Swords & Sorcery Six-Pack

Inspired by the adventure generators in the Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells RPG by Old Skull Publishing, I generated a half dozen Swords & Sorcery adventure seeds. These aren't full adventures, so you'd need to flesh them out with your own stats and stuff, but I love playing around with random generators, and I thought I'd share them with you all.

Heck, if you changed out some of the names, you could probably drop them in Lankhmar (the DCC or Savage Worlds versions) easy enough.

 And pick up Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells. It's a rules-light swords & sorcery RPG that is Pay What You Want right now on RPGNow. Can't beat that price.

Tommy's Take on Lankhmar: City of Thieves

Pinnacle Entertainment and Goodman Games both announced Lankhmar products, and Pinnacle's version is available for preorder today. This is a review of that book.

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.

Tommy's Take on Low Life

As mentioned yesterday, Low Life has a Kickstarter going on...and I've never reviewed the Savage Setting itself...so I figured I would rectify that now!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: First off, I normally review the PDF of products. In this case, I don't own the PDF, just the original printing. This version used the earlier Savage Worlds rules and would require minor conversion to Explorer's/Deluxe. The current PDF was uploaded on April 29, 2011, so I ASSUME it's in line with the current rules, but I can't verify that. PDF price is $19.99, print version is $29.99. A true one-man show, the entire thing was done by Andy Hopp, and the pages are full of material (though there are a lot of illustrations as well).

In a nutshell, Earth (or Mutha Oith) has fallen apart, the humans (or Hoomanrace) is dead, and from there, we launch into epic sword and sworcery adventure. One huge adjustment, right off the bat, is that there are no humans (obviously). Races include Boduls (Beings Of Dubious Lineage - the most populous race), Cremefillians (sentient snack cakes), Croachs (cockroaches, that is), Horcs (aka Snotgoblins), Oofos (the descendants of alien visitors), Piles (of poop), Smelfs (big nosed elf/gnome things), Tizn'ts (who are just weird) and Werms (who are worms).

New skills are added for the new Arcane Backgrounds, and the book adds a ton of new Edges and Hindrances. Hindrances include Armless (like Werms), Inumerate (no concept of numbers) and One Eye. Edges include six new Arcane Backgrounds (Contaminator, Dementialist, Hocus Poker, Holy Roller, Smellcaster and Weirdo) and that's just the beginning. There's also Bouncy Behind (a rubber rump), Say, Aren't You That One Guy? (where you are mistaken for someone cool), Evil Twin (if you die, you get replaced with an identical version of you, with a goatee), Spit (which can get you The Drop on the next round), Boogie Knight (a Horc Knight), Stanimist (follower of the lord of evil), Fish Breath (allows you to breath water...but also makes your breath smell like fish), and truly Legendary Edges like Face Munchin' (allowing you to absorb the memories of the dead) and Gawdliness (in which your cult becomes a religion).

There are a number of major and minor religions, most of which are thinly veiled (some thinner than others) versions of real world religions.

New powers are provided, but more importantly a HUGE list of trappings for EVERY power, seperated by Arcane Background is provided. For instance, Contaminator Armor covers them in trash while Holy Rollers are covered in a glowing religious icon.

The Equipment Chapter's bright points are the vehicles (which include roller skates, as well as weird vehicles that defy description) and weapons (which include a customizable weapons chart so you can build your own and price it properly).

Places around the world include Glowhio (which is radioactive), Keister Island (home of The Keister of Gawd), That One Place With All The Sand and Torsovania. There are random encounter charts provided for each region as well.

The bestiary is huge, but crammed into a few pages, and includes such gems as Brocodiles (yes, part broccholi, part crocodile), Bad Asses (walking carriers of disease), Headstones (big, wandering statues found on Keister Island), Milfs (shape changing seductresses), Spirits of the Danged and The Thing That Might Not Be.

A big chunk of the book (from page 87 to page 134) covers Savage Tales, from Novice through Heroic, with suggested lead-ins, ranks and locations. The whole thing is a pretty epic quest, building up to the search for, and discover of, The Primordial Soup Kitchen. If you run the whole campaign, it should take your group all across Mutha Oith.

