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Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin
by Dillard R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/29/2020 19:11:25

I have been meaning to write a review for years. This is one of the best products for SW out there. Not just in the fantasy/steampunk genre. It is too bad that there hasn't been a SWADE conversion document for this. If you want everything you've asked for in a SW setting get this book.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin
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Old School Fantasy #1: A Keg for Dragon (Savage Worlds Edition)
by Jessica C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/07/2017 17:42:49

I ran this as a 6 hr game for people who had never played anything in the SW system before. With the addition of a single encounter it was essentially the perfect length. In addition it was well written with excellent NPC definition and the feel of a classic old-school game.

The layout of information was good although an easy way to flip between enemies and the current encounter would have earned that final star. Experienced players might find the adventure too railroad-y but if the GM can think on their feet this can be overcome to facilitate player enjoyment without being overly prescriptive.

Overall this makes an excellent introductory game for a campaign or can be easily slotted into an ongoing fantasy SW game for when the GM just needs to take a step back from writing. I think that newer GMs or players with less experience might benifit most from this as they are less likely to have an issue with the railroad-ing nature of the plot.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Old School Fantasy #1: A Keg for Dragon (Savage Worlds Edition)
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Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin
by Neil P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/01/2016 22:18:40

I wanted more options for monks in an old school fantasy adventure for a con under Sagae Worlds. This was recommended to me. It is darn good. The new edges fit what I weanted and were very evocative, and the new arcane background was dead on to recreate the mystic qualities of the class. As for the rest, the mileu is not one I am really into, but I did look it over and it seems like a pretty good background with lots of adventure opportunity.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin
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Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin
by Donald M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/22/2016 19:42:41

Discovered this setting by accident and bought it because it was on sale. Within 2 hours I was back and buying guidebooks and kesshi tales. This is one of the most well-designed settings for Savage Worlds I've seen. It immediately jumped to the start of my group's must-play list. Make sure you pick up the free map and character sheets from the Reality Blurs website.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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tremulus: classic playbooks
by davidicus s. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/16/2015 12:56:26

seems detailed and colorful, but people who aren't aware should know up front it's of no use without the "world engine" (i guess--i'm still unclear what's what in this strange system).



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
tremulus: classic playbooks
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Agents of Oblivion
by David P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/18/2014 23:41:43

Disclaimer: This is from the point of view of someone GMing for the first time. I've played in several Savage Worlds campaigns, and recently decided to try my hand at GMing. I investigated a bunch of different settings material, and Agents of Oblivion (AoO from now on) sounded really promising. Here are my impressions after four sessions (spoiler alert: they aren't positive).

I believe AoO fails in two crucial ways: It violates the Fast! Furious! Fun! ethos of Savage Worlds, and Horror and Espionage don't really mix that well after all. These two elements overlap, as I will attempt to explain.

Firstly, AoO introduces a whole new set of Gear, Spytech/Special Training, and SUDS (Single Use Devices). Gear is cool new equipment, and Spytech/Special Training/SUDs are basically Edges in the form of physical objects. These items are "purchase" using a new currency called Resource Points. There is also the concept of Data Chips, which are a form of upgrade (can give agents skill upgrades or Edges). All of this stuff can be changed out at the beginning of each mission. Sounds cool, right? It sure seems that way, until everyone is sitting at the table, I outline the mission parameters... and the players spend 45 minutes deciding what Gear/Spytech/etc they want to purchase. Not exactly Fast and Furious. I plan to work around this by sending out a mission briefing to all my players a few days beforehand, but I wish I didn't have to.

My second point is that Horror and Espionage don't really mix, despite the "perfect cocktail..." tagline of this book. To my mind, Horror is about facing things you aren't physically, mentally and/or emotionally equipped to handle. AoO, as you can see from the previous paragraph, is all about the equipping the players. A Novice agent, with their starting free skill points in Fighting/Shooting/Notice/Tradecraft, Agency Branch bonuses and Resource Point equipment purchases, looks more like a typical Seasoned character.

On top of that, AoO uses the "no power points" rule variant for powers. This eliminates most of the Power Edges (since they affect power points), and makes powers and power-focused characters kind of, well, over-powered. One of my players spent most of one session casting Fear over and over and over. I spend most of that session un-shaking my mooks, while they were easily picked off one by one by the other players. Sure, I can create enemies with high Spirit or immunity to Fear or an inexplicable desire to stay more than a large burst template's distance away from one another, but that means I'm spending more of my effort working around something that was already taken care of very nicely in the base ruleset.

