Savage Worlds

[Saintjebus]

So, I just purchased a copy of the Savage Worlds core rulebook, plus the Necessary Evil setting. This was after the game was talked up by a friend of mine, which made me worried that it was going to be overhyped.

I was actually really impressed. It seems to be quite an elegant system.

Has anyone else played the Savage Worlds system(any setting)? Are there pitfalls I should watch out for from my players? Any powers that don't quite work right?

Also, what are some of the stories from this game? I'm curious if it is as good as it seems on a read-through.

[banjo1985]

I own the rulebook, but only really play it rather than run it. It's a decent, light touch system where the rules give you just about enough structure to play without overburdening you with stat and ability tracking. It's a stripped down version of the old Deadlands rules, which to be honest I prefer.

We play a pulpy 1940's noir-style setting, with devious villains, brave detective novel-type heroes and a bit of the bizarre thrown in. One thing you may want to consider - according to the rules a PC can't actually die, just get knocked out. This can lead to some god-complexes going around where players think their characters are invincible. Make sure there's consequences for them running blindly into danger or they might stop thinking entirely.

We've played one published story for the setting, called "The Radio Marauders", was reasonably good fun. I think it may actually be a free online download so you may want to check that one out.

[Delta]

Has anyone else played the Savage Worlds system(any setting)? Are there pitfalls I should watch out for from my players? Any powers that don't quite work right?

I've played through the whole Evernight campaign, played for some time in a homebrew Urban Fantasy setting and GM'ed some Sundered Skies and 50 Fathoms, I've also translated some Hellfrost adventures for the german Savage Worlds publisher so I think I've got some experience with the system

For one thing, magic is quite high-power in Savage Worlds, but if you're coming from D&D, that shouldn't be much of a pitfall for you, and it's not THAT bad, you can still build and play a very decent melee character. Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with the different "super power" rules from Necessary Evil, they're quite different than the regular SW rules so I can't help you out much there.

One thing to watch out for is the "randomness" of the game that might surprise some newcomers. Because of the exploding dice mechanic, you'll often have a lot of average/low rolls and then a surprising "freak roll" that goes through the roof.

The most important thing, in my opinion, is the Bennies. Many GMs new to Savage Worlds are reluctant to hand out Bennies, which is exactly the wrong way to handle it. Bennies are an important part of the game, helping the PCs accomplish what they want to do and giving them a kind of "safety net" to pull off cool stunts. So the game really depends of a kind of "Bennie flow" developing between the players and the GM, they need to spend the Bennies, and the GM needs to get them back out into the game. If you think a PC has done something cool/funny/helpful for the group, don't think too long, just hand him a Bennie. If he has played their character according to their Hindrances, they deserve a Bennie.

Concerning the last point, I always inform my group that it's actually quite alright to point out to the GM "Hey, I just did <action>, which fits <Hindrance>!", many players are otherwise reluctant to do that because they don't want to look begging, but on the other hand, it's a great help for me as a GM, because I don't remember each and every character's Hindrances all the time, especially in the thick of battle. Of course, it's quite alright to ask for a Bennie for another player's actions as well.

One last thing, to make the players familiar with their tactical options in Savage Worlds, there's this great freebie out there called the Savage Worlds Combat Survival Guide, which is a great one page summary of the combat options, there's really no reason for a new Savage Worlds player not to have one.

All in all, Savage Worlds is a very elegant, fast-paced, yet still tactical system, and, most important, it's fun to play, and at the end of the day, I think that's what it's all about, isn't it?

[Raum]

So, I just purchased a copy of the Savage Worlds core rulebook, plus the Necessary Evil setting. This was after the game was talked up by a friend of mine, which made me worried that it was going to be overhyped.

I was actually really impressed. It seems to be quite an elegant system.

Has anyone else played the Savage Worlds system(any setting)? Are there pitfalls I should watch out for from my players? Any powers that don't quite work right?

Savage Worlds is balanced pretty well. The only easy 'abuse' I can think of off the top of my head is stacking Charisma modifiers (you can get +6 or more fairly easily). That's really only an issue if the GM lets it get used as some type of charm or mind control. There are other potential pitfalls in some of the setting specific rules (Gambler + Deal with the Devil in Deadlands for one example) but I can't think of many in the core set.

Also, what are some of the stories from this game? I'm curious if it is as good as it seems on a read-through.

I enjoy SW though I do tend to house rule the magic system. Maybe 'rewrite' is more accurate. That's not an issue with the supers system (NE and SPC) just with the core.

Do check out the Combat Survival Guide and Combat Modifiers pdfs...tactics are often key to surviving SW combat. Hope you enjoy it!

[Matthew]

You can check out the "official" settings here. Savage Heroes and Savage-Pedia are good gateway sites. My experience with the system is limited, but I would pretty much agree with what has been said so far.

[Tetsubo 57]

If you only ever get one other SW supplement, get The Day After Ragnarok. It is absolutely awesome. The best I have read within the past five years, regardless of system.

[Knaight]

There are a few pitfalls and inconsistencies. Satyr can explain better than I can, but the short version is that it is very inconsistent in detail, its extremely light, but combat still needs the grid, the skills they choose to have are a bit odd, and I would probably heavily rework that, the basic magic system is bland, uninteresting, and really not all that capable, and advancement is fairly clumsy and requires far more tracking than is really necessary, due to the pseudo-level based system they have going on, with the differently named ranks.