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Savage Worlds Game System Review

Savage Worlds is billed as a pulp action roleplaying game by Pinnacle Games, which turned me off of it for quite a while initially, because while I can appreciate the idea of the genre, I just never was a huge fan of the old sepia toned 30′s mad scientist Rocketeer type novels and serials and dime crimes. The other thing I dismissed when glancing through it was the step die system, with attributes and skills rated in a single die, from d4 to d12 - I"Ve never liked that setup because I tend to like at least 2 dice, and prefer just D6.

Luckily, someone finally talked me into giving Savage Worlds another look and I gave it an honest chance, and I like the mix of simplicity and variety of the system, as well as the voluminous support and branches of the core system and on into the offshoots like Deadlands, Solomon Kane and other settings.

The five attributes, Strength through Spirit, make up the inherent abilities of a Wild Card, which are Player Characters or major GM Characters, that get to roll an extra die when attempting a task (Which greatly minimized my complaint of the single die roll - in fact, I"Ve enjoyed using some web resources to determine chances of success using the double die system), and die rolls Ace, or are expanding or exploding, when you roll the max on the die, which can result in a Raise, which usually give added benefits to a task's outcome. Skills are tied to attributes and also rated in die types, and lastly you have Edges and Hindrances, which are mostly what you"D expect, from natural and weird to professional or racial and magical abilities, and yes, there are Powers, which can be used as spells or psychic or super powers also, and although the system comes as a Power Point setup by default in the fantastically prices $10.00 Explorer's Edition, some of the settings use a non-deductive Target Number roll which eliminates tracking points, which I personally prefer.

I can't say enough about how much is packed into Savage Worlds - it starts with a small bunch of racial packages with Edges, Hindrances, stats and skills and descriptions, then there are the skills, Edges and Hindrances themselves, and on and on, the book contains Powers/magic, armor, weapons and gear, animals and vehicles, your basic rules, combat and healing, Fatigue, knockout and Wounds and death, Shaken and Tests of Will and Taunts, chase and vehicle rules, mass combat, Rank Advancement and Experience, other statuses like Drowning, Fire, Falling, then all the situational rules like cover, light and dark, called shots, size, and then there's a bestiary and a GM section with other rules and tips. It's all pretty plain English and to-the-point rather than laborious Gygaxian prose, so you can read a sentence and get the information you need out of it in one go, which is how they"Re able to fit so much into such a small work. It's a tribute to their writing and editing - I know I can't do it easily.

The other thing I really like about Savage Worlds is the amount of support for it, from the huge amount of data contained in the forums, for the core system as well as all the various incarnations, of questions and answers on innumerable topics, from important to inane, to the official free published supplements released for the system by Pinnacle Games to add a little variety, like some extra Edges or ideas for fantasy games, to the free fan-made supplements, conversions to and from other game systems, generic ports to specific settings, PDF compilations of creatures or powers, etc., all of which the official Savage Worlds community goes so far as to support and encourage with an official "Fan Made" logo for you to put on your PDF.

It is such a compact and streamlined system it is tempting to call it "Rules light" but in fact, I honestly can't say it is - at most, I"D say it is "Rules medium-light", as it still contains rules for tabletop and squares and yards and blast radius templates and moving into and out of squares and free attacks for such - very "AoO", and in one of the documents they have available, a sort of "Behind the scenes", they mention more than once, part of their design theory was "How can we make this like Warhammer tabletop where you just roll one die for every warrior in the battle?" so it has a simple yet tactical aspect as its guiding base, and yet, I still like it even though I personally don't like minis or tactical stuff, because it is arranged in such a way that you can leave that out if you want, without breaking the system - very impressive.

Review System Game Worlds Savage

According to Wikipedia: Savage Worlds is a universal generic, award-winning role-playing game and miniatures wargame, written by Shane Lacy Hensley, and published by Great White Games doing business as Pinnacle Entertainment Group. The game emphasizes speed of play and reduced preparation over realism or detail.

Savage Worlds Game System Review Reviews RPG & Card Board

There has been some discussion on the boards lately regarding the possibility of starting up a Savage Worlds game, and with that being the case I think it would be good to revive this thread to not only review the game but discuss possible issues that may arise when attempting to utilize the system on this site.

While I think the embedded dice system will be able to easily handle the multiple dice that need to be rolled and the exploding dice can also be handled by the dice system. I'm not sure about how bennies (Benefits) would work. Bennies are used to re-roll Trait tests and to soak up damage. The issue comes in when a player rolls and the system does not show the results for 31min. If the result is not favorable the player could use a Bennie to re-roll but he would not know whether he is going to want to use the Bennie until after the results are shown thirty minutes later.

Meanwhile the GM may have the results but cannot respond and describe what happens next because they would not know whether a player wants to use Bennies to re-roll until the player is able to see the results and decide if that is what they want to do. Maybe this could be overcome by the player rolling several times and declaring in the post how may Bennies he is willing to use?

I think the player would also need to roll the Wild Dice separately to avoid confusion especially if they are rolling a D6 for whatever skill or trait they are trying to use since the Wild Dice is a D6 as well.

The other issue would be the way that Savage Worlds handles initiative as it uses a deck of 52 regular playing cards to determine initiative order; which by the way, I find to be an interesting method.

