Solomon Kane - Legend Style

DamonJynx

Cosmic Mongoose
I know Pinnacle Entertainment have released a source book, The Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane and I was wondering if any of the forumites have had a crack at doing a Legend version?

Here are some thoughts on how you could accomplish this with Legend.

Use Pirates of Legend as a base (making appropriate corrections to the weapons tables that are a holdover from MRQ1) and create a new profession; Witch, with a very specific range of common magic spells; i.e. those that deal with charms and minor healing magic and a few curses or whatever (similar to the Renaissance SRD from Cakebread & Walton).

Spirit magic would be available to PC's who are shamans from Barbarian, Nomad & Primitive cultures.

Sorcery would be the mainstay of villainous types (Warlocks) who make use of Arcania of Legend: Blood Magic and generally not available to PC's.

Some minor Divine magic could be made available to Priests/Pilgrims based on their Pact & Lore (Theology) skills. Cults would need to be developed for the mainstream religions, i.e. Islam, Christianity (and it's variant churches), Judaism and perhaps Buddhism, each with a specific set of 'miracles'.

I think something like that would work quite well and shows how truly flexible the system is.

Thoughts?
 
You may also want to look at the Renaissance SRD from Cakebread & Walton for the rules relating to Factions and Righteousness Points - I can't think of any other setting where they would be more appropriate.
 
I did think about that, but I wanted to keep it as much "Legend" as possible. Truth be told, it is probably easier to just use the Renaissance rules and port in Legend combat.

For religions, could you use Lore & Pact in place of Factions & Righteousness?

I must admit I haven't read the Renaissance SRD fully. Nor am I conversant with the REH stories. I've only seen the PEG Savage Worlds book and the movie with James Purefoy - which was bloody excellent! - and thought it would make an excellent adventuring environment.
 
I love Solomon Kane, a lot. I'm a big REH fan if you haven't guessed, though I haven't read a lot of the more obscure Conan stuff and so on. I loved the movie with Purefoy in and he makes a solid Solomon Kane.

As for the RPG. I've read the SW of Solomon Kane and it isn't too bad, it certainly could be converted to Legend.
 
The Wolf said:
I love Solomon Kane, a lot. I'm a big REH fan if you haven't guessed, though I haven't read a lot of the more obscure Conan stuff and so on. I loved the movie with Purefoy in and he makes a solid Solomon Kane.

As for the RPG. I've read the SW of Solomon Kane and it isn't too bad, it certainly could be converted to Legend.

While I like Purefroy as an actor and think that the movie was entertaining, I don't think that movie Kane was very loyal to the character. I hated the backstory about the man seeking for atonement. Howard's Kane is a man who has fought against evil all his life and has never wavered in his faith. He is a fundamentalist fighting for a righteous cause, a man with strong sense of morals, who never fears to risk his own life in a battle against the forces of evil.

If I was planning to make Legend version of Solomon Kane, then I would make it very low magic. Most magicians in Kane stories are evil. But N'Longa certainly helps Kane and gives him the staff of Solomon (ancient and powerful magic item). However Kane and most of his companions don't know any magic. Best approach to get the most authentic Kane atmosphere would be giving no magic to PCs and most NPCs, although occasionally PCs might find an useful magic item or get help from a friendly magician.
 
DamonJynx said:
...Some minor Divine magic could be made available to Priests/Pilgrims based on their Pact & Lore (Theology) skills. Cults would need to be developed for the mainstream religions, i.e. Islam, Christianity (and it's variant churches), Judaism and perhaps Buddhism, each with a specific set of 'miracles'.
For Buddhism, the Mysticism rules from RQ6 would be the way to go... also handy as it doesn't involve magic.
 
Lord High Munchkin said:
For Buddhism, the Mysticism rules from RQ6 would be the way to go... also handy as it doesn't involve magic.
Agreed. However, if you we're just using Legend, perhaps a better way to go for Buddhists would be to give them some "martial art" type Heroic Abilities.

I also agree with Olaus that magic should be very limited, particularly to the PC's.
 
Yet other way to go for mysticism would be to pick-up the appropriate MQ2 Gloranthan book with Draconic Mysticism (I think they are still available online for $1) and use that without any references to dragons.
 
DamonJynx said:
I did think about that, but I wanted to keep it as much "Legend" as possible. Truth be told, it is probably easier to just use the Renaissance rules and port in Legend combat. .

Or you could get the previous edition, Clockwork & Chivalry, which uses RQII rules = Legend. Just drop the clockwork stuff, it's even got new witchcraft rules of its own in one of the supplements.
 
Deus Vult would be a good book for this too. New sorcery spells, witch-cults, and other goodies.

The witch was a profession in MRQ1. Here it is tweaked a bit for the Legend rules.

Witch

Backgrounds

Barbarian, Civilized

Common Skill bonuses
First Aid +5%, Persistence +5%, Lore (regional) +10%

Advanced Skills
Common Magic or Sorcery (Grimore)
Pick two more
Manipulation, Healing, Lore, Survival

I think you have a really cool idea. I love the Solomon Kane stories. The Savage Worlds adaptation is nice, but not quite what I was looking for in a RPG.
 
p_Clapham said:
Advanced Skills
Common Magic or Sorcery (Grimore)
Pick two more
Manipulation, Healing, Lore, Survival

I think you have a really cool idea. I love the Solomon Kane stories. The Savage Worlds adaptation is nice, but not quite what I was looking for in a RPG.