This brings us to a phrase you'll come across many times, "The Director has final approval ..." Basically, the authors of this setting let the GM pick and choose what elements to allow or not. I've chosen not to allow anything too science-fictiony, such as data brain chips, anti-gravity devices, and the like. Honestly, though, if you tried to remove enough to make this a real horror setting you'd be removing pretty much all the cool Espionage stuff, rendering the entire first half of this book useless.

The second half of the book is for the GM (the Director, in AoO parlance). This section is both better and worse than the player section. The first 10 pages or so is a mish-mash of contradictory "secret history of the world" conspiracy nonsense. Then there's a couple pages where they talk about creating suspense and horror by limiting resouces (again, forcing the GM to work against everything given to the players in the first half of the book). There's a few more pages devoted to vague talk about the level of aliens, conspiracy, occult, horror and technology elements in your campaign. There's not much concrete, useful information there. Then another 20 pages of synopsis of various secret societies around the globe, many of which are drawn from the real world.

Finally, we get to what is arguably the only really valuable part of this book, the Mission Generator. This is 33 pages of tables you can roll against to come up with missions, plots, goals, enemies, allies, and wonderful new creatures of all sorts. I've used this to generate two missions so far, which my players enjoyed quite a bit. It gives you all the pieces, then it's up to you to connect the dots and figure out how it's all going to fit together. For example: The first mission I rolled up said the enemy organization was the diabloist group Astrum Arentum. The Main Enemy was a Mystic Ally, which meant I had to roll on the Ally table and add some Powers. I rolled a Priest. The Plot Type was Sacrifice, the Goal was Anarchy, the Target was a Corrupted Ally (Private Detective, this time), and the Ally was a Scientist, and the Complication was a Creature (a giant Dinosauroid). Put this all together, and I came up with a mission to rescue a Private Detective, who had been hired by the Scientist to investigate mysterious goings-on in the building next to his lab. The detective had become brainwashed by the group, and was unknowingly going to be sacrificed to help summon a demon to weak havoc in the city. Due to the player's interruption of the ceremony, and its close proximity to the Scientist's lab, the Evil Priest ended up summoning a T-Rex instead of a demon, and the whole thing turned into a three-way brawl in a warehouse between the Agents, the cultists, and an enraged T-Rex. Good times.

The rest of the book is devoted to detailing some sample missions/campaigns, along with a bunch of character templates (some generic, and some specific to the sample missions). The generic templates are useful, especially since they correspond to the entries on the Ally table in the Mission Generator.

So, there you have it. 33 useful pages out of 218, definitely not worth the price of entry. Maybe some of my complaints have more to do with my inexperience as a GM than any flaws in this book, but even my players have been complaining about the time-killing equipment picks and the unbalanced nature of the powers. The player I mentioned previously, who went on a Fear-casting rampage, actually volunteered to re-spec his character to be less broken. I'm currently trying to figure out how to salvage this purchase... I think I may end up reverting to pretty much vanilla Savage Worlds, but keep using the Mission Generator. That should make it a lot easier to create some suspense for my players.

I hope you find my thoughts helpful. I'm giving this thing 3/5, despite it sounding more like a 1 or 2, because it is at least well written and laid out. Basically, it's a not-so-great concept that was executed very well.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Agents of Oblivion
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tremulus: the cemetery (Ebon Eaves Expansion I)
by Thomas B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/27/2013 20:22:24

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This expansion is a little different than the others, running $10 instead of $5. On top of that, it only includes three Playbooks:

The Bereaved - Someone in mourning, needing a shoulder to lean on. Definitely NOT one to play in a one-on-one game, as a few of their moves rely on other people being present...namely, gaining Trust with others and using their Lore moves.

The Grave Digger - You can pick Moves that make him a perfectly nice guy...or you can make him a scuzzy graverobber instead.

The Mortician - Somebody's gotta prepare the bodies. The Mortician comforts folks who have just suffered tragedy, which can come in handy in a horror game.

So if it's $10 and only has three playbooks, what's the deal? The deal is that it adds more info based off of the Town Lore questions at the beginning of the game, effectively blowing up the information combinations by adding a whole other set of mysteries to the town (all kinda cemetery based).

WHAT WORKS: A slew of new options for town generation. Three new playbooks, each of which are interesting and unique in their own way, yet still tied to the cemetery setting.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The minor complaint that the cemetery results are tied to the Town Lore, so those results will be bound together regardless (though there are soooo many possible results that this becomes a very minor quibble).

CONCLUSION: Well worth it if you're looking for more than just a one shot game, as a third plot thread should get you rolling nicely. If you're just in it for the playbooks, though, that price tag might be a tad steep.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
tremulus: the cemetery (Ebon Eaves Expansion I)
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tremulus: playbook set III: madmen
by Thomas B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/27/2013 18:15:09

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Have you noticed a trend developing here? These entries have been a steady walk off the deep end, and the Madmen make the last set look normal.

