Council of Thieves/Savage Worlds

Game Master mikeawmids

Hello all.

I have been busy converting tge Council of Thieves AP to run with Savage Worlds, specifically Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE). I have backed tbe Pathfinder for Savage Worlds kickstarter, but the books have yet to be shipped.

"Don't go out after dark! In the run-down Chelish capital of Westcrown, fallen from grace generations ago by the rise of the devil-worshiping House of Thrune, strange beasts of shadow prowl the streets after nightfall. At the same time, the head of the city's all-powerful crime syndicate, the notorious Council of Thieves, has grown unstable, and a new power is determined to take control—even if it means burning Westcrown to the ground.

The Council of Thieves Adventure Path is a gritty, urban adventure of organized crime, corrupt officials, and ancient curses. In their efforts to help the revolutionary Children of Westcrown, the heroes must infiltrate the halls of power, moonlight as actors in a deadly play, delve into a condemned Pathfinder Lodge and a mad wizard's labyrinth, make deals with hags, and face down the hordes of Hell itself—all while pursued relentlessly by vampires, assassins, and the infamous law-keepers known as Hellknights."

I'm planning to dial up the pulpier aspects of the system and run a streamlined version of the AP as written, cutting back to the main plot points, with the opportunity to deviate into side missions (or Savage Tales) if you choose to do so.

Posting frequency will likely be 1+/daily.

Please reply below if you are interested! I'm not planning to sift through/review applications (assuming their are any!), instead it'll be a 'first come, first served' recruitment process.

I am interested in this. I recently purchased the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition. I played a Savage Worlds one-shot at Origins a few years ago and enjoyed the system.

I enjoy playing casters, so I would like to see what they are like in this system.

Hi MoFiddy! Welcome to the pre-game! :D

I am going to kick things off at Novice rank (0xp), so feel free to knock up a character at your convenience. I'm guessing you are already familiar with how Power Points and the Acane Background edge works?

Regarding story hooks, please give some thought as to why your character would be motivated to join a resistance group looking to bring positive change/overthrow the crooked regime in control of Westcrown.

Hopefully we'll get some more people interested in making up a party, but the great thing about SW is it can be adapted on the fly for any number of players with comparive ease. Even if it's just you (and hopefully at least one other player), I can pad the party with NPC allies and get things going.

I'm up for anything in Savage Worlds! I found it about 7 years ago, and haven't played any other system since.

So, standard SWADE core rules for character generation? Have you created any special Edges, Skills, or Powers for the CoT setting?

There's a more-or-less standard group of players that play SW on Paizo. If you want, I can make a check-this-out post on the three games I'm in, but you might get overwhelmed by the response (one game has like 8 or 9 players in it).

I really appreciate the first-come, first-in method, I can't tell you how many times I've created a character only to not be chosen in the end.

I'll be toying with various builds, but my first thought is a ninja-type who throws magical shurikens.

Yep, standard SWADE character creation. If you want to use the Race Builder tool to replicate a Pathfinder race that's not already included in the core rules, I am cool with that. I did draft a Tiefling race template, which I'll copy below.

I've not created any unique edges, skills, powers, etc... yet, but I will re-read Players Guide and see if any of the Campaign Traits can be converted into edges.

If you can link to those threads (plz), I would love to read up on how those SW games are going. :D

Ideally, I'm looking for 3>5 players, any more than that (in the PbP format) could quickly become unmanageable.

Tiefling

• Low Light Vision
  
• Outsider (minor)
  
• Horns (natural weapon, STR+d4)
  
• Elemental Resistance (Fire)

Campaign Traits

Each PC can select one free Campaign Trait/Edge, based on the Player's Guide, in addition to any edges they gained during character creation.

Child of Infamy: Gain the Fame edge.
Conspiracy Hunter: Gain the Investigator edge.
Diabolist Raised: You can use your Occult skill for Networking rolls, representing how you are able to commune with devils.
Infernal Bastard (prerequisite: Tiefling): Gain the Arcane Background (Gifted) edge and the Darkness power.
Shadow Child: Ignore 2 points of Illumination penalties.
The Pathfinder's Exile: Begin with a Wayfinder in your possession, granting +2 to Survival skills to navigate/determine direction.
Westcrown Firebrand: Gain the Improvisational Fighter edge.

