I purchased Savage Worlds a few months ago primarily out of a desire to have a good RPG for running sci-fi games and have been very impressed with the game and its ability to balance character detail with speed-of-play. One of the things that really impressed me, however, is its “flexible, but simple” mechanical structures for customizing things: Setting rules, trappings to differentiate spells, etc.
Now, one of the oft-cited SW recommendations is “don’t play fantasy as your Savage Worlds intro genre to SW”. This is typically done to avoid a new SW GM or player falling into the “trap” of trying to learn SW through a lens of D&D or Pathfinder expectations. I get it. It’s good advice.
Now, let’s throw it out the window for this thread.
I recently had some time to tinker with the fantasy-side of Savage Worlds. I wanted to familiarize myself with some of the fantasy character-building options, especially the interaction of Experience tiers as it related to character abilities. I chose to create some characters based on video game characters from cRPGs like Dragon Age, Skyrim, and the Witcher series. What I discovered was that not only could I build reasonable pen-n-paper versions of these characters but that they reflected their computer version counterparts far better than if I had tried to convert them into a system like D&D or Pathfinder (which many correctly deem its own sub-genre of fantasy).
Note: This is not a knock D&D or Pathfinder thread. I love Pathfinder and it’s my go-to fantasy RPG.
So my resulting character conversions got me thinking, “If Savage Worlds can translate video game characters with fewer compromises and provide a different experience – i.e. ‘feel’ like the source material, what differences does it offer from an actual play perspective compared to the “D&D/Pathfinder” genre of fantasy?”
So, SW fantasy fans, tell me of your campaigns and games! What did SW bring to the table that a “traditional” D&D-style game doesn’t?
Final Note: I’m not looking for “which is better”; rather “SW offers X, which D&D/Pathfinder can’t offer or require compromises”, etc.
Now, one of the oft-cited SW recommendations is “don’t play fantasy as your Savage Worlds intro genre to SW”. This is typically done to avoid a new SW GM or player falling into the “trap” of trying to learn SW through a lens of D&D or Pathfinder expectations. I get it. It’s good advice.
Now, let’s throw it out the window for this thread.
I recently had some time to tinker with the fantasy-side of Savage Worlds. I wanted to familiarize myself with some of the fantasy character-building options, especially the interaction of Experience tiers as it related to character abilities. I chose to create some characters based on video game characters from cRPGs like Dragon Age, Skyrim, and the Witcher series. What I discovered was that not only could I build reasonable pen-n-paper versions of these characters but that they reflected their computer version counterparts far better than if I had tried to convert them into a system like D&D or Pathfinder (which many correctly deem its own sub-genre of fantasy).
Note: This is not a knock D&D or Pathfinder thread. I love Pathfinder and it’s my go-to fantasy RPG.
So my resulting character conversions got me thinking, “If Savage Worlds can translate video game characters with fewer compromises and provide a different experience – i.e. ‘feel’ like the source material, what differences does it offer from an actual play perspective compared to the “D&D/Pathfinder” genre of fantasy?”
So, SW fantasy fans, tell me of your campaigns and games! What did SW bring to the table that a “traditional” D&D-style game doesn’t?
Final Note: I’m not looking for “which is better”; rather “SW offers X, which D&D/Pathfinder can’t offer or require compromises”, etc.