Interview with Sean Patrick Fannon (Freedom Squadron)

Freedom Squadron throwing down with VENOM

Hey guys,

I had a chance to have an email chat with Sean Patrick Fannon, writer of the upcoming Freedom Squadron Savage Setting currently on Kickstarter. I'm pretty excited about this book, being a fan of the Deckbuilding Game by Spyglass games that it's based off of (Venom Assault).

I'm a terrible interviewer, but I wanted to do a bit more than just say "Hey guys, check out this Kickstarter!" and, as a fan of Venom Assault, wanted to ask a few questions about the game anyway.

With that said, let's get to the interview.

Tommy's Take on Arthur Lives! 2nd Edition

I do like Greek Myth, and  I like Arthurian Myth just as well. So it makes sense to end the week reviewing Arthur Lives! 2nd Edition as it closes in on the halfway mark of its Kickstarter.

Tommy's Take on Olympus, Inc.

I was going to open with something witty...but I'm not very witty.



Today I'm reviewing Olympus, Inc. by Fabled Environments, powered by Savage Worlds!

Tommy's Take on High Strung

This is one of those that I was dying to read when it was announced: An RPG about playing members of a rock band, by the guy that made an RPG about playing members of a baseball team.

Tommy's Take on East Texas University

ETU - East Texas University - is the new Savage Setting by the 12 to Midnight guys, Ed Wetterman and Preston DuBose. Currently on Kickstarter, it was funded in about two hours...and I have a pre-release copy of the book, which I am eager to dig into.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: ETU is on Kickstarter, as mentioned above, and the Kickstarter ends June 12th. $20 gets you the ETU PDF, and $35 adds the Degrees of Horror plot point campaign, while $50 scores you both books in print. A slew of other rewards are planned, but I'm not reviewing the Kickstarter, I'm reviewing the ETU book.

I am working off of a pre-release PDF, so layout and editing are not 100% complete. It treads familiar territory for Savage Worlds, namely modern horror...but centered around East Texas University, in the town of Pinebox, Texas! The setting feels very much like Sunnydale from Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a distinctly Texas twist.

The college theme is not just window dressing, but instead a major aspect of the game, as characters must advance from Freshmen to Seniors, with the Savage Worlds ranks corresponding with their education (Novice Freshmen, Seasoned Sophmores, etc). Characters must have a Major, which is indicated by a Skill, though they can be "Undecided" for the first couple of years. They also have a new Trait called Academics, which indicates the balance between time focused on fighting evil and the time spent on education. A couple of great sidebars discuss Common Knowledge in ETU, as well as a good, solid list of Majors.

Lots of info is provided on the University itself, including the fight song, a random Fraternity/Sorority generator, and a discussion of the American Collegiate System for those unfamiliar.

Some great new Hindrances are included, like Annoying Roommate, Anti-Tech Aura (because stuff Just Doesn't Work around you...Harry Dresden fans take note), Cursed (which manifests itself differently in each adventure), Overprotective Parents or even being a Townie. New Edges include Local Favorite (star running back in High School, here to lead The Ravens to a championship, maybe?), Gunslinger (Seniors only!), Demon Slayer (again with the Seniors only), Precognitive Flash, Psychometry and more. While the Arcane Backgrounds are excluded, there are definitely options your heroes can grow into.

More nice touches include Semester Allowances, differences in expenses for on-campus and off-campus housing, and even the means available to each wealth level for getting around Texas! There's even rules for Insurance (including getting your folks to cover the damages to your car), and a table for quirks with used cars!

The setting rules really make the setting "pop", as always, with ETU providing some of the best Setting Rules I've seen since Deadlands Reloaded. You get Advances like normal with every 5 points...but you also have to pass Exams. If you pass your Exam, you roll on the Passed Exams table, which gives you benefits like a new die type to a Skill, extra money, extra bennies, or even a brand new adventure hook! The Interlude rules are adapted to providing a means of relieving burnout (and giving you a bonus to your Academics rolls), and everyone can indulge in an Extracurricular Activity (named at the beginning of each Semester), like Athletics (which boosts your Strength and Agility rolls at a cost to Academics), Part-Time Jobs (which grant more money, but hurt your Academics), Romance (which dings money AND Academics, but allows you a bonus d6 when spending bennies if you are in some way drawing on your feelings for your crush), as well as even Tutoring (maybe you are taking money from the Rich Local Favorite who is devoted to Athletics, to help him offset his penalties to Academics).

A "player's version" of Pinebox is included, complete with a warning not to look like a psychopath, because people are likely to shoot you.

The GM's version goes into local legends and lore a bit more, including the various monstrous legends around the area, and more than a few shoutouts that long-time Pinnacle fans will likely catch (that couple that runs the comic store sure sound familiar to me....). The female dorms are rumored to be haunted (a common theme in real life...my local university was built around a Seminary Hall said to be haunted), and if you listen closely, you hear whispering voices from the concert hall.

