I've picked up a few of the Savage Worlds setting books but I'm not totally sold on the system. It seems too simple and awkward (but I have yet to try it on my players). What has your experience been with Savage Worlds?
Heh. Just noticed this thread. I posted one not 5 minutes ago about Deadlands: Reloaded. It is the only Savage Worlds I play and have very little experience with it right now. Were you looking for something specific about Savage World's?
The rules seem less restrcitive, which scared me at first since I only have played D&D, and I want to see how that works out with my current game group.
Goo
I thought the rules looked a little clunky. I'm willing to give them a try. I think they would work better for certain types of RPGs as opposed to others. I'd like to try a Super Hero version but I don't know if the rules can give me what I want.
I ran a group for about a year using the Necessary Evil campaign book. We had a blast. The rules worked fine. Combat wasn't as fast and furious as advertised, but a lot of that was due to everyone having super powers. The premise that supervillains must save the world really kept the players intrigued. Roleplaying all the quirks of supervillains was fun too. Personally, I'd love to see D&D adopt a "Hindrance" system like Savage Worlds. It greatly helps to minimize the power gaming.
I've played Savage Worlds, and I like it--the system is simple and flexible. It's a lot like a "stripped down" Deadlands, if you've ever played that. It works for some concepts, but I think it would be clunky with others, and I have my doubts as to whether it would hold up under a long-term campaign. But, overall, it's a decent system.
I've played Savage Worlds, and I like it--the system is simple and flexible. It's a lot like a "stripped down" Deadlands, if you've ever played that. It works for some concepts, but I think it would be clunky with others, and I have my doubts as to whether it would hold up under a long-term campaign. But, overall, it's a decent system.
That's a fair assessment. The best part is that you essentially only need two books to play...the core rulebook and a campaign book. They also usually sell a player's handout of the campaign book that cuts out all the GM-only information. Voila...
That's a fair assessment. The best part is that you essentially only need two books to play...the core rulebook and a campaign book. They also usually sell a player's handout of the campaign book that cuts out all the GM-only information. Voila...
Heck, I bought the "Explorer's Edition" at Gen Con for $10, and I could run out of that. For a full campaign...yeah, a campaign book would be nice.
NE looks like a great campaign setting! The idea of Super Villains who have to save the world is very clever.
NE looks like a great campaign setting! The idea of Super Villains who have to save the world is very clever.
First off, Savage Worlds is greatness. As you said, it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. But from what I can tell, you can run everything from a gritty, Romero-esque zombie survival game to swashbuckling pirates to superheroes.
Having said that...I like Necessary Evil. It's a cool setup. But the plot is a bit railroady, and in a way that most players aren't going to like. (Minor spoiler)
If you're willing to modify the plot and let your players go in the direction they want, it can be a blast.
I've picked up a few of the Savage Worlds setting books but I'm not totally sold on the system. It seems too simple and awkward (but I have yet to try it on my players). What has your experience been with Savage Worlds?
Was browsing around and saw this post.
I run Savage Worlds almost exclusively now. Every now and then I go off and run something else briefly (Castles and Crusades was my latest diversion), but I always come back to running SW. Its a very elegant, deceptively simple yet complete system.
I should note - I played D&D and AD&D when they were new, played dozens of different RPGs through the 80s and early 90s, took a gaming hiatus through most of the 90s and started playing again when 3e was released. We tried 3e (I really wanted to like it - and I loved Jonathan Tweet's earlier work on Over the Edge), but it just wasn't our cup of tea. After reading some recommendations for Savage Worlds, our group tried it, loved it and never looked back.
There are definitely some differences that take a bit of getting used to when you come from class based and HP based systems. It is probably easier for someone coming from CoC/Runequest, or Hero or GURPS to get the hang of Savage Worlds (its very similar to the latter two, only much simplified).
Interestingly, all the 4e "math sweet spot" stuff that I've heard about since the 4e announcement are things SW figured and solved out long ago. Novice (starting) PCs start out tougher than stock 1st level characters (of any edition), while Legendary (high level) PCs are still vulnerable to a Goblin's dagger (with a lot of luck and acing on the Goblin's part). Savage Worlds does a good job of compressing D&D levels 3 through around 6-10 (depending on version and alternate abilities and such) through the life span of a character, and your character building choices are more granular and frequent (and flexible).
