Gorgon Archer - Character Advancement - Savage Worlds Adventurer's Edition

In early games, Savage Worlds used an experience point system with advances coming after acquiring 4 experience points. Adventurer's Edition has moved toward a more general method. Advancement in this edition is basically determined by how long you want your campaign to go. The book suggests Advancing once at the end of each session for a short campaign and every other or every third session for longer ones. ETU was originally written for the earlier edition which used experience points and was designed so that Advances would occur in time with mid-terms and finals of each semester. Saving Throw Show seems to be running it so that an Advance occurs every three to four sessions resulting in an approximately 12 to 15 episode seasons (Season 1 is 15 episodes, season 2 and 3 are 12 episodes. Since they were part of playtesting the rules, I assume they were helping find a balance on when to place advances and settled on the every third session).

There are also ranks which are determined by the number of Advances you've used. They are approximately similar to levels in D&D and other such games. Some edges are only available to characters of specific ranks. These are as follows:

• Novice - Have gained between 0 and 3 Advances.
• Corresponds to Freshmen in ETU
• Seasoned -  Have gained between 4 and 7 Advances.
• Corresponds to Sophomores in ETU.
• Veteran - Have gained between 8 and 11 Advances.
• Corresponds to Juniors in ETU.
• Heroic - Have gained between 12 and 15 Advances.
• Corresponds to Seniors in ETU.
• Legendary - Has gained 16 or more Advances.
• This level is beyond the limits of the basic ETU campaign.

There are several things you can do with an Advance and they are as follows:

• Gain a New Edge
• Increase a skill that is equal or greater to its linked Attribute by 1 step.
• Increase two skills that are lower than their linked Attribute by 1 step. (includes getting a new skill at d4)
• Increase an Attribute by one die type. This can be done once per rank.
• Permanently remove a Minor Hindrance or reduce a Major Hindrance to being a Minor one. This has to make sense. You're not going to suddenly regrow an arm in many campaigns, for example.

Saving Throw Show uses Secret Edges which the GM gave the players without telling them, but that's a homebrew specific to their table and I don't have an easy way to simulate their discovery, so I'm not going to do that. 

In general, I would simulate every session, but in other games I've looked at they either used experience of some kind that needed to be tracked by the session, or else had tiered milestones so that every session ended in the potential of some sort of change to the character. As a side note, it is possible to acquire Edges and Hindrances outside of Advances in Savage Worlds such as by gaining a phobia from a failed Fear check. I don't have a particular idea on how to simulate that possibility, so I'm going to go ahead and set that possibility aside. As I usually simulate either 14 or 18 sessions, that would be 3 or 4 Advancement events. I am going to go with 12 sessions with Advancements every 3 sessions. Mostly because 2 more sessions wouldn't change anything.

I feel like having the narrative of this group run parallel to the Wildcards ETU campaign. I'm going to use the mystery generation rules for figuring out what this group was doing while the Study Group was dealing with the major storyline. Not going to draw from the published adventures that can be used for side-stuff on the main campaign because not going to spoil them.

Side note, I know two of the students here aren't human and one has inhuman blood. This would be beyond what would be normally acceptable for an ETU campaign. Kiana especially overlaps a lot of Jennifer's story and would end up with some touchy table politics. It could work well but could also create an awkward game. In general, I would only want one, at most, inhuman student in a setting like ETU and I would prefer Jennifer a lot more than I would Kiana. Kiana is way too blatantly NOT HUMAN for a setting PC.

Note: I forgot to do the ETU special rule of Exams on the first run through of the campaign, so those aren't going to have the impact that they should on the narrative. The Exam results provide a bonus when passed, with passed with one or more raises they get a choice of two bonuses (rolling twice on the chart and choose the desired result). On a failure they suffer a -2 to tests and such and too many failures kicks them out of school. Possible bonuses:

As to Rayna's double major, she gains a -2 to her rolls to take tests (-3 with her Romance extracurricular...that was a bad mix). She rolls both skills and takes the best of the two results to determine how the semester went.

• Breakthrough - Increase a Skill's die rank permanently.
• Teacher's Pet - A teacher likes you.
• Administrative Privilege - You impress a member of faculty or staff other than a teacher and have a favor.
• Lucky 7's - Gain +1 Benny per session until the next Advance.
• Windfall - Gain an opportunity to acquire some extra money. (side job, cash prize, etc)
• Wanna grab a drink? - Attract the romantic attention of another student.
• What's this? - Discover something extraordinary while studying, draw on the Research Adventure table.