The book concludes with standard statblocks for each race, as well as important NPCs in the PPC, and section on just what the PCs can do with the Soup Kitchen if they find it.

WHAT WORKS: It is, by far, the most unique setting I have ever read...for better or for worse. A common complaint about the plot point campaigns is that they tend to wreck the setting...this one really doesn't. Atmosphere is jam packed into the book, with the extensive listings of trappings for the powers as well as one of the most eclectic sets of Edges and Hindrances I've ever seen.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The setting DEFINITELY isn't going to be for everyone. Snot Goblin Pimps are a bit harder to get into, usually, than something more "basic".

CONCLUSION: Andy Hopp's artwork has a bizarre, yet charming feel to it. The book has a lot of things that you just can't re-skin from Savage Worlds, and does a nice job filling in the gaps.  It's definitely the book I would most like to use but am the least likely to ever be able to do so, because I cannot get anyone to take it seriously when I describe it. A shame, really, because I think a lot of fun could be had with it.

Tommy's Take on the Totems of the Dead GM's Guide

Apologies for the lack of reviews...working on some deadline intensive products, including the
two Horror of Trevala releases coming out later this month.

The Totems of the Dead GM's Guide came out four days ago, so let's take a look at it.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The PDF is $13 and 140 pages, and pretty entirely for the GM, as you may have guessed. The production values are the same, top notch values we have come to expect from
Gun Metal Games, including a fantastic cover by Jason Walton.

The GM chapter is a good guideline for making your own adventures, as well as providing a few campaign frameworks for Totems of the Dead. Not quite as robust as some setting books, but useful. One nice touch is the NPC Personality chart, which links each of the 20 personalities with animals, very appropriate for the setting.

A BIG chunk of the book is made up of the bestiary, so if you like monsters, here ya go. The first chunk are animals, with giant snakes and scorpions, wolverines and sabretooth tigers...as well as creepy things like pterodastros, which are weird bat/bird/lizard hybrids. The next section, Spirits and Monsters, is where things start getting really interesting. Corrupted Ones are dark magicians who can evaporate water with their lips, and the Void Dweller Demons are 9 foot tall winged demons who avoid sunlight. There are multiple varieties of mummies (including arctic ones), and snake-like vampires. And the wendigo...yeesh. It is a very evocative bestiary with some unique twists on old favorites, as well as some plain old unique surprises. With several of the beasts, the real trick is to learning what the weakness of the beasts are.

As is always great in a setting, especially one not set on modern earth, a series of NPCs archetypes are presented, like different types of Feral Ones, hunters, assassins, neanderthals and so on.

Also included: An adventure generator, and we're gonna play around with that right here.

Adversary: Angered Spirit - That's not good.
Adversary's Agenda: Recognition - Huh...that's kinda interesting.
Adversary's Ally: Beast - Hm...you usually see beasts having issues with spirits, not joining them.
Major Supporting NPCs: Wanderer - A drifter of some sort.
The Call To Adventure: Wrong Place, Wrong Time - Seems to fit the drifter more than the PCs, but could work either way.
The Setting: Large settlement/City - Easy enough, especially with the Wrong Place, Wrong Time stuff.
The Plot: Crimes of Love/Lust - Huh.
Plot Complications: Ally's Capture/Betrayal - Well, at this point, I like to make the ally the bad guy and the adversary misunderstood.
Reward: Wealth - Always a good thing.

Anyway, that gives you an idea as to the elements of the adventure generator. As with any random table, you're gonna get some...interesting...elements.

Also included is a nameless horror generator, for those times when you need something just completely off the wall, rather than the "standard" monsters in the bestiary.

A dozen Savage Tales are included, spread out over the various regions of the game world, with each region also including a random encounters table for that region. Each Savage Tale even includes a "Further Adventures" section for building off of the events just played through.

The Savage Tales are followed by a series of plot hooks that aren't fully fleshed out adventures, but give you plenty of information (at least a paragraph...in some cases two or more), further developing each region.

A slew of diseases, poisons and traps fill out the book, followed by a character sheet and map.

