Bundle of Holding for Wiggy

Hey all,

Wiggy Wade-Williams, RPG writer and longtime friend of this blog, is in bad shape after suffering *three* strokes this year, and Bundle of Holding has released a Necropolis 2350 bundle to support him.

If you're not familiar with Wiggy's work, he was foundational in the early days of Savage Worlds (including the Savage World of Solomon Kane, which is a bonafide masterpiece in my book), before going on to create Triple Ace Games, where he released Hellfrost and Necropolis 2350 for Savage Worlds, as well as a slew of great games for the Ubiquity System, such as Leagues of Adventure, Leagues of Gothic Horror, and All for One: Regime Diabolique.

He's also spoken very highly of me as a reviewer, citing me as one of his only three reviewers he reads, because of my objectivity in my reviews, and how I "review games for what they are, not what he(I) would like them to be".

He is a ridiculously talented, and prolific, dude, and hopefully he can get back on his feet. His contributions to my gaming, and his vote of confidence in my blogging and reviewing, cannot be understated by me.

Tommy

Savage Worlds...and Why I Keep Coming Back

Started a new Savage Worlds campaign last night. This one, to the surprise and apprehension of many, is an adaptation of Greg Stafford's classic RPG King Arthur Pendragon.

Yep, I went there. Been hard at work on an adaptation that captures the cooler elements of Pendragon while still providing the same mechanics and gameplay my group has known and loved for years.

But, y'know, why?

Why adapt King Arthur Pendragon?

I mean, Savage Worlds is one of my two favorite in-print game systems (with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) and one of my three favorite games of all time (with 5e and Marvel SAGA), but still...

Why go back to Savage Worlds again, for a medieval fantasy game, with domain management at that? It's not like Savage Worlds can do that. Savage Worlds is for crazy pulp action and tactical skirmishes, not political intrigue and knights being driven by their personal values.

We'll get back to that in a minute.

Are You Reading Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque?

Before we shuffle 2013 off into the history books, I thought I would draw your attention to a blog you may not be reading: Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque by Jack Shear.

While not for the faint of heart, Jack's blog is a wonderfully sinister resource for fans of horror gaming, especially Savage Worlds folks as of late.

Among the highlights of Jack's site are his Savage Worlds cheat sheet, which summarizes the basics of Savage Worlds, combined with the Combat Survival Guide (a document many - including myself - make sure their players have access to, given Savage Worlds' combat intricacies).

His Slithdale Hollow mini setting is a very cool and creepy (and completely free) Savage Setting featuring the players playing young kids, ala Lemony Snicket and Coraline. Grub stew, anyone?

His Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque books are a great resource for any fans of earlier D&D editions who want some horror gaming without the baggage of Ravenloft (though some of the inspiration is certainly going to be there) and his Gothic Earth guide will give you similar options but set on (you guessed it) Gothic Earth instead of a Fantasy setting.

Planet MotherF*cker is an over the top post apocalyptic setting that is system neutral, but includes advice on how you should go about reskinning certain bestiary entries to match the horrible things crawling the wastelands (my favorite being Skeletorians...you DO have stats for an undead spellcaster in your favorite RPG, right?).

Aaaaaand these are all completely free in PDF, or you can spring for print copies via Lulu.

And then the blog itself is heaped with wonderful entries, many of them monsters with Savage Worlds statblocks that are suitable for being dropped in on many games, like Solomon Kane, Rippers or even Deadlands...and, for fans of Ravenloft, his Ravenloft remixes make for some great reading, especially the advice given for some of the lesser developed domains (like adding some mind-blasting Lovecraftian life to the underdeveloped Bluetspur. Special mention also goes to his Gothic Fantasy Magic for Savage Worlds. I'm kinda jealous at his output of depraved creativity, but I'm glad I can mine it for my own purposes, since Mr. Shear is sharing it with the world.

While Mr. Shear's blog is certainly not for all audiences, it has a lot of useful and fun information and tools for folks that don't mind a little R-Rated and B(Z?)-Movie in their RPGs.

UPDATE: I intend to release Tommy's Top Six tomorrow as is tradition, though the blog's birthday giveaway will be significantly smaller than in years past, providing fewer chances to win, unfortunately. I am aiming to get a tighter schedule in the new year, with a regular schedule for reviews, and probably a bigger emphasis on board and card games as well.

Thanks to everyone who has continued reading to this point...hopefully 2014 can make up for a lackluster 2013.

