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00:00:01
Tangent #2: The Target Number
100 Plays6 days ago
In our second episode we dive right into some of the amazing and not-so-obvious aspects of the Savage Worlds core mechanic. We explore running entire game sessions with only basic skill rolls, and talk about each of our introductions to the system (spoilers: it didn't initially click for Tracy!). This is an episode that should open the minds of both Savage Worlds beginners and seasoned GMs alike. WARNING this one gets a little spicy right out of the gate, hence the explicit tag...
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Transcript
Introduction to Tabletop Tangents
00:00:02
Speaker
That's what you're supposed to do because it's a success. See, okay. so I guess that makes me a slutty GM because I just want to give it up all the time. I mean, okay, sure. But... ah with
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello, friends. Welcome to Tabletop Tangents, a podcast about running tabletop RPGs, writing stories, and the sometimes meandering paths we take in pursuit of creativity and inspiration.
Why focus on target number four?
00:00:34
Speaker
Tangent number two, ah the target number.
00:00:42
Speaker
You know, actually, as I think about it, I mean, i know that we just kind of had our pre-recording discussion. I kind of almost feel like this should really, knowing what we're going to be talking about, I feel like this actually should be tangent number four, because we're going to be talking about the target number. But We're recording now, so we're in it. Let's go. Let's, let's, let's. We're here now. We've already screwed it up, is what you're telling me. We are here now. We're recording now. no backsies. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Exactly.
Understanding target numbers in Savage Worlds
00:01:14
Speaker
um So what the the topic is the target number of Savage Worlds, how it relates to, well, I guess it's not necessarily how it relates, but the understanding of it.
00:01:27
Speaker
the appreciation for it, for the ease that it is, and how to not let other things really kind of get in the way of the simplicity of this and how you can use an entire session just based off this target number without getting into anything else at all, which Tracy's definitely going to expound on um because she has much more insight into that than
Player adaptation to Savage Worlds
00:01:54
Speaker
I think I do. Before we get into to that, because I think there's a relevance here to the introduction that each of us has had to Savage Worlds, meaning when people who are new to it come to Savage Worlds, there's a process.
00:02:09
Speaker
I have found. there is a There is a process of indoctrination slash getting used to it slash, in some cases, even bouncing off of it at first.
00:02:22
Speaker
And i wondered what you guys' experience with that was when you were starting Savage Worlds. And I wanted to sort of talk about my experience in that way. And then we can go from there, is is what I'm thinking. Yeah. OK, well, who wants to go first?
First experiences with Savage Worlds
00:02:40
Speaker
I can start. mine too Mine's probably the simplest and shortest story. So when I first played Savage Worlds, I had no idea what I was playing. i sat down. This was when I was playing at Twilight Games with the Gamers Table crew.
00:03:02
Speaker
And I sat down at the table with them. This was like one of the first games that I was in like invited to. like ever? Yeah. Well, with this group. So like I, I knew Shannon because she and I worked together and we became good friends. And then Shannon,
00:03:20
Speaker
started running a D&D game for us that evolved into her saying, hey, you should come to our normal Monday group. So I got cleared to come to the gamers table group to start gaming with them. And one of the first games that I got to play with them was a Savage Worlds fantasy campaign that they were running or that Eric was running.
00:03:42
Speaker
That being said, we played one session, if I'm remembering correctly. I can go back and look at my notes and see for sure, because
Moving between RPG systems
00:03:50
Speaker
I still have them. Of course you do.
00:03:54
Speaker
Do you keep this in a folder somewhere, like just to know in a bookshelf or something? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I have. I mean, i therere they're over there. You guys can't see it, but they're over there. Sure, sure. But so we I sit down at the table and they're like, we're playing Savage Worlds. I'm like, noh okay.
00:04:14
Speaker
I don't know what that means, but cool. Because up until this point, the I think my only gaming experience had been D&D. Like, you know, my dad's homebrew campaign when I was younger and then playing with Shannon before getting introduced.
00:04:32
Speaker
So first time playing Savage Worlds and i don't remember the gameplay aspect whatsoever. i remember being told you need a D6 with every role. And I remember being handed a character sheet that was like pre-made for me.
00:04:51
Speaker
and you know, just going with the flow. And after that, I didn't play Savage Worlds again.
Community connections in Savage Worlds
00:04:59
Speaker
Like we moved on to so many other games. We started playing ah the Modiphius Conan campaign. And then ah we played ETU at one point. And then and and that was my reintroduction to Savage Worlds, which was which was fun.
