Greetings gamers, and welcome to the latest installment of Beyond the d20 System. In this week’s article, I’m going to take a look at Savage Worlds; the second of four systems of game mechanics that may serve as an alternative to the d20 system. Savage Worlds is a rules-lite generic roleplaying system designed for a fast-paced gaming experience that cuts down on the amount of painstaking preparation necessary to run the game. The Savage Worlds system originated with a miniature wargame version of the classic weird west TTRPG, Deadlands. The game mechanics for the miniatures game were expanded into a complete TTRPG system and published in 2003 as Savage Worlds by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Over the years, the ruleset for Savage Worlds has been revised and expanded, along with a plethora of settings and modules. The latest incarnation of the core game system is Savage Worlds: Adventure Edition, published in 2018. Savage Worlds features innovative game mechanics with an emphasis on telling action-packed adventure stories.
System Overview
Savage Worlds utilizes the familiar TTRPG dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. Each player should have one of each. Additionally, each player should have a second, different colored d6 to serve as a “Wild Die” (more on that later). In addition to dice, the group will need a standard deck of playing cards, including the two jokers. There are two types of characters in Savage Worlds, “Wildcards” and “Extras.” Wildcards include the PCs and unique monsters and NPCs. Wildcards are harder to kill, have better stats, and have access to a Wild Die to use when rolling for task resolution. The Wild Die is rolled alongside a Trait die and the higher result between the two is used to determine task resolution, similar to rolling with advantage in the d20 system. In contrast, Extras are easier to kill, less competent, and do not roll a Wild Die for task resolution. Extras represent common foes (nameless guards, henchmen, etc.) and stock monsters the PCs will encounter in the course of their adventures.
Savage Worlds utilizes a point allocation system for character creation, allowing for increased character customization. PCs have a number of stats that serve to define the character: Race, Traits, Edges, Hindrances, and, in some games, Powers. Race refers to a character’s species. Savage Worlds: Adventure Edition describes ten races, from elves to androids, for use with various campaign settings and includes rules for creating your own races. Other Savage Worlds settings include their own unique races. Traits come in two varieties: Attributes and Skills. Attributes represent innate character abilities of which there are five: Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength, and Vigor. Attributes are typically passive in nature and are used to determine how fast skills are increased, countering and resisting negative effects, and deriving secondary statistics such as Toughness and Charisma. Skills represent learned abilities and are active in nature. Task resolution in Savage Worlds is accomplished by rolling a Skill die. Edges and Hinderances are advantages and disadvantages that further flesh out the characters capabilities. Edges serve as an analogous combination of backgrounds and feats in the d20 system. Edges typically give bonuses to a specific type of task, provide in-game resources to the character, or modify the game mechanics in the character’s favor in some limited way. Edges are acquired in virtue of a character’s race or by taking hinderances. Hinderances are character flaws or disabilities that give extra points during character creation with which to purchase Edges or Traits. Some Hinderances provide a negative modifier to certain types of tasks, while other Hinderances are meant to be roleplayed. Powers are an optional stat that some campaign settings, such as a superhero game, may use. The Savage Worlds: Adventure Edition core book includes a copious list of Powers for groups running these types of games.
The heart of the Savage Worlds system is the Trait roll. Trait rolls are the core mechanic used for task resolution in Savage Worlds. Each Trait (Attribute or Skill) in Savage Worlds is assigned a polyhedral die representing the character’s proficiency with that Trait (as determined via character creation or leveling up.) Trait values range from d4 through d20. Task resolution involves rolling a Trait against a target number of 4, meaning that if a character rolls a 4 or better, the character succeeds at the task. The more skilled a character is, the more easily the character will succeed at a related task, owing to the larger die the character can roll. For example, a novice character may have a d4 to roll for athletics tasks, making success at such tasks a 1 in 4 proposition. A more experienced character that has a d8 in athletics will have a 5 in 8 chance for success on related tasks. All Trait rolls are open-ended, meaning that when the highest value possible is rolled on a die (e.g., a 12 rolled on a d12), the die can be rerolled and added to the total. There is no end to the number of dice that can be rerolled in this way, and total values that far exceed the target number can yield additional beneficial effects. Critical failures occur when a 1 is rolled on both the Trait die and the Wild Die, yielding an extraordinarily unfortunate result. As with most TTRPGs, positive or negative modifiers may be added to a roll to reflect circumstantial conditions that may affect character performance. In addition to modifiers, characters have access to a resource called “Bennies” (slang for benefits). Bennies are similar to inspiration points in the d20 system, and may be used to produce a number of effects from rerolling a Trait roll to soaking damage. PCs begin each game session with three Bennies and more may be awarded for good roleplaying or accomplishing something awesome in the game.
Combat in Savage Worlds is designed for quick resolution. GMs are encouraged to limit the amount of time PCs have to declare their actions during a combat round (usually a few seconds) in order to reflect the fast-paced nature of combat in Savage Worlds. The core mechanic to combat involves a character rolling the relevant combat Skill against a target number equal to the opponent’s Parry score (a derived defense stat) for melee attacks. The target number for ranged attacks varies depending on the distance to the target. Melee attacks do damage equal to the attacker’s Strength die plus another die determined by the weapon used. Ranged attacks do fixed damage that varies depending on the weapon used. One truly innovative mechanic in Savage Worlds is combat initiative. Initiative is determined by dealing cards from a well-shuffled deck of playing cards plus the two jokers. The combat order is determined by the card a character was dealt, in order from ace to two. Any character that is dealt a joker may take her turn at any time during the combat round. Ties are resolved by suit value, with spades being high, followed by hearts, then diamonds, then clubs. While the basic combat mechanics are streamlined for quick resolution, Savage Worlds offers a plethora of optional combat rules, from grappling to called shots. These optional rules allow groups to customize their combat sessions to reflect the needs of their game. Beyond combat, Savage Worlds offers a number of optional game systems including rules for chase scenes using the deck of playing cards to dramatic systems for in-depth social conflict. The laundry list of optional rules and dramatic systems is a boon to the Savage Worlds system, allowing for a versatile game that can be as rules-lite or rules-heavy as befits your game.
Suggested Uses for Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds has a large number of modular settings published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Some of the more famous settings include Deadlands: Reloaded, which is an alternate history setting that combines supernatural horror with steampunk elements within the wild west genre, and the Weird Wars setting which extends the supernatural horror of Deadlands to other historical periods. Pinnacle Entertainment Group also has a licensing system whereby third-party publishers can release material for the Savage Worlds game. This licensing system has resulted in a plethora of game settings by a number of independent publishers. In addition to the published settings, Savage Worlds: Adventure Edition provides everything a GM will need to create their own game settings. Given the nature of the mechanics of Savage Worlds, I would use this game to tell stories along the lines of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series, or action-adventure pulp fiction from the early 20th century. The innovative game mechanics, fast-paced combat, and versatility afforded by the extensive list of optional rules make Savage Worlds a great option for any TTRPG group.
Stay tuned for next week’s article where we take a look at the Cypher System ruleset. Until then, happy gaming!