Impressions of Savage Worlds for Star Wars?

[Alastor04]

Have any of you played Savage Worlds? I feel like it has some similarities to WEG Star Wars.

If you have played both systems does WEG still feel like best Star Wars version?

[ThrorII]

I played a Savage Worlds Star Wars game ten or more years ago.

Savage Worlds is not my thing. I really dislike the system, and I feel like I'm the only one in the world who doesn't like it.
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"The internet is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be unnatural." - Sheev Zuckerberg

[jtanzer]

Not having played the system before, what made you not like it?
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The best villians are the ones the PCs create.

[ThrorII]

Like I said, it has been a decade or longer.

I know that even after a mid-length campaign (several months), I still couldn't figure out how combat/soak/damage worked. I'm not dumb, I've played dozens of rpgs, but somehow I could not grok Savage Worlds.

Also, I am not a fan of "dice improving" mechanics. A d4 ability can be improved to a d6, then a d8, etc.

It sells itself as "rules light", but it really isn't.

I'm sure there are a dozen people who could jump in and "explain" it to me. I just don't care anymore.
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"The internet is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be unnatural." - Sheev Zuckerberg

[jtanzer]

That fits with what I read. The biggest complaint seems to be the toughness system which is vulnerable to the "naked dwarf" syndrome. The second biggest complaint was that combat was far too swingy. One review I read noted that his players tabled a supposedly tough monster easily, and then got TPK'd by basic guards without being able to deal any return damage.
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The best villians are the ones the PCs create.

[raithyn]

Yeah, every fight can be deadly for all combatants. That's part of the selling point but doesn't work for all narratives.

I generally like playing Savage Worlds but don't enjoy running it as much as don't other systems. The goal of the system is fast, cinematic play with a pulp action feel. It is much crunchier than advertised, especially for the GM, so if you don't have an experienced player to run a game or two it can be very hard to pick up. That crunch is a barrier until it becomes intuitive. Every new edition has lowered that barrier and improved the action economy but the problems are largely inherent to the system.

I've seen two sets of fan-made Star Wars rules (and many other IPs). They are generally quite easy to integrate once you have the core rules down.

D6 is simpler in almost every way outside the Force. High experience advancements and Jedi powers are smoother in Savage Worlds. Overall, I like D6 better but I can certainly see a use case for Savage Worlds we're I running a multi-year campaign instead of shorter adventures. (Although, life's been busy and I haven't run anything or even plan adventures for several weeks.)

[Whill]

I have Savage Worlds, but I've never read it other than cursory glances. From what I am reading here, the system sounds awful.

Here is the reason I bought it in the first place... I know a former WEG Star Wars GM who switched to Savage Worlds for Star Wars and raved about how Savage Worlds is better for running Star Wars than D6. I bought it and then told the guy I did based on his comments. He immediately started backpedaling, saying that the system plays better than it reads, etc. Star Wars D6 has room to be tweaked for improvement, including to get a little more crunchy to handle more nuance. I still see no reason to chuck D6 completely and switch to a wacky system with a steep learning curve. I'm wondering if he was in a Savage Worlds group and the only way to get them to play Star Wars was to use Savage Worlds.
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Star Wars D6 Damage

[DougRed4]

I don't think the horror stories are fair, even if it's got its weaknesses and not for everyone.

I think it could do SW (Star Wars, not Savage Worlds) decently. But I think d6 handles the pulpiness better.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[jtanzer]

[pakman]

I have read savage worlds - and can say, as someone who has played many systems over the years - was quite impressed with it.
(I would not judge an entire system by a few negative - or positive reviews)>

Side note- I found its damage/soak system easier to understand than most people find d6 R&E ( a lot of players get confused by a system that is not incremental, and how one hit can "skip" damage levels).

Note: before anyone gets ...whatever ... I perfectly understand both systems - to each their own.

If you read it, you can tell it was inspired by d6 - as lot of conventions are in there - sure, they took some parts and changed some things - but a lot of the basics are there (the action economy, segmented success levels, d6 core, etc.).

When my group wanted to start up star wars again post covid - after a lot of thought went into it. It came down to either savage worlds (which we were unfamiliar with, but really liked) or going back to d6 again, but with even more house rules.

There were a number of Star Wars settings for it - but I did not have enough experience in the system to judge them - so my group (my other co-gm at the time) decided to use d6 again, with a lot of house rules (which ending up being a LOT of house rules - although, maybe not much more than some of the folks here).

Looking back, and learning more about it (as it inspired a lot of ideas in our house rules) - it would not have been a bad choice. Both are great systems.

Many of its better concepts easily move over to d6 (again, I consider it a loose d6 derivative - not as close as mythic d6, or zorro, but not that far either).

A few high points;
* Good rules on character helping characters, or hindering foes.
* very strong narrative component (also ties into the helping and hindering).
* A hero type metacurrency - very similar to character points, but with some other play based interactions (i.e. rewards for good roleplaying, etc.).
* nice simple structured damage system (yes, really).
* The concept of a "raise" - basically similar to D6 later "result points" system where rolling BETTER than required gives a bonus
* A really good and well organized advantage and disadvantage system - not as "gameable" as most others and what feels like consistent mechanics.
* Good chase rules - abstracted just enough for speed and simplicity.
* good rules for condensed scenes

Have Gm's added some of these in to d6?
Sure.
This is not about comparing and contrasting or attacking either system - I mean - we all play our beloved 30+ year old system here - but we also have prolly twice as many house rules than official content.

SWADE has a lot of good things in it - whether you want to play it for one of its systems (I have friends who use it for deadlands, and another gm in my group is thinking of using it for a Paranoia one off on a gaming weekend) or just for other perspectives on house rules for d6.

Be well my friends, and may the dice be with you.
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SW Fan, Gamer, Comic, Corporate nerd.
Working on massive House Rules document - pretty much a new book. Will post soon....