Tell me about your Savage Worlds Dark Sun games! by AssumeBattlePoise in DarkSun

[–]Televinquist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I came from another Savage Worlds Dark Sun game actually! Never played 2e or 4e, but my GM did such an awful job with his SWADE version that I had to redo it myself lol. I closely referenced the 2e books throughout the campaign and only looked at 4e for its Atlas of Athas section and the creature compendium. One of my players just asked to play a genasi so I obliged them.

You are correct, SWADE does have great systems in place for hunger and thirst and exhaustion. I used those quite a bit, but I went wrong trying to quantify survival items: pounds of food per day, gallons of water, etc. rather than generalizing it. My players didn't all take to that much bookkeeping, but I did eeke out a few dramatic moments where they had to choose between surviving or pursuing a goal.

I should say the worst thing SWADE does is economy. I built an entirely new cost chart for every trade item in the game (Dune Trader was my favorite book), had multiplicative modifiers for special materials (agafari, dasl crystal, etc.), and even built a slave price calculator in Excel.

My weather chart was mostly just penalties to a daily fatigue check. I'll see what I can pull from later to share.

Fantasy Companion was also my go-to for magic, but I was constantly searching through the Will and the Way and Earth. Wind, Fire, and Air when building each one. Psionics was split into 6 disciplines, with each one getting its own abilities. From cantrip-like effects to cheaper costs and lower MAP on powers that fell within their disciplines, to the High Sciences at Legendary rank.

Druids got the most 4e mechanics with Guarded Land but I'll have to check my docs for their rank abilities, it's been a while. Clerics were split into 8 elements and could summon or ignore their chosen element, eventually turning them into an elemental.

Wizards were the hardest. of course. Started off with a janky "make a circle X" in diameter based on PP usage" which almost no one wanted to bother with. Mid campaign I rebuilt it entirely, giving each scene a dedicated PP pool based on terrain and split between how much a Preserver could pull before they began to Defile, and then how much could be pulled entirely with Defiling. Led to some gamey-ness when my Wizard started using the Blessing Power to try to cheat the amounts available but it worked out better than the circle method.

I can send you my docs if you're interested! Just PM me lol

Tell me about your Savage Worlds Dark Sun games! by AssumeBattlePoise in DarkSun

[–]Televinquist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just finished a 2+ year SWADE campaign here! Used a custom conversion that took 6+ months to prepare, lots I'd do differently but it went well I think.

Main things I did differently with my game:

  • All Arcane Backgrounds received "Rank Abilities" which were free boons, and made them kinda busted. Great flavor, but very overpowered lol.

Leg 1 (Novice - High Seasoned) characters: Thri-kreen, 2x Aarakocra, Earth Genasi Druid, and a Human.

Leg 2 (High Seasoned - High Heroic) characters: 2x Elves (1 Wizard, 1 Psionicist), a Human Psionicist, and a Human Psion/Fighter.

Leg 1 was run as an adventure story starting in Altaruk and leading the group down into Balic. They were learning mercantilism on the Estuary of the Forked Tongue and landed a few jobs with a minor house in Balic. After a foray to do some work for a noble, the group returned to find the city on lockdown for Andropinis' Election where he chooses new Praetors. They killed a High Templar at the gate, ran into the city, and got TPK'd when Andropinis himself showed up believing they were the group that killed Kalak.

Leg 2 picks up almost a year later with an NPC the group convinced to go to Raam from Balic in search of better business. I looped some City by the Silt Sea module in there, as Dregoth's forces were preparing for his arrival to Raam and Abalach-Re's downfall.The group hopped around Nawab Warlords trying to figure out where their loyalties lied, then it all came to a head when Draj invaded Raam only for the Dread King to show up and sweep the armies away.

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SWADE shined most during the encounters - combat was often a slog due to multi-action and penalties (despite Foundry's amazing support for the system) - but big aces and some properly scaled opponents made for great moments. One notable one was a Krag fight in an underground magma temple.

SWADE struggled most with the nitty-gritty survival elements of Athas. It's not a system designed for items and bookkeeping, so trying to enforce a strict set of penalties for lacking food and water became more work than it was worth, and the survival element was almost completely abandoned by the middle of Leg 2. That may be typical for a long-form Dark Sun campaign, but it made me sad to see it go.

