I'm going to run a Savage Worlds game soon (not necessarily RIFTS but that's on the table)...

I'm going to run a Savage Worlds game soon (not necessarily RIFTS but that's on the table). Anything I should know in advance? What's the best Savage Worlds line? Also /savgen/ I guess.

The system is pretty solid, but has like 2 or 3 faults that people love to harp on way too much, like Shotguns.

Other than that my favorite settings are probably the Rifts one, using the classic Rifts books though, not this tomorrow legion nonsense. 50 Fathoms is cool, Weird Wars is pretty fun too, i'm into that shit.

Savage Rifts is a little more complicated to start as your first game in Savage Worlds because the character are quite a bit stronger than starting character of other settings, think the first character I made started off with like 7 or 8 edges right from the get-go? A bit much for a first timer IMO.

Yeah, the starting power level is higher than most RPGs.

At the same time, I hear that Savage Rifts has problems with mecha/power armor being too weak to weapons.

Does Savage Rifts have any interesting dimensions to go to, that are supported by the new rules?

Hey there Omnius.

How are the Frameworks in rifts?
I'm looking to get in (or run, if plied with drinks, i guess) a rifts game myself, was looking at some of them and was baffled.
Especially when you get into being able to start with any Rank requirements for edges/powers from edges.

Techno-Wizards and Mind Melters in particular seem rather absurd.
>TFW you can start the game with a single 1 pound item that costs almost as much as Two hovercycles
>As a TW
>At chargen
>Simply with a lucky roll

Savage Worlds is very nongranular which leads to characters mostly ending up the same. This lack of granularity, mixed with the developers lack of understanding of their own system, leads to tons of bonuses basically breaking the game, making checks work weirdly and making attacks autohit because they think that a system that rolls a lot of d6s and d8s should have loads of +2 modifiers running around.There is barely any differentiation between the types of magic. They feel boring and samey, the backlash rules are retarded and are there to make it seem like there is no caster supremacy when in fact there is. A high level wizard easily outdamages a high level martial and can easily force him into an SoD situation. Most people don't get to the 40 or 50 XP level but if you and haven't taken an arcane background you will fast become irrelevant in combat. Speaking of the combat, it is boring shit unless you are fighting swarms of enemies alongside allies. That is the only place savage worlds combat shines, as that is what it was intended to do. It's a war game with a few shitty mechanics attached for RP. The vehicle rules are terrible (have fun getting rammed and taking damage then due to the random critical hit table, getting moved 3" in the opposite direction) and do not work for larger vehicles (especially evident when using the scifi book). The chase rules are similarly awful, overconplicated, and not cinematic in the least.

Savage Worlds is fun for a while but you will quickly be fed up with its many flaws. "Boss fights" are absolute slogs doing absolutely nothing because 14 damage on a 15 toughness creature has zero effect. And then some faggot will roll 3 raises on his damage dice and one shot the guy with his dagger. That's savage worlds for you.

I've just got the No More Wonderland book, liking it a lot. Honestly I like using Savage Worlds with non-Savage Worlds lines because its so easy to convert (that is unless the settings power level is really high a la Exalted).

Also, does anyone know a decent homebrew/3rd party Mass Battle system for Savage Worlds which is a bit more simulationist and wargame-like. My players are going to be generals in a battle soon and I'd like something which is a bit more detailed than the current system.

I think the frameworks are fine, at least it seems to be the best way they could have translated Rifts extremely front-heavy "I don't give a shit about inner-party combat balance" and Savage Worlds pretty tight Novice character balance.
Yeah with some lucky starting rolls you can get some nice shit, but its the Rifts world where that makes sense and its Savage Worlds where the nicest gear in the game doesn't mean shit when some asshole Vagabond aces 5 times in a row and one-shots you.
Savage Rifts feels like a happy-go-lucky version of Rifts, but with rules that are actually locatable in the books.

Honestly that last part sounds like failure of the GM to use appropriate dramatic description at crucial fight points. In that situation you shouldn't be saying "Your greatsword attack does nothing, but next attack your shitty little knife one shots the guy".

Make it sound like this, and remember that each round is 6 seconds of real time i.e. more than one blow;
>You swing your great sword in a mighty overhead arc - the Blackguard barely gets his shield up in time, and his arms shakes with the impact of deflecting your blow, splinters of wood hacked off by your blow.
>He retaliates with a thrust at your midriff which you sidestep only to be met by the boss of his shield slamming into your visor. Your head rocks back with the impact, and you taste blood, the brief concussion making you drop your weapon. He steps back to finish you off with a vicious slash at your neck but you desperately follow him into a clinch. The two of your lock together for a moment, all thought of skill and strategy gone as you pit muscle and faith against hatred and unholy magic. As you feel him begin to overbear you you make a desperate grab for the bollocking dagger at your waist, dragging him down to the ground with you. For a moment his features twist into a victorious snarl as he kneels on top of your prone body, a snarl which suddenly contorts into agony as you jam the dagger into his armpit. He sags on top of you, and with a last effort you grunt and roll his corpse aside, and exhaustedly get to your feet.

Ouch, you make it sound like such a fucking mess for a game that's supposed to be fast & furious (and rules light).

The main problem is that they didn't consider players using any of the power armors other than the Glitter Boy, and the stats for the other power armors were essentially copied straight from the Savage Worlds Sci-fi Compendium with no adjustments for the higher power level other than adding mega-armor, so a Samson is Size +3 and barely tougher than someone in normal heavy armor.

The other problem is there's so many +2's to hit and "ignore 2 points of ranged penalties" swimming around that you essentially always hit on a 2+.