Otherwise I like the simplicity of the Savage Worlds system and I think if the issues surrounding Bennies and initiative are addressed the system would work well for play-by-post settings. The system is pretty versatile and allows one to run a variety of genres from Sci-Fi to fantasy, to horror and there are options in place, such as the gritty damage option, that reduces some its pulp feel even if it doesn't eliminate it.

The system is open to home brewing different aspects of it such as hindrances and edges but if using only the basic book I think it can run the risk of generating fairly similar, simple or "Vanilla" characters unless the player is willing and able to make the character concept unique. Basically one character's sheet may look strikingly similar to another in terms of "Stats" like skills and attributes and even edges and hindrances; the only thing differentiating the two may be the name and the name physical description if the player provided it, and the manner in which the character is played. Unless one adds in the various companion books or generates their own edges and hindrances, it seems to me that characters can start to look a bit generic and uninspired, at least for those players that do not put in the extra effort to flesh out the character beyond the simple character sheet.

The magic system that Savage Worlds uses (Refers to as Powers) is also very versatile in that it can be used as a classic magic system, miracles/divine magic, psionics, super hero type powers, or what it refers to as "Weird science" all boiling down to the same effects but using different "Trappings" and coming form different sources. For example a "Bolt" of electrical power has the same effect in that deals 2d6 damage but it could be the result of a wizards spell, streaks of holy light, or from a ray gun depending on the setting being used.

I agree with JPatt in his reference of the system as being somewhere between rules light and rules medium. It sort of allows for groups to fall on a spectrum in this regard either utilizing very simple and light rules or adding in various options to make it more rules moderate/medium. In general I think the learning curve is fairly short in learning the basic rules and system and can be quickly picked up and played by most.

Review System Game Worlds Savage

Aericsteele, Players will be able to roll the 'Wild Dice' with their regular dice rolls. As long as they put the proper Dice Tag to it. JB, will be working Exploding Dice specific to Savage Worlds.

I have spoken with JB, about this. Once we have the players together and the threads established, JB said he could code the card deck for us.

In game currency is not unheard of, but certainly a new concept here and for Play by Post in general. Some systems use a pool of points that can be tapped into for HEROIC moments. Utilizing BENNIES in a Play by Post will require some unique discussion and strategizing.

As GMs and Players alike will have access to them during gaming sessions, the question of implementation becomes the concern. A game could stall out, while waiting for Benny resolutions. Especially on the 31 minute timer for rolls, along with potential Aces that might ensue. One thing about Savage Worlds, it is fast paced as a Tabletop Role-playing Game. Even with a character limited to 3 bennies per session, 3 re-rolls plus the initial roll, equates to a 3 hour wait for resolution.

One element I am working on in my Savage World campaign, is the concept of familiarity. So if you have encountered something similar to monster X, you as a player would already know the basic challenge in dealing with it. The idea being that one could approach a new challenge with an advantage based on an older challenge. If there was nothing to relate it to previously, a player could then state that they want to already 'Benny' their upcoming action. And the Embedded Dice box would reflect it like this:

Shooting d8
Benny-Shooting d8

As a GM, prompting a player to use a Benny doesn't make sense. Yet for Savage Worlds and the pace of the game, making some kind of recommendation does not sound that bad.

Review System Game Worlds Savage

Play By Post Considerations
*Note* I have been following other Savage World Play By Post games and have some suggestions for those who decide to use the system on these boards.

Initiative/Actions
In Savage Worlds player and opposition sequencing is vital.

OPTION 1
All players act on the same card and all opponents act on another.

However, in a Play By Post the risk of one player's action being lost to the actions of another player who posted quicker, is a reality. This option down plays the need for players to work together. This might also be avoided by having fewer players so player roles are not being duplicated.

OPTION 2
When each player draws a card for initiative, And NPCs and mobs each get their own card for initiative.

Sure a combat sequence could be a bit lengthy. However, the collaboration effort for each player in the whole sequence ([In my humble opinion]) is much more meaningful. Each turn would be different as the chances for the player/NPC sequence would likely never repeat itself.

I am open to views, opinions, and suggestions.

Savage Worlds Game System Review

A concept that exists in Savage Worlds is archetypes. This concept allows for simplified character creation and promotes individuals getting quickly into a game at hand.

Archetypes are essentially an 80% pre-generated character. The pre-gen cuts out the steps of deciding Race, Assigning points to Attributes and Skills. What remains is fleshing out Edges, Hindrances, Gear, and Background Details.

As a GM, I would have Archetypes specific to the genre and game. Edges, Hindrances, and Gear would likewise be specific to the genre and game. Background Details would be left upto the player and would not be part of any generator, could be considered the actual first Role-Play done for the game.

How would game specific Archetypes, Edges, Hindrances, and Gear, work with the Text Role-playing Game Character Generator?

Savage Worlds Game System Review

So adding another question to be considered in place a Savage Worlds Play By Post game in the forums here.

A standard deck of cards plus the two jokers are used for an Action Deck, generally used for initiative and a few other things in the game.

So each Player, Wild Card NPC, and group of Extras, draws an Action Card to determine their initiative order. With 4 PCs, 2 Wild Card NPCs, and 3 group of Extras equals a lot of waiting for one's turn. How would you suggest speading up the action sequence?