Deadlands Reloaded: But For The Grace of God Actual Play Volume 2

Volume 1

Nightmares of Kidd 

Deadlands Reloaded: But For The Grace of God Actual Play Volume 1

Continuing the archiving of my old Savage Worlds stuff from the Pinnacle boards onto my blog. This is the first of two archived actual plays, the third will be our most recent one, from last night, when we ran through the "Independence Day" dime novel. These are presented precisely as I posted them on the Pinnacle message boards.

Marvel Accelerated: Wolverine and The Hulk

All of this Marvel Accelerated stuff is clearly still a work in a progress...but my son is enthused at the idea of playing Spider-Man in Fate Accelerated, so work will continue on the Marvel adaptations, and stuff will likely change and be tweaked over time. I've got four more to add to the mix today: Wolverine and The Hulk, as well as their arch rivals Sabretooth and The Abomination!

Name: Wolverine (Logan)

High Concept: Feral Mutant Loner

Trouble: Am I A Man, Or An Animal?

Aspects: What I Do Isn’t Very Nice, I Go Where I Wanna Go, I’ve Lived Longer Than I Can Remember

Approaches

Careful: +0

Clever: +3

Flashy: +1

Forceful: +2

Quick: +1

Sneaky: +2

Stunts

Because I have a Mutant Healing Factor, I can downgrade a Consequence by spending a Fate Point.

Because I am The Best There Is At What I Do, I don’t have to reduce damage to gain a Boost when I succeed with style.

Because I am Older Than I Look, once per game session I can reveal that I already know a character introduced in the session, and discover one of their Aspects.

Because I have Adamantium Claws, I can claw through any surface or material, given enough time.

Stress 3

Consequences

Refresh 2

Notes: I did read another conversion of Wolverine someone did, and I like the idea that he starts with fewer Fate Points, so he has to accept bad stuff happening in order to get the points to kick butt. I went with the "What I Do Isn't Very Nice" as an Aspect because it's a lot easier to use it for good or ill.

Name: The Hulk/Bruce Banner

High Concept: Gamma Powered Goliath

Trouble: Hulk Just Wants To Be Left Alone!

Aspects: Strongest One There Is!, You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry, Mild Mannered Bruce Banner

Approaches

Careful: +0/+2

Clever: +1/+3

Flashy: +2/+1

Forceful: +3/+0

Quick: +2/+1

Sneaky: +1/+2

Stunts

Because Hulk is Strongest One There Is, Hulk can spend a Fate Point to eliminate an opponent’s Forceful Approach modifier in a Physical Conflict.

Because the Madder Hulk Gets, The Stronger Hulk Gets, the Hulk can spend a Fate Point to add the Stress he’s accumulated when attempting to Forcefully Create an Advantage or Overcome an obstacle.

Because the Hulk is really Mild-Mannered Bruce Banner, once per session Hulk can shift back to Banner, gaining the second set of Approaches instead. Alternately, he can start the session as Banner and shift into Hulk once per session, gaining the first set of Approaches.

Because Hulk Just Wants To Be Left Alone, Hulk can leap from zone to zone at all, or exit a scene entirely by spending a Fate point.

Because Hulk Will Smash!, Hulk gains +2 when Forcefully Attacking in a Physical Conflict.

Stress 3

Consequences

Refresh 1

Notes: I almost left off the Hulk Smash stunt, but in the end, it felt wrong not having it there...and Hulk is an INCREDIBLY (no pun intended) effective brute. This is the most complicated FAE write-up I've done thus far, attempting to meld Hulk and Banner into one write-up, with Banner essentially serving as a very detailed Aspect of Hulk. Like Wolverine, Hulk will have to take some punishment (accepting Compels) before he can REALLY get rolling, but life tends to suck for The Hulk anyway.

Name: Sabretooth (Victor Creed)

High Concept: Sadistic, Unrepentant, Bestial Mass Murderer

Trouble: Can’t Let The Runt Be Happy

Aspects: Law of the Jungle, Weapon X Training, Psycho For Hire

Approaches

Careful: +0

Clever: +2

Flashy: +1

Forceful: +1

Quick: +2

Sneaky: +3

Stunts

Because I Heal Real Fast, I can spend a Fate Point to downgrade a Consequence.

Because I WILL Find You, I gain a +2 when trying to Cleverly Create an Advantage or Overcome an Obstacle while stalking my prey.

