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Savage Worlds Adventure Edition
The Savage Worlds Adventure Edition takes you anywhere you want to go, From the Weird Wild West of Deadlands to the crime-ridden streets of Necessary Evil. From the curious campus of East Texas University to the distant, untamed worlds of The Last Parsec.
Or forge your own worlds, fully customized with setting specific rules to help you model everything from pulp adventure to sword and sorcery to hard science fiction and everything in between.
Or forge your own worlds, fully customized with setting specific rules to help you model everything from pulp adventure to sword and sorcery to hard science fiction and everything in between.
208 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2019
12 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Shane Lacy Hensley
178 books21 followersShane Lacy Hensley is an author, game designer, and CEO of Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
(source: Wikipedia)
(source: Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
November 5, 2019
It's good ol' Savage Worlds with a coat of fresh paint and some rule updates and changes, nearly all of which I agree with and happily appropriate. Nothing new or special or drastic on that front, unlike, say, D&D, which tries to fully reinvent itself every edition and mostly only makes things worse.
If you're looking for a fast-paced action game with pulp elements and some thrills, you could do a lot worse than Savage Worlds.
If you're looking for a fast-paced action game with pulp elements and some thrills, you could do a lot worse than Savage Worlds.
May 10, 2022
Way back in 1996, Shane Hensley and Pinnacle released Deadlands, a tabletop roleplaying game that combined the Wild West, alt-history, steampunk and Cthulhu-influenced horror into one compelling setting, with an excellent, skill-based ruleset. As my second-ever roleplaying game (after Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition) it was a revelation, and has remained one of my favourite RPGs ever since. The same rules were used to power several Deadlands spin-off games, such as Hell on Earth and Lost Colony.
Some years later, Hensley hit on the idea of taking the excellent rules and turning them into a universal rules set. Universal rules have been around forever - GURPS in the 1980s, the d20 system spun off from D&D 3rd Edition in the 2000s and the more recent 2d20 system from Modiphius are but three examples - but turning Deadlands into a generic rules set seemed like a really good fit. The rules are flexible enough to be adapted to many different settings and stories, but also constrained enough that they can be read and learned in a reasonable timeframe.
There's some nice universality to ideas, such as the system that allows for magic in a fantasy setting can be converted into a hacking system in a cyberpunk game. There's also something nice about a system which is not ashamed to both focus on combat and also on roleplaying solutions. Being skill-based rather than level-based also encourages roleplaying and skill development over power-gaming, although the combat system is crunchy and robust enough to be enjoyable.
The game is also contained enough that this one book is all you need to kick things off, but there are numerous expansions and settings to expand things and make them more interesting. A new edition of Deadlands was released last year for it, and (including for earlier editions) there are dozens of other campaigns available, covering everything from Lankhmar to Pathfinder to Solomon Kane to Cthulhu, as well of course being able to create your own setting (and there generic sourcebooks for different genres to help with that).
Overall Savage Worlds (****) is a very fine roleplaying system and a nice alternative to level-based systems like D&D or Pathfinder.
Some years later, Hensley hit on the idea of taking the excellent rules and turning them into a universal rules set. Universal rules have been around forever - GURPS in the 1980s, the d20 system spun off from D&D 3rd Edition in the 2000s and the more recent 2d20 system from Modiphius are but three examples - but turning Deadlands into a generic rules set seemed like a really good fit. The rules are flexible enough to be adapted to many different settings and stories, but also constrained enough that they can be read and learned in a reasonable timeframe.
There's some nice universality to ideas, such as the system that allows for magic in a fantasy setting can be converted into a hacking system in a cyberpunk game. There's also something nice about a system which is not ashamed to both focus on combat and also on roleplaying solutions. Being skill-based rather than level-based also encourages roleplaying and skill development over power-gaming, although the combat system is crunchy and robust enough to be enjoyable.
The game is also contained enough that this one book is all you need to kick things off, but there are numerous expansions and settings to expand things and make them more interesting. A new edition of Deadlands was released last year for it, and (including for earlier editions) there are dozens of other campaigns available, covering everything from Lankhmar to Pathfinder to Solomon Kane to Cthulhu, as well of course being able to create your own setting (and there generic sourcebooks for different genres to help with that).