Another problem is there's lots of armor, which means armor piercing is mostly a flat damage bonus, which makes ion weapons straight up garbage compared to laser weapons when they're supposed to be harder hitting short ranged weapons.

>Honestly that last part sounds like failure of the GM to use appropriate dramatic description at crucial fight points
It doesn't matter how you describe it, the attack had fuck all actual effect and the plate knows it. Hard to describe a powerful blow that nearly knocks him down when it had no effect on him. Seems a bit dishonest doesnt it?

Not really, you just have to be a bit more abstract than simulationist about it. Rather than saying "Ok a failure to do damage on the great sword attack means literally that" say "Ok you killed your opponent with a dagger and we're going to take into context what happened in previous rounds to make a better sounding story". Personally I don't see it as any different when in D+D you say "yeah technically this mortal barbarian can take 10 full on hits by a great sword wielded by a peasant and still be half alive, but what it actually represents is that the fighters superior combat training means he's actually only been hit by maybe one of those blows".

To be honest if you want more simulationist gameplay you shouldn't be playing Savage Worlds in the first place, but thats just my 2 cents.

Look up Savage Worlds Showdown. I believe it covers wargaming using Savage worlds.

>technically this mortal barbarian can take 10 full on hits by a great sword wielded by a peasant and still be half alive, but what it actually represents is that the fighters superior combat training means he's actually only been hit by maybe one of those blows".
Except that that is still a loss of 10 hit points. Its progress. Savage Worlds monsters are either alive, shaken, or dead. Good for large battles, shit for anything else.

Eh, guess its a matter of taste then. Personally I never liked gradually chipping away at a boss' hit points but each to their own.

It's okay, we can't all be intelligent and logical.

It doesn't claim, nor do any of it's player base, that it is rules-lite.

It's about as crunchy as 5e.

>Unironically likes D&D
>Insults others intelligence

Ok then.

>likes D&D
Who the fuck do you think you're talking to you stupid little weasel?

A nobody, why? who do you think you are?

A faggot who's been arguing in favour of D&D style mechanics. Or were you just pretending to be retarded?

>Vagabond aces 5 times in a row and one-shots you
That's why I'm saying MM and TW in particular are gross
>the item grants Invisibility
>You can take Master of Magic at character creation because "Born a Hero: Ignore rank requirements"
>Enjoy true invisibility from the first session onwards
Try to Hit me at a -8, followed up by Lower Trait>fighting/shooting, Fuckers

Has anyone here tried to have the party adventure in a world apart from RIFTS? How did it go?

>all set up to play Savage Rifts
>Character set up, advances planned, hindrances ready to roleplay, even have character art
>DM fucking disappears, talking wise, nobody able to contact them
>they're logging on/off and playing various MMOs according to their discord
>No responses to any PMs

Tell them to lay off the weed, mang.

How can I do that when I'm a huge stoner and they don't even smoke.

>tfw you were the dm the whole time

Run it yourself

>holy shit
>this explains everything

>whoa

I'm usually foreverGM, thats why I was so hyped for this one.
Otherwise, I have no idea what you're talking about.
If I ran a SW game it wouldn't be rifts. Too much when I don't even know the system yet.
Have any recommendations?

...

Savage Worlds is essentially Deadlands:The Great Rail Wars converted from a minis wargame to an RPG.

Deadlands Classic was fine because it had both wounds and "hitpoints" (Stun points actually.) I'd actually prefer Deadlands to Savage Worlds if it weren't for the initiative system, and "divide damage by size, round down, and then do 1d6 stun damage per wound" not being particularly intuitive.

Slipstream is wicked fun. Definitely my favorite of the Savage Worlds milieus.

I tried to make a character for the cyberpunk rules .... why are AGI and INT so powerful when it comes to skill selection?

My character was an average intelligence, but rough-and-tumble private eye .... i took a d4 in intelligence with a d8 in vigor.. 6 for the rest.

I didn't see how my character could have much progression ... there were so many skills loaded into AGI and INT that I easily maxed my relevant skills for being a gumshoe super fast.

Am i doing things wrong? Or does this game just favor the dexterous, smart characters?

>Or does this game just favor the dexterous, smart characters?

Pretty much. This game system is for people who want to play as Han Solo, Jack Sparrow, and Commander Shepard. That's why the lion's share of skills are combat/action skills and technical ones.

Though I usually don't "max out" my skills when playing. At least not quickly. Edges are typically a better investment of your experience points than skill upgrades.

Is savage worlds really this dead or are there just better places to discuss it?
Seriously I just want to talk about SR characters with people, they're fun

If you're the type that considers boss fights to be a valid inclusion in the game, you should be bloody well doing math to determine if a particular boss is an appropriate challenge for your party. It's easier than ever now that anydice exists.

For modern settings especially I like to fuse Strength and Vigor just so the brawny style characters have more things to do with less stat demands.

The game doesn't really lend itself to a whole lot of discussion. The rules are simple enough that people don't have many questions regarding them, nor too many complaints, and other than that you'd just have gaming stories that could almost be system neutral anyways. But I agree, it's my favorite system and I wish people other than my group would want to talk about it.

Weird Wars: Tour of Darkness is fuckin legit. Ignore sourpuss user who says all chars are samey: If you can't differentiate your character with some personality and roleplaying, then mechanical differences aren't going to save your game. Personally I'm not a fan of Savage Rifts. The mishmash of themes doesn't appeal to me and the over-reliance on numerical bonuses causes a lot of power creep and admin for the GM and players, defeating the point of the system a bit. I run a fantasy campaign using the core book and fantasy companion, but I also recommend the super powers companion if you're running custom content.