Sticks & Stones Review (Savage Worlds Prehistoric)

I'll add this one to the Savage Worlds review series.  These are quick to do as I don't need to playtest them (balance isn't so vital in a RPG and we know the base Savage Worlds mechanics work).
Bear in mind I review this as a wargamer not a RPGer. For a RPG nerd's version, there's usually reviews about on RPGNow etc. 

The Shiny
Well this is a PDF after all; however full colour art is decent if cartoon-y.  Similar two column layout to most other SW rulebooks.  Solid but not particularly impressive.
The game uses hand, knuckle and finger as measurements which probably adds atmosphere as a RPGer but I merely found annoying to convert.

If you love puns and the idea of Cave NERDS makes you hysterical with laughter, you will enjoy the Flintstone-esque humour in this supplement.  I personally found it varied between grating and cringeworthy.

Character Creation, Gear etc
Always a big deal in RPGs. As a wargamer, not so interesting.  It's evident S&S is lighthearted  - i.e. Cave GEEKS is a class.  It also has Dino Sapiens which will give a use for Lizardmen when GW inevitably Squats them.  They narrow down the base SW skills to ~30 and add in caveman-y ones such as finger counting, fire starting, pictograms etc.  There is a new Magic mishap table which includes coconuts falling on your head, your nose growing, bad flatulence etc.  Magic spells are divided up by Shaman class i.e. Earth, Moon, Fire, Beast, Water etc.  There are gear tables which include coconut helmets and dino-plate armour as well as the usual bows, clubs, spears and slings etc - unsurprisingly they're pretty limited in the gear department.    They aim for comedy with Flintstone-esque vehicles and pun-named gear. Ugh.  Thee is the usual SW list of relics and legendary "named" gear "Gem of Powuh" and "Hungo's Hullking Helmet" etc. 

Setting & Encounter Generator & Scenarios
More humorously named villages and caves are described but I could have had a nerdy 12 year old from my school do it just as well.  The encounter generators for different biomes (forest, mountain, water etc) are the first useful thing I've found in these rules, bar the helpful arranging of spells into shaman classes.  The scenarios were quite extensive, and possibly useful for RPGers, but by now completely disinterested in the lame writing and forced humour I admit I skipped most of this section.

Bestiary
There is about 45 new beasts good for prehistoric gaming, like T-Rexes, Pteranodons, Mammoths, Dilophosaurus, raptors etc.  This is probably the most useful part of the book, but nothing you couldn't do yourself with a modicum of common sense.

TL:DR
A Flintstone-esque style which aims for humour (and misses).  Honestly, it adds little you cannot do with the base Savage Worlds rulebook.  The bestiary and scenario generators are the only useful new content, but you could rig them up yourself with little effort. 

Recommended?: Nah.  Maybe OK at the $2 I paid for it, but the $15RRP is a waste of hobby dollars.

Review: Savage Worlds Horror Companion

Since I picked this up at half price I thought I'd add it to my collection of Savage Worlds reviews.

As usual, this focusses on the ability to use the Companion for skirmish wargaming. If you want an RPG-centric review, this is not the place to find it.  404: Return to Google and try again!

The Horror Companion seems pretty squarely aimed at the vampire-werewolf-monster hunter trope.  There isn't much alien horror to be found.  You'll see a few words repeated in this review - "generic"  "typical" "minimal."  There's enough to do what needs to be done, without a lot of trimmings or originality. 

I'm ignoring the gamemaster's section as it's more generic advice anyway and certainly is of no interest from a skirmish gaming viewpoint.

This Black Judge has just realised the Horror Companion is rendered irrevant by simply owning the base Savage Worlds game

Characters, Edges, Hindrances

 

There are 18 new Edges and Hindrances, some (occultist, necromancer, monster hunter) more useful than others.  The few new Characters include angels, demons, Frankenstein-esqye monsters, werewolves, ghosts, zombies.  Basically, your generic horror staples.

The dozen or so weapons (stakes, repeating crossbows, holy water, silver/UV bullets & grenades) are again the "essentials" and don't break any new ground.  Equipment is again limited in scope and pretty generic - ghost hunting goggles, motion trackers, mirrors, UV lights, crucifixes.  Again, the essentials.  In all cases the choices are sensible but minimalist.  Nothing new is added.