Starting Stats

Sessions 1 through 3

• Getting lost on the way to the university, the group meets and are drawn into a strange event with menacing men and women in suits guarding some sort of weird ritual. They try to kill the rituals but the study group survives and police reach the area arresting a couple of the attackers.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Show/Wildcards Sweat Lodge
• A scientist has gone missing in the woods around Pinebox and having heard of it, the study group joins Kiana as part of the volunteer effort to look for them. In the course, they are led into a trap by the park ranger that was working with them. The ranger has a demonic imp of some sort and the two try to kill everyone. Fortunately the group is able to knock-out the ranger and somehow banish the imp though they never got a good look at it. They find the scientist who is suffering from some sort of mental shock.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Show/Wildcards Bugs
• A student goes missing while attending a party at a local ranch house and the study group calls in Kiana to help find them. They find that one of the other students has kidnapped them and is trying to perform some sort of ritual to force them to feel affection for their kidnappers.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Shows/Wildcards Busted and Greek Tragedy
• Advancement
• Kiana - Improves Athletics and Stealth to d8
•  Exercises and practicing.
• No Exam
• Jennifer - Raises Agility to d8
• Fitness exercises. 
• Kinesiology Exam passed with two raises: Lucky 7's
• Sienna - Raises Fighting and Stealth to d6
• More training. 
• Criminology Exam passed: Wanna grab a drink? .
• Devon - Gains Occult to d4 and improves Academics to d8
• Studying and research. 
• Physics Exam passed: Teacher's Pet
• Rayna - Gains the Retort Edge 
• After dealing with a lot of haters. 
• Music and Law Exams: Failed (chooses to change Romance extra curricular and slow down her dating, takes up Auditing Classes)

Sessions 4 through 6

• Animal attacks have become increasingly common and it is building up toward what will be a mass assault on the campus. Someone has developed a way to influence animals with a chemical to develop an irrational hostility for marked targets. The person developing this died to one of his experiments, but now both the chemical marker and the rage inducer are getting throughout the area. The study group manages to track down where the chemicals are getting into circulation and shutting it down.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Show/Wildcards Lighthouse 418
• A student is murdered on campus in the midst of searching for an escaped fugitive who may be connected to a crackdown on a dangerous new drug. There's something odd about the murder that attracts the study group that is born out when they stumble on the fugitive and manage to capture him, but in doing so uncover evidence he couldn't have been anywhere near the site of the murder when it happened. As it turns out the killer is a local cop who has found a relic that lets him take on other identities and he killed the student who was the child of an ex-lover of his.
• Between Saving Throw Show/Wildcards Lighthouse 418 and Return to the Roost
• Strange tales lead the characters to learn of cadavers being stolen from the medical program. Looking into things on Halloween night, the study group found a growing gathering of what are starting as zombies but seeming to grow more intelligent and...hungry. The group manages to fight down these increasingly dangerous creatures though the zombie lord (or queen in this case) escapes into the forest somehow.
• Concurrent with the Saving Throw Show/Wildcards Return to the Roost
• Advancement
• Kiana - Gain the edge Marksman
• Improving her archery skills. 
• No Exams.
• Jennifer - Gains the edge Luck
• Gains a blessing from a relative witch over the holiday break.
• Kinesiology exam failed.
• Sienna -  Gains the Connections edge.
• Tightens relationship with the local cops.
• Criminology Exam passed: Lucky 7's
• Devon - Improves Occult to d6 and Ritualism to d4
• Involved in a ritual and study. 
• Physics test passed with two raises: Hey, what's this?
• Research adventure draw gains a tour of the Special Reserves until Sonya Alvarez shuts that down.
• Rayna - Improves Smarts to d8 
• Focusing her intelligence. 
• Music and Law Exams passed with a raise: Hey, what's this?
• Research adventure draw uncovers hidden cache of silver weapons.

