Saturday, January 30, 2016

Free Map - The Subterranean Ruins of Chathair Tur: Part 1


This weeks free map is part 1 of a series that I started for my home Savage Dungeons campaign.


You can download this week's Free Map hereWhile you're there consider supporting the project. Patrons receive watermark free high resolution maps, modular kits, VTT maps, and bonus material.





Previously a Patreon exclusive - The Book Store:

What better place to find paranormal and occult tomes than in a small dimly lit used book store. Be careful though you may find more than you bargained for.

While this map is begging to be used for a halloween themed encounter, this hi-res modular kit f also has post-apocalytpic and paranormal/sci-fi options. Included are 4 different versions of the basement and an additional medieval city version of the book store itself. I hope you get a lot of use out of it.






Modular City Kit







Monday, January 25, 2016

Savage Dungeons: Classes, Archetypes, and Quickdraw Wildcards



In Basic D&D a character's capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses are largely defined by his or her chosen class. Basic D&D included seven classes: Cleric, Fighter, Magic User, Thief, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling.  While Savage Worlds doesn't have classes, I want to keep Savage Dungeons characters simple and attempt to emulate each of the class capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses by using archetype templates.

I want to make Savage Dungeons simple and easy to get started and since my target audience is new-to-Savage Worlds players between the ages of 8 and 98 character generation needs to be simple, and fun—not a completely custom wildcard, but not exactly a pre-gen either.

I think a menu style approach may work well where an archetype begins play with a given set of attributes and skills and then chooses  Edges and Hindrances from prescribed lists of possible character background options. 

Example:
Archetype: Fighter
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d10, Throwing d4, Notice d4, Shooting d8
Charisma: –, Pace: 6, Parry: 7, Toughness: 5
While the stats will most likely remain the same for every basic wildcard, there will be an opportunity for character customization by picking Edges and Hindrances from a prescribed list similar to character creation in Dungeon World or Beyond the Wall. If you wanted to add to the old school feel you could randomly determine Edges and Hindrances with a dice roll.

I'm thinking it might look something like this:
Edges (choose one):
1.  As a runaway slave you have learned to be on your toes and ready for anything, capture would mean certain death. Gain the Alertness Edge
2. Some say its because you were born under the sign of the bear, but only the fates know why in battle you are often overcome with an uncontrollable rage that can be woeful to both friend and foe. Take the Berserk Edge.
3. Working on the family farm has made you freakishly strong. Your feats of strength are well known. Take the Brawny Edge.

Hindrances will be a bit more complex. With each hindrance the player will have two additional choices to make:

Major Hindrances (Choose one):
1. More is never enough. Growing up poor and never knowing where your next meal was coming from has made you constantly hungry for your fair share. You have the Greedy Hindrance.
Choose one:
1. Raise Spirit to d8
2. Raise Agility to d10
3. Choose an additional Edge

Minor Hindrances (Choose two):
1. The world has dumped nothing but misery on you, at least that's how you see it, so why does anyone else deserve better?  You have the Mean Hindrance
Choose one:
1. Gain the Survival Skill d4
2. Double your starting money
Hopefully this will create some interesting characters quickly. I'm calling them Quickdraw Wildcards, they are a nice middle ground between pre-generated characters and Wildcards created from scratch. It will also help control the mood and setting of the game to help give it that old school flavor. As I refine each archetype template I'll begin posting complete character generation menus and finished record sheets.




Friday, January 15, 2016

A Savage Preview of Heart of Darkness

To celebrate being accepted as an official Savage Worlds licensee, we would like to preview a few pages from our first Savage Worlds adventure, Heart of Darkness, a science fiction gothic horror love story (that's a mouthful). We hope to have the digital version available by Valentines Day–after all February is all about hearts and romance.








Free Map Friday - The Tradewind


This weeks free map is a compliment to a previous map, the HMS Surprise. The Tradewind is a small two mast merchant ship. This week I've included two maps, both the upper and quarter deck and the hold.

You can download this week's Free Map hereWhile you're there consider supporting the project. Patrons receive watermark free high resolution maps, modular kits, VTT maps, and bonus material.