Rules are also provided for various types of monster hunting, from ghost detection to extensive rules for rituals (and be careful what you dabble in, because magic may corrupt you...or summon the thing that kills you, if you fail). There is no quick and easy magic here...but, sometimes, you just have to take those risks.

The book also includes more random tables, including a new Random Adventure Generator (card-based), complete with two examples...but I'm going to provide my own on the fly:

Who: 7 of Clubs (Animal)
What: King of Diamonds (Theft)
Victim: 10 of Spades (Scientist)
Why: 3 of Diamonds (Secret Knowledge)
Where: 6 of Spades (Pinebox - Abandoned business/building)
Complication: 6 of Clubs (Rock Out - A big band is in town)

I'm kinda thinking a hyper intelligent monkey has attacked the scientists that were experimenting on him and other animals inside the boarded-up petshop and is planning a Planet of the Apes by way of Dr. Moreau-like revolution at the PineRocks Rock Festival. Why? Because Sad, Evil Monkeys are fun. Maybe the PCs get drawn in when their Biology Professor goes missing (because of the monkey attack) and gets transformed into Half-Man Half-Aardvark?

I love random generators more than I should.

There's even a High Strangeness chart to draw on just so weird stuff just happens.

Other random charts include a random party generator (no, not adventuring party...this is college), an a random Research Adventure chart.

The bestiary includes important NPCs like Sheriff Butch Anderson and James Nelson, President of ETU, as well as generic stats like White and Blue Collar Workers, Townies, and so on.

Then it gets into weird stuff like chupacabras, demons (an extensive list, as well as a random creation chart), ghosts (with a massive customization list as well), the Skunk Ape (East Texas' answer to Bigfoot) and much more...including that quintessential Texas horror creature: HOGZILLA.

WHAT WORKS: Thanks to the University spin, this setting REALLY stands out, and it gets even better with all the quirky tables (I love the Adventure Generator, as well as things like the Used Car quirks). It has the same sense of fun as the campier elements of Deadlands, or the better Supernatural episodes (just more localized). A fun twist on a genre that's kinda been done to death, supported by strong setting rules, as well as Edges and Hindrances.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Sure seems like game balance could get thrown out the window if that's the kind of thing that bothers you (I'm fine with it, myself). Also, the Research Adventures chart is too specific for being so small...seems like it could potentially get repetitive.

CONCLUSION: Obviously, anticipation was high for this, given how quickly it hit its goal...I love it. The sense of fun is very high, but it's still a lot scarier than a lot of games, given that you aren't likely to develop real equalizers in your war against the supernatural until you become Juniors or Seniors. I intend to back it, just working out what pledge level, and have high hopes for the Plot Point Campaign after reading this. Great stuff, especially if you're convinced Savage Worlds can't do anything different.

Tommy's Take on Heaven's Shadow

I’ve played the D6 system a fair bit in the past (mostly Star Wars 2^nd Edition), but I hadn’t kept up on recent developments in D6 system gaming. I got a review copy of Heaven’s Shadow from the author, John Berry, and did a bit of research on MiniSix, a streamlined (the core rules are under 40 pages) variant. But this isn’t about MiniSix, it’s about Heaven’s Shadow, so let’s jump into that.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Published by Bedroom Wall Press, Heaven’s Shadow is currently free in PDF form, and $10 in print. It runs 84 pages and is powered by MiniSix, as noted above. The premise is that the PCs are Shadows: Assassins who serve God and are powered by their Faith to hunt down demonic beings called Nephilim, who disguise themselves as mortals. Pretty sure I’ve read the author saying it has more than a little influence from the Assassin’s Creed series as well.

The book includes everything you need to play, rules and setting. MiniSix is pretty streamlined, with only four attributes (Might, Agility, Wits and Charm), and around thirty skills governed by those four attributes (not evenly divided), like Martial Arts, Pickpocket, Demonology and Con. You get 12 dice to divide among attributes, with 7 dice to divide among your skills, and you can divide dice into 3 pips (giving +1 or +2 to an attribute or skill; +3 would make it another die larger). Every Shadow also has the Faith attribute (which uses dice from the attributes pool), as well as an Agency attribute that reflects their standing in their organization. Conviction is a pool of points reminiscent of Force Points from the Star Wars RPG, allowing the Shadows to push themselves when needed, shrug off damage, or receive “Divine Inspiration” when they aren’t clear about what to do next. Every Shadow also has to take two Complications, which provide Conviction points when encountered – and overcome – in play. Some Complications include Bounty (as in, there’s one on your head), Touched (by the profane, possibly even having demon’s blood in your veins) or Burned (your previous agency cut you off, full stop). Shadows also have four derived stats (Block, Dodge, Parry and Soak) for combat situations.