There is about 30 pieces of unique equipment (evil hockey masks, voodoo dolls, warding rings, vampire coffins) some useful, some less so.

Rules

Magic is more serious.  Failing magic rolls will cause Sanity loss as well as the usual backlash.   Any time an individual suffers a gruesome death there is an AoE blood spray template - which causes a morale test to any splattered in gore - and renders the area slippery for the rest of the game.  A nice touch.  Furthermore, particular dates (All Hallow's Eve, full moon etc) can enhance the powers of various creatures as you would expect.  Magic is not as pervasive as in fantasy, but you can perform extended rituals to make it more powerful (extend range, duration, effects). Failing a ritual is usually rather dangerous.  (I.e. from fatigue loss to a portal from the netherworld sucking everyone in, or energy frying everyone involved)

Sanity (2+ Spirit) is a resource that can be lost each time you fail a Fear check.  If it reaches 2 or less, the character must pick a Minor Habit until it recovers to 3+.  Once it reaches 0 the character becomes deranged/psychotic.  Psychosis include vacant staring, flashbacks, the shakes, addictions, paranoia...   ....at worst, becoming a maniacal villain under GM control.   This is a useful addition.

There is fortune telling section which has little application to wargaming and is pretty vague and GM-centric anyway. 

Wards require a spirit roll at -4 to break (i.e. werewolf warded by silver/vampire vs crucifix) and work automatically; bindings include a pentragram/circular trap but the rules tend to be more long-term RPG plot-based affairs and less useful for skirmish wargames.

Magic

There are only about a dozen new spells which tend to revolve around summoning, banishing, blocking or binding undead/spirits.  To be honest, you could easily get by with the usual generic Savage Worlds spells as this really doesn't add a lot to the game.  

 Bestiary

There are about 70 pages of critters and it makes up the bulk of the book.  Finally some originality is shown - with entries like aswangs (Philippino vampires), ama-no-jaku, black coachmen, malevolent trees, creeping hands, flying heads, haunted cars and portraits, rug fiends (!), evil jack in the boxes, seaweed fiends, evil rock musicians, ventriloquist dummies, weresharks - as well as all the horror "staples."   The downside - all the horror "staples" are covered in the Explorer's Edition, so unless you really want weird stuff like rug fiends, the Horror Companion doesn't really do much.

TL:DR
Characters, edges, abilities tend to be the bare minimum for generic horror adventuring, only the most common tropes.  Magic didn't add much of any import.  The bestiary was extensive but....

...the fact the base Savage Worlds Explorer's addition has a strong pulp focus means the Horror Companion (which covers similar territory) adds very little to the base game.  The expanded Sanity table and the extended bestiary would be the prime reason to get this.  But....   ....the base Explorer's Edition covers all your basic generic horror critters anyway, and even has simple Sanity rules.     In short - if you already have the excellent base Savage World's Explorer's edition (which you should) there is no real reason to own the Horror Companion. 

Recommended:  No.  On special, perhaps. Otherwise, no - it simply doesn't add anything particularly worthwhile to the excellent Explorer's Edition base rules to be worth paying for. (Which is even more ironic, as the Explorer's Edition is a nice, full colour softcover book that costs the same as the Horror PDF...)

Superheroes vs Necrons (Savage Worlds Skirmish)

Inspired by the trailer to Suicide Squad, I went ferretting through my shed and found about 80 HeroClix prepainted plastics.  I recall buying them in a job lot for about $20 a few years back (I think with the intent of adding them to a Secrets of the Third Reich Weird War 2 game) then forgot all about them.

Until now.

I simply jimmied them off their clix bases and put them on 25mm slottas, and dabbed a bit of brown wash over them to get rid of the "artificial pre painted plastic" look.  I'll get around to tidying up their bases and neatening the paintjobs, but they're table ready at least.

 Ever wondered why super villains seem to re appear so quickly after being incarcerated?  Doing deniable black ops for the government to shorten their sentences, that's how.

I've been having great fun researching and statting-up heroes for the Savage Worlds system. My wife even got involved, compiling a brief bio/powers list of the minis. 

So far I've only converted my duplicate minis, which tend to be the more obscure ones.  This is good, as I can keep them "low powered" without any preconceptions of what they should be like according to movies/comics etc.

