/SWG/ Savage Worlds General

>Care to share info on your Grecopunk world user?
Once I get something readable together, sure. Right now it's just a spiral notebook and too many sticky notes.

I'm currently playing around with a "kleos" mechanic. Basically a characters Wild Die correlates with their "Kleos Rank". A rank of zero means you have no Wild Die, while a rank of one means a Wild Die of d4, and so on.

Kleos is earned by accomplishing great deeds. At the end of every session, the GM offers up who they believe might be worthy, and the group as a whole must agree. If even one single person disagrees, no glory is given.

I'm also using the setting to test my homebrew system, which I won't be talking about here.

If I finish typing the creation myths, I'll share them.

>Weird 'Nam
Tour of Darkness needs an update so, so very badly.

I'm afraid I don't have time to brew anything up.

But if an user would like to look into it, that'd be amazing.

Bump

I vote for /svg/

this

Posting an large archive with a hot link is really exposing it to spiderbots that can lead to sudden removal. That particular archive is 2 years old and unlikely to be reposted.

Please encode or at least add spaces to eliminate the hyperlink.

m3di@fir3
/fo lder/o456wmkz6phtl/Books#g4jbcg5w649m8

This way is much safer. Thank you.

Sounds rad. I like the players having to approve the GM's decision for who was the most glorious. Do characters start at Kleos 1?
Noted and this is shall it shall be in the future.
Sorry kinda new to this won't happen again.

So far my favorite setting is Low Life. Something about Mr. Andy Hopp's strange little post-post-post-post-post-post-apocalyptic setting resonates with me. Second favorite would be Deadlands Noir because I am a sucker for some good noir with a slight supernatural twist.

I'm really hoping to run something using the Codex Infernus though since I like the idea of sending players to a realm of horrible pain and suffering for the sake of a good story.

How do you guys tend to handle freeform powers?
Eg: Magnetic Manipulation.

Savage Newfag here. I'm reading the books, trying to get into the system.

There's something I don't get about the powers system. The direct-damage powers don't seem to deal much more than normal weapons, at the cost of edges just to buy them. The support powers are either underwhelming (armor - spend a round to get +2 armor for... three rounds), or great but not directly relevant in combat (succor, healing).

That all could work for a battlemage type, but it takes some real specialization to be able to pop your load reliably.

How are mages/mads/etc generally played in the game? Are they "magic only, muggles gtfo" evoker types? Dedicated utility casters? Mostly-mundane characters who splash with magic when they need to step up?

Which powers are the gold star must-haves, the ones no spellcaster goes without?

They can start at Kleos 1 or 0 depending on what the group wants.

We also play with a house rule where skill checks are made with both the skill die and the relevant attribute die. So even mooks are rolling two die and taking the highest. Wildcards are rolling three and taking the highest.

Makes the game just a tad lest swingy.

Mostly the latter. A magic user can shine in a fantasy setting, but they're no match for an assault rifle when it comes to bring the hurt on someone.
What they do have is versatility: that assault rifle can't turn into a flamethrower on the fly, and you can't disarm something that is a part of you. At least, that's how I see it, and my experience with the powers systerm is admittedly minimal.

I love how only the most cancerous pile of shit "games" have general threads, because only cancerous pile of shit "gamers" make general threads

Need to know what games and communities to completely avoid? ctrl+f, "general"

I make great use of the Supers Companion to handle these types of abilities.

In the case of Magnetic Manipulation that would be covered under the Energy Control power (SW SPC pg. 27) and beyond what is readily stated on the page (inflict penalties to trait rolls, 2d6 damage, counter other magnetic forces) a lot would depend on players using Power Tricks/Stunts to describe how they are mimicking other powers.

Another option, if you are interested in just using the core rules, could be to make a custom trapping based around all a characters powers coming from their ability to manipulate magnetism but I myself have always found trappings to be one of the most fiddly parts of Savage Worlds.

I am always happy to help my fellow Anons make informed choices! It would be bad if you got confused about what was being discussed in a thread due to your plethora of problems user.

I have mixed feelings about the power system. It avoids quadratic mages, but it does so by making mages really underwhelming until they reach insanely high Int+Wizarding skill and get a few good edges. You basically need the improved wild dies and the edges that allow you to not expend mana when you crit to get to a stage where stuff like extra armor gets powerful.

