Setting Rules

[gamedave]

Swashbuckling and Sorcery uses the Savage Worlds Deluxe edition rules. It uses the following Setting Rules: High Adventure and Joker's Wild.

Languages are largely ignored, except for flavor and occasional plot complications. It assumed that the PCs can freely communicate with each other and with most NPCs in normal circumstances. The linguist Edge may still come in handy if the PCs encounter a remote tribe or in some other unusual circumstances.

[gamedave]

Heroes Never Die

This is a variant on the Setting Rule from SWD 94. Swashbuckling& Sorcery is meant to be a fun, light, swashbuckling adventure setting, although it may have dark and savage elements. To reflect this, characters do not die unless an opponent makes a deliberate decision to finish them off. Incapacitated characters are merely wounded and unconscious unless the opponent who incapacitated them specifically state that they are going for the kill. In that case, use the normal rules for determining the result of being Incapacitated (SWD 68-69).

This applies to both heroes and villains. Even most villains won't kill a Incapacitated hero - they'd much rather the hero live with the memory of his defeat and disgrace, and the villain's superiority. Some villains are even somewhat honorable, and won't stoop to killing a foe unnecessarily.

IMPORTANT ROLEPLAYING NOTE: The purpose of the above rule is completely defeated if the PCs decide to kill every single opponent they encounter. I don't like telling players that their characters aren't allowed to do something. But characters who insist on killing opponents, executing foes after they have surrendered, and torturing (or paying others to torture) prisoners are not the sort of swasbuckling heroes this campaign is designed for. To be clear: villains kill unnecessarily and torture helpless prisoners - heroes don't.

A further note on the Bloodthirsty Hindrance: this is really more of a villainous Hindrance, but a hero can have it. However, it should be a source of tension within the party and an opportunity for role-playing, not an excuse to finish off every opponent. Bloodthirsty conduct should shock a character's allies at least as much as her opponents. A character about to perform Bloodthirsty actions is a great moment for the other characters to explain true heroism and honor and so on. It's a great character arc for a Bloodthirsty character to slowly overcome the Hindrance and internalize the more heroic tendencies of her companions, while remaining a bit harsher and more pragmatic.

Henchmen

The swashbucking genre frequently features minor characters who are more capable than a typical Extra without being full fledged major villains. Such characters might include an unnamed captain of the Cardinal's guards, a pirate's first mate, or a particularly large and imposing thug. In Swashbuckling & Sorcery, such characters are not Extras nor Wild Cards, but Henchmen. A Henchman has a single Benny (and can draw from the GM's villain pool as well), and has a single Wound level. A Wounded Henchman has a -2 penalty to all Trait rolls. A Henchman does not roll a Wild Die. A Henchman may have some Wild Card Edges, but none that involve the Wild Die.