Tricube Tales: Welcome to Drakonheim

The Tricube Tales One-Page RPG for March has now been released: Welcome to Drakonheim!

“Long ago, during the days of the Cevali Empire, a mighty hero slew a powerful dragon and used her bones as the foundations of Drakonheim—the “City of Bones.” After the empire’s gradual decline and eventual collapse, Drakonheim became an independent city, an oasis in the wild lands.

Several months ago the city was attacked by a hobgoblin army. Defeat seemed inevitable, until a cabal of necromancers raised an undead horde and turned the tide of battle. Although the threat was defeated, skeletal soldiers still patrol the streets; the City of Bones has earned its nickname once again.

You are a party of adventurers, visiting Drakonheim in search of fame and riches. Maybe you’ve heard of the Gray Society—the necromancers who saved the city—and wish to meet them, or even join their order. Or perhaps you view them as a dark influence that needs to be stopped.”

I've blogged about Drakonheim quite a bit in the past, but to briefly summarize: I backed the Kickstarter for a system-agnostic setting called Drakonheim: City of Bones several years ago, and I liked it so much that I contacted the publisher and offered to write the Drakonheim Savage Companion for it, as well as convert the Heroes of Drakonheim adventures to Savage Worlds.

Now that I'm releasing monthly micro-settings for Tricube Tales spanning a range of different genres, I thought it would be fun to revisit Drakonheim, so (after asking Matthew J. Hanson of Sneak Attack Press for permission) I've gone ahead and designed a Tricube Tales micro-setting that also serves as an introductory scenario to the full setting.

You can run Welcome to Drakonheim on its own, which is ideal for a one-shot, or combine it with the Drakonheim: City of Bones and Tricube Tales books for a full campaign (perhaps using the Hack and Slash genre rule to give PCs ranks).

Heroes of Drakonheim released

The Drakonheim Savage Companion was released back in November last year, and contains all the additional rules, races and abilities needed to play in the Drakonheim setting using Savage Worlds.

But the companion wasn't the only product I worked on for Sneak Attack Press. I also converted Heroes of Drakonheim to Savage Worlds, a trilogy of adventures covering the major events leading up to the situation described in the setting book.

It's a great way to introduce players to the setting, and you can buy it here:

Heroes of Drakonheim

Or as part of a bundle with the setting and companion here:

Drakonheim Savage Bundle

There's a preview of the final adventure here, in which the heroes have to use their limited time to explore ruins, recruit allies, and prepare the city's defenses to hold off an invading army.

Drakonheim Savage Companion released

The Drakonheim Savage Companion has now been released to Kickstarter backers, and it's also available on DriveThruRPG. If you're a fan of undead and necromancy, you should definitely check it out!

You can buy it on its own: Drakonheim Savage Companion

Or bundled with the setting: Drakonheim Savage Bundle

If you're on the fence, you can also check out the free previews here, here and here. I've also talked about the setting and the companion here, and discussed the design behind the necromancy here.

For those who already have the setting, don't forget to check out my Drakonheim Character Builder, and my free One Sheets, Gray Matter and Broken Crown.

And if you haven't seen it already, my free Savage Undead fan supplement contains rules for playable undead. Although it's not specifically designed for Drakonheim, some of the Edges, Hindrances and powers are a good thematic fit.

Designing a One Sheet: Step-by-Step Example

Last week I described the eight steps I follow when designing an adventure, so now I'd like to walk through the process and create a One Sheet from scratch, showing each of the stages my adventures go through as they take shape.

For this example I've decided to create a follow-up to my Gray Matter One Sheet, which was the pilot episode in my fictitious Prophecy of Drakonheim Plot Point Campaign.

This episode (which is arguably the second half of the pilot, and not standalone like most of my other One Sheets) is called Broken Crown, and I've chosen to make it fairly "crunchy", to better juxtapose it with the "fluffy" Gray Matter adventure.

As with Gray Matter, Broken Crown assumes you're familiar with the setting, but this time I also borrowed the sewer exploration mechanics from the Heroes of Drakonheim adventure. If you're curious about the Drakonheim setting, I talked about it in more detail here and here; Heroes of Drakonheim (along with the companion) are part of the Savage Drakonheim Kickstarter - at the time of posting, there's only 16 hours left on the Kickstarter, so don't dawdle if you're interested!

If you just want the finished adventure, you can get it here: Broken Crown

Broken Crown

This adventure is a follow up to Gray Matter. The Gray Man was captured or killed in the previous adventure, but now the interested parties wish to discover where he came from - this could be the location he was guarding, or the secret lab where he was created, depending on his established origin. Unfortunately they're not the only faction who have discovered the location, and the heroes will need to compete with some rival agents.

The location contains a number of relics from the past, including an ancient broken crown, which appears to have been cleaved by a sword blow. Later investigation could reveal that the crown was once Ezarion's phylactery, which was sundered by the Band of Four and then lost to the annals of time, however that is a tale for another adventure...

Step 1: Adventure Overview

This overview is copied from the Prophecy of Drakonheim Plot Point Summary:

The heroes are hired to investigate the origins of the Gray Man, and uncover his secrets, but they soon find themselves caught up in a deadly race against other organizations. Who are these mysterious rivals, and can the heroes beat them to the prize?

Step 2: Adventure Breakdown

I split the adventure concept into five sections, with a short sentence for each:

Gray Origin: Give an overview of the mission objective depending on the Gray Man's origin and fate.

Sewer Search: Use the sewer exploration rules described in the Heroes of Drakonheim adventure.

Cavern Combat: A combat encounter in the cave, this environment has some specific effects (slippery floor, etc).

Lost and Found: The heroes discover the hidden location and recover an ancient crown.

Race against Rivals: A Chase through the catacombs against rival agents, as the heroes attempt to escape.

