 Goto [ Index ] |
The Disclaimer
I am a co-Owner of the Savage Worlds Yahoo Group and have been a big fan of Savage Worlds since the original rulebook came out. I was a proofreader for this book and my name appears in the "Special Thanks" section. I did receive a free (PDF) copy so that I could proofread it, as well as a second final (PDF) copy. However, I have never received any money from Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group so I'm still technically impartial.
The Book
The full Savage Worlds rules are currently only available in PDF form (unless you can track down a copy of the first printing that's floating around, but there aren't many left). For your money, you get a regular version that is virtually identical to the print edition (coming soon) as well as a Print Friendly version. The Zip file weighs in at almost 30MB, most of which is used by the graphics-heavy regular version.
The PDFs are both full color and the print version of the revised book will be in color as well. The print edition will probably cost 29.95 as opposed to 19.95 for the PDF.
The Rules
(Those who have read previous Savage Worlds reviews such as http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9798.phtml or http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9349.phtml can skip this part.)
The Savage Worlds rules are simple and designed for both RPGs and skirmish wargames. All characters have a bunch of Traits. Traits are Attributes and Skills rated from d4 (incompetent) to d12 (world class) with d6 being "average". The Attributes are Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength and Vigor. Skills include Fighting, Persuasion and Notice. Attributes have a minimum of d4, Skills not listed default to d4-2 and both kinds of Traits can be pushed to d12+1 and higher with Edges. Trait rolls "ace" meaning that if the highest number on the die is rolled, it can be rolled again and added to the result. If a die rolls higher than the Target Number it is a Success and rolling 4 higher than the TN results in a Raise.
Nearly all characters have an Edge or two, with heroes often gaining many of them over time. Edges are talents that modify Trait rolls, allow the use of new abilities or make certain actions easier and basically represent anything characters know how to do that isn't a Trait, racial ability or a Monstrous Ability. Powers, which can be spells, psychic knacks, gadgets or miracles, are obtained with Edges.
All characters have a few statistics derived from their Traits, namely Pace, Parry and Toughness. Pace is how fast the character can move in a round, Parry is the Target Number another character has to beat to hit the character in melee and Toughness is subtracted from damage to figure out Wounds. Player characters, called Heroes, also have a Charisma modifier that is applied to certain social skills. Most characters also have Hindrances, which are simply disadvantages.
Wild Cards, the "named characters" get certain advantages over Extras, the "unnamed characters". Wild Cards roll a Wild Die (d6) along with their Trait rolls and pick the best of the two. WCs also get Bennies, which are spent on re-rolling Trait rolls and can suffer multiple wounds before becoming incapacitated. All of the heroes and important villains are Wild Cards, while everyone else is an Extra and doesn't get the Wild Card benefits. This distinction is part of what makes keeping track of large combats so easy in Savage Worlds: only a few characters in each battle are going to have more than one "hit point".
In combat, each Wild Card and each group of Extras are dealt a card from a standard card deck (called the Action Deck, but it doesn't need to be the official Action Deck). The GM counts down from the jokers to the deuces, or everyone simply goes their turn if playing with the cards face up. Each character may move their Pace and make an action in a round (running counts as an action) and may make multiple actions of different kinds with accumulating Multiple Action Penalties. Most Edges affect combat in some way, such as the Frenzy Edge, which allows a character to make more than one attack action in a round.
The Savage Worlds rules truly are Fast, Furious and Fun as the tagline goes. Since it first came out, SW has become my favorite set of rules for RPG campaigns, though I still do use other systems occasionally. I haven't played many skirmish games with it, but I don't play wargames as much as I used to anyway.
If you would like more information on the rules, just go to http://www.greatwhitegames.com The Test Drive free version of the rules is hosted in the downloads section and it covers all of the basics in much more detail. Bear in mind that it omits some of the coolest stuff from the Rulebook, as well as all the statistics on gear, vehicles and critters. They can't give it all away.
