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jasonlblair
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Joined: 20 Nov 2011
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 Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:48 am Post subject: [FSG] Streets of Bedlam - New ultraviolent neo-noir setting |
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Hello everyone,
My name is Jason L Blair. I'm a professional writer and game designer as well as a long-time fan of Savage Worlds.
I'm currently working on a new setting called STREETS OF BEDLAM - A Savage World of Crime + Corruption for release in April 2012 in print and pdf. It's a gritty, ultraviolent, neo-noir setting in the vein of Sin City, Boondock Saints, Reservoir Dogs, and Max Payne.
A Kickstarter for the project is currently running. We've already hit the main goal, the first stretch goal, and still have over a month left! If you're interested in the backing the project, you can check out the Kickstarter here. By pledging, you can get credit in the book, get some exclusive character types, and even get turned into a major NPC in the corebook.
I've been updating the official site with art previews (by the awesome Shawn Gaston) and I'll be getting into some of the new rules options as well.
I hope you all check it out. If you have any questions at all, please let me know!
(Also, for those familiar with Bedlam City, this is an entirely-unrelated project. I started work on Streets of Bedlam years ago and launched this Kickstarter before I learned of BC's existence. While the names are similar, they are very different treatments of Savage Worlds.)
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Jason L Blair
Writer, Game Designer
Streets of Bedlam - A Savage World of Crime + Corruption |
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coyote6
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Joined: 01 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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Backed!
Hmm.
Kicked?
What is the appropriate verb to indicate one has pledged funds to a Kickstarter project? Whatever it is, that.
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Peanuts
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Joined: 19 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:55 am Post subject: |
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| Well if this lives up to the style and image being put forward for it, then I'd say that was 35 dollars well spent. Look forward to seeing how much more you can raise before Janurary :p |
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jasonlblair
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:36 am Post subject: |
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| coyote6 wrote: | Backed!
Hmm.
Kicked?
What is the appropriate verb to indicate one has pledged funds to a Kickstarter project? Whatever it is, that. |
I believe the common terms are "backed" and "pledged." 
Thank you very much!
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Jason L Blair
Writer, Game Designer
Streets of Bedlam - A Savage World of Crime + Corruption |
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jasonlblair
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Joined: 20 Nov 2011
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:37 am Post subject: |
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| Peanuts wrote: | | Well if this lives up to the style and image being put forward for it, then I'd say that was 35 dollars well spent. Look forward to seeing how much more you can raise before Janurary :p |
Thank you very much. The response has been amazing. Very happy to see other Savage Worlds fans getting behind this!
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Jason L Blair
Writer, Game Designer
Streets of Bedlam - A Savage World of Crime + Corruption |
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jasonlblair
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thurak
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Joined: 04 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:47 am Post subject: |
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Gotta say, I'm really looking forward to this book! Good luck with it!
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David Jarvis
Gun Metal games |
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ValhallaGH
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Joined: 25 Apr 2010
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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I'm a bit surprised that there's no mention of the Dramatic Task or Social Conflict rules. They, and the Chase or Mass Battle rules, would seem a great starting point for the mechanics of a complex investigation systme.
I'm also surprised as the implied misunderstanding of what the Investigation skill entails and how crime scenes are investigated in the core rules. (Investigation is used to go through piles of collected data; libraries, electronic archives, the stored collection from a museum, or the clues collected from a crime scene. It is rarely used to locate those clues; that's the purview of Notice [detect physical evidence] and Streetwise [testimony], though Investigation is perfect for digging through financial records and other background sources.) Though I may simply be reading a misunderstanding where there is only understanding.
The intent behind the setting rules is excellent. The idea dovetails beautifully with the setting concept and is a great way to add real heft, in a mechanical sense, to what should be a major feature of the setting. I'm really curious to see it.
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jasonlblair
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Joined: 20 Nov 2011
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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| ValhallaGH wrote: | | I'm a bit surprised that there's no mention of the Dramatic Task or Social Conflict rules. They, and the Chase or Mass Battle rules, would seem a great starting point for the mechanics of a complex investigation systme. |
Streets of Bedlam will make good use of the Dramatic Task rules (such as in the Interrogation rules which I'll talk more about next week) but I wanted a different set-up for Investigation. I avoided specifics because the system is still in playtest and subject to change.
| ValhallaGH wrote: | | I'm also surprised as the implied misunderstanding of what the Investigation skill entails and how crime scenes are investigated in the core rules. (Investigation is used to go through piles of collected data; libraries, electronic archives, the stored collection from a museum, or the clues collected from a crime scene. It is rarely used to locate those clues; that's the purview of Notice [detect physical evidence] and Streetwise [testimony], though Investigation is perfect for digging through financial records and other background sources.) Though I may simply be reading a misunderstanding where there is only understanding. |
I certainly didn't mean to imply that. When I spoke about resolving investigations with one roll, I meant treating scenes and clue in a binary fashion (either you find the clue or don't, either it supports your supposition or it doesn't, etc). In Streets of Bedlam, I wanted to codify investigations into an engaging mini-game within itself, obscure how much investigators do or do not learn from a crime scene, and also make sure that whatever the investigators do find out, it leads them somewhere--whether the right somewhere or not.
