An Axe to Grind: Christmas One Sheet

Here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

Chip, chop, chip, chop,

the last goblin is dead!

A couple of years ago, a goblin crew hijacked a flying sleigh belonging to a mysterious red-robed sorcerer, and unceremoniously tossed him overboard. The jolly fellow was dashed upon the mountains below, leaving nothing but a stain to mark his passing.

A few days ago, a dyslexic human witch accidentally brought the red-robed sorcerer back from the afterlife while attempting to summon the devil. After breaking free from the ritual and killing the witch, the sorcerer headed west into the goblin lands, seeking revenge!

Every year, I release a new Christmas-themed One Sheet for Saga of the Goblin Horde – Sanguine Solstice in 2015, Sleigh Heist in 2016 and Season's Beatings in 2017. Here is the adventure for 2018:

Get it here: An Axe to Grind

This One Sheet is a direct sequel to Sleigh Heist and Season's Beatings, although it can also be run as a standalone adventure. The Configurable Map has also been updated.

Designing and Selling Custom Decks of Cards

Thematic Action Decks are very popular within the Savage Worlds community, and several publishers offer custom decks tailored to their own settings. There are even decks with specialized features, such as the Mutation Deck by Just Insert Imagination, or the Hellfrost Action Deck by Triple Ace Games.

The new Chase rules in the upcoming Savage Worlds Adventurer's Edition also require a second Action Deck, and it wouldn't surprise me to see publishers introducing new decks with special features for Chases. Pinnacle has released a preview of the Chase rules here.

While it's already possible to create your own Action Decks (like I did with my Countdown Decks), once the Savage Worlds Adventurer's Guild (SWAG) goes live, we'll also be able to publish decks that explicitly reference the Savage Worlds system. This will include Adventure Decks, equipment cards, NPC cards, decks with special rules (like the aforementioned Mutation Deck), and so on.

Getting Started

OneBookShelf (OBS) provide a lot of information about printing your own cards, including specs, tutorials, and templates for InDesign and Scribus. Take a look here for the details, and pay particular attention to this page.

As well as poker cards, you can also print (smaller) bridge cards and (larger) tarot cards. The same approach can be used for printing tiles and poster maps.

Designing your Cards

You can use image-editing software like Photoshop or GIMP to design the cards themselves. If your cards have text, some people will recommend adding that with your desktop publishing program (i.e., Scribus or InDesign) -- however I personally like to create the entire card as a single image, as this makes it much easier to offer print-and-play and Virtual TableTop (VTT) versions of my cards as well. It also means I can use a standard Scribus template to rapidly generate a new deck.

Usually, playing cards only have portrait illustrations on the face cards (king, queen, and jack) and jokers. Some Savage Worlds rules explicitly reference "face cards," so it may also make it easier for the players if you follow this standard. On the other hand, if you can afford sufficient artwork, some players really enjoy having a unique illustration on every card!

Development Costs

The artwork is probably going to be your main expense when producing a deck of illustrated cards. If you already have plenty of artwork for your setting book, then you can reuse it for your cards -- but if you have to commission a full set of artwork just for the deck, it could take hundreds of sales to recoup your expenses, and the market for custom decks simply isn't that big. Even if you're buying stock art, it can be difficult to break even, let alone make a profit.

For my Countdeck Decks, I used artwork I'd already purchased for the Saga of the Goblin Horde and Monster decks, and bought (and cleaned up and combined) some stock art for the Galactic deck. I used a free font for the ranks and suits, and Game-icons.net for the special symbols. It was a lot more work than I'd expected, but it was an interesting learning experience, and I was pleased with the results.

Of course, the decks don't need to be individually illustrated, particularly if they're primarily text-based. The Mutation Deck is a good example of this approach -- while it has a nice visual design, its main value lies in its functionality (the mutations).

Printing Costs

As of December, premium poker cards cost 9 cents each, so a standard 54-card deck of playing cards (plus a title card) will cost $4.95 to print. You can reduce this cost by ordering in bulk, but you will need to order at least 5,000 cards (they don't all need to be the same deck, so if you offer multiple decks you could order a mixture).

Deck Cases

When it comes to deck cases, you have two options. The first is a clear plastic case, which comes in "standard" and "large" sizes (holding up to 70 and 120 cards respectively). The second option is a tuck box, which can be designed for 54, 72, 90 or 120 cards (or 80 cards for tarot decks). You cannot offer both deck cases for the same product.

If you offer a clear case, the customer can choose to add it when they purchase your deck. This will cost them an extra $1 (regardless of deck size). Sometimes they'll get the large case, even if your deck is regular sized -- I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing it depends on what the supplier has in stock.

If you offer a tuck box, you will have to design it yourself, although once again OBS offer templates. As of December, the tuck box adds $2.25 (for a 54 card deck) or $2.50 (for all other sizes) to your production costs and is automatically included in the order. The tick boxes are quite a snug fit, and it can be a bit of a squeeze if you decide to offer 4 jokers instead of 2.

It should also be noted that if you offer your decks in a bundle, the customer cannot currently add plastic cases. They can purchase them separately (as part of the same order), but then the cards won't be delivered inside the case, and thus the shipping cost will be higher. OBS have said they hope to address this in the future.

Shipping Costs

OBS only offer card printing services in the US, and the shipping costs to Europe are brutal (this is the same for everything, it's not specific to OBS). However you need to order a proof before you start selling your cards, so it's a necessary expense.

This isn't a problem for publishers living in the US, of course. But for me (in Germany), the postage was $14.55 for 1 deck, $23.58 for 2-6 decks, then went up to $35.21 for 7 decks (I stopped checking after that). That's part of the reason why I decided to create multiple Countdown Decks -- it meant I could order two proofs at once, and add a few goblin decks to give to friends and family!