Overall Savage Worlds (****) is a very fine roleplaying system and a nice alternative to level-based systems like D&D or Pathfinder.
February 9, 2020
I'm glad I finished this book, now I have another game system under my belt and I'm excited to game in it! (I really like the taunt and taunt related edges!)
Read
November 18, 2025How? Bought a lot of Savage Worlds stuff, primarily for this book, and finally got around to reading it.
What?
- Savage Worlds: I'm always curious about how these things happen, so: Pinnacle created a game called Deadlands, which was a slightly campy horror western; they created a miniature game with a slightly simplified version of their system; then, they revised and expanded that rule set and put it out as a generic game engine called Savage Worlds, which was (per ad copy) "fast! furious! fun!"; then they revised that as the SW Explorer's Edition; and now they have the revised Adventure Edition. Now, setting aside how bad they are at naming editions, this game is meant to give the PCs a lot of power and flexibility. I've never played it, but game designed Ken Hite has talked pretty glowingly about the game, so I wanted it.
- Deadlands Noir: Deadlands was "a spaghetti western with meat" but it also soon grew offshoots: a post-apocalyptic world where the bad guys won; a space colony game; and then, eventually, this, which is 1920s-30s action-mystery in the Deadlands world. Now, I like noir and I like horror, and they can coexist, but this game isn't really tuned for investigations. Couple that with the Deadlands universe (which was a 90s product about the Civil War, which is to say, very Shelby Foote-inspired about the Southern cause) and you get a product that leaves me wishing it was something else. (Kind of like Bloodshadows -- another horror/noir mashup -- left me wishing it was something else.)
- Space 1889: Red Sands: Speaking of works that might not be rehabilatable: Space 1889, the space colonization game, gets a Savage Worlds version, which doesn't really update the source text's problems, but adds on a new campaign: stop the evil Martian priest and his Earthling co-conspirators from taking over the universe with their mind-controlling red sand.
- East Texas University/Degrees of Horror/Pinebox Perils: ETU is, essentially, Buffy. (And then there's a spinoff game about middle school students on bikes fighting evil, which is essentially Stranger Things, I guess?) Degrees of Horror is a campaign setting, Pinebox Perils is some monsters. Again, we're in sort of campy monster-hunting territory, with the added bonus of needing to pass your tests -- which I like! More games should point out how hard work-life balance are! That said, nothing else here grabbed my interest.
Yeah, so? Like I said, I've heard good things about the Savage Worlds system -- it's just too bad that this lot contains a few settings that missed me for various reasons.
So let's fix them!
OK, Deadlands Noir is an easy fix: move from New Orleans to Chicago; drop the Deadlands lore and setting; and make it a game about gangsters and cops and monsters, and the various ways those alliances might shake out. (I think it might also be fun to play a game where you're all returned from the dead in order to hunt monsters and bring justice to a world that can't ever accept you. That's noir, baby!)
Space 1889, well, I've tried to fix this before, and first I think we have to remove the colonial underpinnings, which is hard. Maybe place this in the first wave of exploration? Maybe think about Alien Nation and the issues of immigration?
East Texas University -- this doesn't actually need to be fixed, so much as tuned. If you want to play Buffy, but don't want to find the out of print Buffy game, then you should recognize what made Buffy interesting (when it was) was how the monsters of the week dovetailed with the lives of the main characters. That said, if you want to play monster-hunting college students, maybe the issues should dig into college and what makes that time so monstrous.
That said, I'm not the audience for a Buffy game or a Stranger Things game. Is there a campaign frame of "normal folks dealing with monsters" that would interest me?
What?
- Savage Worlds: I'm always curious about how these things happen, so: Pinnacle created a game called Deadlands, which was a slightly campy horror western; they created a miniature game with a slightly simplified version of their system; then, they revised and expanded that rule set and put it out as a generic game engine called Savage Worlds, which was (per ad copy) "fast! furious! fun!"; then they revised that as the SW Explorer's Edition; and now they have the revised Adventure Edition. Now, setting aside how bad they are at naming editions, this game is meant to give the PCs a lot of power and flexibility. I've never played it, but game designed Ken Hite has talked pretty glowingly about the game, so I wanted it.