Because I Live Inside Wolverine's Head, once per session I can Create an Advantage against him automatically.

Stress 3

Consequences

Refresh 3

Notes: I stole his High Concept directly from TVTropes.Org. While Sabretooth is probably as strong as Wolverine, that's not what makes him scary in his best appearances. Sabretooth is sneaky, cunning and relentless. That last just came to me as I was posting it...the fact is, Sabretooth does revolve HEAVILY around Wolverine.

Name: The Abomination (Emil Blonsky)

High Concept: Gamma Powered Ex-Spy

Trouble: Banner Did This To Me!

Aspects: Nowhere to Call Home, Monster With A Brain,

Approaches

Careful: +2

Clever: +2

Flashy: +0

Forceful: +3

Quick: +1

Sneaky: +1

Stunts

Because I’m Smarter Than I Look, I gain a +2 when attempting to Cleverly Create an Advantage against an opponent.

Stress 3

Consequences

Refresh 3

Notes: This one was a little harder for me, but this is one of those cases where the villain probably isn't going to be as developed as the hero, in part because the "camera" doesn't focus as much on them. If there's any big time Abomination fans out there, I encourage you to offer suggestions, either for Aspects or Stunts.

Thoughts? Comments?

Marvel Accelerated: The Fate of Spider-Man

So a while back I backed the Fate Core Kickstarter, in part because of the INSANE amount of stuff you could get for a $10 pledge. I felt so guilty about how much I was getting for $10 that I ordered Fate Core and Fate Accelerated in print.

Now, Fate Core is more up my alley than Fate Accelerated, being the crunchier of the two without going overboard...but the more I look at Fate Accelerated (available in print for $5 or in PDF for whatever you want to pay), the more ideas intrigue me...until I thought about maybe converting my short-lived Marvel SAGA game I ran for my kid into Fate Accelerated.

Why? Fate Accelerated has that breezy, "Saturday Morning Cartoon" feel, so that's a plus. The other thing is that I'd like to run it in Spider-Man's wheelhouse: A Marvel Team-Up style...which Marvel SAGA is kind of a pain in the butt for.

So I decided to play around with the characters that I had used in the two sessions of SAGA I had ran, as well as The Kingpin (just because I felt like it), and I thought I would share those below. I'm still learning Fate (and Fate Accelerated), so even if we DO go this route, I'll probably tinker with stuff some more, as making supers in Fate Accelerated very much seems to be an art and not a science and my design ethos is going to be "capture their essence and their role in the series, not nitpick everything about them"...and I'll probably cherry pick at times, focusing on the parts of the characters I prefer most.

Name: Spider-Man (Peter Parker)

High Concept: Friendly, Neighborhood Spider-Man

Trouble: My Costume Is Alive!

Aspects: Hero or Menace?, Aunt May Worries About Me, With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Approaches

Careful: +0

Clever: +2

Flashy: +2

Forceful: +1

Quick: +1

Sneaky: +3

Stunts

Spins A Web, Any Size: Because I have webshooters, I get a +2 when I Cleverly create advantages when I can fire webs at an opponent.

Spider-Sense Is Tingling!: Because I have a Spider-Sense, once per session I can choose to go first in a physical conflict.

Stress 3

Consequences

Refresh: 3

Notes: This is a teenage Peter Parker with the symbiote costume, as those who read the actual plays would see. I was going to swap Hero or Menace? and My Costume Is Alive!, but decided the former had more positive uses than the latter, making the latter being his Trouble make more sense. And yes, I know Spider-Man is super strong, but you can always use Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for the relevant boosts there, as the others tend to fit his "style" more. Per Fate Accelerated rules, he still has another Stunt that can be named before his Refresh is affected.

Name: D-Man

High Concept: Pro Wrestling Superhero

Trouble: My Heart Can’t Take It

Aspects: Soft Spot for the Homeless, Trained By Captain America, Boosted by the Power Broker

Approaches

Careful: +2

Clever: +0

Flashy: +2

Forceful: +3

Quick: +1

Sneaky: +1

Stunts

Tag Team Partner: Because I’m a Tag Team Wrestler, I gain a +2 when I Flashily create advantages or overcome obstacles when I’m working with an ally.

Super Strength: Because I am Super Strong, I gain a +2 when I Forcefully create advantages during a physical conflict.

