Savage Three Rocketeers

This is an adaptation of the “Rocket Rangers” supplement for the Daring Tales of Adventure series for Savage Worlds (Triple Ace Games). Paul “Wiggy” Wade-Williams is brilliant.

The idea hear is that these rules could be bolted on to the “Savage Musketeers” setting to create a “Savage Three Rocketeers” game, which would be based on “The Three Rocketeers - A World of Adventure for Fate Core” (Evil Hat) by PK Sullivan.

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The Rocketeers

The Rocketeers are an elite unit. Training is tough and few make the cut. Rocketeers are typically recruited from the army, but anyone with the right aptitude can apply.

Attribute Requirements: Strength d6, Agility d6, Vigor d6

Skill Requirements: Piloting d8, Repair d4, Athletics d6

Useful Edges: Ace, Steady Hands

Additional Gear: Rocket pack, Rocketeer helmet, Rocketeer flight suit, molecular sword

Gear

Helmet
Made of a light-weight, durable alloy, these bucket helms are fitted with a fin. The fin acts a rudder, allowing the Rocketeer to turn at high speeds. The helmet also includes a highly secret, miniaturized radio transmitter and receiver. It has a range of just 200 yards, distance enough to let the unit talk while in flight without having to remove their helmets and shout.

Flight Suit
Made up of heavy boots, a flying jacket, and lightweight canvas pants, the flying suit is treated with a special fireproof liquid to prevent accidents.

Rocket Pack
Revolutionary in their design, rocket packs are made up of the same alloy used in the Rocketeers’ helmets. Fins are fitted to the top and sides to aid in maneuvering. The fuel tank takes up most of the pack.

Molecular sword
See SWADE p72.

Armor

Equipment

Rocket Pack Rules

Fuel

Rocket packs burn low grade alcohol combined with a special compound known as Element X. Without this highly secret element the packs do not produce enough thrust to lift a man off the ground, yet alone fly around for extended periods. A fully fueled rocket pack has 20 units of fuel. Each player needs to track these using a counter. Each round a pack is used for movement or to hover in place, one unit of fuel is expended. It makes no difference how far a hero moves — the motors are more efficient at higher speeds, hence moving the regular Chase speed burns the same fuel as moving on the tabletop, despite the former being considerably faster. A character with an active rocket pack who lands at the very beginning of his turn, before taking any other actions, does not burn a point of fuel. Rocket packs have no gliding capability — when the pack runs out of fuel, the hero falls from the sky.

Traveling long distances

During the course of an adventure, the Rocketeer may be required to travel great distances. In order to keep fuel use practical and easy to handle, assume the packs use one point of fuel per 50 miles (by flying at high altitude and switching down the motors).

Refueling

Unless the Rocketeers can get to the correct source of fuel, there is no hope of refueling a rocket pack during a mission.

Rocket pack safety

Rocket packs strap onto the wearer’s back and are held in place by four thick, leather straps. These straps connect to a circular buckle which is set square in the center of the user’s chest. Concealed within each strap are wires which feed back into the rocket pack. Unless all four straps are connected to the buckle, the rocket pack motor cannot be ignited.

Putting on a rocket pack

Donning a rocket pack takes an entire round and two hands. If the Rocketeer only has one hand spare, then it takes two entire rounds. During these rounds the character can take no other actions. Free actions, such as moving up to one’s Pace, are permitted so long as the Ranger doesn’t use his hands. Removing a pack can be slightly faster. Normally it takes an entire round to release the straps. However, a character may make an Athletics roll as an action. With success, the pack is removed and the hero can perform other actions (with a multi-action penalty). On a failure, the character has had to spend the entire round undoing the straps. He may take no other actions, though free actions are permitted as above.

Activating a rocket pack

To activate the rocket pack, the wearer must firmly strike a large button located on the front of his safety harness. This is a free action, though it does require a Piloting roll. This button can be targeted in combat by an enemy, but any attack roll suffers a –6 penalty. Should the attack be successful, the pack switches on as if a special failure occurred (see below) or switches off if it was already activated.

Raise
The motor ignites using residual fumes in the exhaust. No fuel is consumed this round. The wearer may now use his rocket pack for movement.

Success
The rocket pack activates successfully. One point of fuel is consumed. The wearer may now use his rocket pack for movement.

