Savage Status Report: Wellstone City

Starting today, each week we take a look at one setting or genre in the Savage Universe and see how it’s doing and what the developers have been up to. This is not a review, but a guide to what’s available today. Updates to each Savage Status Report will occur more or less twice a year.

This week we look at a young setting by a small team: Wellstone City.

What is it?

Wellstone City is a Modern Noir setting by a young company called Silver Gryphon Games. Originally written for their propriety Æther System, they’ve recently begun converting their material to Savage Worlds. The city itself exists on a fictional island off the coast of Texas, where crime runs rampant. Player characters are expected to live their lives on the edge of the law.

Core Products

Wellstone City: A Modern Noir Setting

80 page PDF: $6.00.

The Wellstone City core book is available as a PDF from RPG Now and Studio 2. A Print edition should be available soon from Studio 2. Here is an excerpt from the store page:

Inside these pages you will find new Edges, Hindrances, and setting trappings to explore the dark alleys and gritty streets of the modern crime noir setting of Wellstone City. It includes a 50 page setting and a detailed history, including NPCs, criminal families, locations, and important people within the city. It is a complete setting but there is ample room to let you make it your own and add to it. In addition to that, an introductory adventure for the setting is included.

Campaigns and Adventures

The Wellstone City Chronicals is the official adventure line. There are only a handful of adventures available for this setting at the moment, but they do build upon one another, and more are in the works. Here is what is available now with an excerpt from each:

Two Bit Thugs

8 page PDF: $2.50.

The party has opportunity thrust upon them when a mistress of the high circles of Wellstone City gets caught in a gang war crossfire in the neutral borough of Wellstone Park. No matter what their standing at the end of PTA, they have another opportunity to gain favor among the crime lords of Wellstone.

Burning Crosses

9 page PDF: $2.50.

Hot on the heels of Two-Bit Thugs, the most powerful crime syndicate in Wellstone City, the Cross Clan is having some major internal issues. It seems that information relating to the family and its activities is making it to the police. They know there’s a lot of money changing hands, but the upper echelons of the Brothers Cross can’t find out from their own interrogations who is behind any part of this.

A Death Undeserving

21 page PDF: $2.50.

Luis Batista, a once powerful Cuban drug runner, is grieving and out for revenge. His oldest son has been murdered and Batista is determined to set things right. To this end, he and his youngest son, Manny, have employed the services of the Players to find the person responsible for Tomas’ murder. They will pay handsomely for the identity of the murderer. They’ll pay even more to get their hands on him.

Accessories

While Silver Gryphon Games doesn’t have any accessories out for the setting, being a dark modern setting, the WorldWorks modern selection of paper-craft tiles would be a fantastic addition to the game.

What’s In Development?

While details are still scarce, the next known adventure for Wellstone City will be getting to the detective story roots of Noir fiction. Kevin Rohan, content director from Silver Gryphon Games, reports that the adventure is being written in an experimental “Choose Your Own Adventure” style format.