Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[AFDia]

Usually, I just accept the rules and avoid houseruling, but that part of the rules has been changed many times, so perhaps some of you decided to stay with one or the other version of the rules.

I do not plan to discuss every change which has happened over the years, just the general direction the rules have been developed.

Healing:
In SWR, you roll as long as you don't fail a roll. Every remaining wound must heal naturally.
In SWEX, you can try as many times as you wish, but a result of <=1 caused a wound.
In SWD every character gets one try for every wound.

I think the most logical rule would be in the direction of "every wound can be treated once, if it fails, the wound must heal naturally". In fact the SWR ruling is nearly the same, just easier to remember and a bit harsher (if you fail the first roll, trying to heal 3 wounds, you made the other 2 "permanent" too).
The SWEX rule has the disadvantage, that the Healer edge is a must have if you want to heal 3 wounds without killing your patient and I don't like the effect of killing your friend by trying to heal him. Of course it could happen in reality too, but we are all heroes
The SWD rule sounds like it works fine, but I don't think it's really "realistic" that if the trained healer fails his roll, a guy without Healing can also try and perhaps fix the wounds. Also I don't like the factor that your chances to heal a wound increase if your party is of a bigger size.

So my conclusion is that the SWR rule was the best ruling. Easy to remember, with a certain chance of remaining wounds and it was rewarding to take the Healer edge but not that important (compared to SWEX).

Incapacitation:
I would only distinct between 2 versions:
1.) SWR where the amount of wounds which sent you to the table was important and injuries were only permanent if you fail your Vigor roll
2.) All tables afterwards which basically require to roll Vigor to see if you survive.

I have tried both variants for some years, so I think I have gathered enough experience with both versions.
The advantage of the Vigor roll based tables is that it's easy to remember what to do (although you still must consult the table for the result, because it's hard to remember. After all it doesn't happen every day). Another aspect is the decision to spend the benny on the soak roll or on the inc roll. It's an interesting choice, but I am not sure if I like it.

The advantages/disadvantages (depends on your preference) of the amount-of-wounds based table are:
a.) It is important how many wounds you soak (eg: if have 2 wounds and suffer 4, there is still a reason to spend the benny to soak, because the 4+ result is harsher than the other ones).
b.) If a plane crashes and you take many wounds (eg: 10), your chances to survive are minimal. You have nearly no chance to soak all of them and you don't have a Vigor roll afterwards to spend your bennies
c.) You suffer injuries more often than with the other table (this is at least my experience) and you have the tension if it's permanent when your roll your Vigor. Of course the other table also has this kind of tension because the roll is about living or dying.
d.) Hard to Kill is still important to avoid permanent injuries (which can at least cost one advantage of an attribute), but not that important.

I think these are the most important differences.
I have not made a final decision which table type is better, but I think I prefer the wounds-based table. Mainly because of the fact that the amount of wounds matter (taking 50 dmg or taking 20 should be different in any way, even if both blows are deadly) and because Hard to Kill is not that important.

What do you think about these rules? Perhaps I have overlooked some important facts.
Of course it would also be interesting to hear from Clint why the rules have changed so many times *hint*

[Cutter XXIII]

[Sushi]

[Tavis]

Also remember it is the GM's call as to whether or not an unskilled roll can be made in the first place.

If you, as GM, feel that it is unrealistic for an unskilled healer to be able to be effective where a skilled healer was not, then they aren't allowed to make the roll in the first place.
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Currently Playing:

SWD: 50 Fathoms (GM)

[AFDia]

[SavageGamerGirl]

My players usually make sure we have a good healer in the group, so thus far I've never had to make use of the natural healing rules.

I don't have the SWD yet, so please keep that in mind.

My house rule is that Wound penalties do not apply to rolls on the Incapacitation table. In order to make the Hard to Kill edge useful again, in this version the HtK edge gives you a +2 bonus on rolls on the Incap table.

It's worked so far, and in spot of how 'soft' that may seem, I've still had player characters die. It's been working well for my group thus far, but I'll have to revisit it once I get SWD and get a better understanding of the new Incap rules.
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'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here.'
The Order of the Dice... OF DOOM!

[Clash957]

I like the Deluxe rules just fine.

I never though the ‘Golden Hour’ would be critical until this last game. The poor group of Wanderers (Solomon Kane) learned how incapacitation, healing, and natural healing works this last session. They were on the island of the City of Whispers stalking Harlow Hobbs and his hounds. To keep their camp hidden they didn’t keep a fire and third watch missed the crocodiles surrounding them with a surprise round. Everyone was hurt and most of them were incapacitated. The sorceress failed her Spellcasting roll for the first time as well. One of the players even remarked, “Better not die here to some crocs, after everything we faced before.” That’s Savage Worlds. You can battle an army of undead, a pack of dingoneks, a band of slavers, and even a ghost made of blood only to be defeated by an ambush of crocodiles.
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Playing: Deadlands Noir, Planescape via D&D 4th ed
Running: Nothing at the moment

[Nevereverend]

In both cases I prefer the older rules from SWR, in theory. However, knowing quite well the chaos exploding dice can create, I'm more apt to use the current incapacitation rules in the games I run. They are consistent, easy to remember, easy to apply, and work well enough.

I sometimes have to remind myself that Savage Worlds is not the game I play to get my simulationist groove on... It's the game I play to jump right into the story and the action. A good GM can always handwave or house rule any added realism that might be needed.
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A Bunch of Savages

[Lord Lance]

I think the biggest part of the whole thing is the new "SWD forced incapacitation" (so if you take the 4th wound, you ARE incapacitated even if you roll a raise on the Vigor roll).
This heavily twist the game, in 2 ways:
- In a superhero game, you cannot play an instoppable character, that MUST be mindcontrolled / imprisoned / launched in the orbit, 'cause they CAN'T beat you to the ground.
- If you "miss" the golden hour, you have to walk around "useless" for your group for an infinite time... 5 days of incapacitation!!! This "kills" the mood of almost every setting, every game, but the grittier ones.
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"Balance is the key, Trapping is the word." - - Lord Lance

Proud creator of the SAVAGE FREE BESTIARY

[77IM]

I greatly prefer the SWD incapacitation rules to the SWR and SWEX (any printing). Because in SWD:

1. You're unlikely to die right away. Instant death isn't much fun.
2. You're pretty likely to die in subsequent rounds, unless an ally stabilizes you. This adds drama and tension which is fun, gives PCs a reason to cooperate, etc.
3. You're incapacitated at 4 wounds; people with insanely high Vigor and the right edges can't become "unkillable" without some sort of special ability.

-- 77IM
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Stuff I made: Arcane Abilities · Talent Edge · Savage Fading Suns · Savage Wuxia!

[canology]

I like the incapacitation rules in Solomon Kane. It mostly gets rid of the "shot by a tank and lived" situation.

[AFDia]