Sessions 7 to 9

• Sienna starts suffer from migraines that last for hours at a time. Meanwhile a criminal is on campus trying to track down books in the library that have occult rituals. They know that the study group has been involved in rituals and targets the group to try and steal the knowledge they've gathered, besieging the group at Sienna's home while no one else is there.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Show/Wildcards The Thing in the Corner
• A cult is hunting Kiana intending to use her head as a sacrifice to some dark power. The initial assault is rebuffed by Detective Blaine Bishop, Paul Vanderhorn, and Sienna's parents and the older heroes try to get the study group to leave while they try to deal with things permanently. Unwillingly, the group is taken one town over and put up in a motel. However, the cult leader and its cultists track them down and assault the motel. The cops with them are incapacitated and the heroes have to defend the other motel residents and themselves. On defeat, the cult leader's body seems to deflate mysteriously. (The involvement of the NPCs is based on drawing the Cavalry complication saying the prior generations of heroes show up to save the day. I decided to make that early in the story rather than later)
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Show/Wildcard Just a Normal Rainy Saturday
• A Cult works with a Corporation have kidnapped employees for Sweet Heart Foundation and are trying to use a ritual to gain influence and mind control over them to gain peek at whatever Sweet Heart is doing. The missing employee was an occasional TA at the university and their disappearance drew the Study Group's attention and they tracked him down to rescue them. In the end a misfired ritual opens a brief dimensional rift that unleashes a number of creatures into the wilds around Pine Box. Mostly they're just exotic animals, but there were a couple of monsters.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Show/Wildcards The Seekers of Danger
• Advancement
• Kiana - Improves Spirit to d8 
• Dealing with the demon after her head forced her to get more resilient.
• No exams.
• Jennifer - Gains the Quick Edge
• Jennifer has been training her reflexes.
• Kinesiology exam passed: Lucky 7's
• Sienna - Raises Spirit to d8
•  Sienna's headaches came with a precognitive flash and expanded her awareness of the way things are.
• Criminology exam passed: Lucky 7's
• Devon - Raises Smarts to d10.
• Devon's mind has been tested and it has grown.
• Physics Exam passed: Administrative Privilege
• Rayna - Improves Notice to d6 and Taunt to d8
• Rayna's has learned to pay better attention and also continues to deal with jerks. 
• Music and Law exams passed: Windfall $100

Sessions 10 to 12 

• One of Rayna's prior dates is injured in a car accident caused by deer behaving in a very unusual manner. Looking into the situation it seems like some of the deer have been changed somehow and acquired increased intelligence. Unfortunately this also seems to come with a malevolent nature and the deer are becoming more monstrous over time. The car accident was unintentional but after that they start making more deliberate attacks. The group manages bring an end to the mysterious influence and the surviving deer revert to normal animals by all appearances.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Shows/Wildcards A Missing Girl
• A number of local cops over-reacted to a stranger, taking her for a suspicious person. She was unconscious and in cuffs before they realized that she was an EPA agent. Now they're freaking out, but one of their number comes from a family with a little bit of occult knowledge and is planning to run a ritual to adjust her memory to leave out their attack on her. Kiana witnessed the initial assault and noticed the cops driving off in the wrong way, unfortunately her car has a breakdown. She calls the study group and tries to get in contact with Bishop. They manage to interrupt the ritual and incapacitate the cops as Bishop appears on scene.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Shows/Wildcards A Tuesday in the Life
• During dead week, a group of students try to enhance their studying by using a ritual they found online to get supernatural aid. The ritual is performed in the Big Thicket. They either messed up the ritual or else the ritual they found was already not well described, or both. The result is a wind that is growing stronger and stronger. The study group is brought into this when the wind knocks a tree over in front of the car they're driving in. It becomes immediately clear that something is wrong and the group has push through the terrible wind to find the site of the ritual and rescue the other students from being crushed by the strengthening wind...and also from a tornado or something worse showing up.
• Concurrent with Saving Throw Shows/Wildcards The Needler
• Advancement
• Kiana - Takes the Hard to Kill Edge
• A natural development of her stubborness
• No exams.
• Jennifer - Raises Athletics to d10
• The effort of pushing through the wind drove Jennifer to improve her athleticism. 
• Kinesiology exam passed with two raises: Wanna grab a drink?
•  Sienna - Raises Research and Occult to d4
• Sienna has started to focus more on the investigative side of mysteries.
• Criminology Exam passed: Administrative Privilege
• Devon - Improves Stealth and Ritualism to d6.
•  Devon has learned to do better at staying hidden and improves his skill with rituals.
• Physics Exam passed: Wanna grab a drink?
• Rayna - Gains the Strong-Willed Edge
• Rayna has been toughening her mind set to deal with the craziness. 
• Music and Law exams passed with a raise: Lucky 7's

