Somebody mentioned Savage Worlds RPG in another thread so I did a little research on it and found it was one of the games that did different dice for stats (e.g. your strength is a d4, d6, d8, or some such thing). The Cortex rules use a similar type thing.
My question is. Have any of you played with this type system and what do you think of it?
I've played and run a lot of Savage Worlds in the past couple of years and it's a pretty straightforward system. I won't pretend to be that interested in bell curves and the like but, for Savage Worlds, it works well. Savage Worlds tries for a "Fast Furious Fun" vibe and, from my experience it succeeds at that.
I've played some Serenity using the Cortex System, which does seem pretty similar, and I'd agree. It's pretty intuitive to combine an attribute/ability score with a skill for rolls, and the range of numbers seems to work pretty well. I also like the rules for complicated tasks in Cortex, where characters keep rolling until the tally of their checks beats a high number. It could make for good drama if, say, a character were working to disarm a bomb as it ticks down toward zero. It would help if the hero was at a circus or in Fort Knox.
-Nate
My question is more from a psychological point of view. If somebody only had a D4 for a stat and knew they would need to roll an 8 or greater for certain tasks. I guess this would not be much different than a skill for picking locks being rolled on a D20 by anybody but the success number is 25 and only skilled people would have the bonuses to reach it.
I have read the Cortex System,but not played it.
I have played Savaged Worlds System several times. The system is as advertised - Fast, Furious, Fun. If you throw average or better for the die type, your character will do rather well. If you throw a lot of 1s, your character will be out of the action/fight rather quickly.
The game I played in was a homebrew fantasy. I had a very good character, a dwarf fighter. I threw a lot of 1s, so he did poorly. I was somewhat disappointed. He was not much help to the party.
The game I ran was a One Sheet Sci-Fi in the Necropolis game setting. I threw a lot of Aces (max the die roll) for the bad guys and a tough adventure quickly became impossible.
I tried switching dice. It didn't help. As a player I roll poorly and as a GM I'm a killer. It was suggested by the other players that I buy an Electronic Dice Roller. Oddly enough this has not happened in other game systems.
In Savage Worlds most Main Characters have three wounds and Extras only one. If someone throws a string of either very bad dice or very good dice it is over rather quickly.
Savage Worlds is very playable. On the surface it is rather simple (not simplistic) to learn. As one plays more, one learns little tricks that make certain actions more effective (certain actions together are much more effective than the action alone). Savage Worlds really will run any genre.
I think Savage Worlds is a great system. They achieved what they set out to do, which is make a fast paced, cinematic game. I like that they use all the dice. The rule books all look so vibrant yet remain affordable.
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