It's an unlikely RPGnet darling, and yet I've still not seen Savage Worlds discussed over here. What's more, I've never seen it mentioned in Something Awful's Traditional Games forum either.

Personally I have no idea how much SW sells so I'm wondering, is the system not half as popular as its fast, furious fans would have us believe, or are its players generally not the sort that gets online and talks about RPGs?

Quote from: Bartholomew FairIt's an unlikely RPGnet darling, and yet I've still not Savage Worlds discussed over here. What's more, I've never seen it mentioned in Something Awful's Traditional Games forum either.

Personally I have no idea how much SW sells so I'm wondering, is the system not half as popular as its fast, furious fans would have us believe, or are its players generally not the sort that gets online and talks about RPGs?

The only place I've seen it widely discussed outside RPGnet is Dragonsfoot.  But that place is icky.  

I like Savage Worlds.  I've run a con one shot and a mini-campaign with it and played in another campaign.  It's a slick little ruleset.  It might be one of those games that gets little online discussion because it's not very controversial, other than Smiling Jackass or whatever that skull's name is.

Quote from: MaddmanThe only place I've seen it widely discussed outside RPGnet is Dragonsfoot.  But that place is icky.  

Dragonsfoot got rid of their Savage Worlds forum a while back didn't they? But then SW has nothing to do with D&D so I have no idea why they had one to begin with.

PS: What's icky about DF?

While this might be the first thread specifically for SW, it has been mentioned in various other threads.

I did sell pretty well locally. The largest gaming store here sold out 6 consecutive shipments of it when it first came out. The store stocks 5 or more deep generally. When I picked up my copy they had just put 15 more on th shelf and those were gone with in a week. The owner said (when I picked up mine) that through six orders they had sold about 60 copies. They still periodically sell out of it. Of course The Source is one of the most sucessful gaming shops in the midwest (maybe the country), so this could just be a freak of nature. I doubt most other stores sold anything near that amount.

as to the game it's self:

I don't care for it all that much. yeah , it can do most any type of game you want, but it doesn't do anything that well.

In my experience, Savage Worlds gets mentioned all the time if the specification of the generel mood allow for it. It's one of the first games anyone will mention when someone gets tired from D20 -- apart from the AD&D grognards, of course. Judging from the sheer amount of conversions, I think it has become the go-to system for lots of groups. Apart from some genres, it can be used for a very wide range of settings. And it has enough elements from D20 to allow for easy transition for the D&D crow.

My only gripe with systems like SW's, is the low spread you get. A good starting fighter-type will have D10 in his combat skill and will max that to D12 pretty soon. You'll reach a plateau much too soon for extended campaigns where the power level varies too much.

That pushes it in the neighbourhood of good ol' D6 (as in Star Wars) for me, it won't really compete with D20 (not-tm) or percentage-based games in the long run.

Quote from: Bartholomew FairDragonsfoot got rid of their Savage Worlds forum a while back didn't they? But then SW has nothing to do with D&D so I have no idea why they had one to begin with.

PS: What's icky about DF?

I had some run-ins with their moderators.  Apparently its only a personal attack if the person you're making it against likes AD&D.  But that's ancient history.

Quote from: Bartholomew FairPersonally I have no idea how much SW sells so I'm wondering, is the system not half as popular as its fast, furious fans would have us believe, or are its players generally not the sort that gets online and talks about RPGs?

Savage Worlds seems to have a following...how big?  Hard to say as we're talking the Internet here...If you would use RPG.net as your basis you might say large, otherwise maybe not so much...

Disclaimer:  These are my rememberances of the game, I haven't played in a while....

I have the 1st ed. of SW...I've played the 1st ed SW.  I'd say it's fairly fast to whip up a character and start playing.  Here are some likes and dislikes of mine:

Pros
- Quick to make a character.
- Easy to understand action resolution system.
- A corebook with the standard rules and then Plot books for campaigns within a specific setting.

