Character Creation: Rippers

Here's the thing about Savage Worlds setting: There's not really any focus on theme. It's basically action-movie gaming, but there's no irony to it, no deeper implications. I'm not saying that to complain, mind, because I really like the SW settings I've read, Necessary Evil especially. It's just odd to me because I'm used to World of Darkness games, which pride themselves on those deeper thematic components (whether or not they work is up to the reader).

That said, I've got a game setting in mind that I think SW would be perfect for, that I'd actually consider licensing the system to use if I could put the money together to publish. And that's precisely because the system does what it does so well.

But for now, I just finished reading Rippers. It's an interesting setting; Victorian monster-hunting, which by itself seems pretty straightforward, but the founders of the organization you're working for were John Dee, now Jack the Ripper (I know, right?) and Abraham Van Helsing. Reading the book makes me think of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Anno Dracula; everybody shows up, at least as a mention. Running it would take some work not to drift whole-hog into pulp, but it would be a fun game to play, I think.

So let's rock!

The Game: Rippers
The Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group
Degree of Familiarity: None with this game, some with Savage Worlds.
Books Required: The Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition and the Rippers book.

 
Concept comes first. Let's see. I've made a couple of Savage Worlds characters. One was a brick-like pirate, one was a sentient Twinkie (I'm running Low Life at Arisia, by the way, largely to make Wendy happy). Haven't really made a brainiac yet; my 50 Fathoms character was close, though.

Since we're in Victorian England, and since we're drawing from all the great inspirations from the lit set in that time (and from that time, of course), maybe I want to make a mad scientist? No, I think rather I want to make a gadgeteer. Science is great, but practical application is better when you're fighting monsters. I take as inspiration Leonardo da Vinci as presented in Assassin's Creed II and Dr. Cockroach from Monsters vs. Aliens (complete with the habit of breaking into the villain laugh when tinkering).

Some backstory: Emil Stahl grew up in Brazil. His family business was coffee imports, and his father's plantation was successful and profitable. His dad, in fact, was a force behind the 1889 overthrow of the emperor Dom Pedro, and although Emil is German by ancestry, he considers himself a citizen of the United States of Brazil.

Emil always had a knack for machines, and was always trying to get Dad to let him try out his machines in the plantation. Machines to pick, to sort, and even plant coffee, but he found that peripheral to his agricultural devices he was always coming up with...weirder stuff. A coffee bean could be as lethal as a bullet if propelled at the right speed in the right direction (found that one out by accident; poor Paulo). A skiff meant to carry sacks of beans across the water to a ship in order to save time traveling along the coast worked just fine, but the interesting thing was how it got a burst of speed whenever it sucked a fish up into the engine.

In 1892, Emil traveled to England in order to assist his father in some export concerns. There, fascinated by the city of London, he went walking and wound up in Whitechapel. Hearing of the Ripper murders for the first time, he let a group of prostitutes get him drunk and tell him stories all night (and take his money, but money's not his major concern). He woke up tied to a bed, underneath one of them, which would have been all right...but then out came the fangs.

Emil, terrified, did what he did best - improvised. He reached into a hole in the mattress, pulled out a loose spring, loaded it with a button off his shirt and fired it into her eye. It knocked her backwards enough to give him time to reload, and he aimed another button for a lamp. The room caught fire, the vampire fled, and Emil, now tied to a bed in a burning room, thought, "Didn't think that through all the way."

Fortunately, the Rippers were on the vampires trail and saved him. And they knew a gadgeteer in the making when they saw one. Also, Emil can always hook them up with good coffee.

Step One: Traits. I start with a d4 across the board and five more points, which is fine. I think, though, that I want to jack Smarts to d8. I'll leave Strength at a d4 for now, but I would like to raise that at some point, maybe. I don't see Emil as being especially weak.

15 points to buy up skills. I know I want Weird Science, first off. I'll take Driving, Gambling, Guts, Investigation, Shooting, Notice, Survival, Repair. Repair and Weird Science I'll put at d8, Shooting at d6, the rest at d4.

Languages. I get half my Smarts die in languages, which means I speak four. I'll take English, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

Step Two: Special Abilities. Hindrances! Well, I know I want Over-Sensitive (Major). Emil is jittery as all hell. He's not a coward, just excitable and over-caffeinated. Also, I want an Addiction to caffeine...and there's no addiction Hindrance. Weird. Well, we'll call it minor and we'll say that if he's gone 24 hours without a fix, he takes a -1 penalty to Smarts or Spirit-based rolls, because that's what happens when us coffee-junkies don't get a fix. I can take one more Minor Hindrance. Finally, I'll take Loyal. Emil isn't good at triage, and if someone's still alive, they're worth going back for.

Now I have four points. I get one free Edge, so I take Arcane Background (Weird Science). I'm OK with my Skills where they are, but I think I want to burn two points and raise the Strength to d6. Erm. Let's check the other Edges. OK, I want Attractive; I see Emil as tan, well-built, and just plain pretty. I also want him to have some money...actually, let's take Noble. I get the effects of the Rich Edge, but it puts on me the onus of being responsible for something (in this case, the family business). That lets me travel, sure, but if I fuck up, our plantation will die and go out of business. Then no more free coffee.

OK, my Charisma is +4 because I'm cute and rich, my Pace is 6", my Parry is 2, my Toughness is 5, and my Reason (new stat for Rippers, basically a measure of sanity and resolve) is -1, because I'm Over-Sensitive.

10 points now to buy Weird Science powers from a very truncated list. I'll take bolt, and call that my slug-thrower (like a gun, but doesn't make a boom and works mechanically rather than chemically). I'll put 3 points into extra bolts, so it costs me four, but I can shoot four targets for 2d6 damage.

You know, this doesn't make a lot of sense. This gives me 10 Power Points, but then says I can build one device. The other Backgrounds talk about taking three powers or whatever - but isn't that what the Power Points are for? Weird. I don't need a list of powers, thanks, I can make the powers I want fit into my concept. I've got six points left to buy Weird Science-y things.

Well, I'll make it easy on myself and take Smite. Emil developed a way to convert organic material into kinetic energy (he's never managed to get it to work on a vehicle large enough to carry much, and never for long periods of time), so that allows him to feed some plant matter, a dead mouse, whatever, into the device and get a bigger burst of energy. That'll give me the Smite and Speed powers. That leaves me two points. I'll take Detect Arcana. This is a device that Emil's been working with only since joining the Rippers, but it's basically an undead-detector. It finds muscle tone; vampires don't have it because they're dead. Not foolproof, but not a bad start.

I start with Status 10 because of my Noble Edge, and that puts me done. Oh, I could buy possessions, but I hate that phase of chargen. Besides which, there's a babby that needs my attention.