Unfortunately, while multiple decks can reduce the postage costs, they also increase the chance of your cards getting stuck in customs (adding further delays and expenses). Gah! OBS have said they're looking into a European printer for cards, so I really hope they find one soon!

Selling your Deck

OBS will keep 30-35% of any profit you make on top of the production costs (depending on whether you have an exclusive or non-exclusive deal with them). You will also need to recoup the cost of your artwork, as well as the printing and postage of your proof prints and/or any promotional giveaways for reviewers. A little breathing room in the price will also give you the opportunity to hold sales, or include discounted decks in bundles.

When I looked at other Action Decks on DriveThruRPG, I noticed that standard thematic playing decks tended to sell for around $10, while those with special features often sold for $15. In the end, I settled on a $12 price tag, or $9 each if you buy the bundle.

I was also quite surprised to see how popular the plug-and-play version is. That's a PDF designed for home printing. I sell those for $3 each (or include them for free if people buy the physical deck).

One drawback with print-on-demand decks is that you don't earn Publisher Promotion Points (PPP) from them. You do earn PPP from plug-and-play sales, but not from the physical decks. This is particularly annoying for me, as cards are currently the only print-on-demand products I sell! EDIT: OBS fixed this, you now earn PPP from decks in the same way as any other product.

Status and Renown

I originally wrote this article over three years ago, back in August 2015 – but unfortunately it was never published, and much of it will become obsolete once the new Adventurer Edition of Savage Worlds is released.

However I figured it could still be of interest to some readers, so I've decided to release it now before it's too late. Enjoy!

Introduction

The greatest of heroes – and the most terrible of villains – are frequently preceded by the tales of their mighty deeds and grand accomplishments, and the influence of a powerful politician may often prove a far bigger long-term threat than the military skills of a mere gunman or lone swordsman.

Savage Worlds describes trappings as the “heart and soul” of the powers system, but it's also very common to apply trappings to Edges, Hindrances, and even skills. In this article I will show how trappings can be used to create characters with influence and prestige, with a particular focus on two core Edges that many people take too literally: Noble and Beast Master. If you ignore their flavor text (which is really just a default trapping) and focus on the underlying mechanics, what they actually do is as follows:

• Noble: You have high status in your society, and receive special treatment. Gain +2 Charisma and the Rich Edge. You can have minions, a home, and other assets, but you also have great responsibilities.

• Beast Master: A particular category of creature won't attack you unless provoked or angered, and you receive one loyal minion who can be replaced if lost.

Once we strip away the default trappings, what we end up with are two generic Edges representing various types of status and renown.

Noble Concepts

Here are ten example character concepts that apply their own trappings to Noble and Beast Master:

• A pirate captain could take Noble to represent her standing among other pirates, the booty she steals, her ship and its crew, and her responsibilities to the crew. She could also take Beast Master to represent her fearsome reputation (other pirates won't attack her unless provoked or angered) and to grant her a loyal first mate.

• A mafia boss could use Noble to represent his high status in criminal society, his ill-gotten gains, his estates and employees, and his responsibilities to his family. He could also take Beast Master to represent his renown (other criminals fear him and won't attack unless provoked) and to grant him a loyal bodyguard.

• A famous singer might take Noble to represent her popularity, her income, her expensive home and her adoring fans, as well as the responsibility for maintaining her public image. She could also take Beast Master to represent being a media darling (the media loves her and doesn’t attack her image unless provoked or angered) and to grant her a loyal manager.

• A town sheriff in an Old West setting could take Noble to represent his authority, the loot he confiscates from outlaws, his office and lawmen, and his responsibilities to the town. He could also take Beast Master to represent the respect of the people (citizens won’t turn on him unless provoked or angered) and to grant him a loyal deputy.

• A princess would use the default Noble trappings, but could also take Beast Master to represent the love and admiration of the common people (the populace won’t turn on her unless provoked or angered) and to grant her a loyal handmaiden.

• A noble savage might take Noble to represent his status among the beasts, the natural treasures of the jungle in which he lives, his domain and the animals within it, as well as his responsibility for protecting the jungle from those who would harm or destroy it. He could use the default trappings for Beast Master.

• A mercenary captain could use Noble to represent her military reputation, the money she earns, the troops she leads, her camp followers, and her various responsibilities. She could also take Beast Master to represent her renown (other mercenaries respect and fear her, and prefer not to side against her) and to grant her a loyal second-in-command.

• A pastor might take Noble to represent his popularity, the tithes he receives, his church and congregation, and his vows and duties. He could also take Beast Master to represent the love of the people (citizens wouldn’t turn on him unless provoked or angered) and to grant him a loyal aide.

• An action movie star could take Noble to represent his popularity, the income from his movies, his expensive home and many fans, as well as his numerous duties and responsibilities as an actor. He could also take Beast Master to represent the admiration of his follow actors, and to grant him a loyal assistant.

• The leader of a thieves guild might use Noble to represent her position of authority, her share of the loot, her secret hideout and guild members, and her responsibilities and duties to the guild. She could also take Beast Master to represent her dangerous reputation (other thieves are scared to cross her) and to grant her a loyal bodyguard.

Supporting Edges

In addition to Noble and Beast Master, there are several other Edges that could easily be reskinned to represent reputation:

• Attractive and Very Attractive: Rather than just physical appearance, these could also be used to represent the allure of your fame and power.

• Rich and Filthy Rich: As well as money, these Edges also grant further assets and responsibilities, which could easily represent the benefits and drawbacks of high status. Note that Noble already gets Rich for free.

• Connections: This Edge can be taken multiple times, and can represent fans, or those you control or who are indebted to you.

• Leadership Edges: These Edges grant bonuses to those who obey and follow you, and could just as easily represent fanatical loyalty as military leadership skills.

