I love how Savage Worlds is generic, and you can very easily layer on a setting and it's rules. It's super easy to build on top of SW. Supers is probably the best supers system I've played. Savage Rifts is pretty awesome as well. As a long time DND player it was refreshing to learn the game at the table. MACE for the win.
My group switched to Savage Worlds close to three years ago. We love it - no one is pining for D&D. Currently we are using the "Pathfinder for Savage Worlds" version.
Savage Worlds is definitely one of the top best systems out there. My favorite and main system. I've been running a Cyberpunk + Fantasy campaign in it for months now.
One of the silver linings of the whole Wizards/OGL fiasco is my renewed interest in SWADE! Thank you for the many helpful videos like this one that are helping bring me up to speed on this unique universal system. I played a decent amount of GURPS 3e back in the 90s, and I have to say I like SW so much more, although both have excellent sourcebooks/settings.
This is the exact video I was looking for! Thanks to WotC's recent shenanigans, I and my D&D players are looking at either Cyberpunk or Savage Worlds for a new campaign. Being able to compare what they already know in D&D to how Savage Worlds does things is incredibly helpful!
As fan and player of Cyberpunk since the 2103 boxed set up to Cybergeneration (and owner of Red), if I had to choose between CP and SW it’d be SW, every time. By all means use the CP lore and world, but I highly recommend SWADE coupled with Sprawlrunners. That’ll give you a great Cyberpunk hack, pun very much intended.
Wow, great overview. I am in the process of launching a homebrew world and adventurer’s guild. I was going to use 5e, but kind of burned out on how badly balanced the 5e classes are, the complexity creep, the OGL debacle, and disappointment in what I have seen in the OneDnd playtest. Savage Worlds is looking really good, and the Foundry VTT support seems good. What finally won me over was the beauty of plot-point settings and adventures which is how I wish D&D stuff was written. Gonna enjoy digging into your channel vids to get myself up to speed.
As a long time ttrpg player/dm that has focused mainly on D&D 5e for the past few years, I really appreciate your content. It has really helped me reboraden my horizons, and I really hope to find some Savage Worlds games to play soon!
Played dnd for many years but once you go to a skill based game and away from class ones, there's just no going back. The tactile elements like bennies and the adventure deck are awesome too.
I have been using Savage Worlds for a few years now for some games. I have run Sengoku Japanese fantasy, actual trad fantasy, pulp, hard scifi and space opera. My players love the adventure deck cards. They can produce some interesting results. Not always useful but sometimes just perfect. I have made custom decks for all my genres.
I haven't played a lot of Savage Worlds (3 one shots, the first with you at gencon last summer), but one of the things that has drawn me too it is all the subsystems. I feel like the dramatic tasks and social conflicts bring a lot to the system. They do a really good job of incorporating the character's traits, the player's critical thinking by having them declare their action, and strategy with the benny economy built into it. It seems to add just enough structure and a general template that lets you navigate several different kinds of ways for solving problems that the party encounters.
I love a lot about how SW is built out, the only two things that don't go over well at my tables is the swinginess of exploding dice, and the the "gimmickiness" of the playing cards. The exploding dice lends the game more often to luck than skill in a lot of ways, especially with lower dice, so many avoid going for d12s since it is more or less a flat chance at being more random and a much less chance of getting multiple explosions. The playing cards are fine and even welcome to a degree in turn order, but for other things like chases and social combat, for example, it ends up feeling like a. mini-game that kind of brings our group out of the immersion or narrative. Everything else about the system is really great! I love so much about the power system, the simplicity of its adoption, etc.
Good vid. Personally, the initiative system is one of my favorite things about SW. It's so divorced from the main mechanics and that makes it a great method to port over to other games with minimal fuss. Just pass the cards out every round to determine turn order and when someone gets a Joker, things get more exciting and then you reshuffle the deck! One of the mechanics that some people just bounce off of is the damage system. It's just not as simple as grinding down a resource, and doing that head math over and over and over again gets grating, IME. It's also one of those integral systems that, if changed, creates a shock wave for how other things work, which is unfortunate. Other than that, SW is a great system for many settings, though the way it does supers is somewhat clunky (via the Super-Powered Companion supplement) because you're literally mounting that system on top of a regular SW character instead of integrating it into its existing system.