  

Stress 3

Consequences

Refresh 3

Notes: I love the Marvel Universe. You know why? Because I use guys like D-Man in my games. D-Man's not particularly a tag team wrestler per the standard Marvel Universe stuff, but making him one here gave me a viable stunt for him and fit the theme of the first adventure I ran. Trained by Captain America can be used against him as he's targeted by Cap's more powerful and competent foes, just like Boosted by the Power Broker can come back and haunt him, given how evil Power Broker is. I figure there's no need to get into his drug addict past for a "kid's" game, but the weak heart is fair game.

Name: Ares

High Concept: God of War

Trouble: Can’t Back Down From A Fight

Aspects: Violence Is Its Own Reward, Who Dares Challenge Me?, Smarter Than He Looks

Approaches

Careful: +1

Clever: +2

Flashy: +2

Forceful: +4

Quick: +1

Sneaky: +0

Stunts

Lord of War: Because I am a Master Tactician, I gain a +2 when I Cleverly gain advantages or overcome obstacles in a conflict.

Join My Army: Because I am The God of War, once per session I can use my powers to boost mooks, changing their aspects and increasing their stress boxes.

Stress 3

Consequences

Refresh 3

Notes: Ares was a little tougher. I ditched the starting bonuses and gave him a higher Forceful because he's a God. Join My Army was my first attempt at really playing around with Stunts, and tied into his actions in the SAGA adventure, where he powered up two pro wrestlers to make them powerhouses. I played with the idea of Ares being a bit smarter than he's generally portrayed, being a God of War and all.

Bonesaw McGraw and Crusher Hogan

Magically Empowered Pro Wrestlers, Beholden to Ares

Skilled (+2) at: Grappling, Intimidating

Bad (-2) at: Out thinking opponents, knowing when to quit

Stress: 2

Notes: These were Ares' mook wrestlers (based off of Peter's opponents in his wrestling debuts in comic and film, obviously). As a former pro wrestler, these names almost offend me, but it's a continuity nod.

Slyde

The Teflon Coated Man, One Trick Pony

Skilled (+2) at: Getting Away, Chemistry, Robbing Banks

Bad (-2) at: Fighting

Stress: 1

Notes: I toyed with this one for a bit, but went with statting Slyde up as a mook. Why? Because he's not really a serious villain most of the time, but he's a bit better than your "average" mook because he has three things he's Skilled at and only one thing he's Bad at.

Name: The Kingpin (Wilson Fisk)

High Concept: The Kingpin of Crime

Trouble: My Wife Disapproves of My Position

Aspects: CEO of Fisk Enterprises, Sometimes A Man’s Got To Get His Hands Dirty, Mountain of a Man

Approaches

Careful: +2

Clever: +2

Flashy: +0

Forceful: +3

Quick: +1

Sneaky: +1

Stunts

The Streets Are Mine: Because I rule the streets, once per session I can summon an NPC ally to aid me.

This Isn’t All Fat: Because I am faster than I appear to be, I get a +2 when I Quickly create advantages in a physical conflict.

Stress: 3

Consequences

Refresh: 3

Notes: Kingpin is totally a guy I would only use in a long game and probably not as a one shot villain. I actually wanna give this one some more thought, because I think he needs a stunt or two that would have a larger effect on the game, above and beyond when he's directly involved in the action.

Anyway, that's kinda what I'm tinkering with right now. If it takes off, I'll expand the Marvel Universe dramatically (already mulling Hulk, Wolverine and Captain America...as well as some more obscure characters).

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Tommy's Take on Anointed: Mantle of the Gods

Dark Skull Studios isn’t new to pen and paper RPGs…but they do have a brand new RPG called Anointed: Mantle of the Gods. In a Bronze Age setting, tribes are being hunted by demons and monsters…and only the champions of the Gods can rise to the occasion. The Anointed carry the mantles of their Gods (see how that works?) against those that would destroy their people.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The book is available at RPGNow in PDF ($9.95) and print ($14.95), and is 124 pages. The book opens with a short fiction piece designed to unfold the world before the readers.

A lot of games encourage character creation as a group, but this book practically demands it. Why? Because the players have to create their God and their tribe in addition to their character. (To avoid potential intergroup conflict, everyone is assumed to serve the same God, because religion can get hairy.) You need to select the God’s domains, and a handful are provided, but you are probably going to either have to make up some of your own or reference the New Gods of Mankind book for more domains, as the PCs’ God should have three. Once the domains are in place, the God’s commandments must be defined as well.

