at first but then later they may feel a little robbed that it was so easy.
The easiest and worst means to handle this is to just up the Toughness of the Big Bad. More than likely this will just frustrate players. An extra Benny or two could be appropriate in some cases but might not save him from the Incredible Acing Head Shot of Doom (AKA “What do you mean you just rolled 54 for damage?”). One good example of how to handle this is the Werewolf from SWEX. Unless you’re using a silver weapon the best you can do is Shake it. But you know, if this is the final fight of an adventure or story arch, there’s a very good chance that the player characters have already figured out what it takes to kill the Big Bad. The Undead template handles this pretty well too with its bonuses. Now the Hardy Monstrous Ability is nice but from my experience it rarely comes into play. It just maybe the luck of the dice at my table but that’s what happened. I want something more for some of my Big Bads. So here’s a new Monstrous Ability (and as I always if this popped up somewhere else first in the cornucopia of the Savageverse. Just let me know.) :
Supernaturally Tough: No matter how much damage the creature takes from a single attack, the best result that can be achieved is Shaken. The only way to wound the creature is with repeated Shaken results. This ability is not compatible with the Hardy Monstrous Ability (obviously).
Now, use this just occasionally and for a Big Bad that it’s appropriate for. But you are all big kids and don’t need me holding your hand.
Finally, I want to talk about the much maligned Guts skill. Some folks hate it. Some folks love it. But for me, in this case, it’s in. I’ll probably limit to only increase per Rank and cap it at d6 for Novice characters .But I think it’s a good addition to a horror game. Fear is the cornerstone emotion of horror games and the Guts skill is an easy way to work this in. 12 to Midnight does have Fear Effects for Savage Worlds and being a bad boy and kind of broke it’s still on my to buy list but I’ve heard great things about it and have complete faith that it is a very good product based on their previous releases.
Later I’ll probably throw up some thoughts on low powered magic, psychic abilities and the powers of faith. Of course much of that will depend on what sort of juicy tidbits come out in the upcoming Horror Companion.
RPG Survey Part II and Redux
Well, ran into a few problems. Such as me being an idiot and not reading the complete terms. But never fear. Things will be well. I’ll be posting the results of the first survey later this week.
I don’t want it to be said that I don’t admit my mistakes or don’t act on constructive criticism. After some feedback, it sounds like folks are really interested in what others are playing. So in I put together another survey dealing more specifically with what people are playing, what they want to play and how often they do it. This time I used a different survey service so shouldn’t hit my free account quota so quickly. This is a different survey from the first so feel to take this one as well. I promise I won’t do another survey for at least three months.
So here it is the RPG Habits and Trends Survey. Remember I am not a professional survey writer. Thanks again and I’ll be posting the results later this month.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been behind the screen. But the GM’ing bug is gnawing away at my brain and it’s time to start crafting a new campaign. I know it won’t till this fall before there’s an opening for a new campaign but I like to take my time and plan things. I’ve pitched a couple of ideas to the Friday Gang and my big three ideas are a Savage Worlds Horror campaign, the Dragon Age RPG and something with Pathfinder. No matter what ends up being selected, my random thoughts through the campaign creation process are going to end up here.
Since most folks end up here looking for Savage Worlds Stuff, I’ll start with some thoughts about that. It’s been so long since I’ve ran a horror game. And I have fond memories of playing and running in such campaigns. Savage Worlds hits the sweet spot for what I’m looking for. In this case, light and flexible rules to bend to my vision and easily be able to accept conversions of adventures from different rules. A combat system that can be deadly and cinematic at the same time. And plenty of source material (both professional and fan created) to draw from. I’ve got stacks of old Chill, Kult, Call of Cthulhu, Nemesis and Pinebox Adventures (from 12 to Midnight) ready as spring boards. For a tone, I’m looking at a little bit more cinematic than Supernatural but less so than Buffy/Angel.
I have to admit. I have not ran a D&D game since AD&D. I’ve played Second and Third Edition and Fourth is just gathering dust on my shelf. I’ve ran plenty of other games and played through most of Paizo’s Adventure Paths. My group likes Pathfinder and so I just might throw my butt into the DM chair and see how it goes. For this I wanted something different and not exactly of Paizo’s universe. Nothing against them but I didn’t feel anything that I came up was going to measure up to one of their Adventure Paths. After a little searching, I came upon Obsidian Twilight by LPJ Designs. The quick pitch is that it’s a cross between Ravenloft and Darksun or a post apocalyptic survival horror setting. I’ve downloaded what is available and it’s pretty darned good. I had liked some other things that I’ve gotten from LPJ Designs (like Haven: City of Violence). This is a relatively new setting so everything isn’t out yet which leaves my Old School imagination run wild filling in the blanks. I plan to tweak the setting, of course, since I just can’t seem to leave things alone. For this I want a more pragmatic tone and play down the survival and horror aspects. Sure undead run the place and there are angels and demons wandering around. That’s just the way things are. Deal with it. There will be a little resistance fighting against the undead lords but I really don’t plan on having it be the real meat of the campaign.
Then there’s the Dragon Age RPG from Green Ronin. I did review of Set 1 a few weeks back and I liked it. But it suffers from the exact opposite problem as Obsidian Twilight. While not all of the fluff has been released for Obsidian Twilight, there’s plenty of other sources to pull the crunchy bits to build up a campaign. For Dragon Age, there’s more fluff than you can shake a stick at out there but we’re going to have to wait for the other sets to get a good idea on how the higher level rules operate.
So that’s it. Those are the little gaming projects that I’m working on in my copious free time. I’ll keep y’all update as interesting ideas pass through my head. And, yep, I really didn’t bother to proofread this post.
