New Savage Worlds Superpower: Talk to Ghosts

This power was missing in the Superhero Companion. Therefore I created a variation on the Interface Power for computers, as effectwise both powers seem to be related.

Talk to Ghosts HOUSERULE

Your character can communicate with ghosts, giving her much greater access to the history of places. She can use a Notice Roll once per place to spot ghosts. (An average location contains d4-2 ghosts.) After noticing a ghost she can use Persuasion to start a conversation. Their Initial Reaction may vary from Hostile to Neutral.

Character Questionnaire Random Table: Pre Session

To get a better understanding of my player's feeling on the campaign and their characters, every player has to roll on the following table and answer the question if the wants to receive an Adventure Card (a Savage Worlds plot card).

The 1st session let the players use a d6 (or even d4). The following sessions, let them use a d8.

1. What is your character’s most important Hindrance? Why?
2. What other character in the party has your character a special bond to? Why?
3. What adventure your character had so far, had most impact on him? Why?
4. What adventures is your character looking forward to?
5. Who is the most important NonPlayerCharacter for your character? Why?
6. What motivates and excites your character?
7. What was your favourite scene in the last session?
8. What was your least favourite scene in the last session

Talislanta One Shot FAWS7

This is another old draft I found and publish now after 5 years:

While I have some basic ideas for a Talislanta one shot of some research in the meantime, I try to bring it in playable (=not railroadish) form by creating a FAWS7 write up.

I love that Talislanta feels a lot like the dreamland stories by HP Lovecraft, so I decided to choose a setting that reflects this better than the Seven Kingdoms. Those are a little bit cheesy with their whole free love and seminaked Muses vibe anyways. ;)

The cursed city of Marduk seems to be a cool place, but it should tied in a little bit with the Seven Kingdoms to shift the game westwards in the future. (=one line idea or title)

Locations:
Street to Maruk: encounter with Sindarin equs merchant and collector who wonders about the duality between Phaedrans and Wild Men INTERACTION There is also risk that the heroes don't come to the city in time before the cursed month starts.
Gate (p.33): Guards don't want to let them enter at first, because the think it is a bad omen if strange travelers come shortly before the cursed months. INTERACTION
House of Customs (p.33): Sent there by guards, but nobody controls if they are really going there.
House of Oracles (p.33)

Some inn in Maruk (House of Sorrows?, p.34)
Old Maruk Palace = Dung Warehouse

TWIST1:
Sindarin asks them to take care of his 4 equs and disappears while healing
girl that was sent away from home, because she is cursed and her husband will only take her back if she brings Talisman from House of Fortune


NPC
Sindarin equs merchant: wants to get healed from sickness in the House of Fate

Honestly: this notes lead nowhere, but noone needs to read them. Don't complain about free stuff! ;-)

Savage Synnibarr 17: Ninjas in the rooftop lounge

(This is a follow up to the Synnibarr space campaign.)

Amazon Dita, cyborg Trush and ninja Rolf Choke walk into a bar. They have returned from outer space.

The Adventurer's Guild sent them to the city of Bwer-Rock on to the savannah island of Lystema. There they are supposed to meet new recruits for their team and an agent with contact info on their new mission.

While they are sipping cocktail on the rooftop terrace of the Excelsior Hotel, a Chameleon Drake approaches them. He introduces himself as Gorgoroth Nargaroth, a new recruit, who just finished his training. The dragon humanoid can produce a card of invitation, but the 3 famous heroes, are not sure they like him and decide to put him on a trial.

Before they can really start their trial the agent, a super beardy guy, wearing a trenchcoat and sunglasses, and caring an old fashioned suitcase shows up. He introduces himself as Agent Nelson. And hands over the suitcase. At first he is taciturn, but Gorgoroth uses his hypnosis powers to make him speak. Nelson confirms that he was sent by the Guild and that he is supposed to hand over the suitcase. He does not know too much, but supposedly whatever is in the suitcase will people make looking at it insane. He also mentions that the the heroes are supposed to bring the suitcase to a place called the Lizard Bar at the bottom of Bwer-Rock to hand it over to the female owner.