• Followers: This Legendary Edge can be taken multiple times, and grants five loyal minions each time it is taken. This can be an effective way to gain permanent loyal staff and retainers, but the minions are not replaced when killed, so if possible you should try to use the minions from the Connections Edge for cannon fodder duty.

• Sidekick: This Legendary Edge grants you a Wild Card minion who is generally loyal, but who doesn’t always follow your orders. It can be a great way to represent a headstrong protégé, or the heir to your dynasty.

Many settings introduce further Edges that can also be beneficial. In particular, keep an eye out for Edges that allow Persuasion to be used for Tests of Will, or which allow Charisma to be added to Taunt or Intimidation rolls, as these are very powerful bonuses for a character with high Charisma.

Reputation-Based Hindrances

Just as it’s possible to apply trappings to Edges, so the same principle can be extended to Hindrances. With the appropriate trappings and flavor text, Hindrances like Outsider, Enemy, or even Bloodthirsty might easily be reworked to fit certain character concepts.

Besmirched (Minor)

You were accused of doing something horrific in some point in the past, and your reputation has been forever tainted as a result. You might be innocent of the crime, and may even have been acquitted in a court of law, but in the eyes of the public you will always be guilty, and they'll never let you forget it. You suffer a -2 penalty to Charisma.

Hacker’s Target (Minor/Major)

Someone keeps trying to obtain your private and personal information to leak to the press, the government, a rival organization, or simply to post on the internet. As a Minor Hindrance they just want to humiliate you, while as a Major Hindrance they’re hoping to find something that could lead to your arrest or even your death.

Media Scapegoat (Major)

The media despises you, and you are frequently followed around by reporters and paparazzi eager to dig up (or make up) new dirt. Actions you take in public will be reported in the worst possible light, and anything you say in front of reporters will be turned into sound bites that can be replayed out of context. You suffer a -4 penalty to Charisma when dealing with those who have read about you in the tabloids or seen news reports about you on the television.

Unruly Relation (Minor/Major)

One of your relatives has a knack for getting themselves into trouble, and this often reflects badly on you. Perhaps you have a sibling with a drug habit, a teenage son or daughter who shoplifts for attention, or an alcoholic uncle with a predisposition for violence. As a Minor Hindrance the relative is usually just an inconvenience and embarrassment, while as a Major Hindrance their actions cause frequent problems and risk seriously jeopardizing your career. Should the relative meet a sudden and untimely end, replace Unruly Relation with another Hindrance appropriate to their fate (such as Besmirched).

Political Powerhouse

As an extreme example of how you might build a reputation-focused political character, consider the following individual:

Politician

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d10, Strength d4, Vigor d6

Skills: Intimidation d4, Knowledge (Politics) d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d12, Streetwise d8, Taunt d4

Charisma: +2; Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5

Hindrances: Arrogant (Major), Vengeful (Minor), Greedy (Minor)

Edges: Noble

Noble represents his political status, his income, his home and constituency, as well as his various duties and responsibilities. As the character increases in power and influence, he might choose to take the following advances at each rank:

• Novice: Connections, Charismatic, Connections

• Seasoned: Attractive, Connections, Filthy Rich, Connections

• Veteran: Very Attractive, Connections, Beast Master, Connections

• Heroic: Intimidation d6 and Taunt d6, Connections, Strong Willed, Connections

• Legendary: Professional (Persuasion), Expert (Persuasion), Sidekick, Connections, Connections

As the politician grows in experience he would become increasingly influential, and after 20 advances he would end up as follows:

Politician

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d10, Strength d4, Vigor d6

Skills: Intimidation d6, Knowledge (Politics) d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d12+2, Streetwise d8, Taunt d6

Charisma: +8; Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5

Hindrances: Arrogant (Major), Vengeful (Minor), Greedy (Minor)

Edges: Beast Master, Charismatic, Connections x 10, Expert (Persuasion), Filthy Rich, Noble, Sidekick, Strong Willed, Very Attractive

Beast Master represents his status as a media darling: He is very popular with the media and receives frequent and highly favorable attention from most outlets. He also has a loyal spin doctor who would never betray his secrets.

Sidekick could be his daughter, son, or protégé – or perhaps even a chauffeur or bodyguard.

With Persuasion d12+2 and Charisma +8, the politician would use d12+10 for Persuasion rolls, ensuring 2+ raises except on snake eyes. With 10 Connections Edges, he would be able to request the service of up to 50 soldiers each session – and unlike the minions granted by the Followers Edge, these could be easily replaced the following session if killed. The Connections Edges could also be used to obtain financial assistance, specialized experts, and all manner of sensitive information and dark secrets about his rivals and enemies.

Obviously this is an extreme example, but it shows how a character can be built around social power and influence, and the ability to control and manipulate others. The same concept could just as easily be applied to a king (who rules over various lords and their vassals), a necromancer (who calls upon the spirits of the dead to reveal their secrets and animate an army of corpses), a demonologist (who knows the true names of many demons and can command them to obey her every whim), and so on – once again, it’s all about the trappings.

Legendary Status

Here is a quick overview of the Legendary Edges listed in the Savage Worlds core rules:

Martial Arts Master: Gives the same benefit as the Novice Brawler Edge, but you can take it multiple times and the bonuses stack.

Professional and Expert: These Edges each give the same benefit as raising a Trait by one die step, but they allow you to exceed your normal maximum.

Master: This boosts your Wild Die for one specific Trait.

Tough as Nails and Improved Tough as Nails: These each provide the same Toughness bonus as the Novice Brawny Edge, but unlike Brawny they don’t also increase your Load Limit.

Weapon Master and Master of Arms: These each grant the same benefit as the Seasoned Block Edge.

