If you’re not familiar with The Bronze Ages of Blogs, you should really check the site out. It’s dedicated completely to 70’s comic books, which makes it chock full of Encounter Critical source material and inspiration.

One recent post offered scans of Moebius’ famous Arzach strip from Heavy Metal magazine.

If you’re still not sold on the glory and spendor that IS Encounter Savage (which you can download FOR FREE at the UncleBear.com Downloads Section) then here is a sample of the types of characters that YOU can create and play! Encounter Critical and the Savage Worlds Explorer Edition are required to play.

Download Encounter Critical for FREE or buy a print edition!

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Amazon Cave Primitive Doxy
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4-2, Spirit d8, Strength d12, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d8, Survival d6, Seduce d8, Favor d6
Pace: 6 Parry: 6 Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Outsider, Clueless, Illiterate, Ugly
Edges: Doxy, Attractive, Command, Luck

Evolved Planetary Ape Warrior
Attributes: Agility d4-2, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Fighting d8+2, Shooting d8+2, Throwing d8+2
Pace: 6 Parry: 6 Toughness: 7
Edges: Warrior, Brawny, Luck, Command

Frankenstein Mutant Warlock
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d12, Vigor d4
Skills: Fighting d12, Ensorcel d8, Invisibility d4, See the Future d6, Animal Friend d6
Pace: 6 Parry: 8 Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Bad Luck, Clueless, All Thumbs, Outsider, Robot Nature, Quirk
Edges: Warlock, Arcane Resistance Psi, Arcane Background (Mutation: Unusual Sex Gifts), Arcane Background (Magic)
Spell: Warlock Bomb

Half-Hobling Half-Klengon Psi-Witch
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Stealth d6, Lockpicking d6, Fighting d8, Shooting d6, Throwing d6, Command Matter d6, Command Energy d6, Blind Attack d6
Pace: 6 Parry: 6 Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Small, Robot Nature
Edges: Psi Witch, Great Luck, Brawny, Arcane Background Psi

The complete Encounter Savage! is now available as a FREE PDF! This supplement provides rules for adapting the groundbreaking Encounter Critical for use with Savage Worlds! It’s fully illustrated by the man someone might have once called “the modern day Erol Otus”, Xose Lucero! It’s approved by the keeper of the EC flame, S. John Ross! It’s got a Savage Worlds Fan License! All of the races, classes, and other character options for Encounter Critical made available for use in Savage Worlds! You can download it FOR FREE at the UncleBear.com Download Section Encounter Critical and the Savage Worlds Explorer Edition are required to play.

Download Encounter Critical for FREE or buy a print edition!

Buy Savage Worlds Explorers Edition (S2P10010)

Magic
As explained on page 20 of Encounter Critical, a Warlock may have thousands of spells in his spellbook including the sampling listed there. Each of these must be purchased as a New Power as explained in Savage Worlds page 85. The powers in Savage Worlds may be used as spells but will need to be punched up a bit to make them more interesting and descriptive to fit in with the exciting and thrilling world of Vanth!

Equipment
Nearly every weapon, bit or armor or other gear available in Encounter Critical is already represented on the various tables for equipment in Savage Worlds. This once aghain proves how influential Encounter Critical was on modern role playing game design! Use the statistics from Savage Worlds but keep the costs of items presented in Encounter Critical as this accurately portrays the economy of the world of Vanth.

Monsters
Monsters can easily be converted by using the following scientifically accurate formulas:

Monster or Foe: Name of the Monster
Numbers: Per Encounter Critical
# ATT: Per Encounter Critical
ATT %: 1%-20% = d4, 21%-40% = d6, 41%-60% = d8, 61%-80%= d10, 81%-100% = d12
Damage: Per Encounter Critical
Hit Points: Figure the die type used to determine hit points. 3-24HP would be 3d8, or d8. Use that die to determine Toughness.
Save: Same at ATT%
Edible: Per Encounter Critical
% Lurk: Per Encounter Critical
$ Value: Per Encounter Critical
Special: Per Encounter Critical

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Encounter Critical’s character classes are best expressed as Professional Edges in Savage Worlds. Below are new Edges for creating your Vanthian character!

Warrior
Requirements: Novice, Strength d8, Fighting d8
A Warrior gets a +2 on an Attack Action rolls, whether they are for Fighting, Shooting, or Throwing. At Seasoned Rank a Warrior may take the Sidekick Edge to gain a great companion. At Veteran rank the Warrior may take the Followers Edge. It may be taken again at Heroic and Legendary ranks to increase the number of Followers.