I went to the forums and asked this question but did not get an answer. Perhaps I can get one here: I am thinking of trying Savage Worlds, what do I need to get (must have to play the game)? What should I get (recommendations)? What is the best way to go about getting what I need (kickstarter, home website, drivethrurpg, etc)? I am looking to play medieval fantasy, sci-fi, and magic (must have good magic system) so are there any additional books to get for those settings? Finally, what about adventures/modules. Do they have them, do you recommend them or 3rd party ones? And where to get those as well. Thanks for any help.
Many questions so I'll see what I can do. You can go directly to the peginc.com site and purchase a copy of Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE) as your starting point. This is the core rule book that also includes a small bestiary. It's everything you need to play many different genres. However, if you want to go deep into fantasy, I recommend getting the Fantasy Companion from PEG. For different genres where you want additional flavor, you can get what are called setting books. These are from PEG and third parties. Most setting books include adventures or a campaign (called a plot-point campaign) to get you started. Some setting books for Sci-Fi you might investigate are Battlelords of the 23 Century, Deadlands: Lost Colony, and Interface Zero 3.0. So that's all you need. SWADE is enough for plenty of games and grab a setting if you want more detail setting rules and some adventures. Hope this helps.
One of the things I don't get is the static target number. I'm going to try to jump the 10 foot chasm... Target number four I'm going to try to jump the 20 foot chasm... Target number four Am I understanding this properly?
The target number stays consistent at 4 but the difference is in the modifiers. The penalties or bonuses are what set the stakes of the action. For example, when shooting a target there are a variety of things that impact -- such as illumination, cover, unstable platforms, etc. For the chasm jump, the GM should provide the modifier for the action based on the difficulty. Jumping the 10' chasm might have a -2 modifier and the 20 foot might have -6 (if allowed to try it). Rolling your athletics and subtracting the modifier is then what must be greater than the target of 4.
Savage Worlds is my favorite system. My only issue is the naming of some things. Bennies, does anyone actually ever say that? Raises, Aces and Wild cards? I know the roots come from OG Deadlands but the names feel a little silly. When I play Savage Worlds I use these Alias's: Bennies: Hero Points, Raises: Crits, Wild Cards: Heroes, Wild Die: Hero Die. If I play a different system like Cyberpunk I change the name to something in that universe. Makes it feel more grounded. But other than that, it's a fantastic system!
It's really cool if you theme the mechanics for the flavor of the game. In my games, I do refer to everything by the core names (bennies, raises, etc.). It never occurred to me not to use the names given in the system.
Wild Card opponents get 2 bennies to start and the GM starts with 1 benny per player as well. The GM can spend them as would a player. Combat can be easier if everyone stands face-to-face and swings as in some games. Combat is very challenging in SW if you take advantage of the rules (like cover) for the foes and you recognize exploding dice can take our a wild card with one good roll. Keep the big bad protected, use waves of extras, throw in a wild-card lieutenant. Episode 35 discussed techniques to build challenging encounters that might be interesting to you.
I love that armor feels like armor, and parry makes you feel like and experience figther. it so dum in DND that you don't get better at defending your self the more experiend you get. it is all about the dex, and or amore.
Great explanation. For all thise curious DnD players... give Savage Worlds a try, you won't regret it!
I love how Savage Worlds is generic, and you can very easily layer on a setting and it's rules. It's super easy to build on top of SW. Supers is probably the best supers system I've played. Savage Rifts is pretty awesome as well. As a long time DND player it was refreshing to learn the game at the table. MACE for the win.
