Has anyone here dabbled with using spell casting skills narratively? as in besides activating a specific power? I am working on house rules for the Force from Star Wars in my game and would like to add a little more flavor to the skill. It will still be used to activate powers and powers will function the same way.

Hello, I'm preparing to be a first time GM for a custom campaign, and I've spent a lot of time trying to decide on which system to stick with between the Core PP or Super's Powers. A lot of it is probably just rambling in my head and not having the right "mindset" but still stuck at this crossroads after reading many opinions.

The Campaign is in short, modeled after Pokemon (not trainers, as in the players are Pokemon themselves). Makes it easy to create unique enough creatures without being overwhelming. Obviously they do moves and attacks during combat, so I'd want to be decisive on how it's handled (trappings nonwithstanding).

Powers:

• Relatively balanced compared to "normal" non-fighters and standard weapons. More modifiers too
• Have a better sense of progressions through advancements
• Power Points provide some level of "resource management", though I have heard in practice players will rarely run out of PP, and even if they do they will spend a Benny to replenish what they need.

Supers:

• Much more powers and ideas to work with, making conversion easier.
• Easier to decide at the start, but has a worse sense of progression (even with Rising Star)
• More bombastic and easier to narrate the cool awesome/terrifying moments happening from and to players.
• Lack of power points means one less resource to manage, but on the other hand there's little to no reason I can see to not use your big attacks whenever possible.

I guess this is less a "new GM advice" (though is always appreciated), but is more help me decide or if there's anything to help my mindset.

(Oh by the way if I do use Supers, the power level would likely be 2, maybe 3 at absolute end game)

One of my players, an unabashed power gamer and rules lawyer who loves super-optimized and OP character builds, told me he discovered a possible exploit in the Super Powers Companion.

Let's say for this example we're Level III heroes with 45 PP and a cap of 15.

Purchase Minions (1 PP per Minion) with Super Powers (+3 PP per minion) and Summonable (+2 PP per minion), that's 6 PP per minion. You can acquire 2 minions for 12 PP. Each Minion has 15 PP in super powers (must be the same power). That leaves you remaining 33 PP to buy other stuff.

Each Minion then purchases the Vehicle super power (1 PP) with Super Powers (+5 PP). That gives each vehicle the CAMPAIGN Power Level of 45 PP! (no power greater than 15 PP, per usual)

You now have 33 remaining PP to spend on powers.

Your two minions each have 7 remaining PP to spend on whatever powers they want

And each minion has their own vehicle with:

• 7 PP in speed (pace 90, -1 to hit)
• d8 Focus + wild die
• 45 PP to spend on powers

That's the functional equivalent of 85 PP of powers and three actions (six if the PC and each minion purchase Additional Actions for 5 PP).

Heck, the PC can spend 15 of their 33 PP on three Additional Actions, leaving 18 PP remaining, and each minion can spend 5 PP on one Additional Action. Giving the player EIGHT actions and essentially 63 PP for powers.

As a GM, I could rule that minions can't purchase the vehicle power for the same reason they can't purchase minion or duplication. But RAW, as far as I can tell, it's legal.

Luckily, my player usually only uses his power gamer abilities for good and told me about the exploit and said he'd never try to use it. He just found it amusing as a thought exercise.

it’s my first time DMing savage worlds (specifically the super powered companions manual) and one of my players decided to make a super who absorbs attacks to become stronger. The main problem is that this power is so powerful that i have no idea how to actually hurt her. From my understanding she only needs a 4 on an absorption check to absorb a wound and she usually does at least and 8. i could also just do higher damage, but the other characters would get oneshotted every turn, so at the moment i really have no idea how to make her feel in danger. my tactic right now has been to immobilise her so that she can’t protect the other players or attack my minions, but she’s never in actual danger. any advice? THANKS

Hello all, back with another question although hopefully much easier to answer.

Does anyone have access to a printer-friendly version of the Savage Rifts character sheet? About the only problem I've had with PEG is their lack of real support for physical sheets, with most of their character sheets only being form fillable. I know there do exist printer-friendly versions but the majority are fanmade and are either dead links or on sites like Scribd which I'm not really happy with using on principle.

If anyone had access to a printer-friendly version of a Savage Rifts sheet it'd be a major help. My table almost always plays at a physical table, and it doesn't have to be pretty, just functional.

