Savage Worlds by Pinnacle Entertainment Group.

This article has been a long time coming. I’ll start by saying I like Savage Worlds. It’s a good game. The only drawback I’ve seen that makes me not want to write any material for them is their lack of an Open Game License. Pinnacle seems very closed off to freelance/third party writers to me.

I ran old school 1E and 2E Deadlands. I played in a Deadlands: Hell on Earth game that was absolutely epic back in the day. (Thanks Sean!) I love the system. I was also a fan of Deadlands D20, as a side note.

You’ll see me mention Savage Worlds Adventures Deluxe Edition (SWADE) quite a bit. I have collected multiple editions of Savage Worlds. In fact, there is a new edition coming on Kickstarter.

The system has evolved over the years and remained great.

I collect a lot of games. I love generic systems like Savage Worlds. EGS is a game from Mystical Throne Entertainment that is basically akin to SWADE with the serial numbers filed off. It’s a fairly efficient game, though. Here’s a link to the Quick Start if anyone is curious.

Cortex is another game similar to SWADE. I noticed it first when Marvel RPG was produced by Margaret Weis. Unlike SWADE, it has a somewhat open (-ish) license. The system is easy and fun to work with, regardless. I feel like Cortex grew out of Savage Worlds, whether the writers want to admit it or not.

All of the interesting spinoffs are out there.

My favorite spinoff so far has been Savage Rifts. I was a big RIFTS fan from pretty much day 1 of that game from Palladium. I still love and cherish all of my RIFTS books. I was super excited about it going over to Savage Worlds because of the dozens of new character and world options it opened up. I was especially thrilled about doing a Deadlands crossover, since Hell on Earth is sorta similar.

I’ve also seen Warhammer 40K done for Savage Worlds unofficially, of course. Officially there’s Earthdawn, Pathfinder, and Battlelords of the 23rd Century for Savage Worlds. There are also Savage Worlds supers, horror, and science fiction sourcebooks with tons more options to add into the game. This game has a million directions it can go as a set of core rules.

One of my absolute favorite Third Party sourcebooks for Savage Worlds is a sweet cyberpunk/mecha setting called Interface Zero. This setting has been done for other games, but I got into it as a SWADE companion. I’ve always likened it to more of a Ghost In the Shell or Appleseed kind of cyberpunk setting. I highly recommend the setting and SWADE gives it just the right amount of extra crunchy goodness.

What sets SWADE apart?

My favorite part of this system is by far the dice to determine the outcome of a skill or action. Closely followed by the use of playing cards for some things. Character creation is pretty straightforward point buy with additional edges and hindrances. It’s fairly balanced as systems go.

The other thing that sets SWADE apart is the amount of genres that work well within the system structure. As I mentioned, the game covers fantasy, horror, sci-fi and so on very well both mechanically and in terms of flavor. It can be used for WW2 as well as US Civil war drama as well. Pretty much, if you can name it, SWADE can do it with extra crunch.

It’s definitely worth a look. Welcome to Day 2 of Indie TTRPG Month. While Pinnacle isn’t exactly a new or huge company, they are definitely independent. Please take a look at one of the various incarnations of Savage Worlds and maybe give it a try.

If you’re looking for a game to write for in the same fashion as 5E, this is probably not the way to go unless something has changed recently. I like games I could potentially publish for, and Pinnacle is a bit more closed off than most. It’s not a deterrent to the game play, and I certainly recommend it as a system. If you have a home brew game for your group, this might be perfect.

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you. Please keep on gaming. More tomorrow.