Tag: Savage Worlds

Olympus Inc The Pelion Report for Savage Worlds Live

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Last week my friend Charles White launched his newest campaign on Indiegogo.  An expansion to Olympus Inc Savage Worlds. Part Percy Jackson Part Shadow Run made in the Spirit of Scion Olympus Inc is a fresh look on a modern world where the gods, in fact, were real.

The new project features several new things.

The Pelion Report presents five new Paragon bloodlines (Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hephaestus, and Hera) and two new Demihuman bloodlines (Cyclospawn and Centaur) for Olympus Inc. Along with the new bloodlines, the book also presents powers for new and existing bloodlines, rules for working with Orichalcum, new corporations, new edges/hindrances and so much more!

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If you are not familiar with the Olympus Inc setting here is a brief rundown:

In a world that appears identical to our own, the Titans of myth have deposed the upstart Olympians and now rule the heavens. But Zeus and the other gods of Olympus have found a new way to harvest the power of worship—through mankind’s love of money! Step into a world of shadowy politics, satyr cyber-raiders, demigods, and an ongoing clandestine war for control of the firmament.

The campaign is slated to run until March 29, 2018. For more information, visit the campaign page on Indiegogo.

The Pelion Report Savage World

 

Mini Review: Savage Worlds Mutation Deck

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So while back Just Insert Imagination put out an awesome product that they had put a lot of time and effort into. The result is a good looking versatile deck that in my opinion has to be seen in print to fully appreciate. The mutation theme fits will with the look of most any Post Apocalypse setting and was very well timed with the release of the Savage Worlds Rifts Setting.

I have had this PDF for awhile now and its has honestly taken me a while to get around to punching out a review of this product. So why has it taken so long to get around to doing this piece? Well, that answer is two-fold.

First off I wanted to print out a set of the cards and have them in hand. Sadly I ran into several complications between my personal printer not printing a good set. This is more a fact that I am in dire need of a printer upgrade and has nothing to do with the quality of the product. That said if you do not buy the cards themselves. Nor do you have a nice printer, Take the time and run out to your local Staples and print a set of these cards out. You will be doing yourself an injustice not too.

Secondly, I had been asked by Just Inset to Give their cards a review and I wanted to write up an honest review. The guys at Just Insert Imagination send be products because they know that I will be honest and tell you, my readers if there were issues I find with a product. I highly respect that we have a relationship like that. So I waited till I could get a decent print of the cards in my hand before I began the review.

In that time I looked at other reviews and blog posts about the Mutation Deck. And then I stumbled on a blog that blew me away about these cards. That blog can be found Here.
The Thing is I will say up front this blog was written by the Designer of the deck. BUT Wow.. after reading his blog I look at these cards in a whole new light.

There are a few things I can add about the cool way you can use this deck after reading this. But there are a few things that I can add.They look and feel a part of the wasteland. They look of wear is a great touch.The Each of the suites is themed, this goes back to the blog the designer posted. Every card has an ability, Disadvantage or Advantage except the Jokers. The Jokers each have a Wilde Mutation.

To sum all this up, go read the designers blog about all of the awesome uses you can bring to the table with these cards other than just tracking initiative ! Do yourself a favor and pick up the Print on Demand version of these cards!

Head on over to DTRPG and get your Deck Now. Click on the image below to head on over to DTRPG. Or click HERE
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Just Insert Imagination Mini Review: Size Matters.

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 Can’t run your usual game, running a Con game or looking for something short to introduce new players? Just Insert Imagination has you covered.

190529Size Matters is a for the whole family, sandbox adventure for Savage Worlds. Six people are shrunk to 1 inch tall in a laboratory accident. Can they reach help? Can they survive in a world of giants? Or will their tiny skeletons end up forgotten in an air vent or crack in the floor?

