Dragonstar for Savage Worlds

I've always enjoyed the Dragonstar setting from Fantasy Flight Games (the rights now owned by EDGE Studio). I had just wrapped up a traditional high fantasy campaign using Savage Worlds Adventure Edition and felt the itch to run something sci-fi. I had originally planned to use High Space, but it proved to be too much of a heavy lift to update the setting to Adventure Edition (it was written for the previous editions) and set up what I needed in my Foundry VTT instance.

Digging through my library, I still wanted to run sci-fi and I still wanted to use Savage Worlds (and I still really want the updated Science Fiction Companion). So, I dug into my OGL folder and Dragonstar jumped out. I really only needed a setting backdrop so I set about figuring out what I wanted with my own (typically minimalist) approach to getting it going. Not all my players were familiar with the setting, though, and I decided it would be worth creating a series of archetypes applying the same methodology PEG does with their archetype cards (particularly building them to Seasoned rank).

You can find the archetypes here on the site (weekly beginning 12/4/2023), the first being the Arcane Commando. What follows is my inspiration and the resources I drew on.

Setting Rules

• Heroes Never Die
• More Skill Points
• Space Sectors (from NE: Cosmic Crisis)
• Void Death (from NE: Cosmic Crisis)

Resources

• Savage Worlds Adventure Edition
• Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion
• Savage Worlds Science Fiction Companion (previous edition)
• Dragonstar Starfarer's Handbook
• Dragonstar Guide to the Galaxy
• Dragonstar Players Companion

Methodology

1. Use ancestries from the Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion as-is wherever possible. The only material change was Dark Elves, where I substituted Infravision for Low Light Vision and Suspicious (minor) instead of All Thumbs.
2. Use gear from whichever resource was appropriate (Lasers from SWADE, Blasters from the Sci-Fi Companion, magic items, and other gear from all Savage Worlds resources).
3. Use Fantasy Companion arcane backgrounds and powers. The one exception you'll find is the addition of an upgraded Psionics background (AB: Psions). All the arcane backgrounds in the Fantasy Companion had specific power lists and added baked in Hindrances, offered more Power Points, etc. I needed the Psions to have the same setup.

That's pretty much it. Then substitute the Savage Worlds version of something wherever it comes up in the game. I generally prefer to keep translations simple (Savage Requiem being one of the most complicated endeavors I've undertaken but it worked - Dragonstar just doesn't need that treatment).