The Savage Worlds Adventure Deck

 

One of the optional accessories for Savage Worlds is the Adventure Deck. This is different from the Action Deck which is cards used for initiative. Pinnacle's description of the deck:

The Savage Worlds Adventure Deck has 54 high quality cards for use with the Savage Worlds roleplaying game to give your heroes a little more control of their fate.

Adventure Cards let you find romance, make enemies, eliminate or increase your damage, spot clues, and even betray your friends!

I resisted using this for a long time in my games as it looked like it would invoke some pretty dramatic shifts in the game and after using it in ten or so sessions now of my Necessary Evil campaign I can confirm that it is a whole lot of random stuff to drop into an ongoing game.

The rules for using it are pretty simple:

• Each player draws one card per experience level at the beginning of each session
• Each player can only play one of these cards per session
• Cards can be freely traded between players
• The cards do not carry over from session to session - they all go back into the deck at the end of the night

The italicized part is important because for this campaign the characters start at "Seasoned" which means they will be drawing 2 cards each. Considering I have 6-7 players most sessions that means there are 12-14 cards in play, with half them potentially getting used. It's a lot. Players will naturally look for optimal use of this resource as the game goes on so they can really change up a combat but it can impact the flow of almost any situation depending on the cards available. Now I am probably outside the baseline expectation with that many players but as I write this most of my crew has hit Veteran level which would be 3 cards each - that means they would have a third of the entire deck at their disposal. It's a lot.  

After living with it for a while now I would say you really have to determine your own tolerance as a gamemaster for having random sh*t dropped into the middle of the game on a player's whim - most of which has nothing to do with their character, backgrounds, or events in the campaign - it is completely random. 

If it was just a few random effects here and there it might not be as bad, but some of the cards let players manipulate the other cards. Let's take a look ...

This was played twice in the same session - in the same fight!

So this one was played during a dramatic fight between Hammer of Justice and his gang vs. the Omega Cell team. It's just a combat buff. The main variable is that "until the next Joker is dealt" which could be one round or could be five rounds - you won't know. The card is making it really tough for Hammer to land a decisive blow on MegaStrike. Mega has around a 31 total Toughness plus Forcefield and Hammer-O is striking with his hammer for a d12+2 + d10 + 3d6 so his average is well under the Radioactive Russian's total Toughness but a good roll could really hurt him. That many dice though tends to cluster more around that average number and even though Savage Worlds damage dice do explode on a max result pushing that level of toughness up 2 more has an impact. For almost anyone else in the party a +2 is not going to make much difference against Hammer's smackdown power when they only have a 10-15 Toughness and he's averaging 20+ but for the designated tank it helps - it's the perfect place to play it. Still, it's a temporary combat bonus and it's for defense so not a big deal, right?

This is how that happened

Well, one of the other players is holding this card and plays it as soon as someone draws a Joker. So now Last Stand is active again until another Joker is drawn. Considering we just reshuffled the odds are slim that's going to happen right away. So it was active for almost the entire fight.

(And yes, I did rule that playing this card to draw another card did allow the player to play that card if they wished despite that not being clear on the card. It's supposed to be one per player per session but it's almost useless if you play this card and draw a new one and ... then sit on it. The only way to use it would be to pass it to another player afterwards and let them play the new card which seems like a long way to go for one card.)

And this is just the power of a relatively small combat bonus - there are more potent cards in the deck.

Fun for the player whose character is about to drop but kinda takes the sting out of things

This is another combat modifier but it could really neuter a bad guy's attack that actually gets through on someone. Again, there are others with more potential impact but players already have the Wild Die in their favor over most of the opposition they will encounter AND they have Bennies to re-roll dice for almost anything and to soak the damage that does get through AND the +2 to everything bonus when they draw a Joker. A lot of these cards in play really drops the danger level present in the game. 

That said a lot of them are fun, like Folk Hero. It's not related to combat directly, it's not giving math, it's not upping anyone's power level dramatically, and it's something that could happen organically anyway but the card gives a player a chance to say "I want this to happen" in a definitive way. I'm cool with that. I like this style of card. There's another one called Love Interest that has an NPC fall in love with your character and leads to whatever complications that might incur. Again, it's something that could happen on its own but the card let's a player make it happen when and where and with who they want - or not!

Parley is a combat-related card but it's not a free action or a bonus of some kind - it's an interesting complication to what might have been a straight-up fight and it can strain the GM's brain sometimes to figure out why this particular group would "parley" with the PCs, but that's a fun kind of challenge and changes the nature of the fight on some level. 

So I like a lot of the cards that do something interesting without involving combat modifiers or free actions or additional card draws. I'd like to see more of an emphasis on the role play side of the game and less on the direct mechanics of the game with this deck.

