Post originally by Jay Verkuilen at 2003-08-22 10:59:17
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Having written pretty much the same stuff (perhaps a bit more critical in places) in my review (read it if you'd like), I agree. In practice, I've found SW to be just golden for an action-oriented campaign where there's not a lot of time to run and the general coarseness of the system isn't a big issue.
Post originally by Bob at 2003-08-22 17:06:14
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I like Savage Worlds, but I don't think it's a good setting for Deadlands. I think that, for deadlands, I want the more precise skill breakdown, the uniqueness of the Arcane Backgrounds, and the minor differences between PCs and NPCs... Player Charcaters should be larger than life because of their acts, but not by the rules... For Deadlands, I think the Wildcard concept makes the heroes a bit too powerful.
Post originally by Creel at 2003-08-23 06:04:41
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I found it a refreshing change of pace from d20. Easy set up, no huge laundry list of skills, no hit points to track, etc.
It does take some getting used to however, as players are mostly in d20 "stand there and swing" mode. Doing that in Savage Worlds against a decent opponent will result in frustration and the Test Drive has nothing to alleviate this problem.
OTOH, the main rules have LOTS of options, more than d20 in fact, for combat maneuvers to assist with tough enemies. The players are going to need to be reconditioned to an entirely new way of thinking about combat to get them to discover the possible combos.
The best advice is to "act they do in the action movies" (i.e. move,take cover, disarm, use every trick in the book and so on) and you should be alright.
Post originally by Malacoda at 2003-08-23 09:35:46
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"I found it a refreshing change of pace from d20. Easy set up, no huge laundry list of skills, no hit points to track, etc."
One minor nitpick: I wouldn't call the typical d20 game's selection of skills a "huge laundry list." Now GURPS, with the GURPS Compendium I is a huge laundry list of skills!
>>It does take some getting used to however, as players are mostly in d20 "stand there and swing" mode. Doing that in Savage Worlds against a decent opponent will result in frustration and the Test Drive has nothing to alleviate this problem. <<
Yes, this is a problem with the Test Drive.
>>OTOH, the main rules have LOTS of options, more than d20 in fact, for combat maneuvers to assist with tough enemies. The players are going to need to be reconditioned to an entirely new way of thinking about combat to get them to discover the possible combos. The best advice is to "act they do in the action movies" (i.e. move,take cover, disarm, use every trick in the book and so on) and you should be alright.<<
Yep. Ganging up tactically makes a big difference. Those "local concentrations of force" that military authors always write about (Napoleon had one of the most famous statements of the principle) are VITAL in SW. Deciding when to "go all out" and take a Wild Attack is important, too. There are a lot of options and choosing which to do makes a big difference.
Post originally by Malacoda at 2003-08-24 09:47:53
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"One minor nitpick: I wouldn't call the typical d20 game's selection of skills a "huge laundry list."
The typical d20 game has a list of skills with 40+ skills on it. You would be hard pressed to find another popular rpg that has a list that long.
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D&D 3.5e has 37 skills, if you count Craft (Alchemy) as its own skill (which makes sense).
* GURPS is a popular game and has well over 40 skills, just in the basic set.
* BESM seems to be popular, and has 50+ skills.
* Vampire: The Masquerade has 30 skills, which is not as many as D&D, but close. I don't think many would argue that VtM is a popular game.
* Call of Cthulhu still seems to be somwhat popular, and my edition lists 50+ skills.
Some of the other d20 games I own do have more than D&D, but then again they basically have most of the D&D skills with modern skills attached, like driving and computer use.
I wouldn't call the typical d20 game's skill list small, but neither would I call it a "huge laundrry list." More in the "medium" area.
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