00:05:17
Speaker
But again, like. Up until I i started diving into the Savage Interludes and the Gaming with Gage communities, I did not really put into perspective the, have I told you about my Lord and Savior Savage Worlds? Like, I hadn't really been fully indoctrinated into, oh no, this is the system.
00:05:44
Speaker
It was just, oh yeah, we're playing this game, right? And now that I have developed... a community of people and connections all revolving around this specific system.
00:06:01
Speaker
ah Like, I can't look at it any other way now. Like, from when I first started playing Savage Worlds to now, it's a completely different game to me.
Running Savage Worlds for the first time
00:06:10
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And you were dragged in kicking and screaming.
00:06:13
Speaker
i might I wouldn't say that I was dragged in kicking and screaming. I just I didn't know what it was. i didn't know. Like if at that time, if somebody had looked at me and been like, oh, yeah, you want to play Deadlands? i would have been like, I don't know what that is, but sure. and And now it's like, yes, I know exactly who I'd want to run for me, too. So lay the fun. Great. Let's go.
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Chris? I would say, honestly, so i have been trying to sort of rack my brain. And for some reason, it's only going back so far. I do know...
00:06:46
Speaker
I mean, my first experience with it was, was running. I wasn't, uh, playing that, that I'm almost positive
Memorable campaigns and storytelling
00:06:53
Speaker
of. And the, the two players I had were Brad and Brent, those who are the guys that we eventually did, uh, young and Holt and, and gun for hire with, but we did, i ran a, it was explorers edition and,
00:07:09
Speaker
And we ran it, we ran a fantasy campaign using an old campaign world that I had, a homebrew campaign world from D&D that I just kind of converted ah to Savage Worlds. And i mean, I remember enjoying and appreciating the sort of the flexibility and lack of rigidity that was that was in the system, but like fully understanding and comprehending the rules, you know, as they were as they were written, that absolutely was not ah happening. um You know, we'll be talking a little bit, of course, about the target number four. I had target numbers of six. I had target numbers of eight.
00:07:53
Speaker
um You know, it was ah was all kind of all all over the place. But still, there were aspects of it that I remember really appreciating and being able to embrace, ah you know, extra damage with a raise and additional raises on on certain skill tests and providing, you know, additional
Trusting the rules for creative storytelling
00:08:13
Speaker
information. So like some of the some of the foundational things that I now do is just, you know, secondhand when I'm running stuff, you know, that was all laid out when I was, when I initially ran ah that first campaign. And we actually, that that campaign turned out to be very memorable. I mean, we had a good time with the characters and and between the three of us, we were able to tell a really, really good story.
00:08:39
Speaker
um And I, as the campaign, this has nothing to do with Savage Worlds, but ah you know it's too bad i'm going to tell the story anyway. Tangent. Yeah, exactly. As the campaign was drawing to a close, Brent's character was getting very close to...
00:08:54
Speaker
ah he He had a ah romantic entanglement, a relationship with this woman from a village. And I wanted a wedding at the end of the campaign. And that is one of the things that sort of like was, you know, that that epilogue sort of thing to the campaign was his character did get married ah very much of a happily ever after sort of situation, which was nice.
Incorporating personal stories into campaigns
00:09:17
Speaker
and And Brad's character also, too. um You have to know Brad. It just it it worked out really perfect. this and then This was one of the other things, too, that I think that Savage Worlds taught me is it taught me very much to be less afraid of the things that you might normally be afraid of in regards to your campaign.
00:09:38
Speaker
which which seems something that is outside of the scope of the rules. But I think this is something that you develop with rules. It's to allow for just excess fun to be had. And the rules will allow you to kind of facilitate that fun, which I'm explaining this poorly, but we'll probably get to it eventually. But yeah. Yeah, I think i think we'll put a pin in that one because that is important.
Enhancing gameplay with Savage Worlds mechanics
00:10:05
Speaker
Don't forget that. I totally will.
00:10:07
Speaker
Okay. well Well, we'll try not to So my experience, for me, it was recent. I mean, relatively recent years, but recent. And Daryl introduced me to Savage Worlds. And at that point, um we didn't know Shane yet.
00:10:25
Speaker
Neither Daryl or i know knew Shane yet. But he was a fan of Savage Worlds. He was a especially big fan of 50 Fathoms. We actually didn't run 50 Fathoms in Savage Worlds. he He ran it in his own system, but he ran 50 Fathoms for me. and It was great. But my first exposure to Savage Worlds was Daryl giving me the Deluxe Explorers edition and saying, this is cool. You should read it.
