Wiseguys on Kickstarter March 26th!

The Wiseguys: Guide to Organized Crime Kickstarter campaign is launching on Tuesday, March 26th at noon Eastern Time.

We're using crowdfunding to pay for more illustrations such as the one in this gorgeous trunk shot illustration by Anna Jarmolowska.

We have the Comp Package with goodies like One Sheet crossover adventures, NPC cards, and a mega-casino gambling floor map! This Comp Package will grow if we reach stretch goals.

Check out a preview of the Kickstarter here.

As you can see, some rewards are limited, so make sure you're there to claim them first!

Why Savage Worlds?

Why Savage Worlds? Why is Wiseguys a good fit for it?

To answer that question I must first begin by talking about Just Insert Imagination. Just Insert Imagination came into existence in 2015 with the release of Winter Eternal for Savage Worlds. Founded by Morne Schaap, it has primarily been a publisher of Savage Worlds products ever since.

I, Eric Lamoureux, have been playing Savage Worlds for over 10 years and it's still my go-to system. I've been freelancing for about 6 years now, writing and designing products for Savage Worlds licensees, and joined the Just Insert Imagination crew late in 2015.

You can be confident that Just Insert Imagination knows Savage Worlds. So that's one reason why we chose Savage Worlds for Wiseguys.

The arrival of the Adventure Edition has made Savage Worlds more versatile than ever. The expansion of the Interludes, update to the Dramatic Task, the addition of the core skills,  new Edges, and Quick Encounters make it an excellent fit for Wiseguys.

Lastly, while this more a serendipitous than anything else, Wiseguys is the most natural setting to theme for your game. Think about it; Las Vegas, gambling? That's right! Your regular deck of card and poker chips are already perfectly themed for Wiseguys!

For today's art preview, we have an illustration by Mike Tenebrae. This character is Manny Sambino, a young but upcoming capo of La Cosa Nostra.

Equal Opportunity Evil

For this designer diary entry, I wanted to talk to you about how we included characters of any gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity in Wiseguys.

The Italian-American Mafia is a secretive brotherhood of thieves whose membership is restricted to males of Italian heritage. During my research, I discovered that the Mafia employs and works with individuals called associates who aren't members. They perform the same tasks as made men of the lowest ranks but aren't privy of the Mafia secrets, aren't included in decision-making process, and don't get the same share of the profits. Furthermore, they aren't subject to the same rules and membership requirements. This was important because it opened the game up to more than just Joe Pesci clones as was the case in the adventure that started it all: Fuhgeddaboudit!

Associates made it possible to include circus acrobats, Las Vegas showgirls, roller derby or glow girls, wedding officiants and any character part of the Las Vegas landscape that you wouldn't typically expect to see in the Mafia while still respecting the integrity of this romantic and iconic crime syndicate.

Now I know what you might be thinking. But playing a real made guy is much cooler! Perhaps so. This is a decision you'll have to make when you make your Wiseguys character. However, I just wanted to share with you some of the precedents in history that may make you rethink that. Two men instrumental to the expansion of the Mafia in Las Vegas, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel weren't Italian; they were Jewish. Frank Rosenthal, the man who ran 5 casinos for the Outfit in the 70s, and whose life is depicted by the character of Ace Rothstein in Scorcese's Casino by Robert DeNiro was also Jewish. What about Scorcese's other iconic mafia movie Goodfellas? The three main characters in that movie played by Ray Liota, Joe Pesci, and Robert DeNiro were based on real-life Henry Hill, Tommy DeVito and James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke. Two of these men were Irish, none of them were made men. Despite all this, the mafia experience felt quite authentic, wouldn't you say?

As you can see, the Mafia doesn't discriminate against gender or ethnicity. If you can make money for them, they want you! They are an equal opportunity employer.

The Wiseguys JumpStart is out and in there you can find prime examples of how exotic, unique, and fun your character can be in Wiseguys.

What do you want to play when you play Wiseguys?

I leave you with an illustration by Chaim Garcia. Chaim is on the roster to illustrate Wiseguys. Here is a safecracker!

Gambling

When is the last time you used the Gambling skill in your Savage Worlds game?

Chances are that unless you're playing Deadlands, opportunities to use that skill never come up.

In Wiseguys, America's gambling capital; Las Vegas is front and center. The temptation to test your luck and beat the house is everywhere. However, it isn't all you can do with the Gambling skill.

Want to run your own casino or bookmaking business? That's Gambling. You can look at it as a knowledge skill. You know how to set the odds of a wager, how comping works, and what measures are set in place to stop cheating and how to defeat them. Which casino has the best winning odds in town?

