Tell me about Savage Worlds

[Von Ether]

They did fix that one. Now you can never get more than one raise, but the raise gives you 1d6 rather than +2.

Actually, they said that with the extra 1d6 damage being able to explode like other dice, it balances out compared to the +2 per raise. I think a lot of people use the damage system they like best and there's no real "camps" favoring one over the other in SW gamerdom.

In fact, many wyo Necessary Evil back to the old system since you track raises for knockback anyway.

Oh. I think we did forget to mention to "meta" effects in SW when it comes to being online.
1.) Fellow SW players (and designers) seem to be helpful and patient overall in helping people get up to speed or iron out a question or two.
2.) SW has SCADS of fan support stuff, including alternate rules for magic and such. Want to play Farscape? SG-1? or 1e. style DnD with SW? There a fan document to get you started on the righ track if you just don't use it outright.

 

[Masked Otaku]

It *can* explode, but we are talking longer and longer odds, here. 1/6 for one explode, 1/36 for 2, 1/216 for three, etc.

It also means a higher average.

Raises on attack-----Old damage bonus-----new damage bonus average
-------1------------------+2-------------------------3
-------2------------------+4-------------------------7
-------3------------------+6------------------------10
-------4------------------+8------------------------14
-------5-----------------+10------------------------15
-------6-----------------+12------------------------19
-------7-----------------+14------------------------22

 

[Masked Otaku]

They did fix that one. Now you can never get more than one raise, but the raise gives you 1d6 rather than +2.

So you only get 1d6 no matter how many raises on the attack? Testdrive 4 is a little vague.

 

[scourger]

So you only get 1d6 no matter how many raises on the attack? Testdrive 4 is a little vague.

That's right.

 

[Masked Otaku]

That's right.

Huh, the Test Drive doesn't really make it that clear.

 

[scourger]

Most of the original questions have been answered, so I will just post my (mostly) recent experience with Savage Worlds (SW). I followed the development in Shane Hensley's design journal at the old peginc web site. I was intirgued by his original influences and design goals. It boils down to a game that is easy enough to plan & run while retaining enough complexity & advancement potential to make it engaging to play. Sort of the best of miniatures wargaming crossed with roleplaying. The motto is keeping the game fast, furious & fun (!).

I played Deadlands and Hell on Earth, which are pretty much the precursors of this game, along with The Great Rail Wars. I incorporated chips in d20 games to reroll any d20 long ago, and it worked well. I even tried a blackjack (21) initiative system, which was not so good. I have yet to intorduce exploding dice (raises) to d20, but I'm considering it.

Anyway, a few months ago, I was really feeling burned out by d20 due to a variety of factors. I bought the revised SW book on sort of a whim at my FLGS. The cover art is much better. I read it and liked it. I figure it's about 1/10 of the pages in the PHB, DMG & MM. I have run many games in many genres, but I really wanted to try a war-time setting. So, I started shopping for Tour of Darkness (ToD).

I finally got it. I started running a ToD game last week for my weekly group. It went really well. I think it will continue. The base SW rules are great, and the ToD setting book is a good too. I likely won't use the entire plot-point camapign, but there are enough tools in ToD and on the 'net that I can present just the kind of game I want. More importantly, I can easily use the miniatures I already have on hand for the PCs, allies & foes. The best part is that I can spend more time painting and less time planning the game. There's just not as much paperwork for SW--both in & out of the game.

My biggest fear with SW is that it could kill d20 for me. I'm not sure how well SW would do for standard swords & sorcery fantasy, but I might check out Evernight next. The real test would be if I ran SW for post-apocalyptic in lieu of Omega World.

So, there's a big, personal, endorsement for Savage Worlds. I hope it goes well for you.

 

[Turanil]

That's it. I today purchased Savage Worlds. The game looks good so far, but I have only skimmed through it.

Next time I will try HARP (it wasn't available today, or I would had gotten it too).

 

[Turanil]

Mmmmmh.... The more I read about this game (and its various free supplements found on the Internet), the more I think about three potential settings:

-- Elric of Melnibone: I don't know why, but this system looks perfect (IMO) for this genre. It would require some new edges however, plus having Chaosium's Elric game that in fact I sold on ebay two year ago... So I will probably forget about it.

-- Pulp Cthulhu: I love Call of Cthulhu, but not with hopeless wimps; rather with crazed psychics, mad occultists who use dark magic with the pretend to save mankind, and other Indiana Jones like archeologists. For that, Savage Worlds seem perfect. I still have the basic rules (BRP and d20), plus a Dreamland supplement. I will yet have to do some monster conversions and write down some investigator templates.

-- Transhuman Space (GURPS): Hard sci-fi setting, in the 21st century solar system. Since I also have GURPS Mars, and a few sci-fi/mecha/cyberpunk Savage Worlds material found on the Internet, I could do something. Especially as I still have my scenario of an adventure I made for this setting for a pbp last year.

By the way, in what genres did you use Savage Worlds?