Making Savage Worlds Your Own
Setting Rules are the secret sauce that transforms the core Savage Worlds engine into any genre imaginable. Want gritty noir instead of pulp action? Realistic military ops instead of superheroics? Horror instead of high adventure? Setting Rules make it happen!
The Genre Dial Principle
Think of Setting Rules as dials on a mixing board. Turn up Gritty Damage for Game of Thrones, crank Heroes Never Die and Conviction for Marvel movies, or bolt on a sanity house rule for Call of Cthulhu. Same engine, completely different feel!
Genre Toolkits
SWADE ships with a short list of official Setting Rules, including Blood & Guts, Born a Hero, Conviction, Creative Combat, Dumb Luck, Fanatics, Gritty Damage, Hard Choices, Heroes Never Die, High Adventure, More Skill Points, Multiple Languages, No Power Points, Unarmored Hero and Wound Cap. Anything below marked (house rule) is not an official rule: it's an idea you can bolt on yourself.
🗡️ Fantasy
Common Rules:
- No Power Points: Powers don't spend Power Points; casting gets riskier instead
- Multiple Languages: Many tongues, no shared common speech
- Born a Hero: Ignore Rank requirements for Edges at character creation
Perfect for: D&D-style games, Lord of the Rings, Conan
🚀 Sci-Fi
Common Rules:
- Wound Cap: An attack can cause at most four Wounds
- Skill Specialization (house rule): +2 to specific uses
- High Tech (house rule): Advanced gear everywhere
Perfect for: Star Wars, Star Trek, The Expanse
🔫 Modern Action
Common Rules:
- Fast Healing (house rule): Natural healing daily
- More Skill Points: 15 instead of 12
- Conviction: Rare tokens earned for great deeds that boost your rolls when spent
Perfect for: Mission Impossible, John Wick, Die Hard
👻 Horror
Common Rules:
- Gritty Damage: Roll on the Injury Table for every Wound
- Sanity (house rule): Mental damage system
- Dark Fate (house rule): Bennies work differently
Perfect for: Call of Cthulhu, Resident Evil, The Walking Dead
🦸 Supers
Common Rules:
- Super Karma (house rule): Extra Bennies for heroics
- Power Stunts (house rule): Creative power use
- Heroes Never Die: Heroes aren't killed outright
Perfect for: Marvel, DC, My Hero Academia
🎩 Pulp
Common Rules:
- Heroes Never Die: Incapacitation isn't fatal
- Dumb Luck: Fortune bails the heroes out more often (details in the core rules)
- Recurring Villains (house rule): Bad guys escape!
Perfect for: Indiana Jones, The Shadow, Doc Savage
Common Setting Rules
The Most Popular Modifications
Born a Hero
Effect: Heroes ignore Rank requirements for Edges at character creation
Why Use It: Creates more competent starting characters
Best For: Experienced heroes, not farmboys-to-heroes stories
Batman doesn't start as a rookie - he's already trained!
Gritty Damage
Effect: Every Wound a character suffers also means a roll on the Injury Table
Why Use It: Makes combat deadly and consequential
Best For: Horror, realistic military, Game of Thrones
Every bullet leaves a scar!
No Power Points
Effect: Powers don't use Power Points; instead, casting is harder and can wear the caster down (see the core rules for the exact penalties)
Why Use It: More cinematic spellcasting, less bookkeeping
Best For: High magic fantasy, superhero games
Doctor Strange never counts spell slots!
Wound Cap
Effect: A single attack can cause at most four Wounds
Why Use It: Prevents one-shot kills from lucky rolls
Best For: Cinematic games where heroes should survive
Heroes can survive explosions with injuries, not instant death
Creating Atmosphere
Setting the Mood
Skill Modifications
Tailoring Skills to Your World
Skill Specialization
House rule: characters get +2 when using a skill for their specialty
- Shooting (Sniper Rifles)
- Piloting (Starfighters)
- Science (Xenobiology)
Han Solo has Piloting d8 (Freighters +2)
New Skills
Add setting-specific skills
- Xenology (Space exploration)
- Mythos (Cthulhu)
- Etiquette (Courtly intrigue)
Hacking is already a core skill, but a cosmic-horror game might want Mythos
Removed Skills
Drop skills that don't fit
- Electronics (Medieval)
- Riding (Cyberpunk)
- Faith (Hard sci-fi)
Game of Thrones doesn't need Hacking
Special Gear Rules
Equipment for Your Era
Low Tech (Medieval)
- Armor provides more protection
- Shields are more important
- No firearms (obviously)
- Magic items are treasures
Modern Day
- Body armor vs bullets
- Vehicles everywhere
- Communication gear
- Specialized equipment
Future Tech
- Energy weapons standard
- Force fields & energy shields
- Cybernetics available
- AI assistance common
Environmental Rules
The World Itself
🏜️ Harsh Environments
Desert World: Fatigue from heat, water precious
Ice Planet: Cold damage, difficult terrain
Death World: Everything tries to kill you
🌆 Urban Settings
Cyberpunk: Hacking everywhere, augmentations
Modern City: Cameras, crowds, traffic
Gothic: Dark alleys, fog, corruption
🚀 Special Physics
Zero-G: Modified movement, no falling
High Gravity: Reduced Pace, Strength matters more
Dream Logic: Reality is negotiable
Campaign Themes
Setting the Tone
Investigation & Mystery
- Research gives more clues
- Social skills crucial
- Combat rare but deadly
- Conviction for beliefs
Sherlock Holmes, Call of Cthulhu, noir detective
War & Military
- Rank matters (new Edge)
- Supply & logistics
- Mission briefings
- Unit cohesion bonuses
Band of Brothers, Starship Troopers, modern warfare
Exploration
- Discovery rewards
- Survival emphasis
- Unknown dangers
- Resource management
Star Trek, jungle expeditions, dungeon delving
Example Setting Packages
Complete Genre Conversions
Gritty Fantasy Package
"Winter is Coming"
- Gritty Damage (Injury Table on every Wound)
- Multiple Languages
- No Power Points (rare magic)
- Hard Choices
Superhero Package
"Avengers Assemble!"
- Heroes Never Die
- Conviction
- Power Stunts (house rule)
- Recurring Villains (house rule)
Space Opera Package
"A Long Time Ago..."
- The Force (an Arcane Background trapping)
- Blasters & Lightsabers
- Planet-hopping
- Aliens everywhere
Setting Rules Summary
Lethality Options
- Heroes Never Die: KO only
- Standard: Normal rules
- Gritty Damage: Injury on every Wound
- Hardcore (house rule): Death saves
Power Options
- No PP: Fatigue-based
- More PP (house rule): +5 starting
- Ritual Magic (house rule): Dramatic Tasks
- Item-based (house rule): Gear dependent
Character Options
- Born a Hero: Ignore Rank at creation
- More Skill Points: 15 instead of 12
- Conviction: Earned boost tokens
- Sanity (house rule): Mental health