00:10:49
Speaker
So I read like the first whatever, you know, few pages. And I'm like, well, all right. This is kind of simple, right? I felt like this was – it was – boring in a way, like almost, and because at that that point I didn't know what I was looking at. And the thing about what Dot said is like her first experience was just it was just a game that she was playing with her friends, whatever, its Savage Rules, I don't care.
00:11:20
Speaker
But it became a much, much different game later. And that is true of me as well. The first time, first couple times I played, and I think we played some Deadlands Noir or something, and I was interested in it. I i wanted to play it, but I had hindrances and edges. That all sounds very cool, but it doesn't sound like impactful enough. And I was just like stupid about it. Right?
00:11:45
Speaker
And because I just didn't know. But after a while, I started to play in like, i think I played a couple of one shots and I played with Shane at Rincon and it was, I started to kind of warm up to it. And then all of a sudden I'm like, Ooh, ETU, college. Awesome.
00:12:03
Speaker
I want, I like coming of age stories. I like, I like young people and i like modern stories. So I'm like, okay, I'm all over this. And Daryl was completely supportive as he always is. And he's like, run it.
00:12:16
Speaker
And I'm like, okay. So I ran the ETU campaign and that's really when it clicked for me. And when I really started to understand what Savage Worlds was.
00:12:27
Speaker
And I still had a lot to learn at that
GM's role in player success and challenge
00:12:29
Speaker
point. But at that point, I understood what it was and how it worked and how deceptively deep the core mechanic of Savage Worlds is.
00:12:39
Speaker
And that that I think is how I want to sort of transition is to say, as we said, the target number. Target number is four. And it even took, it took both of us, me and Chris specifically, time to understand, no the target number is four.
00:13:01
Speaker
It's not six. It's not eight. It's not flexible. It's four, unless it's a parry, right? Of course, there's there's those rare exceptions in combat and all that other stuff.
00:13:11
Speaker
But more than that, success is success. that was the that was That was the other big light bulb moment. And actually, it was Shane who taught me that because I was – I think it was writing, either I was doing my writing audition for Pinnacle or it was after the fact, after it was or my second thing for them or something. And i think I had put...
00:13:37
Speaker
I think I had put in there something in regards to ah success or failure and how and how that was how the how the GM should interpret that. And one of Shane's notes came back and he was like, no, no, success is success. So if they get a success, they get the thing. They don't. There's not...
00:14:01
Speaker
There's not a degree of it. There is, there can be more information if there is a raise, but the success means they succeed. They don't, they don't succeed with a penalty to them. They succeed.
00:14:15
Speaker
And, and I was like, Oh,
Player vs GM perspectives
00:14:18
Speaker
yeah. which And it seems so like dumb. Of course, success success, success. That's why it's called success. But there's that there's that intrinsic thing in ah in in a GM where you don't want to give away everything. Yes. but And that that kind of goes back to what I was talking about when I was talking about Brad's character. is But that's what you're supposed to do you because it's a success. Yeah.
00:14:46
Speaker
See, okay, so I guess that makes me a slutty GM because I just want to give it up all the time. yeah I mean, okay, sure, but ah with that but at the same time, it it's it shows that you've already sort of grasped that concept.
00:15:02
Speaker
And I don't know if that is just a, if that's a generational thing coming up through certain types of games where there's that, I don't i don't want to use the term adversarial, but there's that behind the screen relationship um that you don't want to give up all of those details right away. But really like, what is the harm in doing that? Especially if there's more things down the line.
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, i've I've been through that. I continually go through it. And now I've trained myself to the point where it's trained in me. i I ignore the instinct now.
00:15:40
Speaker
Because what happens, and I think this happens with a lot of GMs in general, but all but so especially in Savage Worlds, is you're afraid of making it too easy.
00:15:54
Speaker
I know I am. I'm afraid of making things too easy for my players. I want to give them a challenge, right? I want to i want them to suffer for their success.
Balancing challenge and reward in RPGs
00:16:06
Speaker
And so when a success is a success and you just say, look, no, you got the four, you got what you wanted,
00:16:15
Speaker
There's a weird thing that happens and a disconnect between the GM and the player sometimes. The GM is disappointed because they're like, well, okay, I guess I'll just give it to them. right like there's It feels like it's not satisfying.
00:16:33
Speaker
The player is like, great! I got a four, I got a success, I got my thing. That makes me feel really awesome and I have a character who's actually able to do things, right? The GM doesn't feel that on that end.
