Selection from: ‘An Orange Juice Chaser,’ By Joshua Heath
Bobby screamed to his mooks and I focused on running. I tore through a side alley, but like I said, Lady Luck had it in for me that Tuesday morning. There was the damn garbage truck, pulled back and collecting from the alley at that very moment. I looked up… and well, I wasn’t the least lucky I’ve ever been because one of the fire escapes was hanging low. I jumped, grabbed it, and probably looked like a damn rat scurrying away. Rats seemed to be a thing that day.
The gang was right behind me. I scrabbled to the top of the building and looked around. If I was dumb, I might be able to make it to the next building, I could see their roof door was propped open a little. Well, I ran, I jumped, and somehow, I made it, barely…
Bennies
In Savage World, a Benny is a mechanical benefit that allows players to alter the narrative or save themselves from a terrible roll. Now, this sort of mechanic is hardly new to Savage Worlds. The 3.5 edition Eberron setting introduced Action Points, Adventure! also had Action Points, Paizo’s Pathfinder has Hero Points, and D&D 5th Edition has Inspiration. These points are often used in pulp action games, because they represent the ability of heroes to succeed at tasks that appear to be impossible or highly improbable. The traditional method of representing this effect is to give a numerical increase to a roll, either as an additional die or a straight +X bonus.
Savage
For the Savage system, Bennies allow players to also choose to edit how a story progresses. This sort of narrative editing is one of the hallmarks collaborative RPGs. So, I might be in a fight and instead of being restricted to the items I wrote down on my sheet, I could spend a benny to pull out a gun that I hid earlier. I didn’t really have the gun planned, I alter the narrative to say I did. Or, we are in a crowded bar looking for clues to solve a mysterious murder. I spend a benny to say, “there is a shifty guy in one of the back booths that has some information on the murder.” The GM takes that benny and adds in this character.
Style Matters
Bennies, Action Points, Hero Points, whatever we call them, these are little ways we encourage our players to assist us in crafting the narrative. Now, some game masters hate this sort of mechanic, because they view it as impinging upon their ability to effectively structure and design their worlds and narratives. I think that is fair, these sort of tools do not always work in every style of game. I like the idea, but I’m also a lot more flexible in my personal story design. I can often incorporate outside ideas fairly fluidly. Both styles have potential to be great games and it is important for everyone involved to discuss their preferences when choosing a game system.
Josh is the administrator of the Inclusive Gaming Network, and the owner of this site.
*Note, all opinions are the opinions of their respective Authors and may not represent the opinion of the Editor or any other Author of Keep On the Heathlands.