Step 3: Section Scope

I flesh out each of the sections with notes and additional details:

Gray Origin: Give an overview of the mission objective depending on the Gray Man's origin and fate in the previous adventure. Probable locations are a secret lab (Gray Society experiment), tomb or cache (undead guardian), or hideout (disguised opportunist). The location is hidden in the catacombs and accessable from the sewer, and the heroes have only a rough idea of the location.

Sewer Search: The heroes have to explore the sewers to try and find the appropriate entrance into the the catacombs. This can use the sewer exploration rules from the Heroes of Drakonheim adventure, perhaps with a few adjustments. The task cannot fail, but if the players do particularly badly they will be at a disadvantage in the next scene, while if they do particularly well they will receive a corresponding advantage.

Pale Killers: The heroes aren't the only ones in the sewers, and as they enter the catacombs they come face to face with a group of undead assassins. The heroes may be at an advantage or disadvantage, depending on how well they performed in the previous scene. Do these killers work for the Gray Society? Baron Karlos Vasili? Are they connected to the Gray Man in some other way? There's no way to know, because they fight to the death! This battle should include some specific special effects, such as areas of slippery floor, falling stalactites, etc.

Lost and Found: The heroes continue into the catacombs and discover the hidden location. This should require some sort of roll, with failure indicating that they blunder into a trap. The scene description should factor in the different possible locations - lab, tomb, cache, or hideout. Among the treasures, most of which have no real value except to a historian, the heroes discover an ancient broken crown. This seems to have pride of place, has obviously been examined and studied carefully, and cannot be missed. Anyone casting Sense Arcana can feel it has a lingering necromantic taint, although its active power has long since fled.

Race against Rivals: As the heroes leave the catacombs, they encounter several other groups who were presumably hired by rival factions, and there are far too many of them to fight. This turns into a Chase through the sewers, with a specific challenge and complication for each of the 5 rounds.

Step 4: Section Write-Up

I add an introduction and expand the sections into a full adventure:

In the previous adventure, Gray Matter, the heroes were hired to capture the Gray Man. Now their employer wants to hire them for another job, this time to explore the Gray Man's lair, uncover his secrets, and liberate anything of value.

Gray Origin

The specifics of this mission will depend heavily on the outcome of the previous adventure. If the Gray Man was an escaped Gray Society experiment then the hidden location is probably an arcane laboratory, while if he was the guardian of an ancient tomb or cache, the heroes will need to seek out the place he was guarding. On the other hand, if the Gray Man was just a disguised fanatic or smuggler, then the location will probably be a secret hideout.

But regardless of the specifics, the general goal of the adventure remains the same: the heroes must travel through the sewers, enter the catacombs, and recover whatever they find in the hidden location.

If the heroes were able to capture the Gray Man alive in the previous adventure, he will have been questioned physically and magically, and the characters will be privvy to additional details about the route they have to take. This advantage is represented in astract terms; award each player a Benny at the beginning of the adventure. If the Gray Man was killed in the previous adventure, the heroes will only have a rough idea of the location based on vague divinations.

Sewer Search

The sewers of Drakonheim are a danger place, and few have the courage to enter of their own volition, but the heroes must take this route if they wish to find the entrance to the catacombs.

Resolve the search as a Dramatic Task using Tracking, with the standard -2 penalty, except that there is no limit to the number of rounds - the players just keep on searching until they reach five successes. If the heroes draw Clubs, use the Random Encounter for the sewers (detailed in Heroes of Drakonheim); if they fail the roll, they are surprised by the enemy, but they may still continue with the Dramatic Task after resolving the combat.

If none of the heroes have the Tracking skill, they may be able to recruit the aid of Gozzy the Quiet.

Pale Killers

The heroes aren't the only ones in the sewers, and as they finally reach the entrance to the catacombs, they come face to face with a group of undead assassins. If the players required more than five rounds to complete the Dramatic Task in the previous scene, the assassins have time to set an ambush, and heroes are surprised. On the other hand, if the players required fewer than five rounds, it is the assassins who are surprised. If the players required exactly five rounds, neither side has a surprise attack.

It is unclear if these cloaked killers work for a rival faction, perhaps the Gray Society or Baron Karlos Vasili, or whether they are connected to the Gray Man in some other way. While they fight intelligently, they do not speak, and they fight to the death. The Game Master should field 1-3 killers per player, depending on how tough the heroes are.

Whenever one or more characters draw Clubs for initiative, the character with the lowest rank card must roll 1d6 and consult the following table, applying the effects immediately. If more than one character acts on the same initiative card, the result is applied to one of them at random.

1. The character steps on a patch of slimy rock, and must make an Agility roll at -2. On a failure he falls Prone, and cannot stand up again this round.

2. The character stumbles over a stalagmite, and must make a Strength roll at -2 or drop whatever she is holding.

3. A stalactite breaks free from the ceiling directly above the characters head. The character can attempt to dodge with an Agility roll, on a success it hits him in the shoulder rather than the head, while on a raise he's able to avoid it completely. The stalactite inflicts 2d6 damage, with an additional +4 damage if it lands on the character's head.

4. Dirt showers down on the character, dislodged by the sounds of battle, and she must make a Smarts roll to close her eyes and hold her breath. On a failure she is Shaken and suffers a level of Bumps and Bruises Fatigue, while on a success she is only Shaken, and on a raise she suffers no drawbacks.

5. The character feels ghostly hands touching his flesh and hears faint voices whispering in his mind. He must make a Fear check at -2.

6. The character accidently inhales a mouthful of dust from the stale air, and has a coughing fit. She must make a Vigor roll at -2 or become Shaken.

Lost and Found

The passage out of the sewers leads deeper into the catacombs below Drakonheim, and after a short walk the heroes reach a locked and heavily reinforced door. The door seems to be a relatively new addition, no more than a few years old.