In most cases, this would be a use of Common Knowledge but when it involves gambling, the Gambling skill is a valid choice.

Is that gambler over there cheating? Where is the accomplice? Which scam are they working on? Notice can definitely be used in those circumstances but Gambling is also a perfect fit.

Take Care of Your Friends

I've played a lot of Shadowrun over the years. To some, it was about the gear, to others it was to stick it to the Man, or various other reasons. To me, it was about the Contacts. In Shadowrun, every Contacts has ratings that indicated how loyal and helpful they are, along with a short bio. I was fascinated by the effects these relationships my character had on the campaign.

I wanted Wiseguys to give the players one more reason to interact with the colorful nonplayer characters and cultivate relationships with them so I designed the Friends of Ours Setting Rule that you could use in any setting.

Contacts aren't sitting by the phone waiting for you to call them and do you a favor. They are as much a part of the Underworld as you are and have their own agendas.

In Savage Worlds, Contacts are handled through the Connections Edge. Wiseguys builds upon that by making the interaction between the player characters and their Contacts more dynamic. In Savage Worlds, the Persuasion skill provides guidelines to the Reaction Level of nonplayer characters. This a nonplayer character's attitude toward your character. Each Contact is given a Reaction Level by the Don. This attitude is subject to change through the course of the campaign. Let the attitude fall down to Hostile and this Contact may turn on you. Improve it to Helpful and new services open up to you. You learn that the drive-thru clerk at your favorite local fast food joint is also a biochemistry student and she can provide you with venom or anti-venom doses. The labor union leader you've been in business with likes you enough to declare a strike the day you want to rob the joint. Your personal tailor who always makes you look your best now has access to a bulletproof fabric and can make you a nice suit. Wiseguys contains over 50 such Contacts that you can use out of the box along with guidelines for the Don and the players to create their own.

At the beginning of each session, the Don may ask a player whose character has a contact to draw a card from the Action Deck. Certain cards trigger an event that the wise guy must deal with. The outcome of this event is going to change the relationship between the wise guy and his Contact for better or worse. Wiseguys is a world full with betrayal and unlikely alliances!

We Don’t Need Another Setting

I own enough Savage Worlds settings for a lifetime of weekly campaigns.

When I started designing Wiseguys I set myself two goals. First, I wanted a compelling and original setting with interesting and colorful characters at the core of it. Second, I wanted this book to be THE resource for organized crime for Savage Worlds.

I’m a big fan of Codex Infernus: The infernal guide to hell and Agents of Oblivion because of the practical applications beyond the default settings they were created for. In the former, you found a hellish bestiary, rules for possession, and a plethora of Edges and Hindrances among other things. In the latter, a framework for agency-based campaigns was set in place, again with several edges to support it.

In my previous article, I discussed how you can use Wiseguys to spice up your campaign by using the extensive information on the Mafia, 1% Motorcycle Clubs, Drug Cartels or Chinese Triads to create memorable adversaries.

I’d like to share with you some of the character abilities you can find in Wiseguys that can be used by both the player characters and the antagonists.

EDGES

Hostage Taker

Requirements: Novice, Intimidation d8+

When the lead starts flying and you must make your way out of a tough spot, it’s good to have someone else take a bullet for you. Even if they are unwilling.

You need one hand free to hold the hostage. Anyone attempting to shoot you while you're holding a hostage must use the Innocent Bystander rule (if they miss and roll 1 on the trait die, they hit your hostage). Furthermore, if you suffer one or more wounds, you can spend a Benny to redirect all the damage to your hostage. Most hostages won't try to fight back or escape; you can just grab them and drag them around.

STREET ABILITIES

Monstrous abilities are for monsters. Gangsters and the denizens of the Underworld use Street Abilities instead. Yes, some of them are also monsters, but that’s beside the point. Don’t get smart with me!

Lackey: This Extra possesses a unique skill set that makes him valuable. They roll a Wild Die with every Trait roll.

In the following articles, I want to talk to you about the Friends Of Ours Setting Rules that builds on the Connections Edge to establish a dynamic network of contacts for your character.

The Halfling Mafia

While the default campaign setting for Wiseguys involves playing gangsters and scoundrels looking to get rich in Las Vegas, it was also designed to be an organized crime toolkit for Savage Worlds.

That's right! Just Insert Imagination understands that not everybody is interested in playing the bad guys. So what is it to you and your heroic campaign? Sooner or later your campaign is going to need a villain. Crime syndicates make fantastic villainous organizations to oppose the heroes. Wiseguys not only has extensive information on the Italian-America Mafia, but primers on the Drug Cartels, 1% Motorcycle Clubs, and the Chinese Triads. These primers include history, rites of passage, hierarchy, modus operandi, and a lexicon.

