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There is one in every gaming group, you know the guy, the guy who insists on using one system for every damn genre out there. “Hey you’re planning an epic Fantasy campaign, well Fuzion would be perfect for giving your game that D&D/lord of the Rings feel!” Or “I was thinking about running a character oriented Victorian adventure, based on story and plot, not senseless combats, so of course I plan on using Hero for the system,” and of course “I’ve been planning a Harry Potter RPG for d20, does anyone have any idea what the AC for Hogwarts’ robes should be? No how about Quiddich padding?” I have always been against this kind of thing, especially since most of these all in one wonder systems were originally written for one Genre and then simply shoehorned into everything else. Well as with all things you should never, say never. I have found a system that (at least for me) is as close to a perfect universal system I have ever seen. That System is Savage Worlds. Now to be fair I’m not planning on ditching the over 200 plus volumes of other RPGs to make room for a Savage worlds only life, but I have to admit it is an excellent game system that has a lot of merits worth looking into.

The first benefit is stated right on the cover, “Fast Furious Fun ” It’s not just a clever catch phrase it’s the games whole mantra. The system basics are as follows, all stats and skills are measured in die types (D4, D6 etc.) and a success is rolling a 4 or better on the die stated for your stat or skill. (Plus or minus and modifiers naturally) PCs (called wild cards) also always get an additional d6 (called the Wild die) which is rolled along with the skill or stat die and the PC can choose the better of the two rolls. The skills themselves are a scant 15 most of which are generalizations, shooting for example is not a specialized skill but rather shooting any thing from bow and arrows, to bazookas. Knowledge rolls are also not forced into you must have knowledge (Current events) to have an idea of current local politics, players can make “common knowledge” checks which allow them to not be penalized for knowledge that the character should have but doesn’t spend specific skill point for. The game also sports edges (a trait similar to advantages or feats in d20) which give heroes cool advantages,) and hindrances (disadvantages) as well as a trait called Bennies which is a way of offering players on the spot rewards (in the form of re-roll tokens)

The Second benefit of this game is combat is a breeze. Just as advertised, this game turns mass battles into a breeze for the GM, I recently ran a Star Wars based game in Savage worlds, and even with a party of 4 PCs, 5 Additional Rebel troops on their side, 10 Stormtroopers, a Sith warrior, a High level bounty Hunter and a patrol of Speeder bikes the combat took a little under an hour to run out, with almost no slowdown. The card-based initiative told everyone EXACTLY when he or she went without having to remember or quibble over ties. This game is rather miniatures centric as a result, however, keep in mind that Pinnacle isn’t planning a special or collectable Savage worlds Minis sets, (though they do sell cardboard heroes for Deadlands and a few Savage world settings) The point is that it’s minis based combat is not designed to force you into further sales of booster packs or the like, use what you’ve got.

The third benefit is it’s leveling up system, which is more holistic than the d20 version offering the player a chance to improve a few traits after every 5 xps; these improvements make your character significantly better, without making them unbalanced. Every four level ups your character goes up a rank (which allows him access to more edges and options) this system also helps GMs anticipate what kinds of threats the players can handle without flattening them unfairly.

Now as a quick devil’s advocate, the system is not perfect. Probably it’s biggest downfall for some is the fact that the game is not as detail oriented as some, which may turn some players off, especially if they are more detail oriented players. Secondly the game is not “the only system you’ll ever need”. The game handles a specific type of gaming very well. And that is a more action packed almost Hollywood blockbuster kind of playing. This system works excellently for genres like Deadlands, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Evil Dead, Mummy, or Titan AE, Genres with human level heroes and plenty of action. Genres like Vampire, or Falkenstien (more intrigue over combat) aren’t really going to benefit from this system, nor would rules heavy genres (such as Superheroes) which it can do, but it is obvious that it’s not the system’s forte’ In this it kind of reminds me of BESM, which is also a great system for some genres (anime being the obvious main example) but questionable for other genres (BESM doesn’t do well for realistic tactical minded games for example)

All that said and done, it’s a great system. I’m not saying it’s a “throw out every other RPG in your collection and play only this!” system. But it is a great system for one-shots, convention runs, and even campaigns, and in the right genres this system has the potential to be one of the best RPGs on the market today. If you don’t believe me, go to pinnacle’s web site and check out their test drive (www.peginc.com) and prepare to get savage!