Once the God is created, the Tribe is…and this directly impacts the PCs just as the God does. For instance, a PC from a Hunting Tribe may be skilled at Tracking or Stealth, while one from a Farming Tribe may be skilled at Herbalism or Animal Handling, etc. Once you get the Tribe defined (including location, population and so on), then you sit down and create the Heroes, as defined by the Gods and Tribes.

Each character has three attributes (Body, Mind and Spirit), and a d6, d8 and d10 to assign to each of them. They also have Speed, Health, Defense and Resistance. The first two are preset and the last two are defined by a combination of Body & Mind and Body & Spirit respectively. Characters have six skills, with one at d8, two at d6 and three at d4 (in addition to the skill you get from belonging to the Tribe). Next, you get a Power based off of one of your God’s Domains. Your Hero might be able to create Ice Daggers, Heal or cause Earthquakes, for instance. Each Domain has four powers listed, so between three Domains, you can get a decent spread of powers so that the Tribe’s Heroes don’t all feel the same. Your Hero gets up to three Advantages (so long as you take an equal number of Disadvantages). Advantages include Eagle Eye, Lock-Master and Intimidating, while Disadvantages include Brute Mind (you may be cunning, but not “smart” in the classic sense), Disfigured and Kleptomania. Heroes also have Favor, which is a mechanical representation of their God’s favor (of course). To simplify things, six Templates are provided for fast generation or inspiration.

The core mechanic involves rolling a small pool of what is typically an attribute die and a skill die and comparing the result to a Target Number (default is 4, but harder and easier tasks have different target numbers), with some tasks requiring multiple successes. Heroes can use Favor to modify these rolls, adding a d12 to their pool, add a d12 as a modifier to their highest die (depending on whether they need multiple successes or a higher roll), add dice to another Hero’s pool, Heal or activate their powers. If a Hero rolls a d12 on one of those Favor dice, he gets full blown Divine Intervention (in the form of an automatic success and generally something flashy from his God).

The rules cover a wide range of situations, from combat to haggling to hunting and so on, and discusses the use of each skill in detail.

The Powers Chapter covers the available powers in detail as well, starting with the abilities that all of The Anointed share, such as seeing spirits and demons, spotting other Anointed and what amounts to an exorcism. From there, each of the powers mentioned early in the book get explained, with full game effects and Favor costs. While the explanations of the powers are great, where this chapter really shines is the breakdown of how to make, and assign costs to, your own powers. It’s reminiscent of Cinematic Unisystem’s spell creation system, and I mean that in a very good way.

Combat assumes that you will use grids and minis (not surprising as Dark Skull Studios has their own line of printable figures), and each character is allowed to move, take a combat action and take a free action on each turn. In an interesting break from a lot of games, Initiative is based on Mind, rather than Body. Attack rolls are made against the opponent’s Defense and weapon damage is rolled against Resistance, with each success counting as a point of damage. One interesting rule says that if maximum damage is rolled on the weapon’s damage die, then the force of the impact actually breaks the weapon.

Between chapters five and six, we get a great painting showing the setting’s cosmology.

Chapter six covers trade and equipment, going around the world showing what kinds of exports are produced in each region, as well as a section discussing trade with each of the other races (like Sylphs, Gnomes and Undines).

The book ends with a solo adventure that is designed to allow the GM to play through and familiarize themselves with the setting, Choose Your Own Adventure style.

WHAT WORKS: For a game predicated on the notion that every PC is going to belong to the same tribe, be the follower of the same God and only have three attributes, there are enough options to make each Anointed feel completely unique. The Powers creation system is really great, as the guidelines combined with examples given make for an impressive addition to the rules. Lastly, the book is absolutely gorgeous.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: Small editing bits (words being repeated side by side that were missed by proofreaders, at least one instance of improper punctuation, etc.). There is no bestiary, aside from picking through the solo adventure for statblocks (such as for Salamander slavers). A book essentially meant to launch a new line shouldn’t be referencing books in the previous line in anything but the most loosest manner…but it really feels like you’ll want to have extra books from the New Gods of Mankind line on hand for Domains and a bestiary.