Followers and Sidekick: These Edges give you minions which are not replaced if killed. The minions granted by Followers are basic Extras and are likely to die quickly in combat, while the Sidekick is a tougher Wild Card but includes additional built-in drawbacks.

As you can see, the Legendary Edges are not usually any stronger than other Edges, at least not innately – their main benefit is that they stack with existing bonuses. Their requirements are also quite narrowly focused: in addition to Legendary rank, some might require d12 in a directly appropriate Trait and/or another Edge, but that’s all. From there we can extrapolate, giving us a basis for designing new Legendary Edges for a reputation-based character, for example:

Great Renown

Requirements: Legendary

You are particularly loved or feared by one category of people, such as the media, criminals, the police force, etc. Members of the chosen category will try to avoid confrontations with you when possible, but will still react if you push them too far.

In addition, you receive a single loyal minion of some sort. This minion is a normal Extra with 4 attribute points and 8 skill points, and is replaced after about a week if killed or dismissed.

Majestic Presence

Requirements: Legendary, Command Presence

Your presence is truly awe-inspiring, and your followers rally fanatically to your call. Your “command radius” is increased to 20”.

Never Give Up!

Requirements: Legendary, Hold the Line!

Your men will fight to the bitter end in order to protect you. This Edge adds an additional +1 bonus to the Toughness of those under your command.

Royal

Requirements: Legendary, Noble

You belong to the cream of your society, with a status far beyond that of a mere Noble. You receive an additional +2 Charisma and gain access to considerable resources and benefits, although your responsibilities also increase accordingly, and not all of them can be delegated away.

The same principle outlined here could also be applied to designing other Legendary Edges.

Summary

Although Savage Worlds places a strong emphasis on combat, it is perfectly possible to create viable and interesting characters who focus on social abilities, relying on their resources and minions (and perhaps Tricks and Tests of Will) when a fight cannot be avoided.

But even if you wish to play a ferocious warrior, you should at least consider investing in one or two Edges geared towards boosting your reputation – the skalds won’t sing of your great exploits if they don’t know who you are, and your enemies won’t tremble before you if they don’t even recognize you!

Custom Wild Dice from Chessex

A couple of years ago I ordered some custom Wild Dice for Saga of the Goblin Horde, but I've been giving them to players when I run games, and recently ran out. This time I decided to order some from Chessex instead, and the new dice finally arrived (after being bounced back and forth by customs).

I have to say, I really like the new dice. The company I used last time weren't able to include very fine detail (they had to remove the text), and also had to convert the image to an outline, but Chessex were able to produce exactly what I wanted. You can see a comparison of the old (top) and new (bottom) dice here:

I've already given away the first die -- my son wanted one for his own collection!

I have to say, one of the things I really love about Savage Worlds is all the props. Custom cards, dice and Bennies really make the whole gaming experience feel more polished, somehow.

I wonder what other props I can come up with...perhaps a custom GM screen? :)

Saga of the Goblin Horde: Quick Start version 16

It's now been over six months since I released the last version of the SotGH Swift d12 Quick Start rules, but I've been working on this update for a while -- it adds eight additional pages and includes many changes to the rest of the document, incorporating feedback from several playtest sessions (including a very cool urban fantasy adventure ran by Manuel Sambs, using Swift d12 as a generic system).

Download it from here.

Summary of changes:

• Removed the ability check descriptors (such as "perception-based guile checks"). These were a mouthful to describe, and the game feels more intuitive without them.

• Briefly clarified how opposed ability checks work.

• Streamlined advancement (dropped experience points).

• Renamed the "abilities" to "attributes" (because of the introduction of talents).

• Added three talents (Athletics, Perception and Stealth). Arguably they could have been left as part of the attributes, however they come up very frequently during adventures, and it makes it easier to reference them if they're listed separately (if I just wrote "Guile check" instead of "Perception check", I'd then have to clarify that it was related to perception, so that players knew which Feats or Flaws applied).

• Added "Backgrounds". These are inspired by games like BoL and SotDL, Backgrounds represent broad skill categories (one might compare them to the way Common Knowledge works in Savage Worlds). I feel this is a good compromise, as it gives the characters more diversity without needing to track individual skills.

• There's no longer a once-per-session cap on Flaws, instead you can now invoke them as often as you like, however you can only recover spent Karma Points (so you can't stockpile over your starting quota).

• Rather than "Loner" being a special case, there's now a category of "Handicap" Flaws. There are also suggestions for changing Flaws during the campaign.

• The "defend" action now provides twice the normal benefit when using a shield or buckler.

• The "run" action now provides you a +2 damage bonus if you move at least 3 squares before attacking. In effect, it doubles up as a charge maneuver.

• There's a small section about "Prepared Actions". This was necessary to avoid scenarios where someone steps out from behind cover, takes a shot, then ducks back again -- if there was no way to interrupt them, it would be impossible to ever shoot them back.

• Clarified what happens when multiple complications are triggered at the same time, and added two examples of complications (friendly fire, and unstable devices).

• If you "delay" during initiative, you can take one simple action as if it were a free action. Previously this cost a Karma Point, which meant there was no incentive for Mooks to ever delay. Now, it gives you a -2 penalty to your standard actions, and you have the option of spending a Karma Point to eliminate the penalty for rush/delay.

• Added a section on mounts and vehicles.

• Taking a free attack against a foe who withdraws from close combat now causes the attacker to become Staggered. This makes it more of a tactical decision, and avoids the scenario where 8 foes retreat from combat, and you get a free attack against all 8 of them.

• Chases now use Athletics when on foot or mounted, and Agility when driving a vehicle.

• Renamed "Fast Skirmish" to "Quick Skirmish", so the rule has the same name as the Savage Worlds version of SotGH.

• Character creation now has a page on Backgrounds, and the Flaws have been slightly revised. The Feats have been redone (there's now a much larger list), they are now defined by category, with simple requirements and rules for stacking. There's also two pages on Spells.

