On The Air Waves: The Wild Die Podcast!

I often wondered why its called a "Pod" cast? But regardless, check out the latest episode of

"The Wild Die" here..  

Featuring a great topic called "The British Invasion" 😉

Check em out!

Recorded Live: Savage Rifts! Slash and Burn.

I get to play a glitter boy!

Rifts Extension! Updated!!

Hi all,

I finally got the chance to at least update the top end of my Savage Rifts Theme for Fantasy Grounds.

Its mainly just what a person would see, Desktop, Tokens, Button, Bennies and the character Sheet. If they start pressing more buttons and going deeper, things start to revert back to the standard Savage Worlds icons.

Anyways, now that I have my Conan and Rifts themes updated, its time to get stuck back on the WH 40K modules.. 

I just started to update the Black Crusade Ruleset..  this one is going to take me some time.. but its in progress.

Bloody Sands: A Four Game Adventure Recap

Bloody Sands

A Beasts and Barbarians Home Brew Adventure recap

Overview:

The Red Desert is a harsh place, hot winds and dry sands have caused many deaths over the years. What cities there are in this land are mainly walled, and serve as way stations for the many travelling caravans that follow the trade routes.

In the past 5 years, unknown to most people outside of the desert, a cult as slowly taken root, and is starting to displace the entrenched status quo of the Sun God. The Cult of Scorpios is growing, at a very fast rate. Its beliefs that all who enter this land are to serve and to obey, are tools to be used by the scorpion god. It promises power, and glory in exchange for souls and sacrifice.

Chapter one - Bloody Sands

The party starts off being captured and sent into slavery by a group known as the Red Nomads. Any travellers, with out the bronze seal of the scorpion are rounded up and enslaved. This just so happened to be our party.

After several weeks of harsh travel in a caged wagon, and several failed attempts to escape, the party arrived at the walled city of Nagnorish. Upon their arrival they are quickly escorted into a dungeon cell to await their fate. It doesn't take long for them to realize that they are to be sent to the arena to be sacrificed in honor of the new cult.

Sent upon the sands to be sacrificed, they do battle with other slaves and then the pit beast, a giant black desert scorpion. As they are fighting, a sudden sandstorm strikes the arena, and a lighting bolt strikes the stands, knocking the high priest into the arena floor and blowing a hole open in side walls. Seeing a chance to flee, the party kill the priest and use the cover of the storm to escape into the desert.

Chapter 2 - Tomb of Ilias

While being pursued into the desert, the party seek shelter in some standing stones which they discovered. While there, they meet a ancient lotusmaster who has been searching for the ancient tomb of Ilais, a great and powerful Lotusmaster from a time long ago. After a brief parlay, they agree to terms. If they enter the Tomb and retrieve the object that the old sage is looking for, in return they can keep anything else and the sage will direct them to a nearby city in which they may rest before they flee further north.

They enter the tomb, finding a large chamber with one single sarcophagus guarded by two large statues. Ancient magics was in place and one of the statues animated, attacking the party. After the defeat of the statue, they find a secret chamber, containing the treasures that the lotusmaster sought. Later that night, the party slept soundly and restfully in the walled city known as Thinthaius.

Chapter 3 Heart of the Scorpion

While in the city, they hear that the cult of the scorpion is rising to power faster than anyone could have expected and in this city, the ancient tower of the Sun God, was re dedicated to Scorpios. The ancient holy jewel known as the Soul of the Sun, corrupted by evil magics and renamed to the Heart of the Scorpion. Worth a kings ransom, the party decides to steal it.

To break into the holy temple, the party scale the walls and enter the temple gardens, and are attacked by a trio of roaming shadow lions, and then a group of guards came to investigate the noise. Dispatching the guards, the party then scales the walls into the tower. While inside they witness a gruesome discovery, the heart of the scorpion being bathed in a fountain of blood from wild eyes and dedicated followers of the scorpion. Breaking into the chamber, they slaughter the cult and its priest and steal the jewel. What ever wards were casts, as soon as the jewel was removed from the vile jars of blood, the temple started to shake and tremble, facing the full wrath of the now angered Sun God for defiling its home. The temple collapsed, but the party managed to escape the destruction.

