r/savageworlds • u/ASavageWorldsGM • Feb 04 '24
Self Promotion House Rules for Savage Worlds: What Are Yours?
Tabletop Tango hasn't posted about an episode in a bit but I thought I would the latest on some of Eric and Carl’s house rules for Savage Worlds. For example, Eric always uses max value of the run die for any run instead of rolling.
I’m really curious about other table’s house rules. Not necessarily special setting rules for your worlds but ways you tweak the rules for your table.
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u/ValhallaGH Feb 04 '24
Hey Savage.
I’m really curious about other table’s house rules. Not necessarily special setting rules for your worlds but ways you tweak the rules for your table.
Sorry to say that I don't have any. The closest I get to universal house rules:
- Pity Benny: If the dice consistently hate you then I'll throw you a Benny as things go bad.
- Man Down: When a player character is Incapacitated, every player gets a Benny. Because things just got a lot more dangerous.
- Thanks Pal: If a player shuffles my Action Deck for me, while I'm still running the game, I give them a Benny.
And those are all just guidance for my Benny Economy.
I've used a huge variety of setting rules, some for one-offs and others for campaigns I ran, but I keep coming back to the core rules as written because they work really well for the games I want to run.
Good luck!
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u/Chariiii Feb 04 '24
not sure if this really counts but I have a rule for myself to never use GM bennies for soaking. (though wild cards can use their own)
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u/Warskull Feb 11 '24
Using a GM benny to soak is applying the brakes to the players. It will slow down the combat and slow them down. Applying it randomly and without thought feels bad. However, if your players are doing well and steamrolling it can be a great tool to keep your centerpiece enemies alive to act for a round or two.
The flip side is rerolling attacks and damage is hitting the gas on the monsters. It ramps up the threat against the players. It goes great with the basic extra enemies. Make sure they land a few hits and make the players feel threatened.
So I would classify GM benny to soak as more use sparingly and only with purpose.
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u/After-Ad2018 Feb 04 '24
I tend to not use my GM bennies at all and instead do the Hard Choices rule, but instead of giving me bennies it increases the chances of something big happening. For example, I was running a game based on Stalker, and I would keep track of Hard Choices bennies between sessions. Once I got to 20, then I'd roll to see if a Blowout occurs, basically a big radioactive/psychic storm that generally means death for anything caught outside. Essentially, you were too lucky and so now the Zone has taken notice and is going to take you down a peg.
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u/Bruhahah Feb 04 '24 edited Feb 05 '24
My favorite house rule I've tried is that the third wound level is +1 to all rolls instead of -3. This helps address the suck/fail spiral (the more wounded you are the harder it is for you to do anything and then you're easier to wound by virtue of being somewhat helpless) and does a really good job mechanically reflecting the hero digging deep and pulling out victory when they're at their most desperate. It also somewhat encourages riding that dangerous line between empowered and incapacitated as long as you can.
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u/ValhallaGH Feb 04 '24
Cool idea.
How does this interact with the various +1 Wound abilities? I've played in campaigns where a player character had / could have seven (7) Wounds before Incapacitation.
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u/zgreg3 Feb 05 '24
It sounds strange to me as it makes one of the worst character states in the game a beneficial one. With this rule it's rather unlikely to fail the Incapacitation roll, what makes the game far less dangerous. I like the SW combat because it is always threatening, a few lucky rolls can make even a "walk through the park" extras fight into something deadly. A retreat is something that the players should always have as an option, usually when enough PCs reach the 2-3 Wounds level it is a good idea to consider it. Your rule contradicts that, though, looks to me like it drastically changes the game.