00:16:47
Speaker
And even if they're a player, even if they play Savage Worlds and are used to this feeling and understand like, yes, success makes me feel awesome, they forget the minute they step behind the screen.
00:17:00
Speaker
And this is the kind of thing you got to train yourself out of. I think, not only playing Savage Worlds, but playing any role-playing game. and it's not that you can't make it hard. I make it plenty hard. I think Dodd and Chris can attest to that. Yeah, I'm still actually kind of stuck on this whole thing. what you you know You don't want to make it too easy.
Engaging players with resource management
00:17:23
Speaker
I ah keep waiting for that moment in the game that we're currently playing. I keep waiting. When is the easy going to happen? Because sure as hell hasn't happened yet.
00:17:33
Speaker
And one of the things that I think both of you do consistently when you're running is if you have that moment where like you're not really wanting to give up the goods, but there was a success, the both of you.
Players' desire for raises
00:17:48
Speaker
very strategically will give the classic GM. Are you sure you want to stick with that? And then to the player, it becomes a resource management. Oh crap. Well, do I want to spend a penny? Do I want to raise, they're going to give me some information, but I want more. And, and then like, there's this Epic mind game that happens, you know, just subconsciously through that one phrase. Yeah.
00:18:13
Speaker
Yeah. and And actually, you bring up a really good point because the the wanting of more. And that's one of the things that has always that I've
Challenges and rewarding success
00:18:22
Speaker
appreciated. And then in that the player rolls it, they get the four. But even without a prompt, like you mentioned, are you are you are you happy with that? They will sometimes themselves be like, no, I want to go for the race. I do that.
00:18:36
Speaker
I've done that even in my own game. I want to go for the race because I feel that because I know because knowing the rules like, OK, if I get four more points over this target number, I'm probably going to get more. Or in the case of if it's mechanical with powers, I know what I'm going to get with the rings. And so the the rules sort of inflict a certain sense of greed on the players in a good way. um and And so it can work.
00:19:06
Speaker
a little bit to the GM's advantage. I don't do it as much as I probably would in your games because, you know, ah again, goes back to the easy or the hard thing. Sure, sure, sure. um But yeah, it's and i think that I think that's a nice feature that is not, I mean, the mechanical part of it is is explicitly laid out, but it it the unspokenness of, yeah, you can get more.
00:19:33
Speaker
you You could get more. Yeah, yeah. Especially when the GM has something in mind and, you know, it's something like that. but But to speak to the easy, hard thing. Like, yeah, i i I do enjoy challenging people the characters, the PCs. I really do because I want them to feel the payoff once they succeed.
GM techniques for rewarding players
00:19:54
Speaker
I want them to have that just triumphal moment, right? But the one thing i I will say to that is if you have a clever idea, and I think this pans out, I think you'll agree with with me, maybe not, is when you say, I'm going to go get Kronk to do something, um ah you know, I'm going to...
00:20:16
Speaker
I want to bring him into this, right? There may be a price to pay for that, but you did the thing and you you you know rolled the success. You rolled your persuasion roll. You got your four. I'm going to give you something that you would not normally get for that four.
00:20:35
Speaker
And I, I, and there was some cases where I give you a lot where I'm like, oh, you get an extra success on this quick encounter because you did this thing.
00:20:46
Speaker
You convinced somebody, you role played through this thing and you succeeded at your, at your role, you know? And I, I try to do that. Right. But at the same time, I'm like, yeah, I'm, um I like to, I like to give you a challenge because I want you to feel the triumph when you get there. Yeah.
00:21:04
Speaker
so um And I think that's another topic in itself. but but But yeah. So the point is that I've seen GMs who are much worse about this, who say, yeah, you got the success, but you didn't really get a success. Sorry.
00:21:19
Speaker
and And that feels awful to a player.
Trusting game mechanics effectively
00:21:22
Speaker
And the GM is really just trying to do something there. They don't mean to be awful, but it is. Yeah.
00:21:30
Speaker
It is it is a um I think a lot of that stuff, because I've done that too. It's just, I think it's a lot of it. They haven't been trained out of that. like Like to use your your your analogy from earlier or your words from earlier. yeah It's just something that hasn't hasn't quite happened yet. Yes.
00:21:47
Speaker
So one of the things I know that you wanted to talk about, speaking of that, is I guess the best way to describe it is Savage Worlds light or using, you know, only really using as much as you need if you're, you know, in that learning curve of trying to do it and still having a good experience.
Simplifying Savage Worlds for narrative play
00:22:06
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I've, according to the, to the conversation pre-show, I'm the only one who's seen this or done it.