In Savage Worlds superheroes are rated pulp (one or two minor powers, or perhaps only gadgets), four colour (standard comic fare with significant powers, say Wolverine), heavy hitters (Magneto, Pheonix), and cosmic level (Superman etc).    Since SW heroes are already quite powerful compared to the average mook, I'm trying to keep things to pulp level where possible, and keeping the powers toned down. 

Personally, I think superheroes should be restricted in their abilities.  Ever wonder why there hasn't been a good Superman movie?  He's just so "overpowered" it's hard to connect with him.  You don't fear for his safety either.  Plots have to be on cosmic scale to be even vaguely threatening. Weaknesses have to be contrived.  Batman vs Superman? It isn't even a contest.  Who'll be the underdog everyone cheers for?  ....well, perhaps it depends more how much they hate Ben Affleck...

Anyway, there has been a power surge deep beneath the Nevada desert at Area 52.  A alien device which was regarded as inert has suddenly powered up. It's a homing beacon.... a warpgate opens, disgorging undead robots, who naturally want to "destroy all humans."

Supported by a sniper team, The Darkness corners a Necron... gosh, it's so long since I played 40K... it's some sort of tomb-thingy?

The beautiful android assassin Aphrodite IX leads a fire team through the underground corridors... (Magdalena is about to engage Necrons with her own fire team in the background)

Scarab swarms are no match for the arcane powers of the Witchblade...

Some of the minis I've rebased so far. The cool ninja chicks are Noh agents from Kabuki.  They could be tidied up, but the prepainted schemes are perfectly table-worthy...

A few thoughts...  Savage Worlds is not really balanced for warband vs warband combat from what I can see. It's more a rival to Two Hour Wargames type narrative/co-op stuff.  Also, I'd like a program where I simply select from dropdown boxes and then print out player stats on Warmachine/Gruntz-like cards as writing them out is too clunky - there's a lot of prep time. That said, creating superheroes is really good fun in itself - so it's not a great hardship.

 I'm enjoying it do much I'm delving into the rest of my box, and putting in a few bids for random clix bundles on eBay.  (...don't get any ideas from this post and overbid me, damn it!  grrr - postage to Australia sucks)

Savage Worlds - Fantasy Companion Review

The last of my pdf purchases. I primarily bought it to see how it would measure up to Frostgrave in its expanded form (Savage Worlds excellent base Explorer Edition has enough content to play generic fantasy, but it didn't seem a fair comparison).

As usual, I view it through the lens of "would it be good for skirmish wargaming" rather than its value to a RPG.  If you're a diehard RPGer, I suggest you read another review.  

Characters
The race creation has your classic orcs-dwarves-elves etc as well as a useful "cultural template" - a list of simple, subtle tweaks to differentiate your races. Basically there are +3, +2 and +1 abilities which can be offset by -1, -2 and -3 negative traits.  Very useful for customizing new races/minis.
There are ~16 new Edges (troubadour, knight, assassin etc, as well as racial edges like barbaric rage)

Gear
There's about ~20 items of gear, of which half are useful for wargaming, and a range of new melee weapons like bastard swords, orc axes, flails, and crossbow pistols.    There's a few new armour types which will be useful.  There are siege rules but they seem to be added in for abstract/mass battle games, so whilst interesting they are not so useful for skirmish gaming.

Arcana
There's a bit of info on Deities and the likely powers/spells associated with them (i.e. gods of healing, justice, knowledge, nature, sea, war, thieves) which would be useful for making racial/religious magic.  There's also a completely new form of magic, Alchemy, which would be useful for steampunk games and the like.  I found it interesting and am now wondering what what an alchemy-based wargame might look like.  The section on sorcery and ritual magic are smaller, useful but not revolutionary additions.  It also explains how trappings work in more detail than the Explorer's Edition (i.e. specifically how an ice blast differs from a fireball blast) which is adds value.

The spell list has a lot of "repeats" which are already included in the basic rules, so the list of ~60 is much less impressive than it seems. The upside is the Fantasy Companion uses the exact same system as the base rules so slots in seamlessly (compared to the Super Powers Companion whose "powers" work completely differently to the generic magic/psy/weird tech).

