Merciless Mechs, Ground-Shaking Stompers, and More Coming in "Machines of War"!

Anyone that's been on my blog for a bit knows I am a huge fan of the Savage Company setting. A game filled with monstrous mercenaries, blazing guns, and all the high-fantasy nonsense you could ask for. From books like the Savage Company Operations Guide (which provides pre-made modules and missions to send your squad on) as well as the Infantryman's Handbook (which gives you a bevy of high-caliber solutions to any problems a ground pounder might find on the field), this setting is pedal-to-the-metal nonsense in all the best ways.

And though there's currently a Savage Company bundle covering all their releases to-date, there's something new for this setting currently on Kickstarter. Something titled Machines of War!

Evocative, ain't it?

I recently got a chance to talk to the creators (Owen and Adam Martin) about what this book is, and what it adds to the game. So if you, like me, have wanted to see mechs, war bikes, arcane-drive tanks, alchemical artillery, and more, this is definitely something you should consider checking out.

And, of course, backing if you have the cash.

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How would you describe Savage Company for players who haven't heard of it before? 

 

Adam: Savage Company is a campaign setting that can be used as a base for expanding into a player-driven homebrew world, or dropped into your favorite game world. It focuses heavily on militarized monstrous races and has tons of tools for expanding vehicles and firearms use.

 

Owen: Guns, monsters, and high-octane action. We set out to make content for military fantasy games that were still compatible with all the first party content that already exists. So you still have dragons and wizards, but you can add motorcycles and machine guns and all of them are equally good options. 

 

What does "Machines of War" add to the game setting and rules?

 

Adam: Machines of war adds large scale combat with walking tanks and also squads of smaller vehicles and units. Along with new class options and mechanics for allowing that to balance with classic RPG fantasy elements.

 

Owen: We’re expanding on all the things from the first book, races, classes, weapons, equipment, feats, spells, and vehicles, but the new wargame aspect allows you to play large scale, or mass combat quickly and easily. The wargame itself can be played competitively against friends or incorporated into your tabletop game, combining or switching between modes easily and fluidly. 

 

Do you have any other plans for expansion? Modules, adventure paths, etc.?

 

Adam: We are never without ideas, our next planned publication is an ambitious Halloween adventure that should be popular with horror fans, drama kids, and everyone in between. After that we’re going to write an entire AP that uses all the mechanics we’ve brought into the game and guides a group through a massive war against Hell, all the way to level 20. We’re aiming for about 48 4-hour sessions worth of game content, with all the varied narrative options we always like to include

 

Owen: Oh yeah, so many plans. I’ll just say it, the adventure is named “Curse of the Phantom” and it should take you about four sessions to complete. It can be approached with multiple different playstyles, there are many routes and multiple endings. It’s an adventure that offers new things with each playthrough. And Green Hell, that’s our big project for 2022. I hope people want a full 20 level AP for 1st edition Pathfinder because we’re really excited to write it. 

 

What sort of reception has Savage Company received, overall?

 

Adam: The reception has been overwhelmingly positive! In an era where anonymous internet critics are a dime a dozen, we’ve managed to cultivate a small but dedicated following of gamers. We like to keep them involved with previews and planning on our Discord server.

 

Owen: For being mostly unknown by the greater gaming public, those who do read our books like what we’re doing and offer a lot of constructive criticism, which we love. We try to listen to everyone and learn from that. I really like the group that has gathered on Discord and throws hard questions at us or joins the voice chat while we’re writing or working on art. Actually it was the Discord crew that came up with the idea for the “Chair” book and made it happen, and it has over 200 downloads now! 

 

Is the setting going to grow significantly with these additions?

 

Adam: With the addition of 4 new factions there will be some growth to the setting. We’re still trying to keep things unobtrusive so we’re not forcing groups into using our world, but eventually we may have to break away from canon sources and grow our own lore.

 

Owen: I don’t think it's a secret that the world of Savage Company is set in (NOT) Golarion™, we started there, but left all the larger aspects of the world unwritten to make it easier to place the setting into your own games. With the new factions and some of the other things we have planned, we’re going to have to start fleshing out more and more aspects of the world into its own thematically (and legally) distinct and unique place. We plan on writing in this setting for a very long time so we’re in no rush to fill up all the space right away. 

 

What drives this particular setting? What made you put it together?

 

Adam: We played a homebrew game for fun with a theme of Orcs with guns. It was so fun we kept playing it for years, eventually all the homebrew classes and firearm options became the backbone of our rules material.

 

Owen: In addition to our own desire to play things that didn’t exist, we also wanted to create a space for veterans to tell their stories. Everyone on the team is a military veteran or has worked in the defense industry closely with veterans, and we have an open call for short story submissions. Several vets who I have worked with in the past have sent in stories based on their experiences and we worked them into the greater narrative of the book. 

 

Is there anything I didn't ask that you want folks to know about your setting, Kickstarter, etc.?

Adam: Savage Company has always served to find a niche we liked that was underserved by 1st and 3rd-party material. We ask ourselves, “what do we want to play that isn’t there, or wasn’t done well, and how can we make a difference?” Everything we write is stuff that we desperately want at our table, and it turns out there are others that want it too.

