5/22/2020 Progress Update.
about 6 years ago
– Sat, May 23, 2020 at 02:30:23 AM
Hi everyone, I hope all is well with you during these crazy times.
Much has happened since my last update, and I wanted to share it all with you.
I’ve hired two new writers to help me with various elements of the book, and thus far their drafts have been great, which leads me to editing. I have some people working on the final passes of various savage tales (more on that in a minute) and the plot point campaigns and am just about ready to send the remaining chapters for editing.
So, what’s actually going in this book? Much has changed since I gave an outline of the chapters in the book, but that is sometimes what happens when writing begins. Some things get cut, and other things get added. This time around, nothing has been cut insofar as the broad categories are concerned, but we have added a bunch of stuff. So, let’s go through it blow by blow.
Chapter One: Building your world.
This chapter has always been about giving you the tools you need to create the world YOU want to run/play in. We cover a lot here, but the bulk of is it trappings.
First, you’ll find City Trappings. They’ve been modified slightly from what’s in the Player’s Guide (which I’ll also revise) and expanded on. These also come with example areas, all of which are set in Chicago. These trappings have situational modifiers, resources you can find in the area and, where appropriate, encounter generators.
Next, we go deep into corporate trappings. There are around fourteen different types of corporations you can create. The rules are really simple; each has an effective influence rating, a size, and a dirty secrets entry. The biggest aspect of this category is all of the corporations we’ve listed for examples; over 30(I got tired of counting)! They’re fully fleshed out, and we’ve also received permission from Pinnacle Entertainment to a write up of the corporation as it exists in 2095. That one is going to be pretty fun to read.
Next, we deal with organizational trappings, which includes sample activist groups, crime syndicates, extremist groups, and gangs.
After the Trappings section, we start discussing the Global DataNet and ways it can be used for Networking. We address Hyper Reality, and deal with things like hacking hyper objects and how to use them as hazards!
Next comes virtual reality. We talk about how it’s used in Interface Zero, how you can use it in your game, simple ways to create “avatars,” guidelines for hacking VR, a setting rule(sort of) I call “Heroes don’t Die; They Respawn” and then we list a bunch of virtual worlds your characters can enter. Again, Pinnacle Entertainment has given me permission to do write-ups for many of their settings, including the Deadlands Universe, ETU, Rippers, and a few more. There are also new worlds, and some that I’ve hinted at in previous IZ books. You might even see those worlds in future GMG products.
Next comes Law Enforcement. The main thing here is a brief discussion about making all police officers Wild Cards. Police officers spend months and even years training to properly enforce the law. Any encounter with them (especially violent ones) should be dangerous. I don’t go into any detail on actual laws; it seems like a waste of time writing a bunch of minutia about what is considered a crime, how long your sentence is, etc. GM’s should just use the real world criminal system for that. Besides, if characters have been arrested, something has gone seriously wrong.
After that, I talk about life for the unplugged, and what it means to live life without a TAP.
I wrap chapter one with a brief section on life outside the sprawl, discussing what has happened to rural (insert your nation here), adapting to a changing world, xenophobic societies, travel and add an encounter table.
Chapter 2: Plot Point Campaigns
In chapter two we introduce the three PPCs and add new Campaign Themes for you to consider, including one dealing with Fantasypunk. I’m considering adding fantasy races you can choose for this Theme, though I have to check the Fantasy Companion first. I’m also changing the name of the Cleaning Crew Campaign Theme to Bio Hunters. It just makes more sense. The name will be revised in the Player’s Guide as well.
Chapter 3: Toolkits
Chapter three adds a bunch of tools GM’s can use to build adventures and rules to help them deal with a variety of elements. You’ll find three adventure generators (One designed for each of the core campaign themes), an NPC generator, a bio-horror generator, rules for surveillance (Big brother is always watching, everyone has a video recorder, Black spots in surveillance and how to find them), rules to create security systems, safe houses, rules for adventures in space, and rules to handle corporate warfare. These are Protracted Battles based on SWADE’s mass combat system and can be really fun to deal with as part of a long-term campaign involving megacorporations.
Finally, we deal with lifestyles and general costs of living. We base these rules on the Wealth system; I seriously doubt anyone wants to create a spreadsheet to keep track of every single bill their characters have to pay, or how much a carton of milk costs.
Chapter 4: Savage Tales
Chapter four is all about savage tales. We have a bunch of them, some are designed for campaign themes, while others can be used in any game.
Chapter 5: Threats
As you guessed, this one’s about NPCs. We run the gamut here, and also provide suggestions for modifying npcs to fit your game.
Chapter 6: 2090 revisited
This tends to break with other savage worlds book formats, but I wanted to put the world section in the back so players can check it out without having to flip through the entire book.
So, that’s the book in a nutshell. There’s a lot to love, and a lot of love has gone into it. I wanted to get it out this month, but life has made a liar of me. I will provide a proof version once all of the text is in place in hopes of getting errata while I wait for new art. Hopefully any catches can be fixed before the release of the pdf.
Anyhow, long read. Here’s a few new images for you to check out. As always, thanks so much for your patience.
