Savage Mondays – July 19, 2010

It’s a Savage World out there, and Apathy Games provides the tools to survive it. First, check out our Savage Worlds Primer. If you’re looking for more up to date news, here’s what’s happening now:

Pinnacle Entertainment Group

So everyone is abuzz about the Ennie Awards coming up, and while we have provided a voting guide we thought we’d highlight again all of the Savage Worlds related items on the voting block.  Let’s make sure we get out their and show them what this community can do!  We borrowed the following from Pinnacle’s site.

Remember ENnies voting is open now!

Pinnacle Entertainment Group - Deadlands - One Shot ComicDeadlands: One Shot Comic | Pinnacle Entertainment Group

This seems to have been released quietly as we don’t see any announcement on the main page from Pinnacle about it.  Our news monkeys managed to dig this one up while snooping around the various news sites and DriveThruComics.com pages.  So check out the 50 pages of Weird West goodness written by Matt Forbeck and drawn by veteran Deadlands artists Kevin Sharpe and Richard “Rico” Pollard.

Matt Forbeck says:

“The book’s been out of print forever, but that all happened long before the latest e-book revolution. Now you can download and read it in glorious full color for only $2.99. That less than half what it cost in game and comic shops when it debuted 11 years ago. As far as I know, it’s the only Deadlands comic available to date. If you like your Westerns a little weird — or you just appreciate a beautiful book with a ripping yarn — be sure to check it out.”

Savage Licensees

The Kerberos Club Now Released | Arc Dream

After being nominated for the Product of the Year Award for their non-savage worlds edition they’ve finally released an edition for the rest of us!  You can of course pick up your copy on RPGNow!

Play the heroes and villains of a Strange century! Doctor Archibald Monroe, the erudite chemist and physician-chimpanzee . . . “Stony” Joe Smithson, the honest London boxer, transformed into living rock . . . Maeve O’Connel, Queen of the Mudlarks, the eternal child touched by Faerie . . . the Lady Mirabel, who by darkness defends Whitechapel as the terrifying Night Hag. . . . When the victims and enthusiasts of magic and bizarre science meet in an infamous club for “the Strange,” thrilling action is sure to follow!

The Kerberos Club (Savage Worlds Edition) is a sourcebook for superheroic roleplaying in Victorian London. It includes a detailed history and thorough treatment of Victorian society in its every particular, especially the incredible and sometimes awful changes that “the Strangeness” comes to wreak upon Queen and Country alike. It requires Savage Worlds and the Savage Worlds Superpowers Companion to play.

The Kerberos Club gives players every tool they need to create new heroes and villains in a world that is at the same time familiar and alien—a world made more of both by the Strangeness that grips it and the dangers that threaten it.

There is, after all, every good reason for the club’s motto: “MALUM NECESSARIUM.”

The Kerberos Club is written by Benjamin Baugh, with Savage Worlds conversions by Dave Blewer and Shane Ivey.

War of the Dead: Week 8 | Daring Entertainment

Nothing can stop the freight train that is the War of the Dead now with Week 8 on sale we’re quickly coming  to the first stop in 52 week journey.

The world is descending into chaos as the Living Dead consume all major population centers.

Barely surviving the outbreak aboard the Pinnacle cruise ship, you were lost at sea before making your way back to the coast of North Carolina. After encountering a friendly, elderly couple that offered them shelter, food, and information, a biker gang calling themselves the Ghost Riders soon took you captive. Forced to act as live bait in the infected town of Fairport, you managed to escape-making mortal enemies of the bike gang in the process.

Following a daring escape, you’ve finally made it to the military Rescue Station.

But is the Rescue Station the safe haven it was promised to be, or is more horror and tragedy awaiting you?

Savage Mojo - Suzerian - Noir KnightsReleased: Noir Knights | Savage Mojo

Hot off the press Savage Mojo has released this new Savage realm of Suzerian.  Noir Knights is everything you need to kick start a 1930′s supernatural game.  We also found that if you go to the SavageMojo wiki and use code NKr42Smj you’ll save 25%.

This Savage realm of Suzerain is the tale of the 1930s Great Depression as you’ve never experienced it. For Heroic rank characters who are feeling particularly heroic, Noir Knights is part of our American Grit realm, where government agents investigate paranormal activity across a hard boiled film noir America.

