5 TIPS for NEW Savage Worlds GMs!

Just starting out as a new Savage Worlds GM? These 5 tips will help you ensure you have a great game!
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This video references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. It is unofficial Media Content permitted under the Media Network Content Agreement. Pinnacle Entertainment Group does not manage, approve, or endorse this content. Certain portions of the materials used are the intellectual property of Pinnacle, and all rights are reserved. Savage Worlds, all related settings, and unique characters, locations, characters, logos, and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
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[@Demonskunk]

The biggest thing that’s stuck with me after running Savage Worlds for a few years is to be careful giving enemies d4s of damage. I had a party get absolutely RAVAGED by a group of goblins with d4 daggers because their dice kept acing over and over. I make a habit of giving my enemies d6 weapons more commonly since, while they have a higher roll potential, their chance of chain aces is considerably lower.

[@TheSavageGoose]

Mathematically the d4 has a lower average, even when you consider Acing, but has a higher potential of acing. D4s have to ace more though to get higher numbers. 12 requires having 3 times, while d6 has to only ace 2. The probability of math is strange.

[@JohnnyDoom]

Yes. Let the Bennies flow. The Bennies MUST flow. And my #6 is remember a 4 is a success. Don't say the players need a raise to succeed, just adjust the difficulty with a + or - to the roll.

[@JohnnyDoom]

Make sure you play some games in the upcoming Hollerween 4

[@TheSavageGoose]

I took that Friday off work just so I could!

[@bhikku23]

I had a player years ago who, thanks to exploding dice, rolled 21 damage with her 1d4 dagger. Absolutely murderized her opponent! Needless to say she felt like a real badass.

[@TheSavageGoose]

I remember one of the first time I had a big dangerous bad guy in my Rippers game, it was a Reanimated T-Rex. My one player shot it and oneshotted it with a pistol. I probably missed something, but he felt cool doing it.

[@UllricLex]

I love Savage Worlds. My son and I play together with Mythic, a map to travel and a lot of World building tables, random encounters and NPC tables. Someday he found a magic item to summon a stone golem ones a day. When he do this in a fight its always a lot of fun cause the golem is so overpowered. But who cares 😅 it's our game.

[@TheSavageGoose]

That's awesome. My kids aren't in school yet, but I've started exposing them to RPGs. I'm trying to think of ways to make Savage Worlds adapted for young kids

[@drunkendelver1966]

​@@TheSavageGooseThere is a solo dungeon crawl game I use to run a simple sandbox for myself and a friend called Four Against Darkness. Its system is kind of similar to Savage Worlds, but simpler. In combat, you use a single die (starting with a d6) vs a target's level to determine if you deal damage to that enemy. The die explodes on a 6, and you keep rolling for each one. For each time you go over that target number, you deal an extra point of damage, so a roll of 6 and 3 vs a level 3 group of enemies would kill 3 of them. It might be a good gateway game to prepare them for Savage Worlds. :)

[@nateshandy2070]

The official Savage Worlds Drinking Game dictates we must take a drink every time a new GM asks about encounter balance. There did USED to be a formula for approximate balance, but I recall it being fairly abstruse, and I'm pretty sure I never used it.

[@TheSavageGoose]

Do you know what version had this formula?

[@nateshandy2070]

@@TheSavageGoose I just checked my copy of the old Explorer's Edition rules and I didn't find it in there, but it shows up in DELUXE Explorer's. Goes like this: You figure a 'combat rating' for each combatant. Base is half max damage before Acing. (Fighter with a Str d8+d6 sword starts with 7, for example.) Add +1 to that for each Combat Edge, Special Ability, or point of Toughness over 5, then do the same for allies. Extras halve their combat rating. Then you total all combat ratings on each side and compare opposition vs. PCs. This was ditched entirely in SWADE obviously, so it seems like an idea that was experimented with and ditched.

[@TheSavageGoose]

I used to have deluxe and foolishly got rid of it when I got my hands on swade.

[@TheSavageGoose]

Oh, that's interesting. I'm curious to see how that plays out in practice. May have to get the Deluxe book again and look into this.

[@evangosnell1929]

I've been looking for SWADE tutorials, and while yours isn't one, it's still the most helpful video I've seen. Good work.

[@TheSavageGoose]

I'm working on some tutorials, they just take more effort to produce. With the channel being young I've been going for some more easy starting videos to get people engaged, but tutorials are coming. What tutorials do you want to see?

[@evangosnell1929]

@@TheSavageGoose Mainly learning SWADE for a Deadlands campaign. Dice usage such as when to use it for skills and what to use for combat are the main bits I'm trying to find. Jumping over from 5e, so trying to absorb the new system gradually. I did binge through a lot of your other videos that were quite helpful.

[@hikikomicklori9290]

On top of earning bennies for roleplaying hinderances and being clever, I have other ways the players earn bennies. When it's time to shuffle the deck (especially during combat) I offer the player with the least amount of bennies the opportunity to shuffle the deck for a free benny while I move onto the second deck. Since I play at a game store, I want to support them by awarding one free benny if they buy something from the store. The store doesn't charge me for the room since I bring business their way. I also use Interludes to give the players a chance to stretch their creativity. I do this thing I call an Opposition/Overcome Trek Interludes, where the player with the highest card describes the obstacle the players run into, and the player with the lowest card describes how the players overcame the obstacle. Creative ideas earn bennies and have led to me changing aspects of the game because their ideas were so good. Backstory Interludes can be useful to give your NPCs flavor by letting the players fill in details. I just had a Flash Gordon campaign where the players were captured and put into a gladiatorial arena. The backstories they had to create were for four other gladiators. One they had to describe their backstory using an over the top european accent. Two gladiators were chained together so the player had to use hand puppets to describe their back story. And the last as a simple minded giant who only could say Brundel, so they had to describe the backstory with gestures and only used the world brundel. I love Savage Worlds.