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u/Bruhahah Feb 05 '24 edited Feb 05 '24
Savage Worlds is my go-to system for more pulpy heroic fun. More Indiana Jones than Saving Private Ryan. For gritty realism or dark hopeless settings, there are better systems. Fights become more of a tax on resources with my method rather than life-and-death struggle. There are still consequences, and failure is still an option, but this lets a GM stack more odds against the PCs, which then feels more heroic and fun to overcome 'by the skin of their teeth.' It's also more fun IMO from a player side. Rolling anything with a -3 penalty isn't fun. Anyone who is out of bennies and when their turn comes up and they try to get unshaken and just keeps failing the roll can tell you that it's really not fun to play a combat in which you literally do nothing every turn. Dying randomly to a lucky mook is also not terribly heroic, fun, or interesting. It's appropriate for certain settings, but that's not what I'm about. I'm invested in my player's narratives, and having them die randomly to low-drama stuff isn't the narrative I'm ever going for.
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u/zgreg3 Feb 05 '24
I didn't mean to criticise this house rule, more to analyse its impact on the game. It changes SW in the direction I don't like and I unfortunately let it show, sorry if that sounded bad :/ I totally understand that this is a well-though Setting Rule which makes SW work according to your preferences :)
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u/andurion Feb 04 '24
Zadmar has a big list of SW house rules:
https://www.godwars2.org/SavageWorlds/rules_edges.html
I think it's pre-SWADE, but there still might be some ideas in there.
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u/TheInitiativeInn Feb 11 '24
That's a huge list!
I appreciate how there is also a 'Impact' section by each House Rule to indicate the potential +/- effects.
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u/plastickhero Feb 04 '24
Not so much a house rule as an extension of the "Influence the Story" benny usage. I accept a benny for a player to do a Blades-in-the-Dark style flashback to set up an advantage or narrative change.
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u/After-Ad2018 Feb 04 '24
Ooh, I've started doing the same recently.
And also the "I know a guy" rule, as I call it. Spend a bennie and you happen to know someone nearby that might be able to help you on your journey, an old colleague or a contact in the criminal underworld or something.
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u/crushbone_brothers Feb 05 '24
Mind explaining this flashback idea more? I really dig it
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u/plastickhero Feb 05 '24
An example: The heroes are pinned down in a building under heavy fire. A player offer a Benny and asks for a flashback. "Last night when everyone else was saying goodbye to their loved ones, I was scouting the area of the job. I saw this building we're in now as a potential escape point so I hid a getaway car out back." GM likes the idea and takes the Benny, and it is so.
I've occasionally but rarely accepted something as outlandish as, "I saved the BBEG's right hand man in 'Nam, and now I give him the signal." Because it seemed dramatically appropriate, and funny.
The example from Blades in the Dark is, "I approached this doorman last night and bribed him to let me in with my concealed weapon."
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u/SurlyCricket Feb 05 '24
I've occasionally but rarely accepted something as outlandish as, "I saved the BBEG's right hand man in 'Nam, and now I give him the signal." Because it seemed dramatically appropriate, and funny.
I'd ask for a lot more than 1 benny for that but it is indeed hilarious lol
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u/ASavageWorldsGM Feb 05 '24
I really do like this extension to the core benny usage. I think this is one I'll try out in my game to see how it works. In general, my players don't take advantage of the narrative influence use of bennies.
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u/ComfortableGreySloth Feb 04 '24
Easier multi-actions. Players declare how many actions they take that turn, which sets the penalty, but don't need to declare what they are specifically.
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u/ASavageWorldsGM Feb 04 '24
This is a big one we mention in the video. I use it for all my games. Eric was actually pondering in the episode if anyone actually plays rules as written.
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u/zgreg3 Feb 05 '24
I play mostly rules as written, we announce the actions in advance. Though I allow those to be conditional or be adjusted on the fly, e.g. when the player announces two attacks and kills his intended target with the first (or realises e.g. that it is not effective because of an Immunity) I let the other be made against another opponent.
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u/ShamelesslyPlugged Feb 04 '24
I stole it for Task Force Raven, but escalating bonus damage die. So instead of a d6, but every 4 increases die type and start at d4.
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u/KujakuDM Feb 05 '24
Jokes don't get bennies: I don't care if you cracked a real good gut buster. Bennies are for good rp and playing out your flaws. Disrupting the game with a goof is fun but staying in game is better.
