Character: Sgt. Benjamin Washington

The Ideology of Madness has an interview with "The Day After Ragnarok" creator Ken Hite and is holding a contest. Post a DAR character by June 20 when Ken will pick his favorite. The winner will win a .PDF and a print copy of DAR! I decided to enter my own character that I've posted below, complete with stats:


Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Throwing d6, Shooting d10+1, Fighting d8, Intimidation d6, Guts d6, Stealth d8, Notice d6
Charisma ‑2, Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 6, CV 82
Hindrances: Outsider (Charisma: ‑2 among all but own people), Wanted (By the New Konfederacy), Vengeful.
Edges: Trademark Weapon: M1903 Springfield "Harriet" (Fighting or Shooting: +1 when using specific weapon, Shooting: +1), Nerves of Steel (Ignore 1 point of wound penalties), Soldier: NCO.
Gear: M1903, Colt 1911, Ammo Mk67 Pineapple Grenade (×3), Knife, Pot Helm, fatigues, backpack, bedroll, field kit.

Benjamin “Ben” Washington was always good with a rifle. Living as a impoverished “negro” living in rural West Virginia his shooting prowess was sometimes the only thing keeping his family from starvation. Benjamin was 17 when the Serpentfall occurred and while he survived by virtue of living in the Appalachians, it wasn’t long until he was picked up by Klan slavers. Ben spent eight months being relentlessly worked to death in a Mississippi labor camp, until being liberated by the Free Colored Army.

After recovering from his ordeal, Ben joined the FCA to help free other blacks from racist oppression. His superiors were quickly impressed with his marksmanship, and soon he made an NCO in the Army’s grown sniper corps. By 1948, Sergeant Washington collected 113 bloodstained Klan hoods, including those belonging to three Grand Wizards.

The Klan is currently offering a $1000 dollar bounty to the man who brings Washington in dead or alive… preferably dead. Meanwhile, he has achieved Robin-Hood-like status among Southern blacks who hopes he and his M1903 Springfield rifle, “Harriet” (after Harriet Tubman), will help end the Klan’s tyranny once and for all.

Review: The Day After Ragnarok

Kenneth Hite a Chicago-based, Origins Award-winning author, co-author, and game designer, has a rare talent. He has the ability to take fragments of obscure factoids, mythology, urban legend, pseudoscience and pseudohistory, and other esoteric sources and piece them together into fabulous role-playing game settings. For years, I've poured over his Suppressed Transmission column in Steve Jackson Games' online 'zine Pyramid for campaign ideas: Aliens crashing at Roswell, New Mexico... in 1849. Superheroes in the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. Mongolian Goblins, Saracen Snakemen, and Viking werewolves invading Europe in the Revelations-fueled year 1000 CE. Alternative histories built on the Tunguska event occurring a few hours sooner when the asteroid or comet could have struck Moscow rather than the Siberian wilderness. Let's not forget his illuminations on the much-overlooked dark side of fairy lore and the machinations of the Antarctic Space Nazis.

After writing material for such systems as GURPS, Deadlands, Delta Green, Trail Of Cthulhu, and other games, Atomic Overmind Press publishes Hite's first offering for Savage Worlds: The Day After Ragnarok, a "Submachine Guns and Sorcery" setting that blends myth, post-apocalyptic horror, and 1940s pulp adventure into one of the most imaginative role-playing settings I've ever read.

The setting's premise: In 1945, the desperate Germans turn to their SS occultists to turn the tide of war to their favor by starting the end of the world! They magically summon Jörmungandr, the world-spanning Midgard Serpent of the Norse sagas, to attack the shocked Allies. In response, Truman sends a lone atom-bomb-armed B-29 on a suicide mission against the titanic, 300 mile wide, snake. The blast kills the creature, but its immense carcass falls across Europe and Africa crushing millions and sending a mega-tsunami to drown the Eastern United States while the Serpent's poisonous (and now radioactive) venom enters the environment, creating all manner of bizarre and malevolent life.

Now it's 1948 and the human race is trying to put back the pieces and face the realities of the world after the Serpentfall. The Narts, the legendary giants of Osseian folklore, awaken and serve Comrade Stalin as he expands the Soviet Union into what's left of Europe and the Middle East. The British Empire, who has relocated the throne to sunny Australia, has been exploring and experimenting with the remains of the Serpent, creating everything from super-fuels to organic pressure suits. The Western United States tries to hold itself together while the Eastern half of North America is broken into numerous city-states that war with each other and the supernatural horrors that surround them. The remnants of Nazi Germany plot and scheme in South America (yes, Antartica too) and strange cults worship the dead Serpent, preforming obscene rites in hopes of reviving it.

Players have the opportunity to play many different roles in this wild setting: Conan-esque barbarians who wander the Poisands Lands armed with a sword in one hand and a Colt 1911 in the other. British "Speleo-Herpetologists" who explore the vast interior of Jörmungandr's body to find new and terrifying discoveries. Psychics, faith healers, magicians, and weird scientists who use strange new powers to help or hinder humanity. Monster hunters fighting giant gila monsters, electrical worms, and were-serpents. Pirates plundering the coastal towns of the China Sea or Lake Michigan.

Like most Savage Settings books, The Day After Ragnarok is divided into a Players' and GM's Section. Along with a brief introduction of the world, the Players' section features new Edges and Hindrances, as well as gear and weapons appropriate to the 1940s. There is also a description of "Ophi-Tech" devices, a version of the Weird Science Arcane Background that uses devices derived from the tissues or the Serpent itself! Be careful using them, the consequences could be dire!