The Path of Kane - A Solomon Kane Actual Play Volume 3

Volume 1

Volume 2

Unfinished Business

The Winthorpe party set out for Conners’ home, hoping to raid his books and find out what he may know about the Gems of Power. As they approached Conners’ home, a sound from around back drew their attention. Checking out the grounds, they found a barn, from which a rough sound was emanating. Jonathan told Tenzan to be at the ready as he carefully approached the barn…

As he came closer to a knothole, the doors were busted open and a massive black stallion with glowing red eyes and barbed wire being used as bit and bridle emerged! The group was momentarily taken aback…then Roger drew his pistol and fired, dropping the horse dead!

Jonathan was taken by surprised at the single lethal shot! He ordered Tenzan and Roger to examine the barn closer, while he and his sister checked out the house.

Inside the home, the siblings rifled through some very expensive art pieces, but they were really interested in knowledge…which they found in the study. Jonathan found that Conners had been studying “The Castle of the Devil” in the Black Forest of Germany. Jonathan read with great interest about Baron Von Staler, his descent into madness and cruelty after hitting his head and losing his sight, locking the Baroness away, battling Solomon Kane and then regaining his sight, murdering the Baroness believing her to be an imposter! Conners has apparently come to believe that Von Staler’s bones are still in his castle, and has dispatched men to Germany to seek them out for some dark end!

Jonthan read on, discovering that Conners had been financing his studies through selling all kinds of dark items to dangerous and desperate people, and that he had actually created that horse in the barn, through some manner of demonic infusion!

Tenzan and Roger joined the twins in the house, and Jonathan asked what took so long, to which Roger replied by informing him that the horse kept trying to get back up!

Examining the house closely, they found a hidden room where Conners was performing dark studies, as well as parts and remains from human and animal victims he had been studying on!

The decision was made to make their way to London, gain passage to Germany and seek out the Castle of the Devil for themselves! To finance the trip, they rather looted Conners’ home, in hopes of unloading the items in London.

The Winthorpe party rode out across England in their cart, stopping at an inn a couple of days later. Through this all, Jonathan had been studying the book he found at Dr. Hapgood’s…and as he was settling in for the night, something clicked! Jonathan was momentarily overwhelmed…because he had discovered the secrets of raising the dead!

Shortly thereafter, a strange pot crashed through the window and began filling the room with smoke! Jonathan tried to keep his feet, but stumbled out of the room where he saw Tenzan and Christina under similar assault! Then darkness came…

Jonathan came to sometime later, being smacked repeatedly by his sister, who was trying to wake him up. She told him that Roger has missing, but she had found tracks leading away from the inn. The twins and Tenzan mounted up, and headed out to rescue Roger!

A short ride later, they saw Roger tied up in a clearing, surrounded by half a dozen men, and a figure on a black horse that appeared to be Conners! They rushed to save Roger, but the henchmen moved to intercept them! One struck Tenzan with a surprising blow, crumpling him to his knees! Christina charged Conners, but one of his men tried to block her.

The others surrounded Jonathan, who quickly cast spells to protect himself, and then to enhance his fighting skills. They paid off just in time, because he was surrounded by some vicious thugs!

Conners went at Christina as well, and she was battling viciously to fend off both men.

Jonathan bloodied his kodachi, as Christina brought down Conners and his henchmen, then rushed to save Jonathan.

In mid battle Jonathan was hit with a revelation: He knew a couple of these men from Wyndham Keep! This puzzled him, but he kept fighting and he and his sister held off the thugs!

Tenzan was wounded, but not killed, and was embarrassed to be taken in such a way. They freed Roger, and went to Conners…to discover it wasn’t Conners at all, but a frightened soldier named Terry Roth! Roth explained that he was only here because his daughter had been bitten by a wild dog, and a man offered to heal her: Life for a life! Roth would do anything to protect his own, even kill another, and that’s why he ambushed Roger! A slip of paper fell from his cloak and Jonathan read it: A note, addressed to Roger, from Conners! Citing certain beliefs that items on your person follow you into the afterlife, Conners left this so Roger would know who killed him, and that it was done because Rogers “chose the boy”. Conners then promised in his letter that he would come for “the boy” when it was least expected, and would take his life!

The Winthorpe party gathered Terry and Roger agreed to try to save his daughter. They went to Terry’s home, and after a long night of hard work, Roger managed to help her illness subside.

Soon back on the road, the Winthorpe party arrived in London early the next day, riding along the coast, when they caught wind of sailors hauling a body onto land and one yelling out “Again?! That’s the fifth one this week!”…

Notes: The encounter with the demon horse was supposed to be way more than a one shot finish. The horse was trying to escape and would inadvertently lead them back to Wyndham Keep, where Conners had escaped after getting into the heads of some of Lord Wyndham’s men and getting them to turn on Nicodemus.