Kiana Livingston - Gorgon Archer

Rank: Seasoned/Sophomore

Race: Gorgon

• Many Eyes - The many snakes growing out of a gorgon's head grant them the Alertness Edge and they gain a +2 to Notice rolls to sense things in the world around them.
• Lightly Scaled - Gorgons are lightly adorned with small scales granting them +1 to their normal toughness.
• Heat Pits - As with snakes, gorgons are capable of sensing heat around them granting them infravision. This halves illumination penalties for tracking warm targets, including invisible targets.
• Freaky and Monstrous - Due to the alien nature of the gorgon's appearance, they subtract 2 from their Persuasion attempts.

Attributes

• Agility - d8
• Smarts - d6
• Spirit - d8
• Strength - d4
• Vigor - d6

 Skills

• Athletics(Agility) - d8
• Common Knowledge(Smarts) - d4
• Fighting(Agility) - d4
• Notice(Smarts) - d6
• Persuasion(Spirit) - d4
• Repair(Smarts) - d6
• Shooting(Agility) - d8
• Stealth(Agility) - d8
• Survival(Smarts) - d8

Derived Stats

• Pace: 8", d8 Running die
• Parry: 4
• Toughness: 6

Edges:

• Alertness (Racial) - When you roll Notice to see, hear, and otherwise sense things add +2 to the roll.
• Fleet-Footed - Increase Pace by 2" and Running die by one die-size to d8.
• Hard-to-Kill - Ignore wound penalties to avoid Bleeding Out.
• Marksman - If takes no more than a Rate of Fire of 1 can gain a +1 to Athletics or Shooting tests OR can ignore up to 2 points of penalties from Called Shots, Cover, Range, Scale, or Speed.
• Woodsman - Add +2 to Survival and Stealth while in the woods. 

Hindrances

• Ugly(Major, Racial) - Apply a -2 to Persuasion rolls.
• Poverty(Major) - Start with half the normal starting funds. 
• Townie(Minor) - You are not a student but a resident of the town. You do not take part in Exams, Burnout, or Extracurricular Activities and may have difficulty getting access to university resources.
• Cautious - Likes to plot things out before taking action. Personifies restraint and carefulness.

Gear

• Bow - This was where all her money went and is also where she gets her money.
• Used Compact Car - ETU characters get a form of transportation. Since she's poor it was either a compact car or a motorcycle and she needs something to carry stuff. It also has two glitches which I drew randomly.
• Gremlins - The electrical system goes on and off at "random" but only when it matters most.
• Tempermental - Anybody other than Kiana who tries to drive the car suffers a -4 on the roll.

Job:  Woodsman.

Study Group

• Devon Benson
• Rayna Farley
• Jennifer Summers
• Sienna Wallace

Additional Thoughts

I have to admit, Savage Worlds character creation and advancement doesn't feel all that exciting to me. The use of dice as stats is interesting, but I find myself a bit disappointed that you roll a Skill or an Attribute rather than a Skill + Attribute. That said, I can see where rolling three or more dice would have some severe alterations to their basic probability set-ups. The bonuses appear pretty mild, but given the gameplay (the target number to reach is usually 4) a bonus of +1 or +2 is fairly significant. A lot of the Edges are flavorful and I have a pretty clear idea of how they impact the game play. The Hindrances are very narrative, many of them are pure RP enforced without mechanics, which can sometimes be a little abused in a game. 

There isn't really anything that stands out to me either good or bad. It is generally well-made but not in a way that provokes excitement. Originally, my group felt that the game seemed a bit bare on starting build resources, but that may be because we started with a campaign setting that implies a fair degree more experience and power for a starting character than most Savage Worlds settings have. It might be that we should have started that campaign at a higher rank. The Novice level works well enough for college students or mostly normal people. 

So far it seems that the things about Savage Worlds that most spark my interest are the settings and storylines and those are very fun ideas rather than the mechanics. That said, the mechanics do gritty, lethal action very well.

The setting rules make the basic character creation a bit more interesting and unique. A good example of that here is how the Extracurricular Activities work to provide bonuses in this setting.

Character Creation and the Gorgon Archer