• The introductory adventure and pregenerated characters have been updated to reflect the new changes.

I'm now fairly happy with the latest rules, they smooth off the rough edges from the previous version (such as descriptors, lack of skills, the magic system, etc). Although there will no doubt be additional refinements in the future, I now feel comfortable starting work on the generic Swift d12 rules.

Galactic and Monster Countdown Decks

Back in June, I released the Saga of the Goblin Horde Countdown Deck. Feedback has been fairly positive, so I thought it'd be fun to create a couple more decks -- a planet-based Galactic Deck for science fiction games, and a Monster Deck that can be used for fantasy, horror or even science fiction (i.e., alien races). Unlike the goblin deck, these have illustrations on every card, not just the face cards.

A couple of people suggested giving all the decks the same back, so that they could be mixed and matched. I tried it, but it really didn't work out thematically (sorry guys), so in the end I decided to give each deck its own back:

As with the goblin deck, I've released free Virtual Tabletop versions (which you can grab here and here), as well as physical decks which you can purchase here and here.

I've also teamed up with Just Insert Imagination to create a couple of discount bundles, for people who want to buy all three decks along with the Mutation Deck. This is particular nice for those who live outside the US, as DriveThruRPG only print cards in the US, and the international shipping costs are brutal; if you're buying four decks at once, it's not quite so bad.

You can grab the physical bundle here, or the print-and-play bundle here.

Saga of the Goblin Horde: Silver ENnie Award!

I entered the ENnies for the first time this year, submitting both Blood & Bile and Saga of the Goblin Horde. While I didn't expect to win anything, I figured the extra exposure (from being included in the submission list) might draw a little more attention to my work.

With 514 submissions from 251 different publishers, and only 5 nominations in each category, the competition was pretty fierce. So I was both surprised and honored when Saga of the Goblin Horde was nominated for "Best Free Game" by the judges!

Sadly I wasn't able to attend Gen Con in person, but I watched the live stream, and was very excited when Saga of the Goblin Horde won a Silver ENnie! The Gold ENnie Award went to Todd Crapper, for his excellent High Plains Samurai: Legends -- you can see the full list of winners here, and watch the recording of the award ceremony here (Best Free Game starts at 23:37).

As far as I can tell, this is the first time a Savage Worlds fan licensed product has won an ENnie, and I hope it will encourage more people to take fan products seriously. It was also the only Savage Worlds product to win a 2018 ENnie Award (although this is certainly no reflection on those other products, as they had to compete with some much bigger industry names).

I know there are veteran game designers who pick up loads of awards, but this was the first product I'd self-published on DriveThruRPG, and the ENnies really help draw attention to my work. Even though Saga of the Goblin Horde is free, I do sell related products (like the Configurable Map and the Countdown Deck), and have plans for many more in the future, including the Swift d12 version of Saga of the Goblin Horde.

Of course I couldn't have done it without the support of my fans, so I'd like to give a huge thank you to everyone who voted for me! I'll also be releasing the new adventures I ran at Savage Con as soon as I've finished writing them up.

Savage Con: What a Ride!

At the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend Savage Con, the UK's only Savage Worlds convention. It was a pure gaming event, with three time slots on Saturday and two on Sunday, and three different games for each time slot. All of the games looked good, so I had to pick carefully.

I drove up to Redhill with an old friend of mine (Steve), and as he didn't have much experience with Savage Worlds (or know most of the settings), he decided to sign up to the same games as me. Unfortunately I came down with a rotten cold just before the con, and lost my voice, but I gave it my best shot! Here's a quick breakdown of the games I attended.

Saturday

Game 1: Deadlands - The Taxidermists Tale

Owen Lean is a Savage Worlds freelancer who has worked on a number of different projects. While I never really got into Deadlands, I've heard a lot of good things about this particular One Sheet (which he wrote for Pinnacle), so I jumped at the opportunity to join his game.

We had an absolute blast! Owen provided a selection of pregenerated characters with strong ties to each other and the adventure (he really should release these for other people, they're a perfect fit for The Taxidermists Tale!), and the players worked well together as a team.

While Owen has a natural knack for GMing and improvisation, and obviously knew the adventure inside out, I think we still managed to give him one or two surprises! But he just rolled with it, and kept the Bennies flowing, even when I shot the Big Bad for 6 wounds!

Game 2: Punted in the Bonce

Think "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" meets "Only Fools and Horses". This adventure was written by Alexis Hunt, but it was run by Nikk Lambley (both are hosts on the TTT Podcast), and he did an amazing job.

Steve said this was his favorite game at the con, because he understood the setting, and knew what sort of things he could do. I think this was probably my favorite as well, by a narrow margin—although all of the GMs were top-notch, and I'd be very hard pressed to choose a favorite, the party dynamic we had in this particular game was a perfect fit for the scenario.

There were five players, with nobody dominating the group or taking a backseat role, and we were able to reach a reasonably quick consensus on how to execute our heist (and because it was a sandbox game, it really was entirely our own plan). Nikk is really good at doing different NPC voices, and he reacted to our plans without trying to lead us in any particular direction. I think his GMing style would be a perfect fit for a more freeform game like Blades in the Dark.

Game 3: Aliens vs Rednecks

Another humorous game, this one co-written by Alexis Hunt and Eric Lamoureux, and run by James Clarke (who is also a host on the TTT Podcast). The PCs are aliens attempting to kidnap a pageant winner from a small redneck town, as they need her DNA to save their planet.

James did a fantastic job of GMing—his NPC voices and impressions were hilarious, and the adventure had all sorts of twists and turns, with some very memorable scenes (such as riding on a lawn mower with a zombie, and licking a corpse during a funeral). James also created some really cool thematic props, and added a truly disgusting conclusion to the adventure.