Hmm I feel the urge to dig out and rebase my old Confrontation models...

Treasure
Handy for Mordheim-style games is the tables for generating loot - treasure, armour, magic items and weapons.  It even has tables for generating random magic powers to assign to weapons/items.

Perhaps most usefully, each weapon/item/armour piece comes with a $ cost, which would be invaluable if running a Mordhiem-style campaign, and you want to buy/equip your warband between rounds.

This section is very, very comprehensive - with bucketloads of generic examples of magic weapons, potions etc -  more than enough crunch to satisfy the most insatiable tinkerer.  There's even examples of cursed items, and intelligent (self aware) magic relics - like an ensorscelled, possessed blade - which can possess stats and personality of their own.  It looks like great fun, but abandon hope of balance, all ye who enter here.

Terraclips are cool and easy to store - but a pain to assemble.  I'm considering making up a table though...

Bestiary
There's a solid amount of choice, from human villains and warriors to monsters of every ilk. I lost count after 40 pages, and I'm guesstimating about ~120 critters.  Lots of new weird beasts as well as all the fantasy favourites.  There's a fair bit of choice even within standard fantasy tropes i.e. trolls come as marsh trolls, sand trolls, or sea trolls as well as the standard version.  You not only have giant spiders, but giant zombie spiders. Golems (yay!) come in grass, stone, lava, straw, metal varities. You get the idea.

TL:DR
I felt that the Sci Fi Companion and the Super Powers Companion were a bit light on - and probably could have been merged into a single supplement.  Not so the Fantasy Companion.  I was impressed with the thoroughness of each section, and I felt the book really added onto the base Savage Worlds core book. An embarrassing amount of treasure, loot and items to "level up" if you want to run a Mordhiem-style campaign, enough beasts, villains and monsters to cover every contingency, and the "alchemy" section was a nice addition.  Quite a few spells in the magic section were repeated, which is my only gripe.  Otherwise, good. This is what I was expecting when I bought the other Companion pdfs.

Recommended? Yes. 
If you're interested in fantasy skirmish (RPG or wargame) this is a well worthwhile purchase.

Psychic Powers in Savage Worlds

I've been looking for ways to play modern pulp (XCOM, psychic warfare, horror) and the hassle of making a homebrew "core" system to hang it on (I'm simply recreating a d10 minimalist version of Infinity) has me looking for ready-made solutions.

Savage Worlds is the king of pulp, and is more wargame than RPG.  So what psychic powers can I borrow to fulfil my psychic power wishlist?

Savage Worlds uses a generic "magic" system that lumps together psychic powers, miracles, arcane "magic" magic, super powers  and weird science.  It uses generic spells, in which the "trappings" are different but the end effect is similar, i.e. the "Bolt" spell could be a bolt of lightning, ice, a fireball or just raw energy.  Italics are superpowers from the Super Power Companion sourcebook.

Telekinetic -Push/Pull/Crush -Deflect/Barrier -Biokinesis (heal) Heart stop (destroy) -Teleportation -Cyro/Pyro/Electrokinesis -Levitate/Double jump	Barrier Blast (Ranged AoE attack) Bolt (aimed attack) Burst (AoE spray) Deflection (Protector - protects others) Healing/Greater Healing or Regeneration Stun Ensnare Telekinesis Teleport Absorption (absorb/deflect telekinetic attacks) Decay (destroy materials/wound) Force Control Fly, Flight or Leaping Malfunction (electric items) Matter Control Resistence (to fire, ice, electricity etc) Smite/Attack (Melee/Ranged) (telekinetically guide/boost damage of blows/weapon)
Telepath - Mind Read -Mind Control - Mental attack (freeze) - Illusion -Psychic Link -Psychic Block (nullify) -Fear	Dispel (negate psychic power) Fear Invisibility Puppet (control enemy) or Possession Chameleon (imitate another) Illusion Mind Control Negation (block psychic abilities) Paralysis Mind Reading
Esper -Remote Viewing -> Bilocation -Clairvoyance -Scrying/Divination -Psychometry -Precognition	Boost (raise/lower stat of self/other) = precog Detect Arcane (sense other psychics) Awareness (ignore obscurement/gang ups) Danger Sense (ignore ambushes, pregame advantages) Copycat (psychometry - mimic abilities) Duplication (bilocation) Heightened Senses Intangibility (spirit form/remote viewing) - maybe mix with Altered Form Uncanny Reflexes

Phew. That's... ....quite a list.  Maybe I don't have to start from scratch after all....