Imagine your campaign world with a halfling mafia where the gangsters cook stews instead of pasta? They sure know how to protect the neighborhood! Imagine an outlaw realm that smuggles necromantic artifact into a lawful realm with the help of an organization modeled after the Juarez Drug Cartel? Imagine a group of half-orc mercenary on horses profiting from the war by dealing weapons to the armies? You get the picture?

It's more than just a concept. Wiseguys contains over 35 new Edges and 15 new Hindrances to help give these characters more bite. Coupled with one of the most complete modern bestiaries with over 50 NPC stat blocks, you are sure to have more than enough tools to design a campaign you and your group will remember for years to come!

Next up, we'll share more information on these new edges, hindrances and Setting Rules that you can use in any campaign regardless of the genre. Don't forget to "like" Just Insert Imagination.

The Wiseguys Jumpstart is now available for free on DrivethruRpg!

What is Wiseguys?

Wiseguys is our love letter to mafia and heist movies of the 90s. In Wiseguys, you play colorful Las Vegas characters building their criminal empire. Perform daring casino heists, clean up bloodbaths before the cops lock you up, take part in adrenaline-fueled chases, hunt down rats, and evade state-of-the-art surveillance.

Wiseguys is fully compatible with the latest Savage Worlds Adventure Edition. Look out for the upcoming Jump Start! Next year, Just Insert Imagination will launch a crowdfunding campaign to finance the production of Wiseguys. We want to fill the book with more art like this. We hope you will join us on this adventure. Don’t forget to bring a shovel. There may be many holes to dig out in the Nevada desert.

Just Insert Imagination Wiseguys JumpStart

Just Insert Imagination Wiseguys JumpStart

Just Insert Imagination is proud to participate in the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition Kickstarter campaign once again. Last month, a Jump Start of our flagship line Winter Eternal was announced. Today, we announce that we are producing another JumpStart for Wiseguys, our American mafia, and homage to 90s gangster movies setting. The JumpStart will include a primer, new Edges and Hindrances, pre-generated characters, and a Mob Tale. All of that fully compatible with SWADE!
Like the Just Insert Imagination page to follow the development of this exciting setting!

Also, next weekend at Con on the Cob in Richfield, Ohio Eric is running a demo of Wiseguys. Come say hi! https://cononthecob.com/events/1019-wiseguys/

Wiseguys Update and SWADE

Hard at work on #Wiseguys after reading the new Savage Worlds rules!
After spending the last 18 months design mechanics to make Savage Worlds a more narrative system, thisnew edition is making my life much easier. Yet, I can't help but feel some of my efforts were wasted.
This is the way it goes.
If anything, the last year and a half has taught me the value of play testing and that I was on the right track since a few of the mechanics I designed for it are coincidentally changes to SW. Very uncanny.
Art by Ania Jarmołowska Art
Logo by Karl Keesler

Wiseguys Update June 13th 2018

Hi everybody!

Eric Lamoureux here for an update on the progress with Wiseguys. I recorded the latest Wiseguys Video Diary last night but the audio is completely borked, so I decided to put it into words here. My Wiseguys Video Diary is a YouTube series where I talk about my journey through the process of writing my first setting for Savage Worlds and hope that it can help other creators going down the same path.

It's been a month since the release of the Wiseguys Demo Kit and it's been downloaded over 400 times! We've received very positive feedback so we're quite pleased. Several wonderful people around the world have also come forward to help playtest the Demo Kit and beyond.

I've concluded the playtest with my group this past weekend. I have to say I've gotten what I wanted out of it. The biggest effect it's had was to prune out the things I believed were cool and essential to the Wiseguys experience but turned out not to be simply because they didn't come up, were overlooked during character creation, or that I didn't want to use during play.

Something else that influenced my decision was the discussion my Wild Die Podcast co-hosts and I had in a recent episode on Setting Rules and an interview at Veiled Fury Entertainment. At that time, Wiseguys was working with about 9 Setting Rules. Some were nothing more than a paragraph. Still, I took a hard look at what I had and decided to take half of them out, or at least represent them in another way. The Organized Crime setting rule that gave every player characters the Vow (Minor) Hindrance, Connections Edge and left them with 50% of their earnings at the end of each week became part of character creation instead, with the 50% being represented the Poor Hindrance. I worked hard on the Contacts Setting Rule and I Know a Guy Edge but the players didn't seem interested in taking any of the 30 or so cool contacts I had created. So I changed how it worked. You can now make up one Contact as needed per rank, and the I Know a Guy Edge allows you to create more. All those contacts I created will become nice cards that a group can use when someone lacks inspiration. The Source of Income Setting Rule inspired by the Optional Wealth system from Nemezis, and meant to highlight a mobster's life outside of "adventuring" is in the process of becoming a random table the Don can use to put the spotlight on a particular character, creating a side-trek adventure of sort.