Chapter 4. Road of the Gods

What ever battles were taking place in the spiritual realm was starting to flow over into the Red Desert. Since the destruction of the Temple, a violent sand storm as been scouring the walled cities, and anyone foolish enough to be caught outside. Using this time to mask their escape, the party flee north to the border of Kyros.

12 days of travel it took them, chased and hounded by servants of the Scorpion. Swarms, Giant Scorpions, Demonic Hounds and even a Singer Demon constantly on their trail, never giving the party a chance to fully relax. But tracked they were, and just prior to being able to enter the pass to Kryos, the party is attacked by a high sorcerer priest of the Scorpion, his followers , guards and many of the Scorpions minions.

After a large battle, the party forced the high priest to flee but not before wounding him in the process. With freedom in hand the party flee into Kyros and out of that accursed desert, but not before gaining a major enemy. The Cult of the Scorpion.

A Big Thank You!

I would like to say thank you to all of the players who were willing to give this a go, who all made this story fun and interesting no matter what I threw at them. From great creative insights to totally inappropriate rude and crude one liners! I had a lot of fun hosting this with you all, and I hope you all had fun being a part of it. 

Someday soon I hope to explore more of the Dread Sea Dominions and I hope you will come with me again!

Bloody Sands Part IV: Road Of The Gods

Join us as we complete this epic adventure!!!

Bloody Sands, Part 3. The Heart of the Scorpion Teaser

Next weekend!

Bloody Sands Part 3: Heart of the Scorpion.

Savage Max: Behind The Scenes

I have been playing the Mad Max game, and I am using it to create screen grabs for the Savage Max.

Figured I share some of them here.. They are just too cool not too!

Savage Max: Into The Wastes

Preview of my Savage Max Setting:

This conversion is meant to be hard on your characters. Players really need to do their best to survive. Do you spend your bennies on Blood and Guts, or do you save them to soak due to Gritty Damage?

Everything is scarce and hard to find, it will be hard to tell the heroes apart from the villains. This should be a setting where the weak feed the strong, and the strongest rules them all.

Source Books:

Savage Worlds Deluxe Core Book

Reference Material:

Hell On Earth *Vehicle Construction - More details later
Sci Fi Compendium *Vehicle Construction - More details later
MAD MAX The PC Game for my screen shots

Setting Rules:

Blood and Guts
Gritty Damage
Jokers Wild

Savage Max Rules:

The Desert Wastes:
The world is tough enough as it is. Each player starts the session with 1 additional bennie.

Fuel:
Vehicle fuel levels come in 5 levels.
(Full) (3/4) (1/2) (1/4) and (Empty)

"Guzzeline Eh?"
In the wastes, fuel is scarce. At the end of any encounter that involves vehicles. Each driver draws a card, a card of 5 or less reduces your fuel level by 1 step.
If you draw a 2 of clubs, you used up all your fuel in that encounter. You have run out of fuel!

"Nitro"
If you use Nitro, make a driving roll. If you pass you gain +25% acceleration, +25% top speed for 5 rounds. Any driving roll you make during these 5 rounds are at -1. If you failed your driving roll, vehicle must roll on the critical damage table using 1d8 (Not 2d6) then you gain the above mentioned bonuses. On a critical failure you roll twice on the damage chart. Using a nitro immediately drops your fuel level by 1 at the end of the combat. (This is in addition to whatever card you draw for fuel)

"Spark.....Fizzle....Poof"
While shooting any form of gun powder weapon, any roll of one on the shooting die results in a misfire. The gun jams, you will need to clear the chamber to ready the weapon. A critical failure roll (two "1"s) results in the weapon exploding, Taking listed damage in "Fatigue"


I would really love to hear your thoughts on what I am presenting so far. I am really trying to capture the nitty gritty feel of the movies. With out making it to complicated by adding to many special rules. The vehicle construction rules for your "Magnum Opus" (I love that term!) is where you will find most of the complexity but I am doing my utmost to keep vehicle construction rules as simple and as fast as I can.

