[Future Perfect] Melee Weapons

What follows is the basic list of melee weapons used in Future Perfect, followed by a brief description of each. Some other weapons are found in the setting as well, but did not require any stats to be noted since they are not always so common and already in the SW rule book.  Axes, staves, swords, slings, and even spears are all examples of such weapons.  A quality rating also is included, with Low (L), Normal (N), High (H) able to be found on the chart.

Weapon	Damage	Weight	Cost	Quality	Notes
Baton	Str+d4	1	10	N
Clawz	Str+d4	.5	50	N	Climbing +1; Reduced fine manipulation results in a -1 penalty to applicable Skill rolls when Clawz are affixed. A Character using Claws is considered to be an Unarmed Defender.
Forearm Blade	Str+d4	2	100	N	Parry +1
Knocker	Str+d4+2	1	50	N
Microfilament Whip	2d6	1	450	H	AP 4; Parry -1; Reach 1; If Attack Die (and Wild Die) comes up 1, then hits user instead.
Polyglass Knife	Str+d4+1	1	75	N	AP 2; Can Be Thrown
Polyglass Survival Knife	Str+d4+1	1	85	N	AP 2; Survival +1; Cannot Be Thrown
Power Glaive	Str+d8+2	8	1000	H	2H; Reach 1; On a Raise when Attacking, Target must Make a Vigor roll or be Shaken. This is determined before any Damage is dealt by the Glaive itself.
Power Staff	Str+4+2	3	650	H	2H; Reach 1; On a Raise when Attacking, Target must Make a Vigor roll or be Shaken. This is determined before any Damage is dealt by the Staff itself.
Stun Baton	Stun	1	100	N	On a Hit, Character must make a Vigor Roll or be Shaken. If a Raise is made on the attack roll, the Vigor roll is made at -2. A Character wielding a Stun Baton is considered to be an Unarmed Defender
Stun Sword	Stun	2	175	N	On a Hit, Character must make a Vigor Roll or be Shaken. If a Raise is made on the attack roll, the Vigor roll is made at -2.
Sword, Duelist's Blade	Str+d4	2	175	H	AP 2, Parry +1
Sword, Kokoran	Str+d6+2	4	750	H	AP 2, Biometal
Sword, Polyglass	Str+d6+1	5	350	N	AP 2
Sword, Regular and Short	See Savage Worlds Rulebook

Baton: A billy club, cudgel, or similar small, one handed bludgeoning implement.

Clawz: Modified “brass knuckles” that fit over a user's hands, but also provide three small claws that extend down from between wielder's fingers. These small claws impair, but do not wholly impede, a character's ability to engage in activities requiring fine manipulation (such as Surgery, Lockpicking, Electrical Repairs, Etc), resulting in a -1 penalty to applicable trait rolls.

Forearm Blade: Lightly armored vambraces with one or more sharp blades on the outside of the forearm.

Knocker: A heavy glove, similar to a Cestus, that uses a small, implanted power cell to release an added jolt of force upon impact. The power cells can be drained or negated normally, however, unless damaged, they recharge themselves from the simple actions of being moved around.

Microfilament Whip: A monomolecular wire whip, lightly weighted at one end and affixed to a handle at the other. The whip itself is so fine that it can cut through flesh an most soft armors almost effortlessly.

Polyglass Knife: A knife made from polycarbonate glass, designed to be strong, light, and extremely sharp. The cutting edge of a polyglass blade is razor sharp. This knife may be thrown.

Polyglass Survival Knife: A polyglass knife whose throwing balance has been sacrificed in order to be functional as a multipurpose tool with room for the storage of tiny objects (usually survival gear). This knife grants a bonus of +1 to Survival skill rolls.

Power Glaive: A charged, heavy bladed polearm that uses the same type of power cell as a Knocker to not only provide extra force, but which may release enough added energy that scramble a person's motor control (may Stun target on a Raise).

Power Staff: A Knocker on a stick, the Power Staff forgoes the blade component of the Power Glaive but retains the charge and capacity to stun its target.

Stun Baton: A small, hand held rod that releases a charge that scrambles a target's motor control. A Character using a Stun Baton still is considered an unarmed defended in combat.

Stun Sword: A larger Stun Baton, the Stun Sword is about two and a half to three feet in length with a light, whippy striking area that releases a charge that scrambles a target's motor control.

Sword, Duelists Blade: A thin, light, and flexible metal sword, the Duelist's Blade is designed for quick strikes and maneuverability. These weapons often resemble thin swords of various types, most often the Rapier, Jian, or lighter Sabres, and are nearly as sharp as Polyglass.

Sword, Kokoran: Made from liquid biometal, the Kokoran sword literally forms itself when needed. These swords are lighter than conventional metals, and often take the shape of Katanas, Daos, Kukri, and similar larger, single edged swords.

Sword, Polyglass: A shorter blade than the Duelist's Blade, it tends to be much thicker and heavier. Larger polyglass swords are rare since they are prone to breakage if they get much larger than two to two and a half feet.

Sword, Regular and Short: Many styles of metal swords can be found within marketplaces with ease and should be treated as per the SW rules.  

[Future Perfect] Updating?

