Even more FREE STUFF! A Fillable NPC Card PDF!

It was requested, and now it is delivered. Very special thanks goes out to Savage Matt Leonard for diddly-doing the dealy-boops with the PDF editing. We had to make some compromises but in the end I think we came up with something cool.

As always, it's best to print on cardstock. Just trim and fold the cards in half (front and back). Glue the halves together and you got yourself an NPC card.

These cards are 3x5 so they won't fit into a card sleeve. But the increased size allows you to fit in all of those character details you don't want to look up. If it doesn't fit, then shame on you for power gaming :).

Click the pic to get the schtick.

FREE STUFF! My Eye of Kilquato Tools!

I've gotten word back from Jodi Black at Pinnacle. I am clear to release a PDF that contains all of my tools used for the Eye of Kilquato. Well, all except for my Status Tokens.

Get the file right here.

Edit: I update the file. They are supposed to be crocodile Cultists, I guess.

Post Game Report: The Eye of Kilquato

I ran the Eye of Kilquato last night for my game group. This is the second time ever that they have played a Savage Worlds game and the first time I got to use many of my new tools.

So first up, I downloaded The Eye of Kilquato as well as the Map and the Paper minis from the Pinnacle website.

My tools involved:

• a redraw of the map (Pinnacle's version was hard on my eyes)
• NPC Cards
• Vehicle Cards for the Boats
• Status Effect Tokens (I made my own but there are sheets available from the Pinnacle Website)
• Taking the trifold figures and making bi-fold pawns
• Tent cards for character sheets

So how did the tools work out?

• Map - It was fine but only used in the last parts of the game. The rest was all accomplished with Theater of the Mind.
• NPC Cards - They helped a lot, but added to the cluttered mess of my GM station. 

• Vehicle Cards - These barely saw use since the combat was less about sinking each others boats than picking off whoever was on deck.
• Status Effect Tokens - Wow, these were a hit! They helped keep track of Shaken, Wounds, who was taking an Aim action, etc. 

• Pawns - This was the chief source of the mess at my GM station. There are a lot of figures for this game, and you will likely use less than half of them. I should have kept them sorted from each other to make pulling them out and locating the right ones easier.

• Tent Card Character Sheets - This also went over like gangbusters! The character portraits not only helped them get into character (Kator was awesome), but the portraits on the outside of the tents got the players treating each other as their characters.

Issues that I had with the adventure:

• It's supposed to have crocodiles but the Pinnacle tri-folds say alligators
• Spoilerz!: There are two eyes of Kilquato, but while the first one doesn't match the description at all, it is also considered a real one. I'm guessing this is in case the adventure runs long at a Con, it gives you an early ending spot as an option. It should be explained for anyone who is new to running con games.

But despite these little quibbles, everyone had a lot of fun. My next outing will involve them picking a setting and having a Session 0 (aka group character creation).

DrivethruRPG's Deal of the Day 7/21/2016

Tomorrow my Street Map will be DrivethruRPG's Deal of the day. The price will drop from $5 to $2 for a limited time.

And who couldn't uses a 24x30, 1" square-gridded street map?

Danger Sense and Surprise Rounds pt 2

In my original post, I believed that the Hold actions were going to cause a lot of interrupt rolls. But after discussing things on the Pinnacle Forums I found that I was wrong.

Rules As Written, an ambush goes like this:

• Ambushers are all considered on Hold.
• Victims with Danger Sense make a Notice Roll at -2. If they succeed then they are also on Hold.
• Victims (as well as those with Danger Sense who failed their first roll) make a Notice roll. If they succeed, then they are dealt action cards.
• Characters on Hold go first. They only have to roll an Interrupt if they are specifically interrupting one card's actions.
• Anyone dealt a Joker can preempt someone on Hold.

So my old system changed the rules a lot but only saved on one roll (meaning the extra roll by anyone with Danger Sense). Any homebrew changes should be simple and address a real problem. Well for me, that extra roll is a problem and I have a better solution.

Everything is RAW, except that people with Danger Sense only make one Notice roll instead of two. Their Notice roll is +2. If they get a success, they get an action card like anyone else. If they get a raise, they begin on Hold like the ambushers.

Does It Have To Look Realistic?

I was using my google-fu, looking for some tileable textures to use in maps (I'm working on the junkyard for Waylaid on Wayland) when I came across this artist who goes by the name of Mr. Cirwos. Student Site Here.

It had never occurred to me to use anything but realistic textures in my maps, but I have to say I am smitten with the charm of doing something more cartoonish. When dealing in miniature, details can get lost and some may even become confusing. But with a cel-shaded approach the map details are easily visible. Plus it has that Saturday-morning cartoon feel to the adventures which frankly I don't mind at all.

Have a look for yourself. Do you think you could enjoy a game on a map that was cartoony? I'm guessing that anyone who has played all of their games on Wet-erase maps might not have an issue with it.

Danger Sense and Surprise Rounds

Surprise rounds are a bit complicated in Savage Worlds. The Surprisers are all on hold, and the suprised have to roll a Notice check to get dealt in.

Now lets add someone with Danger Sense. They roll Notice -2. If they succeed, then they are also on hold. If they fail then they have to make the regular Notice roll to be dealt in.

That is a lot of rolls. Also if a hero with Danger Sense is on hold, and all of the enemies are on hold, then you are adding a lot of Agility rolls to see who interrupts who. And if anyone on hold gets Shaken, they loose their action that round.

I have a somewhat easier house rule that will simplify things:

• Surprisers are dealt action cards.
• Surprisees must make a Notice roll -2 to be dealt an action card in the Surprise round.
• If a Surprisee has Danger Sense, they make a Notice roll with a +2 to get dealt into the surprise round.

It is faster and cuts down on a lot of redundant rolls in my opinion. It also maintains the benefit of Danger Sense while making it unlikely that anyone with advantage looses their turn in the surprise round.