Characters can open the door with a successful Lockpicking roll at -2, but on a failure they trigger a magical trap; everyone within a Large Burst Template centered on the door must make a Spirit roll or suffer 3d6 damage (with an Enervation trapping), as the lifeforce is drained from their bodies. It is also possible to force or break the door open, although this takes time, and will automatically trigger the trap. Once the trap has been triggered, it does not reset.

Inside the room the heroes discover a stash of ancient items, treasures of a bygone era that have relatively little value in the modern day. Rusted weapons, decayed artwork, soured wine, and more. However there are also signs of recent habitation - a dusty bed, an ink-stained, and a book shelf lined with arcane texts. Someone lived here until recently. At one side of the desk lies a twisted metal crown studded with gems. The Game Master might allow the players to discover a few other interesting trinkets scattered around, perhaps calling for a Notice roll to see how well they search, but the crown is impossible to miss.

Race against Rivals

Shortly after leaving the catacombs, the heroes run into several other groups who were presumably hired by rival factions. If the players insist on fighting, they will be heavily outnumbered (8-10 foes per player if they insist on standing their ground), so the obvious choice is to flee. The escape through the sewers should be resolved as a standard 5-round Chase, except that the complication (which occurs on Clubs) varies each round, as follows:

Round 1: Thousands of bats hang from the ceiling, and are disturbed as the characters rush past. Complication: Make a Spirit roll or become Shaken.

Round 2: The stench in this area of the sewer is overpowering. Complication: Make a Vigor roll or suffer a level of Fatigue.

Round 3: This part of the sewer splits into a labyrinth of narrow corridors. Complication: Make a Smarts roll or become Shaken.

Round 4: Rubbish and refuse has piled up, and the characters have to fight their way through. Complication: Make a Strength roll or suffer a level of Fatigue.

Round 5: A narrow walkway keeps the characters dry, but several alligators swim through the nearby water. Complication: Make an Agility roll or suffer d10+d6 damage from an alligator bite.

The listed complications replace those in the Chase Complication Table, but the roll still incurs the standard penalty based on the rank of the card (i.e., -4 for a 2 of Clubs, -2 for 3-10 of Clubs, and no penalty for a Jack or better).

Some of the rivals turn on each other, but around half of them (4-5 per player) give chase, believing that the heroes have already looted the Gray Man's lair. Split the foes into a number of groups equal to the number of players, with each group representing a different faction. The enemies can make group rolls for their maneuvering trait rolls, but must attack individually. Although the heroes are greatly outnumbered, there isn't much room to maneuver; only two members of each group can attack each round.

Step 5: Trim and Polish

I'm not going to repeat the whole adventure (you can see the final text in the PDF below), but I did several sweeps through the document, changed the wording in several places, and added a couple of statblocks.

Step 6: Layout and Final Editing

I was able to reuse the Scribus template from Gray Matter, which saved some time, but it still took a while to do the layout and final editing, and I needed to choose some different artwork.

Step 7: Final Checks

I converted the hyphens to n-dashes where necessary, double-checked the layers, made sure all the fonts were embedded, and ran the assassin statblock through my analysis tool.

Step 8: Call a Friend

Normally I'd ask some friends to proofread the adventure, but I skipped this step as I was short on time (so no doubt I've missed something). However the One Sheet is generally quite presentable; it's surprising how much difference a clean layout and a little artwork can make.

The  completed One Sheet, after editing and layout. Click to download.

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Drakonheim: Character Builder and Archetypes

With a couple of days left to go, the Savage Drakonheim Kickstarter has already tripled its original funding goal, so I decided to put together a web-based character creation tool for it. You can access it here:

Drakonheim Character Builder.

As with my other character creation tools, you can start with an archetype or build the character from scratch.

Archetypes

Those who have already backed the Kickstarter may have noticed that the archetypes have a distinctly D&D-style flavor, and those same archetypes are used for the character builder.

Drakonheim started out a few years ago as a trilogy of free playtest adventures for D&D 5e: Rat's in the Sewers, Skeletal Society, and Defense of Drakonheim. Then last year, Matthew Hanson turned Drakonheim into a full setting with his Drakonheim: City of Bones Kickstarter. The setting book is system-neutral, but still maintains a bit of a D&D vibe, with the assumption of common D&D races, classes/archetypes, monsters and spells.

The golden rule for Savage Worlds conversions is to convert the flavor rather than the mechanics, however sometimes the flavor is tied to the mechanics, and such is the case here. Drakonheim: City of Bones dedicates a full page to describing nine of the common character types, each of which corresponds to one of the D&D classes, therefore when I wrote the companion I decided to represent them as SW-style archetypes. This way the companion retains the flavor of the character types described in the setting book, but does so with the same optional archetype concept established in SWD.

Savage Drakonheim Preview 3: Prepare for War

A couple of weeks ago I discussed the sewer goblins preview for the Savage Drakonheim Kickstarter, and a few weeks before that I talked about the necromancy preview. The Savage Drakonheim Kickstarter went live a few days ago, and the third preview has now been released.

This preview gives a sneak peek into the last chapter of the Heroes of Drakonheim adventure, covering the hexcrawl system I designed for the lead up to the final battle against the invading army. The heroes have less than two weeks to prepare before the enemy reaches the city walls, and must decide what they'll do - will they train a militia? Repair the walls? Recruit allies from the lizardfolk or one of the human tribes? Will they sabotage the bridge to slow down the enemy? Attempt to recover some ancient magical weapons from the past? Or perhaps the situation is dire enough to call upon some of the less savory elements of Drakonheim?

There are many options, but not enough time for all of them, so the heroes will have to prioritize, perhaps even splitting up to deal with some of the challenges. Each challenge they overcome gives some sort of advantage in the upcoming battle (which uses the Mass Battle rules), but the heroes will need to plan carefully and move quickly if they hope to tip the odds in their favor!