Failure
T he motor whines, coughs, splutters, and then stops, leaving the unfortunate hero standing on the ground. A point of fuel is consumed as normal. The roll may be attempted again next round.

Special Failure
A natural 1 on the Piloting die (regardless of Wild Die) means the pack ignites with a sudden rush of power.
Roll a d10 to determine in which direction the unfortunate Ranger is propelled. A result of 1 is directly behind, a 2 means he shoots at 45 degrees up and to the right, and so on. On a 9 or 10 he is rocketed straight upward. One point of fuel is consumed.
Should the hero already be airborne while trying to ignite his pack, such as when free falling from the airplane taking him to his mission, a roll of 10 indicates movement straight down, instead.

Critical Failure
Flame is sucked straight into the fuel tank, starting a chain reaction. The engine fails to ignite, though one point of fuel is consumed. Worse still, the pack explodes at the end of the next round (see Security Second, above).

Flight, speed, and maneuverability

Rocket packs have two speed settings. The first is tactical flight, while the second is long-distance flight. Tactical mode is used for tabletop encounters, while long-distance mode is used in Chases. Characters may run while using a rocket pack. The run die is equal to the character’s Piloting die type, not his usual running die. For instance, a Fleet Footed hero with Piloting d6 rolls a d6 when “running” with his rocket pack activated, not a d10 as normal.

Rocket packs have a single speed in each flight mode. The character has no choice as to the speed he moves—it’s all or nothing.

• Tactical speed is 20” per round (Acceleration is 20).

• Long-distance flight is 140” per round.

Because of the throttle controls that are in his gloves, a Rocketeer can control how far he moves in a round .

No roll is required to hover.

Regardless of the distance he moves, one point of fuel is burnt.

The rocket pack allows the wearer to maneuver as if he were on foot. That is, he can turn through any angle he wants, swerve around objects, maneuver through narrow gaps, and so on without having to make a die roll to avoid a collision. In a Chase, the character must still make a Piloting roll each round as normal.

Passengers

A rocket pack is designed to support one person. However, in emergencies a Ranger can carry one other person (though not on this back, for obvious reasons). When carrying a comrade, all fuel usage is doubled.

Landing

Typically no die roll is required to actually land and switch off the pack. However, poor visibility, high winds, trying to land in a cluttered area, and so on, may require a Piloting roll (GM’s call).

Tinkering with a rocket pack

Sooner or later, someone will try to tinker with the rocket pack. A character who makes a Repair roll at –2, and spends 30 minutes, at work can tweak his rocket pack to perform better. Only one roll per pack is allowed per mission.

Raise
The temporary adjustment can either improve the pack’s speed by 4”/40” for the next encounter or gain the effects of a success for the next two encounters.

Success
The rocket pack’s speed is increased by 2”/20” for the next encounter.

Failure
The character has wasted his time. He cannot try again this mission.

Special Failure
A modified roll of 1 or lower on the Repair die (regardless of Wild Die) means the character has created an instability in the rocket pack. All Piloting rolls are made at –1 for the remainder of the mission. Correcting the problem requires two hours of time, suitable tools, and a Repair roll at –2. If the Repair roll fails, the malfunction cannot be repaired in the field.

Critical Failure
The tampering has done more harm than good. Speeds are immediately halved. Repairing the self-induced malfunction requires suitable tools, an hour, and a Repair roll at –2. If the Repair roll fails, the malfunction cannot be repaired in the field.

Rocket pack security

Rocket packs are a top secret piece of equipment highly prized by enemy nations and bad actors. To ensure they don’t fall into enemy hands, they are equipped with a self-destruct mechanism. The procedure for arming them is complex, but not particularly time-consuming. It requires a Common Knowledge roll as an action to set the mechanism working. If the character has no practical familiarity with rocket packs, there is a -4 penalty on the Common Knowledge roll. At the end of the round after the trigger is activated, the pack explodes.

Once the mechanism is triggered it cannot be switched off.

The explosion fills a Medium Burst Template centered on the pack. Everything under the template suffers 3d6 damage, plus one extra point of damage per two whole units of fuel remaining. For example, a pack containing 9 units of fuel inflicts 3d6+4 damage when it explodes. The explosion automatically destroys the pack.

