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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Damn You Happy Jack's Podcast! I am a Step Closer to Being Savaged!

The f'ers over at the Happy Jack's podcast are big Savage Worlds fans. Really big. They do play other games (Traveller, D&D 4e and such) but their favorite game system is Savage Worlds.

I've been pretty steadfast in my "I will not be running a Savage Worlds campaign" mantra, but the boys have been wearing me down. Listening to last falls podcast with Shane Hensley (Savage Worlds author) certainly didn't help. I found myself ordering a dead tree copy of the Savage Worlds Deluxe ruleset from Amazon, despite the fact that I already have a PDF copy.

I know the rules are good and fairly flexible. I know there are a bunch of different genre sourcebooks for it. Heck, I have some of the classic ones (I like the concept of EverNight, but it's such a damn rail road I don't think I could stomach running it).

Ah well, I can always leave the book handy for bathroom reading ;)

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Damn You Happy Jack's Podcast! I am a Step Closer to Being Savaged!

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