If you are not going with a houseruled or alternative magic system (Such as one from Zadmar (google it)), I recommend getting the power that lets you summon minions. In short fights they let you basically just bitchslap any kind of mook from the playingfield. You are insanely powerful for a very limited amount of rounds and then you are useless if you can't do without magic.

>How are mages/mads/etc generally played in the game? Are they "magic only, muggles gtfo" evoker types? Dedicated utility casters? Mostly-mundane characters who splash with magic when they need to step up?

That's the nice thing about SW is these questions are mostly up to the player and how they build their character.

>Which powers are the gold star must-haves, the ones no spellcaster goes without?

The closest to that would be the summoning power.

It's a free sponge, free damage, and it's mobile. It's great.

So, here's something I thought about lately as well:
youtube.com/watch?v=1z078XzvFmY

Do you think outright dropping the attack on withdrawing character would be alright option? Would it fuck something up in the process? Oo would you rather say that's what defense and full defense maneuvers are for?

Anyway I'm hyped to run a Weird War 2 campaign starting next week. Gonna go for Commandos feel, with small teams and really difficult covert op missions, I know technically I could run huge battles step by step but god damnit, I'm not willing to. The closest to that would be PCs having to do a special task in the midst of a battle. Though what I do need is some more reading up on theatres and timeline of WW2 - does anyone have some related resources that include maps? I have problems visualizing all the geopolitical shifts without graphical aid.

also my point in general being, than being the one runnig away is... well, always easier than the one trying to catch up to strike in melee, anyway

It's necessary to keep combat sticky. Otherwise it'd be a big furball of melee guys waltzing back and forth hitting whomever they want while ranged characters kite forever.

Strongly advise that if you want to play this game you use this update to how Shaken works. If you don't combat seems to turn into an endless stun lock.

So glad they made this little errata. Makes players so much more engaged since they are able to make deeper tactical choices than "run about".

>Weird War I. II is also fun
I was talking with my friend recently and we came up with this sick idea for a campaign. The PC's would start out as new recruits in the British Army in WWI and fight through all 4 years of the war, maybe one big 'adventure' for each year. Then after the last 1918 session, cut to the same characters 21 years later, going off to fight the Nazis for another 6 years of adventures. Problem is that requires everyone to survive WWI and with how my current ST campaign is going, that's very unlikely.

Play the children of the original vets.

When you get to legendary you advance the atribute for that rank and then that's it? you cant keep leveling up the attributes?

Is this system friendly for a new GM?

I would say yes. It is a tad unusual compared to other RPGs what with the wild die mechanic and dice stepping for skill/attribute levels but the overall design philosophy of Savage Worlds (fast, furious, and fun) shines through both in learning the game as well as playing it.

In my experience learning to balance encounters is a bit of a process but even that is maybe 30 minutes max of looking at the PCs and what you are throwing them against to really nail down just how tough the fight will be. If you or your players are having trouble with combat give this survival guide a look: peginc.com/freebies/SWcore/Combat Survival Guide.pdf

>bennies exist to prop up rule of cool faggotry
>exploding dice so gigglefuck players can roll a 44 to seduce the orc king
>wild attack is broken powerful
>shotguns are broken powerful and unrealistic
>hindrances at like GURPS you can load up on RP only hindrances that are actually useful like mean or obese (the latter literally benefits your stats)
>edges are 50 percent trap options just like d&d 3.5 feats
>toughness system is good for look fighting and nothing else, boss fights suck and end in 1 round
>playing cards for initiative

Remind me why I should play this crap game again?

Alright Savage World General, sell me on using SW for an Iron Blooded Orphans style mecha campaign.
Key features would be giant robots with more of a focus on heavy hitting melee weapons over ranged weapons, but ranged weapons being hard hitting solid slug artillery than your standard to the genre beams and lasers, due to mecha armor being relatively immune to energy weapons and being so tough the only way they can damage each-other at all is to hammer on one another with said big ass weapons until their armor finally gives.

The hardest part is handing out the bennies and pacing encounters accordingly. Otherwise, it's pretty easy.

Don't.

I ran a mecha game using the SciFi book, the "walkers" they use can get hideously high levels of armor and the melee combat options are too few and too weak to actually penetrate said armor values. Not suitable for IBO.