In the document (that is designed to fit inside a GM screen) you will find:

  • setting rules
  • twists and complications to use
  • bestiary
  • 6 pre-generated characters and character sheets
  • a blank character sheet to create your own character
  • 5 battle-maps
  • printable cards with size comparisons
  • a map of level five
  • figure flats
Man, I have have been looking forward to putting my thoughts down on this new product from Just Insert Imagination. Size Maters is done in the format of their Snap Sites modules they have put out in the past. So you know up front what to expect.

The theme here is just like the picture shows. In the vein of “Honey, I shrunk the kids!” and “The incredible shrinking Man/Woman” or the Littles. your players are either tiny people or become tiny people for one reason or another.

The layout as I said is much like the layout of their previous snap sites adventures like Fuggedaboutit. One of the things I love in this adventure is the size comparisons that are dropped into the background to help give the GM a sense of scale that he can better convey it to the players.
We’re now a quarter of an inch tall, and sixty-four feet from the house. That’s an equivalent of three-point-two miles. That’s a long way. Even for a man of science. – Nick, Honey, I shrunk the kids
They show a player standing up a pen, that is well over twice as tall as the player. And a silhouette of an actual one-inch man to help bring the fact of how small the players have become home. The Gist of this adventure is plain and simple, the players are all together in one room and become shrunk to the size of an RPG mini. There is nothing to do but find help. But the only help is at the other end of the building. Only 50 or so feet away, ONLY.

The adventure like all other Just Insert Imaginations products is made for Savage Worlds and designed for one-shot or convention play. It comes with a nice set of NPC’s and some pretty cool maps and cards. I love the size comparison hand out. Showing the size of the players compared to every creature detailed in the adventure.

I am not normally a fan of figure flats but I think just because this is a game where “Size Maters” I am very pleased that they were included in this product. And I know that If I run this I most definitely would use them unless I had enough time in advance to find toys or minis to properly represent them at the table.

The map for this product is super basic. It is nothing more than a standard you are here sign you would find in most any building or mall. At first, I was very disappointed in it. But in time the irony grew on me that in a modern day world that is about all your going to get out of a modern building map. Even with my Ding on their You Are Here map they make up for it in the combat maps they provide. I personally found the computer desktop battle map an excellent idea.

Size Maters also comes with a bestiary of critters one might encounter in the lab. Everything from lab rats to roaches. As well as the surprise bird if the players manage to find themselves outside for some crazy reason! This is a welcome little asset for any GM to have on hand when running a game like this.
Lastly,the character sheets are PRICELESS for this. I got a huge giggle out of them. If you are going to run this as a one-shot or a con game I strongly urge you to use these sheets for your game. The guys thought ahead and even made a PC blank sheet for groups that would prefer to make their own characters.

Overall my thoughts on Size Maters is this is a solid purchase! There are enough ideas here that you could have this adventure take place in several different locations and all of them would prove fun and virtually all the critters listed here could still be used.

Product Mini Review.Snap Sites: Blue Horizons Airlines

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Snap Sites is continuing its wonderful system agnostic player prop line collection. Their new product, Blue Horizons provides us with a location that rarely gets much attention to detail in many games, an airliner. Many Storytellers would be surprised that I Think this would be a good Snap Site. As many who run games hand wave air travel or travel in games as nothing more than transition, from one scene to another.
Yet locations like this are great opportunities for character development or discussion about the events taking place in the game. All the while remaining in character. Additionally if and when you do decide to add an encounter into the mix. Anything that takes place on an airliner is automatically going to be a bit more of a nail bitter at ten thousand feet!

So what you get with Blue Horizons is

  • Info about the airline, 8 characters, story twists and a “random odd items” in the luggage table.
  • A form fillable boarding pass
  • Airline magazine cover
  • In-flight menu
  • Printable map of the interior of the plane
  • Printable map of the cargo area of the plane
  • Printable cards of the characters for the GM and players

Taking a deeper look at what you get with Blue Horizons Airlines. We 8 character cards with a brief snippet of background, personality and what they are doing on the airliner. The 8 twists provide you with a fun  set of trope story options for running one-shot games while the flight is underway. The Random odd item table has a few interesting things on it that could move a plot in some rather creative ways.

