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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 5222324" data-attributes="member: 99">I'm a very big fan of both systems.  My current campaign is a Deadlands Savage Worlds game and my previous campaign was a 4e D&D game.Savage Worlds is unquestionably more rules light (though not nearly as light as some systems) than D&D and if you want more "crunch" then D&D is definitely the way to go.  Personally I've been in the mood lately for a lighter game and I'm loving Savage Worlds for what it brings to the table.There are a few things in particular that I think it does extremely well:Prep is EASY - As easy as 4e made prepping for my games, I find that Savage Worlds is even a bit easier due to the granularity of the system.  It is (for me) very easy to envision where a bad guy falls on the spectrum of stats and skills and so I very rarely need to flesh anything out about the bad guys and can more or less "wing it".  The "special abilities" of monsters are likewise easy to throw together quickly and adjudicate easily on the fly.Running it is EASY - Savage Worlds has almost zero fat on the system.  I am virtually never left wondering how I should resolve a particular action or circumstance because the core mechanic is strong and there is nearly always an obvious answer.  There is very little in the way of looking stuff up in a book (though I think this is true of 4e too but for different reasons).The dice mechanic is FUN - What I've noticed about any game that uses "exploding dice" is that whenever anybody rolls for any reason, everybody at the table takes interest in the roll.  When they see those boxcars coming up on the d6's then they start to cheer because they know that the PC in question is about to be wildly successful at whatever they are doing.  This sort of group "cheerleading" seems to raise the excitement and fun level for everybody at the table.  (I also note that I stole an exploding dice mechanic from an ENWorlder to use for skills in my 4e game and it had the same effect.  But that's a topic for another thread probably.)It is FAST - I really enjoy the tactical combats of 4e.  But there is no question in my mind that they take up considerable time.  I'm in no way suggesting that that time isn't fun but it does dictate the pace of the game in some ways.  I can generally get through more plot in a Savage Worlds session than I can a 4e session because the combats are quicker (and often deadlier).I love the damage mechanic - I'm actually fairly bullish on the damage mechanic of 4e too.  But I really like the Savage Worlds damage mechanic which results in combat sometimes feeling very dangerous without the PC's ever even taking any lasting damage.  Being Shaken while next to some big bad guy who might kill you in one hit feels dangerous and exciting.  But you might get hit several times by that baddie and come out of the combat without ever having taken a Wound.  I also note that, while Shaken is a sort of "stun" mechanic which may cost you your turn, the turns go quickly in Savage Worlds and so it doesn't feel like that great a punishment.Range of settings - This is probably one of the single biggest things in favor of Savage Worlds.  4e does an extremely good job in my opinion of emulating "Heroic Fantasy".  But I think you've really got to work at it to make it do much else.  Savage Worlds has a wide range of settings available to it that range all over the place.  At the heart of it I feel like it's a Pulp game first.  But there are a lot of settings that feel right with Pulp and I love Pulp anyway so what the hell.So bottom line is that you should play whatever works best for your group and what makes you happy.  But I happen to think that Savage Worlds makes a great "unisystem" for those times when somebody has an idea for a setting or game that isn't already in print.One final thing I'll say in favor of Savage Worlds over D&D 4e is that SW is a better one-shot game for Cons and Game Days IMHO.  The learning curve for 4e isn't so much about the system.  It's about the character.  Especially if you are giving the players PC's above 10th level, it can take quite a while before a player gets a good grasp on exactly what their character can do.  And even once that happens then you have the issue of the combats running longer to make use of that range of abilities, leaving less room for "plot".Savage Worlds characters are generally easy to grasp and have only a few special rules to add complexity.  So it's easier to hit the ground running.  And the faster combats mean that more involved plots are easier to work through during a typical 4 hour session.</blockquote>

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