Download it here: Savage Drakonheim Preview 3: Prepare for War

Once again, the preview is free. If you've backed the Kickstarter, you'll already have access to the full document - but if you're still on the fence, check out this and the other previews and see if it's something you're interested in!

Savage Drakonheim Kickstarter

I first discussed Drakonheim on my blog at the end of August last year. Shortly after that I spoke to Matthew Hanson about adding Savage Worlds mechanics for it, and by the end of November I'd completed the first draft of a Savage Worlds companion. We then proceeded to fine-tune the companion in a series of back-and-forth emails, while I got to work on converting the adventures. Other than a final round of proofreading, the only thing needed now is artwork, which will be funded through Kickstarter.

The launch of the Savage Drakonheim Kickstarter was somewhat delayed (to avoid being overshadowed by Pinnacle's Savage Rifts Kickstarter), but last night it went live, and it's already hit its funding goal!

If you like my other work, I think you'll like this. If you're on the fence, why not take a look at the free previews for necromancy and sewer goblins, or download my free One Sheet adventure? 

Brief Overview of the Setting

While most settings give you information about the overall world, Drakonheim details a single city and the surrounding area. This means you can slot it into other game worlds if you wish - or you can play it as its own medieval urban fantasy setting, with the entire campaign taking place in and around the city.

I've run urban fantasy campaigns before (they're a good way of dealing with players who keep dropping in and out each session, because you can just say their characters are busy elsewhere in the city) - and Drakonheim is a really good fit for that style of campaign, as there's a lot of political machinations going on between the various factions described in the book, so there's always plenty of potential plot hooks.

It's also worth mentioning that most of the characters aren't really "good" or "evil", they just have conflicting motives and a lot of personal ambition. An obvious example would be the Gray Society - the necromancers who used their undead to save the city from an invading army (although their motives were far from altruistic, and their means less than savoury).

Overall I really like the setting, which is why I offered to write the companion for it :)

Savage Undead: Updated fan PDF

As I mentioned back in January, one of my current pet projects is to go back over my older fan supplements and make them look more professional. This is good practice for the new presentation skills I've been working on, and also allows me to experiment with different layout styles, as I want to have a much firmer idea of what I'm trying to achieve before I start tackling the design and layout for Saga of the Goblin Horde.

The new design (click to enlarge)

I released the first version of Savage Undead in October 2013, shortly before Halloween. It was only my sixth fan supplement, but even back then I wasn't particularly happy with the trade dress; I couldn't find a suitable piece of full-page artwork for the cover, so I enlarged an undead figure illustration and placed it on a public domain fog background (which actually looks more like a plain gray background).

The old design (click to enlarge)

With the Drakonheim kickstarter rapidly approaching, and the setting's strong focus on necromancy and undead, now seemed the perfect time to give Savage Undead a facelift. But I didn't want the new changes to be purely cosmetic; as I redesign each supplement, I'd also like to add some extra content (for example, I added five monsters to the revised Savage Frost Giants supplement).

Savage Undead provides guidelines for balancing playable undead, and includes 13 Hindrances, 13 Edges, and 13 archetypes. The new version also includes 13 new powers, bringing the total size of the supplement up to 13 pages.

You can download it from here: Savage Undead

The old version of Savage Undead is still available here, if you're interested in comparing the two.

I'd particularly like to thank Mathew Halstead and Manuel Sambs for their help with proofreading, and Marcelo Paschoalin for his layout suggestions.

Note: The Savage Worlds Drakonheim Companion contains a lot of necromantic Edges and Hindrances, as well as necromantic trappings, but it doesn't include any new powers - so Savage Undead should complement it nicely.

Savage Drakonheim Preview 2: Sewer Goblins

Three weeks ago I talked about the necromancy preview for the upcoming Savage Drakonheim Kickstarter, which you can sign up for here. The second preview has now been released, and this one covers the goblins living in the city sewers, so I thought I'd give it a quick mention.

The preview includes the goblin race, along with two new Racial Edges (Low Blow and Scrounger), which is actually everything you need to play as a goblin. Even if you're on the fence about the Drakonheim setting, you could still use this PDF to add a new PC goblin race to your fantasy games.

There's also a sneak peek (with some spoilers) into part of the first chapter of the Heroes of Drakonheim adventure, along with statblocks for two of the goblin NPCs the players will encounter.

You can download it here: Savage Drakonheim Preview 2: Sewer Goblins

It's free, so why not check it out? If nothing else, it'll give you an extra race you can add to your fantasy campaigns! And if you're interested in keeping an eye on the Drakonheim Kickstarter which launches later this month, don't forget to sign up to the mailing list!

Gray Matter: One Sheet for Drakonheim

Last month I discussed how to go about designing a Plot Point Campaign based on a roleplaying setting, and used a fictitious Drakonheim Plot Point Campaign as an example. My blog post was even mentioned by Ron, Kristian and Clint on Simply Savage: Episode 006 – You Down with PPC? (Yeah, You Know Me), which was quite an honor!

The Kickstarter for the upcoming Savage Worlds Drakonheim Companion is rapidly approaching (you can sign up for notifications about it here), so this week I decided it might be fun to turn the first episode of my fictitious Plot Point Campaign into a Savage Worlds One Sheet.

You can download it from here: Gray Matter

The title of the One Sheet has a double meaning: the antagonist is believed to be an intelligent undead (he uses his "gray matter"), and the adventure itself concerns a "matter" for the "Gray" Society.

This is actually my fifth One Sheet, but this time I wanted to try something a bit different.