Gorgoroth wants to force Agent Nelson by hypnosis to open the suitcase, but the Agent is able to withstand. His hands are shaking like hell and he sheds a single tear from behind his sunglasses, when he finally breaks free. Dita asks him to hand over his sunglasses and he hands to over them over, not before asking for an autograph for his daughter.

The heroes are about to pay, when suddenly 8 red ninjas jump on the rooftop from all sides below and attack with Katanas. Gorgoroth starts threatening them and something shifts in his voice that actually makes everyone hesitate and shaken.

But Thrush is able to rally the people on their side. While most of the ninja are still trembling i fear, 2 charge towards the table, attacking Rolf Choke and Gorgoroth. Rolf steps to the side and easily kills one of them, while Gorgoroth hypnotises the other one.

Dita uses her Chi Shout to rip 4 more apart. When Thrush shoots one more with his laser gun, that leaves only 1 unharmed. Dita is able to convince to give up. The one under Gorgoroth's control opens his mind to the Chameleon Drake, who sees that the 8 ninjas were trained in a weird sickle-shaped tower -  by a huge silverclad ninja. There mission is to assassinate Rolf Choke and to steal the suitcase.

Dita gets similar information from the other survivor, but grants him his wish to commit suicide. When he is to wimp to actually do it, she does it for him.

Next: A Drake in the Rooftop Lounge

Savage Synnibarr Adventure: Secret of the Drake Temple

Overview

1 line summary: The characters are sent to a jungle island to find 2 missing alchemists.

Opponent's plan: One of the alchemists - Durana - plans to “liberate” the City of Terra by setting free the Plague, that reduces intelligence of victims and caused the Dark Ages.

Main location: Durana found the virus in an old temple to Drakes that she turned into a biological weapon factory.

Starting the adventure

The characters get a mission from the Adventurer’s Guild in Terra. The 2 young alchemists Durana and Rea went missing 2 months ago on the island TARBOON. It is possible that they went rogue. A reward of 20,000$ is up on finding out about their plans and reporting all details to Terra.

The characters are taken by Giants’ ship to the main town of New Vornheim on TARBOON. There the adventure starts.

Tarboon

The 80 miles diameter island is covered by jungle. New Vornheim is the main harbour. The 3 fishing villages of Ior, Caplan and Hole and far off, each on another side of the island. In the centre of the island you can find an old temple to drakes: Drakestone

Dangers:

• Cannibal Sasquatch tribes hiding all over the jungle.
• 3 Scarlett drakes settle on hills over the island and attack airborne vehicles.

New Vornheim

The town has a around 50,000 inhabitants (80% human). Except for the harbour it is surrounded by jungle. Most buildings are very simple white blocks with flat roofs. Streets are narrow, many even too narrow for the few cars.

The one standing out building is the steel-glass skyscraper of the City Hall. Next to the mayor Howser’s office, it also houses the local alchemist laboratory of Marveen and his 2 assistants.

The few adventurers in the city and more wannabees meet in a rowdy inn called Lazermead.

Travelers to the city will be interviewed by 2 local police officiers. There is a registration fee of 40$ per person and an import tax of 100$ per weapon, but theose can be easily concealed. Police officers are happy to take bribes to answer questions  or to support “customers. They are well connected. Trouble-makers will be jailed for a night. All cash and weapons are taken in as penalty fee. If a fight starts, 2d6 police officers show up. If overpowered they call in a Police Mech (of 5 in the city).

Infobits - those can be retrieved by Streetwise roles or interaction with local NPCs. Information in square brackets are only revealed by asking further questions or a Raise.

• Two female alchemists indeed showed up some weeks ago.
• Those alchemists went to Marveen and  the Lazermead.
• The alchemists recruited aroung 15 locals as guides tor a jungle expedition.
• There is an old Drake temple in the jungle [that the alchemists looked for].
• There is a Drake cult in the town, but it is for teenagers.
• A wereman, 2 amazons, and a Talking Raccoon have been recruited by the alchemists 2 weeks ago in the Lazermead Inn - for a jungle expedition.
• It’s not wise to fly over the jungle, there are [3] Scarlett Drakes attacking planes, etc.
• The alchemists went with an expedition to the jungle 10 days ago.
• There are trails through the jungle that cars can use.
• Sasquatch sometimes kill people in the jungle.
• The local alchemist Marveen moved here from Terra 5 years ago. He never leaves the town, because hates the jungle (and the general provinciality of the island).
• Marveen never uses his glider he brought from Terra.
• Marveen builds a device that should be able to fly through the werestorm [by switching power source every milisecond].