Oops.

Jonathan’s player played the Enemy card in this session, and so I made sure to establish that Conners would be coming back, and back for blood, while also hinting again at the hidden past of Roger Therrien.

Next adventure is a Savage Tale from the book involving a giant rat…did I mention Jonathan is afraid of rats?

The Path of Kane - A Solomon Kane Actual Play Volume 2

Volume 1

A Tangled Web

After the dream-visit by N’Longa, the Winthorpe party decided to head to Northern England to rendezvous with a scholar friend of Roger’s named Conners. Hopefully, Conners could tell them of the Gems of Power, or at least the one in the Old World.

On the trail North, the Winthorpe party was taken aback to find people hanging from trees on the trail, animals having picked at them! Roger noted, after an examination, that they didn’t even appear to be criminals, but farmers and laborers.

As Tenzan immediately moved to cut them down, Jonathan was overtaken with a sense of nausea, and said he would “lead the horses away”. While removing himself from the scene, he spotted a side trail through the woods, where five men were stringing up another person!

Jonathan returned to his party and rounded them up to approach this other event. Jonathan got their attention, asking the men why they were stringing people up, to which they replied that the people of Wickhampton were guilty of desecrating the grave of The Lady Wyndham and were being strung up on orders from Lord Robert Wyndham! Jonathan demanded evidence of this foul play, to which the guards replied that Lord Wyndham and his adviser Nicodemus were certain the people of Wickhampton had jealously desecrated the body of Lady Wyndham in order to disrespect Lord Wyndham! Lady Wyndham had come from Wickhampton, and was buried – at Lord Wyndham’s dismay – in Wickhampton due to her final wishes.

This led to a fight, which ended badly for the guards. Three wound up dead, with one more hurt badly and the fifth lightly wounded. They interrogated the fifth, and wound up taking him and the other survivor in as indentured servants to Wickhampton as they took the prisoner and the guards back to Wickhampton, returning with carts to bring all the bodies down.

That night, they were filled with a new sense of urgency at hearing the tales of Wyndham’s brutality, hearing that the scholar Conners had been imprisoned by Wyndham’s men as well! Early the next day, granted a cart by the people of Wickhampton, the Winthorpe party headed to Wyndham Keep.

At Wyndham keep, they were greeted at the sight of Lord Wyndham himself on the wall, his adviser Nicodemus standing behind him. The keep appeared to be rather run down, and Lord Wyndham was rather obstinate as he argued with Jonathan Winthorpe over his treatment of the people of Wickhampton. Nicodemus advised Lord Wyndham that he sensed magick off of Jonathan Winthorpe, accusing him of being a Necromancer!

Jonathan argued at this and let slip that he had encountered the Lord’s men the day prior…to which Wyndham latched on, saying that the Winthorpe party would be required to replace the bodies they had cut down!

As battle commenced, Nicodemus transformed Christina Winthorpe’s rapier into a snake, one that bit her! She cried out and was forced to battle her own weapon with her dagger! Roger Therrien drew his wheel-lock pistol and blasted one of the guards off the wall! Tenzan moved to the drawbridge as Jonathan drew his sling and launched a rock at Nicodemus.

Jonathan kept slinging stones at Nicodemus, while Roger drew his rapier and joined Tenzan at the drawbridge to battle the approaching guards. Christina battled the snake viciously, finally killing it with her main-gauche and retrieving her weapon as it transformed back!

Lord Wyndham stalked down to the drawbridge, a mad rage on his face! Two of his guards opened fire on Roger, then moved to the tower for a better vantage point.

Wyndham’s madness was apparent when he attacked one of his own men, throwing him off the drawbridge and drowning him so he could attack Tenzan! Christina made her way across the bridge, aiding Tenzan while her brother slipped in the ranks, boosting the capabilities of Tenzan.

Nicodemus approaching Christina and frightened her back as he cast a spell on his knife and approached her…but he went into a complete panic as Tenzan hacked his Lord down!

Nicodemus, in a sad rage, confronted the assassins and asked them why they had come and what they wanted! Jonathan pressed further about the attacks on Wickhampton, but Nicodemus held firm, until Christina said that Wickhampton’s cemetery had been raided several times over the last six months!