Fair enough.

I was kind of afraid of that looking at the sci-fi companion, the walker rules looked pretty sad but I was hoping maybe something else had some more expanded rules in it.

I guess its back to reading BCG.

Savage bump.

Because you suck a mean dick and all the other players attending need something to entertain them when it's not their turn. So you can just stay under the table for the entire session and the GM will occasionally hand down a beer to you so you have something to wash down all that sperm you enjoy gargling so much.

>wild attack is broken powerful
kek no it's not, not compared to stealth and the Drop. I still remember putting an arrow through the throat of a guard and doing something like two or three times the damage needed to shake them
>obese is a stat benefit
Good luck running from something that can easily beat your toughness retard
>boss fights suck and end in one round
GMs get bennies too, read the fucking rules

Yeah, is right. I've been looking for a system that can do gritty UC Gundam right, and as much as I love Savage Worlds it's not it.

>>bennies exist to prop up rule of cool faggotry
They aren't magic they're a re-roll what are you on about?
>>exploding dice so gigglefuck players can roll a 44 to seduce the orc king
Explicitly against the rules of the persuasion skill, perhaps you should reread it.
>>wild attack is broken powerful
And suicide if you use it outside of the sole instance that's true
>>shotguns are broken powerful and unrealistic
Have you ever watched a pulp movie with shotguns in it?
>>hindrances at like GURPS you can load up on RP only hindrances that are actually useful like mean or obese (the latter literally benefits your stats)
Mean is only beneficial in deadlands at veteran rank with an edge in extremely limited circumstances. Run social encounters better (who are we kidding though?)
>>edges are 50 percent trap options just like d&d 3.5 feats
Broken clock analogy, you've actually got one. Pat yourself on the back.
>>toughness system is good for look fighting and nothing else, boss fights suck and end in 1 round
I'm not writing out that massive post of alternatives again
>>playing cards for initiative
A beautiful system that easily allows for dynamic battlefield conditions based on draws, its also quick which is why battletech sometimes uses cards for "con initiative" to handle massive games with tons of people in it. I want you to imagine rolling initiative for 4 pcs, 1 wildcard, and 3 groupings of mooks every turn compared to just slapping down 8 cards.

>initiative changing every turn
No matter how you slice it this is full retard. I hack out Savage Worlds' card initiative because I hate it too, but I replace it with a d12+Agility roll at the start of battle.

Ah yes the good old make agility the even bester stat in the game folks are out and about today. Good good.

>implying I don't allow Fighting as a strength skill to compensate

That doesn't compensate in the slightest. It also doesn't address the versatility of cards.

>versatility
Yes, nothing like having your plan for your next turn shat on due to the luck of the draw, in a game which has tactical combat as one of its major strengths.
You know, you can drop the Agility from the initiative roll method. It's not like it's necessary.

Do you actually like completely static battlefields without changing objectives brought on by shifts in the environment? Switching things up is the best way to promote movement outside of mobile objectives.

Plans change. Battles aren't nice sterile controlled environments. But I understand tacticians never have to adjust their plans for changing circumstances in real life that'd be bullshit.

I just fuse Strength and Stamina into one.

That gives strength an offense and a defense use, same as Agility.

Especially useful in modern settings where you don't actually need Strength anyway.

That might actually be a good idea for a modern mercenaries game I was thinking about starting. I was toying with the idea of having strength being a limiting factor in how much armor could be worn and/or what kind of guns could be used.

Call it /SAWG/. Catchy and memorable.

Because having one guy go before another guy is a "shift in the environment". Get fucked son, 4e did tactical combat perfectly well without having to change the turn order every fucking round

Not the guy you're talking to but I normally don't like rolling for initiative every damn around because it usually slows things down. Savage Worlds is the only exception to the rule because I just whip out a card for everyone and a group of mooks and, bam, done.

Agree with this guy. Completely random initiative every round irrespective of skill, natural speed, training, etc. is pants-on-head retarded and one of the stupidest parts of the system. It's really indefensible.