The Chosen - No, not quite Buffy, or even Ash. The Chosen can be downright bizarre, perhaps touched by darkness in such a way that they now see in the dark or even breathe underwater.

The Escapee - You've lost your mind once, but you know there's crazy stuff out there. You may be hunted by the very things that led to your imprisonment, but you are powered by a desperate will now.

The Inventor - The Scientist and The Handyman pumped up to 11. More Frankenstein than Einstein.

The Sorcerer - You have a handful of magical effects on standby, and are more adept than most at casting rituals.

The Veteran - You experienced the horrors of war, but occasionally you still find glimpses of the man you once were, and unleash him against the darkness.

WHAT WORKS: One of the more unique sets (and the sets are usually pretty impressive). I particularly like the portrayals of The Veteran and The Escapee.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Not a lot. I like the balance on The Inventor and Sorcerer more than I do The Dreamer and The Psychic, and the character options are among the most interesting.

CONCLUSION: If I were a player, I think I'd probably play The Veteran first and foremost above all of them, though The Escapee runs a close second. Probably my two favorite options among all the playbooks.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
tremulus: playbook set III: madmen
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tremulus: playbook set II: on the fringes
by Thomas B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/27/2013 18:11:14

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Same as above - $5 package of playbooks to expand your game, running the fine line of "acceptable society":

The Artist - Passion drives most of what the Artist does, and this can leave them vulnerable to shock, or make them off-putting to others.

The Criminal - Not generally a thug, the Criminal's Lore move allows them to formulate a Backup Plan, and other moves provide options like being sneaky or charming.

The Dreamer - No, this isn't just someone with their head in the clouds...The Dreamer can reach the actual Dreamlands! This can provide valuable insight at times.

The Drifter - A bonafide ramblin' man, who sometimes gets by on Luck as much as anything. Additionally, your Drifter may have witnessed a bit more in his day than most.

The Psychic - Full-blown having visions and communing with the spirit world.

WHAT WORKS: Some very oddball options for tremulus, stretching the boundaries further. We've used Drifter and Psychic both in play, so these are options proving popular over here.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The Psychic communing with spirits can get out of hand at times, and I would imagine from the reading that The Dreamer could get that way as well.

CONCLUSION: If you want more weirdness from your PCs in tremulus, this is a good step as especially The Dreamer and The Psychic are particularly oddball. Just watch out for them spending too much time using their Moves (which aren't even Lore moves, but which do have time constraints on them) as they can blow some of your mystery right off.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
tremulus: playbook set II: on the fringes
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tremulus: playbook set I: flexible thinkers
by Thomas B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/27/2013 18:10:51

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This $5 PDF was free to Kickstarter backers above a certain level, and includes 5 new playbooks for your players to use:

The Adventurer - A man of action, whose Moves can give him options like constant Armor, bonus damage to attacks and acting using his Passion instead of his Reason (because he's a man of instinct and not book-smarts).

The Entertainer - An actor, musician, singer, dancer, what have you. The Entertainer may be wealthy and famous, or have a gift for manipulating other people. The one Entertainer we've seen in our games proved incredibly light on his feet, which was a huge boon for him.

The Handyman - A fixer. He may have a workshop that he builds things with, he can jury rig repairs and one Move humorously duplicates the idea of smacking something to make it work.

The Librarian - A thinker who can occasionally use their wits to their advantage in combat.

The Scientist - Generally far more reasonable than most, insulating them from mental distress...though one option makes The Scientist harder to relate to, but allows them to start with Lore points.

WHAT WORKS: A few nice, thematic options that stretch the field. Some of the Playbook tweaks make it even easier to get the end result you want, like a purely "rational" scientist versus one that's becoming a little more unhinged. The Handyman is another one that stands out.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: On one hand, The Entertainer seems to stand out more than the others (as being out of place here). On the other, it's the only one we've used thus far. If the aesthetics of tremulus didn't do it for you, then the hard to see, old-timey images in this set won't do you any favors, either.