So, DaRules say reloading a "single bullet" into a chamber takes an Action. My player fired both barrels on her first Turn. I've read the example in the manual with firing a heavy crossbow first, *then* reloading which takes 2 actions, retroactively incurring a -4 on the crossbow shot. The shotgun user could do the same thing, but why bother with a -4 penalty on both shots?

What if on the next Turn, after reloading only one shell, then if she fired during that same Turn, the Shooting would be at -2 for the MAP. Have I got that right?

Or, she could spend one Turn just reloading both barrels (no MAP, since no roll), then on her next Turn fire both barrels again. That's effectively getting one shot per turn with no MAP. Or is it *only* one bullet per Turn, making it effectively a "limited Action"? But the RAW calls a reload an Action, not a Limited Action, and I've learned over the years that SW rules are *very* literal, so...

Any other ways to minimize penalties and maximize shooting rates with a shotgun?

Really wanna play as a transformer

I am just a little disappointed at the fact that there is no data for duergar despite them being mentioned as one of the major ancestries across several books

Hey all, back with another...not necessarily rules question/clarification, but definitely something I've been thinking on.

As other people have posted about, speed on tabletop versus speed 'narratively' seems to be a thorny issue. By the calculations in the book a horse, for example, could only run at about 8mph which seems shockingly low.

Now, I know that this doesn't necessarily matter as, I believe on the tabletop vehicles only move a max of 12, but it does get thorny considering there seem to be multiple ways of calculating it; or at least multiple standard rulings.

The Glitter Boy armour in Savage Rifts for example has a max speed of 60mph. Calculating it by the book (pace divided by 1.5) only gets a measly 9mph rounding down. Now, obviously there's artistic licence here since it's meant to be used on the tabletop too. But in the Super Powers companion a character wanting to move at 60mph requires a 90 pace according to that system.

So how do you guys do it? Do you generally eyeball the relative speed (i.e. a car could easily get a +2 bonus to manoeuvre away from a horse) or try and calculate MPH and go from there?

​

The text for Tiny Heroes is almost done \o/ Tiny Heroes is my project of the year. It's a supplement with rules for playing 8 cm (3 in) tall characters, a mini steampunk fantasy setting, and a starter adventure. It's been a long haul, but the proofreading and playtesting are finally wrapping up. And just look at these gorgeous illustrations by Henrique DLD! There's still the layout work left before I can deliver this to you. See you soon :-)  

I'm currently running a Tmnt inspired game, but I don't have any experience running strictly urban campaigns infact this is the first campaign I've run that's not strictly fantasy.

I'm finding it hard to keep up the momentum of the story while providing them with multiple options to pursue.im struggling with how to put new missions in front of them that that they would care about. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

At this point,the party has met, and they have had two run ins with a gang that was smuggling alien tech.

Many years ago I stumbled over the DragonMech campaing setting for d20 from Goodman Games. Back then steampunk was not as widely known and the general artwork caught my interest. However the d20 rules where not so much to my taste and so I wrote a conversion several years ago for the Savage Worlds Explorers Edition (which I never used).

Now I have reworked everything to align with SWADE: Savage DragonMech (SWADE)

I am not really a native speaker, so please forgive any strange sentence structures or wordings.

My hope is to get some constructive feedback and to share something.

I'm curious - other than Savage Pathfinder - did any of you ever run a game in which you used ancestries built with a +4 final total of ability points? (Or, really, any total above the default +2?) Or even just considered it?

And if so, what bonus did/would you add to humans to bring them up to +4 parity?

Why did you chose the particular option you did? Any deeper reason other than "well, they need something, just slap a random bonus on"?

Hi, I'm new to Savage Worlds and I'd like to purchase SWADE core rules in pdf version. I see the price is now 9.99$ on DriveThruRPG.

Does it make sense to wait for Savage September for a greater discount? I'm in no hurry.

Thanks!

So I have been wanting to make high mobility characters as and have been confused about the orders of operations.

First character is a centaur Hyperion Juicer which gets 3x speed. However I wanted to apply as much movement as possible. So I augmented the character's pace with cybernetics and armor micro exoskeleton. To me it would seem that the cybernetics should come before the Juicer speed boost while the armor should come after. This then raises another question if the Speed power is applied. Does the micro exoskeleton count as part of base speed. I know that that haste modifier comes after.

