In this part 2 of my love letter (or so it part 1 was called by a friend of mine) to Savage worlds. I'm going to cover a lot of ground fast. There are a lot of small things about Savage Worlds that make it so much fun. Small things add up. Part 2 is going to be in a totally different format that one was (and if I do a 3, I'm sure they will be as well).
Players as the Heroes: In any good work of heroic fiction the protagonist is not the common guy on the street, but is instead something special. In savage Worlds this is very true. Player characters and special key NPCs (both allies and enemies) are wild cards. While every one else is mooks/goons. In most any given roll wild cards roll an additional die (wild die) and pick the best of the two. While mooks only get their attribute or skill die. Wild cards have more wounds while mooks take one on the chin or the gut and they go down. My players love to wade through waves of mooks, just to have that epic battle with the wild card "boss". This rule really does give most savage worlds game feel heroic. Settings can still have gritty or less heroic rules, but your character is always a cut above.
Cards for Initiative: This is an aspect that really speeds up play, each player and wild card enemy get dealt a card from a standard deck of cards. Mooks often get a card for a group. Characters act in descending order of the cards, Starting at Ace and working your way to duce. No forgetting who is next, not confusion over who acted already. And jokers are kept in as fun little kickers. This works so well I've adopted it as my default for initiative for other games. Its also a very hackable initiative system for us tinkers.
Good post!
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