Character Creation Challenge 2026 Day 22: Savage Worlds Weird Wars Rome

Weird Wars Rome is a Savage Worlds setting that brings horror to the ancient empire.  It tweaks the system to better fit it two the setting, adding appropriate edges and hindrances to character creation. It largely focuses on legionary characters, but not exclusively so.  You can play a gladiator type characters amongst others.

 

Weird Wars Rome is a horror game and the players fight evil magic and monsters bent on destroying the empire.  Many of the monsters are drawn from Classical mythology and from the cultures and people who fell under the sway of the Empire.  It is set in the time period that runs from the Second Punic War to the death of Marcus Aurelius and just beyond.

 

 

Vikings on my Mind

Crap.  I'm doing it again.  I can never focus long enough on one campaign idea to get any meaningful work done on it.  A couple of months ago it was White Star.  I actually got a little further on my idea than I usually do.  I drafted a five page background to my own setting.  Trust me, that's a lot for me.  But we never got passed making up characters because video games distract the boys and my attention wandered as it does.  I think it's a version of gamer ADD.

Anyway, I am currently mulling two campaign ideas.  The one that is foremost in my mind is a Viking themed campaign.  But as always I have a couple of problems.  The first is the historian in me.  I don't know much about Scandinavian history and society.  Much of my knowledge is through popular media, predominantly History Channel's The Vikings.  I want to research and research and research the snot out of it.  And this is one of the ways I end up losing interest.  But to help I'm going to try and get a hold of some gaming supplements on the topic like GURPS Vikings and the 2nd Ed. AD&D guide.  Hopefully that will be enough without being too much.

This leads me to my second problem.  What system to use?  I'm looking at three:  Savage Worlds, B/X (or S&W Whitebox) or Barbarians of Lemuria.  My oldest son would prefer Savage Worlds so I'm leaning in that direction but the other two are calling to me too.

What I'm looking at is a low magic setting with fantastic, myth inspired elements.  What magic there is will not be in the hands of the pc's unless it is an artifact.  And those will be rare.  There will be seers that can foretell the future in there veiled way.  There will be npc magic users but I want it to be consistent with the sagas and myths.  And that's another thing I'll need to learn about.  Urg.  So much to learn.  Oh, and every now and again a god might meddle.

So, anyway, each system has its advantages though I'm sure all could do it well.

Savage Worlds is flexible and action oriented and has a lot of official and unofficial support.  I got a peek at the campaign material a Savage Worlds gamer created for his personal game and it really helped solidify my thoughts.  I don't think I could pull off his game off but I am definitely going to borrow from it.

B/X was what I initially thought I would use.  I love the simplicity of it and it is easy to modify.  I figured I would borrow liberally from the Viking Campaign sourcebook from the AD&D 2nd Edition.  It would be easy to find B/X or Labyrinth Lord versions of the suggested classes.  I would have to figure out a way to mellow the magic because I have a feeling it wouldn't be what I would want.  Lately, I've become fascinated with Swords & Wizardry Whitebox and it has a bunch of home-brew classes out there and is easily modifiable.  I've found a couple of fan made supplements that will be very helpful.  One of which is at Sword +1.  If you poke around the site a little you can find a Swords & Wizardry version too.  I also found some related posts at the Magician's Manse.

Last but definitely not least is Barbarians of Lemuria.  I feel it would be very simple to modify it to suit my needs by fine-tuning the career list.

I am going to start the campaign by characters returning home to the cold north after hearing of the death of their father.  One will be a member of the Varangian guard in Miklagard and the other will one of Hrolf Ganger's men in what will become Normandy.  They return home to find that there father was murdered and the rest of the family was also slaughtered or sold into slavery.  This will give us several lines of play including revenge, the quest to find their kin and, of course, there will be various and sundry monsters ravaging the countryside and perhaps a few meddling fey.

So, this was a big word dump but any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Christmas Goodie

I received, much to my delight, a hardcopy of Beasts & Barbarians for Christmas.  I like!  I hope I get to put it to use soon.

