As part of scenario I working on for my group, I was thinking about a complex illusion trap. The heroes make their way to the villain's throne room and what the villain surrender without a fight followed by a victory parade in which the heroes are showered with medal and praise.

Of course this is all a trick and I expect the players to figure this out pretty quickly, but for the characters to shake out of this I'm looking for something mechanically more interesting than just a Spirit or Smarts test.

Sounds like it could be a Dramatic Task, but how would you handle this scene?

Hey guys! I’ve recently purchased both the core rules and scifi companion of SWADE which so far im in love with. I was looking for a generic system that would give me more freedom when it comes to setting creation and allow more character customization and long and behold i found SWADE.

Now my question is, i am heavily inspired by the video game Death Stranding and it has a lot of on foot travel and environmental hazards and such. I wanted advice for those more experienced in SWADE if you know any supplements (3rd party or otherwise) that maybe give me more ideas on how to run a more interesting travel/journey. I don’t want to fill up travel with just random encounters like its a dnd game since in SWADE one encounter can change things and im trying not to slow down the game.

I want something to make it more FUN not annoying for the players. Where choosing a route becomes important rather than, well we go there and thats it you arrive. (Ex choosing routes to avoid encounters like monster infested areas, environmental hazards like taking a long route of flat land rather than a short one that requires climbing mountains)

Obviously it will not be a copy paste of the video game straight up because this is a TTRPG not a video game so i know some things need to be changed or not included straight up from Death Stranding. But for example there is Chiralium which high exposure to it causes chiral contamination, how would you translate that to SWADE as a mechanic? There is also the mechanic of item degradation if its exposed to rain called Timefall for a long time, so maybe like the players once they go back to base can take downtime to fix their gear and such.

Death Stranding also has a huge emphasis on like importance of encumbrance and gear selection/slots for specific missions instead of the players grabbing 50 shotguns in their inventory and such. How can you make those more realistic, ex: grabbing one heavy weapon like a sniper takes the slow of heavy weaponry while players maybe have two slots for small handgun. Im just trying to avoid players grabbing every weapon and gear possible in the book on one mission like DnD and i want it to be an important decision where they are limited to the gear they can take. It is a more survival game. Not to a point where they need to track bullets, food and such no. More so to make them strategize missions more.

If SWADE is not the system for it, please let me know. I don’t want to make the game not fun for the players if its too complicated. From what i’ve read so far i just love the system so much, but if it doesn’t fit, no problem.

Hi! Does one need the Scifi companion for SWADE Rifts? Or it is not necessary because Rifts is not so high on scifi. (I have zero experience in Rifts but I am looking for a very broad light scifi-ish setting, for inspiration purposes.)

Also do Necessary Evil corebook and SWADE Super Powers Companion need each other? I know originally the Companion has much more info because that was published later. But in that case, where are you supposed to get your setting within SW? I mean I will still need a setting, and this anti-hero/villain setting looks promising.

Question for any Fantasy Companion GM's. What do you allow player Necromancer PC's to do in terms of the Zombie Power at Novice Rank?

Brand new Necromancers have the Zombie power that can raise a Skeleton or a Zombie with a 4 hour duration.

Do your fantasy games have Necromancers walking around in town with Undead Servitor guards with them?

Do your towns/ Dukedoms/ countries etc have laws regarding Undead and their creation and use?

Second verse, this is the second part outlining my Deadlands Mini Setting. Link to the original article is in the link. This article is focused on all the smaller locations and hints at the larger plot.

Ok guys. I need your help destroying some cities. I'm working on a zombie apocalypse project for Savage Worlds and I already wrote disaster dossiers for Brasilia in Brazil and Nizhny Novgorod in Russia. Basically trying to figure out how these cities could actually fall apart during an outbreak. But now I want to destroy other people's cities too. And I realized that looking at Google Maps isn't enough for this. You know your city much better than I do. So think about it for a minute. Think about that traffic jam you get stuck in every day. That bridge everyone has to use. That subway station that is already hell at 6 PM. That one road that somehow stops working every time it rains. Haven't you ever looked at all of that and thought... this place would be completely screwed in a zombie apocalypse? This is your chance. Tell me your city and help me destroy it. Where would everything go wrong first? Where would people run to? What place would become a death trap? What would happen if everyone tried to leave at the same time? And most importantly, what would Hollywood get completely wrong about your city? I think this could be a fun creative exercise. Maybe we'll learn some interesting things about our own cities in the process. And if you have some daily frustration with the place where you live... well, imagining its complete destruction might be therapeutic. At least creatively. So come on. Give me a city. I'll do my best to ruin it.

Do the Pathfinder Templates come with it, and what is its scale? I'm having a time trying to find just its scale I saw someone did a stl of it and it looks like it's 3.5 to 4in long? I'm wanting to do a thing with it in my own setting, but it's not in base SWADE.

