GM Niles Rippers Campaign

Game Master nilesr

Victorian Etiquette
Historical Map of London
Dramatis Personae
Campaign Timeline
Status and Favor rules
Lodge Rules
Rippers Edges



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Hey guys, I was just recently introduced to the Savage Worlds rules a few months ago by Greenteagamer and I love them. I'd like to run a Rippers plot point campaign as I have an interest in turn of the 19th century weirdness.

We would begin the campaign as 0XP Rippers in a newly established London Lodge in the year 1892.

This is a recruitment/interest check thread.

IE: You can post interest AND/OR character ideas in this thread. I plan on taking a while to build a party of Rippers and flesh out a Lodge before we begin gameplay.

To play in this game you'll need to have access to the Savage Worlds rules and ideally the original Rippers companion, but you could get by with just the SW rules.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

This could be interesting. Where can I find the original companion? It looks like Pinnacle has the Resurrected update out, but I didn't find the original on their website (granted, I was working from my phone, as they are blocked at work.).


I picked up everything at DriveThruRPG.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Thanks--I'll check later, as DriveThruRPG is also blocked at work :(.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

The original Rippers stuff is available as a collection. I believe it's called Rippers: The Lost Library?

Would this be the original PP? Or the Rippers Resurrected PP?


The original PP...unless you guys would rather me buy the Resurrected? Is there a big difference?

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

No idea. I think Pinnacle has a conversion guide available as a free download, though.


Yes, it does. It's why I wasn't too worried about not running a Resurrected campaign. I picked up the entire original Rippers library in pdf form a few months ago for some incredibly low price...I wanna say like 20 bucks?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I was just asking, since I'm currently running a classic Rippers campaign. I'll probably watch for story stuff I can use in my game, though! :)


Okay, I just picked up the Rippers Resurrected PDFs...so I'll check em out.


All my yes.

To answer the Resurrected question:

Rippers Resurrected is basically Rippers 2E, bringing it more in line with later Savage Worlds releases. It's got a lot of rule errata along with the meta-plot advancement. Honestly, finding a balance between the crunch of Resurrected and the fluff of the original release may be wise.

Oh right, character concept. Basically alternate universe Carl Jung. Seriously. He was studying psychoanalysis with Freud in Germany and began to notice strange discrepancies in some cases. These were the result of super natural interference and led him into studying more para-psychology and supernatural effects on the mind. This led to unlocking the arcane power that the human mind can exert over its surroundings and awakening of his psychic talents. Unfortunately, the medical community was less than impressed with his discourse on the power of the human mind. This led to a split with his more rationalist colleagues and he fell in with the Rippers in his pursuit of knowledge of the unknown.


Okey Niles, I bite. Bring it on!
Tomorrow will be the day I fully create it, but I'm totally playing Rasheed Al'Mutamid, Sikh "Paladin".
Still have to fully check the pdfs, so bear with me!

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

DriveThruRPG doesn't seem to have the pre-Resurrected player's companion any more.

I'll reuse another Savage Worlds character name, since I have the profile already. Andrej Bulavin is an expatriate Russian, a former soldier who participated in the pacification of Central Asia (and saw some things that are better left unseen). When he returned home to St. Petersburg, he soon ran afoul of Tsar Alexander III's reactionary policies and had to flee the country. He is currently living in London and eking out a living as a bodyguard-for-hire and translator.


Got the player's companion and started reading it. The character concept will have to be refined a bit, but the basic idea (expat Russian with previous exposure to mystical occurrences, highly trained normal who uses tech weapons) will stand.


Hnng..... I shouldn't, but I'm intrigued. I'll see about a concept.


A Russian a German and a Sikh....gonna have trouble with high society types in Victorian England.


Da! Particularly considering that this is the era of the Great Game, when Imperial Russia and Great Britain were both trying to expand their influence in Central Asia. The German may be the most palatable of the lot.


Speaking of high society types, I'm thinking at this point of an elderly nobleman coming out of "retirement" and moving back into field work. He's also a good liaison with the political sphere.


You mean these Brits don't know of my ground breaking work with Dr. Freud?! Blasphemy!

Note that I had this character built for Resurrected. I'll re-do him if you decide not to use the rules from there.


Alright, I've got my submission mechanically finished. Lord Tristan is an offshoot of his peerage, out of line for the title barring mishaps occurring to a number of family members, and he's perfectly happy with that. Among the noble class he's something of a scandal, and largely self-reliant since his family all but cast him out after several odd and public incidents involving "brawling in the streets," but he's still at least generally well-respected and has some clout. He's lived a long life of soldiering, fencing with blades and words, and dabbling with Rippers, but now he's been called by something back into the field--more on that when we have a better idea of the campaign premise, I suppose. Hopefully he's to your liking!

Grand Lodge

The Lion of Kangra Valley has arrived, to punish the wicked and be badass at it!