I consider Paizo and Savage Worlds a great marriage of system and world/adventures. With SW you can do anything, and with Paizo you get absolute top notch materials to work with. And because its so easy to convert stuff to SW, I find it well worth the (minimal) time it takes to convert Paizo materials to Savage Worlds.
I hope you all do not mind me asking a rules question. I noticed, with the exception of Dodge which is not available until Veteran, that the target number for hitting someone with a ranged attack is flat. It seems to me everyone would be getting hit all the time.
How does this play out in actual games? Does cover become crucial? Do players actually surrender when someone gets the drop on them?
Remember, even if you are hit with a ranged attack, they still have to beat your Toughness to cause a wound (or shake) you. Since armor adds to Toughness (and shields add to your Toughness against ranged attacks), it's not as deadly as it would seem (I haven't played in an 'old west' setting though).
Yes, cover (and darkness/lighting, to a lesser extent) plays an important role, but if it isn't available it's not the end of the world. Movement (being able to cover the ground between you and a ranged attacker if you don't have a ranged attack of your own) can also be important.
I haven't seen anyone surrender when someone gets the drop on them, but it IS pretty nasty when you get the drop on someone.
Apparently my other post got eaten, but I'll reiterate that it does play well over a campaign. My Savage Worlds group played all the way through the 50 Fathoms setting book and are currently playtesting the Wonderland No More setting.
I have only recently begun taking a hard look at SW, and I have to say that I may just make the switch from d20. It seems like it can play anything, and the math backs it up (from what I've seen, anyway).
I have been keeping an eye on the 4e stuff that has been trickling out of WOTC, but I'm still very unsure about it. I like a lot of what has been done, but there are elements that leave me puzzled.
Oh, and I was able to thumb through a copy of the SW Solomon Kane book the other day. I immediately bought it, as I haven't seen production values like that in a long time. Finding others to play is another story, but suffice to say I am quite impressed.
Just my $0.02.....
As a matter of preference, I discourage armor in my campaigns. It ruins the cinematic feel for me. Obviously this causes problems for me in most systems.
Would I need to make adjustments in SW to ensure some survivability for the PCs? Perhaps I could allow Dodge at lower levels. Or I could grant a free level of Vigor for the PCs. I could also do something more radical like create a figured Dodge score based on Dexterity which would function exactly like Parry but for Ranged combat.
What sort of problems could I expect from those implementations?
You should probably pick up a copy of Savage Worlds Deadlands and see how they handle it. I haven't played in settings like yours.
I see no problem with allowing Dodge at a lower level. Not so sure about a free level of Vigor, since it would have other ripple effects. Making up a Dodge score could be interesting, but Agility is already important for certain skills (including Shooting) so that would make it even better.
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Savage Worlds plus Serenity = Happiness
Our group tried the Serenity RPG and the rules were a disaster. After some pelading we switched mid campaign to Savage Worlds and as has been said before "Never Looked Back". The system is cinematic and easy to play but has depth that is not appartent until you have been playing a few sessions. And Cover is very important in a gun fight as is ducking and consequently trying to avoid the gunfight in the first place(great social skills system).
@CourtFool - Interestingly, most of my players don't seem to like to wear much armor either, and it hasn't hampered them at all (and I am stingy, stingy, stingy when it comes to magic items). We have added a few Edges in the game to benefit unarmed characters, but for the most part they've made do without, and pretty well. As you mentioned earlier, cover is your friend, and my players will take advantage of that.
(Side note - the interplay between the "move from cover, fire, move back to cover" and Holding actions to interrupt someone doing the cover shuffle can be really interesting. And when you're in a fight like that, Jokers for initiative become all the more valuable. You really have to experience a combat like that to appreciate it and the tension it causes - its a dynamic I simply hadn't experienced in other games.)