My other One Sheets are all very linear and "crunchy", using a lot of mechanics. This approach works very well (interestingly enough, I've found such adventures can even be played without a GM!), however I wanted to practice writing other styles of adventure as well, so this time I've tried the opposite extreme; Gray Matter is very "fluffy" and deliberately vague, giving suggestions rather than specifics, so that each GM can run it differently. There are also multiple endings (a concept I first toyed with in Dark Queen's Gambit), so the players can't ruin the surprise by reading the One Sheet.

Because it's also the pilot episode in my fictitious Prophecy of Drakonheim Plot Point Campaign, I also wanted Gray Matter to serve as an introduction to the setting, so it references over a dozen major NPCs as well as various minor NPCs from the setting, along with many of the locations and political factions.

You will obviously need the Drakonheim: City of Bones setting book to run this One Sheet adventure as written.

Savage Drakonheim Preview 1: Necromancy

Back in March I wrote a post about the Savage Worlds Drakonheim Companion, which I'd written for Sneak Attack Press. What I didn't mention at the time was that I'd also converted their Heroes of Drakonheim prequel adventure to Savage Worlds - or more accurately, I'd converted the flavor of the adventure. The underlying mechanics underwent a major rewrite, as I tied in the rules for Chases, Social Conflicts, and even a Mass Battle, as well as adding some FFF rules for the dungeon crawl in the first chapter, and a hexcrawl system for the final chapter.

While both documents are complete and have been through editing, they still need artwork. The companion is around 14K words while the adventure is about 25K words, so the two books will require quite a lot of art in order to look good. Sneak Attack Press have therefore decided to run a short Kickstarter campaign to fund the artwork.

In the lead-up to the Kickstarter, they're also releasing some previews, and the first covers necromancy, including two of the new Hindrances (Charnel Taint and Morbid Obsession) and three Edges (Channel the Dead, Gray Adept and Spectral Ritualist), as well as a look at the rules for Sentient Undead.

The preview is free, so why not grab a copy and take a look for yourself?

But while I'm on the subject, I thought I'd also take this opportunity to talk a bit about some of the behind-the-scenes design ideas.

Skeletons are Really Just Zombies in Flesh Suits

The skeleton in the Savage Worlds bestiary is described as a zombie that has rotted away, however it has better stats (Pace 7 instead of 4, and +1 Agility) and loses the weakness to headshots. This raises two questions: First, why would necromancers bother using zombies instead of skeletons if the latter are superior? And second, why is the zombie vulnerable to headshots if it can survive its brain rotting away entirely?

This seems to be a bit of a genre mixup, as horror movies often have zombies that can be killed by destroying their brain. But I wanted to use the Savage Worlds Deluxe stat blocks for both types of undead, so I came up with a way to justify the discrepancy.

By default the zombie power infuses the flesh and brain with necromantic energy. This is why a zombie is vulnerable to headshots (the brain is still important). However Gray Society necromancers can spend an additional +1 PP to infuse the bones as well - the resulting undead can then be stripped of flesh (becoming a faster skeleton) or left as a "fast zombie" that isn't vulnerable to headshots.

Liches are Really Just Smart Skeletons

I've seen a number of discussions from people wanting playable liches in Savage Worlds, and if any setting deserves to have such rules, it's Drakonheim. However I wanted the rules to feel like a natural extension of undead creation, almost a side-effect, rather than as something separate bolted onto the side.

I decided to approach liches with a Gray Society secret ritual called the Rite of Dark Transcendence. Performing this ritual allows the creation of permanent undead, and if you kill the victim while using the ritual on them rather than just casting the spell on their corpse, they have a (very slim) chance of retaining their intelligence and independence. This would cover the rare cases of skeletal champions, zombie lords, and so on.

However in combination with Soul Store (a new Legendary Edge), necromancers have a much better chance of surviving the ritual intact, and the result would be very much like a traditional lich - particularly if they take the Enervating Conduit Edge as well. This concept also ties in with my observations about Immortality and the Price of Death.

There is no explicit "lich" ability, in fact I don't use the word "lich" anywhere in the document. But if you read between the lines, it soon becomes very obvious that a skilled necromancer can become a lich by combining several of the new necromantic Edges. If they want to call themselves a "lich" or a "death knight" or whatever else, then that's their business!

Permanent Undead

Animated undead in D&D are permanent until destroyed, and as the Drakonheim adventure was originally written for D&D, permanent undead are an important part of the setting. But in Savage Worlds, the zombie power only lasts for 1 hour, or d6 hours on a raise, or a full day on two raises. That's simply too short for Drakonheim - and even if we'd used the Necromancer Edge from the Horror Companion, it would still be extremely difficult to raise an army of permanent undead.

But how powerful is a permanent undead, really? If provided with weapons and armor, they're a bit better than a standard soldier, but not by much. The Gray Society didn't make a difference to the defense of the city because its undead were powerful, it made a difference because there just weren't enough living troops to man the walls. If there had been a mercenary company nearby, someone with Filthy Rich could just have hired them instead, with the added bonus of avoiding the social fallout that resulted from the use of undead.

So I decided to approach the problem from that perspective - instead of paying money for a mercenary, you pay money for spell components which are used to make the undead permanent. Then it's just a matter of working out the price.

During character creation you start with $500, and can triple that amount for 2 points (the same as an Edge), or by taking the Rich Edge. So although I would never allow someone to simply purchase Edges with cash, as a very rough guideline for balancing purposes one could argue that an Edge is worth approximately $1000.

The Followers Edge grants 5 minions, and you can take soldiers if you like, so one might extrapolate that a soldier is worth $200. Note that while Followers is a Legendary Edge, Legendary Edges are not usually any stronger than other Edges, their main advantage is that their benefits stack.

But to come back to undead: I decided to set the cost at $100 per PP. That means a permanent zombie costs $300, while a permanent skeleton costs $400. That's more expensive than might be suggested by the Followers Edge, but still quite affordable. It also explains why the Gray Society use both zombies and skeletons; the former are cheaper, but if a body has rotted too much then the more expensive ritual is necessary.