Nitpicks: The Guts skill. But that's more the subject for an online forum debate than a nitpick.
The New Style
The style of the Revised book is much better than the old one. The new cover has a montage of characters similar to the old one, but they're far more "edgy" and the whole cover is a single illustration made for the book rather than an edited compilation of separate pieces from the Action Deck. The trio on the cover appears to be a 19th Century Vampire Hunter in the middle (obviously from Rippers), a Space Marine type on the left (possibly from Red Rising or Necessary Evil) and a paladin/knight type character on the right (probably from Evernight). Even if you're unfamiliar with those settings, some of which have yet to come out, the trio are still a cool group that illustrate the versatility of Savage Worlds.
The layout is great, with clearly organized chapters, headers and sections. Very easy to browse through with interior illustrations that fit the text nicely.
Many of the interior illustrations were taken from the Savage Worlds Adventure Deck, the Action Deck or earlier Pinnacle books. The original printing of the rulebook used most of the art from the Action Deck. In the Revised book, most of the illustrations are taken instead from the Adventure Deck, which has more and better art than the Action Deck. (Both decks are by the same artist, Cheyenne Wright) A few of the illustrations in both versions were taken from previous Pinnacle books and colored for the revised book. The illustrations are very broad, covering swords & sorcery, pulp/mystery, science fiction, modern/action, western, warfare and horror.
The Print Friendly version takes away the ink hogging backgrounds and reduces the size of some of the illustrations. It's also slightly easier to browse on older machines with less memory. Otherwise, it looks exactly the same as the regular PDF version.
Nitpicks: The Lizardman illustration doesn't have a tail, which is clearly mentioned in the rules. A plainer font has replaced the old pulp style font for the headers. I'd actually prefer a few more "classic" (recycled) illustrations, but that's just me.
Style = 5 out of 5 (even if you own the original rulebook already).
The New Substance
There are a few rule changes, but nothing earth shattering. Bonus Damage is handled completely differently, with a simple d6 for a raise on Fighting or Shooting instead of +2 per raise. The Giant Killer Edge makes more sense. First Strike is no longer "broken" having been split into First Strike and Improved First Strike with tougher requirements to get all the benefits of the previous version. Grappling works differently, with a Fighting vs. Parry roll instead of opposed Strength roll.
Playtest note: Apart from the new Bonus Damage rule, most of the changes affected things that my group has not done very much, or Edges they don't have, so it had little impact on play. 1d6 Bonus Damage does make combat just that little bit faster, which is a very good thing.
Many of the changes in the book are material added from other Savage Worlds books (such as a slightly re-written Elemental Manipulation power originally from 50 Fathoms), but some of it is previously unpublished material. Most of them are available for free on the website, scattered throughout official supplements.
The new stuff other than rules includes new gear (some new weapons, lots of new "mundane" items), new vehicles (including spaceships from shuttles to giant cruisers) and powers (Beast Friend, Entangle and Teleport to name a few). The Game Master's Section is expanded, giving even more helpful advice than was crammed into the first printing as well as some concrete guidelines for different kinds of campaigns within genres and adding new stuff to Savage Worlds campaigns. Two extra pages of critters in the Bestiary and a d20 system conversion are now included in the back of the book.
To be honest: if you have a copy of the first printing, you could skip buying the revised book (until you cannot bear the cravings for a new rulebook anymore and MUST HAVE IT). The old rules still hold up to the test of time, and this is a true revision that doesn't break the rules, unlike D&D 3.5. That is why I keep referring to the "first printing" and not "first edition".
Nitpicks: Still no official Martial Artist/Martial Arts Edges, one of the most repeated forum subjects. No Showdown skirmish rules in the rulebook, though it can be obtained for free from the website and is included in the skirmish books.
Substance = 5 out of 5, if you don't own a copy of the rules yet. Only 3 out of 5 if you own the original rulebook already.