Warlock
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d8, Spirit d8
Although the Arcane Background (Magic) is required for the Warlock to gain spells, they gain the ability to do anything they could normally do but by magic, that is write in a book or make a Strength roll to kick down a door. The difference is that the Warlock rolls the same dice but instead of physically doing it they wave their hands and it happens by magic. They can take skills from the Encounter Critical skill list Ensorcel and Invisibility and use them as skills without having to spend Power Points.

Criminal
Requirements: Novice, Agility d8, Illicit d6, Fake d6, Sneak Attack d6, Murder d6
When Criminals use the Sneak Attack skill they can add their Sneak Attack score to melee weapon damage instead of Strength. When using the Murder skill they roll again and if they get the same number or lower the victim is Incapacitated. for instance if they roll a 7 and that succeeds that roll again and if it is 7 or less the target is Incapacitated.

Pioneer
Requirements: Novice, Vigor d8, Explore d6, Provide d6, Survival d6, Tame d6
On a successful Explore roll the Pioneer can find a shorter route to where the party is going. A Provide roll allows the Pioneer to find the equivalents of things that are needed for example if they need paper the Pioneer can find paper or something to make paper from or use as paper. If the Pioneer has Monster Friend or Machine Friend and makes a successful Tame roll against the target’s Spirit the target becomes their friend and will be a follower if the Pioneer wants.

Doxy
Requirements: Novice, Spirit d8, Seduce d8, Favor d6
The Doxy can use Seduce as if it were a magical spell to make them do things. In battle, Seduce can be used as defense to make an attacker not attack the Doxy. Favor can be used when the Doxy needs a contact either to seduce someone powerful or to call upon someone powerful that they have seduced in the past and make them do her favors.

Psi Witch
Requirements: Novice,Spirit d8, Command Matter d6, Command Energy d6, Blind Attack d6
The Psi Witch can use Command Matter or Command Energy to stop an attack. That is if someone is shooting an arrow at the Psi Witch she can roll Command Matter and turn it into butterflies that fly away ir make lightning dissolve into the air. Blind Attack can be used in place of any other type of attack skill but the Psi witch must be blindfolded and using her feelings to sense the target. These abilities do not require the Arcane Background (Psionics) Edge but other Psionic powers do.

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Below is the suggested conversion for some of the mutations in Encounter Critical to Savage Worlds rules. Not every mutation is listed here, only the ones with statistics assigned to them. You will need to consult the Mutation Powers and Defects table on page 6 of EC for this to make sense. The Journey Master is left to determine the specific effects of each mutations.

References to pluses and minuses refer to die type so a +1 Strength if you have a d6 means make it a d8. If a mutation would make something less than d4 it becomes d4 -2. If a mutation would make something greater than d12 it becomes d12 +2.

DICE
01 – 03: -1 Strength, +1 Spirit
19 – 21: -1 to Random Trait (Roll d10: 1-2 = Agi, 3-4 = Smarts, 5-6 = Spirit, 7-8 = Str, 9-10 = Vig)
31 – 33: Take 1d8 damage
34 – 36: Take 3d10 damage
40 – 42: -1 Spirit, Gain Psionic Resistance Edge
46 – 48: Automatic Raise for companions Survival Checks
55 – 57: Gain the Ugly Hindrance
58 – 60: (Roll d6 1-2 = +1, 3-4 = +2, 5-6 = +3)(Roll d10: 1-2 =Agi, 3-4 =Smarts, 5-6 =Spirit, 7-8 =Str, 9-10 =Vig)
61 – 63: +1 Charisma
64 – 66: +2 Charisma, gain Hunted Hindrance
76 – 78: -1 Charisma
82 – 84: Damage = Vigor
85 – 87: +1 Notice, -1 Charisma

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Optional features are things that can be added on top of the character’s racial template: A Cave Primitive Vulkin, an Evolved Wooky, a Mutant Planetary Ape, a half-dwarf half-elf, and so on. These are taken in addition to the racial templates and all have been balanced for cost. They’re free! However you cannot take more than one of the options below.

All pluses and minuses refer to the die type. A +2 Smarts applied to Smarts d6 makes it Smarts d10. A -2 Strength applied to Strength d8 makes it Strength d4. If a modifier would take something below a d4 it becomes d4 -2. If a modifier would take something above a d12 it becomes d12 +2.

Cave Primitive
+1 Agility
-2 Smarts
+2 Strength
Edge: Luck
Hindrances: Clueless, Illiterate, Ugly

Evolved/Advanced
-1 Agility
+2 Smarts
-2 Strength
Edge: Command

Mutation
-1 Trait (Player’s Choice)
Edge: Arcane Background (Mutant), 1 Power
Hindrance: Outsider, Quirk
When playing a mutant the player should roll on the Mutation Powers and Defects table on page 7 of Encounter Critical to determine the character’s mutant ability. The Journey Master will determine how the mutation works. A separate roll should be made for each New Power the player purchases as the character advances.