Hi MoFiddy! Welcome to the pre-game! :D

I am going to kick things off at Novice rank (0xp), so feel free to knock up a character at your convenience. I'm guessing you are already familiar with how Power Points and the Acane Background edge works?

Regarding story hooks, please give some thought as to why your character would be motivated to join a resistance group looking to bring positive change/overthrow the crooked regime in control of Westcrown.

Hopefully we'll get some more people interested in making up a party, but the great thing about SW is it can be adapted on the fly for any number of players with comparive ease. Even if it's just you (and hopefully at least one other player), I can pad the party with NPC allies and get things going.

Sounds good. I'll take a look at the player's guide for hook ideas and put together a character.

A Deadlands (wild west with undead and magic) game (I'm Flying Eagle) :
https://paizo.com/campaigns/v5748p75ivlrq/gameplay&page=last

A Superheros game (I'm the GM) :
https://paizo.com/campaigns/NecessaryEvilSupervillainsSaveTheWorld/gameplay &page=52#2595

A RIFTS game (mega-super-powered creatures and mega-high-tech-mech) game (I'm Burgurk) :
https://paizo.com/campaigns/SavageRiftsAndTheTomorrowLegion/gameplay&pa ge=59#2934

I was going to take Arcane Background (Gifted) to get my "shuriken" (Bolt) anyway, would you be open to allowing me to take Infernal Bastard but have the Bolt power? No big deal if not. I have no idea how Tieflings are treated in this setting, so if you could give me some background?

Thanks, will check those out. :D

Bolt is fine. Nice use of trappings btw.

Paraphrasing the Players Guide; Tieflings hold a unique status in Westcrown. Chelaxian diabolists (who hold positions of power and influence across the country) see tieflings as inferior to humans, viewing them as the product of human weakness or devilish trickery. Noble families that produce tiefling children often hide them away or dispose of them altogether. Being a tiefling in Westcrown invites hostility and fear from those too ignorant to look beyond your fell heritage.

I might be interested, but I'm not familiar with Savage Worlds. Is SWADE all that's needed for this?

Yep, that's all you'll need. The PDF currently retails for $7.49 on DrivethruRPG.

Well, I have SWADE now. Lots of stuff to look through and piece together before I really understand character creation.

That said, I think I'll be looking to map onto something in the Bard/Investigator/Rogue classes more or less. Maybe an actor with Child of Infamy, or maybe an 'Information Broker'/Blackmailer type with Conspiracy Hunter.

Given the setting, a Vigilante could also be fun, maybe a character like that with Westcrown Firebrand or Shadow Child.

Regardless I'll probably choose Human.

Awesome! :D

I hope the system brings you as much joy as it has bought me over the years!

Here is link to an instructional web comic you may find useful;
Upto4Players

We now have three players, which I deem sufficient interest to get this off the ground.

I could feasibly take another three people, if anyone is reading this and wants to join.

I've already created the IC & OOC threads, so get stuck in whenever you are ready. :)

rdknight - some things to be aware of when creating SW characters, especially if you're coming from PF/D&D :

There really isn't a "dump stat" (Attribute). If you want to boost one Attribute really high, you're going to suck at something that's important in the game system. Vigor helps you from being killed (in a couple of ways), Spirit keeps you from being "Shaken" (unable to act in combat), Strength and Agility help you hurt your opponents, and Smarts allows you to pick many skills at creation for cheap, and if you're a spellcaster, determines how far away your targets can be and still affect them.

Keep in mind, a d6 is "average" for a starting PC.

One way to build a PC is to decide what Skills you want to be good at, then look at the Attributes they're linked to, and maybe make the most commonly-used Attribute a d8 and another one a d4 (but again, you'll suck at whatever that Attribute is good for). But, you can take some of your "Hindrance Points" and boost that d4 back up to a d6.

If you want a D&D Bard, you're going to have to take an Arcane Background Edge, and put some points into your particular casting Skill.

For a Rogue, you'd want a decent Fighting skill, as well as Thievery, and perhaps Persuasion, and maybe the Streetwise Edge.

For an Investigator, you'd want the Research skill and the Streetwise Edge.