My group switched to Savage Worlds close to three years ago. We love it - no one is pining for D&D. Currently we are using the "Pathfinder for Savage Worlds" version.
Savage Worlds is definitely one of the top best systems out there. My favorite and main system. I've been running a Cyberpunk + Fantasy campaign in it for months now.
One of the silver linings of the whole Wizards/OGL fiasco is my renewed interest in SWADE! Thank you for the many helpful videos like this one that are helping bring me up to speed on this unique universal system.
I played a decent amount of GURPS 3e back in the 90s, and I have to say I like SW so much more, although both have excellent sourcebooks/settings.
This is the exact video I was looking for! Thanks to WotC's recent shenanigans, I and my D&D players are looking at either Cyberpunk or Savage Worlds for a new campaign. Being able to compare what they already know in D&D to how Savage Worlds does things is incredibly helpful!
Just remember that Savage world is a system not setting, so you can apply it to EVERYTING, and for my little experience, it works well with it!:D
As fan and player of Cyberpunk since the 2103 boxed set up to Cybergeneration (and owner of Red), if I had to choose between CP and SW it’d be SW, every time. By all means use the CP lore and world, but I highly recommend SWADE coupled with Sprawlrunners. That’ll give you a great Cyberpunk hack, pun very much intended.
Great stuff. SW is my rules set of choice as well.
Hello, Savage Siblings!
Wow, great overview. I am in the process of launching a homebrew world and adventurer’s guild. I was going to use 5e, but kind of burned out on how badly balanced the 5e classes are, the complexity creep, the OGL debacle, and disappointment in what I have seen in the OneDnd playtest. Savage Worlds is looking really good, and the Foundry VTT support seems good. What finally won me over was the beauty of plot-point settings and adventures which is how I wish D&D stuff was written.
Gonna enjoy digging into your channel vids to get myself up to speed.
As a long time ttrpg player/dm that has focused mainly on D&D 5e for the past few years, I really appreciate your content. It has really helped me reboraden my horizons, and I really hope to find some Savage Worlds games to play soon!
Played dnd for many years but once you go to a skill based game and away from class ones, there's just no going back. The tactile elements like bennies and the adventure deck are awesome too.
I have been using Savage Worlds for a few years now for some games. I have run Sengoku Japanese fantasy, actual trad fantasy, pulp, hard scifi and space opera. My players love the adventure deck cards. They can produce some interesting results. Not always useful but sometimes just perfect. I have made custom decks for all my genres.
Trying to get my group to try out Savage Worlds right now. Great timing on this video. 👌🏽
I haven't played a lot of Savage Worlds (3 one shots, the first with you at gencon last summer), but one of the things that has drawn me too it is all the subsystems. I feel like the dramatic tasks and social conflicts bring a lot to the system. They do a really good job of incorporating the character's traits, the player's critical thinking by having them declare their action, and strategy with the benny economy built into it. It seems to add just enough structure and a general template that lets you navigate several different kinds of ways for solving problems that the party encounters.
I love a lot about how SW is built out, the only two things that don't go over well at my tables is the swinginess of exploding dice, and the the "gimmickiness" of the playing cards.
The exploding dice lends the game more often to luck than skill in a lot of ways, especially with lower dice, so many avoid going for d12s since it is more or less a flat chance at being more random and a much less chance of getting multiple explosions.
The playing cards are fine and even welcome to a degree in turn order, but for other things like chases and social combat, for example, it ends up feeling like a. mini-game that kind of brings our group out of the immersion or narrative.
Everything else about the system is really great! I love so much about the power system, the simplicity of its adoption, etc.
Good vid.
Personally, the initiative system is one of my favorite things about SW. It's so divorced from the main mechanics and that makes it a great method to port over to other games with minimal fuss. Just pass the cards out every round to determine turn order and when someone gets a Joker, things get more exciting and then you reshuffle the deck!
One of the mechanics that some people just bounce off of is the damage system. It's just not as simple as grinding down a resource, and doing that head math over and over and over again gets grating, IME. It's also one of those integral systems that, if changed, creates a shock wave for how other things work, which is unfortunate.
