Totems of the Dead: A Feast for Crows

Totems of the Dead: A Feast for Crows


My group and I have started a new Savage Worlds Campaign: Totems of the Dead.

 

Tomahawk and Sorcery

 

Totems of the Dead is a sword and sorcery fantasy setting loosely based on pre-Columbian Native American legends and history. Many sword and sorcery tropes are present:

• All of the PCs are human, or at least human-like.
• PCs are larger than life.
• Action, not words.
• Morality is more gray than black and white.
• The use of magic easily leads to corruption.
• War and violence is glorious.
• There are evil things from beyond the stars or hidden deep in the earth that seek to do harm to the human race.
• Wealth is easy come, easy go.

The Untamed Lands

The campaign takes place on a large continent called the Untamed Lands. The geography mimics that of North and South America. The cultures too reflect those of the historical Americas. For example, they are rough Aztec and Inca analogues in the very south of the Untamed Lands.

The cultures native to the Untamed Lands are at a stone age level of technology. However, more advanced civilizations have come: the Skadians, a Viking-like culture; and the Atlanteans, sorcerers and slavers.

 

The arrival of the newcomers has upset the geopolitical balance of the Untamed Lands. Wars and raiding are on the increase. The spiritual realm is in chaos as well, as the newcomers have brought their gods and myths with them. Old, evil entities long kept at bay are now stirring.

The adventures of the PCs take place against the background of this maelstrom.

 

The Elevator Pitch

 

In a primitive land, a buckskin wearing Conan, adorned with war paint, fights sorcerers and demons with his bloodstained tomahawk. War looms as strangers have come to the Untamed Lands: steel clad warriors in dragon ships that look to carve out new kingdoms with their swords, while forces from the mysterious island of Atlantis threaten to invade.

Tim