The Spring and Summer months have come and gone for our game group. After we did several game system search sessions last Fall/Winter we added a new player to our group in early Spring and continued with our collaborative D&D campaign in Feyruin. The Spring sessions explored a new part of the world and included some interesting character moments and world-building.¹ When I was a player I chose to break-type and I rolled up a Barbarian. This was my first time playing a martial character and was interesting (though I still think I prefer playing a wizardly type).

After the D&D campaign, we started an Eclipse Phase campaign. The game proved as fun and thought-provoking as when we did our initial setting search demo. The game posits a post-scarcity society that questions the core concepts of being human. The company behind the game has (not altogether unsurprisingly given the game) set up a GitHub repo with the rules and I highly recommend checking out the game.

While we didn’t return to Savage Worlds during the Spring I continued to work on the Star Wars game port in the background. I loved the idea behind Savage Worlds as the system is simple to use, and has a robust community to support and also full support from the publisher. The game also comes with everything in a single book that you need to run the game; character creation, combat rules, storytelling tools, campaign rules, and a bestiary.

Yet, the further I got from our demo game the more I struggled with making the idea of the game align with my play style and what I was looking for in a game (and also the others in the game group). The “Fast, Furious, Fun” motto really drew me into the game and the system’s more “swingy” aspects like the exploding dice seemed fantastic and really dynamic. Yet, when I ran the game those swings made the story feel uneven as the characters had low lows and high highs. It made me realize that I want a game with fewer wide swings so the characters have more normalized chances to succeed or fail.

There were also some logistical challenges around how Savage Worlds uses a standard playing card deck (with the jokers included) for encounter initiative (action cards). Our group plays online and a point of pain during the demo was running combat with a playing card deck as it created some cognitive dissonance between the players and GM. I had to deal with the cards on my desk and then read them out to the player and it felt like a connection break between the Player and the GM. I looked for alternatives and found some different ideas on the publisher forums and on community forums though none resonated with me. ²

I also explored using a different VTT like Roll 20 or Fantasy Grounds though those solutions seemed too large for our group (we normally run games over Discord, Owlbear Rodeo, and D&D Beyond).

I am happy I spent the time trying Savage Worlds though I don’t think it is the game that I will use for Star Wars should we play again. I do love the idea behind the game, and would definitely try it again for another setting (and in person).

1. I feel like I need to write an entire post on running a collaborative world (e.g. where you have multiple GMs all using the same world). ↩

2. including multiple Star Wars fan conversions Star Wars SWADE Conversion & also Star Wars: Adventure Edition - The Editor’s Wastebasket ↩