Solace of Savagery. RPGʹs and Other Waking Dreams Tag Archive Beasts and Barbarians October 25, 2013 in OSR, RPG Leave a comment. Adventurers!

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Solace of Savagery. RPGʹs and Other Waking Dreams Tag Archive Beasts and Barbarians October 25, 2013 in OSR, RPG Leave a comment. Adventurers!"

Magnus Lyons
5 years ago
Views:

1 Solace of Savagery RPGʹs and Other Waking Dreams Tag Archive Beasts and Barbarians October 25, 2013 in OSR, RPG Leave a comment Adventurers!

(http://www.rpgnow.com/product/120987/adventurers?

2 ( term=adventurers%21+umberto&affiliate_id=373564) Adventurers! ( term=adventurers%21+umberto&affiliate_id=373564) is a six page rules light game written by Umberto Pignatelli (who wrote the excellent Beasts and Barbarians setting for Savage Worlds) and published by GRAmel. The game is split up into three pdf s that are each two landscape oriented pages. You also get a nice image file of the attractive cover in the zipped file from RPGNow ( term=adventurers%21+umberto&affiliate_id=373564). This first release is presented as a fantasy game and the skills, gear and powers included are all appropriate for the genre. The first of the three pdf s is the Player s Guide. which is split up into eleven boxes that walk you through character creation and explain task resolution and combat. You also get information about character advancement, recovery (healing), skills, gear, powers and a few optional rules. The second pdf is the GM s Guide which is divided into eight sections and offers advice for running the game. Areas covered include awarding experience, hazards (weather, poison, fire, etc.), and a bestiary. There s also advice for personalizing the game to suit your groups needs.

3 The final pdf is a character sheet, in duplicate. This is a very cool, stream lined game in an efficiently presented package. Even though the total page count for the game is 6 pages, everything you need to play the game is in the two page Player s Guide (thus the game s tag line). The core mechanic is 2D6+ related stat +/- a difficulty modifier (which ranges from -4 for difficult tasks to +4 for easy ones). Any roll of seven or higher is a success. Everything else in the game is very modular, meaning that it s a simple matter to make changes to suit your preferred setting or theme without breaking the resolution system. In fact, the game encourages this type of tinkering and even offers advice for customization. GRAmel plans to publish additional two page settings for Adventurers! and considering the design approach they ve taken I think it s likely we ll see other genre s in the future. Adventurers! is a great example of a game with a very small footprint that still offers robust options and a surprisingly tinkerer friendly set of rules. Character creation took me about ten minutes and despite the spartan package, I felt like I had everything I needed to run a very well rounded game. This would be a great game to introduce new players to RPG s and the $1.50 price tag is a heck of a gaming bargain. Conversely, experienced players and GM s will find plenty to appreciate here as well. I m looking forward to seeing what Umberto and GRAmel have in store for Adventurers! March 29, 2013 in Books, RPG, Savage Worlds, Utterances Leave a comment GRAmel Sale for Tabletop Day ( manufacturers_id=3554&affiliate_id=373564)

To celebrate Tabletop Day GRAmel (http://wydawnictwogramel.pl/) is having a huge sale on all of their pdf products at RPGNow (http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?

4 To celebrate Tabletop Day GRAmel ( is having a huge sale on all of their pdf products at RPGNow ( manufacturers_id=3554&affiliate_id=373564). All of their titles are 25% off through Sunday. The entire line of books for Umberto Pignatelli s excellent Savage Worlds setting Beasts and Barbarians ( manufacturers_id=3554&affiliate_id=373564) is included as are products for GRAmel s Nemezis ( line. This is a great opportunity to grab some awesome books for a fraction of their normal cost. It s worth mentioning that these guys produce some fantastic stuff and I have yet to be disappointed in any of their books. The Beasts and Barbarians stuff in particular is very high on my list of must have Savage Worlds fantasy products. Get in while the getting is good! This one is evaporating fast. August 17, 2012 in Books, Reviews, RPG, Savage Worlds 2 Comments Beasts of the Dominions Beasts of the Dominions ( affiliate_id=373564)is the newest release by Umberto Pignatelli for his excellent Savage Worlds Sword and Sorcery setting, Beasts and Barbarians.

5 This book is unique in that it offers a look at 10 different adversaries culled from all over the Dread Sea Dominions. The approach showcases different regions while presenting details on the listed monsters. Each entry in this 116 page title also offers an adventure where the focal point revolves around the enemy and geography presented. This gives the game master plenty of material for either running as is or using as inspiration for home brewed games. The list of adversaries ranges from new unique monsters to well worn staples of the fantasy genre. While the new monsters are interesting and fun, the familiar faces manage to root the book in the tried and true sword and sorcery milieu without ever feeling derivative. In addition to S&S classics, I was often reminded of David Eddings Belgariad and Robin Hood while reading the book. These reference points were welcome and represent one of the things that makes Beasts and Barbarians so great it doesn t forget where it comes from. The book concludes with some player facing material that offers information on playing a Disciple of the Black Temple as well as a section that offers GM advice on incorporating Disciple characters into his/her game. This book represents a fantastic value for fantasy enthusiasts. If you are already playing Beasts and Barbarians you can pull multiple sessions of material from Beasts of the Dominions. If you aren t playing B&B there s nothing to stop you from using BotD for any Savage Worlds fantasy game. Once again Umberto does a great job offering much more than just combat encounters. There are all sorts of fun story elements and plenty of opportunities for non combat situations. I always look forward to new B&B releases and this book doesn t disappoint. It s worth noting that customers who had previously purchased B&B from RPGNow got an with a customer loyalty discount. This is a great way to thank fans! July 10, 2012 in Books, RPG, Savage Worlds, Utterances Leave a comment Beasts and Barbarians Bundle at RPGNow

