Strike Force 7 (Savaged!)
“Strike Force 7 is the code name for America’s daring, highly trained special mission force. Its purpose, to defend human freedom…” With all apologizes to G.I. Joe, Strike Force 7 (Savaged!) by Caias Ward is a Savage Worlds supplement which allows players to role play operatives of a top secret, highly trained and motivated special missions force. Their mission: rid the world of terrorists that would do us harm. It is a full campaign setting, complete with a villainous terrorist organization (Skorpion), a detailed history of Strike Force 7, and all of the Savage Worlds mechanics (new edges and skills) one would expect from a quality Savage Worlds product.
I started this article with the opening line from the G.I. Joe cartoon for a reason. From the instant I cracked open Strike Force 7 (Savaged!), I knew this game would be great for running a game of G.I. Joe. From the general premise of the game (a secret mission team against a larger-than-life bad guy group) to the fact that characters have cool code names like Hammer and Plug N’ Play, everything screamed G.I. Joe. Ultimately, while I am sure this game would do any secret organization-style game, I feel confident in saying that Strike Force 7 is the best game I’ve ever read to play two-fisted, military-style action-packed Sunday morning cartoons.
This impression is due in no small part to the Savage Worlds system itself. Savage Worlds plays fast, especially in combat, and lets the player characters be powerful heroes. Just like Duke or Gung Ho could wade into a hail of gunfire, shooting their machine guns from the hip and knocking out Cobra soldiers without breaking a sweat, Wild Cards (player characters) in Savage Worlds are pretty tough to take out. Also, with the Bennie system in Savage Worlds, you end up with characters that get to do some cool things in combat.
Even better, characters are given several new backgrounds, skills, and edges which make them even more effective in combat. During character generation, a player chooses a team for her character. Strike Force 7 is made up of several different teams including the Counter-Terrorist, Information Team, Media Relations, and the Furies (which don’t exist. Don’t ask about them. Seriously.). These teams give the characters attributes and other bonuses. Also, new skill choices like Tactics and Black-ops give player characters knowledge about the secret missions they go on and the enemies they have to fight.
Most importantly, though, are the new edges that have been pulled out of the action sequences of Sunday morning cartoons. These include Bulldog, which lets you knock enemies over, Dodge the Bullet, which prevents you from being incapacitated by a bullet, and God’s Got Shotgun, which allows characters to do some amazing things behind the wheel. Not to mention Hard Charging, Devils in the Cylinders, and Screaming Charge, which you will just have to read about.
However, it’s more than just the system that makes this game so perfect for emulating Sunday morning action cartoons – it’s also the extra touches that Ward put into the game. The first is the history of Strike Force 7 itself. The “good guy” organizations in action cartoons always had a reason to exist and protocols for how they did business. Sure, they might not have always been the most logical, but in the cartoon, they always had a certain internal consistency.
In Strike Force 7 (Savaged!), we learn that the organization started in World War II as a group called Department 5. Under the direction of Nathan Palmer, Department 5 began rooting out threats to the United States. Eventually, Department 5 discovered mentalists who could read people’s minds, making it even more fearsome and good at its job. Eventually, Palmer looks to retire and the book goes into how Palmer picked his eventual replacement Marion Wayne. All of this information could have been done as a giant info dump, but it was so well written, I found myself drawn in like it was real.
In fact, overall, the writing in this book is great. Ward is able to give little tidbits of information about the setting (like the history of Plug N’ Play and just how nasty the Furies are) with just little comments dropped in throughout the text.
If I had any complaints about this book, it would be I wish it had stayed firmly in the realm of make-believe. Instead, in the history of the organization, there are references to 9/11 and to rescuing Senator John McCain which I know the author included to make the game feel more real. Maybe I am just too politically correct, but reading those little tidbits pulled me back into the real world. It forced me to remember that terrorists are real and only a few brave soldiers, ones without Bennies when they get shot at, are protecting me so I can sit at my kitchen table and play a game. It was a bit jarring.
Still, I would never say the book tries to make money off those real world events or that it is doing anything wrong. It just gave me a momentary pause. Then I allowed myself to get drawn back in by everything that was right with the book.
If you want a pulpy, military style campaign, buy Strike Force 7 (Savaged!). If you are just a Savage Worlds fan, this is still a great resource and will give interesting edges to combat characters in modern or science fiction campaigns. However, if you are just buying the game for the edges, I bet the writing will draw you in. Eventually, you will start thinking about running a campaign featuring in a highly trained special mission force out to stomp a certain bunch of snakes!
Want to learn more about Strike Force 7? Read on…
- Atomic Array: Strike Force 7 (Atomic Array 028)
- Game Cryer: Review by Chris Perrin
- Uncle Bear: Impressions
- Flames Rising: Savaged! Review by Todd Cash
- Emerson’s Bookshelf: Now with RuneQuest and Savage Worlds
- allgeektout: Hiding in Plain Sight
- Atomic Array: Free Mini-Mission
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