Nicodemus was stunned by this…by the realization that his Lady’s grave may not have been particularly targeted…and that all this death and devastation may have been for the wrong reasons. He begged the Winthorpe party to find the fiends responsible and make them pay! He offered what he could of the Lord’s coffers, and even offered to release Conners to them for satisfaction!

The Winthorpe party headed back to Wickhampton to do what they could to resolve this horror.

Having dinner at the inn, they overhead the gravediggers talking about their evening duties and refusing to head back to the cemetery, deciding a Necromancer to be at fault for the grave robbings. Jonathan confronted them, and ultimately agreed to accompany them to the cemetery!

Heading to the cemetery, the party saw four men digging away, and the gravediggers ran off in fear! The party, not a single one skilled in Stealth, managed to sneak RIGHT up on the grave robbers!

Roger decided to try to cow them into submission, but as horrific a crime as graverobbing is, the grave robbers decided “fight” was the better choice.

They were dismantled in seconds.

Jonathan seemed pleased with the results, thinking it to be satisfactory.

Roger educated his young charge that grave robbers were interchangeable minions…symptoms, not the disease. Roger, shoving his finger into the wound of one of the surviving grave robbers, made him talk quickly and give up the name of Dr. John Hapgood.

Heading to the Inn, the party found out Hapgood is a pillar of the community and a wonderful guy whose wife was horribly killed in an accident a year back, crushed under a horse cart. Jonathan decided he should be confronted about these horrendous acts. The townsfolk tried to argue, but Roger and Tenzan ended that.

The party headed to Hapgood’s home on the Moors, and Jonathan picked the lock to get inside. Stepping inside, they were greeted by the insane sight of Dr. Hapgood, cackling gleefully about “saving” his wife and conquering death! Then the putrid arm of his wife snatched him back into a back room! A struggle ensued, and he went silent!

Jonathan pondered just burning the house down, when The Monster emerged! Tenzan was captivated by the horrific beauty of The Monster, and clearly thrown off as it approached. He did join Christina and Roger in battling it, while Jonathan moved about the rear, enhancing their fighting abilities, weapons and strength. The Monster flew into a rage and attacked everyone as they moved in, while shrugging off their strongest blows. A huge backhand from The Monster sent Roger spiraling to the ground, and this set Christina into a Righteous Fury!

Seeing the only thing she’s had resembling a parent in years crumple to the ground made her erupt in anger and she pounced on The Monster, driving her rapier through its skull! As The Monster fell, she stabbed it in the heart again and again until Tenzan roughly pulled her away…she didn’t stop trying to kill The Monster until she saw Roger standing before her, mostly intact…at which point she turned away so no one could see her cry.

Jonathan moved into that back room and found a book: “On the Subject of Life and How to Awaken it After Death”. Throughout the house he found notes and journals about the Hapgoods…how Martha had been crushed and how he kept her body preserved…how he failed to find help…until he bought that book from a scholar named Conners.

Returning to Wyndham Keep and providing evidence to Nicodemus about Hapgood’s responsibility for the grave robbings as well as Conners’ involvement, the party went to the dungeon to find out just what Conners meant by selling the book.

Conners tried to say the book was a fake, full of lies…but his old friend Roger saw through it. Roger told him he broke a sacred trust by putting something so dangerous into the hands of one so unstable, and Conners tried to say something about Rogers past, but was cut off. Roger finally turned his back on his old friend, telling Nicodemus to let him rot.

Nicodemus, for his part, offered the party 200 lbs (of which they only took 20) and his best wishes on their journey, planning to head to Wickhampton to try to mend the damage.

The people of Wickhampton, for their part, gave the Winthorpe party the carriage to use in their travels.

And Jonathan Winthorpe kept in his bag the devilish manual with the power to raise the dead…

Notes: This was a Savage tale called The Dark Side of Love with a large framing sequence added by me that expanded the depth of the tale by a few layers. I set up Wyndham and Nicodemus as an inversion of sorts to Theoden and Grima Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings…in this case the Lord was actually crazy while the adviser was just blindly loyal and trying to keep things together.

Plus, I added the layer of the lost friend that they were seeking being the one ultimately responsible for it all: The death of Dr. Hapgood, the villagers killed by Wyndham’s men and ultimately the death of Wyndham himself. A hint was dropped here as to the secret past of Roger Therrien, and there’s a good chance that Conners will return. Roger and Conners kinda remind me a bit of Rupert Giles and Ethan Rayne from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

Once more, Christina gets the Righteous Rage in the Boss Fight…good timing. My friend Tommy is really liking playing Jonathan as a support guy while his extras (and Wild Card sister) do all the really heavy lifting. It was a good session, and adding the extra layers really took the adventure that extra step.