CONCLUSION: The Adventurer, Librarian and Scientist all seem very suited for period Lovecraftian adventurer. $1 per playbook also seems to be a bit better than similar deals for similar games, though I haven't looked too closely. Good pick-up if you want some options just a step away from the standard playbooks.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
tremulus: playbook set I: flexible thinkers
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tremulus
by Thomas B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/27/2013 16:14:25

WHAT WORKS: A ton of great advice is present throughout the book. An improv happy group will have a field day with this, and there’s already a lot of great support coming from the Kickstarter stretch goals, including expansions to Ebon Eaves and a lot more Playbooks, as well as new Playsets. The system works well for horror, with its harsh and unforgiving damage systems, and the Playbooks being designed with all the PC Moves already on them makes the game much easier to pick up and go for newbies (speaking from experience here). Playset creation is similarly inspiring, using the players’ answers to help dictate the plot threads (and probably in ways they will never expect). One of the best “Player Facing” systems I’ve seen thus far.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: Some of the terminology (Forwards, Holds, etc) can take a bit of getting used to. I always prefer a bigger monster selection. Some of the advice can be repetitive, and the organization feels like it could be cleaner.

CONCLUSION: We played one session of this with me not having a chance to fully read the book and all prep done at the game table and had a good time. My player for that solo session actively wants to play again (and he’s a hardcore Savage Worlds nut), but with more people so we can use the Trust mechanic in play. I also told him about some of the Playbooks coming to me as a Kickstarter backer and how many of them seem more his speed and he was pumped.

tremulus doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, though it does a really nice job of supporting investigative horror, providing a TON of structure to this as opposed to everyone standing around and swapping the story baton or something. It’s a pretty traditional horror/investigation RPG with some narrative quirks, and you can decide for yourself if that’s a good or bad thing. For us, it was a lot of fun…fun that we will surely revisit in the future.

For my full review, please visit http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2012/12/tommys-take-on-tremulus_3.html



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
tremulus
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Old School Fantasy #1: A Keg for Dragon (Savage Worlds Edition)
by Todd C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/23/2013 23:14:55

Just started running this adventure tonight. I have ran a Hellfrost adventure before and those players did not like it. I ran the SW Test Drive with these players and they liked it but wanted to try fantasy since that is what they have played the most of (Pathfinder) before.

After this session, the definitely wanted to continue on. We used pregens and ran this adventure with little prep and REALLY enjoyed it. It really felt like some of best non-dungeon crawl D&D adventures I have run in the past. Enough background to give it validity but still plenty of goblins to bash around.

For $5 this is a STEAL!!!

I look forward to running #2.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Old School Fantasy #1: A Keg for Dragon (Savage Worlds Edition)
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Mythos Tales #2: Unstill Waters
by Todd C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/17/2013 10:27:48

Pretty good so far. My players started doing Pinebox adventures "Skinwalker" and loved it for its investigation and full backstory. Same thing here. Tons of details in this adventure that are typically left out of combat heavy horror.

Tonight the heroes save the day or see the beginning of the second flood!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Mythos Tales #2: Unstill Waters
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Shaintar: Legends Arise (Players Beta Guide)
by Glen T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/09/2012 21:47:39

For those downloading this, keep in mind that it's a beta. This is a large, meaty document, but it lacks any final polishing. For example, there are no illustrations, page art, or pretty formatting. It's just text, although arranged nicely.

This is also just a player's guide. With this and the Savage Worlds rules, you have all you need to create characters for the setting, but there are no monsters and only limited information on places and cultures.

However, when it comes to presenting a well-crafted setting for Savage Worlds, this clearly goes very much in the right direction. The setting is definitely very directly (and fondly) inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons game, with its elves, dwarves, clerics, wizards, paladins, and such other standard tropes. All of these things are present in the setting, and each is given its own twist to make it fit into a larger, more cohesive whole. There are also elements added to satisfy some other common desires in a setting, such as a feline-humanoid race, and a reptilian-humanoid race, both of which have been popular with players.

It has all these elements, and yet doesn't have any of the feel of a generic fantasy setting. There is a definite world with a unique and interesting history and range of cultures, with options to satisfy nearly any fantasy fan.

Is it for everyone? Probably not. It tends toward the epic, heroic, high fantasy. If you like your game gritty, with ambiguous gray morality, or if you like low-magic settings, you will find better settings. But if you're looking for a nice, well-executed take on the classic fantasy gaming realm, this is it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Shaintar: Legends Arise (Players Beta Guide)
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Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin
by Jimmy P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/03/2012 01:45:36

I was recently discussing with my playing group about inspiration - be it stories for GMs or character inspiration for Players. We came to the conclusion that modern characters - being so close to us, are the easiest to create. Medieval Fantasy characters and stories were, for us, as easy to create. When it came to other genres, like westerns or mythic China/Japan campaigns, stories and characters did not come with the same ease.

Then I read Iron Dynasty.

This book, if read from the start, will give you tons of ideas for both characters and stories. The history will make those come to life easily. The equipment section, new selection of Edges and optional rules (using the usual skills for different tasks, like Stealth for blending) all make this book a must-own for any Savage Worlds enthusiast.

It might be the best Savage Worlds book I own.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin
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