Category: Rules Lawyering

Legion of Liberty Design Note: Mass Battles

Legion of Liberty Design Note: Mass Battles

Developing a setting based on a historical, large scale war requires that the gamemaster consider how the players will participate in major battles. Fortunately, Savage Worlds provides a great starter framework with the Mass Battle rules. However, in the world of Legion of Liberty, superhumans are more powerful on a battlefield than, say, even a […]

Legion of Liberty Design Note: Arcane Backgrounds

Once we had the initial concept of superheroes in the American Revolution, the next major mechanical question was how to model the superpowers. Savage Worlds offers at least three obvious alternatives for superpowers between Deluxe and Adventure editions – Arcane Background: Superpowers from Deluxe, Arcane Background: Gifted from Adventure, and the Superpowers Companion. Of the […]

Savage Temeraire – Dragon Combat

Some of the most exciting scenes in the Temeraire books are the aerial combats between dragons, or even whole formations of dragons. The question is, how would we approach that using Savage Worlds? For a formation level battle, the mass combat rules are certainly an option, but for smaller battles, I think the first approach […]

Savage Temeraire: Longwings

The Longwings are, with the Regal Coppers, the central combat dragons in the British Aviator Corps. What makes them unique is their acid-spitting ability, a truly lethal combat skill that can cause major damage to ships, fortifications, and enemy dragons alike. Longwings are also noted for the quirk of only accepting female captains, with the […]

Savage Temeraire: Yellow Reaper

The Yellow Reaper is a much more modest-sized dragon than the enormous Regal Copper, and is a staple dragon of Britain’s medium-weight forces. Yellow ReaperAgility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d12+4, Vigor d10 Size: +7, Natural Armor +1, Flight 24, Climb 2, Toughness: 13/12 Aerial Acrobat: Receives a +2 on Chase rolls for aerial […]

Savage Temeraire: The Regal Copper

OK, so we have an idea of what it would mean to build a dragon PC – let’s look at some specific races, starting with the Regal Copper. Since dragon breeding fixes characteristics such as size and strength, dragon PCs would have set values for attributes, but would be able to select skills and dragon-specific […]

Just for Fun: Savage Temeraire

Sometimes, you just have to get your Christmas present yourself. Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series was one of the settings on my Christmas wish list, so I thought I’d take a periodic stab at putting the setting together here. The Dragon in the Room To start with, we need to deal with the obvious question – who wants to […]

Flash Gordon Review Update: Cliffhanger Cards

Flash Gordon Review Update: Cliffhanger Cards

I just downloaded the Cliffhanger cards for the Savage World of Flash Gordon, and they present some interesting possibilities for improvisational gameplay. I’m still thinking these might present a challenge for the GM, but looking them over in detail, I can certainly see some possibilities for how to implement them in various games, not just […]