Rippers (2005)

Great White Games

Date Reviewed: 1-18-11

Critical Kobold Rating:       (5 out of 5 Dice)

Things That Go Rip In The Night

   In 1800’s London, people bar their windows tightly after sunset. They smile and say it’s to keep out the chill, nothing more, and assure themselves that stories of creatures skulking the night are children’s fairy tales. But superstition is based in fact, and what most civilized folk won’t admit even to themselves is that these figments that creep from the darkness to prey on the unlucky are not born of the imagination. Oh, they do exist! And no amount of whispered prayer around a bright lamp will protect you.

     But there are those few people who uncover the secrets of the dark, who know what lurks in the night, and strive to combat those shadowy horrors. These brave vigilantes are the Rippers; stalwart defenders of the innocent, sworn to battle the monsters who are a very real part of our world… if they can only keep from becoming monsters themselves.

      Rippers is a totally sweet fantasy-historical horror setting and a Plot Point campaign sourcebook for the Savage Worlds game. Players assume the roles of agents for a clandestine Victorian society of monster hunters from around the globe who track down vampires, werewolves, ghosts, spooks, demons, and the corrupted humans in cahoots with them. This is a sourcebook only, lacking character creation rules, so you’ll still need the Savage Worlds core rules to play. This review won’t cover the basic mechanics of the Savage system; however, you are indeed lucky little xvarts, because you can check out my review of Savage Worlds here for the lowdown on that game.

The Background

            In the late 1500s, a doctor in the court of Queen Elizabeth, a man named John Dee, slew a werewolf. Amazed at encountering such a legendary creature, he experimented on the body, and discovered that tissues and organs removed from the lycanthrope and implanted in other animals produced faster, stronger, more resilient bodies, although the animal hosts often also took on the more violent or unpredictable traits of the werewolf. After several more years of hunting down supernatural specimens and experimentation, the doctor was able to re-create many of the supernatural abilities of these monsters in more common animals as well.  He eventually experimented on himself, and was able to greatly prolong his own lifespan. As the decades passed, he had to fake his own death, and invent a new identity. He renamed himself “Doctor Jack.”

            Over the following century, Dr. Jack initiated several protégés into his tutelage, including the renowned doctors Victor Frankenstein, Abraham Van Helsing, Moreau, and Jekyll. He taught them all the art of stalking and capturing the monsters that lurk in the world’s dark corners, and of transplanting the harvested supernatural tissues into common bodies. They called this harvesting and tissue transferal process rippen transferre, or “tear and transfer.” Later, it would simply become known as “ripping.” Over time it became apparent that too many monstrous alterations eroded the humanity of the subject, eventually turning them into the very beasts they hunted. At Van Helsing’s urging, Dr. Jack turned away from ripping, realizing the dangers it posed to the subjects and society, and the group focused solely on killing monsters. They named their secret group of monster slayers the Rippers. 

The Characters

           Enter the player characters, as neophyte Rippers, into the world of Victorian London near the turn of the nineteenth century. Armed with the knowledge passed down from the Van Helsing family, as well as training from veteran Rippers, the PCs are tasked with carrying on the crusade against the Cabal and other supernatural threats to mankind. Their fight will take them to every continent, and put them up against beasts both legendary and mythological, most of which are more powerful than the characters. In order to defeat their foes and thwart the plans of the Cabal, the Rippers will have to take advantage of the research, weapons, equipment, occult skills, and pure luck provided by their Lodge.  

            The Rippers sourcebook provides an excellent background for all these supernatural horror shenanigans. On the setting side, there are descriptions of the world of the Victorian time period, including common vehicles, weapons, medicine, and other technology of the period, and a look at the society of 1800's London. Key cities and locations of note are outlined with succinct but useful descriptions. The various types of magic available in the game world are examined as well, and several new Advantages and Hindrances specific to the Rippers setting are offered.

            One of the new facets of play introduced into Rippers that differs from standard Savage World settings is the importance of the PCs’ social standing; in Victorian England, one’s reputation greatly affected one’s position and influence amongst the echelons of society. This is reflected in the Rippers game with a stat called Status. Gaining and losing status during social interactions will mechanically affect both your characters' and their Lodge's Status score. This score imposes penalties or bonuses to interactions with NPC individuals or groups, modifying future social endeavors (i.e., skill checks.) Doing and saying the proper thing, wearing the appropriate attire, and partying with the right people should be concerns forefront in PCs’ minds whilst they jaunt about the world hunting gremlins.

            Another new secondary stat for Rippers is your Reason score. This tracks how much of your humanity you hold onto over time as you battle the forces of darkness. The lower your Reason score, the closer you are to becoming one of the evil monsters you detest. Seeing undead rise from the grave and berserk flesh-eating demons ravage your neighbors can have a debilitating effect on one’s morale and mental well-being, and these events can affect your Reason. And Rippertech implants? Incredibly useful, sure – indeed, arguably a necessity for a Ripper to have a realistic chance at long-term survival - but they're one of the fastest causes of Reason loss. (Too much monster mojo pulsing through one’s body can turn one into a frothing axe-wielding lunatic.) So PCs have a haunting choice: get Rippertech transplanted into their bodies and maybe, just maybe, gain the edge they need to survive another battle, or forgo the lure of super speed and inhuman strength, and in so doing keep their soul intact... but accept an on-the-job life expectancy of six months?