On the flat ranged target number, keep in mind that that (unmodified) TN is 4, and most foes they face will have a d6 Shooting (and be extras), which means they hit a foe 50% of the time. With cover at +2, you're now looking at only hitting on a 6, or 16% of the time. And those are just basic hits, no raises (and no bonus damage) - which with a bow is 2d6 damage or an average of around 7-8 points of damage; just enough to Shake a character with a d6 Vigor and no armor (Toughness 5), but not enough to cause serious damage (one wound max if they're already shaken).
Now, if they're facing 20 bowmen, then they're probably in trouble, regardless of their armor - but that is by design. That is probably a good time to surrender. :)
My suggestion is the same one you'll hear on the PegInc boards - play it as-is first, and see what issues you run across (if any). We've played SW for a few years now (and wildly different types of games/campaigns) and had minimal issues with the system. And despite my constant penchant and desire for tinkering, I've found over time that most of the changes I make to the game are for flavor, not mechanics.
Thanks for the responses. I have a tendency to perceive problems that may never happen in actual game play. Unfortunately, no one in my current group is familiar with SW so I will have to run and convince them to give it a try.
I'm a recent convert to Savage Worlds myself. Tried 4E for a bit, but wasn't overly impressed, it was a bit too reliant on miniatures for my tastes. D&D 3 and 3.5 became too clunky at higher levels.
I have converted 2 players to Savage Worlds, using Conan's Hyboria as a setting, and they absolutely loved it. Almost all the stuff crammed into the Conan d20 game was reproduceable in Savage Worlds and the Fantasy Toolkits, as is. No rules conversions required!
Combat was incredible. I saw players try things in combat that players from D&D and other systems would never try. Climbing cliffs to push boulders down on top of animated statues while their ship's crew kept the statues busy, for example. NPC's were simple to create and run, and players loved being able to control friendly NPC's in combat, taking more work off of the GM's shoulders.
Using playing cards for initiative was a genius stroke as well, and bennies (SW's version of action points) were simple to use, and very valuable. Players actually used them up quite fast since they knew they would get more next session, and get 1 or 2 bonus bennies for good roleplaying and ideas.
I have another group of 6 players to convert in the weeks to come as my Conan campaign is going on hold due to a player's university schedule, and I am hoping to bust out my Pathfinder adventure paths for this.
Yeah, a little thread necromancy here.. Just wondering if anyone has updates on their Savage Worlds games? Pop'n'Fresh, did you ever convert an adventure path? I'm a little burnt out (mechanically) on Pathfinder right now, but I really want to do something with Carrion Crown. I'm thinking about getting the Fantasy booklet and the Realms of Cthulhu book and using those for the conversion.
Lately I have been interested in the Rogue Trader game. I like the premise of the game and was wondering how it would run using the SW game rules. Has anyone here had any experience with both RT and SW to comment on how it would work?
If you want to run a WH40k like game with Savage World, take look at Necropolis 2350 from Triple Ace Games :
http://www.tripleacegames.com/Necropolis.php
Very good as a setting in and for itself, or for giving you rules to convert games to SW. Closer to Deathwatch than to Rogue Trader or Dark Heresy, but a good base to build upon.
Yeah, a little thread necromancy here.. Just wondering if anyone has updates on their Savage Worlds games? Pop'n'Fresh, did you ever convert an adventure path? I'm a little burnt out (mechanically) on Pathfinder right now, but I really want to do something with Carrion Crown. I'm thinking about getting the Fantasy booklet and the Realms of Cthulhu book and using those for the conversion.
I used Curse of the Crimson Throne's storyline in a Conan campaign, running it all with Savage Worlds. It was going great until one of my players went nuts and began questioning my GM decisions in every session via internet chat (while I was at work no less).
As far as conversions go though it's pretty simple to do it as long as your have the fantasy companion. That should cover off about 80-90% of any conversion work.
Also, another great resource was this thread on converting d20 skill DC's to Savage Worlds trait check modifiers.
Oh, and one last thing. Magic items can be essentially removed from the game if you want, Savage Worlds doesn't need em! However, I would keep a few healing potions and the usual minor useful items in. Also, any really special items specific to the adventure path probably should be kept in, but again, the Fantasy Companion will help with that.
Cool, thanks for the link! I did get the Fantasy Companion and was surprised at how extensive it is.
Another question if you don't mind, how did you handle long dungeon crawls that frequent the APs? Specifically in your case,