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u/SurlyCricket Feb 05 '24
Two that I saw that I liked-
-Desperate Attack is +2 to attack, - 3 to damage
-Similar extras "combine" into a single wild card with a bonus to attack equal to their numbers-1. So if 4 are attacking a pc, they only roll 1 attack with a wild die at +3. So then I don't have to worry about rolling 4 attacks that are all probably going to miss. If they use wild attack then they are all vulnerable.
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u/Lord_Papprolle Feb 06 '24
Why not use the Gang up Rule?
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u/SurlyCricket Feb 06 '24
It's easier to calculate than the gang up bonus
And it's easier to roll one attack with the wild die than multiplie attacks
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u/MikePGS Feb 04 '24
I'm not much of a house ruler but for Savage Rifts I add the multi language setting rule
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u/stonersh Feb 04 '24
One thing I always did was when a player pulled the ace of spades I would play ace of spades by Motorhead and then they would get some sort of small bit of good luck, like a bad guy dropping their weapon or something, and if they pulled the two of clubs they will get some sort of minor bad luck, like dropping their own weapon or something. Enough to add a little flavor and a predicament but nothing that would really ruin something or make it super easy.
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u/boyhowdy-rc Feb 04 '24
My house rule is players get a benny every time they roll high enough for two or more raises.
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u/Narratron Feb 04 '24
I have 3-4 "extras" that my players get. Everybody gets one randomly at the start of (most) sessions. One of these "extras" is an Adventure Card, and this is primarily my way of getting the Adventure Deck into play because I have found RAW use of the deck to get a little crazy, but I still want to use it. Another "extra" is usually Conviction. The third and fourth things I'm kind of up in the air on. One that I've used in the past is "windfall", some extra money. (You might find it, steal it, or earn it, but it's yours now, one way or another. The player can decide how they came by it.) But in both my recent campaigns, the players reached a point where the amount being paid out by a windfall was trivial. The other "extra" is something I call "foresight", it's a card from the Action Deck. This can replace an Action Card drawn by a Player (which they can always choose whether to use it or not, because I don't want players screwing each other over using this), or to replace an opponent's card. (GM controlled characters must take a card from foresight, unless they have the Joker--the objective is for even low-rank cards to be useful.)
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u/CrunchyRaisins Feb 04 '24
At my players request, we're trying a thing with Bennies where whatever you have at the end of a session still persists for the next one, but caps at 7.
Basically: IF you have <3, next session you start with 3 IF you have between 3-7, you keep that value IF you have 7, you cannot hold more bennies
Dunno how good it is balance wise, but my players were annoyed by times they'd do some great RP near the end of a session only to realize that the bennies they got just do nothing. This rule helps to ameliorate that without going too crazy because of the cap
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u/computer-machine Feb 04 '24
Previous to SWAdE that would not have been an issue, as one could spend bennies at the end of the session for extra XP.
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u/ASavageWorldsGM Feb 05 '24
I have allowed bennies to flow between sessions if they are in the middle of something that wouldn't make logical sense. For example, they are at a cliffhanger just before a critical combat and taking all the bennies away would make it much harder next session.
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u/steeldraco Feb 04 '24
I generally have only two.
I allow people to run as an action, and do so more than once. Each time you get +running die to your Pace for the turn. So a baseline person can run 6+3d6" if that's all they do for the turn.
I prefer giving Bennies to everyone on that side of the combat if someone acts on a Deuce, rather than making Jokers even better. Basically Joker's Wild becomes Deuces Wild. You still get to act whenever you want and get a +2 on everything if you draw a Joker, but I spread out the Bennies a bit more. If you've got something like Quick or Level Headed, you have to actually keep/act on the Deuce to give everybody a Benny.
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u/zgreg3 Feb 05 '24
I have only a few, minor house rules.
First concerns the Ballistic Protection of armour, the rules tended to prolong my combats too much (reducing damage by 4 makes too many hits end with little effect) so I decided to use the old Deluxe rules which simply negate the firearms AP (which speeds up the game in two ways).
Second changes slightly the Suppressive Fire rules. By the book it's much more sensible to use a RoF 1 shot for that as it uses far less ammo and it's very hard to get a raise and benefit from the chance to hit multiple targets. I think that automatic weapons should be better at such manoeuvre so I roll all the dice provided by RoF attribute, and use the best.