Mixed Race
Follow the rules in Encounter Critical on page 6, mixing and matching the Bonuses, Hindrances and Edges of both races.

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The other day my wife the non-geek asked me about Ed Wood. Actually, she asked me to explain Ed Wood (the actual person, not the movie) to her non-geek mother. Because I will latch onto anything that might bring the wife a little bit further into my geek world, I obliged. The summary I gave was that he was a man whose passion and vision for film far, far outstripped his actual budget or talent.

Enter Adam J. Weber, stage left. I don’t know whether he’s wearing angora or not, but God love him and his ambitions.

One would think that the title would say it all. Helix: The Post Apocalypse, High-Tech, Fantasy, Western Role Playing Game. I almost don’t need to write a review, because literally and figuratively it says a lot. In the near future there’s a global war, and nations are destroyed and City-States arise. There’s an evil global corporation that through nefarious means comes to control all of the City-States. There’s cyberware that was embedded with code that rewrites the genetic code of those implanted with cyberware, and those kids grow up to be “code slingers” (who are really spellcasters). And there’s some mysterious religious cult leader only known as “Helix”.

You create a character by selecting an archetype. Then you randomly roll the four attributes used in the game on 2d6. When you need to make an Attribute check, you roll a d12 and succeed if you roll under the attribute. You attribute total is the number of points you get to spend on “qualities” (skills, aspects, abilities, whatever) associated with that attribute. The cost is 1-1, so if you want Cyber Lore at 4 it costs 4, if you want Black Market Knowledge at 3 it costs 3, and so on. There are a lot of qualities, and obviously you won’t have a lot of points to go around. Qualities cap at 6, and to make a quality check you roll a d6 and succeed if you roll under.

Helix feels like a cyberpunk game that was written around 1985, and stylistically both the rules and the setting have the feel of that era. I kind of like that. If you had blacked out the copyright dates on this and handed it to me, I would completely peg it for that era. It almost feels like a companion piece to Encounter Critical, playing off of 80s gaming tropes the way EC did with the 70s. The difference, and it breaks my heart to say this because I’m not trying to bust on some really nice people who put a lot of love into creating a game, is that Helix seems to be dead serious and is presented without a hint of irony. Encounter Critical was the Plan 9 from Outer Space of roleplaying games on purpose. I get the impression that Adam J. Weber and company were really expecting to make Citizen Kane.

Look, I had fun reading this. I think I’d have fun playing it, and that’s all that matters, right? I’m truly looking at this as an unintended sourcebook for Encounter Critical. I will mine ideas from it for that game. The game mechanics, at least, are very simple and more playable than those of EC. I love this game for being exactly what it is and reveling in it.

One thing the game has going for it is support. At the Helix blog, new free content is released on a regular basis. I actually bought the game because “helixrpg” is one of my Twitter buddies, and it’s a proven scientific fact that I’m more inclined to buy your stuff if you get chummy with me. When the PDF went on sale over Thanksgiving, I picked it up ($3.50 was not a risky proposition). The fact that the folks behind the game are friendly, outgoing, and cranking out new content will give this game a long tail.

Buy Helix in print or as a PDF.

There are multiple ways to use Traits and Skills and Encounter Savage!, all of which use the Savage Worlds rules of assigning polyhedral dice types. The first is to just use the Traits and Skills of Savage Worlds which is not the method I recommend as it does not reflect the True Scientific Realism of the setting of Vanth. The second method is to use the Statistics and Skills of Encounter Critical and buy die types as in Savage Worlds. You will get 8 points to do this instead of 5 because there are 9 Statistics in Encounter Critical instead of 6 in Savage Worlds. The journey Master may also wish to give players more points to buy skills with as well because not only are there more skills in Encounter Critical but characters in Encounter Critical would logically be superior to any other sort of Savage Worlds character! You can make this adjustment by just having beginning characters in Vanth be Seasoned or Veterans according to Savage Worlds rules.

The method that I am recommending to you here is to create a hybrid of the two and use the Traits from Savage Worlds and the Skills from Encounter Critical! While this does not comply to the code of True Scientific Realism it will give you a Savage Vanth game that is very interesting and fun to play! The table below shows what skills will connect with which Traits. Note that in two instances there is no specific Trait but you should use the character’s lowest Trait because those skills are very hard and cost more to advance in.