Notes from a Savage Worlds fantasy campaign (updated with 05/28/08 session notes!)...

[Flynn]

Thanks for posting this, Flynn. I'm currently considering converting my FR game to Savage Worlds and these sorts of posts help. What do your players like most?

It depends on which player you ask:

Yngvar likes it for the simplicity and streamlined nature of the rules, the great diversity of actions and subsystems covered in the book (and still remain streamlined), the fact that a character can be fully detailed on an index card, and the fact that you can use it for so many genres. (He even ran the SW Tron game at our Game Day last weekend, and it went smoothly.) Being able to handle Tron was what cinched SW as the system for him.

Andrus likes it for much the same reasons, the character diversity and the fact that it empowers freedom in character concept and design while still keeping characters effective. He is even thinking in terms of using the Mass Battles rules for political debates, with only a few minor modifications.

Chrysander likes it because of how easy it is to use as a system and how well it supports both RP-oriented and combat-oriented characters. The use of Hindrances really adds something to the game for him.

Calyt isn't as open as the others, but to me, it seems that he likes it because it empowers wilder character actions during combat and outside it, so it's less restrictive, while still letting him be effective. I think the cinematic nature appeals to him a lot, although others also find the appeal of a more cinematic game. He definitely takes advantage of it.

Anzjin is also a quiet one, but I think he likes it because it is a new system to explore, one that is easy to learn and master the basics, but with subtle nuances that he is still experimenting with. In some ways, the system appears to strike him intellectually like chess: there's a range of simple actions and resolutions that you can pick up quickly, but to truely master it takes longer. He was the first to start using tricks and other non-D20 options in combat, and I expect that he will continue to explore the system as the game continues.

I'm sure you can see why I like it so much from my commentaries above. In addition, many of the things that the players find great about Savage Worlds are things that I enjoy myself. At this stage in my gaming life, I find that I want action, forward motion, some cinematic stuff that promotes heroics as well as something fast and easy to run. Savage Worlds fills that bill for me.

I definitely wish you luck in pursuing the system with your friends. I expect that if you give it three sessions to get used to everything, you'll find it to be everything I've mentioned. If that's your cup of tea, great! If not, that's cool, too. Best of luck with it, though!

Hope This Helps,
Flynn

 

[Gothmog]

Thanks for your post too, Gothmog. When I'm next back in my own country we're going to try a session or two of SW to see if we all like it. I'm rather excited about the change largely because of the reduced prep time but, prep time is not the most important consideration, how it plays will determine whether we make the change.

Glad to be of help. Flynn brought up many of the major positive points of SW, but there are a few things I feel I should point out, espeically if your players have mostly d20-based games before.

I have been a huge fan of Pinnacle for a long time. I got in on Deadlands when it came out, and I love the game design and mechanics of Shane Lacy Hensley's games- hands down he's the best game designer out there now. That said, some of the core assumptions of SW can be a little jarring to d20 players. Namely using cards for initiative order, the "simplicity" of the system, and while the characters are tough, one lucky shot can take them down, even from a mook.

The cards aren't a big deal once you get used to them- they greatly speed up play and give the a fast, cinematic feel to fights. Drawing a Joker is always a "wahoo" moment, and creates excitement for the PCs or groans if the villian Wild Card gets the joker. Its takes a couple fights to get the hang of it, but once you do, I guarantee your players will love it.

The "simplicity" of the system did bug a couple of my players at first. They believed they needed more mechanics, edges, spells, and powers to make the characters they wanted. The beauty of SW is that nothing is defined as absolutely set in stone, especially in regards to powers. There is no need for a separate magic missile, firebolt, and lightning bolt spell- its all contained under the Bolt power, and how you describe it is up to your imagination. Once they realized they had free reign to design their characters EXACTLY how they wanted, down to even power descriptions, they loved it. As a consequence, several characters developed signature styles and effects for their powers, and two even developed their own fighting styles by using certain edges and making up a couple of new edges.