The Summary on page 55 (of my version of the manual) presents a brief description of the order in which to create a PC.

Thankyou ZenFox. :)

Any further questions regarding character creation, or the system in general, post here or the OOC thread and someone will probably answer.

rdknight - I just missed the hour time limit to my previous post. I meant to add that for a Rogue, Stealth would also be an essential skill.

I would be interested. I have played a few Savage Worlds games and ran a Savage Worlds game. If you have room for one more I would be interested in filling the spot, preferably as some kind of arcane spellcaster.

You can never have too many arcane spellcasters.

Welcome to the game!

Play will be starting imminently, but recruitment is still open for additional heroes to join the adventure!

I love SWADE! I'm a player in two of those ganes Zenfox listed, and I'd love to sign up for another. Just like he said, I discovered Savage Worlds a while back, and rarely play anything else anymore.

I'll check to see what is in the party already, and see what I can come up with to complement.

Welcome to the game!

Rigor Rictus, if you still want to join, we just hit an ideal point to introduce a new character, before the party head out on their next mission.

I do want to join, but am finding character building tough. With just bare bones SWADE, it is hardnto maje a character feel like anything... It is pretty boring. I guess all I need is opinion from then other players: what would you like to see more for a fifth member, a Cleric or a straight fighter?

I've basically made up both mechanically, and am just trying ro find ways to breathe life into either option. The cleric has the bonus of group buffs and some Face ability (Persuasion d8), the fighter brings destruction and meat shieldiness.

I thought briefly about some of my other favourite Pathfinder classes, like the Alchemist, but there is no real way to do that in Savage Worlds. Bombs and potions could both be done through Artificer, in a fashion, but I'd have to play with it a bit to see how that might actually work...

I don't have a preference. Play whatever makes you happy.

For an alchemist, I would recommend taking Arcane Background: Weird Science, and using trappings to mould the theme around the existing powers. I personally love playing Alchemists/Artificers in SW. :D

Out of curiosity, what would make character creation feel less boring to you? Pathfinder for Savage Worlds introduced Class Edges for PCs, and they are pretty neat, but arguably no better than the existing Edges that you can already pick.

Do you have your 6th or is there room for one more? Just saw this thread. Savage Worlds is an awesome rules set.

We can take one more, but that will be it, for now.

Welcome to the game JM681.

The group have just reached the rebel HQ and discovered Arael (rebel leader) has been captured by the Dottari (city watch). You can bring yourselves in as rebels already working with the Children of Westcrown and start posting in the Gameplay thread whenever you are ready.

Thank I will go with the Alchemist; I'm making up the character. Going with a spin on an old character of mine, and I'll need GM approval for a few elements. For starters, the ability Blast is Seasoned, but I figured it would be ok to take as a starter as it is key to the Alchemist. I've got an appointment now, but will try to post an Alias when I get back.

I'll allow it, on the grounds that an Alchemist must concoct his potions/bombs at a workbench, ahead of time, and the PP he expends doing so are tied up until the potion/bomb is used. That's how the Alchemist edge was presented in the OG Fantasy Companion. Also, you'll be making Athletics rolls to lob your bombs where you want them to go, so be sure to put some skill points into that.

Sounds good. I was already thinking the same thing about Athletics.

I was hoping the limitation might provide a point savings; Blast is usually 3 pp, but comes with a range of Smarts x2. Since he is crafting a bomb as opposed to a bazooka, something like a Range: Touch [-1] modifier would seem to apply.

I would also like to be able to take the Gadgeteer edge, which is also usually a Seasoned edge. As per the description of the ability, he would still only be able to use it to make Novice level powers and potions, but it gives the class some needed versatility.

I don't know if you are using any of the Setting Rules (SWADE starting page 136), but some like Born A Hero work well for these situations where you are trying to replicate the abilities of various classes, but they are not strictly available to starting characters. Some of these settings rules are really good for determining the tone of the game as well.

What do you think the Skill would be for crafting non-weird science items? Usually in Pathfinder, Craft: Alchemy could be used to make flares, matches, poultices, alchemists fire, smoke bombs, etc., etc. Would he use Weird Science for that? Or regular science? Or Repair?

We can take one more, but that will be it, for now.

Welcome to the game JM681.