WHAT WORKS: I love a good bestiary, and this is a very good one, as well as random tables, and this has both an adventure generator and a nameless horror generator. Worth the price of admission right there.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: In a perfect world, it would be nicer if the Player's and GM's guides had been folded in together, but my understanding is that would have proven prohibitive to printing costs, if for no other reason than the information in each book feels SO complimentary to the other that each book feels a bit anemic on their own.

CONCLUSION: Totems of the Dead is a nice twist on the Swords and Sorcery genre, and with the release of the GM's Guide, players and GMs have a ton of material available for tribal butt-kicking action. The monsters in the bestiary may be a tad too specific to the setting to be of use for non-Totems of the Dead games, although a little re-skinning can go a long ways, and that Nameless Horror generator can be busted out in a variety of games...(say you need something for the Whateleys to summon in a pinch in your Deadlands game, for instance). Another great product from Gun Metal Games.

Tommy's Take on Beasts & Barbarians Player's Guide

If someone had managed to get a Conan adaptation for Savage Worlds out, it really would have been the Summer of Savage Swords and Sorcery, between this and Totems of the Dead.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Currently available in PDF format for $6.99, The Beasts & Barbarians Player's Guide is a primer on the Dread Sea Dominions, a fairly classic swords and sorcery setting for Savage Worlds. The book is 76 pages and includes pretty much everything you need to run a game in the setting.

As might be expected from a book that is detailing a setting, rules and all, brevity is the order of the day, detailing the world - from history to current gazetteer - in a little over 25 pages. The included map has a rough, old school feel to it, more like the ones you would see in old fantasy novels as opposed to the ones you would see in old Dungeons and Dragons books.

One bit specifically pointed out in the setting chapter is that the world is evolving, with cultures developing new technology over time. As it is, steel and magic are the order of the day.

Character creation is pretty standard Savage Worlds fare, of course adding new Edges and Hindrances (Damsel in Distress is a particularly interesting Hindrance basically forcing you into a non-combat role...and it is NOT gender exclusive). Many of the Edges are very interesting, such as a barbarian dichotomy of Savage and Brute, the former helping you survive in the wild while the latter helps make you more ferocious in combat...and Ghoulblood, which provides you with a very unnatural affinity to the (un)dead.

There are even Edges allowing for bare chested "armor", in fitting with the genre, though the book does lack Legendary Edges, which would seem to be a no-brainer for the setting. Arcane Backgrounds in the setting are Lotus Mastery, Sorcery and the Path of Enlightment. Lotus Mastery is kinda like alchemy, but focuses specifically on using Lotus plants to power effects. Sorcery is kinda like magic, except you can Wound yourself for Power Points and the Backlash table is really cool...and potentially quite hazardous (as Backlash should be). The Path of Enlightment is practiced by the monks of the setting, transcending their earthly limits. A few new powers are present (like Analyze Foe, which gives a bonus to a target based off of your roll, and will be stolen like crazy by me for future games even outside of this setting).

Another feature of the book that I am a big fan of is the After The Adventure chart, where you can draw a card to determine what happens while you are between adventures...with both positive and negative outcomes available. For instance, you may get really drunk and be hung over on the next adventure...or you may temporarily retire from adventuring, only to return with a new skill (and a bit of "road rust" until you get back into the groove of things).

There IS a GM's section despite this beinga player's guide, and it gives advice on dialing the setting up and down, making is more or less gritty - or humorous - as your group sees fit. In fact, it also gives advice for tweaking the setting for groups that only consist of PC duos, or even solo heroes (common occurences in my games).

Relics and a small helping of creatures are also provided, though it is far from an extensive bestiary.

WHAT WORKS: Some great setting rules, as well as Edges and Hindrances, which are always welcome. I'm a very big fan of the After the Adventure chart, but random tables are right up my alley. The Ghoulblood Edge nearly made a character spring to mind almost fully formed. The interior artwork is, by and large, fantastic. Early signs are that support for the setting will be strong, with two free adventures released thus far.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Still room for expansion (although that may be a pro, you decide), especially in the bestiary (in my opinion). The setting does nothing to really GRAB me...nothing bad, mind you, just nothing that makes me say "Dread Sea Dominions is THE Swords and Sorcery setting". No Legendary Edges, especially in a genre like this, disappoints me.