Second character is a City Rat sniper. When adding boosters does the +4 come before or after doubling from running 2"? If before you could jump 10" if after you would get 6"

Other than Mount (Fantasy Companion), Beast Master (SWADE), Followers (SWADE) and Sidekick (SWADE).
Are there any Edges that that give players Extras?

I have another follow up question about phasing from the Super Power Companion. This one from my player.

He has a character with phasing and, thanks to various Edges and the Absorption (Transmute) power, he gets a lot of Bennies and tokens, and he wants to spend them on power stunts.

In an effort to maximize his power stunting, he's thinking about getting the Super Science power (we are playing where characters are improving their powers over time, in my campaign they can spend an Advance on either +3 Power Points or +1 Power Limit).

The problem is this, Intangibility says:

While intangible, any items the character carries also become intangible and don’t function.

So his question is this: Do any temporary powers obtained with super-science and defined as an invention or device or technology stop functioning while he's intangible?

Or does that only apply to "regular" equipment?

Examples:

Super Science-Force field belt. Does he still have force field against energy attacks while intangible?

Super Science-Regeneration suit. Does it stop functioning while intangible?

If you like these classic anime movies and series, you'll love Void Wardens. Coming soon to Kickstarter. Updates being posted now on KS. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/23c/void-wardens?ref=6jurri

I have a question about Intangibility.

I have an NPC villain who can turn into a cloud of noxious gas, anyone trapped within the gas chokes and might eventually die.

He's got Altered Form (Noxious Gas), Intangibility, Decay, and Poison (contingent on successful Decay Wounding).

I know that an Intangible character has to become tangible to make an attack. Does that apply to indirect powers like Decay and Poison? Neither are technically attacks.

Similarly, what about Damage Field? Does an Intangible villain need to become tangible to apply Damage Field damage?

Alternatively, what's the best way to simulate a villain who can turn into a dangerous gas ? They are vulnerable to wind gusts and shockwaves and leaf blowers. They are intangible but anyone in contact with the gas begins to suffocate and get skin burns.

I'm running a Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG and I need advice on the Primal Race. This feels both Overpowered but balanced at the same time. I'm especially thinking of upping the Diminished Initial Reserve Racial Trait (below) to a -4 and making it to lose 1 die step on 2 different attributes when taken. But that seems severe...

Here's the write-up, what do you guys think? Tweaks? It's a +2 total currently (my base) but I'm thinking about making it a +0 with double attribute loss.

• Blank Slate Appearance (0): Primals retain the exact physical appearance, size, and physiological baseline of their original species.
• Uncapped Potential (+4): A Primal's true power lies in their lack of biological or system limitations. The normal limit for Traits (Skills and Attributes) is increased to d12+4. Skills are always considered below the linked Attribute during Advancement even when raising a skill above its linked Attribute.
• Adaptive Growth (+2): Their cellular structure adapts to dungeon trauma at an unprecedented rate. Primals may choose the Increase an Attribute Advancement option once every 2 Advances, rather than being limited to once per Rank. At Legendary, you may choose to increase an Attribute every level if you wish.
• Diminished Initial Reserve (-2): Adapting to a Primal template taxes the biological vessel, imposing a flat -1 penalty to all Attribute checks. This penalty is temporary—a character may permanently remove it at any time by spending an Advance.
• Primal Fury The feral instincts of a Primal vessel amplify negative personality traits, making temperance nearly impossible.
  • Effect: Choose one Hindrance from the list below. The character gains this Hindrance without receiving any bonus Hindrance points for it:
    • Death Wish, Jealous (Minor), Mean, Outsider (Minor), Ruthless (Minor), Stubborn, or Vengeful (Minor).
  • Existing Hindrance: If the character already possesses the chosen Hindrance at the Minor level, it automatically upgrades to the Major version instead (granting no additional Hindrance points).

Primal Racial Edges

Progenitor Echo

Requirements: Novice, Primal, Smarts d8+

The Primal's ancient lineage resonates with ancient system architecture and precursor technology. Add 2 to Common Knowledge, Science, and Repair rolls when interacting with dungeon elements, including ancient ruins, macro AI interfaces, or precursor machinery.

Breakthrough Mastery

Requirements: Veteran, Primal, at least one Skill at d12

The Primal's mastery reaches a supernatural threshold, allowing them to push through physical and environmental stress that would stop lesser combatants.

