Rafael Martin
Adventurer
How do you like (or don't like) the Savage Worlds rpg? I am thinking about buying it, but I want to hear some opinions of it from you guys. Thanks in advance.
I love it and it's been my go to "generic" game for a number of years now.How do you like (or don't like) the Savage Worlds rpg? I am thinking about buying it, but I want to hear some opinions of it from you guys. Thanks in advance.
I find that it runs a lot quicker than many other games. Though I've been playing it for years and even the most opaque systems play quickly for people who know them backwards and forwards. And, honestly, my group has bene playing for years but I still have one or two players asking very, very basic questions about the rules. "Do I use the Wild Die when I roll for Vigor?"1) It's not especially fast (despite being called "fast, furious, fun")
It does. But then so do a lot of other games. In D&D, you roll to hit and then you roll for how much damage you actually do. You could roll really high to hit a creature and then end up only doing 4 hit points of damage to him.2) It has that whole business of "I hit, but let me see if I actually hit" and "let's see if I actually damaged" (so multiple die rolls to handle combat actions)
The armor you wear adds to your Toughness so you don't use Toughness and armor. I do agree with you about the Armor Piercing of weapons though and it gets particularly annoying in settings that use modern firearms. And to roll to avoid some of that damage the enemy needs to spend a Bennie (that meta currency). And they usually don't get a re-roll unless they spend another Bennie.3) So you have to subtract Toughness and Armor from every damage roll, then account for the weapon's Armor Piercing rating, then divide that number by four to see how many wounds are produced. Then the opponent can attempt to roll to avoid some of that damage. And reroll by spending metacurrency.
If you're playing Deadlands, all the equipment you need is going to be in the Deadlands book. There's no need to flip to the Savage Worlds rules to look for Deadlands equipment. Same for Rifts. Though I think Savage Worlds starts to break down when you use all the additional rules for Rifts. I've run exactly one Savage Rifts campaign and I don't plan on running another. I spent a lot of money on that Kickstarter too.4) If you have a setting book (like Rifts, Deadlands, etc) you are going to be flipping between the setting book, the core rules, and likely other books (equipment, etc) to run your character - you never have everything all in one place.
Typically they're scattered between the basic Savage Worlds rules and whatever setting book you're using. For most games, that's just two books.5) Your characters have a ton of edges and hindrances (think as positive feats and negative feats) to keep up with. They are also scattered over all the books if you are not playing vanilla Savage Worlds (which you won't be)
This might just be a preference thing but this isn't my experience. In most games, the players roll for initiative, I write down the results, and put everything in order which is slow. For SW, I just deal out cards quickly and everyone knows what order they're going in.6) Dealing initiative cards each round slows down the game
Agreed. You can run things narratively for simple encounters but if you've got a lot of moving parts you're better off with a map and some minis.7) Works best with miniatures - so if you're a theatre of the mind player it kind of suffers
I find they work well. But, again, I've been playing the game since it's original inception. Almost 20 years now I think.8) Do you like disassociated mechanics? How about die rolls for most things, but pulling cards from a deck to determine other things (initiative, skill challenges, chase mechanics, etc.)
As one of my players said, "Vehicle combat is stupid." But vehicles have Wounds and Toughness just like characters do. When a vehicle takes a wound, you get to roll on the critical hit table to see what happens. (Damage to the crew, destroyed weapon, etc., etc.). Where it gets stupid is the ridiculous base Toughness and Amor they give to some vehicles and the Armor Piercing of the weapons they carry. The M1A1 Abrams tank has a 57 Toughness (37 from armor) and it's 120mm gun has an AP of 31. It's just silly and slows things down.9) Vehicle combat makes absolutely no sense to me - they don't have HP (wounds)
You have an hour after getting wounded to get healed either by magical or non-magical means. If you go longer than an hour without medical help, you make a Vigor roll every 5 days. Success means you recover a Wound and a raise (rolling 4 higher than needed) means you recover two instead. Some magic/technology might allow someone to make a Healing roll even after that golden hour has passed.10) Healing is weird to me. There's not like a standard rate
It's not impossible to plan but I agree that it's one of the swingiest games I've ever played. I've had simple encounters nearly turn into TPKs because I rolled so phenomenally good and difficult encounters turn into a cakewalk because the PCs rolled so phenomenally good. For me, this is the most frustrating aspect of Savage Worlds.11) Because of exploding dice, it's one of the swingiest games I've ever played. It's ill-suited to a lasting campaign. I have had novice characters die at the hands of minion grunts and then one-shot power demons. It's nearly impossible to plan.
This has generally been my experience, too. There's too many bits and pieces, and they don't feel holistic. The whole thing feels clumsy to me, like an awkward fusion of old-school design aesthetics and a few narrative design elements tacked on.I have nearly all the books available for the current edition. That said, I don't care for the system (which makes me wonder why I'm buying all their books - haha).
Here's what didn't connect with me, YMMV:
1) It's not especially fast (despite being called "fast, furious, fun")
2) It has that whole business of "I hit, but let me see if I actually hit" and "let's see if I actually damaged" (so multiple die rolls to handle combat actions)
3) So you have to subtract Toughness and Armor from every damage roll, then account for the weapon's Armor Piercing rating, then divide that number by four to see how many wounds are produced. Then the opponent can attempt to roll to avoid some of that damage. And reroll by spending metacurrency.
4) If you have a setting book (like Rifts, Deadlands, etc) you are going to be flipping between the setting book, the core rules, and likely other books (equipment, etc) to run your character - you never have everything all in one place.
5) Your characters have a ton of edges and hindrances (think as positive feats and negative feats) to keep up with. They are also scattered over all the books if you are not playing vanilla Savage Worlds (which you won't be)
6) Dealing initiative cards each round slows down the game
7) Works best with miniatures - so if you're a theatre of the mind player it kind of suffers
8) Do you like disassociated mechanics? How about die rolls for most things, but pulling cards from a deck to determine other things (initiative, skill challenges, chase mechanics, etc.)
9) Vehicle combat makes absolutely no sense to me - they don't have HP (wounds)
10) Healing is weird to me. There's not like a standard rate
11) Because of exploding dice, it's one of the swingiest games I've ever played. It's ill-suited to a lasting campaign. I have had novice characters die at the hands of minion grunts and then one-shot power demons. It's nearly impossible to plan.
Even though I've purchased a lot of the books, mostly in hope that "one day this will make sense to me," I can't whole-heartedly recommend the system. I've tried running for different groups in different Savage settings. None of it ever felt like it lived up to the promises of the system. Combats dragged on. There was so much math!