I really enjoyed the game, but with just two players (Steve and I) it didn't have quite the same group dynamic as the earlier games. With one or two more players, it would have been perfect.

Sunday

Game 1: Saga of the Goblin Horde

On Sunday morning I ran Saga of the Goblin Horde for Alexis, Nikk, James, Pete and Steve. In retrospect I should have insisted that the louder players sit at the back of the table, so I apologise to Pete for not always responding, but I hope everyone had fun.

Most of my One Sheets take me around 2-3 hours to run, depending on the size of the group, and this time I had a 4 hour time slot. So I decided to prepare three adventures, and just squash them down as needed on the day, depending on how much time I had left. The adventures were connected to each other, and I will release them as a three-part mini PPC when I get the chance to write them up properly.

The first adventure drew inspiration from heist movies such as The Italian Job and The Bank Job, except it involved stealing a Hand of Glory rather than money, so I called it "The Hand Job". The second adventure was called "Hole of Glory", and involved using the Hand of Glory to gain entrance to an underground lair. The third adventure, "Mourning Wood", was a treasure hunt in a haunted forest.

Game 2: Lankhmar - Bob the Slob and Clobber Job

Although I backed the Lankhmar Kickstarter, I never read the original novels, so to me it's just another fantasy setting. I mainly signed up because I wanted to be in one of Alexis's games—and he certainly didn't disappoint!

The adventure involved tracking down and capturing a man named Bob the Slob, who had apparently ripped off the thieves guild. In theory a simple job, but of course it ended up being far from simple to execute, and as you can probably imagine (with Alexis as the GM) we got up to all sorts of shenanigans—from the rake who seduced seven women at the same time, to the toilet grappling scene, to the brutal rooftop chase, all supported by Alexis's funny NPC voices.

At the conclusion of the adventure we turned the tables on our employer, and managed to trick the thieves guild out of a huge sum of money. But of course Alexis couldn't leave it at that, so he told us that several months later we were assassinated in our sleep, after the guild discovered what we'd done :P

Summary

Steve and I had an awesome time, and really appreciated all the effort that went into the organization and planning of the event. I've been running and playing Savage Worlds since 2010, but this was the first time I've had the chance to play (as opposed to GM) a face-to-face game in English.

Saga of the Goblin Horde: ENnies voting has started!

I've published a lot of content for Saga of the Goblin Horde, but I couldn't have done it without the support and encouragement of the community. I hope I can count on your support once more in the 2018 ENNie Awards, as Saga of the Goblin Horde has been nominated for "Best Free Game", and there is some stiff competition!

Please don't forget the other Savage Worlds products that are up for nomination, either: The Seven Worlds Campaign Book (Best Adventure), Up to Four Players (Best Website), and Holy Crap: The Great Sects Change Operation (Best Supplement and Best Writing).

You can vote here: ENnies 2018 Election

To celebrate the nomination, I've also decided to release some bonus material for the setting, starting with the Goblin Princess archetype, which you can download here.

Enjoy, and thank you for your support!

Saga of the Goblin Horde: Nominated for an ENnie Award!

At the beginning of May, I saw a message about the final submission date for the 2018 ENnies, and in a spur-of-the-moment decision, I submitted Blood & Bile and Saga of the Goblin Horde. I nearly didn't bother, as I'm still very new to self-publishing, and there's a lot of fierce competition from other high-quality products -- but I figured I had nothing to lose, so I went for it.

This year there were 514 submissions from 251 publishers and creators, more submissions than any previous ENnie. So it came as a big surprise (and a great honour) to discover that Saga of the Goblin Horde has been nominated for "Best Free Game", alongside four other excellent products: Esper Genesis, High Plains Samurai: Legends, Modos 2 and Forthright!

The voting opens on 11th July and ends on 21st July, and the winners will be announced at GenCon on 3rd August.

Commission artwork: Describing what you want

Jiaxingseng recently wrote a blog post about his art development process, and included the description he gave to the artist. It's an interesting read, and somewhat different to the way I handled my goblin princess commission from Rick Hershey, so I thought I'd post my own description for comparison purposes:

The basic concept is a fairly classic swirling-dress Cinderella: http://www.thefeministwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Cinderella.jpg

However she's a goblin instead of a human, and her slippers have pointed steel toecaps (this is important because one of the adventures is a spin on the classic Cinderella story; instead of leaving her slipper at the ball, she leaves it embedded in someone's head during a brawl).

She should have a golden ball in one hand, like that in the classic "Frog Prince" story: http://theblogofteresa.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/the-frog-prince-story-1.jpg

In her other hand, she should have some sort of oversized vicious-looking blade. My initial thought was something that looks similar to the "chopper" from your Assorted Items Vol 1 art pack, which would be resting across her shoulder a bit like this: http://wallpapers.boolsite.net/srv11/Images/Wallpapers/JeuxVideos/SoulCalibur/SC_ Siegfried_02.jpg

Her skin color should be roughly a similar sort of green to the goblins on my archetypes cover.

Eye color should be yellowish (yellow-green or yellow-orange is also fine, but not red, as I'm intentionally trying to distance my setting from the Pathfinder goblins, who are usually illustrated with red eyes).

My preferred dimensions would be roughly 5.5 to 6 inches high, and 4.5 to 5 inches wide. That's ideal for a full sized internal illustration, while a slightly reduced version will still be wide enough to look good on the cover.

Other accessories and embellishments would be at your discretion, the important thing is that she should look like a extremely dangerous goblin version of a fairy tale princess*, and have the steel toecaps and golden ball for the adventure tie-ins. I could envision her having a light blue dress splattered with blood, perhaps with a spiked collar and bracers, but I'll leave that up to you to decide, depending on what you think looks best.

