Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Savage Kingmaker: Exploring Hexes...

Good Morning, All:

Sorry for the side trek, but I felt the need to chat about something else for a post or two. I've been playing most of the summer in a Kingmaker campaign using the Pathfinder rules. While I've enjoyed the experience, I still find the D20 System, even in its Pathfinder incarnation, to be overly complicated. While I'd run MyD20 Light if I had to Referee a D&D-like system again, right now my gaming group prefers Savage Worlds. Being the itinerate tinkerer that I am, I have recently been considering how to convert the basic experience of exploration and kingdom building to Savage Worlds. Below are some of my initial thoughts, in case you are interested.

Travel Times
While Pathfinder breaks down travel times by the party's speed on multiple levels, I prefer the more simplified approach promoted by Savage Worlds. In essence, I'd probably do something like this:

Table: Travel Times
Terrain (Obstacles)Cross The HexExplore the Hex
Grasslands/Plains/Road (Unobstructed)1/2 Day1 Day
Forest/Hills (Average)1 Day2 Days
Mountains/Swamps (Difficult)1 Day3 Days
Note: Characters moving at less than Pace 6 must make a Vigor roll to avoid taking a level of Fatigue from pushing themselves to make that distance. Characters (or mounted characters) moving at a Pace of 9 or higher may half the time listed in the table above.

Order of Exploration
Whenever characters explore an unknown region, I would suggest the following order of operations.

  1. Entering The Hex: When entering the hex, the characters should become aware of any landmark sites. These are sites that can be seen at a great distance on the horizon, such as cities, sizable geographic landmarks or even large structures. The landmark site can be avoided or explored at the explorers' desire.
  2. In addition, the GM should check for Wandering Monsters upon entering a hex, as well as every day or night spent exploring or camping in the hex. (Alternately, you could use a Survival check to avoid such encounters, if you prefer that system, which I personally do. For details, check out Fantasy Flight Games' Wildscape.)
  3. Exploring The Hex: If the characters take the time to explore the hex, the characters should automatically become aware of any standard sites. Standard sites are somewhat secluded, but are immediately identifiable when the explorers come within bow shot range, if not sooner.
  4. In addition, if the characters succeed in a Notice skill check while exploring the hex, they discover any hidden sites that might exist in the hex. Hidden sites are those that are very secluded or hidden, and thus not immediately obvious, even when within bow shot range.

I have yet to tackle "savaging" the Kingdom Building rules, but I've got some thoughts. I'll probably post something later if my thoughts coalesce. In the meantime, enjoy!

Happy Savaging,
Flynn

4 comments:

Rose Bailey said...

Great post to read the day after I started exploring travel mechanics for my Cavaliers of Mars game.

I'd really like to do a large-scale hex map, but that's probably a future project. "Mars" is a pretty big thing to map...

dm_punks said...

Did you manage to finish this? I'm about to embark on the same task of converting the King Maker AP to Savage Worlds, so I can run it for a new group of players who played primarily D&D.

I thought checking the net for other attempts would be good, and your two posts, this and Building Kingdoms, were probably the best efforts.

I'm thinking aside from that, everything I need for a "generic" fantasy game is covered by SW Deluxe and the Fantasy Companion. Plus what you've written. I'd still love to hear what happened to your game.

Thanks!

Anderal said...

Also interested in how the Kingmaker for Savage Worlds went. Looking to do the same.

Anderal said...

Also interested in how the Kingmaker for Savage Worlds went. Looking to do the same.