Whether it’s a supernatural swampland encounter in Florida or otherworldly conspiracies in the corridors of power, the truth is out there – just waiting for your characters to find it. Industry and legend clash in a time of folk heroes, hobo mages, and secret societies.

America is a nation of dust and determination.
Ride the rails and prove your mettle.

Product contains: A full color 148 page PDF including…

* Everything you’ll need to run games in a supernatural 1930s.
* Many new character options including new Edges, Hindrances and Powers.
* Weather-manipulating wizards, taxidermist reanimating priests, and railwalker hobo magic users – all as playable options!
* All the possibilities of the X-Files with femmes fatales and four-color G-men thrown in.
* 30 scenarios including a full plot-point campaign taking characters from Heroic rank to the brink of becoming demigods.

This is a high art product and a large download. When you buy this PDF you also get a print friendly version at no extra cost.

It Came From Facebook | Savage Mojo

Lifted straight from Suzerain Facebook Page we found this nifty little news item.

Wondering what the next products are coming from Savage Mojo? Caladon Falls, for Savage Suzerain, is nearing completion. Ready to see how your characters would handle being uprooted from their homes and plunged into a civillian war against invaders? Play Caladon Falls to find out! Wondering why it’s been quiet for our own system, Suzerain? It’s being retooled and will come out as Suzerain Adventurer.

The rules in Suzerain Adventurer are now known as Mojo Rules! and will be ready in the next few months. And for those of you who’ve been waiting for Hero level rules for Suzerain, in the coming months you’ll see a fine-tuned book to offer you everything you need for your characters to really take things to the next level. Suzerain Hero has a whole team making it happen right now.

Keep an eye on forums at www.savagemojo.com for details and to chime in on those things Savage Mojo.

Triple Ace Games - Hellfrost - Crystalflow Confederacy Region GuideHellfrost Region Guide #15: Crystalflow Confederacy | Triple Ace Games

Again the news monkeys are worth their weight in bananas.  While TAG didn’t make an announcement on their website our monkeys managed to find this little gem that was released this week.

The mighty waters of the Crystalflow cut through the central Hearthlands. At each end stand great cities, testament to the wealth trade can bring, while numerous settlements, bound together into a loose confederacy by trade agreements, line its banks. Yet the settlements are not clones of each other, and together they create a melting pot of ideas, cultures, languages, and beliefs.

Explore the Crystaflow Confederacy in more detail! Learn about the cult of the Unknowable One and its unusual festivals, discover the military might of the Confederacy’s Grand Army, explore 8 new locales, study the mysteries of three new minor gods, and battle two new creatures.

Savage Freeport on Sale | Green Ronin

We don’t hear much from Green Ronin because the only Savage Worlds product they have is the Savage Worlds Freeport Companion.  But since it has gone on sale for $8, we felt compelled to tell you.

Savage Community

Interview with Clint Black | Troll in the Corner

Clint Black is the Savage Worlds Core Rules Brand Manager.  If you want to know about the rules, you ask him.  Troll in the Corner has a nice interview with him including fan questions.

The Forum Whisperer | PEGInc Forums

As always, the forums are the best way to interact with your fellow savages and to find new ideas.  This week the content has been rather rules heavy.  Here’s the best stuff.

Martial Arts Edges: There have been several takes on martial arts, from a simple edge in Day after Ragnarok, to the complex Arcane Background (Martial Arts) from Deadlands.  The thread is great, but the best tidbit is this unofficial Modern Martial Arts (pdf) supplement by Clint Black.

Arcane Background (Shaman): There’s a lot of depth and rules discussion to this thread, so be forewarned, but this arcane background has a lot of potential and is worth looking into.  Clint also took the time to weigh in on it.

Working with Knowledge Skills: Knowledge skills are tricky.  They cost points, so you want them to be useful.  This thread discusses how to choose knowledge skills for your setting that will find use and how to implement them, including exampled from official and licensed settings.

It’s a Trap!: A discussion of using traps in Savage Worlds.

Foreign Languages: Here is an in depth house rule for dealing with foreign languages and linguistics that might find a home in your game.

How to Play a Spy Game: There isn’t an official setting that emulates Spycraft or similar games.  This thread discusses how to run just such a game.

Do you like Savage News but want it more than once a week? Subscribe to our Twitter. We won’t promise to drown you in a flood of news, but we won’t promise not to, either. Want to talk to us in real time?  Drop by the #savageworlds IRC Channel. As always, if we missed something, let our readers know in the comments.