Savage Musketeers

See the shared Musketeers setting at savaged.us.

This is a historical setting that is based in France of the early 17th century.

Much is borrowed from All For One: Regime Diabolique) (Triple Ace Games). Paul “Wiggy” Wade-Williams is brilliant.

Flashing Blades (Fantasy Games Unlimited) is an old-school historical swashbuckling RPG that is fill of great ideas.

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Character archetypes

All character’s begin as a member of the King’s or Queen’s Musketeers but each musketeer is different - don’t let the uniform fool you.

The following are some suggested archetypes for a musketeer character.

• The Academic

• The Adventurer

• The Aristocrat

• The Artisan

• The Artist

• The Aspiring Hero

• The Aspiring Noble

• The Carouser

• The Duelist

• The Down-on-his-Luck Noble

• The Grizzled Veteran

• The Huntsman

• The Inspiring Leader

• The Man of Faith

• The Reformed Criminal

• The Peasant

• The Physician

• The Polymath

• The Professional Soldier

• The Spy

• The Survivor

• The Swordsman

Female musketeers

The musketeers accept female applicants.

Ranks

This is not a game about military rank. Officers and sergeants respect the opinions of all musketeers. There are no special edges for rank.

Lackeys

All Musketeers begin with a lackey, a loyal and trusted (or maybe not) companion to their master. Lackeys may be male or female, though not every profession is open to both sexes. Lackeys are there to serve, not fight.

You create a lackey as a regular character, except they are Extras, receive four attribute points, and eight skill points (plus the five default skills). No lackey may ever have Fighting or Shooting higher than d6. They are a great way of ensuring the party has access to a wide range of skills, and also for providing Cooperative bonuses where appropriate.

A player should not create his own lackey. Another player character builds the lackey and plays him during the game. This allows for the Musketeer to interact with his servant in play without the player talking to himself.

Whether or not the Musketeer has any say in the character generation is up to the individual players—some may ask for a servant with a specific skill set, while others may be happy to take pot luck.

A lackey Advances like any other Extra (see Allies and Advancement in SWADE). A lackey who dies is not automatically replaced—the character must use an advance to earn a new lackey. Replaced lackeys begin with the same experience as their predecessor. Fortunately, most villains ignore lackeys who do not attack them. Unless a hero places his lackey in direct danger, villains will always target a player character over the lackey.

The lackey’s basic salary (typically a small sum) is assumed covered by whatever income his master has. Any bonus rewards must come from the Musketeer’s pocket. Typically, a lackey begins with the basic tools needed for his profession, a dagger, and appropriate clothing, though the lackey’s background may alter this.

Social duels

A social duel is an exchange of jests, barbed comments, overt or sliy insults, witty slander, and backhanded compliments. The social duel rules are intended for use in social occasions, such as balls and dances; they are not used in standard combat. A social duel takes time and requires an audience to witness the exchange.

Be careful before you insult someone. Generally speaking, avoid insulting high status individuals or other luminaries unless you’re pretty sure you can win (or deal with the repercussions). See Social dueling results.

Social dueling works much like the Social Conflict rules (SWADE p 143) except that Taunt is used instead of Persuasion.

Another character can provide a Support roll but, if the duel is lost, that supporting character suffers the same penalties as the character who initiates the social duel.

Not every NPC has Taunt. For the purpose of social dueling only, every NPC should be considered to have Taunt d4 unless he has a higher die listed—even the crudest peasant knows how to deliver a witty double entendre, throw an insult, or just deliver a defamatory statement in social situations.

Social dueling results

This section’s content replaces the Social Conflict Results table in the SWADE core rules.

Losers of a social duel suffer from a loss of esteem and respect. The penalties are removed at the rate of one point per week. Word spreads quickly around the realm. Any character with a damaged reputation will receive knowing smiles at best, and be mocked by all and sundry at worst. Alternately, the loser can demand a duel of blades or pistols. Should he win, the reputation is restored and all penalties removed. While the character is suffering a social penalty, he will not be the target of social duels—a damaged reputation cannot be further harmed until it is repaired. He may, if he so chooses, instigate social duels, though.

Daring Tales of Adventure Chases

Chases in the Daring Tales of Adventure series

There are at least three chases per Daring Tales of Adventure scenario; the Daring Tales chases used different rules from those specified in the Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorers’ Edition rules and they are also markedly different from the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition chase rules.

