As some of you may know, I took a bit of a tumble on Monday and seriously (though the prognosis is temporarily) injured my hands. Still, I continue to write and layout the book, though at a slower pace than usual. No project is without its hurdles and this is one of the bigger I’ve had to endure.

Anyway, I’m toying with the layout on some special sections, such as the Archetype spreads, and thought I’d post a preview of one of the spreads as a work-in-progress. I dedicate four pages to each Archetype, leading in with an overview then going into common personalities, edges+hindrances+skills, and then a sample character who’s ready to play. Of course, each Archetype is illustrated by Shawn Gaston as well.

While I’ll reveal new stuff later (though soon), I thought I’d stick with a classic this first time. Here’s a look at a defining character option in Streets of Bedlam, the driven-and-deadly wall of muscle called a Monster.

If you squint, you can get a peek at some of the other spreads as well.

I hope you like what you see. This isn’t final but it’s a good start as I further define and refine the look of Streets of Bedlam.

Is it safe to talk? Look, we don’t have much time here so let’s cut to the quick. As soon as we part ways, you don’t know me anymore, comprende? Once you’re in, you’re in. This is the long game. You can never revisit your old life, never let it find you. You are who this file says you are and nobody else. Get this down cold and never—never—break character. I’m not shitting you. The lazy days of your training are a distant memory. You may die under this identity and it probably won’t be because of old age.

Here’s the deal. Work your way to the top. You know who we’re after. Get yourself in good however you must. As far as G*d’s concerned, you’re one of them. You understand the implications of that, yeah? When they say jump, you touch cloud. Now, when you have something good—and this may take years—then you call this number. Someone will answer. We’ll go from there. If you’re ever in danger, well, you probably won’t have a chance to make a phone call. Alright, we’re done. Good luck out there.

* The [REDACTED] character option is one of the two Kickstarter-exclusive Archetypes given to backers who pledge $60 or more as a special thank-you for their support!

You? You’re just passing through. You know better than to put down roots. You learned the hefty price of attachment when she/he/they paid for what you did. Or let you down when you needed her/him/them the most. Or she/he/they turned on you just to save their own skins. Or you left because you couldn’t risk getting anyone involved in something you couldn’t get her/him/them out of. No, you? There are no picket fences and yellow bi-levels in your future.

You blow into town for the work. You do the occasional odd thing: mostly fixing and building. While you’re in town, sure, you have some fun. Find a girl or two to mess around with. But you don’t let them close. Never let them close. You keep your defenses—and your latest conquest—up all night. You’ve been through enough bad shit in your life already. Now, you’re just looking for fun. Sorry for you, that fun always has a cost.

Sometimes the locals just can’t get the job done. Maybe it’s competence. Maybe it’s confidence. Maybe the target is too sensitive to use someone who can be tied to someone else. Some situations are delicate. That’s when those in charge bring in the big gun, an outsider, someone who can get it done and get out quickly. Someone deniable without the baggage that seems to drag down everybody else in this town. But it’s never that simple; no job is. Any job that went down easy was either done wrong, has consequences you ain’t seen yet, or was a million-to-one fluke. If I was you, I’d bet on the first two.

You’re probably ex-military, formally trained, but maybe you grew up in the trade. You worked your way from rifle to knife, honing your craft with every contract. You’ve got blood on your hands but so what. Everybody in this town does—or will soon. The stains on your skin just happen to belong to people who made enemies of those powerful enough not to have to do the dirty work themselves. Some say you don’t have a soul. You know that’s not true. But unlike the saps you can turn yours off when you need to.

I’ve talked a lot about the people, some about the rules, a bit about the location, and now I want to show you what you can expect to find inside the book itself.

My initial estimation was the Streets of Bedlam corebook would be 192pp but I’m confident now the final will far exceed that (I am looking at quite a few NPCs that need to be in there). The book will be generously illustrated by Shawn Gaston with plenty of examples, fiction, and story seeds that I hope inspire your own episodes.

As for the organization of the book, I used the traditional structure found in other Savage Worlds books as a starting point and then infused the structure found in my other games. I came up with the following:

Introduction: Life in the Big City
The intro breaks down the basics: what the game is, what its goals are, what inspired it, what the setting is (in brief), and how the whole thing came to be. It also lays out what each of the chapters cover.

Chapter One: Invisible Lines
This is all about Bedlam as a setting. The history of Lamrose and Bedford, the current state of things, the major areas, personalities, and a street-level view of the world it represents. This chapter is divided into main sections: one focused on Bedford; the other, on Lamrose.

Chapter Two: People in Trouble
Now we get into the heart of the stories: the characters. I include advice on creating compelling characters, guidelines for play at the table, and the 13 Archetypes. These Archetypes are important to me—I feel they really nail the tone and perspective of the game—so each one gets a four-page spread. This spread includes a bit of fiction, an illustration of a key character fitting that Archetype, Edges, Hindrances, and Abilities unique to that type, and a sample character.

