Saturday, October 17, 2015

A Reboot For A Gothic Horror Classic

PEG are calling for backer on the reboot and rewrite of the spiffing Rippers setting for their Savage Worlds engine.

Werewolves, vampires and Jack the Ripper are examples of The Enemy. The Good Guys fight them, and neutralize The Enemy's (un)natural advantages by ... stealing their organs and surgically implanting them in their bodies.

Unfortunately this causes a strain on the body and mind, leading to organic rejection of the new parts and looming madness. Omelets, eggs etc.

You can get the original version in PDF from DrivethruRPG or RPGNow. It is my belief that these are actually the same outfit with different branding, though I only have personal observation of the sites to back that up.

You can support the Kickstarter project for the new version too.

You will also need a copy of the Savage Worlds core rulebook, which can be had in PDF for for about $10.

This sort of cinematic action/adventure horror setting is exactly what the Savage Worlds game engine was written to handle, so the game should play well. Actual game mechanics are simple to pick up and very easy to mediate as a GM.

The system has its weaknesses, mostly in the way damage has a nasty tendency to snowball at the end of a session because for most of the game players have the ability to shrug off damage suffered by their PCs using "bennies". As the game session nears its end, the players run out of bennies. This tends to manifest as a sudden escalation of PC casualties.

Not only that, players only have three "wounds", the fourth putting them down for the count and possibly killing them (though that is not the most usual outcome). This contrasts rather starkly with other systems that use "Hit Points", systems in which combat is a matter of slow attrition rather than sudden overwhelming catastrophe.

That said, I'm fond of the system for a number of settings, and have been toying with the idea of a short "Rippers" campaign for a while. Now I have a new incentive.

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