- Deadlands Noir: Deadlands was "a spaghetti western with meat" but it also soon grew offshoots: a post-apocalyptic world where the bad guys won; a space colony game; and then, eventually, this, which is 1920s-30s action-mystery in the Deadlands world. Now, I like noir and I like horror, and they can coexist, but this game isn't really tuned for investigations. Couple that with the Deadlands universe (which was a 90s product about the Civil War, which is to say, very Shelby Foote-inspired about the Southern cause) and you get a product that leaves me wishing it was something else. (Kind of like Bloodshadows -- another horror/noir mashup -- left me wishing it was something else.)
- Space 1889: Red Sands: Speaking of works that might not be rehabilatable: Space 1889, the space colonization game, gets a Savage Worlds version, which doesn't really update the source text's problems, but adds on a new campaign: stop the evil Martian priest and his Earthling co-conspirators from taking over the universe with their mind-controlling red sand.
- East Texas University/Degrees of Horror/Pinebox Perils: ETU is, essentially, Buffy. (And then there's a spinoff game about middle school students on bikes fighting evil, which is essentially Stranger Things, I guess?) Degrees of Horror is a campaign setting, Pinebox Perils is some monsters. Again, we're in sort of campy monster-hunting territory, with the added bonus of needing to pass your tests -- which I like! More games should point out how hard work-life balance are! That said, nothing else here grabbed my interest.
Yeah, so? Like I said, I've heard good things about the Savage Worlds system -- it's just too bad that this lot contains a few settings that missed me for various reasons.
So let's fix them!
OK, Deadlands Noir is an easy fix: move from New Orleans to Chicago; drop the Deadlands lore and setting; and make it a game about gangsters and cops and monsters, and the various ways those alliances might shake out. (I think it might also be fun to play a game where you're all returned from the dead in order to hunt monsters and bring justice to a world that can't ever accept you. That's noir, baby!)
Space 1889, well, I've tried to fix this before, and first I think we have to remove the colonial underpinnings, which is hard. Maybe place this in the first wave of exploration? Maybe think about Alien Nation and the issues of immigration?
East Texas University -- this doesn't actually need to be fixed, so much as tuned. If you want to play Buffy, but don't want to find the out of print Buffy game, then you should recognize what made Buffy interesting (when it was) was how the monsters of the week dovetailed with the lives of the main characters. That said, if you want to play monster-hunting college students, maybe the issues should dig into college and what makes that time so monstrous.
That said, I'm not the audience for a Buffy game or a Stranger Things game. Is there a campaign frame of "normal folks dealing with monsters" that would interest me?
May 24, 2025
I has been a very long time since I read the first incarnation of Savage Worlds, and I cannot honestly remember if I actually played. Back then, my initial thought was that it was an economic barrier to get to my dearly beloved Deadlands—I need to buy two books? Shut up and take my money!. The second one was that the system was too simple—I loved spending hours creating Deadlands characters. The third and final was that this way, there was more Deadlands specific material the Deadlands book”. For some reason, I think I shelved it, and started playing (briefly) Hell on Earth, which had not been converted yet. The gaming world has changed a lot since then, and I with it. I got the Adventure Edition because I thought it would be a good way of introducing people to Rifts, a game I have never played, but which seem rather complex for modern tastes.
Just by reading it, I can certainly buy into the “Fast and Furious” part, and I hope the “Fun” one will be evident once I have actually played it. The format—regular book size—is “cute and easily portable”, a virtue considering how much stuff I end up carrying. Three cloth markers will make finding the “important parts” so much easier. This tiny detail is greatly enhanced by a very straightforward organization clearly meant for new players: character creation, gear, basic rules, situational rules, everything else. It will have to stand the test of battle, but it is very easy to create a character (the gear takes a bit longer), and get an idea of the basic rules (roll a d6 and a die equal to your attribute or skill, if you roll 4 our more you got it). Going on a partial second read now, it also seem easy to find the rules that you might need to use in the middle of the game. Fast indeed.
