Savage Worlds is pretty rad.

If you're not aware of it, Savage Worlds is a "universal" system from Pinnacle Entertainment. When I say 'universal', I mean that you could run almost any setting, within reason, from D&D to something like James Bond, all using a similar framework. You can get some free rules here that go over the basics, and the full book is only $10.

I haven't noticed anybody talk about it here, and there's barely anything about it on its own page. The blurb on it on the [1] page is pretty off, too, sadly. Does anybody else but me use this? I've always had an interest in it, and I might actually say it's pretty much THE system of choice for me.

It's pretty fast, sure, which I personally like, and there's this general feeling that even characters just starting out are going to be pretty badass because of their extra die. But there's still a good bit of customization in there, although it never hurts to throw in just a few custom Edges (think Feats) and Hindrances, (bad things, basically) depending on your setting. There's a ton of extra content for the system, too, unofficial or otherwise, so, with some work, you could probably make any 'traditional' RPG you wanted.

I've actually played a few sessions of Dragonstar (Think D&D meets Star Wars) in this, and it's been working REALLY well. You can have a combat with about six or so guys end in about 15 minutes or less.

So, TLDR: Does anybody use this, or have they used this in the past, and what are their thoughts on it?

Is the Super Powers companion THAT bad? I've never actually used anything with it yet. I admit that the power system could stand to be a bit more flexible, though. Also, you know you can use bennies to undo Shaken, right? Just making sure.

edited 20th May '14 11:23:01 AM by Bobinator

Used it in the past, got a campaign im a player on currently. GM'd a conversion of Rogue Trader for it a while back. I find it's great for some settings, and less great for others (Its terrible for making super heroes based games, despite having rules for such in the corebook and an entire suplement dedicated to super heroes)

It's fun, though I am not 100% sold on the latest editions' chase rules (I feel they go too far in the contrived rules which makes the chases unrealistic).

I find that in a setting with modern full auto weapons and melee combats (like 40K), some adjustments are necessary, as otherwise melee combat severely falls short of ranged combats' capabilities.

My main beef with the system is the shaken mechanic. It's inelegant, and quite frankly, boring. I hate the idea that a core part of the game is making players waste their turns and "not" play the game.

That said, it's very fast and adaptable.

edited 20th May '14 11:19:12 AM by CobraPrime

(For the record, if you're gonna reply to a post after you, make a reply, don't edit your post coz then I got no way to know you replied)

Is the Super Powers companion THAT bad? I've never actually used anything with it yet. I admit that the power system could stand to be a bit more flexible, though. Also, you know you can use bennies to undo Shaken, right? Just making sure.

It's not bad. It's just that Savage Worlds cannot do superheroes period. The Compendium has some frankly inspired ideas, especially to make heroes with wide arrays of powers and keep them balanced within themselves. However, by the nature of the way SW works, you end up with some super heroes who feel really... underpowered. For one, SW works on Random Number God. It's VERY common for a weakling to take out something terrifyingly powerful in one shot just because their rolls aced a whole lot. So you've built Ironman, but Ironman can be taken out by a thug with a crowbar. Similarly, the way rolls in general work, it's hard to "Feel" superhuman. If the regular human soldier has a d8 in shooting, is your "Green Arrow" character really that better with a d12 in shooting?

In general, Savage Worlds cannot handle large power gaps. Because an end game character can be taken out by a 5xp extra who got lucky, you'd need to overcompensate and thus end up making characters who are so strong the system breaks (Having toughnesses higher than any weapon could ever roll). As such SW works best when you're dealing with universes where everyone is nearly the same power level.

And yes, you can use bennies to undo shaken. You only get three though, less your GM hands them out mid game (A lot of G Ms don't) and those same Bennies are needed for when a mook innevitably aces his damage roll three times and manages to one-shot kill you. Or when you're driving where a single bad draw with a bad skill roll may kill the entire party.

edited 20th May '14 12:10:25 PM by CobraPrime

Hmm... yeah, I get what you mean, and how that could be an issue. I think the best way to handle something like that would be to say enemies come in multiple 'power levels', much like player characters get Rank. So maybe you could have on enemy type that gets a Wild Die, but can't have their dice explode, or maybe an NPC that can take multiple hits, but they don't get a Wild Die. I'd need to put together a quick little chart, one that goes up to "Mook" to "Goon" to "Henchman" and beyond, but still.

As for the Green Arrow thing, that's where edges and ESPECIALLY trappings become super important. Maybe against the dude with the gun, you can shoot faster than he can, or your arrows can go through sheer steel, or any technological malfunctions won't hurt you like they will him, because it's a bow. Stuff like that.

I think making it so enemies don't have their dice explode unless they're meant to be a major threat would be the biggest thing. A dude with a crowbar might get a total of 18 damage if he's really, really lucky, but he'll never get much more beyond that. When you move to alien shock troopers who have laser crowbars, then it's time to have the dice get to exploding. Just give your "extras" different features depending on how much of a fight you want, I'd say.

Again, I'm not saying you don't have a point. This is just how I'd personally fix the issues, myself.

edited 20th May '14 3:56:14 PM by Bobinator

There are fix, but then the issue is the more you add up, the more you start getting rather complex and crunchy, which sort of goes against the whole point of Savage Worlds approach (Simple, Fast, Fun).

It's not a bad system, it just has limitations that makes it better suited for certain type of games than others. Worlds where you characters are only a bit stronger than most "regular folks" (As opposed to say, D&D Epic Level Campaigns where you're walking demigods). Urban fantasy, noir-style story, military stories, etc... It's still a very versatile system that manages to remain simple. And it has some kickass settings: Deadlands, Solomon Kane, Rippers...

For me, it's the easiness, I guess. I've tried, like, REALLY tried to like GURPS, but it just wasn't doing it for me, and pretty much any other universal system just doesn't have to anything to work with or has a ton of other issues, like BESM.

...Hmm... you know, now that I think about it... how does one host games around here, if you happen to know? Now you've got me brainstorming how well a quick D&D-style campaign with this would go with a couple of extra rules in the player's favor. Maybe I'll make a few quick classes and show people how it works, when I have less stuff on the backburner.

There's a (Funded in 15 min) Kickstarter for Savage Worlds Adventurer's Edition ongoing.