00:22:14
Speaker
I've done it for ah the cure. I think I did it not for the curious, to but the, um the case of the doping dolphin, is basically a, ah which Dot has played, which basically it's a, it's a Savage Worlds adventure that I, it's a mystery, teen detective mystery in which i as the GM don't roll one single dice. I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out.
00:22:37
Speaker
Not my whole life is a lie. I, I, That's wild. Because yeah, like now that I'm thinking back to that event, I don't remember you rolling a single gosh darn thing. All it was is skill rolls with the target number of four and maybe some penalties if I thought it was hard or you needed support.
00:23:00
Speaker
And so a support would be part of that as well. But I did not roll a single dice in that game. And it's similar. ah Most of Curious Death of Violet Evans is like that, except and when I get to the combat at the end, I don't roll anything.
00:23:18
Speaker
um And it's not that that's that's good or bad. it's It's not that that's a desired outcome. The point I'm trying to make is that you don't have to engage with all the the extra stuff that Savage Worlds provides if you don't want to.
00:23:33
Speaker
You can run a perfectly cogent and beautiful game with just the core mechanics. And by that, I mean, you know, rolling your skill rolls with your wild die, target number of four, spend bennies to reroll, watch stuff explode, and then maybe add support to that if you want, if you want other people to help.
Combat mechanics and storytelling
00:23:55
Speaker
So in a certain sense, you're kind of describing doing your more sort of narrative slash story stick, not stick, but base type games. And it's just the action is just determined by just making those skill roles. Yes. That's really kind of what you're describing. And the differentiation between characters is in skills. And while edges still are a thing, the GM can either use them as written. In some cases, they're very simple, like charismatic is a re-roll. I mean, of course, you can just use that as written. If it's more specific than that, say if you're doing a quick encounter for combat and people have combat edges, then you can give them something extra or give roll or
00:24:40
Speaker
or um give them a bonus or whatever, right? You can do that. You can say, you're special. You have first strike and and sort of like narrate how that works and give them something ah for that.
Customizing games for narrative focus
00:24:54
Speaker
doesn't have to be... Oh my God, let me look up first strike and see, okay, it's only the first time in a round. you only get that once and you've got to make sure that they're coming up on you. And well, you know, it's this whole thing, which is great if you have system mastery, but you don't need to know that right away.
00:25:11
Speaker
So let me ask you then, just in, because I have not done this. There's, there's um and, you know, so to a certain degree, you're kind of blowing my mind a little bit with this. Okay. um But I get exactly where you're coming from. and i i do it with Harry Potter too. i i can see I can see this working. So tell me then, like,
00:25:33
Speaker
specifically in the in the case of you have a ah very combat-centric character, a character that is built for the combat mechanics, the combat rules, and you reduce it to a quick encounter with appropriate bonuses based on what they've got, like you just described.
00:25:51
Speaker
What sort of player satisfaction then exists either during or after the game from the player? I mean, are are do they genuinely enjoy themselves even though they're sort of their character build has been minimized or sort of restructured a little bit? I mean, do they still enjoy themselves in that sense? You know what i you know what I'm saying? I do. i do. and And the thing is that most of the time I've done this, I've done it in, well, either individual sessions in a campaign.
00:26:25
Speaker
And that's not necessarily meaning that the combat character is not going to have combat in another session in the campaign.
Alternating narrative and combat sessions
00:26:32
Speaker
And because I know the rules, i'm goingnna I'm going to engage with all that stuff now.
00:26:37
Speaker
But for one shots at a con, this is especially poignant and especially good because it it eases your... your pressure, right? If you don't want to bring a map or or if you've got... and but and And to answer the question, i create games that are specific to this this way of running them, right? Teen detective. You're not going to be fighting a teen detective game. If you fight, you go to the principal's office, it gets a whole thing. And if you do fight, I actually have a special skill just for it, calling it hooliganism anyway.
00:27:14
Speaker
You're going to engage in hooliganism. So yeah, you're going to punch the guy, but it's really going to be a punch. It's not going to be this whole round by round combat. That's ridiculous. We're in ah in a high school, right?
00:27:25
Speaker
Same with Harry Potter is at the end, there's a combat. But most of the time, all we're doing is playing Hogwarts students who are casting spells and doing so crazy stuff and interacting with teachers. And the people who are playing playing the students who are, i guess, a little bit better at combat, really, it the only difference is they have a special spell that only they can cast.
