Christmas Wish List – Savage Settings

OK, Santa – I’ve been hoping for some of my favorite properties to be Savaged, and here’s my wish list.

The Vorkosigan Saga: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga is probably my all-time favorite book series; I’ve been reading it since my days of part-time high school work in the local bookstore. It’s classic space opera, complete with politics, genetic engineering, espionage, mysteries, and adventure. A GURPS version of the universe exists, but I’d love to see a Savage Worlds version supporting players as bold mercenaries making their way through the galaxy.

Temeraire: Take the Napoleonic Wars, and add dragons. This is the basic recipe for Naomi Novik’s Temeraire books, following the career of the eponymous dragon and his ex-Navy captain and best friend, Lawrence. The Napoleonic era is my favorite historical period, and Novik’s series follows the dragons of Britain as they and their human crews fight to preserve their home against the threat of French invasion. A military-style Savage Worlds adaptation similar to 50 Fathoms or Weird Wars would fit perfectly, although I suspect everyone would want to play the dragon.

DragaeraSteven Brust‘s fantasy novels about the human assassin Vlad Taltos living among the “elves” of Dragaera give you gritty urban settings, sorcery, witchcraft, crime syndicates, and meddling gods. It’s a different fantasy setting than anything I’ve seen for Savage Worlds, and mixing some fantasy elements with the detective stories of Deadlands Noir would be a perfect fit.

Geekomancy: You’d have to go deep into superhero territory, but I’d love to see a campaign based on Michael Underwood’s Geekomancy series. The premise is that certain people have the ability to do magic based on various cultural mechanisms; a Geekomancer can tap into collective fandom and create magical effects by, for example, destroying a Magic card or briefly empowering a toy lightsaber. Aside from Geekomancers, the world includes other magicians like Celebromancers and (the one I find most amusing) Bro-mancers. I have no idea how a designer could possibly make this setting work, but I’d love to see it.


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