Tommy's Take on The Deadly Seven

I saw The Deadly Seven mentioned over on the Pinnacle boards a few weeks ago and decided to check it out. I like to think I stay up on Savage Worlds stuff, but this seemed to slip under the radar for me.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The Deadly Seven is a “Poly-System Game”, designed by paNik for Savage Worlds, True 20 and d20 Modern, though I am only reviewing the Savage Worlds material here. For $12.95, you get a 150 page adventure, a bunch of maps, and two sets of Clue Cards to be used as player handouts. The PDFs are heavily layered, allowing you to change the rules you are viewing with the press of a button, or remove the backgrounds for printing. The Deadly Seven is designed to be dropped into any modern campaign and has both paranormal and adult elements.

The Deadly Seven intends the Guts skill to be used, unless you’re dropping it into a setting that doesn’t use Guts, of course. The book provides seven threats…four overt threats and three subtle threats. The threats are intended to interweave around each other, rather than being a straight up run through of the seven threats. A suggested run through of the plot is provided, with the caveat that if it takes a different course, so be it.

The seven threats are all mutually tied to a single plot element, complete with a flowchart showing how the elements of the threats tie in together.

The first threat (lust) is a great example of how to run a heavy investigative adventure for Savage Worlds, with lots of clues and red herrings to follow up on. The PCs are left investigating a missing family man, whose fate is connected to a series of brutal rapes. The resolution of the investigation is pretty open-ended, leaving the PCs directly responsible for how the NPCs recover, depending on their actions.

The second threat (envy), in investigation into an illness striking a medical research company, is similarly thematic, though it has a much more abrupt resolution and is actually much likelier to end badly for the PCs (and can be even harder to resolve, perhaps not even being truly resolved until sometime well past the end of the investigation). That said, the resolution can have a HUGE impact on the ultimate resolution of the whole thing.

Threat three (gluttony) can be handled as an investigation or a full on fight scene, depending on your preference. It is an even more horrific twist than the previous threats, involving a voracious flesh-eater.

Threat four (wrath) is incredibly open-ended. It’s a hostage situation, with the police’s actions laid out, as well as the layout of the location, for the PCs to figure out how to get in, stop the hostage situation, and get out.

Threat five (greed) is the first of the subtle threats, involving a conservative talk show host/preacher with a secret. As someone with right-leaning politics, this could have gotten really insulting, but the preacher is portrayed as a very realistic, but flawed person. A very surprising piece. The three subtle threats have a way of spreading out over the course of the module, with the villain of this threat working a long term plan to destroy the PCs.

Threat six (sloth) is one of the most unassuming. The most subtle of the threats, the target of this one can wind up working at cross purposes with the PCs, undermining them before they realize what’s going on.

Threat seven (pride), is set up as the Big Bad in the provided plot outline, and like the other two subtle threats, can easily make his presence felt throughout the module. Like many of the others, this can have a happy ending or a downer ending, depending on what the PCs do.

Seven more threats are provided, one for each sin, to be expanded out by the GM if he chooses.

The common link to the threats is a doctor and his experimental machine, which will have to be dealt with. Again, the PCs can be the deciding factor here, trying to use this infernal device for good, or destroying it to ensure it never causes harm like this again. See, this device allows demons (representing each sin) to possess people. The module provides a helpful section on just what you can do with the possessed, as well as the ramifications of things like wounding the host bodies.

Stat-free descriptions of the major characters in the module are provided (the stats for each system are in separate files), with picture, description and the roles they serve in the module. This concludes with an examination of the seven deadly sins.

The possessed play a huge role in the adventure, and the last part of the book is a primer on demonic possession, delving into the signs of possession, the types of possession and so on. This is an interesting read, and useful reference for a game, including four views on possession and how each view reacts to certain theories (like whether or not the faithful are immune to possession). A section on Exorcisms is provided, complete with variations by religion. For extra effect, there’s even a list of conditions that can be confused with possession, like Epilepsy. The Exorcism guide concludes with a list of historical possessions and hauntings.

The zip file also includes a number of maps, printable clue cards to hand out to the players and a packet of character stats for the adversaries, the demons possessing them and even a couple of generic stat blocks that have a bearing on the module.

WHAT WORKS: A very multilayered module that isn’t a railroad. Some great examples of how to do different types of adventures in Savage Worlds, such as an investigation. The Possession sourcebook is comprehensive as well. The NPCs are all generally well written…surprisingly so, in some cases. The PCs not only decide how successful each mission is, but even the end result in most cases.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: The organization can be a bit dodgy at first, especially when you realize that the various threats can easily run over the tops of each other (and probably will). The adult content is pretty hard to remove, and will limit the audience because of it. If you run just the threats with no interruption, the common links of each case could get repetitive.

CONCLUSION: A very nice product with lots of variety, great handouts and examples about how to tackle different scenarios in Savage Worlds. In addition, the product takes advantage of the digital medium with layers utilized to switch between rules sets in the adventure, helpful “How Tos” for the Clue Cards and making the pages printer friendly. Deadly Seven is a great example of a scenario that has no assumed outcome, positive or negative, for the encounters, leaving all of that entirely in the hands of the PCs. Well worth checking out if you don’t mind some sex, drugs and violence in your games.

Tommy's Take on DOOM (ICONS)

DOOM is the first ICONS release by Misfit Studios, and a conversion of the book by the same name which was released under the Mutants & Masterminds Superlink license.

First, a disclaimer: I did serve as a playtester on the book...which really just means I got to see it in play before I reviewed it, instead of just reading it.