Controlling Undead

I also placed limits on how many undead can be controlled at once - by default it's half your Spirit die, but there are three Edges which double the number (in addition to each providing other necromantic abilities), so if you have all three you can control a number of undead equal to four times your Spirit (which, not coincidentally, is exactly the same number as the Savage Worlds lich).

This does mean a necromancer PC could potentially have their own private army, but that's hardly a unique issue - a character with the Noble Edge can already start with their own small army, just as a character with Filthy Rich can hire one.

This solution also indirectly explains how the city watch are able to control undead and use them in their patrols, which is something they're described as doing in the setting book.

Permanent Wards

The second chapter of the Heroes of Drakonheim adventure has an encounter with a group of undead trapped by a magical ward. While it would probably have been fine to handwave the ward as "a special NPC ability", I personally prefer it when the mechanics are clearly explained and even usable by players.

So in the above encounter, the necromancer obviously had the Spectral Ritualist Edge, and created a ward using the barrier power with a Spectral trapping.

Necromancy Edges and Trappings

When I worked on Guild of Shadows, I ran into the problem of the Thief Edge being a no-brainer (due to its importance in an urban stealth-based setting). I worked around this issue by adding two alternatives, Highwayman and Urban Ranger, so that players wanting that much-coveted +2 Stealth bonus had the choice of three different Professional Edges.

I applied the same sort of reasoning to necromancers in Drakonheim. There are three new necromancy trappings that can be applied to powers: Ectoplasm, Enervation and Spectral.

Each trapping also has its own specialist Edge (Ectoplasmic Sculptor, Enervating Conduit and Spectral Ritualist), representing the three different paths to power a necromancer can take. Although it's obviously possible to mix and match, the Edges each tie in with one of the trappings, and so they tend to encourage specialization.

Summary

Quite a lot of thought went into the design of the Savage Worlds Drakonheim Companion, and I think fans of necromancy will find a lot of useful mechanics for their games, but the companion will be of the most use when combined with the Drakonheim: City of Bones setting book.

But don't forget to take a look at the free necromancy preview, and feel free to share your thoughts and spread the word about the upcoming Kickstarter.

Design Overview for a Plot Point Campaign

In my previous blog post I looked at Plot Point Episodes vs Savage Tales vs One Sheets, and that expanded on an earlier blog post about using TV Shows as Plot Point Campaigns. If you've read those posts you should have a fairly good idea of how to go about creating a Plot Point campaign by reverse engineering a TV show, turning each episode into either a Plot Point Episode or a Savage Tale depending on its importance to the central plot.

But what about designing a Plot Point Campaign based on a roleplaying setting, which isn't already broken down into convenient episodes? Many Savage Worlds settings already include their own Plot Point Campaign, but perhaps you're running one that doesn't - or maybe you've designed your own custom setting, and now you want to add a Plot Point Campaign. Where do you start?

Disclaimer: It should go without saying that this is all my personal opinion. There's no "one true way" to write a Plot Point Campaign, but this approach works for me, so perhaps others may find it of interest as well.

Identify the Overarching Plot

It's obviously necessary to define the central plot of the campaign before writing the Plot Point Episodes, so let's cover that first.

Most official Plot Point Campaigns are pretty epic in scope, often to the point of being rather destructive towards their setting. Consider Necessary Evil, or 50 Fathoms, for example - the entire campaign revolves around a threat to the world, and once the heroes have defeated that threat much of the setting becomes obsolete. You can continue running the campaign after the players defeat the main villain/s of the story, but the setting will evolve into something quite different.

Of course you don't have to take things quite that far, but the campaign should at least cover a major event, otherwise it's not going to feel very cinematic. If you're creating a Plot Point Campaign for Eberron, for example, then it might be set during the Last War, or it could involve a world-shattering event instigated by the Lord of Blades, or a second planar incursion of Xoriat, etc - something of major significance to the setting.

In addition to the main thread, I also like to weave in a couple of subthreads, to help give the story depth. These subthreads should support the main thread without overwhelming it.

Summarize the Episodes

Once you've defined the overarching plot, it's time to break your story down into a series of Plot Point Episodes. Necessary Evil provides a Plot Point Summary with around 50 words per episode, and I find this an excellent way to design the outline for the campaign, giving a short overview of each episode.

I find that 10 Plot Point Episodes is a good number to aim for, although anything in the range 8-12 is fine for most campaigns.

Example: Drakonheim: City of Bones

One of my recent projects involved writing a Savage Worlds companion for the Drakonheim setting. Although it doesn't include a Plot Point Campaign, my work did require me to become very familiar with the setting, making it an easy candidate to use as an example.

The Drakonheim setting contains a lot of great content for a campaign, but a few things in particular scream out "epic" to me. These are the three threads I would probably choose to weave together into the overarching plot:

Central Thread: Great Wyrm

The recently-awakened dragon Kolrax has started using his potent magic to secretly bind lesser beings to his cause, demanding obedience from a hobgoblin clan as well as a clandestine organization within Drakonheim. But how does such a proud and arrogant creature view a city that was built with the bones of his own mother, and how will he use his expanding influence?

Subthread 1: Band of Four

The Band of Four were renowned heroes from the Golden Age of Drakonheim, who were killed in a backlash of necromantic energy after destroying the Lich King Ezarion. A seer prophesied that they would return again in Drakonheim's greatest hour of need, but such prophecies often have an unexpected twist.

Subthread 2: Ancient Lore

The Gray Society is an ancient order of necromancers, who now walk openly in the streets of Drakonheim, after saving the city from a hobgoblin invasion. Some of their researchers have recently rediscovered a long-lost technique for creating intelligent undead, but where did they discover this dark ritual? For not since the time of Ezarion has a mortal wizard been able to achieve such a feat.