Chapter Three: Need to Know
This chapter includes all the new rules, such as Rep, Interrogation, Investigation, and Roles. It also includes my two cents on game prep as well as a look at the different basic types of stories that fall within SoB’s purview.

Chapter Four: The Hands on the Wheel
We dive back into the world, this time with an eye toward non-player characters. The power players, major NPCs, local color, as well as a crowd of people on the street (including a whole lot of NPCs thanks to the game’s Kickstarter backers!) are in here. This chapter touches on a lot of the power struggles and conflicts in Bedlam.

Chapter Five: The Things We Do For Money
Named after the Plot Point Campaign found within, this chapter also includes a bunch of Orphan Stories (standalone episode seeds) and a look a the world of Bedlam following the completion of the campaign.

Then comes the back matter: index, system cheat sheet, character sheet, and investigation sheet.

And that’s pretty much it! Of course, this is subject to change through editing but that’s the basic form. As I said, the original spec was 192pp but I can see this going well beyond that. (Not a bad problem to have.)

I’ll talk more as April approaches and the book becomes available for sale in print and pdf. I’ll also start talking about the first supplement, Five-Story Drop: A Collection of SoB Stories. For now though, back to work!

No, that’s not some strangely-named character option. I know a lot of different archetypes have flown past your screen these past few weeks so I wanted to collect all the information into a single post so you can take a look at any you may have missed or forgotten about.

What Are Archetypes?
I talked about that in this post. In short:

Archetypes provide you with a basic idea, a special ability, edges and hindrances either specific to the Archetype or that would be good fits for it, and some suggestions as to where to go from there.

How Many Will There Be?
The Streets of Bedlam corebook is currently slated to include thirteen Archetypes: Badge, Boss, Dogface, Drifter, Hitter, Monster, Pusher, Regent, Saint, Samaritan, Snoop, Valkyrie, and Wannabe. One last option, Citizen, gives players a base to build their own character from scratch.

Every backer who pledged $10+ or more to the Kickstarter gets two more via pdf: Sawbones and Ingenue. Backers who pledged $60+ get those two archetypes plus a pdf with two more: Trouble and [Redacted]. Later releases will likely include more but the core set covers a lot of ground and the four Kickstarter-exclusives offer even more.

Which Ones Have We Talked About?
Here are thumbnails of each of the ten Archetypes that have been revealed. Click on each snapshot to get to the post that includes more details about each.

So What Now?
Just because the Kickstarter ends today doesn’t mean the updates to this website will cease. I’ll continue to preview the remaining Archetypes along with Shawn’s excellent illustrations for each as well as deeper content, including book previews (when we get that far). The Kickstarter is just the beginning. April’s coming quick, and Shawn and I still have a bunch to do!

People in Bedlam have a predilection for getting into the kind of trouble that causes physical harm. While the civilians have the option of top-of-the-line medical care, men and women who come close to their fates while taking down a rival crime boss or intercepting the delivery of, say, delicate goods would rather not have to explain how they came about their injuries. So their bosses call you in. You do the work and do it well. You may even have a degree in medicine, though less often do you have a license to practice it. Piecing together shattered legs, (finding and) fixing teeth, digging out bullets, and gluing knife wounds closed is all part of a day’s work.

Come night, your unique skillset is sometimes called upon to extract information from particularly resistant individuals. Amazing how a little internal persuasion can loosen the lips of even the most willful individuals. Very few can do what you do but, as your employers often remind you, you can be replaced. So you walk your thin red line and do what is asked and needed of you. You’d say you’re no miracle worker but, let’s face it, some days that’s exactly what you are.

* The SAWBONES character option is one of the two Kickstarter-exclusive Archetypes that were unlocked when pledges hit $5k. This archetype, along with the INGENUE character option, will be sent to all backers who pledge $10 or more as a special thank-you for their support!

Sure, folks want private lives but you really think those in control can be trusted behind closed doors? Without the public eye staring down on them, can you imagine just how much more crooked those scumbags would be? Somebody’s gotta be the watchdog, kid, or this entire junkyard will be swimming with rats. Of course, your work isn’t always noble. You take the occasional cheating husband or celebrity upskirt job but, hey, those pay well and help fund your more, y’know, magnanimous work.

On the high side, you go to the papers with your findings. You blow cases wide open and unite the citizenry against a common enemy. There are those times where you take what you know to those who can benefit from it. Those with vested interests in certain lesser-known details. Surely that’s the exception, right? Or you leverage those lovely negatives to get what you need from those you might expose. You wouldn’t call it “blackmail” so much as, well, okay. Maybe that is what you’d call it. But without folks like you, Bedlam would be even further down the shitter than it already is. Far as you’re concerned, you’re one of the good guys. Even if those cheating husbands would disagree.