Looking Ahead

To keep playing with the cards as-is I'm not going to have more than 2 Adventure Cards per player per session. It's already crazy with 10+ cards out, and it's only going to get sillier with more.  I'm still deciding whether I should finish out the campaign with them at all. We are approaching the finale and I may just leave things as they are. 

That said I am inclined to not use the deck in future campaigns. In a more grounded campaign it feels like it could get really strange and even in something like a Savage Rifts campaign it's a lot. I am just not a huge fan of the random stuff that has no connection to what's going on in the game. This isn't a roll on a random encounter table or a "dungeon dressing" table to fill out a room - it's more directly impactful than that and it's going to happen 5-7 times per game!

Cards like this one really make it stupid. Now imagine someone playing Desperate Times on this - and yes, my players would do exactly that given the chance.

Another option I might consider is a "curated deck" approach - take out all the cards I see as a problem (or just kind of boring), limit it to one card per player per session, and see if something good can come of it. I already took out the cards that were mechanically not compatible due to not using Arcane Backgrounds or Fear Levels or Manitou Bargaining but there is room for more "editing" here.

I also am thinking that eliminating the trading between players might smooth things out a bit - less optimization in play at least.

Wrapping up I do like the Adventure Deck concept - I just may need to tinker with it more to make it work for me. 

Necessary Evil: Third Time's the Charm - Session 3: The Hammer of Justice

 

Our Villains:

• MEGASTRIKE - Strong, radioactive Russian mobster brick. Played by Paladin Steve. A returning character from the prior attempts at this campaign.
• LEGION - Demonic leader of a criminal organization. Face with a sidekick and a lot of resources. Played by Grognard Mike.
• NIGHT BLADE - Sword-for-hire, a mix of melee offense and melee defense. Played by Shootist Will, another returning character.
• NIGHT TERROR - Intangible assassin, stealthy with a side order of ranged combat capability. Played by Variable Dave and yet another returning character.
• Y2K BUG - AI in a stolen robot body. Tech-guy and mainly good at ranged combat, not terribly strong or tough - for now. Played by Battletech Terry.
• THE MIGHTY XYZZIFAX -  Wizard who traveled here from another world. Ranged combatant, heavy defense, and a lot of flexibility. Played by Blaster - a character returning from a completely different game!
• PHANTOM BLADE/EDGELORD - Yet another sword-guy who eventually broke out of the same prison camp and followed them to the warehouse. Whole bunch of melee offense, not a ton of defense - but he can self-heal. Played by Invisible Paddy.

For this Episode both Xyz and Phantom Blade/Edgelord are otherwise occupied. Speculation is that the Wizard has discovered the internet and Edge is busy arguing with someone on that same internet ... possibly Xyzzifax. Also, we are using the Adventure Deck for the first time in any of my games. Before I felt it would be too disruptive and random to make sense in those campaigns but here in a supers campaign and an alien invasion on top of that I figured "why not"? As it turned out it would indeed prove fairly disruptive. 

Legion's "safehouse" is a four-plex with two bedrooms in each unit so there is enough room for everyone (and her sidekick) to stay there, especially with MegaStrike off at the warehouse. They looted 3 of Terron's robots from the prior expedition which are also stored at the warehouse for now. 

• Bug keeps himself busy beginning to take one of those bots apart while also planning out how to hack into a bank - he's going to need some funds.
• Legion is making calls looking for a tech expert resource to help analyze the bots
• Nightblade is doing katas and training etc.
• Night Terror is searching for rumors about his arch-rival Red Death and ends up working over a detective to get some information.
• MegaStrike is decorating the warehouse
• Edgelord is plotting and brooding.

Dr. Destruction sends a message informing them that an old hero, The Hammer of Justice,  has returned and is stalking Omega cells. He wants them to track the rogue down and either convince him to join the resistance or - if he will not - kill him. He directs them to where he thinks Hammer's old sidekick can be found and signs off.

It turns out most of the team had at least heard of the Hammer. Megastrike has no idea who he is. Nightblade fought him many times. He disappeared years ago. 'Strike goes to Valerie and asks her what her Undergrounders know about him and between that, Dr. D's information, and some legwork by the team they have a pretty good idea of where Hammer and his sidekick are. They decide to go visit American Anvil, Hammer's old sidekick, first. 

American Anvil was badly injured and retired around the time Hammer disappeared but the team figures he might be able to help turn the old hero around into joining the resistance. Meeting him at his penthouse apartment downtown they establish communications* and Anvil is amenable so they sit down to figure out a plan. It turns out Anvil has been in contact with him and knows the neighborhood where he's been hiding out and agrees to accompany the team. Anvil sees this as getting Hammer some help while the teams sees it as getting the movement some help so it should be good for everyone. Anvil does warn them though that Hammer is not quite his old self, mentally and he may have to be subdued. 