Thanks. I think if you're going to offer a choice between Common Magic & Sorcery , Manipulation needs to come packaged with Sorcery as the two are inexorably linked. I would write it thus:
Magical Skills
Common Magic or Sorcery (Grimore) & Manipulation
Advanced Skills
Pick two from Healing, Lore (Any), Survival
 
I created a Warlock profession for my home campaign that was based on the Sorceror profession, but included the Summoning skill from Blood Magic - something like that would make a great villain for a Solomon Kane game since the stories feature summoned demons and similar entities.

It's interesting that this thread has come up at this particular time. Given recent discussions about campaign settings for Legend, I've been wondering if there would be interest in an original Gothic Horror / Dark Fantasy setting for the system. The Solomon Kane stories would be one source of inspiration, along with Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, various Hammer Horror movies, old-school Warhammer Fantasy, and Ravenloft.
 
Verderer said:
Or you could get the previous edition, Clockwork & Chivalry, which uses RQII rules = Legend. Just drop the clockwork stuff, it's even got new witchcraft rules of its own in one of the supplements.

These rules have now been released under the OGL as part of the Renaissance SRD. They would need to be backported to Legend using the RQ II Clockwork & Chivalry rules as a guide, but that isn't an insurmountable task.
 
I'd like to see that. A horror tinged Swashbuckling & Sorcery setting has potential.

Prime_Evil said:
It's interesting that this thread has come up at this particular time. Given recent discussions about campaign settings for Legend, I've been wondering if there would be interest in an original Gothic Horror / Dark Fantasy setting for the system. The Solomon Kane stories would be one source of inspiration, along with Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, various Hammer Horror movies, old-school Warhammer Fantasy, and Ravenloft.
 
I have a fairly good method of converting my Savage Worlds stat blocks to Legend for the Mercenary Breed edition, although there are a lot of things that get dropped and replaced by completely new mechanics.

However, I love the Solomon Kane setting and think it's a very fitting setting for Legend. You could easily create a Solomon Kane-styled setting, without the actual Solomon Kane theme, combining bits and pieces of things that are already available using the aforementioned books including Pirates of Legend and Renaissance.
 
It's already been done. I can't remember the url (as I'm too full of "jolification", although I suspect it's on the BRP central site somewhere) but I will eventually.
 
I couldn't find it on the BRP central site, so I looked through Savage Worlds and came up with these conversion rules.

Attributes
1D4 = 8-10
1D6 = 11-12
1D8 = 13-14
1D10 = 15-16
1D12 = 17-18

Skills
1D4 = Base Chance
1D6 = +15%
1D8 = +25%
1D10 = +40%
1D12 = +55%


Lord High Munchkin said:
It's already been done. I can't remember the url (as I'm too full of "jolification", although I suspect it's on the BRP central site somewhere) but I will eventually.
 
OK, I found it on my computer.

It's called 'The Brotherhood'. It's a "supernatural 17th C" setting, a bit like 'Whitch Finder General' but after horrific creatures. However, it is quite basic in it's scope outside its core focus. Its main interest lies in the organisation of the Brotherhood (sort of like an earlier iteration of the idea that has been used in 'Deus Vault').

Interesting, but probably of marginal use.
 
Prime_Evil said:
It's interesting that this thread has come up at this particular time. Given recent discussions about campaign settings for Legend, I've been wondering if there would be interest in an original Gothic Horror / Dark Fantasy setting for the system. The Solomon Kane stories would be one source of inspiration, along with Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, various Hammer Horror movies, old-school Warhammer Fantasy, and Ravenloft.
That would be most excellent! Just don't throw in any vanilla fantasy races, please. I prefer Ravenloft without them.
 
There are a couple of different ways you can approach this.

For starters, while vanilla fantasy races based on Tolkien do not suit the setting, it is possible to reinterpret them in ways that do. For example, you can have sinister elves who replace human babies with changelings and pay an annual tithe to hell. This interpretation is supported by folklore, but it's a long way from the elves of most RPGs.

Another option is to replace the traditional fantasy races with alternatives drawn for gothic fiction. For example, dhampirs and demonblooded outcasts might replace elves and dwarves. You could also follow the approach taken by Vikings of Legend and replace traditional fantasy races with human cultures - in Vikings of Legend, each ethnic group has different advantages and disadvantages similar to fantasy races in other RPGs. The fact that Eastern Europe was a place where different cultures clashed makes this a viable option (Slavic peoples, Saxons, Gypsies, Turkish invaders, etc). The main risk with this approach is that it could easily degenerate into crude ethnographic stereotyping.

Finally, there is the option of allowing PCs to play monsters - it would be interesting to play a vampire or werewolf or ghost in a gothic horror setting where even darker things lurk in the shadows. And keep in mind that the good guys are no pushover in this type of setting too - although monster PCs may be able to survive a mass of peasants with pitchforks and torches, a group of veteran monster hunters can give them a run for their money. In the d100 tradition, there is a strong notion that monsters are people too and any species written in the rulebooks should be playable in appropriate circumstances. A gothic setting would need to at least consider the possibility of monster PCs in passing - and this is not that far removed from the source material, which often included sympathetic characters whose origins were not always pure (e.g. Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein's Monster, and even Dracula himself to some extent).
 
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