Yes, absolutely true. To be fair, most people understand D&D rules, as much as anyone can. It's tough to forget all that mess and play a new game with new rules.
Great stuff as always. Definitely promoting number 4. Always give bennies freely, use them for your NPCs - but not at the expense of the players enjoyment (when they get *that one great roll/roleplay* moment) and encourage the expenditure of bennies as new players tend to hoard them for that *special occasion* when they dont need to. - DW PEG
While all are so true, especially tips 1-3 seem to make up half of the questions in any social media. „Should I try this“ or „wyt of this rule/mechanic/modification“ pops up so often. I found so many mechanics are already there and most of the time easy. Thank you!
Try doing Interludes when you notice their Bennies are getting low. Throwing in an Interlude just before an important encounter gives you a chance to reward Bennies AND slows the narrative down and gives the players a chance to contemplate the coming encounter.
Mathematically, nothing. But there is a tone that changes things. Also, when the GM sets a TN, that can create a tendency to not state the TN ahead of time. Edit: giving myself to sit and answer, there are situations where it matters that it's a penalty.
I think his point was that it creates stability in the player's minds knowing that the TN is always 4. I agree with you though, once you understand the system it really wouldn't matter which you use.
@@lizzard777 plus there are some edges and actions (like Aim) that can negate penalties. It's a lot easier to stick to the base 4 TN and modify the dice
I have always phrased it as "The base difficulty is 4 and, due to reasons X and Y, the difficulty is raised by 2 for each making it difficulty 8." This achieves both a consistency that you suggest, and it makes the encounter easier and quicker. The player has a clear number to reach and only have to add up their rolls.
Bennies for bad guys, played in a game where my character pulled off the perfect assassination, got a raise on stealth and another raise on the attack as well as the damage exploding, would have killed the main bad guy in one hit, pretty heroic and memorable, then the GM decided to use bennies to reduce the damage to shaken, and the bad guy then basically wiped out half the party. I was a bit peeved as it was for a moment one of those gaming experiences you talk about forever and I felt it had been stolen from me.
@@TomVCunningham Betrayal - it is in fantasy companion and in sci-fi companion. If this Setting Rule is in play, characters may not Soak Wounds caused by The Drop, nor may they spend Bennies to resist a Knockout Blow. As always, the Game Master decides when an attacker has The Drop. A butler striking a guest from behind as he dines, a lover stabbing his betrothed with a concealed knife, or musicians suddenly firing crossbows at unsuspecting wedding guests all make thematic sense here. Betrayal only works when the defender is truly shocked and surprised by his attacker’s actions.
That is a hard one. Sometimes crazy success is a double-edged sword. It can be seen as cool, and other times it is seen as "Oh. Is that it? I thought the guy would be harder to beat." I think it is also how the GM plays the character soaking it. Something like, "Oh, well done. You actually landed a hit on me. Now it is my turn." Something super snarky and arrogant.
Goose, I've got a rules question. For the SWPF cleric, that seasoned power does a Wound if the undead don't resist. Would this shake a skeleton or destroy it outright? I've got to be honest, I've read that wounds table over and over and it's more confusing than helpful.
Hey Cavemancavan. Undead do not get to not resist. If you just want to say fail, that is fine. In either case all would take a Wound, which is a -1 to everything. Most undead are going to be Extras, so it would just kill them, but if it is a Wildcard, they would just have one of their 4 Wounds marked off. Which wound table are you referring to that you are confused about?
@TheSavageGoose I'm more just making sure when it says "takes a wound" that it does an actual wound, not Shaken and then needs another one. And the one on 127 (129 pdf)
@@Cavemancavan Correct. It does mean an actual Wound. The table is trying to illustrate something that I think gets over explained sometimes, but it is not relevant to that ability.
Question: if your target number is 4, but it is a negative 1 penalty wouldn’t they need to roll a 5? So why not just say the TN is a 5? Especially when you start having multiple penalties or bonuses. The GM needs to decide the +/- why should you and the player both suffer the math?