The Path of Kane - A Solomon Kane Actual Play Volume 1

 In partial anticipation of resuming some of these games, and partially so that I can archive them on the blog "just in case", I'm gonna post some more of my Savage Worlds actual plays. Most of these are from circa 2009, but me and my one Solomon Kane player have talked about resuming it, and thanks to actually having these actual plays, we can pick up where we left off. Anyway, enjoy.

The Path of Kane

Set-up: So my friend Tommy wants to play Solomon Kane, and has bugged me for a couple of weeks about making a character. I relent, and he starts making a rich, foul-tempered sorcerer named Jonathon Winthorpe. A whim strikes me, and I make his twin sister – Christina Winthorpe, and NPC Wild Card fencer, and their Extra allies: Roger Therrien, their butler and Tenzan, a samurai sworn to protect them. Each had encounter Solomon Kane in their past. When Jonathon was younger and on a daring adventure, he stumbled into a cave where he encountered a rat the size of a small cow! Solomon Kane saved him from that rat. Kane also rescued Christina after she was kidnapped by hooligans who wanted to ransom her back to her family. She watched Kane dismantle a dozen men, fighting with two blades at once, and was forever awed. Tenzan was pulled from certain fiery death by Kane, who walked fearlessly through a blaze to rescue the trapped warrior. Roger doesn’t like to speak of Solomon Kane and his connection, however.

The four have been sharing mysterious dreams, and have found themselves drawn to the small village of Torkertown…

[Note: Spoilers for the Path of Kane plot-point will certainly follow.]

Arriving in Torkertown late in the afternoon, the Winthorpe party passes a funeral as well as a grieving woman in black, whose belongings are being loaded onto a cart.

Passing the cemetery, they can’t help but notice that several of the graves are very fresh.

Coming to the local inn, The Lamb, the Winthorpe party heads inside, seeing the patrons all sullen and quiet. Jonathon scoffs and asks what the drab cloud over the town is, but his attitude rather puts off the innkeep. Christina has a little more luck, and they discover that local merchant John Prestwick passed on the other night…and he’s the fourth such to do so. All were found dead, pale as a sheet.

Jonathon’s curiosity is piqued, and he inquires about libraries or town records, and the innkeep directs him to the church, a Protestant church overseen by Rev. Jeffrey Timothy.

Jonathan sets out immediately, and meets with the Reverend…though that quickly goes nowhere as once more, Jonathan’s attitude sours things for him. Reverend Timothy instead directs him to Squire Hardwicke’s estate, and Jonathan actually runs into Hardwicke on the streets. Claiming to be writing a book, Jonathan tries to get Hardwicke to cooperate with his investigation, but Hardwicke refuses to work with a sensationalist.

Rebuffed at every turn, Jonathan returns to the inn and tells his much more personable sister to see what she can’t learn.

As Roger, Jonathon and Tenzan are sitting down for a meal, Christina returns with news from the Squire that Hardwicke ruled the deaths to be caused by alcohol. She can tell something else is up, but she can’t say what.

Roger politely rises and asks Jonathan to accompany him to the Squire’s home, where he forces his way inside when Hardwicke opens the door. Roger quickly Intimidates the missing information from Hardwicke: That all the bodies were covered with tiny puncture wounds. Hardwicke relents and allows Jonathon to search all the records he has on the town. Scanning the reports, records and details, Jonathon discovers all the deaths are linked by certain things: namely state of the bodies and that all were merchants, and he can’t help but notice that a Roger Ivens, another merchant, died a month earlier, falling to his death in his home. Hardwicke does mention that the lot of them were known to gather socially.

Leaving the Squire’s house, they see Christina and Tenzan exiting the church, and Christina tells her brother that the Reverend was going on about puncture wounds and drained blood…Jonathon says that Squire Hardwicke says much the same…and Christina says that the Reverend believes the town is under assault by a vampire! The Winthorpe party heads to the cemetery with Reverend Timothy to exhume the body of Roger Ivens! Jonathan is BESIDE himself when his sister and Tenzan begin doing the digging, and only gets worse when Roger joins in. He finally decides to be useful when they strike the coffin, and begins whittling a stake as Tenzan draws his katana.

Christina slowly pulls the coffin open…and Jonathon nearly loses it, while Roger stumbles away in horror: At the rotting corpse. Just to be safe, at Jonathon’s suggestion Christina stakes it and chops off its head anyway.