Streets of Bedlam takes a lot of inspiration from cinematic sources. After playing the game, you’ll see how characters in your favorite movies can easily translate to Monsters, Dogfaces, Troubles, and other Streets of Bedlam archetypes. But aside from the character types and locations common to neo-noir and crime films, I’ve also ported over another common cinematic device: Roles.

Roles in Streets of Bedlam allow your character to spend Bennies in order to perform major (sometimes plot-altering) actions that you’re allowed to do simply because you’re the Hero, Sidekick, Love Interest, Plot Twist, or a Supporting Character in the story. These actions range from courageous feats of derring-do to sudden-but-inevitable betrayals to putting yourself in harm’s way in order to give the Hero focus (and a nice bonus).

Roles are optional but they’re also a lot of fun. As an independent system, you can lift them from Streets of Bedlam and drop them into any Savage Worlds setting—or any setting or system at all, if you like! For more details, check out the Streets of Bedlam corebook when it comes out in April. In the meantime, be sure to back the game to get some Kickstarter-exclusive perks and even put yourself in the game!

(Please note that the rules above are currently in playtest and subject to change.)

Two cities make up the area colloquially known as Bedlam: Bedford and Lamrose. A man-made river splits the two cities with the richer half, the one that quickly overcame its poorer neighbor, residing on the northwestern banks. You don’t have to walk far into Bedford to witness the influence Catholicism has on the city. While many different faiths practice and preach within the city limits, Catholicism is the big dog and the massive building christened St. Leonard Holy Cathedral is the kennel.

Bedford is a planned city. While Lamrose grew organically from humble means, Bedford is the product of purposeful investment from some of the most powerful developers, both foreign and domestic. This accounts not only for the number of right angles in the city grid but its continued affluence as well.

Planned cities tend to serve overt purposes. Vegas, for example, was built as a playground in the desert (and some say as a way for the mafia to wash their money). Bedford too was built with a purpose. While it may be hard to believe now, Bedford was envisioned (and sold to investors) as a religious oasis. St. Leonard Holy Cathedral was to be the epicenter of the Lord’s presence in America. The big question is why Bedford was built near Lamrose. You see, in Lamrose’s heyday, it was a city on the rise with a fair bit of blue-collar money in its pockets. Sold as a sister-city to Bedford, the cynical board overseeing the new city’s construction saw in Lamrose an established base full of uneducated people in need of some good old-fashioned churching.

So Bedford found a home. The area folks call Big Church is the northeast corner of the city, near the top of the Artifice River, and it is a sight to behold. A large cross, the image of the martyred savior etched into its face, shines like the sun from the massive dome atop St. Leonard Holy Cathedral. If G*d didn’t see Bedford before its construction, he certainly can now. The entire area, for blocks to the west and south, is home to the diocese, religious-oriented and -affiliated businesses, and homes reserved for the church’s star members, including the gated community of Daniel’s Reach (home to Cardinal Stratford and his compound).

As Bedford grew under the guiding hand of competent management, its sister-city slid further and further down the economic scale. Industry left Lamrose and took its paychecks with it. Half of Lamrose fled to greener pastures—those who could anyway—while the rest remained and suffered for it. Rigged election after rigged election, the seats of power were filled by folks prescribed by those pulling the strings. Lamrose, falling into grievous debt, reached out its hand to Bedford for salvation. Lamrose surrendered its independent governance and incorporated into Bedford at the height of the Reagan years giving birth to modern Bedlam.

But even Bedford’s deep coffers were unable to save Lamrose. Irreparably marred by gross mismanagement and a rising crime rate, Lamrose was soon discarded by its new master. As Lamrose’s reputation had begun to sully Bedford’s own good name, the city councilfolks devised a way to plausibly disassociate themselves from their sister-city. As a joint project between the two, the Artifice River was constructed, dividing the cities in an effort to stem Lamrose’s criminal influence from infecting the Rich City.

And all of this was overseen by the heads of Big Church whose primary duty is not the shepherding of Bedlam’s flock but protecting its own assets. Some may shake their head at such an assertion but that priority has served them, and Bedford, well. Big Church has kept the city afloat during some tough stretches. In recent times though, Big Church’s grip has become strained as poor public perception of the Catholic Church and a rise in grassroots fundamentalism has shifted attention to smaller conclaves of believers. Initially dismissed as “fringe worshipers” and “abberations,” Big Church must now come to term with a vocal minority who are being heard more and more. Well, they’re screaming more and more anyway.

Still, Big Church is mighty and not currently in threat of going anywhere. And it retains far more influence in the direction and management of Bedlam than anyone in the city center would care to admit. With the recent passing of Bishop Robinson, and his successor yet to be named, well, it’s hard to say what the future has in store for Big Church. Even harder to say what Big Church has in store for the future of Bedlam.