Savage Worlds (2018)

Overview

Savage Worlds is a tabletop roleplaying game designed by Shane Lacy Hensley and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Originally released in 2003 and updated, as the Adventure Edition in 2018. Its a universal system for running games in almost any genre from weird west and high fantasy to deep space sci-fi. The game is specifically engineered to handle cinematic pulp action and massive battles without slowing down the narrative. The system it directly evolved from is
Deadlands (1996)

Description

Savage Worlds has everything you need to play narrative or miniature-based games, with quick, simple, yet comprehensive rules for everything from combat to Dramatic Tasks, Chases, and Interludes. The emphasis is on less bookkeeping for the Game Master so she can quickly and easily create worlds and adventures for any setting and focus on the players and their actions to keep the action and story rocketing along.

Key features

Step Dice Mechanic

Instead of fixed numeric modifiers, character attributes and skills are rated by die types, ranging from a four sided die (d4) to a twelve sided die (d12). To succeed at a task, a player rolls their skill die and tries to hit a standard target number, which is almost always a 4.

The Wild Die

Player characters and major non player characters get to roll an extra six sided die called the Wild Die whenever they make a trait test. They roll this alongside their standard skill die and take the higher of the two results, significantly increasing their baseline competence.

Acing (Exploding Dice)

If any die rolls its maximum possible value, such as rolling an 8 on an eight sided die, the die "aces". The player gets to roll that die again and add the new value to the total. This can chain multiple times, allowing for massive, cinematic successes against all odds.

Initiative with Playing Cards

Instead of rolling dice for turn order, combat initiative is tracked using a standard deck of playing cards with the Jokers left in. This makes tracking turn order incredibly fast and visually clear. Drawing a Joker grants that character a powerful bonus to all their rolls for that round.

Active games and players

Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds
East Peoria
Campaign
Tales of the [genre] West
Players
4/8
GM
1/1
Savage Worlds
en English

Tales of the [genre] West

Newbie friendly
New players are welcome, and nobody expects you to know the rules beforehand.
Teens
The table is meant for teenage players, so the tone and content stay age-appropriate.
Wagon chases, shootouts, saloon brawls, and more await those who are brave enough to head out west. Join us for some wild west fun with a twist.  Over the course of the campaign the additive genre will change with input from the players.  The campaign is beginner friendly and open to all who want to join...even those who struggle to make it on time. The game will be held at Zeek's Comics and Games in Washington Illinois.  The game meets from 5:30 pm to 8 pm every other Thursday starting on July 30th 2026.

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Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds
Chicago
Campaign
Spinward Vanguard: a punk space opera
New
Posted 18 hours ago
Players
3/6
GM
1/1
Savage Worlds
en English

Spinward Vanguard: a punk space opera

The worldbuilding is mostly based on Stellaris (a toolboxy 4X video game), but I have zoomed into the gritty aftermath of the galaxy where every endgame crisis has already happened and the political structure has collapsed. The Stormtossed Commune At the start of the campaign, players will belong to the Stormtossed Commune. We are fanatic egalitarian and xenophile space pirates operating with the "shared burdens" civic. The Commune was founded 100 years ago by pirates who rebelled against a slaver megacorp called Minamar Specialized Industries. It is currently led by our First Speaker, Nightshade, a non-binary punk rocker who, in addition to governing, takes on a lot of odd jobs around the commune, from veterinary medicine to spaceship maintenance (and always seems to know exactly what they are doing). The Setting & The Threat The Stormtossed founded their commune in a remote location on the planet Breakwater. It sits on the edge of The Indigo, a storm of unnavigable psionic chaos that destroyed a star-faring civilization of space elves called the Isilfar Republic. Now, The Indigo has cleared, revealing the ruins of that society and its incredibly valuable "pre-tech" technology from before the collapse that current manufacturing infrastructure can no longer produce. A megacorp alliance called the Prosperity Axis (including Minamar, Harmonium, and Providence) is looking to exploit the newly opened Isilfar Spinward Frontier. The Stormtossed are in their way, sitting on a planet that would make a highly valuable beachhead. Your Mission Nightshade has gathered a crew of adventurous experts to go into the frontier and find lost technology that could help the Stormtossed resist and disrupt the megacorps and their exploitation. Captain Bax will be leading them as captain of The Vanguard.

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Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds
Online
Campaign
Sweet Dreams are Made of These (An Eberron Story)
Players
5/6
GM
1/1
Savage Worlds
en English

Sweet Dreams are Made of These (An Eberron Story)

Homebrew
House rules, a custom setting, or a system the Game Master wrote themselves.
Roleplay focused
Conversation, character and story take up most of the table time.
A ragtag band of locals find themselves embroiled in a strange adventure involving an unhinged warforged, a psychotic docent, and a plot seemingly involving a nefarious branch of House Cannith. One of those you've been roped in with attached the docent to himself and now hears voices, but has started displaying extra abilities. Your mentor, the unhinged warforged named Trace 7, has disappeared, but she left you with a mission to find a way into a secret facility in the underbelly of Sharn to discover the secrets of this organization. Can you find your way in and discover what House Cannith is up to? This game uses the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds Ruleset and Kristian Serrano's Eberron for Savage Worlds adaptation hosted on the Fantasy Grounds VTT, which is now free to play. All resources will be supplied upon acceptance. This is an ongoing campaign with five players currently. I'll accept up to one more. We play on the last Sunday of the month at 18:00 Eastern Time (Currently UTC-4).

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Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds
CoC
Call of Cthulhu
...
Online
Marlon
Hello, fellow gamers. My name is Marlon, but everyone calls me Jay-long story there that I won’t get into. Anyways, I’m the forever DM in my family, and I run weekly podcast games for my wife. We’ve designed a tabletop RPG called Prosperon: A Bio‑Cyberpunk RPG, and we’re actively looking for more playtesters. If that interests you, shoot me a message and we’ll make it happen. With that being said, I’m also an active player in several games. I’m currently in a Blades in the Dark campaign every Thursday, which is absolutely amazing, and I have a few open biweekly days where I can commit to another game-as long as it’s the right game, the right crew, and the right day and time. That’s all for now. Take care, and don’t forget-have fun at your table.
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en English
DND5E
Dungeons & Dragons 5E
DND5.5E
Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E (2024)
...
Online
Angelkin Weeb
Howdy, My name is Jenny, pronouns are She/They, andI have been playing TTRPGs for nearly a decade now! Always looking to add a game where I can fit it into my schedule either after work or on my days off. Either way,I would describe myself as reliable and comitted to showing up to games on time, as well as giving my GM a character with a bckstory and relevant hooks! As you may have guessed, Imost enjoy character and narrative driven games where the story and lore matter, as do player/character choices. I am a massive fan of fleshing out my character, as well as others, in RP both trivial and important to the narrative, anything to immerse us further in the story and world. I also enjoy combat, and am a firm believer thatRP doesn't have to end when initiative is rolled. I enjoy flavoring my attacks,chanting my verbal componants, and digging into how my hero reacts to the action! I am a huge fan of the Legend of Drizzt books and have been steadily working my way through the series. I also enjoy the Percy Jackson books, I've begun The Stormlight Archives! I am a big fan of World of Warcraft, Dragon Age Origins, Baldur's Gate 3, the Pathfinder CRPGs, and many more games in similar veins.
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en English
PATH2E
Pathfinder 2E
DH
Daggerheart
...
Online
Ben
Grognard. old school. Psionics. that's me.
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