Why I love Savage…

Not too long ago, the player characters went up against Paramour, a cyber-assassin that outclassed them in every way. She had been a thorn in their side for several weeks, and they finally took the bait. This was a fight in which the players knew that I would not be pulling any punches.

To start it off, they shot a grenade that she was holding – and of course it blew up, because that’s cool. She ended up being Shaken, but with a destroyed cyberarm. I gave her a -2 Parry, but she still had cool cyberware and a bad-ass heavy pistol. The PCs were almost Seasoned, while she was Legendary +3 extras.

The fight was intense. In attempting to escape, she took out half of the PCs (incapacitated). This turned the tide in her favor, so she maliciously decided to press the attack against the rest of the group. Double taps, Bennies, wild attacks, sniping, full-auto, Bennies, explosions, single-shot, more Bennies, acrobatics, blood-n-wires… you name it, it happened, and it was glorious. In the end, the PCs beat her, but just barely (and they certainly had the injuries to show for it). In that fight we didn’t stop to look up rules, but we weren’t winging it, either. It just… worked.

I want a system that provides simple rules – just enough to get the job done in that perfect, light crunch. The rules need to cover everything that’s important (while disregarding the minutiae) so that there’s plenty of room for flexibility. This allows the flow of the game to continue, not just in keeping everyone immersed in the action and story, but really feeling it was well. I simply want a roleplaying game that doesn’t get in the way of awesome action and drama, and instead encourages it, because that’s just good gaming.

Savage Worlds has that in spades, which is why I love Savage Worlds.

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Savage Worlds (from Pinnacle Entertainment) is a great system.  It’s super flexible, and can handle any genre.  I know everyone has their favorite universal roleplaying system (and may often tout how flexible it is), but Savage really does get the job done in a fun way.  On top of that, it has an incredible fan base and support structure (Facebook, Google+, Forum).  These are the reasons why there are so many designers making games using Savage Worlds as its engine (myself included)… it’s simply firing on all cylinders.

“Fast, Furious, Fun!”

Savage Worlds PDF ($9.99)
Savage Worlds paperback ($8.57?)

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