the suurvivors War of the dead:war of the dead

Values of Survival
A fan-created narrative rules addition for the War of the Dead campaign for Pin-
nacle Entertainment’s Savage Worlds role-playing game, by Emiricol
Personal Values
One of the important things about
a setting such as the one presented
in War of the Dead is to explore
how the unraveling of society af-
fects people who must try to live
through it. It is often challenging
to balance one's humanity and val-
ues against the pressing needs of
simple survival. Does a character
risk life and limb to come to the aid
of a family member who may be a
hindrance to their survival efforts?
Can the character's religious be-
liefs or life philosophy survive the
onslaught of Living Dead? It is im-
portant to the horror genre to ex-
plore these themes.
Players have several options
for bringing these issues into the
game and reinforcing the role-play
with mechanics. Firstly, the Sav-
age Worlds rules already include
a variety of Hindrances that could
be used to reflect this such as Code
of Honor, Greedy, Loyalty and so
on. They provide a solid role-play
guideline for the PC, and many GMs
will award bennies for good role-
play, but they may not be enough
for every gaming group, in motivat-
ing battles of will, conscience, and
mechanically benefiting players
and giving GMs solid roleplaying
hooks.
A second option is to allow from
1-3 unique Hindrances that do not
result in bonus points, and which
must be selected from a GM-deter-
mined list of themes. Possible ideas
include family members, friends or
dependants; traits of a particular
religion or philosophy (thou shalt
not steal, for example); or general
attachments to a location or item
such as a bulky urn of the PC's fa-
ther's ashes.
However, there is a third option,
inspired by some popular narrative
games, which we will present here.
These rules are simple and remain
in the spirit of Savage's World's
FFF! philosophy, but greatly aid
players and GMs in making a char-
acter's values mean something in
game terms. Keeping to these val-
ues may cost the PC but they will
also make the PC stronger; aban-
doning their values when it is easi-
est to do so may spare the PC's ba-
con, but will have a psychological
cost. These rules may better model
a character's descent into barba-
rism, or their stubborn refusal to
give up their humanity in the face
of overwhelming evil.
GAINING VALUES
Each character gets between 3 and
7 Values points. To reflect typical
tendencies in different age groups,
the default is 5 Value points while
those with the Young hindrance get
3, and those with the Elderly hin-
drance get 7. (Alternatively, give 3
Value points to start, and add one
or two Value points for each new
Rank the character earns.)
DEFINING VALUES
The most typical Values are peo-
ple (parents, children, boyhood
friends, mentors, etc), places
(where one works, grew up, went
to school, etc), things (Grandma's
heirloom ring, dad's urn, the only
picture of a missing relative, etc),
and ideas (Religious tenets, person-
al philosophies, and goals). These
should be defined in loose terms,
a simple short sentence describing
that Value. This is a collaborative
process and the entire group and
GM should be present. Competing
Values are perfectly OK, but players
and GM may need to collaborate if
they want to be inter-dependant.
We recommend each starting PC
have at least one Value related to
at least one other character. It is
important for GMs to ensure these
Values are both general enough to
be brought into play regularly, and
specific enough to show exactly
when it is really important to that
character. Everyone wants World
Peace, but people die for the cause
of peace in Darfur.
Each Value can have a rating of
one or more, showing just HOW im-
portant it is to the character (and
also showing the GM how much the
player would like to focus some of
the storyline on that aspect of the
character). Each point in a Value
decreases the total available Value
points by 1.
Care should be taken that Values
of Hindrances don't overlap too
much, although that too could be
interesting in game play.
USING VALUES
There are three ways for a player
to use Values, each subject to GM
approval before use. Values can be
spent before a roll to increase one

War of the Dead is © 2010 Daring Entertainment, LLC. All rights reserved. War of the Dead, Daring Entertain-
ment, and associated logos are trademarks of Daring Entertainment, LLC This game references the Savage Worlds
game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associ-
ated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle
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makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of this product.
Joe DelJanovan (order #2938608)
 war of the dead
of the dice by one step. Values can
be spent after a roll to either re-
roll one die, or add +1 to the final
result. And finally, a Value can be
used to automatically throw off the
effects of being Shaken, instanta-
neously. After each use of a Value,
check off one of the points assigned
to it. When all the points are used,
no more are received except by GM
action (see below), or at the end of
the session (each Week's install-
ment in the WotD serial campaign).
Note that the GM must determine
the task at hand somehow direct-
ly relates to the character's val-
ues, and only those Values can be
checked off (used).
GMs can also use a character's
Values. The GM can compel the
PC to follow its Values in a given
situation by offering a benny; if the
player takes the benny, the PC must
stick to its guns on the issue. Alter-
natively, the player can sacrifice a
Joe DelJanovan (order #2938608)
the survivors
benny they already have, to deny
the compulsion - taking the easy
way out, but sapping the charac-
SUMMARY
ter's human spirit at the same time. With the addition of a few sen-
This use of Values by the GM should tences about what the character
be limited to important decisions values, a lot of depth can be added
and character-defining moments. to the character and to the game
play. PCs can be engaged with the
EVOLVING VALUES plotline in a more "personal" way.
And, a tension is built up between
After each major campaign seg- a character's personal beliefs and
ment is completed, players and enlightened self-interest, when the
GMs should sit down to redefine world disintegrates in the War of
Values by either moving 1 Value the Dead.
point between two existing Values
or one existing value and another,
new Value. Or, by changing one Val-
ue to something else. For example,
a character may decide they aren't
so loyal to Uncle Bert after all, but
have a newfound loyalty to another
PC; a point would be removed from
"Looking Out for Uncle Bert" to the
new Value, "Always Has to Rescue
Lisa" (another PC).
Where were you the day the Earth died?
War of the Dead: Chapter One— available in electronic format through
the PDF store at www.daringentertain.com, and in print from our part-
ners at Cubicle-7 Entertainment.
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