Grit the Barbarian (Savage Worlds Lankhmar)

Gritd son of Gritd is a Northerner of the Granite Clan from the Cold Wastes.  He will talk endlessly of the hardships his people endure and how tough it makes them.  And how tough he is.  Truth be told, and this is something he only speaks of when deep in his cups, is that Gritd hates the cold.  He hates the cold, snow, sleet, hail.  He even dislikes cold rain.  As soon as he was old enough to make his way in the world he went south to warmer climes.  He ended up, as many do, in Lankhmar.  Young and naive to the way of civilized folk he quickly became the target of thieves and he lost everything.  Fortunately, he was temporarily taken under the wing of a fellow Northerner name Fafhrd, who taught him how to get by in the big city.  He is a member with good standing in the Slayer's Guild and now makes a comfortable living as a bodyguard for the rich and at times serves as protection for merchant caravans.  He is a good fit for the Slayer's Guild as he is an honorable fellow.  He refuses to attack an unprepared opponent.  Gritd is a large red-haired man with enormous strength.

Gritd son of Gritd

Attributes
Agility d6
Smarts d4
Spirit d6
Strength d8
Vigor d6

Charisma 0
Pace 6"
Parry 7
Toughness 7

Skills
Fighting d10
Riding d6
Survival d6
Throwing d6
Tracking d6

Edges
Named Weapon - Broadsword "Shieldbreaker"
Sweep

Hindrances
Code of Honor (Major)
Impulsive (Minor)
Quirk (Minor) Sharpens his sword almost compulsively

Special Abilities
Stature - Size +1
Survival - +2 to survival rolls

New Savage Worlds Test Drive

I was poking around on the Pinnacle website looking at the products available for Lankhmar and, lo and behold, I noticed that there is a new Test Drive.  Set in Lankhmar!  I was surprised.  I apologize if this is common knowledge and I just missed it but I think it's pretty cool.  You can find it here.

#RPGaDay Day 3: Favorite New Game of the Last 12 Months

Day 3:  Favorite New Game of the Last 12 Months

This is a tough one.  It's tough because I have been diagnosed with a case of clinical Gamer ADD.  I am constantly seeking the "perfect" system that contains the right balance of light mechanics but evocative game play.  Even though I am entirely happy with three systems that I think cover my needs.  With one or two auxiliary systems for variety.

So, I'm going to cheat a little.  I'm going to pick 1 1/2 new games.

The first game is one that really intrigues me though I haven't played it yet.  And that is Far Away Land.  It is rules-lite but with an interesting die mechanic that I've never used before.  It is also kind of a riff on Adventure Time and its twisted setting.  I've been known to watch an episode or three with my boys, who love the show.  It has 7 or so free adventures which is always nice.  I only wish I could afford the Tome of Awesome which incorporates the core rules, the bestiary and the other supplements into one book.  Oh, I'd like it in hardback as well as pdf.  Not, that I want much.

My half choice is such because it is actually a setting for Savage Worlds.  It is Lankhmar: City of Thieves.  Once again a sword & sorcery choice.  Lankhmar, and by extension Newhon is one of the iconic s&s settings up there with the Hyborian Age and the Melnibone and the New Kingdoms.










#RPGaDay2015

Savage Worlds - Lankhmar: City of Thieves

I am rather excited about this.  My son recently read a bunch of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and so he's interested in it too.  Maybe a game will actually hit our table! 

Updates

So, I have neglected this blog again.  I spend too much time reading G+ apparently.

I haven't been doing much gaming-wise.  I spend a lot of time thinking and pondering game campaigns but other pressing matters and the fact that I have the attention span of a gnat mean I don't actually do much.

My son and I are trying get in a session or two of Weird Wars Rome but haven't managed to so far.  My schedule combined with his consuming love of computer games has made it difficult.

Two bright points.  My wife's laptop crashed and I not only saved all of her data but my meager tech skills managed to resurrect it!  I was surprised!

The second bright point is that my Barbarians of Lemuria character Arak-Aree was selected as one of three finalist for inclusion into the new Mythic Edition.  Simon Washbourne, the games creator, will choose which of the three will be included.  Just being a finalist is exciting.

Last but not least I want to mention one of my favorite blogs.  Tommy Brownell over at The Most Unread Blog on the Internet...Ever produces quality stuff relating to RPGs.  I particularly enjoy his informative reviews.  They have guided several of my RPG purchases and I have never been disappointed with the result.  An example of this is his review of Servants of Gaius.  Having read some Roman history in my time I was very skeptical about the setting of this game.  However, I took the plunge and have been very pleased with the results.  So, if you haven't read Tommy's blog, I recommend that you do.