My First Savage Worlds Game
- Thread starter Wik
- Start date
SavageRobby
First Post
Isn't the chance for failure for a Wild Card with a d12 in the skill against a standard TN 12.5%, or 9 (3x3) / 72 (6 *12)? Thats a 1 in 8 chance, which is a fair amount better than 1 in 5. If you factor spending a Benny in for a reroll, then your chance of failure drops tremendously (to 1 in 64, if my math is right).
In my fantasy games, we allow a Benny to be spent prior to a roll to add +2 to the roll. This lets characters almost assume a basic success (only snake eyes fails) and really helps when they're trying to do something daring or herioc. And of course, burns Bennies even faster.
Wik - I'm glad you had a good experience with Savage Worlds. In one of our first ever Savage sessions (after we had massive 3E burnout) we ran a combat with a number of enemies and extras (20 something all told), plus a few enemy spell casters, a raging fire and exploding barrels of boomdust - and despite our newness to the system, the combat took maybe half an hour, and we all had a total blast (no pun intended). I'm in the process of Savaging Rise of the Runelords as well - I want to run the whole path for my group. We ran Evernight (highly expanded) and they loved it, and I think they'll love Pathfinder even more. D20 or not, they are incredible, and so much better than nearly anything else I've read in a good long while.
Don't forget all the variety of ways to get bonuses, either - or cause minuses. My favorite minus to assign - besides cover - is the Unstable Platform penalty. High ground should usually be worth +1. Gang-up bonuses are fantastic. We have a large group of players (often 8), so not only do we have to pay close attention to the +4 limit, but we also added a house rule to in say that you can't just be adjacent to an enemy, you must be engaged*.
Bonuses are big in SW - I learned that the hard way as a DM, and had to scale some things back as a campaign went along. A +1 Sword is major, a +2 Sword is huge. Anything +3 or over is Epic (especially if you allow it for both Attack and Damage).
* The pseudo-abstract "engaged" is subject to fairly flexible interpretation in our games. It basically indicates you've started combat in some form of fashion with that enemy. Only engaged - not merely adjacent - allies count for gang-up bonuses against enemies, but also only engaged enemies can make free attacks when someone starts their movement.
Flynn - I was going to email you about setting up a one shot again now that life is starting to settle down, but it looks like you've gotten well into the game now. Glad you guys are enjoying it.
In my fantasy games, we allow a Benny to be spent prior to a roll to add +2 to the roll. This lets characters almost assume a basic success (only snake eyes fails) and really helps when they're trying to do something daring or herioc. And of course, burns Bennies even faster.
Wik - I'm glad you had a good experience with Savage Worlds. In one of our first ever Savage sessions (after we had massive 3E burnout) we ran a combat with a number of enemies and extras (20 something all told), plus a few enemy spell casters, a raging fire and exploding barrels of boomdust - and despite our newness to the system, the combat took maybe half an hour, and we all had a total blast (no pun intended). I'm in the process of Savaging Rise of the Runelords as well - I want to run the whole path for my group. We ran Evernight (highly expanded) and they loved it, and I think they'll love Pathfinder even more. D20 or not, they are incredible, and so much better than nearly anything else I've read in a good long while.
Don't forget all the variety of ways to get bonuses, either - or cause minuses. My favorite minus to assign - besides cover - is the Unstable Platform penalty. High ground should usually be worth +1. Gang-up bonuses are fantastic. We have a large group of players (often 8), so not only do we have to pay close attention to the +4 limit, but we also added a house rule to in say that you can't just be adjacent to an enemy, you must be engaged*.
Bonuses are big in SW - I learned that the hard way as a DM, and had to scale some things back as a campaign went along. A +1 Sword is major, a +2 Sword is huge. Anything +3 or over is Epic (especially if you allow it for both Attack and Damage).
* The pseudo-abstract "engaged" is subject to fairly flexible interpretation in our games. It basically indicates you've started combat in some form of fashion with that enemy. Only engaged - not merely adjacent - allies count for gang-up bonuses against enemies, but also only engaged enemies can make free attacks when someone starts their movement.