See you all later.

Jolly!

Coming Soon: Mad Max Just Got Savage!

Within the next few weeks I am going to be releasing my Savage Fans conversion of one of my favorite movie series, of all times!

Mad Max

Coming soon..

The JollyGM's: Savage Max!

Get ready to ride the wastelands!

[FG Daze June 25th] Savage Battlestar: End Game!

Savage Battlestar: End Game

I will be running a one shot adventure set in the re imagined universe of Battlestar Galactica. Want to  play as a Colonial Viper Pilot? Want to blow the frack out of some Cylon toasters? If yes, then join us for free at Fantasy Grounds [FG-Daze} and play in my game or one of the many other systems being offered for free by some of the our communities "Ultimate License" Game Masters.

No experience required, show up, meet some new people, roll some dice, and most importantly have fun.


End Game will place you in the cockpit of the Viper MK VII during the opening salvo of the second Cylon war near the Scorpio shipyards.

I have room for 3 more pilots, anyone else want to try and save humanity? 

The Cylons had a plan. They succeeded... 

Game will be broadcasted live on my twitch channel "calacorm_"

Savage Battlestar: Action Stations! Actions Stations! (Version 2.0 Updated)

You can download the JollyGM Savage Battlestar.pdf here!!
Updated to V 2.0

I have never made anything like this before, so if you see anything or have suggestions, feel free to drop me a line, leave a comment. Someday I hope to play in a game of BSG and not just run one!

Enjoy
Jolly

V 2.0
Fine tuned some character creation rules and other clarifications.

V1.3
I actually added the weapons table!! Frack Me!

V1.1
Fixed a few format issues
Added Weapon Damage Table for vehicles
Added Edge "Wingman"

Savage Battlestar: Capital Ships Conversions Part IV

RIC "Cestus"

CESTUS

Size: 20 (Giant)
Acceleration: 30
Climb: -1
Top Speed: 300
Toughness: 64(25)
Crew: 600
Remaining Mods: 0
Cost: $255,500,000
Mods:
    AMCM
    Armor x7
    Electromagnetic Shielding
    FTL Drive
    Missile Launcher x4
    Targeting System
    Torpedo Tubes x2
    Crew reduction X2
    Sensor Suite (Planetary)
Standard Weapons:
   Missile, Light x 48
   Missile, Heavy/AT x 16
   Torpedo, Heavy x 8
   Torpedo, Light x 16
Linked Weapons: 
   Mass Driver/Rail Gun Level 6 x2
   Cannons, Medium x2 (3 sets)
   Cannons, Heavy x2 (1 Set)
   Auto Cannons, Light x2 (6 Sets)

Cylon Base Star

Cylon Base Star

Size: 32 (Leviathan)
Acceleration: 20
Climb: -4
Top Speed: 200
Toughness: 70(20)
Crew: 20000
Remaining Mods: 6
Cost: $10,092,650,000

Mods:
    Artificial Intelligence (Skills D10)
    Electromagnetic Shielding
    FTL Drive
    Missile Launcher x10
    Torpedo Tubes x10
    Targeting System
    Sensor Suite (Planetary)
Standard Weapons:
    Missile, Heavy/AT x 80
    Missile, Light x 120
    Torpedo, Heavy x 20
    Torpedo, Light x 40
Linked Weapons:    
 6 Quad Linked Auto Cannons, Light
 4 Quad Linked Auto Cannons, Medium
 4 Duel Linked Heavy Cannons

Game Note: Ship Construction.

It didn’t take me very long to realize that any ship over “Large” the design system starts to go kinda wonky. So, when it came to adding “superstructures” like hangers, medical bays, etc. So I just said Frack it. It’s got a hanger big enough for this, it’s all built in etc. Otherwise I would have massive giant ships that would have barely enough space to house a single squadron of fighters. So there is a little bit of GM FUDGE added to this.

The Brief Savage Battlestar Back Story: The Cestus

The Brief Savage Battlestar Back Story.

