Savage Worlds

[DrakeRunner]

So I got Savage Worlds a while back, since it was cheap at the time, and I've been looking to really try more with it. However, I'm really inexperienced with the game, and sitting down to actually read through it... its kind of... I'm not sure how to put it. Its supposed to cover so many genres with a "pulp" feel to it, but it feels like you need to be playing it for a dozen sessions before your characters have any significant degree of mechanical difference... and for a non-level based system, this seems problematic.

Granted, as I said, I don't have any actual experience with the game, but I'm wanting to get some opinions on the game, from people who know what they're talking about.

[Lycan 01]

What do you mean by mechanical difference? Do you mean difference between each other, or difference between when they started and where they are now? I can assure you, neither of these are a real problem. I've run two sessions. One was a Western game, one was a zombie outbreak game. The zombie outbreak game ran into several problems since the party was small, I had to keep track of several NPCs, and the players in question just aren't good at horror games. The Western game, though, was supposed to be like a 20-30 minute test of the system, and ended up being a 5 hour marathon session of epic proportion, featuring saloon ambushes, double-crosses, street duels, Faith Healing, bounty hunting, and a delusional character who knew he was in a tabletop game. It was quite fun, and we only had 2 players. In regards to your mechanical concerns, both players were very different in terms of skills and styles, and the XP they got after the mission has helped them to even further distance themselves and develope their characters.

Your results may vary, but I personally love the system. :smalltongue:

[The Rose Dragon]

My opinion on Savage Worlds can be summed up thusly: if I have to choose between D&D 3.5 and Savage Worlds, I'd choose the former. If I have to choose between D&D 3.5 and any other system, I'd choose the latter.

However, people seem to love it, so it must be doing something right. Since you bought it, you might as well play it and form your own opinions.

((If you want a great pulp game, try Eden's All Flesh Must Be Eaten and its Pulp Zombies supplement, or Spirit of the Century.))

[Tetsubo 57]

My opinion on Savage Worlds can be summed up thusly: if I have to choose between D&D 3.5 and Savage Worlds, I'd choose the former. If I have to choose between D&D 3.5 and any other system, I'd choose the latter.

However, people seem to love it, so it must be doing something right. Since you bought it, you might as well play it and form your own opinions.

((If you want a great pulp game, try Eden's All Flesh Must Be Eaten and its Pulp Zombies supplement, or Spirit of the Century.))

I think Savage Worlds does generic better than 3.5. Though I do love the OGL.

But if I wanted a supers game I would play either M&M or Blood of Heroes (DC Heroes 3rd edition basically).

Savage Worlds has a lot of very cool fan created material and a lot of third party books well worth reading. The best I've seen so far being The Day After Ragnarok.

[DrakeRunner]

My problem with the system is that it seems that as novice characters, there's very little to distinguish the characters from each other in the mechanical sense. I'm planning on running a mercenary/swashbuckling campaign set in spelljammer (Since the vancian casting-based fuel system setting doesn't translate well to 3rd/4th, I figured just transplant it to an entirely different system, one with far less rules period.) We started to do character generation, and starting out as novices, I was worried about the amount of character options.

I'm still going to try it, but I'm still worried.

[Daosus]

Savage Worlds has a problem in how it's perceived. First, it really runs a lot better than it reads. A lot of the rules are a bit quirky, but that's because they came out of a lot of playtesting and just work in play. Second, unlike a lot of skill-based systems, it's the Edges that make a big difference between characters. That's not immediately apparent, but quite true. Third, the numbers seem similar, but because the target numbers are small too, a +1 makes a big difference.

For example, a character with the Wizard Professional Edge uses one less Power Point if he rolls over 8 on his magic roll. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but it means he has much more staying power over a character that doesn't have the edge.

So, let's say I want to make an archer. I take my Shooting up to d8 (respectable) and take Trademark Weapon and Marksman. Now, if I don't move, I get a +3 to my attack rolls. Doesn't seem like much, again, but the TN to hit someone within your first range increment is 4. That basically means you need to not roll a 1 on both your Shooting d8 and your Wild d6 to miss. And THAT means that you can start accepting penalties to your Shooting in order to do cool stuff like bypass armor and do extra damage. Two Edges have really differentiated the way you play your archer vs. a guy who focused on melee/magic/social and just carries a bow around to shoot at range.

I am currently playing in a 4E game, and will soon be playing in Pathfinder, and I really believe there are no game systems that do "DnD" better than those two. If you choose to play Savage Worlds, I strongly suggest you stay away from fantasy for the first game, as your players will be encumbered by notions from the two great games I mentioned.

With all of that said, SW is not the ultimate system, and has a few weaknesses. It does not handle superhuman play very well, including massively epic high fantasy (this might change with the re-release of Shaintar). It tends to favor a high-action style of play over careful planning or keeping track of details, spells, or status effects. Also, the core rules are complete, but not very flavorful. If you're writing your own setting from scratch, this is great, but you have to come up with all that flavor. DnD is nice because you have a lot of that work done for you (how magic works, there are gods that grant spells, etc), and you don't get that in SW. I would suggest grabbing a free preview for one of their excellent settings, as those have a lot of flavor in them. Then, buy the setting and run the first few adventures for your friends.