The GM section contains a country-by-country gazetteer of the post-Serpentfall world including information on some of the settings major NPCs; some fictional, others historical (e.g. Aviation industrialist Howard Hughes and SS Commando Otto Skorzeny). While the book doesn't include a Plot Point campaign--indeed, the world seems too big for just one. However, it does include a detailed scenario generator and descriptions of several campaigns styles to inspire ambitious GMs. Also included is a bestiary containing examples of many of the most common thugs and monsters the PCs will have to face as they fight to survive in this broken word.

Weighing in a a 128 pages with a excellent quality layout and good artwork, The Day After Ragnarok is being offered as a PDF with a print version available in July. The PDF, available from Atomic Overmind Press and Drivethru RPG sells for $12.95 The perfect bound print version will retail for $19.95.

Mars Character: Kala Salar

Here is another character for Mars. My review of this new game setting is forthcoming:

Kala Salar - Priestess Of Salanna

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Knowledge (Theology) d8, Knowledge (Politics) d6, Persuasion d8+4, Riding d4, Streetwise d6+4, Survival d6, Fighting d6, Guts d8, Notice d6, Healing d6
Charisma 4, Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 4, CV 54
Hindrances: Pacifist (Minor), Stubborn, Vow: Temple of Salanna.
Edges: Priest ,Very Attractive.
Gear: Dagger, Medical Bag, Staff of Office.

Dedicated to the care and protection of the sick of injured, Kala Salar serves the Salanna, Red Martian Goddess of Healing.

(Yes, she's supposed to be topless in true ERB fashion. Sadly , HeroMachine has Barbie (TM) doll sensibilities regarding female human anatomy.)

Character: Talos Rayn of Mars!

With the release of Adamant Entertainment's Mars - Savage Worlds Edition, I'm posting my first character from that setting:
Talos Rayn-Swordsman of Callor

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d4, Fighting d8+1, Guts d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d6+2, Riding d4, Shooting d6, Stealth d6, Survival d6
Charisma +2, Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 5 (6 vs. ranged weapons)
Hindrances: Cocky, Heroic, Stubborn.
Edges: Attractive, Florentine, Fencer, First Strike.
Gear: Jewel Armor, 2x Rapiers, Dagger.

A student of the Karn Gorraina school of fencing, Talos is an aspiring young warrior seeking to make a name for himself. While a serious, focused swordsman, Talos has a nasty tendency to let his boastful nature get the better of him. However, none can doubt his courage. He has taking a particular liking to beautiful Kala Salar, Priestess of Salanna, Goddess of Healing. Counting on his charisma and dashing good looks, Talso hopes that he can show her the true quality of his metal... in more ways than one.

The Savage World Of Mars!

Mars! The Red Planet.

For time immemorial our crimson neighbor has held a certain fascination with us. For as long as we have realized that it was a planet, we've wondered whether or not Mars harbored anything resembling life. Nineteenth century astronomers Camille Flammarion and Percival Lowell thought they saw "canals" on the planet's surface, obvious products of intelligent life. Science Fiction writers and Hollywood films fueled speculation that life existed on the forth planet. Even today, after numerous space probes have found that Mars is a barren ball of rock and ice, we still speculate whether microbial life may have developed in the tiny world's ancient (and warmer) past and could possibly still be there. Even the rantings of proven pseudo-scientific kooks, namely Richard Hoagland who popularized the long debunked "Face on Mars", still shows our fascination with this red, iced-capped, world.

Perhaps the most amazing vision of Mars comes from Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. Buxom, red-skinned, and naked Martian princesses; warlike, 14-foot tall, four-armed, green nomads; flying ships; guns that fire radium bullets; swashbuckling Civil War vets who mysteriously "willed" himself to Barsoom (the natives word for "Mars") and wins the heart of one of the aforementioned Martian princesses. Did I mention she was naked?

Prime real estate for Savaging. And there are two resources for gamers who want to do just that!

Adamant Entertainment is about to release Mars-Savage Worlds Edition, a pulp, "sword and planet" setting in the vein of Burroughs' Barsoom tales with a little bit of H.G. Wells (i.e. cepholopod martians who stomp about in tripod fighting machines) thrown in for good measure. While not entirely based on ERB's original stories it promises to retain much of the flavor. I pre-ordered a copy, so expect a review as soon as I have read through them.

Also, for those who want a "purer" set of rules, there is Savage Barsoom, a direct translation of ERB's Mars to Savage Worlds. Therein, you will find all the races, weapons (I do recommend that the author update the melee weapons stats to SW: Explorer's Edition), monsters, vehicles, and other material for the Savage who wants to game on a pulp Mars.

(WARNING: The above site features some "artistic nudity" here and there, so you have been warned. Don't come complaining to me if your backward "moral" sensibilities are offended or you're sacked for going to an "inappropriate" website.)

I'm moving my Savage Tékumel talk elsewhere.

I've set up a Yahoo group dedicated to the Savaging of the Tékumel setting. If you're also an EPT fan, and interested in contributing, please stop by our group and apply.

Tékumel Magic: Part 2

I think I have it figured out!

I going to have to throw out the traditional SW spell book. While I can hear the howls of indignation from the Savages, I really can't think of any other way to handle the magic in this setting. So many of the spells have no direct SW's analog that it's ultimately wiser to start from scratch.

OK, the spells have all the basics: Rank, Power Points, etc. Many spells have have various levels that can be purchased using one of the level up options provided the character reaches a particular rank and/or has the right religious affiliation. Some spells are "Temple Spells" where your PC must get permission from their Temple (not an easy thing) or receive the spell as a reward from some service. Spellcasting will have one skill. To cast Ritual Spells PCs will have to met certain requirements while Psychic Spells will just require line of sight.

Magic is going to be VERY powerful. Most of the combat spells can kill an Extra outright. Wild Cards will have a chance to save.

Well?