The Battlestar Universe is a great system to play in, great concept, great everything. But if you play it as if you are in the latest series, it is very linear. So, although it would be fun to play games with NPCs like Starbuck or Apollo, a GM may find it challenging to explore the setting if you want to be play that particular aspect of the story. (At least I find it difficult)

I wanted to play in the same time frame as the series, but away from Galactica. So like others I designed my own little step off point where players can jump into the action.  Yes, Galactica got away, saving 50,000 + people that day. Pegasus also fled, found survivors and eventually found Galactica. But there were millions, if not billions of people in the system. There had to be more survivors, resistance, maybe even some great last stand. Where, when and how that happens is up to you, the GM.

My setting takes place on Day 1 of the Cylon attack on the twelve colonies. The story begins with the Rapid Interdiction Cruiser “Cestus”. The RIC class cruisers were being designed to be a rapid response/strike craft to be used in response to any immediate warfare needs. Cetus is complemented with roughly 500 crew, can also handle one Company of Marines (130), 1 squadron of MK VII Vipers (20), 2 Raptors, and 1 Gunship Raptor.

The Cestus, still in the development/testing stage was performing space trials with an under strength crew of only 250 Crew, 1 ship security platoon of Marines (32), 12 Mk VII Vipers and 1 Raptor during the time of the attack.

The space trials were for testing all of the “off the net” systems, in case the CNP was ever lost during a conflict. The testing required that all CNP systems to be hard shut down and use secondary systems. It was mere chance; the Cestus did not suffer the same fate as the rest of the colonial fleet.  With the CNP systems offline and hard shut, the Cylon virus activated but could not interact with the main system controls as designed. This allowed ship techs to react quick enough to stop the virus from affecting the rest of the ship. After knowing what the virus could do, the techs kept the CNP systems turned off on their current compliment of fighters. Allowing them to perform as needed. *Game note* until the crew can find a more efficient way of keeping the CNP offline, all missile lock rolls/DRADIS rolls/Astrogation rolls are (-1)

Even while still understrength, the Cestus regrouped and immediately jumped to its closet military port, The Shipyards of Scorpio. When the FTL jump was completed, they found themselves in a hellish situation. Their jump into the system was masked by the sudden and unsuspected blind jump by the Pegasus which just that moment departed! This allowed Commander Tobias Whitney to witness the destruction of the remainder of the Scorpio shipyards. Then the Cylons noticed the Cestus.. This is where your story begins!

I have loads of my own notes, NPCs, back stories. But I save that for my games. At least for now, you have the Cestus, her Crew, Pilots, Fighter Craft, and Marines for your players to become a part of.

Welcome aboard the Cestus!

FG - DAZE on Fantasy Grounds: Savage Battlestar is open for registration!

Sign up here!!

Savage Battlestar: End Game FG Daze!

 Is now open for registration to play! Click on the link above and follow the instructions at the Fantasy Grounds Forums.

The game is scheduled to start at 0230 June 26th, which is late evening for most people in North America.. midnight for anyone in Newfoundland.

This game is for fun, and for newbies and veterans alike.. so, jump into that viper, brace for nuke impact and get savage!!

Savage Battlestar: Setting Rules!

First of all, I would like to give my thanks to +Manuel “ManuFS” Sambs  He made one kick ass cover for me to use!

Really appreciative of all the effort and time that went into this! Love it!

Now, on to setting rules.

These setting rules are new, and have not been really tested that much yet, so if anyone decides to use these, please feel free to comment on them.

Setting Special Rules:

Jokers Wild

Character Creation:

Follow the normal creation rules for Savage Worlds when creating a human player. 15 Points for skills, 5 points for attributes and 1 free edge.

Characters may then choose to have a colonial MOC class they would like to focus on. Each class must have the required skills purchased out of your starting skill points. Anything not an MOC would be a civilian, and would be up to the discretion of the GM to allow in that point of the campaign.

MOC's

Viper Pilots

Raptor Pilots

Marine

Bridge Officer

Deck/Tech Crew

Viper Pilots

Stats: Agility D6

Skills: Piloting D6, Shooting D6, Knowledge Space Tactics D4, Knowledge Dradius D4.

