I’m breaking one of my cardinal rules. Blogging when I’m exhausted but I just got to say a few things about the Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion. Damn, this is a sweet book. It’s got all the bits you need to run your own Savage Fantasy Campaign.
This little digest sized book (same size as SW:EX) has pretty much all of the stuff from the old Fantasy Toolkits but updated to Explorer’s Edition. Plus there’s a nice slew of new material. A few new powers and a great section on Trappings and pantheons. And some nifty siege rules (I back stab with a ballista!). There’s a complete bestiary and a hefty magic items section. I would have liked some magic item creation rules but that’s minor and keep tweaked into any homegrown campaign or one of the many Savage Fantasy settings have various rules for that.
For those of you out there looking to run a D&D like Savage Worlds campaign, this book is must. As a comparison, it’s basically the Monster Manual, the DMG and the good chuck of the PHB wrapped into one book for the low price of around $20. Add in the the Core SW: EX book for $10 and there you less than one of the D&D core rule books.
If you’re already a Savage Fan and have the Toolkits. Do you need this? That’s a bit a personal call. For me, I feel it was well worth the money. There’s enough updated and new material that make the book well worth the price. And throwing the previous material just makes my life even more convenient. And speaking of convenience, they went ahead and put all of the Powers from the core book into the Fantasy Companion. Just need to flip through one book.
So I apologize for the rambling and I’m sure there are some mistakes. So buy the book. It’s good. Available from your FLGS and the PDF is coming soon.
5 Responses to “Savage Fantasy Companion: First Thoughts”
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Chuck on 
Philo Pharynx on 
Hey thanks for the review of the book! I was really considering getting this, but wanted some feedback on it! Blogging when you’re tired isn’t a sin.. Drunk.. Well.. that’s a different story:)
Yeah, re-reading it this morning, I can see skipped words and sentences that don’t quite make sense.
Thanks for comment WoZ and welcome to the Savage Cult!
Thanks! I do have a question for you. I read through your first session summary and see that you use action cards. Are these made up things, how do they work in your SW game exactly?
Also does your GM (unless you are the GM) have a more hands off approach to the game, or a more constant look of, “I can’t believe you just did that.. well.. let’s see how it pans out.”? Cause some of the activity your groups comes up with seems outrageous and awesome!
Back from the day job! To answer your questions, WoZ.
The Adventure Deck: This is an optional accessory for Savage Worlds. Rumor is that they are coming out with new dead tree version but for now you can get it through Drivethru RPG.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?cPath=173&products_id=18156&it=1
I’m not sure which session summaries you’ve read. The first mini-campaign was Empire of Ashes. I didn’t use the deck because this was a dark and gritty fantasy setting.
The current sessions are for Legends of Steel from Evil DM Productions. It’s cinematic Sword and Sorcery. I use the deck for this. It basically gives characters bonuses and/or a little narrative control. It adds a lot of fun and I have to improv a bit.
As you can guess, I’m the GM. First, you have to understand that the chroniclers of our adventures have taken quite a few editorial liberties with what actually happens. Because SW is so easy to run and prep, I usually have a rough outline and the antagonists ready but let the players go off script if they want to. Sometimes they help make a whole new metaplot for the campaign. It’s fun.