The jungle

It takes a Survival success to find the way to the temple. The optimal trip takes 2 days. A failure means a day is lost and there is 75% chance to get ambushed by 4 Sasquatch with boulder traps. Their aim is to kill and provide a feast for a shamanistic ritual.

It’s necessary to cross a river filled with piranha swarms to get to the temple.

Near this river, the Alchemists’ expedition has been attacked by Sasquatch. 3 guides and the Talking Raccoon have been abducted and eaten. Destroyed equipment marks the location.

The Drakes temple

It is visible from some distance because it is erected on a 100m high stone needle. The temple has the shape of an abstracted drake head with 2 platforms outside and an entrance through “eye gates”. A big gatling gun is mounted on each platform and there are 1d6 guards with guns present any time on each them.

Inside the temple, in the huge hall behind the eyes, there are weird alchemist machines and pool of a green liquid: whoever touches this goo will be infected by the Plague, and their Smarts are reduced to d4 until they get an antidote. The antidote is actually to inject the same goo. 1d6 guards with guns are in this room.

An arch leads to another section of the temple: this whole section must have been carved out after the drakes left and is human sized. It contains mostly the quarters of the alchemists and their mercenaries. In Durana's quarter (the biggest and most luxurious one) there is a high tech cryocoffin that contains Rea. She was subdued by Durana after she disagreed on the plan to spread the Plague.

Durana's plan

Durana and Rea found out that the drake temple on Tarboon was probably the last place where the Plague virus existed and went there for research.

On the way there Durana came up with her plan:

To give an ultimatum on Terra to stop the surveillance of the citizens there. She wants to transport the recreated virus in a dormant host body to Terra and then hand over the antidote only she owns only in case her requests are fulfilled.

The dormant host body - it turned out to be Rea, as she wanted to stop Durana - will by transported in a cryo coffin. Once opened, the virus will spread from human to human. It has an incubation period of 24 hours.

To be sure that the virus works, Durana wants to do a test on New Vornheim. As soon as she has proof that the virus spread there, she will blow up the temple, so that the facility to produce the anti dote does not any longer exist and she cannot be circumvented in rescue missions.

Herself and her mercenaries get the antidote regularly. She is the only person having access to it, if everything goes according to her plan.

She is contact with a criminal gang in New Vornheim, the Red Lizard gang, to use their underground facilities to handle the cyro coffin. Before the Red Lizard gang members will notice that they are infected themselves, they will already have passed the cryo coffin on to a crew of Tenjohussan (frogmen) on their whale "submarine", who will transport the cryo coffin to Terra. The Tenjohussan wait in a cave under the city. This cave contains direct access to the sea.

Durana stays in the penthouse of City Hall in the meantime. She will not directly go to Terra herself but has created 12 drones that relay her ultimatum messages so she won't be found too easily.

The Drake Temple City

What she does not know is that there is a 2nd place that can produce the antidote: the ancient Drake Temple City at the equator, where humanoid worshippers of the drakes gather frequently has the same pool of goo hidden in the main temple. There are always 3d20 drakes present in the city.

The 3 Scarlett drakes of Taboon are aware of the pools in both temples. But they have no reason to help humanoids. In the hoard of the drakes there is also an drake encyclopedia that contains that knowledge.

Bonds for Contemporary Games

Roll at character creation on this table and fill in the name of another player's character of your choice. If you are really unhappy with the result, you can reroll. (These bonds are lifted from Dungeon World.)