The four decide to pay a visit to the Widow Ivens, waking her in the middle of the night. They do find out from her that her husband was swindled by his friends and a fifth man, Alfred Dawlish! She vehemently denies playing a role in their deaths however, claiming only that she did visit each of the four merchants to plead for a loan and was rebuked. The Winthorpe party quickly moves to the Dawlish home, where they find the master of the house is actually expected to be returning tonight, by the cemetery road!

Hurrying to intercept him, they find a scream FROM the cemetery, where Dawlish has been cornered by a creeping red mist! Christina, Tenzan and Roger move in, drawing their weapons, but none can find purchase in the cloud! Jonathon spots a tendril snaking from Ivens’ grave to the cloud and begins casting a spell on his kodachi, attempting to enchant it, but failing.

The cloud creeps toward Dawlish, who is paralyzed with fear, but also begins to feed on Christina! She snaps out of the attack with a vengeance, and strikes the cloud, somehow harming it! Jonathon again attempts to enchant his blade, and again fails. As he finally casts the spell, the enraged Christina lashes into the middle of the cloud and somehow disperses it!

Dawlish thanks the Winthorpes repeatedly for saving his life, and Jonathan immediately takes that gratitude and turns it around on Dawlish (with a little backup from Roger) as they point out that ugly things can are spawned by greed, and those things don’t necessarily die.

Jonathon convinces Dawlish that until he makes retribution to the Widow Ivens that the red cloud could well return, and they wouldn’t be there to save him again! Dawlish tearfully agrees and says he will make it as right as he can this very evening!

That night, while sleeping, all four are visited in their sleep by N’Longa, who tells them that they have been touched by the Path of Kane, and now a beast, no The Beast is rising…The Beast has many names…Satan, Apep, The World Serpent, and he tells them to seek out six gems of power, scattered around the world…

Notes: My friend really wanted to play Solomon Kane, and I came up with the NPC ideas for his character, so we decided to play a game after finishing our Deadlands game earlier in the day. Since I had nothing else to go off of, I ran the first adventure in the Plot Point game and my friend loved it to death, so now I’ll PROBABLY be running THIS on and off as well.

In other games, he plays Socks (Necessary Evil), Tontchay (Deadlands: Crooked Branch) and Jubae (Deadlands: Shanghai West) so it is kinda cool seeing him play something I’ve never seen him do before: A Rich, Mean Sorcerer. The twin NPC and the Samurai are there to do the heavy lifting in combat, while Roger is an Intimidation monster and not much more.

Half-Dozen Heroes: Solomon Kane

Got a pretty decent response for the Half-Dozen Heroes for Caladon Falls...and I had my Solomon Kane book sitting right here when it was requested for the follow-up...so here goes!

Everything on this page was created soley using the Savage World of Solomon Kane book.

Thomas Serpentbane was a family man and mediocre farmer until his family was attacked by poisonous snakes one hot summer day. Thomas grabbed his sword, and old family heirloom he had recently inherited, and killed the snakes. The next day, snakes attacked again, and this time Thomas wasn't so quick. Given the vicious, multiple attacks by snakes, he became convinced that there was something more to their activity...like a larger force was controlling them. Soon, he became convinced that snakes were all part of a larger conspiracy, and when he encountered his first Snake Man, it settled his delusions into his skull.

What Thomas has never figured out is that his sword is the very reason serpents react in a malicious manner, be they garden snakes, giant serpents or snake men. Attor, a Snake Man priest, has been tasked by his vile Gods with killing Thomas and destroying his sword before it can slay any more snakes...so maybe he's not completely crazy after all.

Thomas Serpentbane
Seasoned
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d8
Strength d6
Vigor d6

Fighting d10
Guts d8
Investigation d6
Knowledge (Serpents) d4
Notice d6
Riding d4
Survival d6
Throwing d4
Tracking d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6"
Parry: 7
Toughness: 5

Hindrance
Delusional: "All snakes are part of an ophidian conspiracy" (Minor)
Vow: End the Ophidian Nightmare (Minor)
Enemy: Attor, the Snake Priest (Major)

Edges
Alertness (+2 to Notice)
Danger Sense
First Strike (free attack when an enemy moved adjacent)
Hard to Kill (Ignore Wound Penalties for Knockout tables)
Quick (Redraw cards lower than 5)
Trademark Weapon (Venom)

Gear
"Venom" Short Sword Artifact: Str+d6 damage, +8 damage vs serpents (including Snake Men), wielder is immune to poisons, all serpents within 12" can sense the blade's presence. Throwing axe (Str+d6)

Tenzan is an honorable samurai warrior who could have been a great general for the Empire...until he was set upon by undead fiends and nearly killed. The pilgrim Solomon Kane saved him, Tenzan's code of honor demanded that he walk Kane's Path instead, and Kane offered one demand: Protect the children of the Winthorpe family, whose parents had recently died. Tenzan now travels as the bodyguards of the twins, the boy secretly a sorcerer and the girl a swordsman who is capturing the samurai's heart.