Furious too. Although I am of the opinion there is no game can be good for everything, and that good games are those whose rules enhance the setting, Savage Worlds might make me change my school of thought. With simple yet exciting rules (card driven initiative, open rolls and rerolls) I can see this working very well for anything (super) heroic. Yes, I think I prefer “realistic” and “tough” games, but sometimes you just want to smash things and get away with it. The combat is miniature oriented, which is something I tend to enjoy, even if ended up having more gray plastic around than what I really need. Although I am very tempted by the fantasy, horror, and sci-fi companions, I would be tempted to play it as it is, and see how well it works for something not terribly different from a 5e dungeon crawl.
I cannot wait to play it.
Just by reading it, I can certainly buy into the “Fast and Furious” part, and I hope the “Fun” one will be evident once I have actually played it. The format—regular book size—is “cute and easily portable”, a virtue considering how much stuff I end up carrying. Three cloth markers will make finding the “important parts” so much easier. This tiny detail is greatly enhanced by a very straightforward organization clearly meant for new players: character creation, gear, basic rules, situational rules, everything else. It will have to stand the test of battle, but it is very easy to create a character (the gear takes a bit longer), and get an idea of the basic rules (roll a d6 and a die equal to your attribute or skill, if you roll 4 our more you got it). Going on a partial second read now, it also seem easy to find the rules that you might need to use in the middle of the game. Fast indeed.
Furious too. Although I am of the opinion there is no game can be good for everything, and that good games are those whose rules enhance the setting, Savage Worlds might make me change my school of thought. With simple yet exciting rules (card driven initiative, open rolls and rerolls) I can see this working very well for anything (super) heroic. Yes, I think I prefer “realistic” and “tough” games, but sometimes you just want to smash things and get away with it. The combat is miniature oriented, which is something I tend to enjoy, even if ended up having more gray plastic around than what I really need. Although I am very tempted by the fantasy, horror, and sci-fi companions, I would be tempted to play it as it is, and see how well it works for something not terribly different from a 5e dungeon crawl.
I cannot wait to play it.
January 25, 2025
Many roleplaying systems claim to support play in any kind of setting but few really do --- Savage Worlds is an exception. It's got crunchy-enough systems that are only as relevant as you want them to be.
Savage Worlds is the most "more than the sum of its parts" tabletop roleplaying system I've played --- it rocks.
I can't say enough good things about Savage Worlds:
- Bennies (tokens awarded to players for good roleplay that allow them to change fate when the outcome of a dice roll really matters to them).
- Exploding Dice and Raises (whenever you high roll on a die, you roll it again and sum the results, repeating this as many times as needed --- in other games you can crit, in Savage Worlds you can CRIT)
- Wild Dice (whenever you roll a die for an attribute or skill check, you roll whatever dice you need to roll depending on your attribute or skill AND you also roll a d6, you then take the highest result ). Wild Dice encourage players to let their characters do things that they aren't necessarily good at (especially if it's good roleplaying, which might get them a Benny) because they're more likely to succeed and much less likely to critically fail (requiring snake eyes, which has at worst a 1/24 chance of occurring and at best 1/72) than in other roleplaying games (think DnD).
- It actually does support any kind of setting you can come up with --- it just works. It's design is super hackable and it's designed to be so.
Savage Worlds is the most "more than the sum of its parts" tabletop roleplaying system I've played --- it rocks.
I can't say enough good things about Savage Worlds:
- Bennies (tokens awarded to players for good roleplay that allow them to change fate when the outcome of a dice roll really matters to them).
- Exploding Dice and Raises (whenever you high roll on a die, you roll it again and sum the results, repeating this as many times as needed --- in other games you can crit, in Savage Worlds you can CRIT)
- Wild Dice (whenever you roll a die for an attribute or skill check, you roll whatever dice you need to roll depending on your attribute or skill AND you also roll a d6, you then take the highest result ). Wild Dice encourage players to let their characters do things that they aren't necessarily good at (especially if it's good roleplaying, which might get them a Benny) because they're more likely to succeed and much less likely to critically fail (requiring snake eyes, which has at worst a 1/24 chance of occurring and at best 1/72) than in other roleplaying games (think DnD).
