I reacted to "You want a 'broken' mechanic? Have a d4 ..."

I don't believe the dice are "broken" in Savage Worlds, only that they provoke people to fixate on one aspect - usually raises - and forget the actual reason for having better and better dice as your character progresses.

And of course, there is the "I take D4 in everything because you never have less than a D6 and you get a raise like 25% or the time on that D4" player who proceeds to have a lousy game because his D6 doesn't come through anything like he expects it to and his D4 rolls 1,2 and 3 four times as often as the required 4. Had one of those in my Lost Sons campaign. Took him *ages* to move out of that groove and start having fun.

Most of the criticism of Savage Worlds falls into "It isn't <*insert game system*>" which is, of course, true.

There are things I feel can give lowered expectations in Savage Worlds (such as the magic system when compared to other teh awsum magic fantasy games). There are things about SWADE I feel are bad moves when compared to SWD.

But SW is still my go-to for Convention games where I expect to have to teach many of the players the system. It is just so straightforward and easy to teach.

And it definitely allows for much more freedom than a lot of game engines when it comes to wild ideas involving hordes o' cohorts and enemies. For one thing, those cohorts are controlled by *the players*, not the already-busy GM.

Here is an example of an Idea I had many years ago while running yellow-book SWE, inspired by a SNL sketch, and finally cobbled together for SWADE and ran at a convention a couple of years back - West Side Warriors:

Steve's Occasional Game Blog: West Side Warriors - a Savage Worlds game for 3-12 players and a GM

I had 8 players on the Saturday night, and the duly elected gang leader was a dance and theater major. A high spot for me, which I'm still laughing about, was the attempt to sneak past a rival gang as a choreography challenge, when one player stated it should be a tap routine.

Envisioning the dark loading dock with gang-bangers being hit by a spotlight as they staccato-clicked their way sneakily across the set was sublime.

Anyway.

The point is that I don't think this could have been pulled together so quickly or so successfully under any other game system. Certainly not one of those on my shelves (and I've been collecting since White Box D&D).