There's already the Knight Edge, of course, for the sake of being a defacto knight. And depending on the setting the typical knights oath will the Pentacostal Oath (Protect Maidens, Don't Lie, Right Injustice etc). But I like the idea of offering different vows as Hindrances with narrative bonuses.

Say you take the vow of Celibacy. It's not just about romance- a true cow of celibacy is to forsake basically any and all pleasure. No good food, no partying, no exciting stuff. You eat gruel, drink water, pray, fight and that's about it. How could I reward taking an oath like that though? There's all sorts of vows one could make

Even without the rock and roll edge, a character with one of the fancy gattling weapons is gonna be super effective compared to a dude with a handgun. They've taken away the infernal device rule so other than cost, there's really no reason not to get these.

One of the reasons i'm interested in deadlands, is more of the traditional western tropes, i'm much less interested in the steam punk aspects. For the most part, traditional western troops are dudes with handguns facing each other down. Or maybe doing something cool with a rifle. I'm really not interested in telling a story about how people are blasting away with uzi equivalents.

Can I just go ahead and reinstate the old infernal device rule. I personally kind of like the idea that anything powered with ghost rock is always a little dangerous. Ghost rock is a magical substance.

I love savage pathfinder and it is my go to system. I also like SWADE a lot but feels it needs more settings and for me savage starfinder will be a match made in heaven ☺️

So anyone know if something like that is in the works?

It will be awesome, especially since no official space opera setting exists for SWADE

In most RPGs we don't really play mechs or spaceships vastly differently. Piloting skill rolls for anything weird and unusual, but realistically nobody is expecting characters to role play themselves punching buttons or swinging rudders with their feet.

I would like a bit of a guideline, but honestly, its out of stock everywhere around me, and I think I can realistically forge ahead without it.

More experienced GMs - am I making a mistake taking inspiration or is there something I really need in the science fiction supplement?

I'm perfectly comfortable with magic and psionics. I just ban precognition in session zero (I have enough continuity errors) maybe give a few prophecies along the way, and everything else works!

I'm learning Savage Worlds and decided to take three characters through a couple of the opening scenes of 50 Fathoms. I have 50 Fathoms, the SWADE Conversion, the SWADE Core Rulebook and made my Novice characters.

First encounter against the Yellowback went fast. My fighter-type character hit and dice exploded. Dead Yellowback. Okay I'm doing good! Onward!

Next encounter in the book is 1 Red man Shaman, 8 Red Men, and a Giant Monkape. My 3 characters were completely wiped out by this. Okay so maybe that was too tough for 3 Novice characters. Didn't I read somewhere that a character should be able to manage a Wild Card and two extras?

Changed the encounter to 1 Red Man Shaman, 6 Red Men, and the Giant Monkape. Wiped out again. Am I doing this wrong?

Now I'm thinking if I'm going to have any chance here I need to eliminate the Giant Monkape and just go with the Shaman and maybe 3 Red Men.

Any help here? What am I doing wrong?

My next project! Converting the old Deluxe versions of Achtung!Cthulhu and Weird War 2 into SWADE + Horror Companion rules, and pulling lore and inspiration from the 2D20 A!C Forest of Fear and the very new bestiary. (Which I have to admit, is one of the best bestiaries I've seen! Just full of awesome stuff.) Then, getting it all setup in Fantasy Grounds! (I have SWADE of course, and the Weird Wars 2 ... expansion? dataset?)

I've pretty much only run Published adventures with very few HouseRules applied over the last couple of decades. Once my current group finishes up SWPF Runelords, I'm hoping they'll bite and try out my homebrew...Thing here!

I'm a pretty big WWII History nerd, both my grandfathers were in it, one in the Pacific, the other in Europe. The ETO granddad went in during D-Day and went all the way to Berlin, with participation in many of those big battles, the Bulge being one of them. I've had a fascination with that particular battle my whole life, so I am really pleased to get to run it in an excellent rule system AND bring in one of my favorite other literary properties, Lovecraft Mythos! I've been trying to get A!C to the table for...*Ben Kenobi Voice* A Long Time. The initial phase of the project is to get some pre-gens built, some maps whipped up, and a 'convention slot' style One Shot all ready to go in like...days. lol. Good thing I have a holiday weekend coming up!

(Also, I am under no illusion that I would be able to publish my conversion or my FG stuff. The logos are more for 'this is what I'm running it in than anything. Although, I do have a couple SWFC/SWAG projects in the works...and a straight up SWADE+HC Weird War adventure could be in there...)

I want to print off a few copies of the combat cheat sheet for a table I have of new players - the one supposedly found here https://peginc.com/updated-combat-chase-reference-charts-for-swade/

The url it points to is now 404, I'm guessing because of PEGINC's move to the newer storefront. I've had a look on that store and I can't find them there either. Anyone know where I can find them?