Plot Point Summary

Here's my Plot Point Summary for a fictitious Drakonheim Plot Point Campaign, split into 10 episodes. Obviously this summary includes a lot of references to information found within the setting book, so I'm afraid much of it may sound obscure if you're not familiar with Drakonheim - but the underlying principle should still be fairly self-explanatory, and can be applied to any setting.

Episode 1: Gray Matter

A menacing creature has emerged from the sewers, and hunts the streets of Drakonheim. Is it an escaped experiment of the Gray Society? An ancient guardian disturbed by goblin diggers? Or an elaborate setup designed to turn the public against the necromancers? This pilot episode introduces the heroes to the setting, and to the cutthroat politics of Drakonheim's major factions.

Episode 2: Broken Crown

The heroes are hired to investigate the origins of the Gray Man, and uncover his secrets, but they soon find themselves caught up in a deadly race against other organizations. Who are these mysterious rivals, and can the heroes beat them to the prize?

Episode 3: Taste of Power

A rash of crimes has recently hit a number of key businesses in Drakonheim, and the only thing connecting them is an addictive elixir that has a strange effect on those who drink it. But what is the source of these potions, and who is selling them to the criminal underground?

Episode 4: Sleeper Agent

Strange things are afoot in Drakonheim, and someone powerful is trying to use the heroes as pawns in a deadly game. But who is pulling the strings, and what is their true goal? Can the heroes uncover the identity of this mysterious figure before it is too late?

Episode 5: Eyes of the Enemy

The hobgoblin army was scattered when Hazdrol was killed, but a new war chief has swiftly risen to prominence, rallying the clans to his cause. However there's something disturbingly familiar about his appearance - can the heroes connect the dots and uncover the truth?

Episode 6: Ezarion's Legacy

The pieces of an old mystery begin to fall into place, as the heroes discover a very dark secret. But even a cursed sword cuts both ways, and Drakonheim will need every advantage it can get if the looming threat proves real.

Episode 7: Drums of War

Drakonheim faces war once again, and the stakes are even higher than last time. The heroes must call upon all their allies, old and new, if the city is to have any hope of survival.

Episode 8: Return of the Four

As Drakonheim stands on the brink of war, a great prophecy is finally fulfilled, but it comes at a terrible price that none had predicted, and which few are willing to pay.

Episode 9: Bone Legion

Secret organizations finally show their hands, revealing their secrets as the armies clash, and Drakonheim finds itself in the midst of war on all fronts. The fate of the city hangs in the balance, and the future looks grim.

Episode 10: Blast from the Past

With the armies locked in terrible battle, the true enemy finally reveals himself, and only the heroes have the means to stop him. But how far are they willing to go, and how much are they willing to sacrifice, to save the people of Drakonheim?

Writing the Adventures

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, a typically Plot Point Episode would probably be in the region of 1200 words, while a typical Savage Tale would usually average around 1000 words, and these would be structured in a similar way to a One Sheet. Hopefully you've already written a few One Sheets before attempting to tackle a full Plot Point Campaign - so now you just have to apply the same approach to each of the Plot Point Episodes and Savage Tales.

Savage Tales

The Drakonheim setting contains eight adventure outlines that are each around the size of a Savage Tale and structured in a very similar way, and these adventures introduce the players to several important locations and people, so we're already got a head start. However I'd probably want to add at least another dozen Savage Tales, perhaps even twice that, if I wanted something comparable in size with other Plot Point Campaigns.

Adventure Generator

Most Plot Point Campaigns also include a random adventure generator, as this is a great way to add extra adventures on the fly. The Drakonheim companion already includes an adventure generator, but if you're thinking of creating your own I'd recommend taking a look at other setting books, as well as online adventure generators - you don't need anything complex, just a skeleton of a story for the GM to build upon.

Savage Worlds Drakonheim Companion

Back in August last year I wrote a blog post entitled "Musings about Necromancers, Drakonheim, and Slottable Settings", in which I talked about the latest setting from Sneak Attack Press: Drakonheim: City of Bones.

I wasn't involved in the setting book, but I did back the Kickstarter, and the completed book was released last month. For some unknown reason DriveThruRPG insisted on withholding my name when I wrote a review on their site, but here's a copy and paste of what I had to say about the setting book:

This system-neutral setting book is around 32K words, and describes the history, geography, people and politics of the city of Drakonheim. A fragile peace has been reached in the aftermath of a hobgoblin invasion, during which a cabal of necromancers revealed their existence to the populace, raising an undead army to defend the city. Now that the immediate threat has passed, old rivalries have returned with a vengeance, and various political factions once again maneuver for power.

In addition to being system-neutral, the city and its surrounding area are also relatively self-contained, and could be dropped into most established fantasy worlds with minimal effort. But there is easily enough content in this book to run a full campaign set in the city of Drakonheim. 

The book is 7"x10", with a professional look and nice layout, and it offers both bookmarks and layers. The illustrations are well done and definitely fit the setting, they're all in colour and by the same artist (so the style is consistent), and there is an average of about one piece of art every two pages (including quite a few portraits). There are also two full-page maps, one of the city itself, and one of the surrounding area.

Overall, this product exceeded my expectations. 

Note: The invasion itself was actually described in Heroes of Drakonheim, an earlier trilogy of free adventures that also make an excellent introduction to the setting. Although these adventures were originally written for D&D, anyone using a system-neutral setting shouldn't have trouble adapting it, and the publisher has made it available for free.

As you can probably tell, I was impressed with the final product. But why am I discussing a system-neutral setting on my Savage Worlds blog? The answer is fairly straightforward: I contacted Matthew Hanson shortly after making the aforementioned blog post, and asked if he'd be interested in me writing a Savage Worlds companion for Drakonheim. He accepted, I created it, and after some back-and-forth discussion and polishing the content is now complete. The companion still has to go through final editing, and requires additional artwork, but I've now been given the okay to talk about it. So here goes...