Wiggy wrote some excellent set piece chase action scenes. If you can use these chases with minimal change, I suggest doing so. Some minor changes are needed. For example, if the chase calls for an Agility trait roll to maneuver, you will most likely want to call for the Athletics skill.

There will be cases where you may want to use a Quick Encounter to handle a chase scene. For example, you may want to keep the pace of the game going and move on to the next scene before the session ends.

Obstacles and Complications

As per the rules, if the action card that is dealt to a character at the start of a chase round (SWADE p 114) is a club, there’s a problems of some kind; the hero needs to make a maneuvering roll.

In standard chases, you check the chase card suit against the Complications table to determine the mechanical effect of the complication and the hero makes a maneuvering roll (SWADE p 116).

In many of the set-piece chases in Daring Tales of Adventure scenarios, when the action card is a club, the GM refers to the Obstacles listed for the scene, looking up the card value to determine what’s next.[1] The obstacle descriptions provide useful narrative color, indicate the maneuvering penalty, and state what happens if the maneuvering roll fails.

In some Daring Tales of Adventure chase scenes, the obstacles and events of a chase are fixed beforehand; the heroes are running a gauntlet.[2]

At the fixed event points (called increments) in the chase, stuff happens when the heroes reach that increment, no matter if they pass that stage or not. If the scene defines 20 increments, lay down 20 chase cards. Use some kind of counter to mark the increments on which fixed events occur.

Vehicles

The vehicles listed here are from the era of the 1930s.

Land vehicles

Marine vehicles

Aircraft

Adventures and Chases

Scenarios in chronological order

[1] See “Daring Tales of Adventure - The Devil’s Chalice”, Act 1, Scene 2.

[2] See “Daring Tales of Adventure - The Talons of Lo-Peng”, Act 2, Scene 3.

Setting Rules for Firefly

Setting rules

The settings rules assume that the players play the crew like that of the Serenity.

All heroes have the Poverty hindrance. The crew’s financial situation is almost always tight and near broke. Income is uncertain.

The following setting rules from SWADE are fitting for a Savage Worlds Firefly campaign:

• Conviction (SWADE 136)

Hindrance trappings

Suggested re-skins of existing hindrances include:

• Trap the Outsider (Minor) hindrance as “Browncoat”

• Trap the Clueless (Major) hindrance as “Greenhorn”

• Trap the Obligation (Minor or Major) hindrance as “Debt” or “In Debt to…​”

Favors, Contacts, and Perks

Favors

These rules are from Eric Lamoureux and Just Insert Imagination’s Wiseguys but they should work really well for the Firefly setting. Buy Wiseguys on DTRPG.

When spending a Benny to Influence the Story, a player can do things like make up a new acquaintance to gain a clue, information, gear, or access to a restricted area. In this instance, the hero recalls that an old friend still owes a favor. This assumes that the acquaintance has a Friendly attitude and is available to help.

Only allow the player group to use the Influence the Story rule for a Favor once per session.

After the acquaintance does the favor, he fades into the background unless a player spends a Benny to add the character to his list of Contacts. Now that this contact has performed the favor, the contact’s Reaction to the hero returns to Neutral.

Contacts

These rules are from Eric Lamoureux and Just Insert Imagination’s Wiseguys but they fit for the Firefly setting. Buy Wiseguys on DTRPG.

Contacts are different from the Connections edge. A contact provides personal and specialized assistance.

You can draw a card from a deck and then the GM can refer to chapter six in Wiseguys to generate a contact for the game. Talk to your GM about creating a contact.

You can provide a hero a contact in the following ways:

• By spending a Benny to convert a character who performed a Favor for the hero into a Contact (see Favors).

• By spending a Benny to turn a character that the hero met through the Connections edge into a Contact.

• By meeting people during the campaign, based on the GM’s discretion and roleplay.

• As a reward for completing an assignment.

Contacts are Wild Cards, even if they really came into the story as Extras. A player is allowed to call on one Contact per session. Contacts do not wait around and may not always be available when called on. Reciprocity is important; a contact expects the hero to return a favor when called. A loyal contact can turn if the hero mistreats him; heroes need to nurture and maintain relationships with contacts.