This. The reason why I suggested adding Agility to initiative rolls is simply so you don't have to sink Edges into not going dead last. All the Initiative Edges work perfectly fine with a d12, just count a 12 as a Joker

I'm guessing you are the bitter "forever GM" who posts like clockwork in these threads.
If so people have pretty much answered your arguments in past threads.
Everything from limiting bennies, as well as the fact that bennies do NOT provide an instant win situation, to more lethal combat, changing shotgun range, rolling a die instead of cards, not to mention only allowing dice to explode once. I remember the :
" I paid $10 and I want this game to do everything including suck me off and despite the fact that house rules ( strongly suggested in said book ) to use house rules or change as you see fit am just a spoiled little princess."
From a previous thread.
So you really honestly don't deserve a civil answer.
If you aren't "that guy" then you are just another troll.

>Favorite setting

Unironically, the best thing for one shots is Night Shift. Have classes available and we're playing in less than ten minutes, rolling on a ridiculous event chart and surviving a gas station. You don't need continuity and no one is upset by that. Choose to roleplay or play as yourself. I have all of my social circles now clamoring for Night Shift every time there's a get together.

>I didn't look at the edges

>Texas standing strong against snake taint
>US is literally "Texas and friends"

Of course.

Are the SW designers from Texas?

I don't know but the above scenario is what would logically happen.

you're ignoring my comment on tying environmental effects to card draw entirely. Something I've stolen from several one sheets (which you should the chance to read premades if you want an actual feel for how to twist the system).

E.i. The previously described as being structurally unstable still smoldering floor of a burned out building gives way on a 4 of clubs or lower draw. Such ideas can be used in literally any way imaginable, have waves crash against a pier on certain numbers, a tree felled in a lightning storm, reinforcements arrive, etc.

Congrats your environments now become a large point of interaction within any given combat in a completely fairly arbitrated unpredictable manner. All with the benefit of an incredibly flexible range of probability and not a single extra die roll being neatly tucked into the flow of combat.

I plan on running a game with significant amounts of potential for vehicle combat. It is to take place in a Mad Max like region where vehicles are frequently kludged together and have "seating" on the outside of the vehicle.

My main question is what should I be concerned about when it comes to running a vehicle heavy game?

And yet setting shit on fire works perfectly with a quick d6 roll. Funny, that.

Nothing in your post even vaguely resembles an argument. Please explain how shit guns giving the d&d equivalent of a plus 10 to hit inherently, is at all fair or balanced.

>I'm not writing out that massive post of alternatives again

Good, because they were shitty alternatives and were also house rules that do not apply ina RAW argument. You can houserule d&d into GURPS to improve it but that doesn't mean d&d is a good system.

Because get this, in the type of close range engagement PCs tend to get involved in a shotgun is usually the best choice. Also you've already been given fixes for this

>muh RAW
spoilers: all systems have something that someone thinks is a shit idea in them

>Talking poorly about GURPS

Go back to africa you fucking nigger, we don't want your kind here

>implying GURPS isn't concentrated autism in paper form

>And suicide if you use it outside of the sole instance that's true

No faggot it's a +2 on hit and damage which in savage worlds is fucking huge. The parry penalty doesnt matter half the time because you kill that shit in one swipe. Combine with sweep and you can fuck six guys at once. The only other way to do that is be your mom. A +2 on two things for the cost of a -2 on one thing? That's a +2 overall. It is objectively the best solution. And don't even get into the broken shit it does with extra actions in supers games. But supers is broken anyway so I won't bother.

The cards are shit but your idea is even worse.

>bennies do NOT provide an instant win situation

You cant literally spend one to not be shaken for free.

>d&d equivalent
Stop comparing shit to D&D.

D&D is a shit thing to compare things to.

>My main question is what should I be concerned about when it comes to running a vehicle heavy game?

Use a different system. The savage worlds vehicle rules are garbage, the out of control table produces nonsensical results, and the chase rules are such a cluster fuck it's indescribable.

>the type of close range engagement PCs tend to get involved in a shotgun is usually the best choice

You just proved you know nothing about firearms. Also GURPS has the same system for shotin a, the bonus to hit just isn't so fucking brokenly large.

I like GURPS though. Admittedly I can build a low powered hero in GURPS that can headshot a running target at 500m with 99 percent accuracy, but it's still a good system.

>Mad Max like region where vehicles are frequently kludged together and have "seating" on the outside of the vehicle.