6 RPGNow is offering a new bundle package ( Barbarians-Adventure-Bundle-%5BBUNDLE%5D?filters=0_0_1600_0_0&affiliate_id=373564) of all of the excellent Beasts and Barbarians adventures for Savage Worlds. You save almost $10.00 by buying them in the bundle. These are great adventures. I previously reviewed Green World ( by Umberto Pignatelli and the other adventures in the collection are fun sword and sorcery tales. If you have any interest in an awesome Savage Worlds fantasy setting B&B is a great choice! March 26, 2012 in Reviews, RPG, Savage Worlds, Utterances Leave a comment Competing Products, Cooperative Worlds A couple of weeks ago Marcus over at Chaotic / GM ( posted about his planned Totems of the Dead ( hexcrawl. I started reading through the setting and I m very impressed with it. In the comments on his post I had mentioned that I hadn t looked at Totems. Marcus pointed out that it was released around the same time as Beasts and Barbarians ( which may have overshadowed its presence since both settings have similar swords and sorcery roots. This got me to thinking about perceived genre oversaturation and how products are often competing for

7 attention, both financially and artistically. I can t say definitively if this is the case since I don t have any idea what the sales figures for either release are but it got me to thinking about using the settings cooperatively instead of assuming they are mutually exclusive. In the Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms setting (as it was presented pre 3.0 at least) the planet of Abeir-Toril ( is comprised of several continents. These continents are Faerun (roughly Europe), Kara-Tur (Asia), Zakhara (The Middle East), Anchorome (North America), and Maztica (South America). This setup has me thinking that a planet where the combined geographies of Totems of the Dead, Beasts and Barbarians and Iron Dynasty makes a pretty awesome planet to adventure on. Considering that the core rules for all of these settings is the same (Savage Worlds), there s very little work that needs to be done to make this functional. Thinking about these settings as complimentary products opens up a lot of possibilities for a variety of game types. Despite the fact that B&B and Totems share some swords and sorcery roots, they are both very unique settings that have their own strengths. The idea of a group of sea faring pc s who travel between these otherwise isolated cultures and locales sounds like a ton of fun.

If you haven t checked out Beasts and Barbarians or Totems of the Dead yet be sure to have a look. They are both great settings. I hope to have a post up about Totems of the Dead in the next few days.

March 20, 2012 in Reviews, RPG, Savage Worlds 3 Comments Beasts and Barbarians: Green World (http://www.rpgnow.

8 If you haven t checked out Beasts and Barbarians or Totems of the Dead yet be sure to have a look. They are both great settings. I hope to have a post up about Totems of the Dead in the next few days. I think going back and spotlighting some of these books that have been out for awhile is a worthwhile pursuit since I suspect I m not the only one who can t always keep up with every release. March 20, 2012 in Reviews, RPG, Savage Worlds 3 Comments Beasts and Barbarians: Green World ( Spoilers ahead! Green World ( written by Umberto Pignatelli, is a 58 page adventure published by GRAmel ( for the Savage Worlds Beasts and Barbarians ( Edition) setting. Umberto also penned the recently released Sky Tyrant of Mars a module for Adamant Entertainments Mars setting. I featured (

9 third-month-of-the-year-from-latin-martius-meaning-of-mars/) Sky Tyrant a couple of weeks ago though I have yet to review it properly. Perhaps I will rectify that in an upcoming post! Green World The main adventure in Green World is presented in 4 chapters. The book also has an extensive appendix that provides details for a pygmy village from the book, stats for the npc s, and a detailed Book of Lore covering demons. The section on demons also includes information for making demon hunter characters. The core story of Green World revolves around the pc s waking up as amnesiacs in what is essentially a pocket universe. The meat of the adventure involves a rescue mission hook that is fueled by a pretty cool memory recovery element. There is a betrayal plot twist that is revealed as the story unfolds. The pocket universe the Green World is contained within an orb in the possession of an evil wizard. I won t outline any more of the story here but suffice it to say that it s fun and imaginative. There are some clever organic traps and the weirdness of the Green World has an alien consistency that manages to be different without being so gonzo that it crosses over into silliness. The adventure does a nice job of balancing skill checks, chases, combat encounters and role playing opportunities. Each combat encounter is end capped by terrain and special circumstance information that helps to facilitate fluid play. Stat blocks for all adversaries are collected in the appendix. I kind of like having them with the specific encounter but I see the merits to having them collected for quick reference. Green World is a fun read. The monsters are unique and even those that have common fantasy analogues feel fresh and new in this strange world. I can see it working well as a one shot for a pick up game. It could certainly be worked into an existing campaign but there would likely be some railroading necessary which isn t uncommon for published adventures. This book is a careful recipe of ingredients and omitting any of them could create cohesion problems. Umberto has some great ideas in this module and even if you don t use it exactly as presented there is enough here to plunder for inspiration for your home game. Solace of Savagery Blog at WordPress.com. The Skeptical Theme. Follow Follow Solace of Savagery

10 Powered by WordPress.com

Seaman Risk List. Seaman Risk Mitigation. Miles Von Schriltz. Risk # 2: We may not be able to get the game to recognize voice commands accurately.

Seaman Risk List. Seaman Risk Mitigation. Miles Von Schriltz. Risk # 2: We may not be able to get the game to recognize voice commands accurately. Seaman Risk List Risk # 1: Taking care of Seaman may not be as fun as we think. Risk # 2: We may not be able to get the game to recognize voice commands accurately. Risk # 3: We might not have enough time