State of Apathy – Goals Going Forward

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2010/01/13 – 00:00 -

Apathy Games dreams big. We have goals so grand that we’d sound insane for uttering them. But to get there, we have a number of short term goals for the next year that we must accomplish first, and we want you to know about some of them.

Savage Setting – Foremost, we’re developing a Savage Worlds setting. By itself, it’s fairly simple, but we have high standards. In the meantime, there are resources that we want available when the flood of new and adoring fans hits our pretty new site.

New Website – Yeah. It’s something special. No peaking.

Savage Worlds One-Sheets – Within the next couple of months we plan on releasing our own one sheet adventures and begin to show you what zero compromise roleplaying really means.

Savage Worlds Primer – We want to have the best and an almost all-inclusive guide to Savage Worlds and the SW community. The kind of guide that only a company with time, resources, and deadlines can ever get done. It will not only introduce new players to the game, but will also show them where to find resources in the community. There’s a lot of great stuff out there, and it deserves some spotlight.

Evangelize Savage Worlds – Sure, it might sound a little cult-ish, but we will continue talking about and creating buzz about the game. This great community and game should be shared by all, and we are planning strategies for press ganging more recruits… err. introducing new players.

Embrace the Community – Savage Worlds is not only Fast, Furious, and Fun. It has the best, more creative and understanding community in the gaming world (the studies are still out, but we know it’s true). We will shout this fact from the mountaintop. We will find the best and share the best. We will let the D&D community know who’s boss. So say we all.

Branch into Other Media – Blogs don’t work for everybody, so we’re looking into other forms of media to bring this information to people. While we can’t say exactly which media we plan on breaking into, we do want your help. You can watch our page for new exciting ways to get involved with our projects, or for new forms of receiving news, information, and community projects.

Partnering with Tabletop Armory – We are excited to announce that we will be working with Tabletop Armory on some future projects that will be coming out this year. They will be intimately involved in our branching into other mediums and we look forward to the exciting work we’ll be doing with them.

More useful Advice – With all of this talk of branching into other mediums and developing Savage Worlds settings you didn’t think we’d forget about you, our dear readers?

For our players we’ll be hitting you hard with articles discussing:

  • Building a character
  • Being a good player at the table
  • Roleplaying Skills
  • Table Standards

Game Masters will continue receiving the fountain of information on:

  • Session Planning
  • Encounter Design
  • Adventure Design

2010 will be a busy year for us here at Apathy Games and we thank you for joining us while we begin it. We’ll be letting you know more details as they come out so hang on tight! And remember–zero compromise!


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Savage Worlds Primer: Trappings

Written by Jeff Carlsen on 2009/12/30 – 08:00 -

After writing part 1 and part 2 of this primer I asked you and the good folks over at the Pinnacle forums if there was anything missing, and they came through for me. While another post going over a few insightful aspects of the rules is in order, today I’m talking about one of the concepts that will take your normal D&D player some thought to adapt to.

Trappings

A fantasy setting might have dozens of spells that explode and do damage. Fireballs, insect swarms, icy blasts, etc. Mechanically, they’re nearly identical. Savage Worlds only has one such spell. It’s called Blast. All variations of blast, such as a fireball, are done through trappings. Other trappings might include an expanding sphere of prismatic light, or a cold darkness that causes hemorrhaging. Trappings are mostly descriptive in nature, but they can have some mechanical effect. For example, a Fireball might cause things to catch fire but not damage stone walls, all depending on the description of the spell and the Game Master.

Setting Tone using Trappings

Trappings aren’t limited to spells alone. Many of the games hindrances, edges, and skills can have their names and descriptions changed to fit the particular tone of a setting. This is the most fundamental way to convert a setting over to Savage Worlds. Many times people try to create a special rule for a setting, only have it pointed out to them that the rule already exists under a different name.

This can be unsatisfying for some game masters who are used to dealing with the game in a mechanical manner. They feel the need to create specific exceptions or mechanical descriptions for everything. Thwart this temptation. The philosophy of Savage Worlds is to concentrate on describing the setting and it’s trappings, and then translating, not converting, the existing mechanics.


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Savage Worlds Primer: Part 2

Written by Jeff Carlsen on 2009/12/23 – 08:00 -

Last week we told you what Savage Worlds is and why you should care. That’s all you really need, but in the spirit of making the game as approachable as possible, I wanted to share with you some advice on how to get started.

Remember: Fast. Furious. Fun.

The whole philosophy of the game is those three words, and it plays best if you strive to achieve them for yourself. Don’t get hung up on the rules. The core mechanic will cover you until you have a chance to look things up. Throw fun enemies at your players. You can probably wing-it on any monster or group of pirates that might attack. And lastly, have fun. With the rules out of the way, you can concentrate on playing the game.