Actually, the more I look through Savage Worlds material, the more I wonder why I don't see more wargame AARs using this system. Perhaps it's too pigeonholed as a RPG.  It certainly has some decent mechanics - better than games like, say, Frostgrave, which everyone is so hyped about, and can be adapted easily through the fantasy-pulp-sci fi spectrum, plus it comes with a huge array of in-depth settings (and in some cases, miniature lines.)  

From comments on the first psychic powers post, I've decided to allow shorting/malfunctioning of electrics (it's an extension of electrokinesis I guess).  The rest of the powers gel with Wikipedia (source of all mankind's knowledge) as I'm looking for "realistic" or "commonly acknowledge" psychic powers, rather than something seen once on a random anime.  However I'm interested in any other common abilities that I may have missed...

Savage Worlds - Superpowers Companion Review

Hmm. Maybe I'll find some pychic powers here....

It has a completely new "superpower" system which replaces the magic/psychic/weird science generic system from the base Savage Worlds.  This feels more like a genuine expansion rather than simply an expensive PDF list of weapons and vehicles.

Again, I remind you I'm not a RPGer and I view this supplement against its usefulness for skirmish wargaming, which the base Savage Worlds system does quite well. 

Heroes
7 new Edges, and mostly useless "hinderances." This section is mostly RPG-y and not terribly useful to my wargaming-centric outlook.

Rules
Besides using all the pulpier optional combat rules from Savage Worlds, there are some new rules, for combining powers, power synergy, finishing moves, and powerful knockback rules for super-powered blows. Degrees of super-strength are defined. In addition, there is a Back from the Dead roll for defeated enemies that mimics how comic characters seldom really die for good.

Gear
Not a huge selection here. About 9 gadgets and a few basic armour types.  The melee weapons repeat those from the Sci Fi Companion.  New weapons are limited and tend to be gimmicks like superpower nullifier beams, foam or net guns.  Not a lot new here.  Vehicles are almost non-existent. Basically, you are expected to own the Sci Fi Companion as well.

While I ultimately found the Super Powers Companion worthwhile, it could have easily been merged with the Sci Fi Companion, and for the price, probably should have been.  Only the Rules and Powers were useful - the rest was shallow "garnish."

Powers
This is the guts of this supplement.  Powers are assumed to be always on and their costs can be modified by things like activation requirements (touch, delayed activation) or range.

There are about ~80 powers, most with several "levels" of potency. And - yay! - quite a few superpowers that are also psychic powers i.e. chameleon, copycat, danger sense, mind control, and various telekinetic powers, that add to and enhance those in the core rules.  

HQ
Again, this may be good for role playing purposes but is utterly useless for wargaming.  I mean, I don't care if my underground base has a kitchenette or two ensuites.  Actually, I don't even know why role players would care, unless they like role playing interior decorators.

Supervillains
There is some generic NPCs - civilians, cops, thugs, and soldiers etc, but a rather large collection of ~70 supervillains.  There's a few recognizable archtypes, as well as variations on legendary and fairytale characters.  They range in power from pulp villains with a gimmicky suit or minor power to cosmic supervillains who can destroy the universe.   This seemed a bit overenthusiastic, to be honest, and took up a disproportionate part of the supplement.

TL:DR
The rules and powers section make this supplement worthwhile, whereas the rest is almost useless for wargaming purposes.  It seems to be designed to be used in concert with the Sci Fi Companion, as both are strong in areas where the other is lacking.  I'd rather they just added the Powers section into the Sci Fi Companion - the rest was just fluff and window dressing.

Recommended: Yes.
The powers and new rules make it worthwhile if you are trying to run a superhero wargame, and they do add value to the base rules.  Although a bit overpriced, it DID pique my interest in superpower skirmish wargaming, getting my attention in a way that the Sci Fi Companion failed to match. 

That said, I'd recommend it more confidently when it is half price. I don't see the value in it, when (in my opinion) it's half a supplement, with some fluff.  