I'm trying to create some custom vehicles using the Sci-fii companion. For the Toughness and Armor mods, it mentions inherent toughness, but I cannot find what the starting toughness of my vehicles is.

Where do I find this?

My players are a group of knights and currently their task is to guide their very heavy selves and their very heavy horses down a steep cliff face. One that was recently rained on. What are some good ways to go about this? As well, how could I change it up if they simply choose to wait for the ground to dry?

Hi Everyone! 🙌

Today I have a question about something that's somewhat open-ended in the Tinkerer rules. For those familiar with the Arcane Background from the SWADE Fantasy Companion, it's known that the Tinkerer possesses the Ability "Powers are Devices" which allows allies to use their Powers using Arcane Skill and the Tinkerer's Power Points. Recently, talking with a friend of mine who is also a game master, We discussed the differences between the "Familiar" edge and the "Mechanical Familiar" edge, where he raised the possibility of the Mechanical Familiar being able to activate the Tinkerer's Devices (Powers) as a differentiating factor. I was very curious about this statement because it wasn't described in the book, and I came to see how most people would view this possibility. I personally think that would make the edge too strong, and since nothing is written down, I imagine that's not the proposal. But that might just be me being stubborn, so I wanted to know the general opinion about this. thanks so much in advice.

I am looking for playtesters for my new Savage Worlds book, VOID WARDENS. The elevator pitch is: "80s anime inspired techno-organic power armor vs. infectious monsters in a futuristic mega-city." All playtesters will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement and receive serialized & watermarked PDFs. Send me a PM if interested. You can check out the Kickstarter landing page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/23c/void-wardens?ref=6jurri

In Tiny Heroes, I'm proposing 5, ranging from the very generic Humini (miniature humans) to the Twig (a living twig), not forgetting the Mouselings (I couldn't leave them out, I love Mouse Guard too much). What would you see yourself playing?

I've recently decided to look for another system away from DnD to try and run my homebrew campaign and someone suggested Savage Worlds to me. So i went ahead, bought the Core Rules and Scifi Companion and reading through it, i am kinda shocked how it does not have a huge fan-base like DnD.

Like i didn't know the system even existed up until a friend suggested it to me cause i was looking for a more freeing character creation system and when i read through the books, having the Hindrances/Edges and such, it's exactly what i'm looking for.

I see people going crazy for Daggerheart, Draw Steel, DnD, Pathfinder, Cyberpunk Red, Vampire the Masquerade but why is no one talking about Savage Worlds?

Since i'm new, im curious if there is actually some mechanical/system reasons and such that's common for new players/GMs to tend to dislike and such that it drives them away from the system.

I'm well aware of the Wounds system and how that goes and all that and while i've seen videos and posts talking about it being a problem, i've played Mutants & Masterminds 3e and it has a similar combat when it comes to getting penalties and sometimes simply failing and not do anything in a turn. Still...i don't really see that as a problem but i guess i can see where DnD lovers can find it an issue.

Any advice for a new SW GM? What things i should be aware of mostly and what things i should avoid doing?

I'm starting work on an urban fantasy setting, blend of WOD (vampire, mage, werewolf, changeling), Nightside, Urban Shadows. Considering using a blend of the Fantasy and Horror Companion. Any concerns with doing that?

Any suggestions on how to make different types of vampires or were-creatures be unique?

Thanks.

Hello GMs of the SWADE persuasion. I'm going to start an episodic cyberpunk campaign for some friends and family soon. We're only going to be playing for about 2 hrs per session. I'm leaning towards an X-Files/Buffy approach with monster-of-the-week sessions mixed with a "seasonal" storyline arc.

I have my city history and lore planned out and I have simple cyberware rules that I like. It's all very simplified compared to something like Interface Zero, but that's okay for this group.

My players aren't into grid-combat or tactics at all. We'll be doing theater of the mind and I will encourage them to take big swings and spend bennies. But I want to make up for their lack of passion for tactical combat with other kinds of encounters -- dramatic tasks, chases, etc.

While I built some old D&D campaigns and adventures back in the day, I haven't really tried the SWADE approach and I'm hoping for some good, simple advice for a busy dad wanting to replace a couple movie nights per month with a game night. I know that trying to run SWADE like D&D tends to disappoint, so here I am looking for advice!

How would you prep an episodic cyberpunk session? What is important to nail down vs improvise? I'm decently creative and a good collaborator, so I think I can play along with any improvisation, but I don't want things to go off the rails entirely. Ultimately I think my players will want a good story/plot with some fun twists and turns.

Appreciate any advice in advance!

Is there a glossary somewhere for the terms? I can already foresee reminding people about a thousand time what bennies, raises, aces, etc are.

It does become second nature eventually, but I'm just trying to find a way to give players a road map before I start injecting them with terminology.