Other than that, SW is a great system for many settings, though the way it does supers is somewhat clunky (via the Super-Powered Companion supplement) because you're literally mounting that system on top of a regular SW character instead of integrating it into its existing system.
I went to the forums and asked this question but did not get an answer. Perhaps I can get one here: I am thinking of trying Savage Worlds, what do I need to get (must have to play the game)? What should I get (recommendations)? What is the best way to go about getting what I need (kickstarter, home website, drivethrurpg, etc)? I am looking to play medieval fantasy, sci-fi, and magic (must have good magic system) so are there any additional books to get for those settings? Finally, what about adventures/modules. Do they have them, do you recommend them or 3rd party ones? And where to get those as well. Thanks for any help.
Many questions so I'll see what I can do. You can go directly to the peginc.com site and purchase a copy of Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE) as your starting point. This is the core rule book that also includes a small bestiary. It's everything you need to play many different genres. However, if you want to go deep into fantasy, I recommend getting the Fantasy Companion from PEG. For different genres where you want additional flavor, you can get what are called setting books. These are from PEG and third parties. Most setting books include adventures or a campaign (called a plot-point campaign) to get you started. Some setting books for Sci-Fi you might investigate are Battlelords of the 23 Century, Deadlands: Lost Colony, and Interface Zero 3.0. So that's all you need. SWADE is enough for plenty of games and grab a setting if you want more detail setting rules and some adventures. Hope this helps.
@@ASavageWorldsGM Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it!
Awesome!
Savage Worlds is my favorite too! We gotta spread this video to our jaded WopC fans.
One of the things I don't get is the static target number.
I'm going to try to jump the 10 foot chasm... Target number four
I'm going to try to jump the 20 foot chasm... Target number four
Am I understanding this properly?
The target number stays consistent at 4 but the difference is in the modifiers. The penalties or bonuses are what set the stakes of the action. For example, when shooting a target there are a variety of things that impact -- such as illumination, cover, unstable platforms, etc. For the chasm jump, the GM should provide the modifier for the action based on the difficulty. Jumping the 10' chasm might have a -2 modifier and the 20 foot might have -6 (if allowed to try it). Rolling your athletics and subtracting the modifier is then what must be greater than the target of 4.
@@ASavageWorldsGM got it. Thank you for the clarification!
Savage Worlds is my favorite system. My only issue is the naming of some things. Bennies, does anyone actually ever say that? Raises, Aces and Wild cards? I know the roots come from OG Deadlands but the names feel a little silly. When I play Savage Worlds I use these Alias's: Bennies: Hero Points, Raises: Crits, Wild Cards: Heroes, Wild Die: Hero Die. If I play a different system like Cyberpunk I change the name to something in that universe. Makes it feel more grounded. But other than that, it's a fantastic system!
It's really cool if you theme the mechanics for the flavor of the game. In my games, I do refer to everything by the core names (bennies, raises, etc.). It never occurred to me not to use the names given in the system.
So is combat easy? Do monsters get bennies as well because bennies for the players make it sound like combat is very cheesable
Wild Card opponents get 2 bennies to start and the GM starts with 1 benny per player as well. The GM can spend them as would a player. Combat can be easier if everyone stands face-to-face and swings as in some games. Combat is very challenging in SW if you take advantage of the rules (like cover) for the foes and you recognize exploding dice can take our a wild card with one good roll. Keep the big bad protected, use waves of extras, throw in a wild-card lieutenant. Episode 35 discussed techniques to build challenging encounters that might be interesting to you.
I love that armor feels like armor, and parry makes you feel like and experience figther. it so dum in DND that you don't get better at defending your self the more experiend you get. it is all about the dex, and or amore.
Getting a nat 20 on initiative in D&D is cool.
But spending a Bennie to pick an other initiative card and drawing a Joker at Savage:
Delicious.