Savage Worlds

Overall score:

Dearest reader let me be up front with you, as a certain degree of trust must exist between us for any review to be useful. I’m a fan of Pinnacle entertainment. A big fan. They make my favorite game, Deadlands, and have produced enough quality material that they are easily one of my favorite game companies. As such, you can expect a certain amount of bias in this review, though I will remain as objective as possible. Keep that caveat in mind and we’ll get along famously.

Picture October of last year. Nice, isn’t it? Well, it was last October that I was checking out Pinnacle’s website and came across the details of a new game. Given that I still avidly use Deadlands, I wasn’t all that interested in a new game, but I checked it out anyway. It was called Savage Worlds and it was being billed as a universal rpg/miniature game combo. Big deal, right? The market is flooded with universal rpgs such as HERO, GURPS, and Big Eyes, Small Mouth, so why do we need another? Heck, there are dozens of free games on the net, such as The Window, that are just as well put together as those three. So, Pinnacle, what could possibly make your game interesting enough for me to even consider it?

Surprisingly, Pinnacle answered back through the design diary of the book’s author, Shane Hensley. Through several anecdotes he brought up some concerns that touched home with me. I started gaming in junior high school and for the decade since those days I’ve had little problem working a game in around school, girlfriends, and various and sundry social events. Little problem that is, until recently. Let’s face it, I’m busy—fitting a game into my schedule these days can be a feat. I’m not alone here either. How many gamers are struggling to indulge their hobby around family and work now? Plus, when the game actually gets going, a large combat can take up the entire session which, while it can be fun, doesn’t allow much time to indulge in the other aspects of roleplaying. So how can a gamer make the best use of the little time he has these days? This concern is shared by Mr. Hensley.

So what is his solution? Make a game that is “Fast, Furious, and Fun” (which happens to be the game’s tagline).

Savage Worlds promised to handle combats with large numbers of combatants quickly and efficiently without losing too much detail and to do this in any genre. It also promised to make running a game simple and without a lot of bookkeeping. All this without losing the depth of a roleplaying system? That’s a tall order. So were they able to meet it?

In short, the answer is a qualified “yes.” Let’s see why.

Savage Worlds is a 144 page hardbound B&W book that retails for $29.95. It’s got a walnut stock and a hair trigg…err scratch that. Art is frequent in the book and a full page illustration of a genre-specific character is opposite the start of every chapter. Iconic characters, mayhap? Now, art never makes or breaks a game for me and as a whole the art in the book is pretty good and, more importantly, evocative. But, wait a minute…some of this looks familiar. Well, one piece at least. That’s right, they recycled some art from Deadlands. It’s only one piece (that I noticed) but it’s regrettable. Would it have been so hard to purchase one more new piece of art to replace this? Well, I guess only Deadlands fans will notice… Still, the art and the layout really make the game feel larger than life.

The books I broken up into two main section: The Test Drive and The Core Rules. The Test Drive is a scaled-down version of the rules that allows players to jump right into a game and learn the basic concepts. It does its job admirably and can actually be downloaded from the Pinnacle website so you can have a taste before you buy it.

Moving on to the Core Rules, Character Creation leads the way. In Savage Worlds a character is defined by five attributes, a number of skills, edges, and hindrances. Each attribute and skill is rated by a die type from d4 to d12. When a test is called for, the player rolls the appropriate die type and tries to beat a target number. For example, if Mr. Pleasington, gentleman extraordinaire, has a Strength of d8 and needed to lift a large boulder (never mind the reason) he would roll a d8, apply modifiers, and compare it to a target number. As usual for Pinnacle, rolls are open ended so if you roll the highest number on a die it “Aces” and you get to roll it again and add the results. This is good because for every 4 you beat the target number by you get a Raise. Raises are basically degrees of success and have various effects depending on what the roll was. For example, a raise on a damage roll will do more damage to the target.

Each character is also defined as a Wild Card or an Extra. Wild Cards are the movers and shakers: the player characters, villains, and major foes (like a dragon or an orc chieftain). Extras are everyone else: the minions, the mooks, and the untold masses of nameless warriors that attack the hero one by one in a kung-fu action movie. Wild Cards get the added advantage of rolling a d6 with every test they take, which is called the Wild Die. They can then choose whether to take their regular roll or their Wild Die roll. Each character also starts with three “Bennies.” The player can spend these to re-roll any test and take the better result. The Wild Die and Bennies really define Savage Worlds as a cinematic system.

Edges and Hindrances are the final part of character creation. Edges cover a lot of ground: some are professions, like Scholar, that gives bonuses to certain skills, while others make you more effective in combat, more charismatic, give you arcane abilities, or enhance your luck. Hindrances are drawbacks, which are detrimental to the character. For example, if your character has the Hindrance “Heroic” she can never turn down a person in need. These effectively round out a character.

The next chapter is Gear and includes just what you would think: it’s a big list of equipment. While its certainly not exhaustive, it does cover the basic gear from medieval to far future. Weapons, armor, and vehicles all get stats here. As I said, its not exhaustive, but it does cover a lot of ground; using the stats here as a guideline, it wouldn’t be difficult to adapt your own gear.