CONCLUSION: GRAmel enters the Savage Worlds ring in a big way with a stacked setting book and strong support for the line. They made the best of their page count, providing a lot of material for the price. There are several cool bits that can be lifted for other games if you so choose, and the book heartily embraces flexibilty in your play style within the genre...(I demand a minisupplement of Comedy Edges). Anyone coming into the game with shoutouts to David Jarvis and Sean Preston alongside Shane Hensley probably has their head on straight, and Beasts & Barbarians is a strong addition to the Savage Worlds library. GRAmel should have a bright future in the publishing realm. Strong recommendation.

Tommy's Take on Totems of the Dead: Player's Guide to the Untamed Lands

My apologies for not getting that last preview in, my time management skills absolutely suck. Totems of the Dead has been unleashed on the world after being split into two books...and this is the review of the first: Totems of the Dead - Player's Guide to the Untamed Lands.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Currently available in PDF format for $15, Totems of the Dead is a swords and sorcery setting with more than a bit of Native American flavor. The Player's Guide is 161 pages and includes an overview of the setting as well as character creation. We covered character creation in a preview recently, as well as magic. The character creation layout is very similar to the standard Savage Worlds layout, with a list of common archetypes before getting into the specific mechanics of character creation, such as new, altered or restricted Edges and Hindrances, as well as setting rules like Violence Beyond Rank, which allows you to ignore rank restrictions for a single Edge.

I am a very big fan of some of the new additions, including Edges like Blood Brothers (allowing two characters to gain bonuses to fear based Spirit rolls as long as they are in sight of each other), Totem Animal (which hasa variable benefit depending on the specific animal, and there's a pretty big list), a whole slew of combat edges and seven Legendary Edges allowing PCs to almost resemble an archetype, such as Legendary Champion, Legendary Shadow and Legendary Trickster.

The equipment chapter lists prices in beads, but also provides some guidelines for bartering. The gear chapter does go the extra mile to make culter specific designations where applicable, which is helpful given the large number of cultures present in the setting.

I also provided a look at Sorcery and Magic in an earlier preview, and I must say that I am particularly a fan of the Corruption rules...to the point that it was annoyingly similar to something I was working on. In addition to the variety of new spells, Totems of the Dead also includes magic items, such as Dream Catchers (which shield a sleeper from all outside mental influence) and Demon Breakers (magical knives made from rocks that break when used to kill a demon).

The setting rules feature some fairly extensive modifications to the Savage Worlds rules, starting with tweaks to the Tricks to a nice rule called Combat Openings, in which characters who score a raise can forgo their bonus damage to either take a free action against the target or give themselves or an ally a +2 to a trait roll. Counting coup is a nonviolent way for a skilled warrior to end a conflict (if the other side has any sense of honor), and a number of rules cover cultural rituals from dancing and singing (and their effect on people) to generic sports rules!

The last half or so of the book covers the various deities of the Untamed Lands, from Atlantean deities such as Dagun (who is NOT a nice guy) to Gods such as Xotec the Flayed One (Who Is Not At All Xipe Totec), as well as the gazetteer to the world. Each region discusses the peoples, architectures, events and so forth, and with a little squinting you can see the real world inspirations for most places (except maybe Atlantis...or especially Atlantis...you decide). A little mention is even given to Lands Across the Sea, like the Dark Continent of Borea and the sprawling landmass Eurashi (as well as the countries within).

WHAT WORKS: No Power Points as well as a TON of useful mechanical material and options that can be used even if you're not necessarily a fan of the setting. A swords and sworcery setting with a bit of a different feel to it than what you typically see. The art is some of the most gorgeous and evocative art, especially in a black and white book. Each piece helps drive home the "feel" of the world.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The split into two books hurts it...especially while the second half is yet to be released, with no bestiary present in the Player's Guide, no GM's section, no Savage Tales, etc. Some of the human cultures seem imbalanced among each other, with some gaining bonuses above and beyond the others without any harsher drawbacks than what is faced by the others...(for instance, two cultures being illiterate but one also gaining a skill bonus to boot).