- It actually does support any kind of setting you can come up with --- it just works. It's design is super hackable and it's designed to be so.
February 8, 2021
It has a lot of things going for it:
- A dramatic resolution system where even the smallest die can turn into a big success
- A simple initiative system that makes it easy to know when you go
- A built-in system of hindrances that give players something to roleplay
- The ability to easily move between genres
So why three stars?
While I like the idea of raises, it’s division. It’s not particularly hard or anything, but reduce complexity wherever you can. Second, there’s a lot of hidden complexity in some of the weapons, automatic guns in particular. Last, there are just so many other systems that are as simple that can borrow some of what makes Savage Worlds good: grab a deck of cards for initiative, add some kind of meta currency, and roll for a disadvantage at the start and you’ve gotten a lot of the good parts with none of the weird parts.
It’s also worth mentioning that while I appreciate that they need to make money, most of Pinnacle’s Kickstarters heavily push towards $100+ pledge levels with all sorts of bits and bobs. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it just rubs me the wrong way.
- A dramatic resolution system where even the smallest die can turn into a big success
- A simple initiative system that makes it easy to know when you go
- A built-in system of hindrances that give players something to roleplay
- The ability to easily move between genres
So why three stars?
While I like the idea of raises, it’s division. It’s not particularly hard or anything, but reduce complexity wherever you can. Second, there’s a lot of hidden complexity in some of the weapons, automatic guns in particular. Last, there are just so many other systems that are as simple that can borrow some of what makes Savage Worlds good: grab a deck of cards for initiative, add some kind of meta currency, and roll for a disadvantage at the start and you’ve gotten a lot of the good parts with none of the weird parts.
It’s also worth mentioning that while I appreciate that they need to make money, most of Pinnacle’s Kickstarters heavily push towards $100+ pledge levels with all sorts of bits and bobs. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it just rubs me the wrong way.
February 6, 2022
A very easy to grasp system for player and Storyteller. Can recommend.
The system itself is very simple, your rating in a skill is the dice you roll. Say you have the minimal rank in a skill then you roll a d4. Upgrade it, you might end up having a D6 or a D8. Standard difficulty for attacking someone is usually 4. So the better dice you have, the better.
The system is fairly open ended as to setting, where you can use any setting of your own imagination or you can get the many setting books that they have given out with this system, for Superheroes, Deadlands and even one where you can run from Dinosaurs.
I wish i had known about this system, or that it had existed back in my younger days, as i think it would have been far easier to drag friends into RP and keep them interested. As they would not need to dig through heavy lore and mechanics for say games like Exalted, VTM or WTA. >_>
The system itself is very simple, your rating in a skill is the dice you roll. Say you have the minimal rank in a skill then you roll a d4. Upgrade it, you might end up having a D6 or a D8. Standard difficulty for attacking someone is usually 4. So the better dice you have, the better.
The system is fairly open ended as to setting, where you can use any setting of your own imagination or you can get the many setting books that they have given out with this system, for Superheroes, Deadlands and even one where you can run from Dinosaurs.
I wish i had known about this system, or that it had existed back in my younger days, as i think it would have been far easier to drag friends into RP and keep them interested. As they would not need to dig through heavy lore and mechanics for say games like Exalted, VTM or WTA. >_>
April 1, 2020
A super fast read, I normally really dislike generic/universal game systems. Generally, a system designed (or heavily modified) for a specific setting tends to reinforce the tropes, themes, and style of the game much better than any universal system. I bought Savage Worlds mainly because I’m interested in how it handles Rifts (any system is going to be an improvement on Palladium’s house system).
Savage Worlds is much better than other universal systems, especially using settings focused on action. High octane blood pumping action is definitely where Savage Worlds shines. Outside of that, it loses some of its luster but is still a solid system. Of all the universal systems I’ve read, I would honestly put Savage Worlds on top.
Savage Worlds is much better than other universal systems, especially using settings focused on action. High octane blood pumping action is definitely where Savage Worlds shines. Outside of that, it loses some of its luster but is still a solid system. Of all the universal systems I’ve read, I would honestly put Savage Worlds on top.