If you're writing your own setting, when it comes to Setting Rules my advice to you is this. What are you trying to accomplish? What is the desired effect on the game? The mechanic you thought was needed to illustrate it may not be the best one for that. For instance, in Wiseguys, when mobsters get caught they are likely to go to jail. This is the result of accumulating Heat and gaining the Wanted Hindrance. In Savage Worlds, Social Conflicts have an example of a trial. For the longest time, this was the way it came down to for me in my design. When I took a closer look at how Heat worked (basically like Wounds or Fatigue) it became obvious that once your Wanted (Incapacitated, hello?!) you roll on the Verdict Table (Incapacitation Table) using Knowledge (Law) instead of Vigor. Always keep mechanics as simple as possible when you design them. Then playtest them. Once you're done with that. Make them even simpler. Let them simmer for a while, and then make them even more simple again!

Finally. I've been working on Wiseguys almost non-stop for 13 months now. I'm very close to completion. Summer is here in North West Pennsylvania and it's very short. We're waiting on Savage Black to finish it because we want it to be compatible with it. So I decided to take a break from writing and playing Wiseguys for the summer. I'll still be coordinating the various playtest groups, taking notes and using the valuable feedback to finish the book. We also plan to release a few One Sheets leading up to the Kickstarter.

So that's it folks! Talk to you later.

Wiseguys Video Diary #7

In episode #7 of my video diary I talk about designing Edges and Hindrances.
#wiseguys #justinsertimagination

What's Next for Wiseguys?

Yesterday, Just Insert Imagination (Winter Eternal, Fuhgeddaboudit!, The Mutation Deck) released a FREE Demo Kit for the upcoming setting and tool kit for Savage Worlds that I wrote, Wiseguys.

In the coming months, I will continue my developer's vlog on YouTube, write more blogs, coordinate play test groups, publish new one sheets, and of course continue to write the full book.

The plan is to go to crowdfunding for artwork and editing once the draft has been completed.

Happy gaming!

Eric Lamoureux (justinsertimagination@gmail.com)

Wiseguys Demo Kit - Coming Soon

http://goodbadskinny.blogspot.com/2018/02/wiseguys-preview.html

Wiseguys - Organizations

It's time for another preview of the upcoming demo kit for Wiseguys, the Las Vegas crime and 90s cult movies setting and tool kit for Savage Worlds.

Who you know in Sin City is as important as what you can do. For player characters, organizations are potential allies, people that can be called upon to provide information, resources, services or man power. In Savage Worlds, this is represented by the Connections Edge.

For the Don, organizations are perfect villains of the criminal underworld. They can build whole scenes, misadventures or campaign arcs around them.

In Wiseguys, we provide you with several examples of organizations.

Bell Bottom Brigade

La Cosa Nostra isn’t the only player in Las Vegas. As a matter of fact, competition is fierce and, as a result, the demand for people that can eliminate said competition is at a premium. On the rise in this elite market is the Bell Bottom Brigade, a group of deadly female assassins with soul. That’s right. Their wardrobe is filled with platform shoes, bell bottom pants and low cut, large collar blouses. That’s when they aren’t back at the car wash in their bikinis. These ladies aren’t averse to beguile their victims first if they feel it may give them an advantage, nor do they feel that the element of surprise is absolutely necessary to complete the job. The Bell Bottom Brigade comes at you with style and an attitude to match.

Rumors & Story Seeds

• They received their training in a monastery up in the Himalayas.
• They all use a codename and don’t know each other’s real names.
• One of them is the illegitimate child of the Colossus Casino and Resort owner and she waits for her chance to get her piece of the fortune.

Wiseguys - Demo Kit progress

#wiseguys #justinsertimagination

The Wiseguys Demo Kit manuscript has come back improved from the editor and is now ready for layout. Half of the illustrations are done with more on the way. Here are two of those.

Here's a bio for each of the characters!

Tommaso “Tommy Blue” Mazzotta

Burglar/Wiseguy

You grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, shining shoes for the made men of the neighborhood. Twenty years later you were one of them on the account of having been a good earner for the family. You learned how to defeat surveillance and security which helped you to become one of the best house burglars in the city. You grew tough and smart. Now, people respect you or they get a few broken bones. And that’s if you were in a good mood that day.