I also wanted to elevate the criminal's role in the crime scene by having his intent and mastery of the crime influence the difficulty and direction of the investigation.
Doing all of this under the current rules is certainly possible, but the setup didn't have the dramatic feel I wanted and I felt I could streamline it a bit to make complicated crime scenes that much more fast and fun.
| ValhallaGH wrote: | | The intent behind the setting rules is excellent. The idea dovetails beautifully with the setting concept and is a great way to add real heft, in a mechanical sense, to what should be a major feature of the setting. I'm really curious to see it. |
Thank you! I'm working hard to tweak it and can't wait to see what other folks think of it.
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Jason L Blair
Writer, Game Designer
Streets of Bedlam - A Savage World of Crime + Corruption |
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ValhallaGH
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Joined: 25 Apr 2010
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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| jasonlblair wrote: | In Streets of Bedlam, I wanted to codify investigations into an engaging mini-game within itself, obscure how much investigators do or do not learn from a crime scene, and also make sure that whatever the investigators do find out, it leads them somewhere--whether the right somewhere or not.
I also wanted to elevate the criminal's role in the crime scene by having his intent and mastery of the crime influence the difficulty and direction of the investigation.
Doing all of this under the current rules is certainly possible, but the setup didn't have the dramatic feel I wanted and I felt I could streamline it a bit to make complicated crime scenes that much more fast and fun. |
Ah! So, there was misreading on my part.
Yeah, given all of that, I can see why you decided to make up new rules. I really hope they work, and I'm very interested in seeing them. Good job getting me off the fence about this project. 
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Kodyax
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Joined: 29 Sep 2010
Posts: 496
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 12:46 am Post subject: |
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| Any relation to Bedlam City which is somebody's Iron Age M&M book converted to SW? I have material for that setting in both M&M and SW but anything more will be appreciated. |
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jasonlblair
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Joined: 20 Nov 2011
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:13 am Post subject: |
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| Kodyax wrote: | | Any relation to Bedlam City which is somebody's Iron Age M&M book converted to SW? I have material for that setting in both M&M and SW but anything more will be appreciated. |
Similar names but the two are unrelated. Streets of Bedlam is a gritty crime game with no magic and no superpowers.
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Jason L Blair
Writer, Game Designer
Streets of Bedlam - A Savage World of Crime + Corruption |
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Kodyax
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Joined: 29 Sep 2010
Posts: 496
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:16 am Post subject: |
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| I may keep an eye out for it as something to fold into say my Interface Zero campaign. |
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Fury
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Posts: 199
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:33 am Post subject: |
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You had me at neo-noir. Backed!
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chitownroy
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Joined: 19 Aug 2009
Posts: 487
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Very interested so far. I am looking forward to seeing the investigation rules fleshed out. My hope is that the investigation rules will keep things FFF while adding some depth. Great stuff so far. |
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sagaston
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Joined: 24 May 2003
Posts: 291
Location: St. Louis
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| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:54 am Post subject: |
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I just wanted to chime in with my excitement that I'm drawing this bad boy. The more I work on it, the more it feels like a perfect fit of artist and project. Really, about the only better project for me would be if someone wanted to make the German Expressionist Silent Film Savage Worlds Setting. This has been a ton of fun, and will be a gorgeous book if I can say so immodestly.
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Clockworks - a Savage Worlds powered Steampunk webcomic. Updates hopefully twice a week. |
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jasonlblair
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Kodyax
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| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Very interesting. I will be looking to see how this compares with Wellspring City from Silver Gryphon. |
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Sean-Khan
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Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 492
Location: Finland, Tampere
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:06 am Post subject: |
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I'll have to say I love what I've seen about this setting. Unfortunately I have way too many games on the to-be-played stack so I have no illusion of being able to run this for ages. Of course, I can recommend it to a friend who's been talking about a superhero campaign, I think this might work well for a dark street-level superhero game too.
And sagaston, congrats on your work, visual aspect of the game is really impressive and is one of the biggest things that draws me towards the game
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jasonlblair
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