A few days ago on Official Savage Worlds Facebook Group there was a nice post about Ultima Forsan, and I felt like telling bits of its design and publication history and background, so here's what I shared, mostly copied and pasted here, for the curious.
Ultima Forsan was my first published setting, written by my good friend Mauro Longo and me.
It is based on Mauro's original novel "Decameron of the Dead", which recounts the first outbreak of the Plague Florence during the XIV century.
For the setting, we decided to forward the time line by about 150 years, and imagined a world where medieval men and women learnt, after much of the world's civilization was destroyed, to live under the threat of the Plague of the Living Dead, and even begin to thrive, starting the Macabre Renaissance.
We reimagined the Renaissance customs, institutions, states, etcetera, as they would adapt to a different world, more dangerous, less populated, ripe with opportunity... but also full of cultural, religious and political differences and conflict among the living.
After the Savage Setting was released, Mauro also wrote a novel, "Unglorious Guiscards", and five different Choose Your Own Adventure books. All of them are set in the same period of Ultima Forsan (and are not available in English, sorry!).
The setting itself was published in Italian, then in English, and after that it was licensed for Spanish and Russian editions (all of them can be found on drivethru). At the time, it was a bit of a record for an Italian RPG book!
What really makes me proud of Ultima Forsan is that, while it probably really is the grittiest Savage Settings, it is also a statement of the value of the human spirit, the courage to put aside differences and work together to face adversities and fight for a better future for all.
Ultima Forsan can be found on DrivethruRPG!
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