Just a short entry this time, I promise.

I've been thinking about updating the Starship designs from Future Perfect to reflect the system changes in the new Savage Worlds: Deluxe edition rulebook.  The new chase rules especially could make for some interesting alterations, and may even allow me to tweak some faction ships in ways that better suit how I'd envisioned them.

Also, I've been thinking about just going ahead and posting some of the "unfinished" material I used during the Future Perfect: Identity Function campaign.  Lists of weapons, armor, body armor, and a variety of different drugs and gear could make their way to these pages -- the only issue is that not everything has "flavor text", so much of it may be presented in the form of raw stats.

People following Future Perfect should keep watch for some updates, and possibly even a sci-fi one-sheet (originally designed for the setting, but made more generic).

Maptooling Around...

Alright.  So last night I played my first game of Savage Worlds using Maptool and while I think the whole setup had some issues, overall I am favorably impressed.

For those unacquainted with it, Maptool is a virtual tabletop that allows map graphics and tokens to be placed and arranged in viewable layers.  Place a character token atop a background map, and there you have it, the most basic virtual tabletop.  Maptool goes a number of steps further by including embedded character sheets, fairly robust scripting options, die rollers, chat windows, server/client functionality for hosting private games, drawing functions, and preset scaling for map tokens... Of course, these were just the things I saw in a couple hours of playing!  Personally, I found myself wishing I'd taken the Growth power so I could justify constantly resizing my character token. Its one of those things that a real table top cant do that Maptool can.

As for play itself, the game moved along fairly easily.  We used a group call function in Skype to supplement the game play, though once the game began I muted my microphone so it was (mostly) just the GM talking.  Everything game related was managed via the text Chat window in Maptool.  While the person GMing the session seemed passably familiar with how Maptool works, he needed to add quite a few scripted buttons, plus new skills and abilities, all on the fly.  I'm impressed enough that Maptool allows on the fly changes and additions, though it drives home the point that Maptool definitely will require some work up front on the part of the GM in order to provide a more seamless experience.  Movement was very well implemented, with it automatically displaying the distance (and path) between your starting position and desired end point.  The die roll functionality is also nicely robust, with the ability to roll custom die strings and define which dice are exploding.  After a while, I found myself preferring to type out the die roll commands manually instead of clicking through the buttons.

This leads me to perhaps my biggest gripe with Maptool -- the interface.  The screen is cluttered, and while the map allows a scroll-to-zoom function (which was a life saver!), there are way too many little windows that take away from the map's usable space.  Most of those windows seemed either redundant or of questionable use to a player anyway.  A feature that annoyed me was the inclusion of a macro window (empty) on the default screen, but no clear instructions on how to make macros themselves.  After a little while, I'd rearranged things to better suit my preferences, but the user interface always felt like it needed a bit more polish.

Any other concerns I have with the software all stem from my inexperience with it.  Most of Savage Worlds specific scripts were focused on the older Explorer's Edition rule set, so there were a few updates that needed to be made (or in some cases, things that just needed to be circumvented).  I can see a dedicated GM spending hours on end tweaking scripts to make the perfect play experience, but in reality most of us don't have that kind of time.  Luckily, there is nothing that forces you to use any but the most basic of scripts. Honestly, I could get by tracking most things manually, just like I do on the tabletop anyway, with a few features tossed in just to help me out.  Benny tracking, for example, was especially helpful when you can click that the benny is being spent to soak damage.

Overall, I am pleased with the experience and Maptool has proven itself to me as a viable alternative when face to face gaming at the table just isn't possible.  Is it perfect? No.  It is usable, definitely, and with its scripting functions, it can only improve.  Best of all, it is free.  Honestly, I've been considering picking up Fantasy Grounds II, but the cost keeps pushing me away since not only does a GM have to buy more expensive software, but every player has to buy the basic player client.  Using Maptool would just save me money, and despite FGII's added polish, it requires that I pay for EVERYTHING or take (possibly just as much) time configuring it to work how I want for my game, just like Maptool.

Three and a half hours of playing allowed us to liaise with the local city guard, fight several magitech enhanced attack dogs and a pile of evil cultists summoning a hungry version of Shai-Hulud beneath an ancient tower, save a sacrificial victim, bring a cult leader to justice, and reap the rewards from a job done well.  Yep. I'm content with that.

Firenzo the Fat

[This is a character built for possible inclusion in someone's Maptool based Fantasy game.  Still not knowing what the guidelines are, I went for a novice Wizard  that I thought could be fun to play.  He's more of a summoner type, I'm thinking, with trappings for his spells being summoned beings and forces and energies.  I also wanted a character that, if needed, could throw down in a fight.  Sure, he'd get trounced by a dedicated warrior, but at least Firenzo won't need to cower behind the rest of the party for fear that a stiff breeze might beat the snot out of him.]