Savage Worlds Plays Differently

This has to be pointed out before you play. If you’ve played other games, then there are many expectations about how things will work. Try to throw those out. There are big differences as to what defines a character.

If anything, I’d say that a character’s power is based on how capable he is of bending probability to his favor. Because the target number is 4 for any success, a static bonus is immensely powerful, and you don’t get many of them.

But it’s more than that. You’ll likely find that every roll is watched like a spinning slot machine, mostly because you never know when the dice will explode and change things dramatically.

But be aware. This game does not hold toward the averages. Lives can rise and fall on the dice and cards. Sometimes, but not usually, the big bad is taken down with one punch. It’s part of what makes it fun, but dangerous. Your characters should never feel invulnerable.

Read Through the Book

While Pinnacle are fantastic game designers, they aren’t as good at organizing the rules for learning. Read the whole book before you play. Fortunately, is short and small, and the print is large, so it shouldn’t take long. Plus, they are good at writing in a conversational style.

Seek Help if You Need It

If you’re confused about anything, the Pinnacle forums are a fantastic source of information. I know, forums can be intimidating places, but you’ll find this one friendly and helpful, and you can ask the designers directly and expect a prompt response. Also, feel free to ask us questions. We’d be glad to help.

Play it Before You Modify

We all love to tinker with rule sets, and that’s no different with Savage Worlds. There are multiple variations and house rules usable to capture a specific feel.

But don’t do it. At least, not at first. As I said, this game doesn’t play the same at the table as other games, and that won’t come across at first reading. Get to know the feel of it before you start making adjustments.

Experiment Within the Rules

It’ll take you a while to get a feel for it, so experiment. Play around and try different things, just to see how it works. Spend your bennies, soak rolls, gang up on people, shoot into melee. Cast spells, play with super-powers, and be prepared for an accidental TPK. It’ll happen at some point, probably.

Hopefully, this has been helpful to you. If you’re a current Savage, and you have any beginning advice that I missed, please comment and let us know. When done, we want these primers to part of a comprehensive guide to Savage Worlds, and we’d know we’ll need your assistance for that.


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Savage Worlds Primer: Part 1

Written by Jeff Carlsen on 2009/12/16 – 08:00 -

Many of you come here for our general content and have asked about this Savage Worlds thing we go on about. We want to tell you, not just because of our love for the game, but also because we intend to make our fortunes selling games based on Savage Worlds.

So, what is Savage Worlds?

Most RPG rules systems are slow to play and require bookkeeping. These aren’t problems until your get older and have limited free time. So the fine folks at Pinnacle Entertainment Group set out to build an elegant rule system that required little work to adapt to various games, was easy to understand, and that played very quickly at the table. The result was Savage Worlds. The slogan? FAST. FURIOUS. FUN.

Removing the Barriers to Entry

The core rulebook, Savage Worlds: Explorer’s Edition, costs $9.99, is 160 pages long, and is the only book you need to play. It contains all the rules, has a section on Game Mastering, and provides guidance for translating any game or setting over to Savage Worlds. For the cost of a single D&D Player’s Handbook, I have purchased four copies of Savage Worlds and freely given them away to interested players.

For those who want more, there are a variety of tool-kits or companions for playing particular styles of game, such as fantasy or superheroes. There are also a number of first and third party settings that cover a range of play styles, from the wild west of Deadlands, to the 30′s serial science fiction of Slipstream. Most settings come with a complete campaign to introduce the world so that groups can hit the ground running.

The Core Mechanics

In order to show you the basics of the game, and how it’s different from most systems, here are the core rules:

  • Each character has a set of attributes and skills, rated from d4 to d12. To use a skill, you simply roll the associated die; roll 4 or higher and you succeed, and for every multiple of 4 above you get a raise, improving the result. There are occasional modifiers to a roll, but they are kept to a minimum.
  • Combat initiative is handled by dealing from a deck of playing cards, counting down from highest to lowest, making it easy to see a player’s initiative from across the table.
  • To remove bookkeeping, players don’t track hit points, but instead take wounds for each raise on a successful attack. A player can take up to three wounds and remain conscious. A fourth renders them incapacitated.

What is this good for?

Savage Worlds is not the end all, be all of roleplaying, but it’s good for many things. Obviously, if you don’t have a lot of prep time, and gaming time is precious to you, than this is your game. But it’s also fantastic for home-brew games, where building a complex rule system isn’t worth the time and effort. Similarly, it’s great for groups who want to try out many different games, but don’t want to learn new rules every time.

The fast nature of the rules makes it a breeze to run larger combats with dozens of characters, or to play games with a large number of players.

Lastly, it’s a game worth trying out simply because it’s fun. This part is difficult to get across just reading the rules. You have to see the system in action to understand how it plays differently at the table than anything you’ve previously tried.

Have we convinced you to at least give it a look? Check out the Playtest Rules and let us know what you think in the comments! For more information check out our Part 2 of this primer.


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