A hero uses the Reactions table to represent the status of the relationship between a the hero and his Contact. The initial attitude of the contact depends on how the relationship starts; it is typically Neutral.

Maintaining the relationships with a Contact

If the attitude of a Contact falls to Hostile, the contact becomes a foe to the hero and the hero gains the Enemy (Minor) Hindrance.

The hero can also develop the relationship with the contact and improve the attitude of the Contact’s to Helpful. In this case, the hero gets access to a “Perk” from the Contact.

At the session’s start, the GM can ask each player who’s hero has a Contact to draw a card from the Action Deck. If the player draws a face card, check the Contact Event Table (Wiseguys, 33).

Perks

A Perk is a service, favor, or item that a Contact offers a hero that goes beyond what a Contact generally provides a hero.

Beware, a perk can come with strings attached.

Heists

Firefly is all about the crew attempting to pull heists.

These rules are derived from Eric Lamoureux and Just Insert Imagination’s Wiseguys, with some minor adjustments that suit the flavor of the Firefly setting. Buy Wiseguys on DTRPG.

Use Dramatic Tasks for running heist scenes with the option Multiple Skills. For each step in the heist use a different skill and have a different character perform that skill until all the key characters have their turn.

You can use a Quick Encounter for a heist that is either (a) a minor part of a scenario or (b) when game time is short. Each person engaged in the heist chooses a different skill. A heist is a group effort; whether it succeeds depends on the members of the team.

Planning the heist

Consider using a preparation montage. Drop the characters into the heist and then use these mechanics and allow the players to describe the heist’s preparations.

Have each player pick an appropriate skill and the group keeps the highest roll. For every success and raise, award the crew a Heist Token.

Suggested skills for preparation montages:

• Academics

• Common Knowledge

• Electronics

• Hacking

• Intimidation

• Persuasion

• Repair

• Research

• Science

Running the heist scene

Start the heist’s Dramatic Task or Quick Encounter. During the heist, the players can redeem Heist Tokens to Influence the Story as per “Using Bennies in Savage Worlds”.

A player can spend a Benny to influence the narrative, making a story, which allows the player character to

1. use a different skill for a step of the Dramatic Task than the GM determined or

2. call upon help from a Contact or Connections to bypass the challenge.

You can use a flashback to show what happened to influence the story and facilitate the success of the heist.

Examples of influencing the story include:

• bribing a guard

• placing an object that creates a diversion or distraction

• replacing one object (e.g., a forgery) for another

• bypassing a security system

• finding objects (e.g., uniforms, badges) or covers to blend in

Generating a heist

Heists are a fixture of a Firefly campaign.

See the “Heist Generator” rules (Wiseguys, 36). Minor tweaks to the original rules are intended to reflect the Firefly setting.

For each scene of a heist’s dramatic task or quick encounter, the GM can draw a card for inspiration.

Challenges

Complications

If you draw a club, compare the card value against the table below.

Barriers

Barriers make a location difficult to access. Barriers are inanimate, unlike guards. Examples of barriers include

• fence/wall

• door/lock

• moat

Skill use examples:

• Hacking (bypass monitoring system)

• Electronics (disable security panel)

• Thievery (forge an ID badge, copy a key, pick a lock)

• Athletics (scale a wall)

• Research or Networking (discover plans to the target location)

• Repair (create a breach by using explosives)

• Piloting or Driving (accessing or escaping from a hard to reach location)

Guards

Examples of guards include:

• guard dogs

• robotic sentries or drones

• private security

• protective staff (managers and supervisors, receptionists)

• interested third parties (journalists)

Examples of skills used to bypass guards include:

• Performance and a convincing cover story or bogus identity

• Shooting to take out a guard (lethal) or deliver a knockout drug/poison

• Survival to distract or lure away a guard animal

• Athletics to lob a knockout grenade in the right spot to incapacitate the guards

• Healing to cook up a treat that will disable or distract the guards

• Common Knowledge or Research to know the timing and details of guard shift changes

• Stealth to sneak up on a guard and administer a sedative or a chloroform-like substance

Subterfuge

You need to get around or avoid security measures.

Examples of skills for subterfuge elements of the heist include:

• Persuasion (fast talking)

• Stealth

• Athletics

• Electronics

• Hacking

• Repair