People, Plots and Places of the Wild West: Military Fort

 "People, Plots and Places of the Wild West: Military Fort" is now available from DrivethruRPG.

This six-page supplement presents a layout for a U.S. Army fort and location descriptions, an overview of life in the United States Army of the frontier, stats for soldiers and other personnel, more than a dozen plot hooks and two Dramatic Tasks, and a map of the forts and battle sites of the Old West, all for use with the Savage Worlds RPG. 

-Nate

People, Plots and Places of the WIld West: Military Fort

A Tale of Two Parties: Con of the North 2025

At Con of the North 2025 I ran two sessions of this year's scenario, and it was interesting to see the differences in how the sessions went.

The first table had three players, who picked Thaddeus, Linh and Magdalena as their characters. Those three lean into the non-combat skills, and so the players tried to approach situations with that in mind. They seemed to enjoy the puzzles, which were a bit more frequent in this scenario. They also called upon characters met in scenarios from the previous years, and tried to avoid combat when possible. They really seemed to enjoy finding the lost Crown Jewels of England, and then making a run for it with Linh behind the wheel.

My second table, on the other hand, had six players—one more than I'd listed as the maximum. I doubled up on Gavin, the retrieval specialist, since I didn't want an extra version of Vaughn, the heavy. I had done this a few years ago, and that player happened to be present again, so it added some continuity. These players seemed more interested in a fight, however, and the characters were much more ready for combat. With two shooters and a brawler, and the holy person and occultist to Boost their Traits, they steamrolled the bad guys. I worry that they might have been disappointed by underwhelming foes, but I didn't think it was appropriate to stage an all-out assault. I need to do more work to create tougher bad guys, someone equivalent to the German Mechanic from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I have next year's scenario planned, though, and I think it might give them a more satisfying final fight.

-Nate

Sources of Inspiration: The Recovery Agent

Sources of Inspiration: The Recovery Agent

Recently I needed to do some solo driving, looking at a few hours in the car each way, by myself. For that reason I checked out an audiobook on CD from the library, one that I'd noticed in print but had not made time to read. That was The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich. Here are my thoughts.

• Admittedly, I'm not usually one for reading popular novels. The cover of this one caught my eye when I saw it in Costco, however. When I learned that I would need to drive to Duluth for a board meeting and a conference, then, I thought of it and checked out the audiobook on CDs from the library. I enjoyed it!

• There is a lot of bickering between the two main characters, who are ex-spouses. That doesn't interfere with the story, however, and I grew to like both characters. It would be interesting to see this dynamic used in an RPG campaign.

• The story digs into local superstitions, such as the Incan death deity Supay. This was an interesting decision by the author; I wonder how native people of Peru feel about the portrayal.

• Listening to the audiobook was a good lesson in using voices for NPCs. The reader, Lorelei King, needed to voice up to four different characters at a time, and did a good job of making each one pretty distinct.

• I was surprised by the amount of combat in this story. There was a lot of shooting and explosions, not something that I was expecting.

• The story also left some elements unresolved. Specifying which ones would be a spoiler, though, so I'll leave those for another time.

Ritual Magic for Treasure Hunter Adventures

Now available from DrivethruRPG is "Ritual Magic," a short PDF that provides suggestions for using the Dramatic Task rules from the Savage Worlds RPG to represent magical rituals, especially for use with Treasure Hunter Adventures. 

-Nate 

Ritual Magic

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

I found this video on Youtube this morning and am intrigued. While I'm not a video game player myself, I'm interested to see how it expands the lore of Indiana Jones. 

-Nate 

Freeport 2025 Campaign

I am pleased to start the new year with a new home campaign, playing Pathfinder 1E in the Freeport setting!

-Nate

Freeport 2025 Campaign Notes

The Party

Al—Chug—Male island troll war priest

Aric—Tasso—Male human sorcerer (djinn bloodline)

Brent—Falco—Male halfling freebooter

Geof—Gahd—Male halfling gunslinger (musket master)

14 January 2025—“The Ironjack Legacy”

The PCs met with Martin Hawkes and he made his offer, hiring them to explore the key and clues from Jenkin Hammer, the Ironjack; Tasso talked him up to paying for half the value of treasure found along with room and board. They settled into their lodgings and had a meal (Falco had two) before heading to the Freeport Institute to investigate the first clue.

In Hammer's old workshop, Gahd found the keyhole beneath the anvil and Tasso used the key in it, opening the trap door and finding the tunnel leading downward. Chug led the way down the ladder. In the first chamber, Tasso again tried the key, activating the mechanism. They split the party to explore further, with Tasso and Chug staying by the mechanism and Falco and Gahd venturing further. After opening and closing some of the doors, they ran into the first clockwork servant!

The servant caught Gahd in its net and started to drag him away, but Falco cut the rope. Gahd's musket misfired, leaving him frustrated. Chug joined the fray, charging in to attack. Falco tumbled through the melee, too, helping to flank the enemy, and they managed to defeat the constructs.

At the end of the maze they found the chamber holding Hammer's first Might Man. Once again it was Tasso who used the key in it, activating a potent magical effect that made his hair stand on end. He identified some kind of abjuration magic. In the aftermath they had time to treat their injuries and gather up valuables they could.

Loot: An alchemist's lab (175 gp), masterwork artisan's tools (50 gp), 3 sunrods, 2 candlerods, jar of armor ointment. The remains of the intact clockwork servant—one was crushed by a descending stone block—could be worth 1000 gp or more, and Hawkes is negotiating with potential buyers.

Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025

The 2024 calendar year has been a different one for me. My players surprised me by wanting to play Star Wars, and then choosing the old D6 System. We were working through a series of scenarios that I wrote for use with Age of Rebellion, and I was converting them as we went. That campaign ended rather abruptly, however, due to a death in the family, heart surgery for one of the players, and other concerns. We went through the summer without playing, and then started the fall without a definite plan.  

I finished a few Treasure Hunter Adventures products during the year, and added another small line. Since I'd finished the Apotheosis Campaign last year, I didn't have as much to be doing. I did still release four items. Two were free PDFs that included material for which I had not found another home--Curses and The Ship in the Ice. There was also Artifacts & Enigmas of the American Revolution, which brought together some ideas on which I'd been working for a while, and tied in with the 250th anniversary of that event. 

The PDF OSS Report on the Invisible College connected to the scenarios that I wrote and ran for Con of the North. It delved into an organization that is becoming important in te campaign setting, and it's fun to see how all of this develops. 

There is also Captain Quin's Logbook: Frontier Ports of Call, which seemed like a useful supplement to me, but which has to this sold only one copy. I guess I missed the mark on that one. 

My little series People, Plots and Places of the Wild West has done a bit better, with five entries: "Riverboat," "Poker Tournament," "The Writer," "Lou's Landing & The Rendezvous" and "The Lost Cache of Killer O'Bannon." I have some more of these in the works. 

This blog turns fifteen this year! It has shifted its focus throughout the years, and at the time of this posting has 677 posts, 405,432 views and 70 followers. 

I am excited for Pathfinder Freeport (1E) after the New Year. Now that my group is back in order--and rejoined by an old player who needed some time to take care of family business. This brings us back up to five players; we'll be starting "The Ironjack Legacy," and see where it goes from there!

-Nate