* She isn't really a princess in the traditional sense though, she's a chieftain's daughter, so please don't add a crown.

Rick then provided me with a rough sketch to make sure he'd covered the basics:

I replied with some further detail:

The sketch looks great, the only thing I would ask is that the sword be made longer (perhaps increase the blade length by 50%). The pitch for the first adventure is as follows:

The Princess and the Peabrain: What happens when a foolish ogre kidnaps a goblin princess from her tower, only to discover that she'd been locked in to protect others, rather than for her own safety?

I envision it as a sword she took from the ogre, so it would be far bigger than a typical goblin weapon - probably a similar length to a human sword, but much wider (just like in your sketch). The princess is monstrously (supernaturally) strong for a goblin, but still a fairly normal goblin height and build, so the sword would look particularly big in her hands.

The goblin scout in your goblin mega-pack has a distinctly female face and posture, despite being very obviously a goblin. If possible I'd like to capture a similar sort of quality, so she appears almost dainty, further emphasizing the massive sword.

And then just two days later, Rick sent me the finished illustration:

Chronicles of the Goblin Princess is still planned, but it was unavoidably delayed (I had to postpone it until I've published my Swift d12 system). I've already used the artwork in my Countdown Deck though!

Jumping the Bearsharktopus: One Sheet

A Redfang scout recently discovered a huge mound of bear excrement deep within Shadowglade Forest. For reasons that are probably best not discussed, the scout decided to thoroughly examine the dung, and found it contained the bones of several sea goblins, as well as a fishing net and even a small anchor! Has the legendary Bearsharktopus finally woken up again, after decades of hibernation? And more importantly, what does the great beast taste like? Chief Bignose wants to know!

Last week I released the Saga of the Goblin Horde Countdown Deck, and I thought it might be nice to write up some examples of how to use the saga symbols on the cards. But I always find it difficult to write hypothetical "actual play" scenarios, so I decided to turn them into a proper One Sheet adventure instead.

Get it here: Jumping the Bearsharktopus

If you want to follow the progress of Saga of the Goblin Horde, please don’t forget to sign up to the official Facebook group!

Saga of the Goblin Horde: Countdown Deck

The Saga of the Goblin Horde Countdown Deck has been released! It is available on DriveThruRPG as both a free Virtual Tabletop asset and a printed deck.

As well as being a thematic Action Deck, the cards offer three additional features:

1. There are four jokers, and each has a suit. This makes the game even more crazy, and also makes it quicker and easier to resolve situations where multiple people draw a joker (you can use the suit instead of having to make an opposed Agility roll to determine who goes first). It's also handy for situational rules like Interludes, which reference card suits but don't actually define what a joker does, or the Kickball rules in SotGH, which were designed with the Mutation Deck in mind, and therefore take into account the possibility of jokers with suits.

2. Each card has a prominent "countdown number" at the top. You can use these to determine turn order as normal, from highest to lowest, without having to reference both a rank and a suit. The idea for this was based on observing how many people get confused over which suits act first when the ranks are a tie (even many experienced players will sometimes pause for a moment to work out whether hearts or diamonds go first).

3. Each card has a "saga symbol" at the bottom. These symbols are improvisational prompts; an "elephant" symbol could represent any sort of herd creature, or just something big, or it could be interpreted as strength, stamina, wisdom, memory, loyalty, etc. Likewise the "torch" symbol might represent fire, knowledge, destruction, heat, light, exploration, and so on.

The symbols can be used for all sorts of things - they can be used instead of (or in addition to) the suit for Interludes, or as inspiration for downtime activities, or to add additional flavor to the adventure generator (draw one card for each of the five scenes), or for fleshing out complications during a chase or dramatic task, and so on.

Saga Symbols

Here are a few quick examples of "boastful tales" based on drawing three cards, the highlighted words correspond to the saga symbols at the bottom of the cards (note that the specific order doesn't matter, the idea is just to take three symbols and turn them into a story):

One day you were fishing along the shore of Windpoint Island, and lost track of time. A storm was coming in, so you set off along the causeway. But before you could reach Axehead Cove, a massive sea monster rose up from the ocean, and attempted to devour you. Fortunately you managed to cast your fishing line at it, lodge your hook in its lip, and then surf back to shore!

Long ago, you took a fancy to a lovely maiden from the Stonefist tribe, after witnessing the vicious beating she dished out during a friendly game of Kickball. You headed into the Longtooth Mountains to woo her, but her brothers learned of your plan, and you had to fight them all single-handedly!

A mushroom farmer once gave you a swig from his hipflask, and the hallucinations drove you crazy! You sprinted deep into Twilight Wood, fleeing predators that only you could see, and ended up climbing to the very top of the tallest tree in the forest. When you finally regained your wits, it took you several hours to get back down to the ground!

Back to the Roots: One Sheet

Last month GGstudio invited me to Modena Play, for my first ever gaming convention, and I was asked to run a couple of Saga of the Goblin Horde games!

I wanted to run a new adventure, but didn’t have time to create something from scratch, so I combined my favorite elements from three different adventures—the ornithopter run scene from Can of Wyrms, the war horseradishes from Root of the Problem, and the ambush cards from Dungeon Squat (the first Plot Point Episode in the setting book).

I was able to run the adventure for Giuseppe Rotondo, James Horton and Riccardo Giannico at the convention, and it was well received, so with some effort (and a few adjustments) I’ve just about managed to squeeze it into a new One Sheet!

Get it here: Back to the Roots

As always, if you’re interested in following the progress of Saga of the Goblin Horde, don’t forget to sign up to the official Facebook group!

From left to right: Giuseppe, Riccardo, myself, and James.

James even drew a doodle of the adventure!

