Savage Blue Rose: Humanoid Races of Aldea

I own a bunch of RPG settings and systems I gotten around to playing with yet: Blades in the Dark, The Dracula Dossier, Hellfrost: Land of Fire, Qin: The Warring States, Mazes and Minotaurs, etc. The top two I really want to run or play are Blue Rose AGE and 7th Sea 2nd Edition. 

A big, big part of why I want to play those is to try out some different, non-Savage Worlds systems – I’m curious to see if Robin’s terrible luck with dice is mitigated by the dice pool mechanics of both systems – but the settings also appeal to me greatly. I don’t think I quite get Théah yet – despite it basically being an alternate-history 17^th century Earth, the place feels less real, less alive to me than the Forgotten Realms – so I think I’d rather play in somebody else’s 7^th Sea game than run it myself. Blue Rose’s Aldea, on the other hand, not only feels alive but also seems like a place I’d like to live.

And so, since I need my higher creative functions free for other projects, I might as well do some adapting. Blue Rose AGE is a very loose class-based system – so loose that, frankly, it makes sense to adapt the sub-classes (not the base classes) as standard Savage Worlds archetypes. While I’ll get around to that, what’s more interesting up front is adapting the races and backgrounds.

Players in Blue Rose may choose between several humanoid races and the rhydan – psychic, sapient animals of several species. Each race has certain basic, uniform bonuses, but also – in the AGE System, at least – a set of random extra bonuses. Backgrounds, meanwhile, are sets of extra skill points grouped around cultures.

This feels to me rather like a combination of standard Savage Worlds race rules and the MARS packages of Savage Rifts®, so that’s how I’m going to approach it. Each race will have a basic template that matches standard SW rules, with a set of extra abilities that players can choose or roll randomly for that adds up to four points of a MARS package’s extra nine points. The remaining five points will go into background skill packages. If a Game Master actually chooses to run a Savage Blue Rose campaign but doesn’t like handing out extra stuff at character creation the way Sean Patrick Fannon and I do, then that Game Master can just use the base racial abilities and ignore the extras and backgrounds.

With me so far? 

Let’s start with the humanoid races, since the wide variety of rhydan species means they’ll need their own post.

Humanoid Races of Aldea

The Blue Rose setting is home to a variety of interfertile humanoid species, all of whom are heir to previous ages of wondrous magic. As such, even humans have an extra touch of magic and mystery to them. If your Game Master permits, you may choose two additional traits for your hero during character creation, choosing from the racial options below. These additional abilities need not be compensated for with Hindrances.

Children born from mixed unions of Aldean races choose one parent’s race as their basic race, but may pick additional traits from the other parent’s racial list.

Humans

As standard Savage Worlds humans.

If your Game Master permits extra abilities as outlined above, you may choose two from the following human traits:

• +1 die Smarts

• +1 die Strength

• +1 die Vigor

• +2 dice Notice

• +2 dice Persuasion

• Brawler

Night People

 Created as slaves of the evil Sorcerer Kings, the night people eventually rebelled and joined their fellow free-willed humanoids in the battle against their former masters. Tall and burly with ash-gray skin and small tusks, the appearance of night people still frightens some prejudiced folk, but most accept them as fellow citizens.

• Dark Sight: Night people may see up to 15” in full darkness with no penalty.

• Light Sensitive: Night people are Shaken for one round when first exposed to sunlight or its equivalent.

• Strong: Night people start with a d6 in Strength instead of a d4.

If your Game Master permits extra abilities as outlined above, you may choose two from the following night people traits:

• +1 die Spirit

• +1 die Vigor

• +2 dice Intimidation

• +2 dice Stealth

• Alertness

• Brawler 

Sea Folk

While not water-breathers, sea-folk are certainly as comfortable in the water as otters. Androgynous and lean, the sea-folk have a blue or green tint to their otherwise human skin tones and occasionally have blue or green hair. So many otherwise human islanders have sea-folk ancestry in their family tree, that occasionally full-blooded sea-folk are born to human parents.

• Dark Sight: Sea-folk may see up to 10” in full darkness with no penalty.

• Dehydration: Sea-folk must either immerse themselves in water for an hour or drink twice a normal human water ration every 24 hours or become automatically Fatigued until they are Incapacitated, perishing the day after.

• Strong Swimmers: Sea-folk start with a free d6 in Swimming and move at their full Swimming skill. They can hold their breath for 15 minutes before checking for drowning.

If your Game Master permits extra abilities as outlined above, you may choose two from the following sea-folk traits:

• +1 die Agility

• +1 die Smarts

• +2 dice Knowledge (History or Nature)

• +2 dice Notice

• Acrobat

• Alertness 

Vata

Descendants of the union of humankind and the eldritch vatazin, the long-lived, silvery-haired vata are divided into the pale vata’an and the night-black vata’sha. Magic runs in vata blood, leading to them being persecuted in unenlightened nations but welcome in Aldis.

• Arcane Blood: Vata begin with the Arcane Background (Magic) or (Psionics) Edge and a d4 in the relevant skill.

• Dark Sight: Vata’an may see up to 10” in full darkness with no penalty and vata’sha may see up to 15”. Vata’sha are Shaken for one round when first exposed to sunlight or its equivalent.

• Hunted by Kern: Vata’an are killed on sight by the forces of the vile nation of Kern, while vata’sha are enslaved.

If your Game Master permits extra abilities as outlined above, you may choose two from the following vata traits:

• +1 die Agility

• +1 die Smarts

• +2 dice Knowledge (Arcane)

• +2 dice Notice

• +2 dice Persuasion

• Alertness