>he don't want nonsensical results

U wot m8?

>Stop comparing shit to D&D.

Fine, it's the GURPS equivalent of a +6.

In savage worlds small number range, bonuses matter more. The developers at fucking clueless to this fact.

By nonsensical I mean even for movie logic. You can get hit and go flying in the same direction i.e. opposite direction of the bullet, or spin out for no reason. Also you have to track wounds for each vehicle which goes against the whole "fast furious fun" mantra. Not that it holds true anyway, except for the middle part when you've run this garbage system for three years straihjt.

...

Not an argument and how the fuck does my post imply I am antifun? If anything I am annoyed because the retarded vehcile rules AREN'T fun.

Whats with all the savage worlds threads lately? Are we being invaded by shills?

Shilling would be if we were going to other threads and telling them to play Savage Worlds.

Fine, a shotgun or SMG/machine pistol. Calm your autism.

>smg or machine pistol

Holy shit.

>in the type of close range engagement PCs tend to get involved in a shotgun is usually the best choice

>shotgun or SMG/machine pistol

lol

I actually like Savage Worlds but you're not doing yourself any favors

Fine. A rocket launcher. Jesus fucking christ.

What homerules are almost necessary for your tables?

I use and Savage Armory.

Also sometimes just ignore skills being a thing and default everything to stats.

Maybe not a homerule, but the revised shaken errata is a must-have.

So I've noticed something with my time in savage worlds in regards to notice. The lizardfolk in core get a special ability to never be treated as being inactive for the purposes of opposing stealth with notice.

This is as far as I'm aware the sole ability in the entirety of savage worlds to modify notice in such a way. Which is quite a shame, I think it would be a great and thematic sub for alert on "prey" monsters/creatures.

Now Normally you just need to meet a 4 against someone who isn't actively looking for you, and that got me thinking. Why not introduce a passive perception to allow for all of this to be modified a bit?

Basically passive notice = 2+ranks in notice. Why? A d6 the professional standard ends up equaling 4, so for the vast majority of folks nothing's changed, but those whom invest in notice get minor bonuses (that are only really good for mitigating penalties), throw in edges like alert as counting as a die step. So yes someone with a d12 + alert would auto raise on passively noticing things, but at that point sure they earned it.

> Combine with sweep
Oh hey something you're literally not allowed to do. You use a wild attack in any way that isn't to finish a fight, and you rightfully deserve the gang up bonus that should be coming your way.

Do tell, how does it actually pan out in game, my group read them and pretty much all (myself included) passed on the idea.
Its funny because half of those rules are taken from Clint advice. The guy peginc pays to make official rules adjudications and homebrew advice. We're also talking about a system whose base book literally includes devbrew (such as the custom pneumatic nail gun in the space scenario).

Stop acting like a generic system shouldn't be modified to the game its being used to run. That's literally the point.

They're literally the best overall choice.
>concealability in the case of SMGs/machine pistols, while nobody bats an eye at buying shotgun shells if you act good ol' boy enough
>full-auto lets you hit multiple targets at once for when you're being spammed with mooks
>shotguns deal heavy damage within short range, for when you need to kill a single target
>you really don't need the range a rifle has nine times out of ten
>the SMG is suppressable, something huge like the DEAGLE BRAND DEAGLE is not, you only break out the shotguns when something big has to die and damn the consequences
What's it like bein' wrong?

>Stop acting like a generic system shouldn't be modified to the game its being used to run

Stop acting like that's an excuse for a rule that is shit in ALL games.

>full-auto lets you hit multiple targets at once for when you're being spammed with mooks

So does the rifle, and it deals more damage.

>the SMG is suppressable, something huge like the DEAGLE BRAND DEAGLE is not

Who the fuck is talking about Deagles?

>you really don't need the range a rifle has nine times out of ten

Your GM is a shithead retard then. Long-range engagements are common. Why not shoot at the enemy as soon as you see him, before he has a chance to get any closer?

Savage Worlds is pretty unrealistic but even within the confines of the game SMGs are pretty much objectively inferior to rifles due to there only being one kind of recoil penalty, and for them fitting a rather odd niche in real life as well. Keep believing your COD-logic, though, kiddo.

>I just fuse Strength and Stamina into one.
That's an interesting idea. Hmm...