Background:

In his youth, Firenzo was a canny but otherwise unremarkable child who lived with his father, a poor bookseller, who managed another man's shoppe. His days were spent reading old books of lore, especially of a magical sort, which piqued his curiousity and engaged his mind's eye with a constant sense of wonder.  When a young man of barely fifteen, his father died, and without any other options, Firenzo became a Belish soldier assigned to work as a city guard in Wroat.  For years he worked diligently keeping the peace and investigating petty crimes.  He enjoyed the routine, the constant training, and the knowledge that he was a representative of his community and sworn to protect its people.  Firenzo found comfort in a belief that despite all the problems in the world, if you acquit yourself well to others, then generally, they do the same to you.  Unfortunately, Firenzo was also quite naive.  


In the course of doing his job, he learned the hard way that the world is often a very harsh and unforgiving place.  Being an honest guard lead him to be given less and less desirable posts that were more demanding on his time.  Though in his heart, Firenzo still believed that honorable accord was of highest virtue, he grew ever more aware that his beliefs were hindering him socially and professionally.  When off duty, he turned to food and drink instead of training, enjoying his meals to such excess that his once fit and muscular form became softer, flabby, and weak from inactivity.  Firenzo grew more and more disconnected from his own life as he realized he needed to make a change.  


Suprising everyone who thought he would be just another dull, go-nowhere city guard, he resigned from his post and hired himself out as a bodyguard for a small group of travelers en route from Wroat to Sharn.  The tragedy that followed also marked perhaps the greatest turning point of his life.  Just three days into the journey, the travelers were ambushed.  Raiders descended upon the group, even as two among them turned against their fellows.  The battle was furious, and when all was done, nearly twenty men and elves lay dead.  The two betrayers themselves had fallen, leaving only a shaken Firenzo and an injured old mage to be taken captive by a handful of remaining attackers and held for ransom for nearly a year. 


The Mage was bound tightly to keep him from working his magics and escaping, and Firenzo, while chained, had his hands free in order to help tend to the Mage.  The old Wizard, Arqueviss Quibb by name, was a long time teacher of young spellcasters, and he saw, albeit faintly, that same spark of the gift within Firenzo as among his former students.  Though Firenzo himself was in his early 30s and far from being a young man himself, he was clever enough, disciplined, and willing to work hard.  That spark grew to a flame, and after many long months of secret training when their captors were sleeping or occupied, they seized their moment.  As Firenzo made ready the way for their escape, he did not realize that Arqueviss never intended for the both of them to leave.  The old Mage was dying and wanted one last taste of revenge before his own spark flickered and faded.


Once Firenzo neutralized the first of the guards and started heading from the camp, the old Mage ensorcelled him and compelled him to flee, to run as far as he could until he collapsed.  It was then that Arqueviss Quibb rained hell upon his captors, unleashing a torrent of raw eldritch force that consumed himself and nearly the whole of the raiders camp.  Firenzo was free, and the old man had sacrificed himself to make certain of that fact. It was then that he vowed that never again would he live in bondage nor would he allow others to be forced to do the same.  


In time he made his way to Sharn, alone.  He practices the lessons taught him by Arqueviss every day and takes odd jobs to best continue his studies.  Though he is not a formally trained wizard, he has more than once proved that learning gained from practice and practical demands can be just as effective.  With no family and few friends, Firenzo the Fat spends his free time writing in his journals (e.g. Spellbooks) and finding cheap venues serving plentiful food and drink.  



Firenzo the Fat
Novice Human Male

AG d6, SM d8, SP d6, ST d6, VI d6

Charisma +0
Pace 5"+1d4"
Parry 6
Toughness 6

Hindrances:
Obese (m), Vow (m; to never again be held in bondage to anyone), Code of Honor (M)

Edges:
Arcane Background: Magic (Bolt, Entangle, Summon Ally), Power Points

Skills:
Fighting d6, Investigation d4, KS: Arcana d8, Notice d8, Spellcasting d10, Stealth d4

Gear:
Heavy Robes/Hides (Armor +1)
Spear (ST+d6; +1 Parry; +1 Reach)
Spell Notes and Journal

Magic:
15 Power Points
Spellcasting d10
Bolt, Entangle, Summon Ally

10,000 Page Views and a One-Sheet Adventure

Well, Abunchofsavages has passed ten thousand page views!  Who would have thought THAT would happen?

To celebrate, I decided to post a Fantasy One-Sheet Adventure for roughly Seasoned Rank characters.  It's a short tale set in a normally peaceful region who's townfolk have become worried about Ratlings (aka Rat Men) recently spotted in some old ruins. You see, the ruins are set in the hills overlooking a path commonly taken by locals as a shortcut between the region's biggest town and several riverside farming communities.  The characters are tasked with making certain the Ratlings leave...

Download:  Hunters of Heron's Vale Pass


[Spolier Alert]
The Ratlings have set into the ruins because they open up into a series of tunnels in which Rockgrubs may be found.  To the Ratlings, the Rockgrubs are delicious and mildly intoxicating, and this is just one large hunting party sent forth to collect as many grubs as possible.
  
Unfortunately, even if the Ratlings are driven off or convinced to leave, they will probably come back next year.  It seems that Rockgrubs are just too damned good!  This means that it may fall to the PCs to make a choice about how far they are willing to go to help out the townsfolk, because it is within their power to destroy the source of the Rockgrubs entirely.  And having no grubs means having no more Ratlings.
[End Spoiler Alert]