I purchased the Savage Worlds: Explorers Edition several months ago, based on some positive reviews on several blogs I was reading. It was probably just me, but at the time I didn't quite "get" Savage Worlds. Part of my lack of enthusiasm was my dislike for skill-based rpg systems. I do intend to go back to SW and have another look at the system. I admit I was in the wrong frame of mind at the time, and was trying not to like it.I provide those comments as preface to the point of this post: Legends of Steel: Savage Worlds Edition. I have not put my hands on a copy of this rpg, but from what I have read, so far, it sounds like a great game. It reportedly tries to capture the feel of sword & sorcery adventuring, the result being that the players tend to encounter sorcery, rather than being masters of it.
I think that sort of gaming would be fun, as it adds an additional air of danger and mystery to magic, lacking in a traditional D&D campaign, what with Magic-Users, Clerics and Elves all having "mundane" access to spells, and knowing what their foe's spells are, and what they do, once you start describing the effects.
I had the same issue with SW, decided I needed a setting to make it easier for me and some friends to give it a try. Thought it was going to be Solomon Kane, but I ended up getting this last week as it's closer to my revived pulp fantasy fascinations. It's a tidy little pub and Erisa is just the right kind of setting, but it's going to take a little work for me to put together an adventure. I'm going to keep it simple as we're really just using it to test drive SW. Someday I'll actually get around to updating my blog (or starting an alternate one) about all this.
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me more about the book? Did you purchase it through Lulu? Is the binding good, and do you feel you got value for your money, considering its 70 pages?
ReplyDeleteSure. It's 65 pages, saddlestiched and fairly large print. I thought it was on the pricey side when compared to Barbarains of Lemuria (HC and $27 with more text) or, say, Issue 5 of Fight On! also saddlestiched, same weight stock, 88 pages for $9. Perhaps there was a licensing fee to PEG involved? Nice art and layout. 20 pages of character rules, 35 pages background on Erisa, 5 page adventure (find and infiltrate a group of bandits and bring their leader to justice), and 6 sample characters.
ReplyDeleteOn a "how many hours will I get out of this" basis and the chance to finally do something with SW, it's worth it to me. But in comparison to other publications with arguably more content, I think I'd advise just getting the PDF.So much of LoS is the setting material, and you don't need all of that printed. And there's plenty of whitespace, so it won't kill your printer to just print what you do want from it.
If you do get the print edition, get it through Amazon ($22) or at least wait for one of those Lulu 10% off specials.
Like you, this may give me the prod I need to actually use Savage Worlds. I may end getting both a printed and pdf copy: i like having a "book" but the pdf makes it easy to have extra copies at the table, for the players (particularly if it is only for the chapters they need)
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