Savage Sands

Savage Sands - General Premise

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE) Play by Post Forums of RPGnet

Post ecological calamity earth, large swaths of desert separate towns/cities. Magic and fantasy races are real, along with a declining/altered technological base. Guns are commonplace but are often prone to misfire/jamming/calamitous mishaps if not properly maintained (sand gets everywhere!). Different races do not, generally, intermingle but are not shot on sight.

Gnomes are assholes.

Your (anti?)heroes have some reason to travel the wastes between bastions of civilization. Maybe they're mercenaries, collecting on the ever-present bounties on monsters born of the magic-rich storms that rage through the nigh-endless deserts. Maybe they're adventure seekers, not content to live behind the prison-like high walls of their childhood home or after the plunder of undiscovered marvels from eons past. Maybe they, like many of the dwarves, seek to understand and perhaps reverse the ecological damage that has rocked the world over.

Setting Rules

• Best of the Best: Payers start with 16 skill points instead of 12, and get an extra attribute boost and edge at character creation; to represent being drawn from the world's best units.
• Creative Combat: When making a successful Test check in combat and getting a raise, roll on the Creative Combat page on page 137 for the extra benefit.
• More Skill Points: characters have 15 skill points at character creation rather than 12.
• Born a Hero*: Player characters get one free Edge up to Seasoned rank. They must meet its Requirements as usual.

House Rules

• Initiative: Initiative in Savage Worlds uses playing cards, which trigger various edges and effects (such as the Joker). We will still draw cards (rather, I'll draw cards and tell you what you get) to determine these effects, but the actual initiative will be using popcorn. First, a PC goes, then an NPC (or group of identical extras), then a PC, etc., and switches back and forth until everyone has gone. This is because, in my experience, it makes play-by-post games go much faster instead of waiting for individual people's turns to come up. People can go when they're available, instead of waiting for both their turn to come up and for them to be available. Note: this was unabashedly stolen from Falkus. Thanks!

Character Creation

• Character creation will use the standard Savage Worlds rules. Characters must be human (at the start of the campaign) and go through the regular creation process.
• Everyone starts with the Hindrance Can’t Swim but does not gain any additional benefit from it.