The basic rules are simple: Roll the dice pool for the appropriate action and beat a target number. If you double the target number, it’s a Double Success and you succeed spectacularly. In some situations, usually at GM fiat, you get a Stunt Die, which is largely like the Wild Die from previous D6 games, which can explode for extra success or “implode”, taking away dice from the total. Heaven’s Shadow also has a contested system for things like tailing a target, which is a series of rolls back and forth until one side holds the advantage for multiple rolls (or scores a Double Success). Simple, but effective.

The combat rules are a lot like the basic rules, with Agility being used for initiative. If you’ve played RPGs, you’ll recognize a lot of the stuff here, but my favorite part is Opportunity: If you attack and score less than half of what you need, you give the opponent the immediate opportunity for a counterattack (including Disarming them, Disabling them or performing a Takedown). Damage is compared to the opponent’s Soak value, and the remainder compared to the Wound table to determine how wounded the defender is. Successive wounds less than the existing wounds bump up the wound level. This makes “Papercuts of Death” possible, which might annoy some folks. Savage Worlds has potential for the same thing, so I’m clearly not bothered by that.

The chapter on Assassination is the crown jewel of the book. It goes into detail about using stealth for bonuses on taking out the target, as well as using various environmental effects to kill the target without making it look like an assassination (like throwing them from balconies, electrocuting them, poisoning them, drowning them, etc), as well as Planning the Hit, which tries to help justify the idea of a team of assassins, with each member of the group performing a task and every successful completion adding a die to the Plan Pool, which the triggerman can spend when it comes time to take out the target and/or escape.

They say Faith can move mountains, and Shadows can use Faith to do amazing things thanks to the “Supreme Director” (God). They are organized by difficulties: Everyone has Wordless Sight, which allows them to see Nephilim for who they are, and with a little extra effort, reveal that to others. Passing Unseen allows a Shadow to completely vanish into a crowd. Walking on Water functions exactly as it sounds. Covering Darkness plunges a building into complete and absolute darkness. Stone of David allows the assassin to throw a single, unerring stone that strikes almost as a bullet. Resurrection can raise the dead. There are many more Miracles, these are just a sampling.

Several agencies are included, all coming from the same basic source (The Order of Shadows), and all agreeing on the same overall mission (stop the Nephilim), just not agreeing on particulars (tenets of Faith, methods of operation, base of operations, and so on). Sometimes the Agencies do work together for short-term missions, and some (like ICON, which is a former government agency still operating out of Langley, Virginia,) function as unofficial branches of governing bodies in their area.

The Nephilim are demonic souls in human bodies, and each are devoted to a particular sin. Each Nephilim has lived for thousands of years, and has certain abilities ties to their respective sins. Guidelines are included making your own Nephilim, as well as ten sample Nephilim, one for each of the listed sins. They range from destructive and ravenous Big Game Hunters to greedy Corporate Raiders to vile and disgusting Flesh Merchants.

The final chapter guides you, as the GM, through constructing missions for the PCs. Is the Nephilim the Power in the situation, or the Man Behind The Power? The President of the United States might be acting fishy and making destructive decisions, but it could be a Nephilim disguised as an advisor and not the President. There’s also discussion included on the consequences of the assassination. Having to kill a US Senator is likely to have more fallout (at least legally) than killing a Nephilim pornographer will. A few smple NPC statblocks are provided, as well as a series of plot hooks, like a small town falling under the sway of a pair of Nephilim pushing their respective sins on the place, a Nephilim drug dealer using his own blood to lace the drugs and a sadistic Nephilim pornographer operating in an off-shore sea fort.

WHAT WORKS: A fantastic premise, and the streamlined MiniSix seems to fit it like a glove. The Opportunity rules put that extra risk into the combat, and the miracles from the “Supreme Director” are some pretty impressive stuff, as is the Assassination chapter. The PDF is free and the print is only $10.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: Perhaps too lean and could have used more examples. A random mission generator would have been a nice touch.

CONCLUSION: Well, the PDF is free, so if this sounds remotely interesting, you have no reason not to check it out on your own. The game allows for the cool factor of being ruthless assassins, while setting up a situation that places the assassins as the undeniable good guys, since they are taking on demons. On one hand, I appreciate just how lean it is…on the other hand, it probably could have used some beefing up in some places. There is actually no art at all inside the book, meaning that it is packed with actual game information. Despite the part in the book about the team working together on a mission, it seems like the perfect RPG to run for a solo campaign, and the system is a time-tested one that Heaven’s Shadow doesn’t push past its comfort zone (like high level Jedi or DC Superheroes tended to do). Fun concept, executed well, in a system that has stood the test of time, with a non existent barrier for entry. Definitely worth checking out.

DISCLAIMER: As noted above, I did receive an electronic review copy of Heaven's Shadow from the author, and I have provided an affiliate link to the PDF and print versions of the book at DriveThruRPG. Making a purchase via an affiliate link could provide me with compensation in the form of store credit.

NOTE: I believe the free PDF was a promotional period thing, and the price has now been adjusted up to (a still very reasonable) $5 after the posting of this review.