00:27:53
Speaker
And they get a chance to cast that spell at the end. right In the meantime, they're just helping their friends, and and I've never had a complaint like that. especially in a game that is designed and purposed for this kind of play, where I'm attracting the kind of players who are not going to be looking for tactical combat with their edges and all that stuff.
00:28:14
Speaker
If I'm in the middle of a campaign, then those individual episodes where I'm doing a lot of this, is it's just one session.
Creative engagement and teamwork
00:28:24
Speaker
And they're going to have their time to shine in another session.
00:28:28
Speaker
That's the beauty of campaigns, right? Sometimes you don't get to fight. When you're talking to Haley Preston on the, on the, on the raceter and Zeke is okay with that because Zeke gets to fight later or right before that when he's fighting at the tropics ball, you know?
00:28:45
Speaker
So that's, that's my answer to that question. If that makes sense. It does. It absolutely makes sense. But yeah, if you like in Harry Potter, it's like, I want to cast Accio Broom. I'm like, great. Roll your spellcasting. And oh, I got a four. Great. Well, your broom comes flying at you. Get ready to roll athletics to hop on it. That's the kind of game you can run. And it's fun.
00:29:08
Speaker
It's fun. Or I want to cast, yeah I want to go flying around the Whomping Willow to grab a leaf because I need it for some damn potion. And you're like, well, okay, roll your flying skill because I've got a specific flying skill in Harry Potter and it's going to be a minus two because it's a Whomping Willow.
00:29:25
Speaker
Yeah. Whomping Willow. going to get wrecked, nerd. Exactly. And then people want to help. And how are we going to help? And what skills are we going to use to help? And, you know, all that kind of stuff comes in. And all of a sudden you're playing a game and they get to play their characters. And according to what they're best at, what their skills are, like that's the whole game.
00:29:46
Speaker
That's it. Shane has done this too, to a certain degree. he he did a whaling game with us, like where we were where we were on a ah whaling boat in like the 19th century or something. And it was brutal, but it was basically skill roles.
00:30:03
Speaker
That's basically what it was. ah You know, and I kind of, I like this sort of thing because one of the things that when you do play, um you know, using the full rules that I think a lot of players don't take advantage of And again, this is sort of getting trained out of this as well, is there's oftentimes not a lot of support from, you know, from one player, from one PC to another PC going down the line. You know, like that character takes that time to just do a test, do something to support the character that's coming up, that's about to make that swing with their weapon.
Maximizing player engagement
00:30:41
Speaker
to ah to do the hit there, you know, and and that's one of the things i really like about it is that it really, really does help um and reward that teamwork aspect.
00:30:54
Speaker
But I think a lot of players don't really fully take advantage of that in those situations. But the stuff that you are describing, it's sort of edumacates them to do that ah in that sense. You know what I mean? So you learn to build those skills in that yeah you know or those behaviors.
00:31:13
Speaker
Yeah. You learn what support is for and you can even encourage it even beyond that where I'm like at some point in the Harry Potter game, for example, you you all start with a special thing. Like somebody's got a remembrall and somebody's got ah somebody's got a copy of Hogwarts that Dumbledore gave them and somebody's got something else.
00:31:33
Speaker
like a ah bite of molly or or ah a drink, like an hour's worth of polyjuice potions, something like that. It's this special thing. Well, the the Hogwarts thing, it doesn't it's just looks like a normal history of Hogwarts write book.
00:31:48
Speaker
And you can use it. It gets you a plus one on common knowledge rules related to Hogwarts or whatever, something like that, right? But it does something
Breaking rules for narrative impact
00:31:57
Speaker
else too. And at the end, when the students are in real trouble and they get in real trouble at the end of that game, um the the Hogwarts a history book sort of starts to...
00:32:09
Speaker
do something, it starts to glow because they're all part of this organization. And part of the reason that that Dumbledore gave it to them is because he formed this organization. And so now all of a sudden, all support roles are unlimited.
00:32:23
Speaker
There is no plus two limit on per person. There is no plus four limit per group. Now we can support as much as we want. and get as many bonuses as we want ah for this scene because the book is sort of coming into effect and it's Dumbledore knowing that you needed it and that, you know, crisis situation would come up. That not only teaches them how support works from the beginning, but how you break the rules of support and how important it is to come together and use it.
Reducing complexity to enhance creativity
00:32:55
Speaker
You know, like don't just ignore it. You may have ignored it all session, but now is not the time to ignore that because you're in this situation where it would be really, really useful to have it One of the things that has kind of stuck out to me as you two have been giving a lot of these examples is that when you have, when you simplify the overall system, the the game, the gameplay itself, it lends so much more room for creativity elsewhere for the GM. So like,
00:33:28
Speaker
I'm thinking of, you know, the doping dolphins con event that you were ran. Right.