Edges: Officer (low rank min)

Raptor Pilots

Stats: Smarts D6

Skills: Piloting D6, Astrogation D6, Electronic Warfare D4, Knowledge Dradius D4.

Edges: Officer (Rank)

Marine

Stats: N/A

Skills: Shooting D4, Fighting D4, Throwing D4, Knowledge Tactics D6, Driving D4.

Edges: None

Bridge Officer

Stats: Smarts D6, Spirit D6

Skills: Knowledge Dradius D6, Knowledge Tactics D6, Pilot - Capital Ships D4, Astrogation D4.

Edges: Officer (Rank)

Deck/Tech Crew

Stats: Vigor D6, Smarts D6

Skills: Knowledge Repairs D6, Connections D4

Edges: None

Skill/Edge Notes

Black Market: This person is able to wheel and deal with looking for hard to find items when dealing with other departments/ships in the fleet.

Dradius: Is a skill that allows you to be able to read and understand your onboard ship sensors.

Electronic Warfare: This is a skill which will allow you to engage in spoofing, jamming and counter jamming enemy signals/missiles etc.

Pilot - Capital Ships: Same as piloting, but for larger ships which involves crews larger then 10.

Astrogation: Want to do a FTL jump into the middle of a sun? No? then have this skill!

Edges:

Evasion: Novice, Agility D6, Pilot D8

Like going full defense during a melee combat, this edge allows a pilot to attempt to make a piloting roll of a star ship to add +1 to his To hit number to avoid being hit. On a raise you get +2. This counts as his action and lasts until his next turn. Also, this +1(+2 with a raise) bonus is added to your total piloting roll to avoid a missile lock

Evasion, Enhanced: Seasoned. Evasion. Pilot D10

As Evasion, but adds +2 to his To hit number to avoid being hit. A raise gives you +3 total.

Officer Rank: To be a pilot, you need to have an officer rank. Starting rank for Pilots and Bridge Officers are Ensign

Cylon Special Rules

Cylon Raiders: (Optional)

Raiders often fly in groups. For game purpose when Cylon Raiders are in a combat they can be grouped together to receive special benefits while in groups of 2 or 4.  While in groups of 4, only 1 Cylon in the group attacks, but gets a +2 to hit and +1d6 damage (which can ace) . When there is either 2 or 3 in a group, that bonus is then reduced to +1 to hit and +2 damage. This rule is for the intent of speeding up space combat.

Cylon Sleeper Agent: (Optional)

When a new character is introduced into a campaign, that character roles 1d100 secretly into the tower. On a role of 95-100, that character is secretly designated by the GM as a sleeper agent. At the start of every game session, the GM publicly draws a card, if the card is a joker, the GM may inform, any or all of the sleeper agents of their activation. The GM can assign special mission or objectives for them to complete until they are ultimately caught. (This rule is intended for serious role playing groups.) This is also to add tension to the group.

The Twelve Colonies

I really liked the idea of getting special free bonus from being a member of a particular colony (Inspired by John Brown and Rick Petersen in their version of Savage Battlestar) So I have adopted a similar approach. When you select a colony, you get the free listed bonus, If you pick one with a Hinderance, you may add the value of that hindrance as a bonus to character creation for free.

Caprica: Stat - Smarts start at D6, Skill - Pilot or Pilot Capital Ships D4

Canceron: Skill - Scrounger D4, Skill - Persuasion D4 

Scorpia: Stat - Vigor Starts at D6, Skill - Knowledge Tactics D4

Libris: Hindrance - Quirk Minor - Carouser Edge - Charismatic

Picon: Edge - Combat Reflexes

Aquaria: Edge - Level Headed

Geminon: Skill - Healer D4, Hindrance Pacifist. (Minor)

Tauron: Edge - Brawny, Hindrance - Stubborn (Minor)

Aerelon: Edge - Fearless

Sagittaron: Stat - Spirit start at D6, Hindrance - Outsider (Minor)

Virgon: Edge - Common Bond

Leonis: Edge - Brave, Stat - Strength starts at D6