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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ValhallaGH" data-source="post: 5203902" data-attributes="member: 41187">This game is awesome.  It comes in three mechanical flavors (Classic, D20, Savage Worlds).  All use the same (amazing) setting, flavor, and world but have their own quirks due to the game mechanics involved.Classic:The mechanics can be ... involved, though they are fast to resolve (figuring out all the modifiers can take a bit of time).  Like any game, the longest part of play is player distraction / confusion / ignorance.The damage system is elegant, simple, but surprisingly survivable (death spiral or no).Lots of fun, lots of knobs and dials to set up your own rules and variations with.Only game for which I find myself wondering "should I buy another ten d12?"Biggest flaws - limited starting character skills (especially for intellectual characters), can take a long time to resolve a single round of combat (as many as five actions per character, per round, before magic is involved), penalties can add up extremely quickly.  Some of the game mechanics don't fit the flavor, at all (mostly an issue with their future settings, Hell on Earth and Lost Colony).d20:It's d20.  You start off super-squishy and get a lot tougher if you survive.  AC's are low, attack bonuses are huge, and it's much less of a horror game (though it's still trying hard).  It always felt forced and ill-fitting to me, and I say to pass it on by.Savage Worlds:Lots of fun, lots of knobs (almost as many as Classic), and a lot of "fast, furious, fun!"Not quite as dangerous as Classic (can't "bleed out", fewer penalties, etc.), with more "critical hit locations" on the monsters (it's suddenly possible to kill a Mojave rattler with a Colt Peacemaker by aiming for its weak point, instead of having to Ace like the Red Baron to roll high damage).Same flavor, all magic on the same sub-system (simpler to learn and run), very powerful Fate Chips, and some excellent (and flavorful) subsystems including the Showdown rules.Unfortunately, they introduced a "critical failure" system that is obscenely each to fall into (natural 1 on your skill die, or 1 in [die type] chance per roll); 'bonus', it only matters on the rolls that you make to save the world (if you "critically fail" then you make things even worse).Overall, good stuff but I have some poor feelings about a few of the subsystems.  Still, if you have trouble locating the Classic rules (or affording the fifty-odd books available) then this is a fantastic second choice.  Good enough that many would make it their first choice (and a cheap buy-in of one Explorer's Edition [$10], and either one DL:Reloaded [$40], or one Player's Guide and one Marshal's Guide with the re-print).Good luck.</blockquote>

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