Saga of the Goblin Horde: Configurable Map

Every so often, someone will contact me asking where abouts on the Saga of the Goblin Horde map a particular adventure takes place. Although I did work out approximate routes when writing the adventures, I didn't bother recording the information, so I usually end up sketching a rough route on a map every time someone asks.

Well, I finally decided to mark up the official routes, using PDF layers so the user can enable whichever adventure they're currently running. I also added the place names and territory labels (adjusted slightly so that they no longer overlap), along with the title and compass, hex grix, and territory fog. The result is a high resolution map that can be fully configured simply by toggling different layers.

Download it here: Configurable Map

Here are a few examples of how the map can be configured in Acrobat Reader, by selecting the "layers" tab on the left side of the screen, and choosing which layers you wish to display:

Displaying the route for Bone of Contention.

You can also display multiple routes at once if you wish.

Tribal territory.labels can replace or be combined with place names.

Modena Play: My First Gaming Convention!

Gio Dal Farra (owner of GGstudio) invited me to Modena Play this year. It took place on April 6th, 7th and 8th, and was the first gaming convention I'd ever been to! I didn't quite know what to expect, but I had a fantastic time—I met a lot of really nice people, ate some delicious Italian food, and even had the opportunity to run a few games of Saga of the Goblin Horde.

On Friday morning Alessandro Aimonetto collected me at the entrance, gave me my pass, bought me coffee and a sandwich, and provided a quick tour. After that, I had the opportunity to explore the convention at my own pace. Most of the stalls were promoting board games; I did see a couple of others that had tabletop RPGs, but GGstudio had the largest and most diverse offering.

The language barrier proved to be my biggest challenge. Although many people understood English, almost all of the games were published and played in Italian. Fortunately I was able to make a note of the games that caught my interest, and I've found that many of them are also available in English :) I also had some great conversions with several other game designers, had the opportunity to look at their work, and gained some valuable insight into the industry.

On Saturday I met Giuseppe Rotondo, James Horton and Riccardo Giannico, and ran a new Saga of the Goblin Horde adventure for them (it's called "Back to the Roots", and I will release it in the very near future). I also used the Mutation Deck I designed for Just Insert Imagination :) Giuseppe later introduced me to several other game designer friends of his, we looked at some of the things other people were working on, and we talked about Gold & Glory and Blood & Bile.

I had another short visit to the con on Sunday morning, then left at 11:30am to catch my flight, which proved to be an entire adventure in its own right!

Anyway, here are some of the highlights. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Savage Worlds

There were loads of translated Savage Worlds books (particularly for Deadlands), as well as some original Italian settings. I discussed the translation process with some of the GGstudio guys, and they raised some interesting points I hadn't really considered—for example, it wasn't enough just to translate the text of East Texas University, they also added a small section describing how the American school system works, as it's very different to the education system in Italy.

Gold & Glory

What can I say about Gold & Glory that I haven't said already? This is the ultimate toolkit for dungeon crawling in Savage Worlds, and impressed me so much that I offered to write a SotGH crossover adventure for it. GGstudio then translated my adventure to Italian, and offered it as a fold-out freebie at the con, but I don't know if they plan to release it in English as well. However I'm thinking of writing another one anyway, this time from the goblin perspective!

Fleshscape

One of the games that really caught my attention was Fleshscape, by Emanuele Galletto. It's a minimalist RPG with a very unusual setting (a sort of Lovecraftian post-apocalyptic world covered in flesh, bone and sinew, with rivers of blood and puss, where the PCs are primitive hunters fighting for survive). Emanuele does all his own artwork, and admitted that one of the reasons he chose the theme is that he's not very good at drawing buildings! The concept is really awesome though, and the PDF is available for free on DriveThruRPG, so I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

Interestingly, the Italian version of Fleshscape has been condensed down to three pages, and printed inside a custom GM screen. That means you don't buy a book, you buy a GM screen, and it contains everything you need to play! I really love that idea, and could easily see it working for other minimalist RPGs as well (in fact GGstudio also offer a game called Golconda in the same format, although I didn't have the opportunity to speak to the author, and I don't think it's available in English).

Kata Kumbas

Umberto Pignatelli is a relentless writing machine, and he produces a lot of high quality stuff. But I was particularly intrigued by his Kata Kumbas solo adventure books. These initially appeared to be pretty similar to the old "Choose Your Own Adventure books" I read when I was younger, however they're actually a lot more intricate, with lots of little secrets, clues and minigames hidden within the artwork and maps. I really appreciate clever design mechanics like that, and would love to see more of them.

Cabal

This is a new game that was being demonstrated quite extensively at the con. Cabal appears to be a sort of modern-day investigative horror/occult RPG, with a bit of a CoC/WoD vibe, and some evocative B&W artwork. I had a nice chat with the designers and they told me GGstudio are going to be translating it to English and converting it to Savage Worlds, so that'll definitely be one to look out for in the future!

Other Stuff

Of course there were loads of other interesting things as well. GGstudio had printed cloth maps for some of their settings, which is an awesome idea, and something I'd like to look into for Saga of the Goblin Horde. There were some other really nice looking games like Be-Movie, Golconda and Symbaroum, as well as Skeletons (a story game which I've read reviews about, and which I find a very intriguing concept).

I had the chance to flick through Nemezis, a setting I'd only heard of previously by name, and now I really want to play it (just based on the artwork alone)! I also saw a bunch of other products that caught my attention, such as Ultima Forsan, Night Witches, and Fiasco. I really need to start playing more games!

Summary

Overall it was an awesome and very memorable experience, and I feel very fortunate to have been invited. I made a lot of new friends, spoke to several of my fans, networked with many talented game designers, and gained a lot of insight into the RPG industry. So I'd like to say a big "thank you" to Gio and the rest of the GGstudio crew, and I look forward to seeing you again in the future!

The only thing I didn't enjoy was the trip home...