Editing SGA 2005 Archive (section)

=Savage World Spellslinger: Adventures in the Fantastic West=
; Game System
: [http://www.peginc.com/Games/Savage%20Worlds/Savage%20Worlds.htm Savage Worlds]
; Pitch
: "Seeking young adventurous riders, for dangerous but good paying and exciting work as part of the Fortune Rangers. Must be an expert rider, shooter and able to live off the land if need be. Must own yer own guns, but will be provided horses. Orphans and youths preferred.  Iffin' ye haven't heard of us, we provide express package and mail delivery service throughout the Territories. We also take on the tough jobs that no one else wants and this work includes, but is not limited to – bounty hunting, undead and vermin pest extermination, monster clearing, investigation, treasure seeking, and protection services. We do the jobs no one else can or is a willing to do.  Iffin' yer interested and think ye are qualified, then report to Fortune Station #72 in the town of Skull Creek on 12th of Coldeven at noon sharp.  Remember our motto – 'Fortune Favors the Bold'!"
; Game Master
: Karl Hubbs
; Players
: 5
; Characters
: Gideon (Wilhelm)
: Shalahazel Lightbringer, Elf shootist (Edmund Metheny - 2nd game only)
: C.M Folbert, Half-Orc investigator (Sophie - 2nd game only)
: (Manu - 1st game only)
: Halfling (Laura - 2nd game only)
; Date
: September 26 & October 3, 2005
; Technical Notes
: Set in a Wild West somewhere in the future of Greyhawk.  Some house rules on character creation (see [http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/SeattleGAMERS_ASSEMBLE/files/Savage%20Worlds%20Files/Savage%20World%20Spellslinger/ Files section] of the Yahoo Group.)
; Recaps
<blockquote>
<p>Well when the group made it back behind the Sheriff's office, and the
unnatural silence fell down on the group, the Halfling saw the gray
cat on the roof of the barn, almost smiling at her. Then a slot on the
back door opened and a shotgun shot at the Halfling but missed. A
silent gun-battle with the Deputies quickly ended.</p>

<p>When sound returned to the area they went looking for the Sheriff but
he was not in office, but they found some strange fur and stuff in his
desk. About then they heard some screaming and went out to the main
street, when there was a crowd gathering. There were two headless
bodies on the ground and the Elf found a trail of blood. Him and the
half-elf and halfling followed trail, while the half-orc examined the
bodies.</p>

<p>Inside the General Store, the bloody trail led to the storeowner and
his wife's bodies, also headless! The trail then lead out the back
door and straight to the church!!! They started going that way, when
the half-orc saw some strange people walking down the road… staggering
and walking funny – Zombies from the local graveyard!</p>

<p>Another battle, with zombies this time, hurts the half-elf but they
kill all the walking dead!</p>

<p>So into the Church they go, following the trail, and find a stairwell
down into the earth. The halfling went down first and was surprised by
a spider webs that wrapped her up tight… and a half-giant spider,
half-gray cat came up and bite her. They killed it, but the halfling
was hurt really bad and down for the count.</p>

<p>So the half-orc and the elf went down deeper, while the half-elf
carried the halfling out… thinking he would sit the fight out as he
was badly hurt. But one brave town-folk name Gus (Laura playing an
extra), decided to go down also.
</p>
<p>Downstairs, the half-orc and elf saw the a big pit that was spouting
fire and a strange steel frame over it… with 9 heads stuck into the
ironwork! The priest Otto started taunting them and the elf shot him…
only to discover that he had some big barrier in front of him.</p>

<p>Then about as the half-orc was going to shot him also, the sheriff,
dressed in a huge robe of elk-skins, wearing antlers and carrying a
big, mean looking scythe slashed at her.</p>

<p>After many bad rolls by the party, and great rolls by the priest, the
party was all killed!</p>

<p>What was really going on?</p>

<p>Well the priest, Otto, was trying to open a hell-gate to release Orcus
from his prison. This "Doomgate" as it was called needed heads to fuel
it, and he was killing off people to fuel it. When the party arrived
it forced him to move up his plans. The sheriff was his main follower,
and the gray-cat was a type of Imp-daemon familiar of his.</p>
</blockquote>

; Player Thoughts
<blockquote>
<p>'''[[User:Shosuro Kando|Shosuro Kando]]:'''First a disclaimer - I'm only discussing the Savage Worlds system here,
so any critical comments I make should in no way be construed as
critical of Karl, his game mastering, or the scenario. I had a good
time at the game and that's really all I ask of any roleplaying experience.</p>

<p>That having been said, here are the things I liked about the system:</p>
<ol>
<li>It is pretty fast and furious, with very little of the system drag
that Deadlands suffered from. There was one exception to this (which I
will discuss below) but overall the game kept moving at a good clip
without getting bogged down in the rules.</li>
<li>Skill resolution was simple and straightforward - most of the time
you have only one target number to worry about (4) so it is pretty easy
to determine whether you succeed or fail.</li>
<li>Character creation is simple, and the rules seem to allow for a wide
variety of character types.</li>
<li>Combat is tense - one bad die roll and you can be pushing up daisies.</li>
<li>While I am not sure that the system is infinitely customizable (I
don't think it would be a good system to port "Skyreams of Jorune" to,
for example) it seems to be reasonably customizable to a wide variety of
settings.</li>
<li>Bennies are a nice addition, that can save your bacon six ways from
Sunday and help take a bit of the bite out of an otherwise lethal system.</li>
</ol>
<p>Sadly we didn't use the magic system much, so I can't talk much about it
- except to curse the evil priest who killed poor Shalahazel!!!! It
seemed to work smoothly for the GM anyway.</p>

<p>Some things I didn't like about Savage Worlds</p>
<ol>
<li>Initiative was a little too random. On several occasions during one
fight I was out-initiatived by a bunch of zombies. It seems a bit
strange that having high Agility does not help your initiative.</li>
<li>The rules for Knockout Blow seem cumbersome, particularly by the
fast, furious standards of Savage Worlds. Rolling for location, effect,
permanance, and possibly continuing effect each round is the slowest
activity I found in the game</li>
<li>When fighting Wildcard characters, bennies become extremely
important - perhaps too important. The ability to reroll is huge, and
any party going up against Wildcard characters with less bennies than
the Wildcards they are facing are likely in for a serious kicking.</li>
<li>Injured characters quickly lose most of their effectiveness, and are
reduced to rolling dice each round and hoping for a lucky shot. Having
someone with healing abilities in any party is essential, since without
healing a single lucky shot by even a low level henchman in a minor
encounter can take a character out of the action for the remainder of
the evening.</li>
</ol>
<p>Overall I would certainly play the system again, and might even try to
run it some time.</p>
</blockquote>
; Additional GM Thoughts