CONCLUSION: While swords and sorcery has been done, Totems of the Dead does look at it through a different lens, as pre-Colonial Americas isn't the most used setting (or even setting inspiration), so it is nice to see a new approach to a classic genre. The layout is as eye pleasing as any black and white book I recall seeing, not a surprise given the company. It just really feels like it needs that "part 2" to make it complete (and I think I would feel that way even if I hadn't already seen at least most of the material). A fantastic offering by Gun Metal Games that shows they are capable of more than just Cyberpunk.

Totems of the Dead Preview - Magic & Sorcery

I love an RPG that has kewl powerz, and Totems of the Dead certainly does not turn its back on kewl powerz, which have become a bit of a staple in Savage Settings.

One of the first things Totems of the Dead does is removes Power Points, instead applying Casting Modifiers to each power. This is certainly not unheard of, of course, but is an approach that I prefer (Power Points is one of those rare things I don't like about Savage Worlds). However, they also have a couple of other additions to the magic rules: Backlash (which is a modified version of the Backlash chart for Super Sorcery in the Super Powers Companion/Necessary Evil) and Corruption (which applies specifically for using magic to do Bad Things).

In addition, there are six Arcane Backgrounds to choose from, each with their own quirks and powers list, but include Alchemy (which has its own Backlash table - and less chance of tearing open rifts into other dimensions and greater chance of BOOM), Blood Magic (which is pretty much what you think it is, but is not inherently evil), Runecasting (used by the Viking-like Skadians, of course), Sangoma (which centers around the dead and, again, can be used for good or evil), Seidr (Skadian magic powered by songs) and Shamanism (entering more into the realm of tribal magic).

A great many of the "standard" Savage Worlds powers are still present, albeit modified (usually with just the addition of Casting Modifiers) as well as a number of new powers like Tempest, Grave Speak, Dream/Nightmare Sending and more...(I won't post details here, for obvious reasons).

A sneak peek at Totems of the Dead's take on Magic & Sorcery. I know I said I was going to bash out a magic using character, but I wound up a little pressed for time, sorry. We'll take one more look at Totems of the Dead (at least), where we'll take a closer look at the world and the monsters within it.

Totems of the Dead Preview - Characters

I recently got a chance to take an advance look at Totems of the Dead by Gun Metal Games, makers of Interface Zero. Showing diversity in their publishing plans, Totems of the Dead is nothing at all like Interface Zero, which is a great cyberpunk setting for Savage Worlds. Totems of the Dead, on the other hand, is a swords and sorcery setting based on Native American myths and culture.

In addition to 14 different subcultures of humans, each with their own in-born Edges and Hindrances based off of their lifestyle, including Atlantean Outcasts (descendants of Atlantean rebels), Skadians (an expy for vikings in the setting) and Grandfather Mountains Tribesmen (who begin with d6 in Climbing, due to their home region), there are also two completely new races: Feral Ones, who organize in packs and can quickly give into a berserker rage, and Skinwalkers, who can assume an animal form through the power of a Talisman.

A number of new Edges are included, among them combat maneuvers like Pounce of the Jaguar (mechanically similar to a Wild Attack, but from a distance) and Wolf Pack Tactics, which can be beneficial for gang-up tactics. A new Leadership Edge will even allow other Leadership Edges to apply to animal allies.

An impressive seven new Legendary Edges will also be provided to round out the ranks.

And here is a sample character, a Feral One named Terk, who is a starting Seasoned character (default for the setting). I'm not going into HARD details about the new stuff because, well, buy the book for that stuff.


TERK
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d8
Vigor d6

Climbing d4
Fighting d10
Guts d6
Intimidation d6
Knowledge (Religion) d4
Notice d6
Swimming d4
Survival d6
Tracking d8

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

Hindrances
Arrogant
Illiterate
Loyal
Outsider
Spartan (Poverty Hindrance)
Vengeful (Minor)

Edges
Berserk (Berserk Edge)
Keen Senses (+2 Notice)
Mark of the Warrior (+2 to Intimidation and Taunt)
Pounce of the Jaguar (Wild Attack at half-Pace range)
Survival Instinct (d6 in Tracking and Survival)
War Cry (Free Intimidation roll in Combat)

Next time, we'll take a look at the magic system in the book, and I'll bash out a magic-using character to go with it.