CONCLUSION: Anointed has a ton of promise, but feels like it relies a bit too much on familiarity with the New Gods of Mankind game line, which is unfortunate because it can be easily missed that this game is connected to that series. Now, if you picked up books in that line but felt that the scope was a bit more than you wanted to deal with, then this is perfect. The character options are all simple but robust, which is right in my comfort zone. I particularly like the Powers, because you WILL want to make more powers, either because the PCs want something that’s not covered in the book, or you will want NPC Anointed to have Powers not listed there. With tighter editing, better organization and an actual bestiary (rather than scattered stat blocks in the solo adventure), this could have been a GREAT product, rather than a really good one. 

Tommy's Take on Shaintar: Legends Arise

I intentionally made this HUGE because, well, it's an absolutely beautiful cover.

IN THE INTEREST OF FULL DISCLOSURE: Savage Mojo assisted in the creation of this book and are assisting in the Kickstarter for Shaintar: Legends Unleashed. I am still a freelancer associated with Savage Mojo, though I had no hand in this book and am receiving no financial compensation from this project whatsoever. I was provided a PDF of Shaintar: Legends Arise as a courtesy, one that I was glad to receive due to being a fan of Shaintar for years, when I picked up the previous edition from Talisman Studios, the forerunners to Savage Mojo. I write this as a blogger and a fan of Savage Worlds, epic fantasy and Shaintar, nothing more. That said, the affiliate link I am using does award a portion of sales through it to my own coffers to support the blog (generally always in the form of store credit that I can use to purchase products from RPGNow for review here later).

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: You can get the full PDF from RPGNow for $20 and the Player's Guide under the "Pay What You Want" model. Legends Arise is meant to cover Shaintar gaming from Novice through Veteran, with the upcoming Legends Unleashed to cover Heroic and Legendary, and promising to rip the absolute lid off of what can and cannot be done in Savage Worlds in regards to "epic". Print versions of the book will be available soon via POD, and the Kickstarter page currently says they will be $35 each.

So, that said...what do you get in Shaintar? A full-blown fantasy setting for Savage Worlds. A lot of this is going to look familiar, as a lot of fantasy looks familiar. For instance, we have humans and elves and dwarves and so on. Sean Patrick Fannon spends the first chapter laying a groundwork for the setting, including the five sources of power for magic (Darkness, Life, Essence, Light and Arcmancy), including a series of helpful sidebars that speak to the reader author-to-reader.

Chapter 2 dives into character creation, a lot of which is easily stealable by anyone that is wanting to run a Savage Worlds-based fantasy campaign. There's even a group called Grayson's Gray Rangers that are an all purpose group of heroic types that can be used to provide easy rationale for the PCs to be joined together. From there a full list of character types is given, such as Knights, Rogues, Ex-Slaves, Alchemists and Common Folk. Defining Interests, from many of Reality Blurs' settings, are present as well. S:LA similarly takes a page from Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition and provides a series of Archetypes, two for each race present in the game. Those racial options include Aevakar (winged fae), Alakar (fae that are closely bound to the mortal realm), Brinchie (big cat dudes), Dregordians (big reptile dudes), Dwarves (c'mon, you know these guys), Eldakar (a lot like the classic mystical elves), Goblins (you know these guys, too), Humans (the most versatile of the races, of course), Korindians (half-elves who, in an interesting twist, have a whole culture to themselves rather than being the outcasts of the borders of elf and human society), Ogres (just as big and hulking as you remember) and Orcs (not as inherently evil as you remember from most fantasy). Each of them have a STUNNING amount of racial edges (which you can file the racial requirement off for your games) and the Korindians have a whole Martial Art of their own. One of my favorite Edges is for the Orcs, which allows them to fling themselves between an ally and a successful attack, which I think I'm going to steal for my Midnight game.

To encourage heroic characters, the author provides an optional rule in which characters with Heroic, Loyal or Code of Honor are allowed to carry over bennies from session to session.

A whole slew of new Edges are introduced, such as First Among Equals which allows a character with Leadership Edges to grant his bonuses to all allied Wild Cards within sight or sound of him, or a series of Edges designed to modify Powers (with included examples), to being Soul-Bonded to an item (giving the item special qualities). The bean-counting of a lot of fantasy games is done away with in favor of Resource Rolls. The author takes an approach I tend to: I don't get worked up over exact "dollar" amounts, nor do I sweat encumbrance too much, instead applying common sense where applicable.

The Powers section gets into the fact that there are seven different types of magic: Alchemy (whose practitioners like to bust out magic potions), Channeling (used by Druids and powered by Nature, Earth, Sea and Sky), Faith (which has one of the cooler Trappings - Penance - which causes a target to reflect on their misdeeds), Necromancy (that's generally bad), Sorcery, Thaumaturgy (which channels demonic power) and The Way (which is far more subtle than the rest).