The reduced mechanical requirements of SW also mean I can stat an NPC on a NOTECARD, and list all the pertinent info needed right there. The advancement process is also much easier on players- its a simple decision of gaining a new edge, improving a skill, or an attribute. You don't have to worry about planning long in advance for qualifying for a skill package or edge you think sounds cool- you just do it. This has lead to a lot of interesting character growth in dimensions that nobody would have anticipated when they started those characters. It took my d20 lovers a few sessions to see SW was just as robust and customizable as d20 (if not more so), but they came around to loving it.

The only other advice I'd give is regarding character durability. Its pretty routine to hit someone, but not do enough damage to overcome their Toughness, which is basically a flesh wound. However, if you get a lucky shot on the dice (esp with multiple d6s, or a high-Strength character aces on their damage roll) a PC or NPC can bite the dust pretty quick, even if they are very experienced. In a post-apoc game I ran, a mutant with a spear threw it at a PC who was a Veteran (60 or XP if I remember right, which is enough for 12 advances) and got a whopping 38 points on his 2d6 damage roll due to dice This would have been enough to kill the PC outright, so you have to be generous with bennies- basically think of them as Fate Points or the like- they can be used to soak damage, insure survival on the incapacitation table, or boost rolls in critical situations. Typically, reward a benny for something cool a character says or does, or for good RPing, or whatver strikes you as contributing to everybody's fun. Bennies are the last-ditch defence of PCs against catastrophe, or to make a truly heroic actions.

 

[Flynn]

Thanks, Gothmog, for capturing those additional points so eloquently for us.

I think my biggest challenge as a GM in Savage Worlds is remembering to award bennies in the middle of the game for outstanding moments. I need to do more of that, and it's hard to keep it in mind as things are flowing fast and furious in the midst of the session.

Any helpful hints in those regards would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Flynn

 

[Flynn]

I'm surprised your group didn't have more trouble with the ent though- IME really big critters tend to be horrendously hard on PCs- they are easy to hit, but VERY hard to hurt, and do a ton of damage. When you play, are you using fixed damage (for example, a dagger does Str die +1), or the newer rules where a dagger would do Str + d4? I prefer the latter, even though its a little more deadly because in the previous incarnations of SW, melee weapons kinda sucked. The only thing I had to change a little was to give an extra benny on average to make up for the occasional very high damage roll when both dice aced.

Oops, I forgot to answer this previously! We use the Savage Worlds: Explorer's Edition, so we are using the newer damage rules.

Regarding the corrupted ent (or arboration, as the players now call it), the ent only had Fighting d4, so its Parry was already quite low. Add to that the fact that the ent is Huge, giving the players +4 to hit, and that pretty much guarantees a raise on the attack rolls. The damage added up quickly, as they had some good damage rolls, but I did spend some bennies to make the fight last longer.

It was still a lot of fun, though,
Flynn

 

[Gothmog]

Thanks, Gothmog, for capturing those additional points so eloquently for us.

I think my biggest challenge as a GM in Savage Worlds is remembering to award bennies in the middle of the game for outstanding moments. I need to do more of that, and it's hard to keep it in mind as things are flowing fast and furious in the midst of the session.

Any helpful hints in those regards would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Flynn

Well, its highly variable as to when to give out bennies, because each GM has a different style. I tend to run fights that are pretty hard for the PCs, or at least require some clever thinking or tactics to win. PCs burn up bennies pretty quick in fights like that, so I give 2-3 bennies to each PC per game session, on average.

One thing I do is anytime a character roleplays one of his hinderances (especially if its at cost to his character) he gets a benny. Those hinderances aren't just there to net the player some extra points- and the player who does incorporate them into his roleplaying is rewarded more than those who don't with extra bennies and sometimes experience points if its a particularly inconvenient instance of the hinderance.