Mystery mechanics and problem-solving
00:33:34
Speaker
And the clues that you provide at the beginning and, you know, you come upon more as the game progresses. OK, so you could have you could have just turned that into a dramatic task and made it a system thing. Right. And and that that could have been part of the gameplay.
00:33:54
Speaker
But that would have completely changed how I approached that aspect of the game. And to be able to lean into your creativity as an individual and then as a GM to then collectively be creative with your players with one small element that has nothing to do with...
00:34:21
Speaker
Anything other than you're just rolling a target number of four. That's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. we Get into whole mysteries. and That's a whole tangent. But ah basically, don't the clues, getting the clues is not the fun part of mysteries.
Introduction to core mechanics of Savage Worlds
00:34:35
Speaker
Doing stuff with the clues is the fun part. And that's all I'll say about that for now. If you want more, you can go to Savage Interludes episodes. I would say the fun part of mysteries is when you do the chase scenes going through all the doors and you're back and forth in the hallway. Sure. With you know Scooby-Doo going back and absolutely disguising themselves in women's clothes and all that whole thing. Absolutely. 100%. Suits of armor. It's fine. Yes.
00:35:00
Speaker
should Should we actually talk about the base mechanic? Should we should we go ahead and you know? Yeah, just I think for for people who might be new to Savage Worlds and and a little bit of exploration of the little bit of depth, you know, that is it's at first. Yeah.
00:35:16
Speaker
at first And really it's roll your trait die with your wild die, trait die being the die type that you have for your skill or your attribute or whatever. Wild die is always a d6.
00:35:27
Speaker
You take the best of the two. if If you roll at the top of the die on one of those, then it explodes and you add that number to another roll until it stops exploding.
00:35:38
Speaker
And then target number is four, almost always, almost always. And then if you get four over the target number, it's a raise. and ah you can spend a minute to reroll.
00:35:50
Speaker
And really... That's it. That's the core mechanic of Savage Worlds. But here are the si the sort of the hidden depths of that. One is you're pretty good at things, and you're supposed to be pretty good at things.
00:36:05
Speaker
Even if you have a d4 in your skill, you have a wild die of a d6. That makes you 50% chance of a target 4, actually more than that because exploding dice, um well, 50% chance of you reaching that 4, even with a d four right? That's pretty good.
00:36:23
Speaker
And it only goes up from there.
Power of Bennies in gameplay
00:36:26
Speaker
And then um the other thing that's sort of hidden here is the bennies thing. And this is what people don't get at first. Benny for a reroll is simple, right? You spend a Benny, you get to reroll both dice, and hopefully you'll do better, right?
00:36:41
Speaker
Simple. It seems easy. It's it's straightforward, right? But there's there's a hidden like amazing to this, and that's the instant positive reinforcement of getting bennies.
00:36:54
Speaker
Because GMs are supposed to hand out bennies. I'm a little stingier on my two-hour games, and that's why. little.
00:37:04
Speaker
Yeah, a little. a little. um But bennies will be given out for whatever the GM wants to encourage, right? Whether you encourage joking at the table or bad jokes at the table or ah cooperating with your teammates at the table or coming up with really cool ideas or encouraging people when they say, what about this? And you say, that's a really interesting idea. You've stumbled on something amazing there. Give them a penny. All of a sudden, they have instant positive reinforcement and now they know what you're looking for and they will try to do it more.
Benny distribution and player advocacy
00:37:43
Speaker
one of the the One of the things that I would add to that list, um and you know as I'm going through my my Benny spiel when I'm at a table, is telling the players, you know if you feel that ah another player deserves a Benny for something they did to advocate for them,
00:38:01
Speaker
because that that helps build that teamwork. And I'll you know even further say that I'm not always paying attention to everything that's going on. So advocate for your fellow players if they deserve a penny. And that that can that creates fun dynamics as well.
00:38:18
Speaker
it In that regard. And it does, it it helps to build teamwork amongst people who are very likely strangers, yeah you know, and and to pay attention to what other players are doing, because it can eventually benefit them.
00:38:32
Speaker
And speaking of promoting teamwork and and amazing among players, this is another hidden gem of the system is the exploding dice.
