Sometimes, two almost good ideas combine to make one that is better than the sum of the parts.
My time with Savage Worlds was mixed. I had a lot of it, Deluxe and Explorers, some Noir, some Cthulhu, some Weird War 11, lots of Deadlands (and I had the original Deadlands also), Supers, Horror, Fantasy, post apocalyptic, Sci-Fi, Ancient Rome.
The system for a long time was my “shadow” system for my huge d100 collection. Basically everything I had for “serious” d100, seemed to have a “pulpy” option in Savage Worlds, including Achtung Cthulhu, that actually allowed both systems in their books.
There were some hits (Weird War II, the Sci-Fi, Necessary Evil and Supers companions), some misses (much of the rest for me) and then they changed it.
I gifted much of it, then for some reason bought the new SWADE edition, but that is another story. It is hard to get in Australia, so there is little chance of the monster being re-awoken with freight charges from the U.S. regularly exceeding the values of goods.
Pathfinder was my DnD of choice for a while, such as that was. The monstrous core book, the DnD-ness of it, the never ending printing regime all added up to an excessively expensive Wayne Reynolds art gallery, most of which I knew I would never use.
Really dislike DnD based games, especially when they try to be realistic-ish and the obvious abstractness rears it’s ugly mug. I tried E6 and E10 truncated variants, used a critical hits effect characteristics combat system, but nothing fixed the reality that I was trying to make a more grounded and logical d100 style game out of a d20 system.
I sold my 1 foot high collection of books, the collecting efforts of several years for way too little, but with a small market locally, considered myself lucky it went at all.
Since then;
I have occasionally missed the promise of Savage Worlds, but the “fast, furious fun” never really clicked with me. I did not really give it a go and some splat books did hold promise. I knew I would never commit though as it was either too little (lite and pulpy) or too much (needed added bits).
I have come to realise, I tend to prefer a built world, not a generic system. I do not necessarily need everything handed to me, but when I do a make my own world, SW would not be the baseline.
SW is like DnD in that it is systemically anchored, but not in as much of an arrogant “I am the way”, more of a “I’m new and fun, try me” way.
I missed the massive warm hug that was Pathfinder, the bear hug with claws. The art, consistency, depth and world connection with maybe a little f&$k you DnD at play, all weighed heavily on me both before and after shedding it.
The world was massive, a perfect stereotype as expected, interesting none the less. The grind was beyond my care factor these days. Unlike 3 and 4e, which also came and went, there was actually stuff I missed, substantioal stuff. I think I held onto the maps to retain a small connection.
Another idea I had at this time was to hang onto the counters, maps and grid boards from my 4e collection. Tons and tons of stuff, all great for ……… not sure.
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Savage Worlds Pathfinder.
It’s a thing and it is a good thing.
What you get;
Golarion in all its glory. This includes direct connection to the iconic characters right down to using them as out of the box starter characters.
Wayne Reynolds art again, in all it’s glory.
All the flexibility of Savage Worlds, but with the substance and direction a strong world adds. This for me is the missing link, the substance and depth.
Grid combat or not, in fact any form of gaming at any point in the journey. It supports non combat at least as well as a d20 system, has massive hack-ability, allows for more “on the fly” gaming and can draw easily from its parent sources. The OTT art of Reynolds fits the SW play style.
A d20, which is rare in Savage Worlds, which usually tends to avoid that one.
What you do not get (and it’s good)
Levels. SW has experience groupings called Ranks with incremental advancements, but they are more granular, less powerful, less rigid and way more natural feeling. The “anything is possible” feel of combat and task resolution mostly diffuses this anyway. The game allows for legendary exploits by its very nature, but it is more elastic, blurring the lines between high and low level characters. Even creating a replacement experienced character is not a labour.
Classes. Classes are a package, but you are not locked into a fixed pathway. You are probably mad not to directly align your character to a class, but if not, you can make a generic class-less character that holds their own and if you do, no two characters will be carbon copies of each other.
Grind. There is no feeling of attritional math, no experience point-to-risk equation, no daily rhythm to adhere to. Any monster can be a problem to any character, but also precise encounter balancing is not needed. The game would ignore your efforts anyway. More variance, more fear, more realism.
Power imbalance. No Quadratic Mages or unbeatable Druids, actually the system absorbs super classes and powers. Power levels stay pretty balanced right through, no matter what path you take and the sheer flexibility of character generation and advancement negates possible issues.
Hundreds of spells. The power system in SW means you can create basically any spell with trappings and flexibility from a small core, something that both PF and DnD lack. The entire magic system has about the same weight as the “magic explained” chapter in PF.
Hundreds of feats, class abilities etc. Again, the flexibility and weight of SW gets a lot done without tomes of options and exceptions. Rigidity forces exceptions, flexibility avoids that mess.
This one is odd, but real none the less. This is Savage Worlds without the added complication of the base rules and a setting pasted on. Even with all the perceived simplicity of SW, sometimes the added weight of a setting with all its exceptions can complicate things. The streamlined and fully integrated SWPF stands alone with the setting highlighting the good side of SW. SW Core works well for a free wheeling game, SW embedded in a setting works well, SW with “bells” on interests me less.
PFSW is the result of two fully developed games, the huge 3.5e DnD spin-off that is Pathfinder, at one time more popular than DnD and the multi edition journey, modern indie game with a solid and loyal following that is Savage Worlds Adventurers Edition (SWADE).
Pathfinder provides the why and SW the how, in a form that this gamer, well shy of most things DnD can not only accept but also embrace. The Core book, Bestiary, Advanced Players Guide and Companion are all a days read each, but the game offers the same range of outcomes. Add table candy in the form of an Adventure Path, maps, grids and counters, character cards, Action, Chase and Condition decks and you have a totally engaging experience.
In the real world, it is accessible to new or experienced players, has a more D100 like feel overall, is fairly bullet proof to abuse and gamesmanship, min-maxing, can cut the cord from anything you feel runs too close to the DnD rocks or you can just go with it as presented.
All this at a total word count well under just the Pathfinder 1e core rule book.
Negatives?
The Advanced Players guide took an age to come and I must admit I had lost my burn a bit in that time, but as a salve for only d100 games, it did what it needed to and broke the habit. I am not interested in the next APG, but the second Bestiary has my interest.