DOOM by Misfit Studios, featuring
the Four Horsemen

It is nominally a villain book for ICONS, but it has a very specific focus to it: DOOM is an conspiracy/organization/cult that is not married to a specific setting. In fact, in my one go with the ICONS rules in play, I combined it with the ION Guard book...(the magic focus of DOOM makes them absolutely frightening adversaries for ION Guards).

First up, we get a Metahuman Threat Scale, meant to be an eye-balling guide to baddies, ranked from Alpha to Omega, with Alpha being the weakest and Omega the scariest. As well, there are notations that further defined the threats, such as "-P" meaning the threat is psychic or "-E" meaning extraterrestrial.

WHAT IS DOOM?

This is a two page background on the DOOM organizaation, an occult organization worshipping the "Lost Ones", who are very Lovecraftian in nature. It is noted that the Lost Ones should probably never be battled directly, as they are INSANELY powerful.

DOOM PERSONNEL

This is chock full of villainous game stats.

We get a section on the Counil of Nine that rules DOOM, but no concrete information at all, as GM is expected to design their own Council of Nine, if they choose to allow the PCs to confront them directly, whether built from scratch or drawn from the magical villains already in the setting.

We then get a selection of mooks, starting with rank and file cultists, then the assassin-like Daggers, the spellcasting Sorcerers and the Imps - people who have been...changed...by the dark powers of DOOM.

Next up as the very powerful lieutenants of the Council of Nine, known as the Doomsayers. We get eight of them, and they are an interesting bunch. Each entry gets a background, stats and three "Capers" you can use as inspiration for your own adventures.

Up first is the Immortal known as Acolyte. He is immortal in the Highlander sense, complete with the whole head-hunting power game. He is a powerful spellcaster and the leader of the Doomsayers, constantly looking for magical shortcuts in order to foul-up the other Immortals.

Bone is a veteran of the Iraq war who has been changed by an expirimental nerve gas that caused his bones to errupt from his body. Now he's capable of removing bones from his body and hurling them at his foes.

DOOM's Cerberus is a three-headed dog-man, and because of the three heads, you never know what you're getting, personality wise.

Chain is based off of the D&D Kytons, or "chain devils", which I have been a big fan of for years. He's not as big of a believer in the cause...just taking advantage of the opportunity to do death and destruction.

Deadman and Switch are an inseperable duo, with Switch possessing people's bodies and Deadman...er...taking stuff from people's bodies. Kinda like the old Marvel character Terror Inc., Deadman can rip off body parts and attach them to himself, using any powers that they have.

Fallen Angel is kind of a riff on Marvel's Archangel, being a winged mutant hero who has been twisted by DOOM.

Hellfire is a half demon flame wielder, and the only female on the team.

Nether is a Batman/Shroud like hero who has fallen under the sway of a very specific spell by Acolyte.

Last is Speed Demon, a meek man who cut a deal with demons...he is now host to a fast moviing clawed demon.

Next, we get the incredibly powerful Riders of the Apocalypse, who are the Four Horsemen of Death, War, Famine and Pestilence. They are only loosely under the control of DOOM, and each one should be an impressive challenge.

DOOM IN YOUR GAME

This is a series of "capers" that you can use for inspiration for inserting DOOM as an organization into your game, such as DOOM attacking the mystical heroes and villains of your setting and taking their magic items, or trying to awaken something that may or may not be Cthulhu.

The individual capers are more inspiring than the "DOOM in your game" capers, but some folks will probably still find these to be helpful.

NEW POWERS

Three new powers are included: Conjure, for summoning creatures; Power Boost for, well, boosting powers; and Weaken, which drains one of the six ability scores.

Weaken definitely harkens back to DOOM's M&M roots, and Conjure includes some benchmarks to use to determine appropriate summoned minions for the rank.

MYSTIC DEVICES

Soul Stones are evil little baubles that wizards can use to drain people's life and power their magic with, while the Pendants of Barzani can summon Barzani Demons (which are tied heavily into the DOOM organization) as well as control those of Barzani blood.

NEW CREATURES

First, we get three Templates that can be added to characters. Barzani Hybrids are a template that can be used to make people half-demon.

The Immortal template is much more involved, and is a pretty decent reproduction of Highlander Immortals. Every ten or so Immortals that an Immortal kills provides a full +1 bonus to an Ability, Power or Specialty. This might be a bit too "gamey" for ICONS, your mileage may vary...if so, you can always drop the Immortals and just give Acolyte "normal" Immortality.

Imps are people who have been imbued with dark power to serve DOOM, though they wind up less intelligent in the process.

Next, we get a slew of new monsters and creatures related to DOOM, such as the basic Barzani Demon and Demon Mounts, Chain Devils and Hellhounds. Additionally, a large listing of giant insects are present, for when Pestilence needs to unleash a plague of them.

Again, you can see some of the roots of the d20/D&D here just a little bit, especially with the Chain Devils.

DOOMSPIRE

This is the Super-Secret Headquarters of DOOM, which sits in a Hell dimension and has several powers of its own, from basic defenses to a self-generating supply of food for the inhabitants. Additionally, stats are given for the golem servants inside of it.

CONCLUSION

I'm not a huge Highlander fan, so I'm not sure I'm sold on the Immortals...but I really like the Doomsayers and the Riders of the Apocalypse, as well as many of the monsters such as the Chain Devils and Barzani Demons. Those guys alone would make it worth it for me. You could base a whole campaign *just* around these guys if you wanted to...heck, that's what I'm doing. I could see some folks chafing a bit at some of the new (to ICONS) concepts applied here, however, such as templates (I, personally, have no issue with them).

A great addition to the ICONS line, in my view, with some awesome villains that can be dropped into most any semi-(at least) serious series.