I disagree with number 1; it would onboard players faster if you just said, "hit a 6" rather than -2. It also slows down the game to have players fish for bonuses/penalties and you always get into conversations about, "did you include the -2 lighting penalty when you said you rolled a 5?" This is a hang over from the days of it being a war game when you had two competing players with a ref who declared the cave section of the board dim light, so players would know there is a penalty if they move over there. Benie baiting is something a gm should learn early; "are you happy with that common knowledge roll, you will know more if you get a raise..." it gets players spending them more instead of holding them. Giving more bennies is genre specific. Not bad advice, but conditional. If you are playing space marines who are the biggest bad ash around, give them a Bennie at the start of every fight. If you are playing space truckers who are in a horror game because the alien egg in cargo hatched, be stingy with the bennies. Open secrets are good. Ie, "roll notice to see the ninjas hiding in the bushes," so they know how to spend their bennies. I disagree with not adding rules too. The system is flexible to allow for a bit of crunch here or there, especially if it speeds something up more than the existing. Ie, supply dice; you keep a die amount of consumables so you do not have to count bullets and trail rations. At the end of a fight roll to see if the die goes down. It makes running out of ammo or supplies fast, furious, and dramatic instead of counting beans. There are a hundred little ways to change the game to fit your table that you have not thought of yet. Just learn why a fence was put there before you remove it.
The biggest mistake is adapting d&d to do everything insted of using Savage Worlds ;)
LoL - I mean, you're not wrong
Yes, absolutely true. To be fair, most people understand D&D rules, as much as anyone can. It's tough to forget all that mess and play a new game with new rules.
@@RoberiusRex oh no, we must learn something new 😉 come on!
Man, these videos are saving my life as a New GM for Savage, thank you so much for the content !! ❤
Great stuff as always. Definitely promoting number 4.
Always give bennies freely, use them for your NPCs - but not at the expense of the players enjoyment (when they get *that one great roll/roleplay* moment) and encourage the expenditure of bennies as new players tend to hoard them for that *special occasion* when they dont need to. - DW PEG
Smart. Concise. Clear. Good video.
Thank you!
While all are so true, especially tips 1-3 seem to make up half of the questions in any social media. „Should I try this“ or „wyt of this rule/mechanic/modification“ pops up so often.
I found so many mechanics are already there and most of the time easy.
Thank you!
The repeating reddit posts were the inspiration for this, and my upcoming player mistakes video.
Good call!
New to Savage Worlds. Played Deadlands once at a con. Picked up Swade and East Texas University.
I love ETU!
Thanks for making this type of video. I'm running my 2nd Deadlands game in a couple weeks!
I'll have another mistakes video for Players in a couple of weeks!
I'm guilty of #4 - I'm really bad at remembering to give out bennies in any system (inspiration, bennies, so forth)!
Honestly, me too. Lol.
Try doing Interludes when you notice their Bennies are getting low. Throwing in an Interlude just before an important encounter gives you a chance to reward Bennies AND slows the narrative down and gives the players a chance to contemplate the coming encounter.
What difference does it make to tell them the TN is 6 vs roll with - 2? Either way they need a 6
Mathematically, nothing. But there is a tone that changes things. Also, when the GM sets a TN, that can create a tendency to not state the TN ahead of time.
Edit: giving myself to sit and answer, there are situations where it matters that it's a penalty.
I think his point was that it creates stability in the player's minds knowing that the TN is always 4. I agree with you though, once you understand the system it really wouldn't matter which you use.
Raises calculate from the TN, so that would be different
@@lizzard777 plus there are some edges and actions (like Aim) that can negate penalties. It's a lot easier to stick to the base 4 TN and modify the dice
I have always phrased it as "The base difficulty is 4 and, due to reasons X and Y, the difficulty is raised by 2 for each making it difficulty 8."
This achieves both a consistency that you suggest, and it makes the encounter easier and quicker. The player has a clear number to reach and only have to add up their rolls.
Can you do a video about running chases on VTTs?
I don't use VTTs very often. When I do I usually use Owlbear Rodeo. Is there a particular problem you are running into when doing chases on a VTT?