The Magazine cover might have been a touch more useful if like the books they have done in the past form fillable or have several cover options. I found the in-flight menu a nice touch. And the plane interior is useful for when you intend to have anything go down while you’re flying the friendly skies.

But the form fillable Boarding Pass is the icing on this cake. Since with the tap of a few keys send your players anywhere. Who knows, maybe because your players always fly Blue Horizon you will be able to develop other plot lines or a bigger picture as to why adventures use the big Blue? Lastly, I wanted to point my readers in the direction of two RPG products that you could use this Snap Site with to add an extra personal touch to already great products.
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So if you want to pick up Snape Sites Blue Horizon Airlines you can find it Here.

 

 

 

 

138649There is a great scene that takes place on a plane in this Mote Cook Games adventure for The Strange RPG that could be taken a bit further when used in combination with this product and their own Estate Dossiers. Together you would really raise the bar high on this already awesome introductory adventure!

You can get the Eschatology Code Here.

You can find the Estate Dossiers Here.

 

 

141208The other adventure that I think could benefit from this Site is the Savage Worlds Canned Food. As the entire story basically takes place on a plane why not add some props to make the game all that much better!

You can find Canned Food Here.

 

 

 

 

 

Rifts Savage Worlds: My Review Critical Hit!

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In the last few days before the end of the Kickstarter, I was able to get a copy of Riffs for Savage Worlds to review. I would like to thank the fine people at  PEG  for giving me the opportunity to get an inside look up the product. As well as trust that I will give the fans a good fair review.

The first thing I have to say in this is how well they captured the iconic feel of the Rifts RPG setting. Everything from the artwork to the verbiage as well as the layout exudes Rifts. As a huge fan of the Rifts setting it’s so satisfying see such a carefully well thought out translation to the Savage Worlds Rules set.

With the setting of Rifts, there are several key factor that you must nail on the head to strike the proper tone with the fanbase. Art is one of these key factors, and they nailed it! I do not need to go into much of an explanation on how well they did when it comes to the artwork. I will just let the art speak for itself !

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The Rifts lexicon is another key factor to ensure that Savage Rifts feels like Rifts. Every opportunity was taken to do this. This could easily have been tragically one of the most overlooked features in the making of this book. I think this was one of the things they went over with a fine tooth comb to ensure it was not the case. The book reads like a Rifts book, and yet it is very obviously Savage Worlds bravo.

The iconic framework method of class creation was a treat to read and they were wonderfully done. As you look at the iconic frameworks you begin to understand what a complex job of bringing Rifts to Savage Worlds must have been. But it is presented in such a way that feels so right. You hardly notice or realize all of the work that must have gone into tweaking each of these to make them balanced as well as remain iconic. The work that went into bringing this to life is by no stretch of the word a labor of love.

There is not one class presented in this book that does not look or read like they were pulled right from the pages of the main Rifts RPG book. You can see the care that was taken in this book to capture the essence that is Rifts and bring it to Savage Worlds. It is as close to completely intact as was absolutely possible while still keeping to the Savage Worlds Rules.

Now some may say, but it is only a 96-page book how can you jam all that is Rifts into 96 pages? Well, you can’t but they packed it full of everything that they could. Also, they pointed you in the right direction of other existing products to draw from to make your Rifts experience bigger and better right out the gate. If you want to play a D-Bee then grab any existing product from the Savage Worlds lineup and make the race you would like to play. It is really that elegant and that simple. That is how it was done back in the days of Rifts RPG as well. If you wanted to play an orc you simply picked up the Palladium Fantasy RPG and rolled up your orc. Personally, it reinforced the symmetry of how well these two products go together.

There are nine full pages of edges and hindrances to help make Rifts feel more Savage. At the same time, that edges and hindrances are very much a Savage Worlds staple. The selection given further pushes the Rifts feel even more. With hindrances like the Juicers “Last Call” or “Psi-Shield” edge for Cyber Knights. Everything about these traits are Savage Worlds yet scream Rifts. Creating a wonderful marriage of system and setting.