We will use the Resurrected rules, but just in the original 1892 setting. It seems like those rules match up with the newest version of the SW rules.

@Loup your character would be the perfect addition

@Everyone The first "mission" is a simple one, the PP campaign assumes you know each other and are familiar. You are summoned to a Lodge in London and given a mission, this continues for a while until eventually (once Seasoned) you are dispatched to found your own lodge.

The PP campaign alternates between simple "missions" and more important Plot Points that advance the meta plot. It reminds me ALOT of the original XFiles series, some episodes were standalone and some connected with things.

Some notes on Status

Status:

Even though the 19th Century is drawing to
a close, the Victorian world of Rippers remains
highly structured and hierarchical. While Ripper
Lodges are (for the time) unconventional—open
to all regardless of race, class, or gender—society at
large does not share the organization’s egalitarian
approach, and Rippers are forced to live and work
within a rigid social structure.
All characters have Status—starting at 2
(Working Class) unless adjusted by Edges or
Hindrances—to represent their station in society.
Starting characters are neither greatly esteemed
nor especially distasteful. The higher a character’s
Status, the closer to the top of the class structure
he is; a position that has numerous benefits for
the well-to-do.

Unfortunately, this means that our Sikh, German and Russian rippers will suffer from the Outsider hindrance for the first few months of the campaign. '

I'll have more tomorrow as its Mother's Day and my wife just woke up.


Hmm, I'm pretty interested in this! I've only played one game using SW though, admittedly, and it was using the Necessary Evil book, and even then didn't last long. I believe I do have a book for the Rippers- Would need to check which one though. Would my admit ed newbieness be to much of an issue for ya?

Edit: Seems my Rippers book is from 05


Eh, you'd be just as much of a newbie as me. I'm using both Rippers editions, I bought the Legacy bundle and then the new Player Companion/GM books.

We will be using the newest edition of the rules just with the original plot point campaign.

@Rasheed Is Rasheed some sort of priest?

@Andrej What brought Andrej to London?

Grand Lodge

Every Sikh men is a warrior priest, they just don't usually try to preach or convert others.

So yeah, he's a priest just not an usual one.
And now that you brought that up, here is a small list of Sikh principal teachings, which would be my "code" for Arcane Background(Miracles):

•Never cut your hair or beard
•Never drink alcohol or use Drugs
•Never be fully naked, for you are to be prepared for battle.
•Always carry a weapon

And much more I have to note down!


Right, here we go. I likely have some things wrong or contradictory to the Rippers Resurrected set, so please feel free to point that on out. I think her reason is incorrect, as Lord Tristen's is at six and I'm not sure why there's such a massive difference between the two.

Anywhom, Mei, or May as she'll likely be understood as, is a Chinese emigrant who recently arrived in England. She came here seeking advanced schooling, unaware of how English society would've viewed her as some strange foreign woman. Instead, she was left stranded with little means to either accomplish her goals or return home. In this, she attempted to try and make her own path in the world by creating and selling off inventions while. Some time later, word of her brilliance would've reached the ears of the Rippers, with the organization then approaching her with an offer for a job.

Aha, or at least that's the super simple version in my head. I'm also annoyed that there aren't many pretty Tian woman available as avatars...


GM N, if there are enough of us I suggest closing the recruitment and setting up a discussion thread for character creation.


Wow, Russian, German, Chinese and Indian.....you guys are really going with the "from the entire world" angle.

Reason is 2+1/2Spirit Die...so for d6 Spirit its 5, for d4 Spirit its 4.

Reason = mental toughness.

@Andrej Done, campaign made and discussion tab created.


Alright, thanks! I thought it looked pretty off, glad that's cleared up. And hey, it takes people of all kinds to deal with the supernatural!


There is a Ripper Lodge in Shanghai named The Jade Buddha Temple, perhaps Mei was inducted there and sent to London. This way she has an "in" with London society.

I'm thinking maybe Lord Tristan (has the filthy rich AND noble edge) is going to be your "benefactor" so he would be recruiting new Rippers to a presumptive new lodge.


Hey Niles, would you happen to have one more slot open? I have a character I'm interested in running; a young noblewoman who was presumed dead after being attacked by Jack the Ripper, but was in fact rescued by some timely intervention. After that, she works with the Rippers out of a sense of duty, but also out of gratitude for saving her life. She would be a heavy melee character who also has a smattering of social edges, and some infiltration skills.

In my mind, she'd likely be a sort of "apprentice" to Lord Tristan as another noble, but is a less experienced and much rougher sort of person. She's devoted mostly to melee in terms of combat, and will have a smattering of social Edges, as well as possibly some Command edges later on.

If you have the room, I'll stat her up by tomorrow. If not, I understand and I'll bow out. Let me know.


We have 5 right now, but 6 is an even number so that's cool. Come join us in the discussion thread.

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