Things that make you go hmmm….

And no…I’m not on about the old(ish) hip hop song from…gah, can’t even remember the name of the band Salt’n'Peppa if memory serves
Just thought I’d use that title to catch people’s attentions
So what all is new and exciting here at the Korner…well not a whole lot to be honest…well at least not that I can talk about yet See there’s been a lot happening in these last couple of weeks, unfortunately little of it I can talk to you all about.

What I can talk a little bit about though is gaming - and specifically the launching of my two Shaintar campaigns, Crisis of Faith and The Coming Darkness. Truth be told, I can talk more than a little about them! January 12th saw the launch of Crisis of Faith, and I have to admit, it was the best time gaming I’d had in a LONG time. We had a group of five players, who all gelled really well. The roleplay was top notch, the banter amusing (hehe…back to the furries…I loved that line!) Overall I was extremely please at how it all played out! I also think the players themselves had a great time…as someone commented that they wanted to arrange for “accidents” to befall the Coming Darkness players so that they could play every week!

This past Saturday saw the campaign launch of the Coming Darkness campaign. And again - I had an absolute BLAST running it. While it kicked off a little slower than the other group, once the initial bandit attack got into full swing, everyone came together nicely. What impressed me the most, is that this group had someone who’d never gamed before. The player who runs Romi, our little goblin, while she’d played MMO’s and the like, has never sat down (to my knowledge according to one of the other players) and played a real RPG game. I think I speak on behalf of the other players when I say this, but you could have fooled me! She was absolutely brilliant in her portrayal of this character. You really got firm visions in your head of this little goblin runt, running around poking people with her knives, and when someone was injured, her pulling her needle and thread out of her coat to rush and heal them! By the end of the session, it was evident the whole crew was having a blast with the setting, and characters, and there were resounding sighs of longing when they realized they had to wait a couple of weeks until the next session.

So all in all, I definitely declare both campaigns to thus far be complete successes! I even receievd compliments on my rather pathetic maps…(for those who don’t know me - I am perhaps the harshest critic in the world of my own works - despite the praise I garner for doing the work. It just never seems to sink in that stuff I do is good.)

This all leads me into comments I see on some forums regarding Savage Worlds‘ ability to handle fantasy play. Opponents to Savage Worlds seem to have this idea in their head that Savage Worlds just can not do fantasy. Strangely enough (or perhaps not so strangely), many of these people are long time d20/D&D players. They cite things like SW’s magic system, and wounds system, and the whole cinematic feel of the game.

Now I don’t intend on starting a massive flamewar between the SW and d20 camps - mostly because in truth, I used to be one of the detractors. Now, having a couple of good sessions under my belt using the system for fantasy, I am a firm believer in that SW can be used to handle ANY genre of gaming, and handle it well! Unlike other systems, SW characters right out of the gate are ALL useful. SW’s combat mechanics mean that even a traditional “non-combat” character, can make themselves (dangerously so in many cases) useful in combat. Through the use of Tricks and Tests of Will, these non-combat types are able to setup their opponents, and enable the more combat types to land massive blows. You just don’t see that in many other games, especially in d20 (as an example, in the Crisis of Faith session, the sorceror Hicham used a simple Daze spell to great effect, utterly screwing the opposition, and enabling the rest of the party to use their abilities to much greater effect).

SW, despite its “rules simple” approach, makes for VERY tactical and interesting combats. Ranged weapons are to be FEARED by all, including that knight in the full plate armour. As for SW’s magic system, yes its “limited” compared to say d20, but it also means that those characters who opt to be spellcasters don’t rapidly outdistance their compatriots, and maintains playability through all levels of play.

So, in the end, I will be using Savage Worlds for many years to come, especially the realm of Shaintar for my gaming.  THANKS SEAN!!!

More to come in the coming days I think
Later all!