[@TheSavageGoose]

I love it. I don't tend to have more than one deck, but if you are doing that, it's a great way to reward bennies, and reward (in a way) using bennies.

[@kevinvoiceactor9694]

I've found that ignoring Joker's Wild allows me to feel more generous about giving out bennies, because otherwise, it feels like that rule handles that task - albeit randomly. I really appreciate the video. Well structured!

[@spicytea735]

I have a house rule called, "Crit Happens." Whenever a player rolls a critical fail, they get a benny. The crit fail still happens, they can't change that, but it keeps the bennies flowing and allows for extra shenanigans to follow the effects of the fail.

[@kiillabytez]

I ran a Savage Worlds Mutant Chronicles session once. It was the most action packed session I ever ran before and felt like something from the MCU! It was awesome!

[@alasdairmontgomery1760]

Preparing to run a Deadlands game and this video popped up on my recommended! Very helpful, thank you for the advice!

[@neuromancer9k]

Excellent. This game just got on my radar, and videos like this are very helpful. Very curious to see how SW system compares to Chaosium's BRP-UGE. Cheers! 🍻⚔

[@TheSavageGoose]

Glad I could help!

[@FlashBIOS]

Fantastic as always

[@TheSavageGoose]

Thank you!

[@YukonJack88]

Thank you for your Excellent Advice I've Not played this system yet, but have given it considerable preview. I'm drawn in by the exploding the Dynamics of Acing and exploding damage, given my history with RollMaster's hardcore mechanics. However 2 things give me serious pause: Breaking up the table narrative flow with handing out and using bennies enabling one, to significantly reroll unsavoury dice results. So one is using table time to reroll your way out of death, using a meta currency: bennies, how is this any different, than using the Huge Hit point buffers in 5e, that take table time to chew thru? Another question considering the initiative system: how is table time conserved by constantly flipping thru a deck of cards? And, given how each word spoken during play helps reinforce a unique narrative, using a 20th century associations to a deck of cards , seems counter productive or down right inappropriate. Image using SW to run a Middle Earth campaign. Deadlands yes.... thematically it works. I need to get off my ass to play and run this system to help answer these burning issues.... Of all the systems I've looked at, SW and Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe seem to be the most innovative and accessible....

[@TheSavageGoose]

While the cards and bennies (basicaly poker chips) doesfinitely lend themselves to Wild West, cards are really no more out of place than dice, IMO. Just as you can theme the dice, you can theme the cards too. Most people will say that bennies are the hitpoints in Savage Worlds, but they work mechanically so differently, that equating the two is not exactly the same. With bennies and soaking, you could fail. Definitely play, but do not expect the same feel as D&D. I have thought through your questions about table time, and I have some thoughts, but I think I will talk about that as maybe a livestream, so look forward to that.

[@YukonJack88]

@@TheSavageGoose Thank you for your consideration and reply. Dice are a minimum present day intrusion into the narrative, that is normalized to fabric of Rpg culture, to the point of being invisible. They are quick to use and then out of the way. I've being playing in a very satisfying Long Running Symbaroum campaign, which uses a simple roll under D20 DC #. Initiative is set to the quickness stat. Everything about the system reinforces the unique Grim Dark mood of the setting, to a degree I'd not thought possible. Example : Vigilance as a core character stat When the GM calls for a vigilance check, that word usage invokes the mindset and mood of the characters navigating a hostile situation..... The game system is built with so many well crafted reinforcing aspects, that act to synergize into.... well player buy in into reality of the narrative. If the GM suddenly said he was using a deck of cards, each combat round.... I would be viscerally pulled out of Davokar... I'm a Texas Holdem poker player as well, and cards ... well.... that's a different game and experience all together. Which would work perfectly for Deadlands.

[@Philipp-Humm]

This is brilliant!

[@TheSavageGoose]

Thank you!

[@JurneeJakes]

The only thing I don’t like about SW are the playing cards being integral to the mechanics.

[@TheSavageGoose]

What do you not like about it? It's mostly just Initiative and a few sub systems, so would love to hear more about that.

[@JurneeJakes]

@@TheSavageGoose other than simply gimmicky, which works well for Deadlands, it’s another token on the table. I find it slows everything down, especially for initiative, and simple dice rolls would work just fine for random encounters. It also feels shoe horned in for chase scenes, just to provide them with a separate mechanic. I don’t notice it as much when playing online, and the VTT takes care of it, but at the table, it’s a slog.

[@UllricLex]

I like the cards for initiative. The Jokers brings a lot of fun into the game. We don't give every enemy a card, only wildcards get there own all other act on one card.

[@JurneeJakes]

@@UllricLex Yeah, I’m aware how it works. I just find it very clunky when one person is handing out initiative to everyone around a table. Especially every round.

[@JurneeJakes]

My gripes with a few mechanics being said, SW did bring my all time favorite setting, RIFTS, into the modern day and I have every book for it.

[@anikdasdigital]

Your videos are amazing. I really like it. I am a new subscriber to your channel. Can I talk with you Savage Goose?