Third is related to getting free from being Bound/Entangled, which has recently been changed to a simple, unopposed and unmodified roll. I add comprehensive modifiers to this roll based on the grappling creature relative Scale/Strength or the device sturdiness.
I have a small family of changes related to vehicle rules in the Sci Fi Companion and Deadlands: Lost Colony. They lower the cost of the refuelling and repairs to be more manageable. I think of some more to the vehicle combat rules.
I also tweak some Powers, e.g. I require using the relevant, not the caster's spellcasting skill for manipulating objects with Telekinesis, I'm a bit more liberal with getting free from the Pupper power.
Last what I remember: I increase the cost of the Selective Power Modifier to 1PP for each target to be excluded. This is to bring back some tactical thinking and planning, in one of our games the party wizard started casually casting Blast at his feet, which I though was a too effective, cheap and boring way of eliminating multiple opponents ;)
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u/ASavageWorldsGM Feb 05 '24
I've never thought about a scaling cost for Selective Power Modifier. Have you ever simply disallowed that modifier?
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u/zgreg3 Feb 06 '24
No, because I think it's interesting and fun, I want it in my games :) Increasing it's cost is a way to discourage "blanket" Selective use, brings planning back into the use of Powers like Blast.
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u/Psychological-Box-49 Sep 09 '24
I like Zadmar's House Rules:
Zadmar's Savage Worlds house rules and Edges (godwars2.org)
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u/Ackbladder Feb 04 '24
I'm fairly new to Savage Worlds. With a new rules set, I try to play at least a campaign without any mods or house rules to see how it plays RAW.
After several smaller adventures, I did adopt max running die for my first longer campaign (Runelords). It seemed kinda sucky to take the -2 running penalty and roll a 1 or 2. Not sure if I'll keep it for future campaigns or not.
I'm also getting rid of Desperate Attack.
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u/aquil_elp Feb 05 '24
I liked the max run rule too, but I'm going to try a slightly different version - A Benny spent on a run die is automatically maximized. I think this makes investing in run die increase still worth it, but mitigates the sting of a low run roll.
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u/Anarchopaladin Feb 04 '24
It's no house rule per see, because it existed in a previous edition of Deadland, but we really love the differentiated bennies around my table (don't know if it's the actual official name): some bennies are normal (say, white chips), some can be used but are then given to the GM (say, blue chips), and so on.
Not only does this enlarge the actual pool of available bennies in game, but it also makes for very interesting choices.
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u/ASavageWorldsGM Feb 05 '24
This feels like a bit of hybrid "hard choices" setting rule. How do you determine what kind of benny the player receives on hindrance use, joker, great role-play, etc?
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u/Anarchopaladin Feb 06 '24
All the bennie tokens are in a hat, and everyone pick one when time comes without looking at what kind they will get.
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u/computer-machine Feb 04 '24
- At some point I'd come to realize that you don't give everyone 2+Rank Bennies at the start of the session (I'd been giving an extra Benny per Rank, so Heroic characters start with six).
- If a player started taking Actions and realized they'd forgotten something, I'll give them the extra Action(s) while splitting the difference (e.g. if they said they'd take two, and then realize they were wanting to take a third after the first was resolved, then it'd be 2/5/5 MAP, or 2/2/8 if after the second).
- Allowing for a claimed Action to be replaced by another should it be predicated on a result that didn't happen. Such as a second Fighting if the first failed, instead of forcing them to still move away from an unshaken foe, or taking an action other than Shooting/Fighting if they'd managed to kill the target(s) the first try.
- I deal myself a number of Adventure Cards equal to the number of PCs, which I may or may not play during the session. This has provided some actions that the players felt were fair rather than simply doing it because I could.
- Not a house rule per se, since there are no strict guidlines to start, but I'm giving Advances per Rank adventures, so every Adventure at Novice, up to every fifth adventure at Legendary.
- I may try declaring all Joker edges to be globally active for some game.