Tenzan
Seasoned
Agility d6
Smarts d6
Spirit d8
Strength d8
Vigor d8

Fighting d8
Guts d8
Intimidation d8
Knowledge (Battle) d6
Notice d6
Riding d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6"
Parry: 8
Toughness: 9(3)

Hindrances
Code of Honor
Phobia (Minor): Undead
Vow (Major): Protect the Winthorpe Siblings

Edges
Block (+1 Parry)
Combat Reflexes (+2 to Shaken Rolls)
Command (+1 to Troops' Shaken rolls)
Sweep (Attack everyone adjacent with -2 penalty)

Gear
Katana (str+d8), Armor 3

Anthony Wyndham traveled in very dark circles, and for all his bluster, his heart grew cold when he came face to face with one of the dark forces that seek the worship of sorcerers. Wyndham tried to steer his allies from their path, but was rejected and set up to appear as a devil worshipper. Horribly branded as such, Wyndham was ultimately able to escape, but now he uses has arcane powers - and pistol - to fight back the darkness...and destroy his old circle.

Anthony Wyndham
Veteran
Agility d6
Smarts d12
Spirit d8
Strength d4
Vigor d6

Driving d4
Fighting d4
Guts d8
Healing d4
Intimidation d6
Investigation d6
Magick d10
Notice d4
Shooting d6
Taunt d6

Charisma: -2
Pace: 6"
Parry: 4
Toughness: 5

Hindrances
Arrogant
Branded (-2 Charisma)
Death Wish (Break up his old circle)

Edges
Arcane Background (Sorcery)
Dirty Fighter (+2 on Tricks)
Jack-of-All-Trades (+2 on Smarts based skill rolls)
Marksman (+2 on Shooting)
New Power (x3)
Strong Willed (+2 on Taunt/Intimidation)

Powers
Deflection
Fear
Grave Speak
Puppet
Shape Change

Gear
Two-Barrel Pistol (2d6+1)

Gwandoya is an escaped slave, paranoid that he's being hunted, so rarely staying in one place. Gwandoya has dreams telling him where to go, and the giant man does so, sticking to the fringes of society and helping people as best he can. Gwandoya does not believe he has a greater destiny before him, even as he's unwittingly used as an instrument for good.

Gwandoya
Novice
Agility d6
Smarts d4
Spirit d6
Strength d10
Vigor d6

Climbing d8
Fighting d6
Guts d6
Intimidation d8
Survival d6
Swimming d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 8"
Parry: 5
Toughness: 6

Hindrances
Clueless (-2 Common Knowledge)
Glass Jaw (-2 Soak)
Illiterate

Edges
Brawny
Fleet-Footed

Gear
Club (str+d4)

Nicodemus Dowling is an inquisitor who roots out evil wherever it can be found...with "evil" defined as "having differing beliefs". Nicodemus is an adept leader and ample combatant who can prove terrifying if he's allowed to corner a foe. Nicodemus believes fully in his cause, which gives him frightening power at times...luckily, he can usually identify the larger threat in a given situation, so he and his men often target the darker fringes of society, though they have occasionally focused on the well-meaning instead.

Nicodemus Dowling
Heroic
Agility d6
Smarts d8
Spirit d10
Strength d6
Vigor d8

Fighting d6
Guts d6
Intimidation d10
Persuasion d10
Riding d6
Shooting d6
Taunt d8
Tracking d8

Charisma: +2
Pace: 6"
Parry: 5
Toughness: 6

Hindrances
Code of Honor
Jingoistic (Minor)
Vow (Uncover and destroy the witches)

Edges
Command
Connections
Conviction
Fanaticism
Fervor
Inspire
Marksman
Noble
Strong Willed

Is Basil Flynn the greatest swordsman who ever lived? He would tell you yes. An absolute beast with a blade, Flynn can strike you when you move near, strike you before you move near, strike you if you fail to strike him, hold off multiple combatants at once, and one of his favorite tactics is to dig in close, hook your arm and dig into you stomach with his dagger.

