I'd say Persuasion, though you may want to look at Beast Bond and Beast Master, on p51 of the SWADE rulebook, as to me, they fit what you are going for very well.

Naomi's the tattooed lady. She's a little older than most of the circus, and takes things slowly. She's also quite smart and always has a story that often ends up 'illustrated' by one of her tattoos.

Jade, could you tell me more about the De Vries Brothers Circus? I'd planned on being from another 'defunct' circus myself, and it sounds like we might have been connected there.

Question, what's the sleaze level of our circus? Is it mostly on the up and up or are we the only decent people in it?

That's a good question. I'd hope it was on the up and up, as I don't see Rissa staying long with a corrupt circus.

Happy to go with the direction you all want - Want it to be reputable, and a good home for those who are unique, rather than a collection of lies and snakeoil salesmen, then that is how I'll build it.

I want the game, the setting, the circus, to be something you want to be involved with. Without all of you, there is no game.

Can you open our character sheets please? With word wrap on? Thanks.

I like the idea it's like society in general:  most of the circus people are legitimate, but a few aren't, and it's not that most of them are outright evil they're just questionable.

Here is Renko. I am Cossack from Siberia. Ride horse before I can walk. Fight before I can run. Women... well, you know. Been now in America for some time. Speak English pretty good, yah?

In circus I do many thing. I ride. I shoot rifle. I shoot bow. I throw knife and axe. I do sabre dance. Sometime I do two, three, four at once. The poster calls me Renko The Mad Russian. Pah! I am not mad, just Cossack!

I help Rissa with animals. Maybe Jade be my assist again now that little cut is healed, yah? Wait, I sing you Russian song, song of love, very sad.


There, that's Renko. This is me.

I think a small show, as honest as it can be and stay in business would be my preference. Maybe it's on its way up, starting to play bigger towns, adding acts, getting ready for the Big Time. Maybe it's on its way down, losing acts, couldn't compete with bigger shows back East, reduced to tramping around the West.

Off now to buy pdfs so I can make my character.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:54, Tue 30 Mar 2021.

I don't think my character would be part of a circus that abused its animals (though my character is a bit on the dim side).

Question: if I took the Tongue-Tied flaw, but only have it applied to people, does it still count as a major flaw?

Howdy folks, I'm joining in as Orlan Haig, a knife thrower. Aside from throwing knives, he drives a good stagecoach when it's needed. He's much more committed to making money throwing knives than he is to throwing knives for the sake of it, but he does take pride in the art, having been trained in that art by his (adoptive) father, Cillian Haig, another longstanding member of the circus.

I also tossed out the idea of mock competitions between this knife-thrower and our trick shot artist, with several variations on this theme (one winning cleanly, one winning by obviously cheating, draw leading to an archery competition at which one or both could be laughably bad, etc.)

I'll be grabbing a profile image and trying to make up a character tomorrow. I'm glad to be gaming with you all. :)

I definitely like the idea of our circus being mostly composed of good people, but I do think there should be some dark secrets hidden under the surface...

(@Aria: I'd guess that depends on the severity of the flaw when speaking to people.)

So you wouldn't get a penalty with animals?
I'd be fine with it as minor, but make sure to stick a note on you sheet somewhere to remind me.
After all, it just means even more hindrances to come up to influence the story, and potentially give out more bennies too.

Which books should we have if we're willing to pay for them? I have SWAdE, but these are several Deadlands books.

I'm asking because I want to know what animal(s) should be my companion.

I own SWADE and Deadlands the Weird West.

I don't own the Companion, as the archetypes inside didn't interest me, and most the book is designed for a Marshal (and I didn't plan to Marshal any time soon - woops!).

Most the varmints in the Deadland's book wouldn't work due to size, though a Mountain Lion (p153-4) may work for you?

SWADE probably has animals in the back somewhere, or Deluxe did, or I or someone else might have a stat block buried in a book somewhere.  I certainly do not have every Savage Worlds game, not even close, but I do have an embarrassing number of them.

If it's okay, I might take a Dire Wolf or two and reskin it/them as particularly large dog breeds.

As for Aria, she someone who ran off from an abusive home life to be in a circus and surrounded by animals. She has a nervous disposition when directly interacting with people but her act in the circus mainly involves the animals doing tricks so she doesn't have to interact with people that much. She's also decent at riding animals so she'll do the occasional trick ride.

She's a smallish young woman but is decently fit for someone her size. In a fight, she'll either sic her animals on someone or smack them with a club.



This is the flaw I was talking about.

Tongue-Tied (Major)
Your adventurer flubs cool lines (or thinks of them afterwards!), goes off on tangents when
he’s trying to talk someone into something, and generally miscommunicates most
everything he says. He suffers a −1 penalty to Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion, and Taunt rolls that involve speech.

In reply to Aria Fox (msg # 23):

You could also have a yappy pack of several smaller dogs, which are cuter for circus acts. You could put little ruffed collars and wear a similar outfit yourself, maybe with clown makeup.

https://imgc.allpostersimages....00&h=900&p=0

Renko would pretend to hate them but actually find them adorable.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:03, Wed 31 Mar 2021.

In reply to Renko Tenmo (msg # 24):

Who says we don't have a pack of smaller yappy dogs? The ones I'm talking about are the ones I bring into battle.

In case this helps. Dog/Wolf could be Irish or Russian wolfhound.

Dog/Wolf
The stats below are for large attack dogs, such as Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers, as well as wolves, hyenas, and the like.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Notice d10, Stealth d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4
Edges: Alertness
Special Abilities:
„ Bite: Str+d4.
„ Size −1: The heads of these canines come to an average human’s waist, and they weigh about 60 pounds.
„ Speed: d10 running die.

Dire Wolf
Dire wolves are very large and feral canines often used by orcs as attack dogs. They may also be found roaming in packs in the deepest, darkest woods.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d6, Stealth d8
Pace: 10; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Edges: Alertness
Special Abilities:
„ Bite: Str+d6.
„ Speed: d10 running die.

Or you could herd cats! :D

Naomi knows the dogs names, and will, when food isn't tight, leave them some scraps outside the freakshow tent. She also sometimes talks to Renko in Russian (if that's the language he speaks).

Naomi is physically s.l.o.w.... and may be the least combat-capable in the party. S'the way it is.

That's fine by me :)

@Everyone
How are you all doing with character creation? I haven't had much in terms of PM's, so I'm hoping that means you are all happy with character creation, but I thought I would check.

With Easter rolling around, I understand people may be busy, so I wouldn't be wanting to start anything before Tuesday 6th April.

I need to do equipment and character desc/bio lines but I think I have the guts of it

When taking the Beast Master Edge, would the boss prefer it if I only keep one animal and I concentrate on making a single, bigger, more powerful pet?

Edit:
As to not double post, according to the SWADE, starting funds are 500$, so being seasoned we should have 1000$. Unless being Carnies means we've got to take the Poor Hindrance.

Edit2: Having newly bought the Deadlands book, I now know that they're using 1800's currency, so 250 goes a lot further.

Edit3: My character sheet is ready for a review
This message was last edited by the player at 02:02, Thu 01 Apr 2021.

I've bought SWADE and The Weird West. Been a while since I made a Deadlands character, but it's coming along.

This week is honestly dragging on pretty hard right now, so I'll be happy to take a bit more time on prepping my sheet.