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The gear is 100% Rifts with almost all of your favorites represented. There are so many pieces of equipment that I am not going to take the time to list even a fraction of the content jammed in the 16 pages of gear. In addition, we already know there is more to come. With this large variety presented you can also pick up any old Rifts book you have on hand and find reasonable stat comparison of  any weapon, armor or vehicle not listed. Add the “is it a tank” concept that has been spoken to determine if a piece of gear is MDC or not and you have a simple formula to bring in anything you can come up with into your Rifts Games.

The Magic and Psionics section covers new and Iconic Rifts powers as well brings a much more updated feel to the Rifts magic system. Thus allowing a user of Magic or Psionics a better more balanced feel. Allowing them to stand side by side with his other fellow Iconic Frameworks.

Now I only had the Tomorrow Legion Players Guide available for my review. As the Kickstarter is for a three book Set. The Tomorrow Legion and Gamemaster Handbook as well as Savage Foes of North America. If the rest of the product is done with the same attention and care. Another generation of Rifts fans will find this product a smash hit!

As I read the book for my review I took advantage of watching a game in action. This likely was the tipping point for my choice of Ranking that the game received. In the video many of the qualities that make Savage Worlds such a great system come into play. As well as you see how smoothly they blend with Rifts setting almost effortlessly. These are all likely things that I would not have considered in my review of the book because it is easy to overlook how the Savage Ruleset plays out so smooth and effortlessly at the table.

Seeing the game in action was a an eye opener. I would have loved to be part of the playtest. I never thought about how extras make the battles seem far more intense and fast paced. I loved it and I am eager to get this game on my table soon.

Runkles Ranking

D20 #20

Critical Hit! Nat 20 Stop reading and go buy this book NOW!  You not only should own this product there is Zero reason why you should not own this product to display proudly. These are the books that leather bound versions are meant to be bound in!

Deciding on my ranking for this game took some time. I have in all my review never considered rating a game so high. a rank of 20 was the rank of near perfection. Nearly unattainable. But in the reading of this product, I rated it on several factors but in the end the two things that stood out above everything else and  locked this score in for me.

  • First, if a fan that had not played Rift in 10 years were to pick up this book would it feel like picking up an updated version of the game they loved.
  • Second, if someone who had never played Rifts picked up this new Savage Worlds project would it feel still feel like Savage Worlds. The answer to both of these is yes, that is an extraordinary thing to be able to say. 

Bravo !

You can back their project here

Rifts for Savage World Kickstarter

 

Rifts for Savage Worlds-Impressions

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Rifts_Site-300x250Well, it’s about that time. We only have a few days left until Savage Worlds Rifts is a reality! Like many of you, I have been chomping at the bit to get any and all the info about it I can. This has been a fun Kickstarter to watch as it progresses as they release lol teases along the way. But the worst part for a fan of both systems like me. I just leave you wanting more and MORE!

That is itself might be the best part of this project. The hungry fans are a sure sign thus far that it looks like they have to take care to make sure they did this project right. Always a good sign when it comes to translating the spirit of a property from one to another. I say translating because remember this is not a conversion from one system to another as much as it is an homage or a labor of love.

Well as this last weekend was on us I had a moment of silly clarity dawn on me… I have reviewed many many Savage Worlds products and yet… I never even asked if I could get my hands on a copy of the book for review ! Facepalm moment. So I did just that, I quickly reached out to my friends at PEG and they were more than happy to provide me with a book to review !

As this blog is posting now I am reading the book that was provided. My review of the provided Rifts book will follow soon. I can tell you this thus far. The book feels like Rifts if the rifts books were done today. The art as you can tell from other images already released is RIFTS. And the flavor of what I have seen thus far Feels like RIFTS to me. That is quite an accomplishment by itself.