The group have just reached the rebel HQ and discovered Arael (rebel leader) has been captured by the Dottari (city watch). You can bring yourselves in as rebels already working with the Children of Westcrown and start posting in the Gameplay thread whenever you are ready.

Thanks! I'll get a character done ASAP. Was thinking something fighter-ish or Rogue-ish or a mix of the two. I actually did the Pathfinder Savage Worlds kickstarter and have the early PDF. I remember giving it a quick look and that was it. Will take a look at hat again.

Sounds good. I was already thinking the same thing about Athletics.

I was hoping the limitation might provide a point savings; Blast is usually 3 pp, but comes with a range of Smarts x2. Since he is crafting a bomb as opposed to a bazooka, something like a Range: Touch [-1] modifier would seem to apply.

I would also like to be able to take the Gadgeteer edge, which is also usually a Seasoned edge. As per the description of the ability, he would still only be able to use it to make Novice level powers and potions, but it gives the class some needed versatility.

I don't know if you are using any of the Setting Rules (SWADE starting page 136), but some like Born A Hero work well for these situations where you are trying to replicate the abilities of various classes, but they are not strictly available to starting characters. Some of these settings rules are really good for determining the tone of the game as well.

What do you think the Skill would be for crafting non-weird science items? Usually in Pathfinder, Craft: Alchemy could be used to make flares, matches, poultices, alchemists fire, smoke bombs, etc., etc. Would he use Weird Science for that? Or regular science? Or Repair?

I am gonna' say No on Gadgeteer and the Born a Hero rule, as I don't want too great a power discrepancy between new characters and the four players that have already built Novice characters. I'm planning to advance you quickly enough that you'll hit Seasoned soon enough.

In this scenario, if you were crafting mundane alchemical items, like matches, I'd likely ask for Weird Science. I would be wary of using that as a way around the Power restrictions. If you want reliable access to flares, alchemist's fire or smoke bombs, I'd expect you to spend advancement points on new powers; Light, Burst (trapping fire) and Blind. Edges like McGyver and Gadgeteer would enable you to jury rig various one shot items.

mikeawmids wrote:

We can take one more, but that will be it, for now.

Welcome to the game JM681.

The group have just reached the rebel HQ and discovered Arael (rebel leader) has been captured by the Dottari (city watch). You can bring yourselves in as rebels already working with the Children of Westcrown and start posting in the Gameplay thread whenever you are ready.

Thanks! I'll get a character done ASAP. Was thinking something fighter-ish or Rogue-ish or a mix of the two. I actually did the Pathfinder Savage Worlds kickstarter and have the early PDF. I remember giving it a quick look and that was it. Will take a look at hat again.

I've got the PDF too, still waiting on the book.

For this game though, we're sticking to the core SWADE rules only.

I'm looking forwsrd to seeing what you come up with! :)

I am gonna' say No on Gadgeteer and the Born a Hero rule, as I don't want too great a power discrepancy between new characters and the four players that have already built Novice characters. I'm planning to advance you quickly enough that you'll hit Seasoned soon enough.

In this scenario, if you were crafting mundane alchemical items, like matches, I'd likely ask for Weird Science. I would be wary of using that as a way around the Power restrictions. If you want reliable access to flares, alchemist's fire or smoke bombs, I'd expect you to spend advancement points on new powers; Light, Burst (trapping fire) and Blind. Edges like McGyver and Gadgeteer would enable you to jury rig various one shot items.

That makes perfect sense. On regards to alchemical items, I wasn't thinking of getting access to any extra powers, rather just having access to the mundane alchemical items the Alchemist can normally use. These tend to be very handy, especially at low levels. Some those effects do overlap with powers, but tend to be a lot less powerful. A molotov cocktail is useful, but it is not a Fireball.

Heh. Character done! I started on a SW pathfinder one but thankfully checked in here first.

I did NOT apply the advance. Should I since I missed the first part of this?

It looks like we're at a good place to jump in. Going to take the initiative and do so. If you want to retcon, that's fine with me. Don't want to slow anyone down. :)

I like your moxie! Jump straight in! :D

Yeah, you and Rigor Rictus can both take the advance, just to keep everyone on an even keel.