01 _______________ is strange and confusing.
02 _______________ is always getting into trouble—I must protect them from themselves.
03 This is not my first adventure with _______________.
04 I heard stories about _______________ long before I ever met them in person.
05 I am working on a documentary about the adventures of _______________.
06 _______________ trusted me with a secret.
07 _______________ does not trust me, and for good reason.
08 _______________ is a good and faithful person; I trust them implicitly.
09 _______________ is in constant danger, I will keep them safe.
10 ____________________ smells more like prey than a hunter.
11 A vision showed me a great danger that follows ______________.
12 _______________ owes me their life, whether they admit it or not.
13 I have sworn to protect _______________.
14 _______________ is soft, but I will make them hard like me.
15 _______________ has stood by me in battle and can be trusted completely!
16 _______________ is a brave soul, I have much to learn from them.
17 I stole something from _______________.
18 _______________ has my back when things go wrong.
19 _______________ knows incriminating details about me.
20 _______________ will play an important role in the events to come. I have foreseen it!
21 _______________ is keeping an important secret from me.
22 _______________ saved me from certain doom, and I must repay them.
23 _______________ was a faithful friend when I had nothing.
24 _______________ has been a friend to me when others were prejudiced.

The Doctor Who Campaign: First Sketch

This is an old note from 2010, that stayed in draft for 5 years. I publish it now.

So I ask each player for 3 times/places his or her character would like to go.

I got some hot contenders already:

A dragon planet
a gothic 80ies time loop. (But where exactly?)
Ice planet: people without supplies coming any longer. (See Collapse by Jared Diamond)
------------------------
A water planet (where water is drying up)
------------------------

[Babylon or even older/first city. Ur?]
-------------------------

Here is the first FAWS7 sketch for the dragon planet:

Cave with dragon eggs. INTERACTION/PRICES Human kid arrives later on to pick up eggs. On moutain cliff.
The human village. INTERACTION More or less wander off area. Young dragons used as cattle.
The dragon conditioning grounds. ACTION Baby dragons get lobotomized here. Story of dragon war. ACTION dragon "riders" attack
The palace of the dragon riders. INTERACTION They value wild dragons, but those are super dangerous to village inhabitants.
The dragons' meeting place. INTERACTION Dragon king talks about freedom for his race, but his son is hostage.
The alien invasion fleet. ACTION Dragon-Men in spaceships wants to free dragons.

TWIST 1: The dragons are braincastrated by the humans.
TWIST 2: There is an invading army to save the dragons.
TWIST 3: The dragon king initiated it himself, so that noone can take his crown.

VILLAIN: Dragon king.

McGUFFIN: Dragon king assisted Time Lord.



Villain of campaign:

The Looper. Time Lord that wants to seperate universe and run local 47h loops with highest happiness score instead. Shorter loops are to energy intense to keep them running. The Looper is happy that the Time Lords can't mess with his plan any longer. The Doctor swaped time machines, because he hopes to find out about Looper by using the Tardis that was messed with (aka PC Tardis).

Primetime Adventures: The Dickinsons: Characters

The Dickinsons are one of the less fortunate families in Blackpool. They are shameless, but make the best out of life with too many people in the house.

Richard "Dick" Dickinson - Father (36)
Player: Agn
Edges: fast talker / pretty face
Connections: school nurse Chantel
Personal Set: the sofa
Nemesis: midget Jimmy-Patrick
Issue: job centre wants to find him something
Screen Presence: 2 - 3 -

Jennifer Dickinson - Wife (29)
Player: Jor
Edges: junkie body / worst voice
Connections: keyboarder and dealer Alex
Personal Set: rehearsal room
Nemesis: Tom, teen talent
Issue: wants to get rid of the kids
Screen Presence: 2 - 2 -

Here you can find the Pilot Episode.

Dungeon World Bonds

I am listing here all the bonds from Dungeon World by character class. They are a really great way of creating a relationship map between characters. Spirit of the Century for FATE offered a less elegant method for this already, but the players coming up with an adventure each that the character had with 2 other characters (the "co-stars").

Barbarian
_______________ is puny and foolish, but amusing to me.
_______________’s ways are strange and confusing.
_______________ is always getting into trouble—I must protect them from themselves.
_______________ shares my hunger for glory; the earth will tremble at our passing!