Basil Flynn
Legendary
Agility d12
Smarts d6
Spirit d8
Strength d6
Vigor d8

Fighting d12+2
Gambling d6
Guts d8
Lockpicking d10
Notice d6
Persuasion d8
Streetwise d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6"
Parry: 11
Toughness: 6

Hindrances
Big Mouth
Overconfident
Cocky

Edges
Close Fighting
  Improved Close Fighting
Dirty Fighter
Entangle
First Strike
Florentine
Lunge
Mighty Blow
Professional (Fighting)
  Expert (Fighting)
Quick
Riposte
  Improved Riposte
Trademark Weapon
  Improved Trademark Weapon
Weapon Master
  Master of Arms
Wall of Steel
Two-Fisted

I nearly made a pirate and a blind swordsman, but I ditched the latter because I couldn't figure out how to make him work without him being horribly penalized to the point of unplayable. Of the six, I think I would most like to play Gwandoya in a game, even though Thomas Serpentbane is loosely based off my real experiences!

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments!

Tommy's Take on The Path of Kane

The Path of Kane is the newest release for the Savage World of Solomon Kane, one of the most impressive Savage Worlds books released thus far (indeed, one of the most impressive RPGs I have ever purchased.

Given my attempts at remaining as spoiler free as I can on adventures, this is gonna be a little different, since the entire thing is adventures. So be warned...there are spoilers below, or the whole thing would be one pointless, vague post.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: While the Savage World of Solomon Kane included a plot point campaign, as well as a slew of adventures, the Path of Kane is a 224 page tome of adventures that can be used alongside, or in lieu of, the adventures found in the Solomon Kane rulebook. You do need the Solomon Kane rulebook to play (note that the Kane book has all the Savage Worlds rules in it, so you can run the game off of that alone). The Path of Kane is available in PDF format for $24.99, and the print version will be running about $40.

The new book boasts the same impressive production values as the Solomon Kane core, and has 27 new adventures for Europe, 21 new adventures for Africa, 18 new adventures for the New World and 15 new adventures for Cathay and The Orient. Each adventure uses the assumed date of 1610, with the caveat that travel was a lot slower back then, so if you hew to realistic passage of time, you may wish to adjust things, as your game could easily run decades. Another nice bit are Adventure Links and Rumors sidebars. Adventure Links are helpful links between certain adventures, so that nothing exists in a vacuum, while rumors can be dropped into play, setting the PCs on the path of other adventures.

In Europe, the PCs can encounter the Ghost of Guy Fawkes, as well as Excalibur (with a gruesome twist). The Holy Roman Empire hosts rumors of a faith healrer, while a visit to Russia leads to involvement in the middle of a fight between a witch and a vampire (featuring a famous name from folklore).

Africa hosts a necromancer, a mummy and a contingent of ancient roman legionnaires among others.

The New World features mirror matches, wendigos, vampires and even some (relatively) mundane conflicts.

Cathay and the Orient includes scorpion men and rakshasas among their adventures.

Each section also includes more relevant background information than was found in the Solomon Kane rulebook, such as local superstitions and the like (knowledge of which can be a huge gamechanger, as Solomon Kane found out himself more than once).

Artifacts are also peppered about the book, some of which the PCs don't actually have a chance of gaining (unless the GM is suddenly very generous) and some of which they do. The book is also extensively indexed (in addition to the PDF bookmarks).

Each adventure is about "Savage Tale" length...in my experience, enough for approximately 3-4 hours of gameplay in most circumstances.

WHAT WORKS: There is some very good stuff in here, with many adventures drawing on existing mythology and events for maximum effect, and seeing the "Links" and "Rumors" sidebars makes one kinda sad this wasn't thought of when the first book was released. The production values are gorgeous, though the PDF layers can be stripped away, allowing for more funtionality (and cheaper printing, if you so desire).

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: There were at least a few art pieces recycled from the first book, and one might have hoped that the lesser developed areas from the first book would have gotten more love than Europe this go around.

CONCLUSION: Minor quibbles. If you're a Solomon Kane GM and you don't want to sit and concoct a bunch of adventures, this thing is a Godsend. I tend to really enjoy taking canned adventures and dropping my PCs into the middle of them and seeing what happens, so I obviously give this a thumbs up, plus more Solomon Kane support is always a good thing. If you strung ALL the Solomon Kane stuff together into one mega campaign...wow. The book has a great pedigree, developed by John "Night Train" Goff and co-written by Tony Lee (among others). Even if you're not a huge fan of using adventures "straight", there are enough NPCs, artifacts and ideas that it's probably worth at least getting the PDF and mining away.