The spiral binding, while bringing its own set of issues to the game table, is a really good idea in this case as it allows the book to lay flat on the table – as a picture in an article somewhere on GS shows – and only adds < $6 to the price of the thing. I'm seriously considering doing the same to my copy of "Fiasco!", which comes in the same format.

I'm also grateful for the pointer towards the forums, while at the same time standing by my original point that the rule book needs a serious edit for clarity. Things I'd spell out for the noob that aren't currently clear as a bell:

When something is rated as "X * some dice-based stat", you assume the dice rolled max to do the math (I wasted hours searching the entire damn book simply to find if that was, indeed, the case rather than, say, the "average" roll as defined by D20).

Skills start at no dice. The fact is alluded to, but not in the "buy skills" section. Cut out one of the pointless examples (and there *are* a couple which do nothing but restate the rule text in its entirety) and use the space to say "you have to buy the initial D4". Yes, once you have read the rules you know that, but when you are on page four for the first time and trying to get a feel for the game, you don't.

Rewrite the automatic fire rules so they work the same but make sense after one reading.

Two words: Index and Index. I know that strictly speaking that's only one word, but it's such an important one I felt I should say it twice. Sitting on a train its easy to figure out where stuff is by context. In the heat of a game and under pressure to get it right and do so quickly before the mood boils off it ain't. This morning's case in point: what the hell does "snapfire" mean when I see it in the weapon table?

One hint for would-be rules writers:
Don't use one phrase to mean two things and/or do two jobs. Chief offenders in SW: Rate of Fire (which refers to two related but separate mechanics of automatic weapon fire) and "Wild Cards" which does duty as both a character type and during the initiative draw – making it confusing when a skill or edge is listed with the prerequisite "Wild Card Only".

Another:
Don't call the same thing two different names. For example, if you mean "snapfire" to do duty as a warning to apply a snapfire penalty (once I find it in the rulebook sans index), don't write an entry that says "snapfire penalty" because some rules lawyer will see it days later and I'll have to wade through the effing book in-game to prove you just felt that since you had the space you should fill it with font.

I know most GMs will see these whines as stupidly anal, but all my players will all be SW noobs and will be in the same boat I was once I persuade them to buy the $10 (after tax) book and use it in-game. They occupy a wide range of "personality types" from stoner-disengaged to photographic-memory rules stickler. The stuff I mentioned will radically alter their perception of the ease of playing SW, from "easy and fast" to "steep learning curve for how much payoff?"

Also, I strongly encourage anyone interested in Savage Worlds to check out the forum. All the Pinnacle folks are there as well as a number of very helpful fans. It’s one of the most friendly respectful RPG forums on the tubes.
http://www.peginc.com/forum/index.php

Lucky for me I had seen a piccy on Gnome Stew of SW:EE with a spiral binding, and had been so impressed by that idea I had already researched getting Staples to do that done to my copy. So last night I dropped it off for a quick conversion.

Thank you Gnome Stew, for providing a neat solution to the p*ss-poor binding problem. )

I will allow as it probably knocks the sox offa D20 though. I’m currently running a Conan game and a D20 Delta green, and I need a DM shield full of “Memos to Self” just to keep it all straight.

And anyone, repeat, anyone trying to grapple anyone else immediately loses 500 XP due to GM ill-temper.

I’ll be trying SW:RoC myself soon, so perhaps I’ll have an epiphany and recant this post. We’ll see.

What can I say, inspite of all my whining, we had a LOT of fun and that’s what counts, really.

I am really REALLY looking forward to ‘Space:1889 Red Sands’. That setting is going to work so well with Savage Worlds. I’m also very tempted to pick up the new Wierd Wars aswell.

We played a Savage Stargate 2-nighter and had a blast.

As for English working, well, that’s debateable

Crow

The game definitely plays a bit differently than it reads. You’re not the first to point out that it’s kind of a kludge of borrowed mechanics. But then again, so is English, and it works pretty well.