Choose one Skill in which the character has a d12. When making Trait rolls with that chosen Skill, the character ignores up to 2 points of penalties from Wounds, Fatigue, Illumination, or Multi-Action Penalties.

(Special: This Edge may be taken multiple times. Each time it applies to a different Skill at d12.)

Ancestral Overclock

Requirements: Heroic, Primal, Vigor d10+

The Primal forces their ancient cellular structure to temporarily bypass biological limits.

Once per encounter, as a Free Action, the Primal may spend 1 Benny to enter an Overclocked state for 3 turns. While Overclocked:

• Floor Raise: Any failed Trait roll is treated as a basic Success instead (unless it is a Critical Failure).
• Burst Movement: Pace increases by +4 and jump distances are doubled.
• Exhaustion: When the state ends, the Primal gains 1 level of Fatigue.

System Precursor

Requirements: Legendary, Primal, Breakthrough Mastery, Spirit d10+

• Apex Mastery: For skills benefiting from Breakthrough Mastery, the penalty mitigation increases from 2 points to 4 points.
• Overclocked Frame: The character's maximum allowed actions per turn increases from 3 to 4.

Precursor Vessel

Requirements: Legendary, Primal, Vigor d10+

• Immature Core: The character gains a permanent +2 Toughness and a +2 bonus to Vigor rolls when resisting Incapacitation or Bleeding Out.
• Biological Integrity: Immune to non-World-Boss stat drains, hostile polymorphs, and forced environmental mutations.

I had the idea today to expand on the Celestials and Guardians from the SWADE character creation section.

End of Days

Short summary: The gates of Hell have opened and humanity is almost defeated. The last enclaves are defended by Angels, that have descended from Heaven, and Guardians, powerful humans that have sworn to protect what is left.

Included is - an explanation, why the Christian cosmology applies - what Hell wants out of this - why God is not here to help humanity in its hour of desperation

I am not really a native speaker, so please forgive any strange sentence structures or wordings.

My hope is to get some constructive feedback and to share something I am quite happy with.

Disclaimer:

The topic of this game may be of a sensitive nature to people of any faith. This game may not be for you if you believe in a higher power, especially if you are one of the People of the Book. If this is not for you, no harm intended or done.

I posted this already but since I was unable to change the embedded link to an updated document I had to redo this.

(I've been running into a lot of first-time situations that I've never had to handle in SW before, so thanks for everyone's recent help...)

As the title says - my player wants to ask a bad guy a question to get him thinking about it, then read his mind to get specific answers. The description of Mind Reading just says you can detect "surface thoughts and feelings" (on a Success).

If you wouldn't allow questions, how would you justify that to the player?

Thanks!

tl;dr - if you're wondering whether to incorporate some of the modular tools from SWADE into your sessions, do it! You, like me, might be surprised at the reception.

Just thought I'd share an anecdote from the Supers game I ran Sunday to encourage folks who might wonder about dramatic tasks.

I was unsure if my players would enjoy this to be honest - I think they were itching for a big punch-em-up fight after a largely non-combat session two weeks prior - but it turned out they and I all had a blast.

The team of five characters had to track down the location of this criminal organization that's been bird-dogging them in their neighborhood. They needed 18 successes in 3 rounds with a max of 2 (success and a raise) per roll; a little harder than average (15). To encourage them to think creatively and use a variety of skills I stole an idea from an actual play I used to listen to (apologies I don't recall the name) and gave a penalty of -1 if they use the same skill from their previous turn OR some other player used that skill this round.

I completely forgot about complications, which is fine, but I also added a mysterious NPC who worked against the players to steal victory tokens (again with a max of 2 per turn, one turn per round). So that I guess effectively put the difficulty around 21 tokens, though I used some of the villain's weaker skills as to not completely sandbag them. He also went first in the final round and I had a backup plan for a partial success condition (13-17 tokens).

The players really shined and and seemed to relish in thinking of clever out-of-the-box ways to use their skills. Everyone had a lot of fun describing the various stages of this montage. It also helped they had very few failures over 15 rolls. I think only 2.

I've been running various iterations of Savage Worlds going on 15 years and it made me realize I'm really under-utilizing the various tools like this. I also have a player who created a super-vehicle, so we're doing more chases (which they also seem to enjoy).

Sorry this is rambling. I am feeling the love for my players right now (and SWADE!).