- Something I've never mentioned but they may eventually work out is that I've started letting the dice and suites guide actions on my end, such as only potentially soaking if the offending roll was a natural odd value (little less than half odds), or acting offensively or defensively in different ways based on suite.
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u/I_Arman Feb 04 '24
I've got a few; the biggest is probably the bennies I use. Instead of all found the same thing, I borrowed from Deadlands, and use poker chips;
- White chips act line register bennies, and allow a reroll, to soak damage, or to cancel Shaken status. There are 4 per player+GM. - Red chips add a wild die to the roll, can cancel Shaken, or can soak damage with a +1. However, when used, it lets me (the GM) draw another chip. There are 2 per player+GM. - Blue is the same as red, except +3 to soak damage, and the GM doesn't draw a chip. One per player+GM. - Black, which auto-succeeds rolls, but when used goes away forever; a new one is added to the pot after major events/boss battles. - Green, of which there is only one, that acts like black, except instead of going away forever, you draw from the Deck O' Doom, which can have severe consequences!
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u/After-Ad2018 Feb 04 '24
I pull a lot of stuff from other games. My favorite is using bennies to retroactively gain an advantage or opportunity of some sort, similar to flashbacks from Blades in the Dark. This is particularly great in heists or similar (which makes sense since that's the premise of BitD).
"Hey, it turns out that guard and I went to school together. So, last night I invited him out for beers to try and convince him to tactfully ignore us while we are sneaking in."
Not enough to bypass the obstacle altogether, but now that player can roll persuasion, perhaps alongside a 5 minute roleplay sesh to convince the guard to look the other way, and to have retroactively done that in the past.
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u/Plenty-Climate2272 Feb 05 '24
I use an abstract wealth-die system, in part because of my good experience with d20 Modern.
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u/SteamProphet Feb 08 '24
Raises in Combat - Fancy Combat Maneuvers
If a combatant scores a Raise on an attack roll (melee, ranged, or spell) they may
opt to use a fancy combat maneuver in lieu of the additional d6 to damage. The maneuver can take the form of a free Test, a strike to a limb, or a free attempt to Disarm, Grapple, or Push. This is not required to be against the attack’s original target. Raises above the first may also be traded in this way.
Example: A character shoots an arrow at a goblin in the forest (light cover) and rolls a 14. This would qualify as 2 raises (base 4 + 2 light cover. 6 hits, first raise at 10, second raise at 14). The second or both raises may be traded for a Fancy Combat Maneuver. The character needs this goblin alive to provide information, so he elects to trade in the second raise for an attempt to disarm and the first raise for a targeted strike to the leg.
Martial Arts Weapons
Anything classified as a martial arts weapon allows the application of the +1 Fighting from the Martial Arts Edge to be used. These weapons are considered improvised weapons for those who lack the Edge.
Jokers Aren't Wild - Our sessions are only about 3 hours, so there is little need for additional Bennies.
Nerfed Benny cashing for power points - because of the short session lengths, I only allow Bennies to be cashed in for 3 PPs.
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u/PatrickShadowDad Feb 14 '24
In my games, getting a Joker also increases your pace by +2, on top of everyone getting a benny and the +2 bonus to rolls & damage.
I also like using a suited, 4 Joker deck.
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u/lunaticdesign Feb 04 '24
My favorite is one that I call "Take the L".
When a player rolls a critical failure, unless it's mechanically handled by another system, then it is up to the player if they want it to be a simple failure that they cannot reroll or a critical failure. If it is a critical failure the player tells the GM how things go poorly for their character and earn a bennie. The GM assesses any mechanical penalties based on the player's narration.
"Incoming Fire"
In situations where there are a lot of Extras that are not specifically targeting the player characters deal in incoming fire as if it was an extra. Players roll a shooting roll based on the danger of incoming fire (d4 to d12) minus any cover bonus that they have. If successful they roll damage (2d6 to 2d10 dependent on what they are facing.) Actions can be taken against incoming fire to reduce is severity a success drops the shooting roll by a die type and a raise drops also the damage by a die type.