Living Universes in Tabletop. #SWADE

[Valuzz]

Hey all I am very new to this page! Please delete this if it isn’t allowed. I have been a long time roleplayer, but I was turned onto SWADE when I started working for the publisher that makes Suzerain. I wanted to get some honest feedback on this concept, and of course the community feels like the right place to turn. We are working on fleshing out something called the Legends Awaken Initiative. Essentially, your actions have an effect on not just your playgroup, but playgroups around the world, and can even change the landscape of the setting by changing our cannon lore.

What do you guys think of something like that? Are there any other settings that you know of that do something like this? How often would updates need to come out to you to make something like this feel alive?

I really appreciate all of your support!

 

[John Dallman]

We've just been discussing this, here. Personally, I'd find Savage Worlds a turn-off, but many people disagree with that.

 

[Valuzz]

We've just been discussing this, here. Personally, I'd find Savage Worlds a turn-off, but many people disagree with that.

What is it that you don't like about Savage Worlds?

 

[Retreater]

My turnoff from Savage Worlds (though I'm not the previous commenter) is that the combat is so swingy that it's nearly impossible to plan for the players' abilities. Fights are usually trivial or a complete bloodbath TPK. And there's little you can do to predict which. (Meaning the GM can't prep for it AND the players can't develop reasonable tactics.)
This said, I have Kickstarted SWADE and every thing they've offered since (Rifts, Deadlands, Lost Colony). It's fun for a few sessions, it's just not a system I would entertain for a long campaign. (And I've tried.)

 

[Valuzz]

My turnoff from Savage Worlds (though I'm not the previous commenter) is that the combat is so swingy that it's nearly impossible to plan for the players' abilities. Fights are usually trivial or a complete bloodbath TPK. And there's little you can do to predict which. (Meaning the GM can't prep for it AND the players can't develop reasonable tactics.)
This said, I have Kickstarted SWADE and every thing they've offered since (Rifts, Deadlands, Lost Colony). It's fun for a few sessions, it's just not a system I would entertain for a long campaign. (And I've tried.)

I am very new to the system, so I'm very jaded, but I can totally see where you're coming from just from the mechanics alone. What do you prefer?

 

[Retreater]

I am very new to the system, so I'm very jaded, but I can totally see where you're coming from just from the mechanics alone. What do you prefer?

My preferred style of game is probably not widely shared by others, based on anecdote and sales data.
As a GM I like …
Class-based mechanics: (if you have a fighter, you know they are tanky and stand in the front line; if you have a cleric, you know they can restore lost HP).
Absence of lingering injuries. (It's extra note-taking and hampering to a character in the long run. It's best to outright kill a character or say they retired from the adventuring life from their injuries than to have a character who is limping around, missing an eye, with a litany of phobias.)
Clearly defined, unified mechanics. I want to know how to resolve stuff easily. Savage Worlds hobbles together many rules subsystems. Want to do a chase? Get out a card deck. Want to do a role-playing scene? Card deck. Want to do a skill check? Dice. Want to Initiative? Card deck. Want to attack? Dice. Are you attacking a vehicle? There's a chart to see what happens.

I guess my preference to DM would be something like 4E. It's mechanically predictable and well balanced, even if most D&D fans hate it.

With Savage Worlds, there's just no telling what's going to happen. I've had a single character solo kill a demon lord. I've had a character die from a lucky shot from a mook. There's too much uncertainty for me to try to build a long running campaign, though it's fine for one-shots.

 

[John Dallman]

What is it that you don't like about Savage Worlds?

Pretty much the same as Repeater, but with the opinion that the problem is a symptom of extremely coarse-grained probabilities, which are intrinsic to the resolution mechanic.