Cons
- High Toughness monsters highlight problems I have with the combat system.  High TN monsters can be tough to damage.  Really tough. Really, really tough. If you also have high TN, prepare for a Fred Flinstone bonk bonk marathon.  I hit him, he isn't damaged (or he's stunned), He hits you, you're not damaged (or you're just stunned) ad infinitum.  The SW fans answer to this appears to be that I'm not performing combat correctly, specifically that I should be attempting to get modifiers added to my attack (through special attack moves, such as taunt, intimidate, trick?) so that will increase my damage potential.  There don't seem to be that many special mods and I don't really want to kick every monster in the junk every round in every combat just to have an attempt at causing damage.  This may be addressed in the 2nd ed of SW.

- Granularity of experience system (especially in regards for campaigns). Novice, Seasoned, Veteran.  I 'm not sure how different(re: improved, better) your character would be after an entire campaign. This may not bother you.

- The Bennies/XP Points crossover.  Bennies (Hero points) can also be used for XP (I'm trying to remember if they are the sole source of XP). I find that my players hoard these and only use them for XP or they end up using them to soak damage and then can't "level up". I don't like the crossover, it probably wouldn't be to hard to change.

- Thanks to jrients, I have another con...Smiling Jack: Worst. Mascot. Evar.

I enjoy Savage Worlds.  

I'm not a fan of their "one setting/one book/one campaign/one character" mentality, but I understand it.

I wish there was more skill diversity.  I don't like Feats ... er ... "Edges" defining the sole distinction between one character and another.  I'd rather that they had more skill diversification.  (e.g "Shooting" skill covers all missile weapons from thrown knives to bows to pistols to assault cannons to missile launchers to blaster rifles, etc.)

I find that characters in Savage Worlds are only "good" for about a year of weekly play at most.  After that, they generally have all the Edges from the main book and the worldbook being used and have to be retired because they're too powerful to be moved into the next setting (or continued to be played in the existing setting).

Savage Worlds is a great, fun, quick and easy game system ideal for one-shots and 1-10 session gaming situatiosn.  

I find it completely unsuitable to extended campaigns.

Well, it's popular enough that it's a yearly event at the local college con.

I really don't care for it, meself.

Has anyone played through an entire plot book (i.e. 50 fathoms, Evernight)?  How do the characters scale in comparision to where the campaign expects them to be?  Just curious...


Rich

I've never played it, but the idea of a single Fighting skill and Shooting skill turns me off.

Quote from: Bartholomew FairPersonally I have no idea how much SW sells so I'm wondering, is the system not half as popular as its fast, furious fans would have us believe, or are its players generally not the sort that gets online and talks about RPGs?

The fans tend to stick to the PEG/GWG forums, which are generally pretty active.

I think it's fair to say that I'm something of a fan, although I kind of got burned out on it and haven't run it in awhile. For anything with a lot of pulp action it's easy to pick up and run and lots of fun.

I don't run long campaigns anymore, so I honestly can't say how well it works for them. But for one-shots and short campaigns it's a blast.

I LOVE Savage Worlds. For a long time, it has maintained "most favored game" status at my table.
I find it's a perfect game for people who don't have a whole lot of time for regular gaming. My grop and I usually run 2 to 3 hour sessions anywhere from 3 to 4 times a month. SW is great for getting a character up and running quickly and being able to handle pretty much any sort of setting with just a little tweaking.
That being said, I find most of their published settings pretty stupid. They have an aversion it seems to publishing bog-standard settings of any sort. They have a fantasy setting where aliens are invading, a Victorian Horror/biotech game, and a bunch of other stuff that's not really my cup of tea. Now, they do publish "toolkits" for standard genres, but they are only published electronically, and tend to be expensive.
Still for gaming on the fly with rules that are easy to tweak, you can't beat it.

I've only played it at this most recent DragonCon (where the GM ran a truly kickass two-part 1930's pulp adventure), so my experience is limited.  Other than the fact that stats seem to have little to no effect on skill use, it seemed servicable enough, and it definately played fast and furious, appealing to us who don't mind rule-light games.