When I started the Stuff For Storytellers And Game Masters Patreon I was concentrating on creating modular tiles for the tabletop. Of course since then I've also started to create more detailed encounter areas and paper craft props as well as including VTT versions when I can for everything. I hope to start producing DIY videos detailing map creation and 2.5D Print & Paste terrain fabrication.

As I've been working on putting together some video tutorials and thought it would be fun to do some of them as a Google Hangout. I would be able to work through a tutorial and answer questions along the way, or as +Tim Shorts says, "The new virtual Bob Ross. Happy dungeon walls." If you saw my hair today, you might say it goes a bit farther than virtual.



High Seas Map Tiles: The H.M.S. Surprise

Previously a Patreon exclusive - High Seas Map Tiles: The H.M.S. Surprise
Sail the high seas with this modular map kit. Modeled after the modern tall ship replica built in 1970 and used in the making of the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, in which she portrayed the Royal Navy frigate Surprise with a story based on several of the books byPatrick O'Brian.   This kit contains three decks and a separate water layer. Files for VTT use are also included.





Modular City Kit







Saturday, January 9, 2016

Savage Dungeons: An Idea




What started as a way for me to get my Basic/Expert D&D playing family into Savage Worlds as well as help me learn how to be a Savage Worlds GM, has evolved into something more. In order to entice my family into playing Savage Worlds I created a Savage Worlds Basic Character Record Sheet. I wanted to give them something that looks familiar and it worked.



My Basic Savage Worlds Character record Sheet
In order to help the learning curve, because my family of players ranges from 8-20, I also trimmed the character creation process and some of the rules down a bit. Classes became archetypes and Edges and Hindrances became racial traits and in some cases just cool stuff your character can do. At first there wasn't much choice in customization other than choosing fighting over shooting or magic user over fighter, but for new players learning the rules that was just fine. 


B2: The Keep on the Savagelands?











The more we played this basic version of Savage Worlds the more we realized we wanted to play this version. Most of our adventures so far have been short random dungeon crawls, but now we're ready for something with a bit more meat on the bones. So I began looking at my old Basic D&D adventures to convert. (B2: The Keep on the Savagelands?)




After posting a fun photoshop mock up of what a B/X D&D/Savage Worlds mashup rule book cover might look like it became apparent that we were not the only players wanting more of this old game reimagined. I'm not necessarily saying a word-for-word conversion, but Savage Worlds with the trappings of Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons, after all if we wanted to play Basic D&D then that is what we would play. My initial goal is to create something that is as close to the core rules as written and maintain the flavor of Basic D&D. 

Stay tuned!



Free Map Sci-Fi Saturday: Battleship 7681 - Officers Quarters


This weeks free map continues the Battleship 7681 series with the Officers Quarters. To show how a free photo editing tool can be used to turn out a great looking map, I used pre-made VTT sci-fi tiles, props, and Gimp exclusively to create this map.

You can download this week's Free Map hereWhile you're there consider supporting the project. Patrons receive high resolution maps, modular kits, VTT maps, and bonus material.







When I started the Stuff For Storytellers And Game Masters Patreon I was concentrating on creating modular tiles for the tabletop. Of course since then I've also started to create more detailed encounter areas and paper craft props as well as including VTT versions when I can for everything. I hope to start producing DIY videos detailing map creation and 2.5D Print & Paste terrain fabrication.

As I've been working on putting together some video tutorials and thought it would be fun to do some of them as a Google Hangout. I would be able to work through a tutorial and answer questions along the way, or as +Tim Shorts says, "The new virtual Bob Ross. Happy dungeon walls." If you saw my hair today, you might say it goes a bit farther than virtual.



High Seas Map Tiles: The H.M.S. Surprise

Previously a Patreon exclusive - High Seas Map Tiles: The H.M.S. Surprise
Sail the high seas with this modular map kit. Modeled after the modern tall ship replica built in 1970 and used in the making of the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, in which she portrayed the Royal Navy frigate Surprise with a story based on several of the books byPatrick O'Brian.   This kit contains three decks and a separate water layer. Files for VTT use are also included.





Modular City Kit