Owen: In addition to the obvious “please check out our Kickstarter” I would encourage anyone interested to go look at our publisher page on DriveThruRPG, we have 6 books that are totally free for anyone to download including two adventures, so you can go check those out and get an idea what our stuff is like. Also we have a Discord server that is open to the public and we love talking to people about games and ideas, plus you get a lot of previews of what we’re working on. Thank you so much Neal for this opportunity, reaching new people is always the hardest aspect about being a new publisher and we cannot thank you enough. 

Links:

Kickstarter

Discord

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

DriveThruRPG

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Big Stompy Robots: A Fun, Rough-Edged Minis Game For Mech Enthusiasts

Another Monday has rolled around, and like so many Mondays before it I'd like to take a moment to big-up the signal for a fellow creator. And not just any fellow creator... today I'd like to talk about my friend Nick Tockert's debut release that's now available on Amazon.

The minis game/RPG Big Stompy Robots... or BSR for short.

Good times all around.

I'd like to talk the good, the bad, and the ugly regarding this game. Though, if you just want a solid thumbs up or down, I'd say that if you wished there were more games out there that gave you the ability to pilot a mech without the need to grasp the intricacies of some game's hex grid tango, or to do the quadratic equation to figure out if you hit or not, then it's definitely worth taking a look at.

The Good

Let's start with the good stuff. First and foremost, Big Stompy Robots is as far as you can get from boring. While it might have mechs as the centerpiece of the cover art and game mechanic, there's plenty of other stuff going on here. From alien species that feel like something out of an upbeat anime, to megacorporations battling over resources on a faraway planet, to an aesthetic best described as the love child of Tank Girl and Mechwarrior, this game is a lot of things, but boring isn't one of them.

In addition to the scattershot tone that remembers sci-fi with giant robots in it is allowed to be fun, the rules of the game are fairly simple to learn. And if you've ever played a minis game before, then this one shouldn't take you long to pick-up. It's also fairly easy to teach to a new player, meaning you'll never lack for an opponent as long as you have an afternoon to go through a few test rounds.

The Bad

There are some downsides to this game, but they may be more or less important to you depending on your preferences as a gamer. If you plan to use it strictly as a minis game, one team of mercs versus another, then it gives you just enough story to use as a backdrop. If you're the sort of player who wants to make an RPG experience out of this, though, there really isn't enough material (or enough detail) to put together a fully-fleshed setting and campaign. That's to be expected, since this is the first book. However, the designer has said that if there is a demand for more that he has setting details and expansions in the works so that players can have all the factions, history, and plot hooks they could possibly want.

Additionally, since this game is as indie as you can get, there isn't an accompanying line of specific miniatures to go with this game. Not yet, at least. If you have mechs from other systems, or even minis like Heroclix, those will certainly do the job as placeholders... but miniature gamers may wish they had the right tool for the right job, so to speak.

The Ugly

Not going to lie, this game's independent nature certainly shows through. The art is all hand-drawn by the creator, and while the book is definitely legible and comprehensible it has its share of spelling and grammar mistakes that will jump out at you. None of them obscure the rules or setting, however, in much the same way a hole in the plaster doesn't make your apartment any less livable. But you're going to notice, so you should be aware that it's there before you get too ahead of yourself.

Aside from the lack of polish (there's only so much you can do when you're a one-man operation trying to wrestle Amazon's portal into submission), the game is nice and simple. So if you like garage-band games that have the potential to expand, while still giving you something fun to play right now, go give Big Stompy Robots a look. Especially if you're sick of how seriously games like Mechwarrior take themselves, as if the grimness of the game and setting somehow balances out the addition of, well, big goddamn robots.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday update! If you'd like to see more work from yours truly when you're done giving this game the one-over, then go check out my Gamers and Vocal archives, as well as the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Lastly, if you're looking to get your hands on a new book, why not head over to My Amazon Author Page where you could find stuff like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife?

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The First Giant Robot Battle in History is Set For 2016!

Would you be surprised if I told you that Japan had built a giant robot with twin BB miniguns, a fully-functional heads up display, and dozens of other goodies that can be piloted by a single person? Probably not. Would you be shocked if I mentioned that America also has a giant robot, made up of a two-person crew that can fire huge paint-filled cannon rounds? Eh, unlikely.

What if I told you the Kuratas and the Mark II were going to go head-to-head next year?

This is the appropriate response.

The Mark II, manufactured by Megabots, Inc. is everything you'd expect from America. A hulking goliath at over 6 tons, it stands roughly fifteen feet tall, and boasts a huge armory that can put a lot of paintball rounds in the air at over 100 miles an hour; a fitting chassis for any mechwarrior. The Kuratas, on the other hand, is the brainchild of Suidobashi Heavy Industry, and it is technically the world's first piloted giant robot. So in a classic bout of East meets West, a throw-down was inevitable.

Megabots tossed the gauntler, and Suidobashi has picked it up. The challenge and acceptance videos are right here, and I found them thanks to The Daily What.

There's a lot of patriotic smack being talked here. Japan's response upped the ante by demanding more than machine guns at ten paces though; the Kuratas's creator wants punches to be thrown.

Ain't living in the future fantastic?


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