Campaign Material

           Aside from the sweet historical information presented that gives just the right amount of flavor and detail to run a Victorian era campaign, a big treat in Rippers is the Lodge creation chapter. Each group of PCs belongs to a Ripper Lodge, which acts as their secret lair from which they plot their next move against the forces of evil. A Lodge may be as simple as a basement with a cot to crash on, or as extravagant as the Van Helsing manor, which provides research libraries, medical facilities, training grounds, equipment stores, and armories. 

          Fledgling Rippers are assumed to be founders of a new Lodge, possibly the only one in their city. The players receive points to spend to design a Lodge to suit their needs. As PCs increase in Status, level, and wealth, they may improve their Lodge by investing in resources such as operating theaters, alchemy or Rippertech labs, prison cells for monsters, foundries, and more. As their Lodge grows in size and status, so does the number of NPC members the PCs may recruit, thus providing more manpower for their organization. These NPCs may be other Rippers under the jurisdiction of the PCs, or perhaps scientists or researchers who stay out of harm’s way to provide less combat-related help, such as intel and R&D. Of course, as their Lodge’s status increases, so does the PCs’ responsibility to the larger world-wide Rippers’ society. 

            Many common pieces of Rippertech are detailed, for those PCs who brave (or foolish?) enough to risk their Reason to undergo the implant procedure. There are also less common (and more dangerous!) Rippertech items that may be discovered, invented, or researched by the PCs as they gain the knowledge to delve into the secrets of their construction. For those who'd like to hedge their bets and not, you know, go bat-frickin'- insane from having a demon's heart pumping inside their chest, some of the Rippertech products can be distilled down into potions or pills that can be ingested instead of implanted. Often the danger of adverse reactions and Reason loss are lessened by using Rippertech this way, but the effects of the abilities are normally not as potent, and are very limited in duration.

            The entire second half of the book is devoted to pre-made scenarios in the Savage Tales Plot Point campaign. These are loosely connected stories that, over the course of a campaign, will lead the adventurers to unravel an ever-deepening plot by the Cabal, until its epic climax that will leave the Fate of the Rippers, and maybe the world, in the balance. (Dun dun DUUUN!) These Tales are intended to be sprinkled throughout the Game Master’s own campaign adventures, and offer a couple of scenarios for Rippers of every level of experience. There’s also a handy adventure-creation section which randomly creates an outline for all sorts of exploits; five minutes with these tables and any GM can have a fitting plot for the night’s action-adventure story, in case they're having a creative brain burp or a lack of planning time, and can't think of anything themselves.

             The Plot Point tales are all pretty interesting and offer a wide variety of pace: some require stealth, others research and planning, and some require good old fashioned guts and guns a-blazin’. If you don’t like the overarching plot of the campaign, the individual adventures are still great to use separately; just alter some of the names and maybe locations to fit your own storyline. However, PCs who do embark on the Plot Point tales as written will have the chance to discover the untold origins of the Rippers, uncover the truth about the Cabal and Dr. Jack’s plans, unearth the shocking reality of who’s who in history, glimpse the future of Rippertech, and maybe even face the infamous Count Dracula in a showdown of cinematic proportions, all in a campaign that will take them to Hell and back! (Um… literally.)

            One of the aspects of the Rippers sourcebook that I found intriguing is that it makes a sly choice to meld with other Savage World games. I happen to be fond of the sci-fi setting of Necropolis 2350, for example, and it wouldn’t be a hard thing at all to introduce Rippertech to the planet Salus. Sure, it may technically be heresy for a holy warrior to dabble in the dark practice of necrotic implantation… but then again, wouldn’t a knight of the Ordo Penitentia, forbidden as a punishment from wearing armor, find it mighty tempting to have his bones hardened to provide a Toughness bonus when charging a skirmish line of powerful undead Rafaim? Suuuure, and who would have to know? Or maybe a snake oil salesman in the Deadlands just happens to have vials of corpse dust, which has healing properties when snorted like snuff. Why, what harm could it do for an honest bounty hunter or buffalo soldier to use a pinch of that here and there? Surely that would have no lasting consequences, or attract the notice of darker spirits. Heh heh!

            So, to wrap up, I am surprisingly enthusiastic about Rippers. Honestly, I hadn’t even intended to like it. Victorian historical adventuring isn’t exactly my thing, and the premise sounded a bit silly when I’d heard about it. But as I began reading just the first chapter, I was impressed by the background, style, and excitement of this Savage Worlds setting. It’s everything a Fast, Furious, Fun role playing game should be. Now, I wouldn't mind at all getting a campaign started! If a book can change this jaded kobold's opinion that fast and that dramatically, you could certainly do worse than to check it out.

            But before you do, can I interest you in this werewolf spleen? The procedure won’t hurt a bit…

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