Lots of new powers are provided as well: Analyze Foe, Arcane Shield (which essentially "casts" the Arcane Resistance Edge), Mind's Eye (kind of a "super sight"), Quake, Telepathy and more. Additionally, a full chart is provided which breaks down which powers are available to which magic types.

Lastly, several setting rules are provided, such as bypassing the *skull* on Called Shots, everyone getting to reroll damage rolls by spending a benny, spending a benny to *add* a d6 to your result, to outright divine intervention and a swell little rule to encourage folks taking Leadership Edges, allowing them to boost a skill each time they do (as long as it is below its governing attribute).

Shaintar also alters the Advancement scheme, from 20 points a Rank to 25, slowing it a bit.

The GM section goes into a discussion of Epic High Fantasy, attempting to set the stage for the campaign mindset before diving into the setting proper. This begins with a discussion of the adversarial forces in Shaintar, such as The Builders, an odd group of almost demonic dwarves. If Grayson's Gray Rangers are the big heroes of the setting, The Black Lanterns are their "not afraid to get their hands dirty" counterparts. A full timeline is provided, starting with the creation of Shaintar in -5000 and continuing to 3121, when the Gates of Hell burst open. (Year 0 is the Dawn of the Age of Hope and the beginning of the new fae calendar).

Chapter 4 doesn't provide Savage Tales or a Plot Point Campaign, but it DOES provide a series of campaign outlines one can use, with tips on the kinds of characters likely to be involved, as well as chapter-by-chapter breakdowns.

The bestiary makes it absolutely clear that anyone or anything can be a Wild Card as needed, then provides two sets of templates. The first are things like Corrupted and Demonic (the former tainted by Death, the latter by the Abyss), and the second are a series of Racial templates that can be added to "common" stats: so you can take a "generic" Thief statblock, for instance, and make him a Brinchie with little fuss.

Entries like Builder include the various roles found among the Builders, as well as their Golems. Celestials also come in varieties, like guides or the "Honored Dead" being summoned to fight for good once more. The Childer is a catch-all for the demonic spawn that have arisen, from Gargoyles to Minotaurs to Ratzin (rat guys) to Thratchen (goat guys). One of the more interesting entries are Hobgoblins: Orcs who have become Corrupted.

Yeah.

Corrupted also includes the more classic "dark" creatures like werewolves and vampires. "Fallen" elves are known as Shayakar, and are essentially Goth Elves. Wraiths, zombies and mummies are included, as are a number of "professional" templates like Paladins, Necromancers, Thugs and Scholars...and I'm still leaving out a bunch.

WHAT WORKS: Even if you have no desire to play Shaintar, if you're running a fantasy game in Savage Worlds, there's some heavy duty stuff to strip-mine here. At least a few Edges will make their way into my Savage Midnight game, and maybe even a couple of the Setting Rules. A lot of it feels very familiar, sure, but there's a lot of cool tweaks (like the Korindians having their own martial art), and the ready made excuses to put folks together (like Grayson's Gray Rangers). I would also be doing the book an injustice if I failed to point out that it's gorgeous, with an absolutely amazing cover by Tomasz Tworek. Did I mention there's not a laundry list of "More Powerful Than Your PCs" NPCs to have to explain your way around? Although, they may be coming in the next book for all I know. (See? Told you I'm not in the loop.)

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The Talisman Studios version had a really sweet random adventure generator that used cards that this one lacked. Not that I won't just swipe that from that book, of course...but YOU don't have access to it. In MY copy of the PDF, there were still a lot of "see page XXX" left, which may have been corrected by now (and which will hopefully be corrected by print for sure). The information for the setting itself gets painted in pretty broad strokes, which some folks are going to hate and some folks are going to love. Given that I'm just really getting started with one Savage Worlds fantasy game, I doubt I'll get to actually run Shaintar myself anytime soon.

CONCLUSION: For Pete's Sake, at least get the Player's Guide so you can rip liberally for your own Savage Worlds fantasy games. Then if it looks good enough, there's the full version of the book and the Kickstarter to consider. I love a lot of the tinkering Sean did with the Savage Worlds rules, and I seriously cannot wait to see what happens with Legends Unleashed and how it opens up magic to fit an "epic high fantasy" feel.