The Rules chapter is next, and starts out with the rules for advancement. Basically, every five experience points you get allow you to improve in some way…better stats, a new skill, a new Edge, etc. Every 20 experience points allows the character to go up in Rank. The Ranks are Novice, Seasoned, Veteran, Heroic, and Legendary. Certain Edges may only be taken by certain Ranks.

Combat is covered next. Initiative is determined by a card draw, higher being better, and Jokers giving bonuses to actions that turn. Combat is pretty simple: roll the appropriate skill and compare to the opponent’s defense. Included here is a very large list of maneuvers that a character can perform and their appropriate modifiers. If the hit lands, damage is rolled. If damage is equal to or higher than the target’s Toughness, a derived value, the target is Shaken and can take no other actions than moving slowly until a recovery test is passed. If the player gets a Raise on the damage roll they’ve wounded the target. Also, if someone who is Shaken is shaken a second time they take a wound. Wild Cards can take three wounds before they’re incapacitated and must roll on an injury table, while Extras are either fine, Shaken, or knocked out/dead. Again, cinematic!

I should point out that the system makes it very easy to include all those NPCs that are usually ignored into the actual combat. So when the eight person NPC militia enters combat the PCs can run them instead of the GM randomly stating how they do (as happens in most systems). This doesn’t slow the system down at all—in fact, this is what it was designed for!

Now we come to Arcane Backgrounds, which includes magic, psionics, divine power, gadgets, super powers, etc. The arcane system is an effect based system, which means that one power covers a lot of ground. A mage may use the “Bolt” power to fling a magic missile at a foe while a superhero may use the same power to use his laser eyebeams. The only difference is what Mr. Hensley calls “Trappings”: the actual description of the effect. Each listed power has a number of sample Trappings to get your creativity flowing. The Arcane Powers are used with Power Points. The number of power points the character begins with is defined by the type of arcane background they have and any Edges which increase the power pool. When Power Points are exhausted, they must recharge (through rest) before the character can fuel her abilities again. The game lists 24 common powers.

Situational Rules comprise the fifth chapter. Mounted combat, Allies, Fear, Fatigue, and vehicle rules are all covered here. Of note is that the fatigue system makes a character consider a lot of things that get glossed over in other games, like food and water in the wilderness. Unlike other games, fatigue loss is easy to consider and keep track off. This is the first game I’ve actually considered using rules for heat, cold, and traveling wounded because they’re done in such a common sense manner that they’re easy to apply. Chases and Dogfights are also covered in this chapter, but they were the least clear set of rules to me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good system and well integrated, but there are some aspects that aren’t completely spelled out. For example, if a maneuver is used to change the character’s relative position during the chase how is it useful since next round relative position is recalculated with another draw? While it's one of the more complex mechanics, it's not complicated in the slightest—though it could just use a little more explanation to clear up some little niggles.

A mass combat system was also included. It’s extremely abstract, but necessarily so for combats involving tens of thousands of warriors. It relies a lot on GM judgment, but if there’s not trust between the GM and the group anyway then the mass combat system is the least of your worries. Again, the system for this is simple and resolves fast, but allows for a lot of player interaction. This is one of my favorite parts of the game. The skirmish rules follow, which are just scenarios and tips for using the system as a miniature game (which fits well since it grew from The Great Rail Wars miniature game). Miniatures are not required for combats, but they certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Finally, the GM section is completes the book. The section is filled with tips on running the game and rules for designing foes, followed by a bestiary of enemies from all manner of genres. The GM tips will be most helpful to new gamemasters as there’s not much there for an experienced GM.

In conclusion, Savage Worlds isn’t a system for everyone. While it could be played as a down-and-dirty-grit-in-your-teeth system, at its heart is screams “I’m cinematic!” Also, while it does have an impressive amount of detail for as abstract as it is, it will not be detailed enough for some, especially when it comes to combat and magic. Some would complain that any one genre would be difficult to run with the book and I wouldn’t completely disagree with that. There’s plenty of stuff for fantasy and sci-fi and horror, but cyberpunk fans will be let down. It’s a complete game, but it isn’t as complete for some specific genres. Finally, the price is a bit high for as thin a book as it is. Yes, hardback is nice, but at most this book should have run $25.

That said, I love this game! It’s like Mr. Hensley peeked inside of my head and saw what I wanted in a role playing game. I like fast systems that are abstract and allow for GM creativity, unlike some systems like D&D 3E where the rules are so explicit that the GM becomes little more than a referee. It is this reviewer’s opinion that Mr. Hensley meets the goal of designing a game that is “Fast, Furious, and Fun!” I foresee this being my game of choice for years to come.

Also of note is the support that Pinnacle has put behind this game. On their web site there’s demo rules, a fantasy adventure, a pulp adventure, a horror adventure, and a mini scenario set in Vietnam along with all sorts of play aids. The Troop Builder has just been released so you can calculate point values for mini combat. Don’t want to have to use a program to do that? Don’t worry—a handy sheet is provided for doing it by hand. Also up is the Deadlands conversion that gives a plethora of new Edges, Hindrances, and Powers. A Deadlands: Hell on Earth conversion has also been promised which should include even more goodies. A number of setting books are on the way also to flesh out the genres covered in the main book.

This is a hard game for me to rate. While it is perfect for me, not everyone will be happy with it. That, combined with the cost, will net this game 4.5 out of 6 clocks. It’s won more than a million clocks in my heart, though….

Written by Mr_Pleasington on May 13th, 2003