Flynn - I was going to email you about setting up a one shot again now that life is starting to settle down, but it looks like you've gotten well into the game now. Glad you guys are enjoying it.
Last edited:
Johnny Angel
Explorer
In my group, we find the game "Fast, Furious and Fun" as promised except that there are a lot of conditionals that make Damage and Healing a headache. If you ever get confused, you can consult this flow chart to see if you're applied all the conditional rules correctly:
http://www.ashmead.net/~angel/SavageWorlds/FlowChartDamage-v0.2.pdf
I have another chart for healing, but it needs to be corrected for the feedback I got on the PEG boards. I have another one to make the healing rules more explicit, but the Bleeding Out rule needs to be fixed:
http://www.ashmead.net/~angel/SavageWorlds/SWFlowChartHealing.pdf
This chart helps with sorting out natural healing, though that is less complicated:
http://www.ashmead.net/~angel/SavageWorlds/SWFlowChartNaturalHealing.pdf
http://www.ashmead.net/~angel/SavageWorlds/FlowChartDamage-v0.2.pdf
I have another chart for healing, but it needs to be corrected for the feedback I got on the PEG boards. I have another one to make the healing rules more explicit, but the Bleeding Out rule needs to be fixed:
http://www.ashmead.net/~angel/SavageWorlds/SWFlowChartHealing.pdf
This chart helps with sorting out natural healing, though that is less complicated:
http://www.ashmead.net/~angel/SavageWorlds/SWFlowChartNaturalHealing.pdf
Flynn
First Post
SavageRobby said:Flynn - I was going to email you about setting up a one shot again now that life is starting to settle down, but it looks like you've gotten well into the game now. Glad you guys are enjoying it.
I'm still open to playing in one of your games, though, if you're still up for running it. I have only played twice, and I would like to play the game again under other GMs simply because it's fun.
Please Consider It,
Flynn
Dragon Snack
First Post
Whee!!! Double post...
Dragon Snack
First Post
Well, I'm the one who complained about magic often not working, despite playing a Fire Mage with a d12 casting. Although, really, it's not just the casting, you often need that Raise for the extra d6 damage to overcome Toughness. We didn't use the +2 for a Benny either.
I will also note that my character did have the One Eye (-2 for ranged casting) and (since it was 50 Fathoms and often involved ship to ship fighting) there was usually a range penalty as well. Another player did dump his Air Mage and switch to a melee character though and the spellcaster in my current group has started spending a little more time in melee as well, so I wasn't the only player in my group who has 'issues' with spellcasting.
I like that "engaged" house rule. Sometimes everyone gets bunched up a little too much just to get a bonus.
I will also note that my character did have the One Eye (-2 for ranged casting) and (since it was 50 Fathoms and often involved ship to ship fighting) there was usually a range penalty as well. Another player did dump his Air Mage and switch to a melee character though and the spellcaster in my current group has started spending a little more time in melee as well, so I wasn't the only player in my group who has 'issues' with spellcasting.
I like that "engaged" house rule. Sometimes everyone gets bunched up a little too much just to get a bonus.
Wik
First Post
Yeah, I second those charts. they're pretty cool - added them to my favourites. I'm amassing quite a number of SW links.
Another cool thing about the system. When I ran D20, I had three PHBs at the table - one for me, and two for my players. I figured I'd do the same with Savage Worlds. So, today I bought two extra rule books, for twenty bucks. I now have three SW Explorer Edition books, and it cost me less than forty dollars - the price of a SINGLE PHB.
That's pretty nifty, right there.
Another cool thing about the system. When I ran D20, I had three PHBs at the table - one for me, and two for my players. I figured I'd do the same with Savage Worlds. So, today I bought two extra rule books, for twenty bucks. I now have three SW Explorer Edition books, and it cost me less than forty dollars - the price of a SINGLE PHB.
That's pretty nifty, right there.
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