 

[Neil Bishop]

Thanks to you both for your comments. I'm really looking forward to my first SW session, hopefully in about two weeks. I'll post the results either here or on the PEG boards.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Keep posting Flynn. I've got nothing to add since I've never played SW before. But after reading your posts I'm strongly considering picking up the explorer edition. Do you use any of the fantasy toolkits? And if so which ones?

 

[Gothmog]

Keep posting Flynn. I've got nothing to add since I've never played SW before. But after reading your posts I'm strongly considering picking up the explorer edition. Do you use any of the fantasy toolkits? And if so which ones?

I can answer some of this for you. I've bought the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror toolkits for SW, and I've found they are all helpful.

For fantasy, I'd rank the toolkits in the following order for usefulness: World Builder, Creatures, Gear, Character Builder. The World Builder is a must for running fantasy- it has tons of great tips and hints for running a game, some new powers, weather, rules for familiars and how to design new races and monsters using the SW rules. I like the Fantasy Bestiary too- while its not hard to stat up monsters in SW, having the work done for you is helpful. The Gear and Character Builder I've found less useful- the Gear toolkit is mostly for magic items, which are a snap to design in SW anyway, and the Character builder is mostly extra tables for random background, and some new Edges and Hinderances for characters to take.

If you're doing sci-fi, the Sci-fi toolkits are even better and more useful than the fantasy ones. The World Builder is awesome, incorporating lots of sci-fi conventions, how to design planets, how to handle vacuum and radation, ship and robot construction, psionics, etc. The Gear toolkit is essenstial too, containing gear from near futurs to way-out future (graviton beams, etc). The Alien toolkit is good too, though at parts a little bit to B-movie for my tastes.

But the real gems of the toolkits are the Horror toolkits. While not many people know this, Shane Lacy Hensley incorporates horror elements into virtually every SW setting, so the Horror toolkits are useful to almost any published setting. I'm also a big fan of dark/horrific fantasy/sci-fi/westerns/post-apocalyptic/pretty much any genre, so I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the Horror toolkits. The Horror GM toolkit goes into depth about madness and insanity, grimoires, summoning rituals and the nature of summoning, curses, horrific magic items, as well as tips for running a good horror game and keeping your players nervous and on the edge of their seats. Pair the Horror GMs toolkit with the old ICE book Nightmares of Mine for running horror, and you've got all your bases covered. The Horror bestiary is the real gem though- it has all the expected monsters, as well as a ton of new and original ones. Many monsters are drawn from real-world myths and legends, but there are also new critters, as well as tons of types of cultusts, zombies, undead, golems, demons- you name it! If you don't like dark or horror games as much, you might not get as much use out of these, but I use them universally across all SW settings I run.

 

[Flynn]

I can verify Gothmog's statements above, except for the Horror Toolkits, because I have not had the chance to check them out yet. (Give me a bit, though, and I'm sure I will.)

I would suggest, at a minimum, the following for a fantasy game: Gear, Worldbuilding. The Bestiary is great, but if you are in a pinch money-wise, you can use the fan creation Savage Beasts until you have the coin. Getting the Bestiary is well worth it, but like I said, if money's tight, there's another option to tide you over until the next paycheck.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[rvalle]

Thanks, Gothmog, for capturing those additional points so eloquently for us.

I think my biggest challenge as a GM in Savage Worlds is remembering to award bennies in the middle of the game for outstanding moments. I need to do more of that, and it's hard to keep it in mind as things are flowing fast and furious in the midst of the session.

Any helpful hints in those regards would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Flynn

I've not run any SW games yet but hope to in the future. I've read though the newest rules book and I think I'll have the same problem as you in this regard.

One thing I have thought of: Get index cards or a sheet of paper and write down each player/character. Then stack 3 tokens on/under each one. These will be the bennies that get handed out during the game. Keem them in front of you so you can tell at a glance who hasn't recived any yet and you can pay attn to them a bit more for a chance to toss them an extra bennie.

Nothing says you have to hand out all 3 but it would be a good visual reminder on how many each player has recived during the session.

rv