Bard
This is not my first adventure with _______________.
I sang stories of _______________ long before I ever met them in person.
_______________ is often the butt of my jokes.
I am writing a ballad about the adventures of _______________.
_______________ trusted me with a secret.
_______________ does not trust me, and for good reason.


Cleric
_______________ has insulted my deity; I do not trust them.
_______________ is a good and faithful person; I trust them implicitly.
_______________ is in constant danger, I will keep them safe.
I am working on converting _______________ to my faith.


Druid
____________________ smells more like prey than a hunter.
The spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows ______________.
I have showed ________________ a secret rite of the Land.
___________ has tasted my blood and I theirs. We are bound by it.


Fighter
_______________ owes me their life, whether they admit it or not.
I have sworn to protect _______________.
I worry about the ability of _______________ to survive in the dungeon.
_______________ is soft, but I will make them hard like me.


Paladin
_______________’s misguided behavior endangers their very soul!
_______________ has stood by me in battle and can be trusted completely!
I respect the beliefs of _______________ but hope they will someday see the true way.
_______________ is a brave soul, I have much to learn from them.


Ranger
I have guided _______________ before and they owe me for it.
_______________ is a friend of nature, so I will be their friend as well.
_______________ has no respect for nature, so I have no respect for them.
_______________ does not understand life in the wild, so I will teach them.

Thief:
I stole something from _______________.
_______________ has my back when things go wrong.
_______________ knows incriminating details about me.
_______________ and I have a con running.


Wizard
_______________ will play an important role in the events to come. I have foreseen it!
_______________ is keeping an important secret from me.
_______________ is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can.



Adventures on Dungeon Planet:

Earthling:
_______________ enjoys my tales of life on Earth.
_______________ is the first person I met here, in this strange new world.
_______________ saved me from certain doom, and I must repay them.
_______________ was a faithful friend when I had nothing.

Engine of Destruction:
_______________ helped get me repaired when I was broken.
_______________ knows a secret about my construction!
_______________ understands me perfectly, even though I am a robot.
I was programmed to help _______________.

Mutant:
_______________ has been a friend to me when others were prejudiced.
_______________ will help me create a new mutant civilization.
I must prove to _______________ that I am a person too!
I will show _______________ the secrets hidden in these ruins.

Technician:
_______________ is distrustful of machines. I will prove their value.
_______________ is proof that great things can be achieved without machines. I must match those achievements with mine own.
_______________ knows where something amazing is hidden. They must show me!
I must protect _______________ so they can help me with my work. They understand it.

Random Relationship Table

Inspired by the Powered by the Apocalypse games, you can use this table to randomly decide what relationship 2 player characters had before the game started.

1 Siblings
2 Lovers (Ex-Lovers)
3 Coeds / Same Teacher
4 Teacher and Student
5 Jealousy / One sided love
6 Best friends
7 Predecessor
8 Common Nightmares / Visions
9 Common Possession / Heirs
10 Cousins
11 Fate (Randomly bump in each other regularly)
12 Partners / Coworkers

Random Crime Table

I want to run a mini campaign that is similar to GTA. The characters start in prison or an asylum.

Everyone of them has to roll on the "convicted for a crime" table. It's the player's choice if the character actually committed the crime, or if the conviction was for a crime the character was wrongly accused for.


01 Drug Possession
02 Prostitution
03 Theft
04 Tax Evasion
05 Vandalism
06 Arson
07 Bribery
08 Burglary
09 Car Theft
10 Self Justice / Lynching

11 Membership in an Illegal Organisation
12 Assault
13 Aggraveted Assault
14 Drug Dealing
15 Conspiracy
16 (Armed) Robbery
17 Forgery / Fraud
18 Extortion (Blackmailing)
19 Computer Crime
20 Rioting

21 Illegal Immigration
22 Kidnapping
23 Deadly Accident (potentially under the influence)
24 Manslaughter
25 Murder
26 Terrorism
27 Serial Murder
28 Dangerous Mental Condition
29 Publishing of Dangerous / Forbidden / Obscene Material
30 Forbidden to Mention (Kafkaesque)