*By this I mean Night Terror sneak-phases into his place and manages to not get punched through a wall when he surprises Anvil in his place. 

Hammer has been hiding out under a bridge in Northpoint with a group of malcontents he has picked up. He shows up pretty quickly when the team and his old sidekick step out of their minivans and start looking around. Words are exchanged and it is clear that Hammer was sent into some other dimension by Dr. D years ago and had a lot of time to think and work up a big 'ol hate for villains. Coming back to find Earth conquered by aliens he blames the villains for not helping to stop it and is ready to murder them all, so a fight breaks out almost immediately.

Rhino as minivan, old school bennies drafted in, and the clear thing is a flying stand when we need one. 

Multiple Adventure Deck cards are played so this one gets interesting quickly. Nightstrike's player drops "Arch Rival" on The Hammer, MegaStrike's player drops "To the Rescue" (this one places civilians or innocents in immediate danger, rewarding heroes with a Benny each time they spend an entire turn rescuing or protecting them) so now there are a bunch of civilians in the area. Nightblade and Legion and her bodyguard start dropping gang members as MegaStrike goes straight for the Hammer. Bug and Night Terror start rescuing the innocent bystanders. 

The fight goes on with Bug and Night Terror zipping all over the map grabbing people and carrying them out of danger, gunfire and swordplay dropping Hammer's gang followers, and at the center Hammer and MegaStrike whaling away on each other with little actual damage. Night Terror's player drops "The Last Stand" to keep Mega upright after a lucky set of rolls by Hammer, and then later Y2K Bug's player plays "Desperate Times" to get "The Last Stand" going again. 

In round 3 Hammer stumbles and takes 3 wounds as Night Blade joins in and stabs him in the back then the Hammer falls in round 4 as Night Terror hits him with a darkness blast. The gangers are down, the citizens are safe, and Destruction sends a transport to carry off the downed hero, accompanied by American Anvil. The team gets a simple "Good Work" and then everyone heads back to the safehouse and warehouse to recover and reflect on their experiences.

It leaves a lot up to the GM. Also Variable Dave ended the session with 10 bennies after this was played.

GM Notes:

This was a lot of fun. I made some mistakes and it also started to expose some issues with Super Savage Worlds but it was a lot of fun. 

• The structure of this campaign is pretty limited. Call comes in from Dr. Destruction, party goes and does whatever. Nothing in the book really deviates from this pattern. Now I am trying to give the PCs some room to pursue their own ideas and I am getting some action there but it's not as active as I had hoped. They know the next big thing is a call from the resistance leader and so everything else feels like smaller potatoes. The prior times I have run this I didn't mind it so much but it is starting to grate a little bit. 
• The adventures themselves. individually, are extremely limited. You get a concept outline, an idea on location, and some NPC stats in most cases. For a few of them you get a map. Now I don't mind this to a point but most of them are written with no connections to anything else in the campaign other than Resistance and Invaders. I know it gives maximum flexibility but the campaign would benefit from way more interconnections like 'if you have run plot point x use NPC Y as the bad guy here". There are a couple of these scattered through the book but not many. 
• Some of this is on my players too - they could be more proactive about some things, whether following up on their own agenda or going after alien targets on their own. I might be expecting too much of people playing up their supervillain backgrounds here but they are not particularly furious about the invasion and repelling the invaders. They are quite happy to wait for the next mission drop. Heck, maybe that's pretty in-character for what they are. 
• I should have use the knockback rules in this fight. MegaStrike is built as a brick/tank by someone who has been playing tanks for decades. Hammer is pretty solid on offense and defense. They basically stood there in the street trading blows with little impact for 3 rounds +. Now sometimes this is just how Savage Worlds goes but with 20-30 point impacts being the norm for them and with Knockback kicking in at 20 points of damage it could have made for a more dynamic fight with the potential for someone going through a wall. I spelled out the rules in the campaign doc and then completely forgot to use them here. I did start trying to work them in after this. 
• Adventure cards ... <sigh> ... people talk them up online anytime you bring them up but I have resisted them until this campaign as they looked like absolute chaos to me. This time, considering it's supers and considering I have a nice clean deck of them and it's hard not to play with toys when they're right there in front of you I decided to use them - and they are absolute chaos. It's an entire deck of buffs for the PC's, barring a few debuffs for whatever opponent you are facing at the time.  I thought since it was a super campaign I would give it try as things would be fairly over the top already but ... wow, it is way more than I expected. I have enough to say here it's probably worth a separate post so I'll leave it at that for now. 

So anyway I am writing this up weeks after this session and it was a lot of fun but I can see cracks starting to form already. I'll talk about it more in future summaries.