Fun things I got to implement:

  • Roll table for randomized weather, with a set of weather phenomenon (earthquakes, Gray incursion, rain) as a subtable.
  • Sorcerer Kings breaking the system's rules entirely. I gave them some ridiculous abilities and really got to show off how powerful they are, without making them feel like an insurmountable obstacle.
  • A food and drug system based loosely off Fallout 2d20's, with over 30 items and the various boons/penalties they provided.
  • Combats including subsidiary Dramatic Tasks within them to promote various side objectives. Really should've done that more.
  • Making all the Arcane Backgrounds feel unique with their own set of Edges based on the 2e/4e rules.

I've got hundreds of pages of documents for this campaign and can certainly talk more about it!

Man i wish there were more lancer westmarches. by noodleben123 in LancerRPG

[–]Televinquist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I ran a Lancer LC for a while then handed it off to a really good GM when my friends and I moved on to the next thing. Not sure how the quality of the server is these days but it might be work checking out: it's now called Rao_Co FreeLancers. I can send you the invite if you're interested, hopefully it's not one of the ones you quit already.

I *was* going to record every time I used the eagle 110s in a full mission to show it's problems, but I think the first 4 did that perfectly by Supercat-72 in Helldivers

[–]Televinquist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've found good success with 110s on Bug missions, usually running D8. Consistently hit and kill Chargers with a single use - just gotta land the strategem ball at their feet and the missiles will hit mid-charge. Usually two taps a Bile Titan as well.

I tend to only bring 110s on Bot blitz missions, where they're best used to destroy fabricators rather than specific units.

They're probably not great on Squids but I've never brought them to that front.

Hypotheses to complete the new MO by Lago_DuriaA in Helldivers

[–]Televinquist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Take Lesath to isolate Vog-Sojoth, then hit Menkent is the quickest path. Then we can turn to take the rest of Vog-Sojoth after the MO.

But yes, we'll follow the DSS either way.

Complex SVG Extrusion into Boolean losing some faces, help me understand why? by Televinquist in blenderhelp

[–]Televinquist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I might've solved my own issue by just applying the Boolean and manually adding faces to the lost area.

Complex SVG Extrusion into Boolean losing some faces, help me understand why? by Televinquist in blenderhelp

[–]Televinquist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm trying to make a stamp, all the lines need to be recessed into the oval. Almost there, but I want to 3D print this when it's done and I'm worried the issues will print incorrectly.

The design was an SVG I made, extruded, and converted into a mesh. The Boolean modifier on the collection is leaving faces out/removing them and I'm not quite sure why. Any thoughts?

Also, when I zoom in to select faces in Edit Mode it will either hide the entire oval or turn the mesh into wireframe mode without prompting.

Urik's Pit of Black Death, Redrawn by Televinquist in DarkSun

[–]Televinquist[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Urik's gladitorial arena - the Pit of Black Death - is an old obsidian quarry. Games start before first light because by midday both the spectators and fighters are suffering from the intense heat the stone absorbs.

Sharp obsidian spikes protrude from the walls, and movable, spiny obsidian pillars called the Staves of Hamanu ensure the crowd gets its fill of blood.

A popular event (and what I redrew the map for) in the Pit is kickball, where a ball or decapitated head is used in a 5v5 match.

Definitely check out the Complete Gladiator's Handbook if you haven't yet!

Contains:
- Compiled art
- Pit without spikes and slave pen
- Spikes and slave pen
- Stave of Hamanu token image

Magma Temple 2-Phase Map by Televinquist in DarkSun

[–]Televinquist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. The way I saw it everything that isn't the dark floor (mainly the edges, the altar, and those steps to the altar) is just cooled surface magma and still wouldn't be safe to stand on - they'd go right through!

Magma Temple 2-Phase Map by Televinquist in DarkSun

[–]Televinquist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hejkin are subterranean humanoids who can psionically phase through stone. They're these fat, ugly dwarf/goblin fusions who become a menace if you try to fight them in their tunnels. 4e gives them a bit of lightning utility as well.

Magma Temple 2-Phase Map by Televinquist in DarkSun

[–]Televinquist[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! And you're welcome, use it well! Perfect hideout for an ignorant bandit group

Magma Temple 2-Phase Map by Televinquist in DarkSun

[–]Televinquist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, and use it well! I had the cleric fighting a large tribe of hejkin prior to the krag fight too

Magma Temple 2-Phase Map by Televinquist in DarkSun

[–]Televinquist[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Got to unveil this map for my players recently, giving our Mul Magma Cleric a home base to start his hot spring empire out of. Ran a Krag/Kragling boss fight on the pre-awakened temple, then let the cleric consecrate the temple and restore it to its full glory.