You saw an opportunity to shed some of the heat and make money by moving to Las Vegas to protect the family’s interests. Turns out, your reputation precedes you everywhere you go, and every time something goes wrong, the cops come knocking at your door and asking questions. You’re more clever than them, though. Have you been pinched? Sure, plenty of times, but nothing sticks to you.

Little Debbie

Roller Derby girl/Knee Breaker

Everybody has their way to let off some steam. After your husband left you alone to raise the kids, you sure needed to channel all that frustration somewhere. That’s when you joined the local Roller Derby team. You used to play sports in high school and always had an affinity for it. Save for beating up your husband, nothing beats the feeling of a contact sport like Roller Derby. You always bring baked goods to the games. This has translated to your new side job.

That’s right, a mobster crew needed an enforcer, a real tough broad. You’re having more fun than ever but have kept this part of your life a secret. You love your kids and wouldn’t want them to be taken away from you. If only the other parents at PTA meetings knew what you are up to at night.

Wiseguys preview

#wiseguys #justinsertimagination

The following text is a small sample of the demo kit for Wiseguys currently in post production.

What is this?

This is a preview of the full Mafia setting and organized crime companion for the Savage Worlds roleplaying game by Just Insert Imagination entitled Wiseguys. In Wiseguys, you play a group of criminals working for the mob and building an empire in 1990s Las Vegas.

Have you ever wanted to be part of a secret society, a brotherhood of feared soldiers that is the envy of the Underworld? A typical day for you involves escaping the Law increasingly more effective with surveillance technology and zealous detectives. You perform daring heists, take over other gangs, extend your network, hunt down rats, take part in spectacular chases and drive-by shootings throughout the city, and you dig holes in the desert. Lots of them.

Wiseguys is the spiritual child of the movies Casino and Reservoir Dogs. It’s a world filled with colorful characters with big dream and bigger egos. It’s a world where money flows and gangsters struggle to maintain their honor.

In the Wiseguys Demo Kit you'll find a Las Vegas and Italian-American Mafia primer, a Mob Tale entitled Fugazi along with sample characters and all the rules you need to run it.

January 24th Update

Hi folks!

Eric Lamoureux here with an update. This blog is a great vessel for my thoughts and meandering but I unfortunately don't give it enough love. Part of it is procrastination, part of it is the Wild Die Podcast, but mostly it's that most of the time I have to write is dedicated to Wiseguys.

I started writing a book for Savage Worlds back in May. Yep, Wiseguys. I shared a preview of it in my last entry, and if you follow me on G+ or Facebook, I've been sharing snippets under the hashtag #gangsters and #justinsertimagination.

Wiseguys is an organized crime toolkit and setting about a group of gangsters building a criminal empire in an alternate 1990s Las Vegas. It's the movie Casino as if directed by Quentin Tarantino with some Ocean's Eleven, Fargo, Breaking Bad, and The Big Lebowski added to spice it up.

I've been running playtests since last November and it has gone well so far. I have around 100 pages written so far. A starter/demo set is in the works for Spring. I'll then open up the playtest to other groups. If you're interested in helping out with that, follow me, +Just Insert Imagination or email me at lamoureuxe1276 at the gmail dot (com).

Other than that it feels like I've been playing more than GMing lately. I'm playing in a FFG Star Wars campaign with a cool group, I'm playing in a mini-campaign on the Wild Die Podcast and joining one shots every other week.

RPG books I've been reading these days include Cthulhu City, Blades in the Dark, City of Mist and the Cypher System Rulebook. Very different books, but so good. Right now I'm probably closer to finishing Cthulhu City, mainly because it's the shortest one. All the others are 300-500 pages. Ugghh...

Campaigns I'd like to run these days: Shadow of the Demon Lord, The Strange, Beasts & Barbarians, and City of Mist.

Latest RPG purchase: Blades in the Dark.

That's it, folks! Keep playing games!

Wiseguys

What do you think? Yes, no?
What does this tell you about the setting? What do you expect to find inside after looking at it?

Interludes for the criminal underworld

Fuhgeddaboudit! changed the default card suite results for the Interludes. In Savage Worlds they are tragedy, victory, love, and desire.
In Fuhgeddaboudit! they become:

Clubs
Share a story of how you survived in the slammer.
Diamonds
Describe how you outsmarted the feds that were trying to catch you.
Hearts
Reminisce about your earliest and fondest memory of the Family.
Spades
Tell the group about the most memorable beatdown you’ve ever given.

If those results were to be extended or simply improved, what kind of stories do you think would enhance the experience or provide the best inspiration to a player?
If the associated rewards for role-playing an Interlude were extended beyond a Benny or Adventure Card, what would you like to see? What do you believe is fair?