A 40 Day Terrible Idea
OK, it’s not really a terrible idea but I did learn about this from A Terrible Idea.
Shaun of This Modern Death got the idea from his wife. Instead of giving up something for Lent, make something new. I’m by no means religious or even Catholic but this does sound like a cool idea. Heck, I’ve managed my through Nanwrimo, I can do this.
So there’s this idea I’ve had for an RPG, I’ve got some OK notes but this seems like the prefect time to run with it and give it a shot. My goal is to have at least an edited draft by the end of the 40 days. If I think it’s pretty cool, I’ll slap it up on Drivethrurpg. If it’s just so-so then I just might put it up here for free. And if it just plains sucks and doesn’t work out, I’ll stash it in the archive of shameful projects that should never see the light of day.
If you want to join in with your own project just hop over to Shaun’s blog and leave a comment or just tweet about it and use the #40DayProject hash tag.
Back from vacation and did a bunch of thinking on gaming and the Smack Down. I’ve pretty much abandoned 4th Edition for the foreseeable future but I’ve had plenty of inspiration and some feed back.
First, the pulp/cinematic fantasy campaign using Savage Worlds is in. It’s time to start finalizing the fluff and combing through the supplements and making the crunchy bits fit the world. I wouldn’t call it major project but at least a challenging one.
The second is an idea I can up with only a couple of weeks ago. A dark gritty fantasy game. Throw is some politics and Lovecraftian horrors, sprinkle in some decadence you’ve got the idea. I did a bunch of debating internally and finally decided to try my hand at doing classless/levelles d20 game. Combat would be dangerous and many times fatal. I’ve got some preliminary notes done but looks pretty good so far.
As things begin to come together, I’ll post more and maybe even some of the crunchy bits.
Usually when I start contemplating a new campaign I go through this arduous thought process of deciding which game system fits right with my idea. Sometimes this is easy or just freaking obvious like with the current Star Wars Saga Campaign. Other times it just never quite comes together like the return to New Bay City (was originally used for a World of Darkness game but the next iteration has failed to inspire). After the Star Wars game, I’m considering running a rules light to medium, old school fantasy game with some modern influences. And now I’m trying to figure out which rules would work best for it.
Let’s get the big one out of the way. D&D 4th Edition. Nope. First too rules heavy for what I’m considering plus the group has mentioned that we have enough d20 games and would like something new. Another consideration is cost since a couple members have voiced the opinion that they will eventually buy 4th Edition just not right now.
Another system that fell flat on it’s face is Iron Gauntlets. The system does has it fans but to put it bluntly it doesn’t sit well with me. I just don’t like it.
Here are the four main contenders and two crazy alternates.
1. Savage Worlds: I really like this game. It has the right amount of crunch. Is easy to run and to prepare for. The cost is low (only $10 for the Explorer Edition, the Test Drive Rules are free.) I have all the PDF’s I need to run it. It is supported by an active community and there a few third party publishers out there. The only drawbacks are that a few of the mechanics don’t still well with a couple of the players and there some weird probabilities that occur because of the dice mechanics. Now these could be house ruled or redone but more on that later.
2. D6 Fantasy: In case you didn’t know the system that was the original Star Wars RPG is still alive and well. Now I haven’t run a game using this system in years (a little Stars Wars and a Ghost Busters One-Shot). Some time in the future the system become open so I see a lot more support for it. I feel it has the right amount of crunch and a good cinematic feel (which is what I’m looking for). Currently, I’m having a little problem finding hard copies of the rules (found some over priced ones on Ebay). I like PDF’s for reference but prefer hard copies when I’m actually design adventures and encounters. I’m not 100% sure how most of the players feel about playing the d6 system. A few have had pleasant experiences with the original Star Wars. The current rarity of rule books is a downer.
3. The Eldritch RPG: I had really high hopes for this newcomer and still have quite a few since it still is contender. I’ll admit the rules are in serious need of a good editing and over all I say the game screams, “I’ll be cooler if I ever have a 2nd Edition.” The core mechanics are fine but there just enough idiosyncrasies that would drive the players crazy. The system is light enough that most of them could be worked out. Another drawback is that this is a brand new game and there is very little support for it yet.
4. Basic Role Playing: The return of another classic system. It has the right amount of crunch but could tend towards the high body count too much. I’m not sure if they’ve changed any of the little things that annoyed me from earlier editions but this is a solid game with enough support to make viable. While a revered system, I don’t many of the players have had all that much exposure to it. So it’s hard to gauge their response. The cost is minimal to free since I would most likely use the GORE rules as a base.
Now for the crazy ideas. One thing I kind of enjoy about gaming is kit bashing be it with mini’s or rules.
First, we have a bit of kit bashing with Savage Worlds and Eldritch. Both these systems have enough similarities that it should be fairly easy. Both use types of dice to define characteristics and skills along roughly the same scale. The major tweaks would be to damage and defenses in combat. I’d go into more detail but this is just a glimmer in the back of brain. My brain says it should work but just haven’t put pen to pen yet.
Second, we have Basic Role Playing enhanced by GURPS ultra-Light. Now, there is no GURPS ultra light but stripping a few things from the advantages and disads and modeling the skill system closer to the GURPS mechanic would prove interesting and viable. Once again, I have put pen to paper and try to break it yet. It’s just one of those things that popped into my crazy head.
All these things are still in the preliminary planning stages. We still haven’t sat down and started one of our infamous “What’s Next” debates. I’m just throwing these general ideas out on the greater wisdom of the Internet and see what happens.
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