Savage Worlds Drakonheim Companion

The Savage Worlds Drakonheim Companion is a little under 14K words, but it's almost entirely crunch, as it's designed to be paired with the setting book - for readers who aren't used to thinking in terms of word count, the two Drakonheim books will have a combined word count that's around the same as Pinnacle's Lankhmar: City of Thieves setting book. So Drakonheim can be played as a full-sized Savage Worlds setting, but split into two books.

The companion includes stats for the 9 archetypes described in the setting book, 2 new races (goblin and hobgoblin), 6 new Hindrances, 22 new Edges, 5 pieces of gear, 5 deities, 3 new power trappings, expanded rules for necromancers and undead, full stats for all 29 of the major NPCs described in the setting book, several NPC archetypes and monsters, and an adventure generator.

Around half the Hindrances and Edges (and all three of the new power trappings) relate to undead, and there are rules for creating permanent undead as well as becoming a lich at Legendary rank, so I could easily see the companion doubling up as a sort of "necromancer's handbook".

However you'll get the most out of the companion by pairing it with the setting book. If you're a fan of Savage Worlds, and you want to use the Drakonheim setting, then I think you'll find the upcoming companion extremely useful.

Musings about Necromancers, Drakonheim, and Slottable Settings

I like necromancers. I've always thought they were one of the cooler mage concepts (with serious anti-hero potential), and I love the idea of all those icky minions. I enjoyed reading Brian Lumley's Necroscope series, and Gail Z. Martin's Chronicles of the Necromancer, and of course I adored Bauchelain and Korbal Broach in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. When I played Warhammer Fantasy Battle long ago, I usually used necromancer-lead undead armies (and I was gutted when the 3rd edition rules quadrupled the point cost for the rank and file undead), and in computer games I usually play a necromancer when available.

Sadly most roleplaying settings that include rules for necromancers define them exclusively as bad guys. In Shaintar, for example, necromancers are only available as NPCs. Even in the Eberron setting, where the nation of Karrnath used undead soldiers to defend its borders during the Last War, necromancy is viewed as evil.

However while some forms of necromancy could certainly be classified as evil (particularly in relation to draining, binding or corrupting souls), skeletons and zombies are typically portrayed as mindless and soulless - if you ignore the icky aspect, they're not really any different than robots.

Raising the Dead for a Living

One of the first adventures I ever ran for my current group started out rather clichéd - the PCs were passing through a settlement that was being terrorised by a local necromancer. The villagers spun a tale of murder and dark magic, of abductions and grave robbing, and begged the PCs to deal with the threat...

The truth was somewhat different. The necromancer was using animated skeletons to perform manual labour on nearby land that he'd purchased from the local lord. He hadn't killed or abducted anyone, but he'd paid several of the villagers a tidy sum in advance for the right to use their corpses after they died, and the contract was legally binding. The villagers were more than happy to take the money while they were alive, but had a change of heart when it came to upholding their end of the bargain, and many of them didn't want to hand over the dead bodies of their relatives. They figured a party of gullible and violent adventurers would be the perfect solution to their dilemma.

Thrown into the mix was an exceptionally stupid NPC paladin (I was poking fun at the D&D dump stat stereotype), who was already in the area attempting to deal with the undead "menace", and decided to join forces with the party. This lead to the following memorable exchange as the group scouted out the necromancer's base:

Paladin: Let's attack the base! Full-frontal assault! CHARGE!

PC: Wait! It's a fortified building with archers on the walls and heavily barred gates, you'd need a battering ram to get in there...

Paladin: Ah, tactician eh? I like the way you think!

The paladin later died while trying to single-handedly batter down the gates with an improvised ram, but his catchphrase lived on, and for a long time afterwards any blatantly obvious suggestions would be met with "Tactician eh?" 

The PCs never did kill the necromancer. He didn't drive them off with undead or dark magic, but with legal threats.

The memory of that adventure came flooding back when I read Drakonheim. In the original Drakonheim adventures, a cabal of necromancers are raising an undead army to defend their city from a hobgoblin invasion. The full setting takes place in the aftermath, with necromancers now working openly with the support of the mayor. The setting even has an overzealous paladin who keeps breaking the law by attacking the undead!

Drakonheim: City of Bones

Created by +Matthew Hanson (author of the Broken Earth and Kronocalypse settings for Savage Worlds), Drakonheim is a system-neutral setting, although it expands on a trilogy of earlier adventures that he wrote for D&D Next. As a result, Drakonheim still maintains a bit of a D&D vibe, with the assumption of common D&D races, classes/archetypes, monsters and spells.

Of course this is ideal for me, as it fits perfectly with the magic system in Savage Vancian Magic, and with my Monster Finder bestiary. It would therefore take relatively little effort to convert the original three adventures, and because the Drakonheim setting book is pure fluff, it wouldn't need any conversion at all.

For those who prefer to stick with official sources, the Horror Companion would make a good source of Edges and powers for the Gray Society (the organisation of necromancers who defended Drakonheim), and the Fantasy Companion bestiary should cover most of the monsters.

Slottable Settings

Because the setting focuses on a single city, Drakonheim could also be inserted into established settings - much like Kurstwahl, the city from Guild of Shadows (and as both have pseudo-Germanic names and dark themes, I could very easily imagine using both cities in the same fantasy world).

I'm actually a very big fan of this slottable-setting approach, with detailed cities that can be dropped into existing campaigns as needed, fleshing out places that the PCs are visiting. I own far more settings than I could ever realistically run as full campaigns, but slottable locations can simply be blended into my current campaign as new places to explore.