Excitement of exploding dice
00:38:42
Speaker
It sounds straightforward. It sounds easy. Oh, awesome. I could get a great success doing this. But there's there's hidden things there. One of them is when you watch at a table in person, somebody rolling in a critical moment,
00:38:58
Speaker
and they explode on their dice. There's nothing like that in gaming. Oh, yeah. There's nothing like it. Especially if it ends up exploding twice. Yes. that you know And then it just kind of carries on. It just gets ah just crazy. it's just It's crazy to watch everybody's reaction. And it's fun for everybody, yeah even on even on the GM side. Yes. yeah and so yeah So it feels like triumph,
00:39:26
Speaker
more than the GM could express to you. right like You could say, okay, yes, you you did the thing and i've got I've got flowery, crazy pros for you to show you that you did the thing, but it doesn't really feel visceral until you actually have that moment of, oh my gosh, this is this is really hard and I exploded and and I rolled a 30 on this trait roll at a critical time. the ah The classic example of that is the um the Wild Cards ETU thing in the corner episode. And if if those of you who have seen it know exactly what i'm talking about, it is one of those moments where...
00:40:10
Speaker
Effectively, all hope was lost. That this was this was it. there there they It was ah there was a dramatic task that was failing. The number of successes that they needed was almost insurmountable. Yes. And it was literally the last role that could be made. And it did. It exploded in such dramatic fashion.
00:40:31
Speaker
And turn the entire encounter back around. um it became you know you It snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in every meaning of that phrase.
Trusting mechanics for exciting gameplay
00:40:42
Speaker
It was fantastic.
00:40:43
Speaker
Yes. And I've seen it multiple times. I mean, many times. I've i've played Savage Worlds enough to know that this happens a lot. This is not an isolated incident. Yeah.
00:40:55
Speaker
And you have to trust the system. And we'll we'll probably get into more of that as we go. But that trusting that this is going to happen at some point um is hard to do, really hard to do as a GM.
00:41:10
Speaker
You're just like, well, this looks really bad. I want to help them. And Dot, I'm telling you, you're going to be like, oh, i want I want them to succeed so bad. This is looking really grim. And I'm going to try to figure out how to do this for them, you know? But when you trust the system and know that this is always possible, it inevitably will happen.
00:41:31
Speaker
Inevitably. And there's there's nothing like it. And the other, the last thing I'll say about Exploding Dice is there are shy people who play your games.
Empowering shy players
00:41:44
Speaker
They come into the con and they say, I'm the wife of this guy who wants me to play. And so I'm going to play, but I'm shy and I don't know what I'm doing. And I don't know how to role play my character. And I'm I you know I have skills, I suppose it says here on my character sheet, but if you got exploding dice, all of a sudden you're good at, you got a D8 at something and you've exploded as, you know, 24 roll or whatever at a critical time when everybody else needed you to do it.
00:42:12
Speaker
You feel awesome. And you know you're the shy person at the table who doesn't have the confidence or skill necessarily to keep up with all the other role players at the table. But you feel awesome because you rolled that die at the right time.
00:42:28
Speaker
And it feels like your character really contributed. And there's nothing quite like that. I've seen it with Michelle, with Shane's wife. I've seen it with shy people at my table at cons that it works.
00:42:42
Speaker
And it's an aspect of the system that you don't think of at all when you first read the
Impact on social dynamics
00:42:48
Speaker
book. It's the unspoken social aspect of of mechanics. Yeah. Yes. No question.
00:42:55
Speaker
No question. And that's all core mechanic. <unk>s You don't have to do you don't to do anything else if you don't want to. Now, system mastery is great. Don't get me wrong. And we'll talk about that more as we move on with this podcast. But um you don't have to have it to enjoy what's there because that mechanic, just that that that there, you is enough to encourage a lot of the stuff at the table that you don't even realize you need until you see it.
Closing remarks and connections
00:43:24
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Did we cover everything with that? I feel like we covered everything with... So wait, no, we got a success. Did we? Right. okay I think so. I feel like we got a success. I mean, we definitely rolled a four on Tangent 2.
00:43:39
Speaker
So yes, i think I think we got it. Okay. Well, as the GM, I'm feeling like it was just a little bit too easy, Chris.
00:43:52
Speaker
Thanks for hanging out with us, whether you're behind the screen at the table or just lost in your own story. We hope that you found a little bit of inspiration. And if you enjoy our tangents, be sure to connect with us on Discord and follow us on the various socials to keep the conversation going.
00:44:10
Speaker
Until next time.
00:44:18
Speaker
Have you guys seen Anne Hathaway's Devil Wears Prada 2 dress? I have not. Oh my god.
00:44:27
Speaker
Oh my god.