@@TheSavageGoosethe Chase cards grid doesn’t seem to align right on roll20. Does Savage Worlds work well on Owlbear Rodeo?
Bennies for bad guys, played in a game where my character pulled off the perfect assassination, got a raise on stealth and another raise on the attack as well as the damage exploding, would have killed the main bad guy in one hit, pretty heroic and memorable, then the GM decided to use bennies to reduce the damage to shaken, and the bad guy then basically wiped out half the party. I was a bit peeved as it was for a moment one of those gaming experiences you talk about forever and I felt it had been stolen from me.
@@feralgamersincrpg there is a setting rule which prohibits to use bennies in such a scenario! 😁
@@Stefanator1312 What is that setting rule called?
@@TomVCunningham Betrayal - it is in fantasy companion and in sci-fi companion. If this Setting Rule is in play, characters
may not Soak Wounds caused by The Drop,
nor may they spend Bennies to resist a
Knockout Blow.
As always, the Game Master decides
when an attacker has The Drop. A butler
striking a guest from behind as he dines,
a lover stabbing his betrothed with a
concealed knife, or musicians suddenly
firing crossbows at unsuspecting wedding
guests all make thematic sense here.
Betrayal only works when the defender
is truly shocked and surprised by his
attacker’s actions.
That is a hard one. Sometimes crazy success is a double-edged sword. It can be seen as cool, and other times it is seen as "Oh. Is that it? I thought the guy would be harder to beat." I think it is also how the GM plays the character soaking it. Something like, "Oh, well done. You actually landed a hit on me. Now it is my turn." Something super snarky and arrogant.
Goose, I've got a rules question. For the SWPF cleric, that seasoned power does a Wound if the undead don't resist. Would this shake a skeleton or destroy it outright?
I've got to be honest, I've read that wounds table over and over and it's more confusing than helpful.
Hey Cavemancavan.
Undead do not get to not resist. If you just want to say fail, that is fine. In either case all would take a Wound, which is a -1 to everything. Most undead are going to be Extras, so it would just kill them, but if it is a Wildcard, they would just have one of their 4 Wounds marked off.
Which wound table are you referring to that you are confused about?
@TheSavageGoose I'm more just making sure when it says "takes a wound" that it does an actual wound, not Shaken and then needs another one.
And the one on 127 (129 pdf)
@@Cavemancavan Correct. It does mean an actual Wound. The table is trying to illustrate something that I think gets over explained sometimes, but it is not relevant to that ability.
Question: if your target number is 4, but it is a negative 1 penalty wouldn’t they need to roll a 5? So why not just say the TN is a 5? Especially when you start having multiple penalties or bonuses. The GM needs to decide the +/- why should you and the player both suffer the math?
The game is worded in terms of penalties. Penalties can be counteracted, reduced, etc.
I disagree with number 1; it would onboard players faster if you just said, "hit a 6" rather than -2. It also slows down the game to have players fish for bonuses/penalties and you always get into conversations about, "did you include the -2 lighting penalty when you said you rolled a 5?" This is a hang over from the days of it being a war game when you had two competing players with a ref who declared the cave section of the board dim light, so players would know there is a penalty if they move over there.
Benie baiting is something a gm should learn early; "are you happy with that common knowledge roll, you will know more if you get a raise..." it gets players spending them more instead of holding them.
Giving more bennies is genre specific. Not bad advice, but conditional. If you are playing space marines who are the biggest bad ash around, give them a Bennie at the start of every fight. If you are playing space truckers who are in a horror game because the alien egg in cargo hatched, be stingy with the bennies.
Open secrets are good. Ie, "roll notice to see the ninjas hiding in the bushes," so they know how to spend their bennies.
I disagree with not adding rules too. The system is flexible to allow for a bit of crunch here or there, especially if it speeds something up more than the existing. Ie, supply dice; you keep a die amount of consumables so you do not have to count bullets and trail rations. At the end of a fight roll to see if the die goes down. It makes running out of ammo or supplies fast, furious, and dramatic instead of counting beans. There are a hundred little ways to change the game to fit your table that you have not thought of yet. Just learn why a fence was put there before you remove it.