My review of the Savage Rifts Players Guide is Comming Soon!

Winter Eternal Adventure Guide Review.

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The wastelands are dangerous and offer the unprepared a horrible death only. For those brave (or crazy) enough to travel the wastes in an ice suit, this Winter Eternal adventure guide focuses on what lies outside the warm and safe cities.

The book offers information on new locations, plot hooks and adventure ideas. There are new monsters in the bestiary and new gear for explorers to use. Then there is a wonderful and exciting Savage Tale to help start an adventure into the wastelands, or to challenge more seasoned explorers. 
 
If you think it is only the cold that could end your life out in the wastelands, you are very much mistaken. With the adventure guide you can at least prepare a bit more, before heading out to look for riches and mysteries from a time long forgotten.
 Winter Eternal Adventure Guide: The Wastelands by Morné Schaap & Eric Lamoureux Cover: Lord Zsezse Works, Morné Schaap
Layout: Morné Schaap & Anton Vermeulen
Interior art: Nathan Anderson, Jacob Blackmon, Gary Dupuis, Simon Powel, Morné Schaap, Anton Vermeulen
Proofing & invaluable help and advice: Hans Bothe, Wulfgar
Ice suit design: Anton Vermeulen
Pages 45 
Last  year I reviewed the great new and original Savage Worlds setting Winter Eternal. So I looked forward to cracking this book open and getting a look inside the setting nearly a year later. I was not disappointed.

13010743_1009955932407916_7363319234404938000_nRight out the gate it becomes obvious that they wanted to remind you of the cold harsh world that is Winter Eternal with a brutal little short story. and this wonderful piece of art! In my review the main book I had dinged them for some of their artwork choices having pulled me out of the setting.This book gets all the praise! How can you not think about a frozen danger-filled wasteland when you look at this! I love it.

In my review the main book I had dinged them for some of their artwork choices having pulled me out of the setting.This book gets all the praise! How can you not think about a frozen danger-filled wasteland when you look at this! I love it.

The book is 45 pages but it is packed with info and sidebars. A lot of thought went into this book. Immediately after the short story and the nice piece of art, we delve right into the heart of the dangers of adventuring in this dying earth.

The dangers of the wasteland are many and the book does a good job at addressing a few of them. Everything from Super Blizzards to Avalanches! As well the affects the outside as on your gear and supplies. This is a brutal land and as you read the chapter on the outside if the danger of the environment alone has not fully sunk in just skip ahead to the bestiary.

The gear section is small but more than adequate at providing cold based gear that a player might need to help him survive in this world. As well as a new Hinderance and a great new language for the setting that makes perfect sense.

I was very happy to see the Dangerous places people and plot hook section. After the bestiary, the book has a sizable adventure. In a game like this, that goes to such an extreme. It is very helpful to have a good number of ideas and suggestions from the creator to get  your own juices flowing about how you want to bring this world to life at your own table.

Runkles Ranking

You really get the feel of the world from one product. The layout and art are nice and help to draw you into the world. In 45 pages I got a much better idea of what life outside of the city is like in winter eternal and why you would leave them. The book is well done and you will find a ton of useful stuff in this book.

I only wish we would have gotten a few more Edges and Hinderances. Since this setting has come out that is the one thing I have heard a few others say as well. That said, new Hinderances and Edges are hard to come up with when you have a sea of savage world content out there to draw from that you can use. So it’s not that big of an issue.

D20 #15Runkles Raking for this product is a 15.

Well Above Average: Once products reach this level of rating they are sure buys. With scores of this level, they are stand out’s products. Often these products fill niche genre’s and make good go to products in most game collections.

If you are running this system this book will be of great use to you.

 

 

Where can you get it ?

Simply follow the link or click the image and this book can be yours!

 

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DTRPG LINK

 

If you have not checked out my review of Winter Eternal you can find it HERE>

You can also purchase Winter Eternal by click these links.

 

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DTRPG

 

 

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Amazon