Savage Worlds - Sci Fi Companion Review

Although I am not a RPGer (apart from a brief flirtation with FUDGE and GURPS in my teens) I'm a bit of a Savage Worlds fan.  Why? Because it's a rather good skirmish wargame, disguised as a RPG.

In fact, if you brush away all the RPG special rules, you can see it was a wargame - in fact the engine comes from the Great Rail Wars - capable of handling 40-50 miniatures at a time.   Whilst there isn't one skirmish ruleset that works perfectly for all genres, the Explorer's Edition base rules do a creditable attempt to cover fantasy, pulp, horror and sci fi. Remove some of the pulpier game mechanics and it could do grittier historical gaming at a pinch too.   

Anyway, since the PDFs were reduced to the only mildly outrageous price of $13, I grabbed the Sci Fi Companion to see if I could adapt anything for my sci fi wargames.  This isn't a proper review as such, more a browse/summary of the rules, with an eye to their usefulness when wargaming. 

Characters
Whilst not a watertight competition points system, it obviously has creation rules for "costing" NPCs and characters.  The  36 positive and 13 negative sci fi attributes seemed small for a RPG, but it'd be presumed you'd already own the base Explorer's Edition which has a range of generic attributes.  The sample races might be useful when adapting wargame factions.

The Sci Fi Companion is decent but not a "must have."  I think it's simply overshadowed by the great value, versatility and depth of the base Explorer's Edition rules.

Gear
There are 33 pieces of gear, from med scanners, psionic shields (tinfoil hat?), camouflage suits and beacons.  There are a range of armour pieces which are useful but not comprehensive for wargaming i.e. more about type (glide suit, space suit, stealth suit) than degree of protection i.e. a +1 to +5 range.

The melee weapons have a decent range but are more about type (energy, vibro) than type (does not distinguish daggers from polearms).  There's a decent selection of ranged weapons, from gyrojets (bolters) to lasers, blasters and plasma weapons. Enough choice to be a Jedi Knight or fight for the Imperium of Mankind. 

Cyberware
The maximum amount of cyberware a person can install into himself is limited by his Vigor or Spirit stat.   This cyberware can range from subdermal armour, to vision enhancements, to adrenal boosters or even retractable weapons. Could be a way to "spice up" otherwise vanilla 15mm humans - would be useful. 

Power Armour
This comes in light, medium and heavy varieties and can be equipped with a range of equipment and attachments, such as strength, stealth and targeting enhancements, jump packs and more.  

Robots
There is a "build your own robot" section where you buy stat and skill increases to a base robot chassis/body, as well as generic warbots, sentrybots and similar.

Starships
You can build and fight a wide range of starships, but the rules are designed with an abstract rather than tabletop combat in mind.  So it could be used for a narrative skirmish, but this won't replace Full Thrust...

Vehicles & Walkers
The vehicles include a range of example motorcycles, cars, and military vehicles (tanks, hover-tanks, APCs, helicopters).   I found the mech section inspiring.  I found myself wondering what tabletop and anime franchises I could convert.  Given vehicles use the same basic mechanics as infantry, it's plausible to use 6mm mechs.  I liked the special rule "death from above" - I wonder where that came from...

World Maker & Xenos
This was more RPG than wargaming in nature.   You know, the random generation charts for planet type, gravity, atmosphere, population, customs, tech level etc.

There are also generic characters like pirates, psi-knights (Jedi?), scientists, cyborg commandos, smugglers, spies etc.  There are also lots of interesting critters - batspiders or mantis gorillas, anyone? - which sound cool but are useless for wargaming without dedicated miniatures.

But... but....  No new psychic powers?   Geez.  There's no psychic powers here that isn't in the base Explorer's Edition.

TL:DR
A useful toolkit for adapting Savage Worlds to sci fi settings - but not as useful or comprehensive as I hoped.  Perhaps it is simply shown up by the excellence of the base Explorer's Edition, which is a $15 softcover I strongly recommend for value and content. The Sci Fi Companion is generally "OK" with only the mech and cyberware sections catching my interest, and lack of psychic powers was disappointing.  I'd give it a 3 out of 5.  Capable but unspectacular.

Recommended?: Maybe - at half price. 'Sif you'd pay $25 for a pdf...