I like your moxie! Jump straight in! :D

Yeah, you and Rigor Rictus can both take the advance, just to keep everyone on an even keel.

Thank you and thank you. Will think about that first advance.

Advances: +1 die to Notice and Thievery.

We recently lost two players in our (relatively new) campaign. Looking to recruit one/two new heroes to take up the cause and oust agents of House Thrune and the Council of Thieves from the fair city of Westcrown!

Recruitment still open/Bump for interest.

Come and join us! it's been a fun game thus far!

Westcrown needs Heroes! Do you have what it takes to wrest control of the city from a corrupt mayor and a shadowy cabal of murderous thieves?!

Hello!

I read this recrtutment thread back when it first went up and was interested then but didn't know the rule system at all. I'm always looking for alternatives to PF though (I'm curently running a Blades in the Dark PbP) and SWADE looks good. I've now read the book through and would like to throw Fliss into the ring. she's an escaped halfling slave (you can see her backtround in her alias) and I'll take the Diablolist Raised trait to reflect her upbringing whaich was on the weird side. In PF terms she'd be an eldrich scoundrel, a thief archetype with acess to wizard spells.

One thing you should know if you haven't guessed already: I have dyslexia, I do my best and I do know the difference between they're and their and there but someitimes it gets mixed up from my brain to the keyboard. If that's a dealbreaker please let me know

Hi Fliss. Welcome aboard! :)

The group have just hit a period of downtime and are deciding what to do next, so you picked an opportune moment to join.

I would not fret about spelling & grammar. I spend almost as much time editing errors out of my posts as I do writing them in the first place. :D

Out of interest, how are you finding Blades in the Dark? I've picked it up, along with Wicked Ones and Brinkwood, but I haven't run or played any of them yet.

Thank you :)

BitD is *great* - so many really good ideas to jsut get right into the game. waht I really like about it though is that *soemething happens* every time you roll the dice, there's none of this "I missed my attacks, the bbeg missed her attacks, wasted round, try again" that makes d20 based games a bit sucky sometimes.

Teh Devil's Bargain, the Flashback mechanism and the Engagment Roll rules are worth the price of the book by tehmselves.

You would need to buy Arcane Background, as you surmised above.

That looks fine. I'm using the Multiple Languages rule (p140), so you can pick a number of languages equal to your Smarts die/2 to speak/read, rather than spending any skill points on Infernal. You can reallocate those two points elsewhere.

We had a bit of the Hit/Miss/Whiff cycle in the big battle we just finished, I'm hoping to avoid that in future, and Bennies do help mitigate crappy rolls. I haven't seen any Forged in the Dark games being posted on these forums, but I would be super interested if any popped up in the future.

I am giving out a Benny every time we start a new page on the Gameplay thread, so I don't think anyone has been caught short. I'm probably going to reset the Benny count (as though it were a new 'session') at the start of each new module, as we progress through the Adventure Path.

My Bitd gaem

Because dice rolls need a bit of discussion around postion/effect all the rolls are in discussion so you'd need to read that and the gaemplay posts to see how it's going.

So i get 5 languages for free and 2 skill points back. Thank you :)

I'll take Varisan, Infernal, Draconic and I can't rembmer any others. Thoughts or sugestoions welcome!

For skills, I'll put Occult to d8 and Spelcasting to d10.

I just need to pick my gear and then I'm good to go. how do yuo want to introduce me? Mabe Fliss knows Arael? Or you can jsut retcon that she was there the whole time

Thanks for the link to your game, I will read that over the weekend. I have been watching the Oxventure crew play Blades in the Dark on Youtube, and it does look really fun.

You can pick your languages now, or decide later.

Considering Fliss' backstory, I'm thinking she might be affiliated with the Bellflower Network somehow?

"The Bellflower Network is a well-established, secret society dedicated to freeing halfling slaves, usually from Cheliax, a country in which halfling slaves are specially prized and numerous. The Network maintains its own coded language and uses a blue bellflower as its symbol."

If that's the case, we could say that the Bellflower Network and the Children of Westcrown have collaborated in the past, and perhaps you are reaching out to offer aid in their struggle to overthrow Mayor Aberian Arvanxi (who likely has many indentured halfling 'servants' toiling away in his grand estate).