February 2, 2021
My favorite iteration of this ruleset so far. I have played versions of Savage Worlds since it came out, and I love many of their various settings. I love the concepts behind this system, but I've historically had some mental blocks when it comes to some of the rules. Less flaws in the system and more just my inability to really grok them. Ultimately, this edition may not solve for that, but it comes awfully close. The rules are clearly written and engagingly presented. As always, the art is top notch.
December 23, 2020
Una edición con pocas modificaciones respecto a la anterior, pero que sigue siendo un manual perfecto para dirigir partidas de acción a raudales. Un sistema que en una primera lectura puede parecer farragoso, pero en cuanto se juega la primera partida se entiende rápidamente y tanto el director de juego como los jugadores se pueden centrar en lo importante; en interpretar a sus personajes y combatir a los villanos realizando todo tipo de proezas por el camino.
Read
January 19, 2023Look, it's probably a lot smoother in play than it seems in the reading, and I will come back to this, but I'm sceptical of a system that repeatedly says it's "fast, furious, and fun" and then makes you faff around with adding and subtracting loads of little modifiers. Makes you long for advantage/disadvantage. But it's a toolkit, really, and there are some tools in here that I think I might end up using.
April 20, 2020
The best version of one of the best TTRPG systems out there. It does not disappoint!
Everything you need to start playing just about any sort of game is between the covers. Dive in, and have a blast.
Everything you need to start playing just about any sort of game is between the covers. Dive in, and have a blast.
April 2, 2021
Un sistema de rol muy versátil aunque muy enfocado en la acción mas que en la narración, incluso la acción representada con miniaturas.
Probaré el sistema con el reciente deadlands, a ver qué tal funciona.
Probaré el sistema con el reciente deadlands, a ver qué tal funciona.
September 29, 2022
Seems like a great system.
Looking forward to trying it out.
The art in this book isn't the greatest in general, but most of it is okay.
Book is nicely bound and High quality, but is rather small (especially compared to other books I own. D&D 5e, Pathfinder, Degenesis, Mage The Ascension etc)
Looking forward to trying it out.
The art in this book isn't the greatest in general, but most of it is okay.
Book is nicely bound and High quality, but is rather small (especially compared to other books I own. D&D 5e, Pathfinder, Degenesis, Mage The Ascension etc)
December 26, 2024
Para mí gusto, de los mejores juegos de rol para jugar aventuras de ciencia ficción o fantasía, con no demasiada profundidad pero mucha personalización de tu personaje y donde todos hagan cosas geniales. Recomendadísimo
March 31, 2020
El mejor sistema genérico que existe 🧡
May 17, 2020
This new edition further streamlines an already very streamlined game without losing any of the good bits in the process.
June 6, 2020
Savage Worlds is a game system that really embodies Fast, Furious Fun. This book is a wonderful update to the rules to streamline the system.
September 10, 2020
An interesting RPG system with well formatted content making an easy read.
February 18, 2021
Para mi gusto le faltan ejemplos y alguna información está en orden incorrecto. Eso no quita que sea un sistema muy fácil y rápido de aprender.
January 21, 2022
Great read and great system.
April 26, 2022
This is my favorite role playing system. The tools it gives you as a game runner are so flexible and can really accommodate so many genres.
September 26, 2022
I like how PCs get a default set of skills. The updates appear to be streamlined.
January 10, 2025
Great game just a tad to much modifiers for me. I am looking for something lighter.
April 17, 2025
It’s too soon to say, but maybe I found my favorite RPG System. It’s fast, easy and very streamlined.
May 10, 2025
Just great. One of the best Roleplaying games out there based on how easy it is to learn. Handles action best but adds depth so that ALOT of background books have been made through the years.
January 3, 2026
Un sistema genérico para hacer vuestra partida en cual ambientación.
Altamente recomendable.
Altamente recomendable.
November 23, 2024
A very good set of Seriously interesting set of rules. Useful in a variety of genres although I may issues using it in a vary dark realistic setting. Saying that I really like the variety offered and how easy it is to modify for a homegrown world of your own a making.
October 6, 2019
Its a fine system, but a bit too much crunch for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews