What's your favorite settings for Savage Worlds?
And why?
Beyond the published settings, I know that SW has LOTS of fan produced setting PDFs floating around the internet and if you have some that you would recommend, please post some links for everyone.
I like The Daring Tales of the Space Lanes (http://www.tripleacegames.com/brands/daring-tales-of-the-space-lanes/) its like a specific trademark space opera background, without having to deal with it being it. It also models that sort of background quite well.
Hellfrost (http://www.tripleacegames.com/brands/hellfrost/) is amazing and probably my top pick. It's vast with a huge amount of content and plot hooks while still leaving tons of room for a GM to get creative. There are major threats everywhere you turn. Two gods missing. An ever-encroaching Ice Age. Magic starting to fail. The undead threatening to rise up again. Orcs and dragons and machine-things that devour metal. And then you have the wacky stuff like lizardmen riding dinosaurs who are just trying to fight their way south to escape the winter. The game is essentially complete at this point since it's getting a second edition for the new version of Savage Worlds, which makes me happy I have all the old material already.
Also, special shout out for Saga of the Goblin Horde (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/225745/Saga-of-the-Goblin-Horde-Savage-Worlds), which was created by Zadmar and is available for free. It's really nice, and there's a surprisingly large amount of material and adventures for it if you're at all interested in a light-hearted game where your players get to be goblins.
I have to pick just one?! Ouch. That's rough.
There are soooo many: Rippers, Slipstream, The Last Parsec, 50 Fathoms....
I guess if I had to pick it would be Low Life. The art alone elevates it to the front of the pack. Add in the part where it lets me play a sentient Twinkie and that's just the frosting in the cake.
I'll second Brand55's comments regarding Hellfrost. It's not bad anything new published of late, but with the existing f material I think one could easily run 2 to 3 different campaigns before running the risk of the setting not seeking fresh anymore.
Once the new material comes out, probably Savage Rifts, but right now my favorite is Nova Praxis.
I like more crunch for the players to play with and the setting is a great boiling pot ready to blow from just the littlest nudge.
Also one of the few playable Transhumanist Sci-fi settings that also allow for some "combat as sport" (which OSR offerings like Stars Without Number don't support that kind of combat).
Beasts & Barbarians - it's simply everything I love. Total unadulterated homage to Howard's Hyperborea without being schlocky. Really good supplements. Excellent plot-point adventures. Lots of Mythos nods in there too. Pretty much the kitchen-sink of S&S pulp fantasy.
Thrilling Tales, from Adamant Entertainment. It's less a setting than a pulp genre sourcebook, but it has a lot of really great adventures. It pairs nicely with Mars, a John Carter-esque sourcebook for adventures on the red planet.
Ravaged Earth, from Reality Blurs. More pulp, but it all takes place on an Earth where humanity triumphed over the Martians in the War of the Worlds. But now they're back for... War of the Worlds II, I guess. Reality Blurs also put out Oblivion, a spy-fi setting, and Karthador, a swords-and-ray-guns planetary romance.
East Texas University, from Pinnacle. Buffy the Vampire Slayer in college, basically, but just fantastically put together. A great setting with a ton of options, story hooks, and a campaign.
Quote from: tenbones;1091894Beasts & Barbarians - it's simply everything I love. Total unadulterated homage to Howard's Hyperborea without being schlocky. Really good supplements. Excellent plot-point adventures. Lots of Mythos nods in there too. Pretty much the kitchen-sink of S&S pulp fantasy.
Seconded.
The Savage World of Solomon Kane, swashbucklers and sorcery with a global scope. It's true to the subject matter with lots of fun episodic adventures to bedevil your players.
Rippers (And Rippers:Resurrected) for any of the same reasons plus it's embrace of hammer movie style horror.
Tom
Is there a SW cyberpunk supplement?
Quote from: Aglondir;1091965Is there a SW cyberpunk supplement?
Interface Zero
EDIT: Daring Tales of the Sprawl and (I think) Ghost Protocol.
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1091966Interface Zero
EDIT: Daring Tales of the Sprawl and (I think) Ghost Protocol.
DOH, I knew that (Interface Zero.)
Thanks for the DTOTS and GP references.
Quote from: Aglondir;1091972DOH, I knew that (Interface Zero.)
Thanks for the DTOTS and GP references.
No problem.
Quote from: Aglondir;1091965Is there a SW cyberpunk supplement?
There's lots of cyber in Rifts too, but it's not cyberpunk overall.
Quote from: Aglondir;1091965Is there a SW cyberpunk supplement?
I believe the sci-fi companion also has plenty of applicable stuff for cyberpunk games.
Any particular SW setting that best supports regular big battles with PCs, minions and vehicles?
I've always enjoyed SW most when we rocked the table full of toys like a hybrid RPG/wargame.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1093127Any particular SW setting that best supports regular big battles with PCs, minions and vehicles?
I've always enjoyed SW most when we rocked the table full of toys like a hybrid RPG/wargame.
Most Savage Worlds games can do that as a default because of the way Savage Worlds works, but if I had to choose some settings that were particularly good for it I'd go with any of the Weird War games as well as Necropolis 2350.
Weird War I & II are set during World War I & II respectively and as such allow for pretty big battles if that's what you choose to do. Tour of Darkness (another Weird War game) is set during Vietnam so it's not quite as good for bigger engagements like the World War games. You can have a pretty big battle on the tabletop with multiple units and vehicles, and for really big battles there's always the mass combat rules which work pretty well.
Necropolis 2350 is very similar except it's a sci-fi setting where the PCs are knights working for the Church on a planet far from Earth. It's a little like Warhammer 40k meets Van Helsing. Undead monsters are invading and there are battles nearly every day. Like the Weird War games, PCs can have allied squads under their commands and can even call in artillery or air support. The plot point campaign included in the main book is the retaking of New Budapest, and it's basically a series of battles that the group has to fight through, with their performance in each one determining how the plot proceeds.
Other good options would be any of the games that prominently feature ship combat. 50 Fathoms and Pirates of the Spanish Main would definitely work. High Space might be a good option for sci-fi, but I haven't read it so I can't vouch for it. I just know it was supposed to have more detailed ship combat rules.
I need to check out Necropolis 2350. Sounds like what I'm looking for.
I've played lots of SW in WW2 and did a con game of Tour of Darkness. I was considering getting ToD because its modern enough, but without the internet, but I'd have to get Vietnam era minis. The GM was using plastic army men and it worked fine.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1093133I need to check out Necropolis 2350. Sounds like what I'm looking for.
I quite like it, and there were actually a number of short adventures put out for it some years ago. They should still be available in PDF, though I don't know how easy the physical books will be to find.
Here's a short review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZDIJvEXu-E (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZDIJvEXu-E)
There was also a web supplement about playing characters working for the megacorporations instead of the church, so you can also play mercenaries/professional soldiers instead of knights if that's more interesting to you.
Hellfrost. Really cool everthing and the kitchen sink type of fantasy setting.
Looking forward to Rifts box set. I always wanted to play in the Rifts setting and SW should be perfect for it. I once owned Solomon Kane and it is superb. You could run the plot points in that tomb for a year, easy.
I pitched in on the following Kickstarters because they look cool. :-D
Guardians of Umbra (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/920977957/guardians-of-umbra)
The After - Post-Apocalyptic Action for Savage Worlds (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/823004289/the-after-post-apocalyptic-action-for-savage-worlds)
Wiseguys - The Savage Guide to Organized Crime (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/412946570/wiseguys-the-savage-guide-to-organized-crime)
Quote from: trechriron;1097060Looking forward to Rifts box set. I always wanted to play in the Rifts setting and SW should be perfect for it. I once owned Solomon Kane and it is superb. You could run the plot points in that tomb for a year, easy.
I pitched in on the following Kickstarters because they look cool. :-D
Guardians of Umbra (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/920977957/guardians-of-umbra)
The After - Post-Apocalyptic Action for Savage Worlds (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/823004289/the-after-post-apocalyptic-action-for-savage-worlds)
Wiseguys - The Savage Guide to Organized Crime (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/412946570/wiseguys-the-savage-guide-to-organized-crime)
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/SavageHeroes
Solomon Kane is on bundle of holding right now.
For me, Deadlands Reloaded. Savage Worlds has a power level I think it works best at which I feel is in the more primitive firearm age. I sort of feel that the sweet spot is in that 1870 to 1930 time span where semi-auto and single shot guns dominated. Deadlands hits that zone, but it also hits a lot of other systems that works well in the game. The various magic systems fits right into the Deadlands setting like mysticism and weird science. You even have things like Smith & Robards which takes weird science up to 11. The wild frontier itself is really open for just about any kind of adventure you want to run. There's plenty of empty space for you to fill in with your own stuff. But at the same time there's tons of material out there to use as background or inspiration for your own ideas. Either movies or tv shows of all sorts(Hell on Wheels, Cowboys vs Aliens) or even a lot of real life history that's pretty accessible. You could probably pick any town west of the Mississippi and find interesting history for it during the 1850-1870's to use as a campaign starter.
I went all in on Wiseguys. It looks awesome!!!
Quote from: tenbones;1091894Beasts & Barbarians - it's simply everything I love. Total unadulterated homage to Howard's Hyperborea without being schlocky. Really good supplements. Excellent plot-point adventures. Lots of Mythos nods in there too. Pretty much the kitchen-sink of S&S pulp fantasy.
I got most of the Hellfrost stuff but as I play in the setting I miss Howard's Hyperborea feel. I think I'll need to pick up some Beasts & Barbarians stuff.
I do have "Broadsword" and it scratches the itch somewhat. How much do you specifically use from B&B verses adding your own details?
I've been playing in an on-again/off-again campaign in Sundered Skies for like 10 years now. That's definitely my favorite. I like the air battles between ships, the politics of the different factions, the weirdo monsters, and I'm playing a fucking dragon. If you've ever read The Death Gate Cycle, it's similar to the air world in the first book of the series. Floating islands in space. Different races control different islands. Most of the gods are dead or insane. And if you stay in the daylight too long, you can go crazy too.
Quote from: Greentongue;1097249I got most of the Hellfrost stuff but as I play in the setting I miss Howard's Hyperborea feel. I think I'll need to pick up some Beasts & Barbarians stuff.
I do have "Broadsword" and it scratches the itch somewhat. How much do you specifically use from B&B verses adding your own details?
I run B&B pretty natively. But I've run a Conan game using the B&B material as analog for it with very little effort. B&B emphasizes certain things a little more than Hyborea but it almost no effort to adjust.
If I wanna do just a Sword and Sorcery game, B&B and Hellfrost make superb filler.
Quote from: rgalex;1091884Add in the part where it lets me play a sentient Twinkie and that's just the frosting in the cake.
I see what you did there...
Honestly my favorite setting is the one my group and I put together as we played. but I'll be damned if Necessary Evil's concept didn't piss me off for having not thought of it myself. That and it being the first real full on Supers expansion for Savage Worlds helps.
I also wish they would make the follow up to Evernight they have been teasing us with since, well, forever.
I play with a group of SWers. Our GM has made a couple of homebrew worlds, the Legion of Liberty and Children of the Apocalypse.
Legion is American Revolution with Supers, while Children is post apocalyptic with magic.
The GM has recently begun publishing these homebrew SW worlds as Happy Monster Press:
http://happymonsterpress.com/index.html
Take a look and see what you like!
We are playing 'The Last Parsec' now and enjoying it.
I've also played in a 'Beasts and Barbarians' campaign.
I have also ran several 'Agents of Oblivion' scenarios I made up where players were FBI agents encountering the paranormal.
Quote from: trechriron;1097060Looking forward to Rifts box set. I always wanted to play in the Rifts setting and SW should be perfect for it. I once owned Solomon Kane and it is superb. You could run the plot points in that tomb for a year, easy.
I pitched in on the following Kickstarters because they look cool. :-D
Guardians of Umbra (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/920977957/guardians-of-umbra)
The After - Post-Apocalyptic Action for Savage Worlds (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/823004289/the-after-post-apocalyptic-action-for-savage-worlds)
Wiseguys - The Savage Guide to Organized Crime (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/412946570/wiseguys-the-savage-guide-to-organized-crime)
If Post apoc is to your liking, You may want to check out Darwin's world (SW version). It is more or less Gamma world with a very Fallout flavor. I like it alot.