[SW] Savage Worlds: what if...?

[Longfingers]

I know we've got a few fans of SW here, was telling one of my gaming group who experienced it for the first time at TTS last weekend (not the greatest advert for it IMO) that one of its over looked strengths is how tuneable it is.
Google it and you'll find dozens of threads/posts about how it's designed for over the top pulp action. Maybe, but that doesn't mean it can't be used for other styles. Case in point, Realms of Cthulhu's rule for 'purist' emulation is no soaking wounds. Bennies for other things, but if you get shot or attacked by a creature, you're ******.
So - and I don't know the answer to this - what if you wanted a 'gritty' game where injuries mattered. No soaking but. . . You have your standard 3 Wounds, and each rank past Novice you get an extra one. Edges might let you buy one or two more. Wound penalties only kick in once you get to within your last 3 i.e. if you only have 3 wounds, then after you take 1 you're at -1 etc to a max of -3 at 3 Wounds, then take another and you're dead (short of adding a get out for 'heroes' ) . But if you're a Veteran with 6 Wounds, you can effectively ignore the first 3, only the 4th one puts you at -1, dead at 7 Wounds.
Pointless? Anybody found a setting rule that makes taking Wounds a little more life threatening?

 

[Polar Blues]

Not really, but then I go for the more heroic tone, so if anything I'd probably go for one of the Setting Rules that makes player characters more, not less, durable.

That said, while I haven't used it, the Gritty Damage Setting Rule sounds pretty brutal. Does it not work for you?

 

[Longfingers]

Never actually used it. I guess I'm trying to find a way where heroes can't be one-shotted once they level up a bit but could still take a major hit. Although it's always a possibility with aces on damage. Meh, maybe overthinking it.

 

[Guvnor]

I think my brain is now too old to fully understand house rule implications. So I will tend to run RAW — but the tweaks and adjustments are indeed written. Same with D&D 5 — the DMG for 5 (the one before the current one) is full of really good tweaks or subsystems that make almost every third party variation of the game redundant, just look in the DMG.
(Very few people ever seem to read the DMG)

 

[Polar Blues]

The Wound Cap setting rule is there to prevent the random one-shot kills. And of course it applies to Wildcard antagonists too, so it cuts both ways. Combined with Gritty Damage you get Wounds that are scary (roll on the Injury table each time a character is wounded) but reduces the risk of random one-shot kills.

None of this links with Rank though. I guess expects the players to choose whether they want prioritise resilience as they get advances and go up Ranks or prioritise other aspects of their character.

I'll just add that, while I have been running Savage Worlds pretty regularly of late, I am not really a rules guru.

 

[Sablemage]

Long-time SW GM here... assuming you're playing SWADE, as things are a little different in other editions...

Gritty Damage makes Wounds more troublesome at the cost of some extra record-keeping and complications. Wound Cap makes it easier to Soak Wounds, because you don't take as many from massive damage, which in turn makes it easier to avoid Incapacitation and thus death. However, you still have the same chance of blowing the Vigour roll once Incapacitated - a critical failure kills you. If you don't want that to happen, you also need to switch on Dumb Luck so that PCs can reroll critical failures.

To illustrate Wound Cap: Let's say a PC takes 7 Wounds from massive damage. With Wound Cap on, the last three don't exist, the PC has 4 Wounds incoming and needs to Soak at least one to avoid being Incapacitated, which he can do with a simple Success. With that option off, the PC has to Soak 4 Wounds to avoid Incapacitation; that takes a Success and three Raises, much harder to do.

I wouldn't give the PCs extra Wounds at each Rank; they are pretty resilient to begin with, and can use Edges to take more Wounds or Bennies if they want to do that (SW doesn't have much niche protection, and it helps to give PCs as much room to differentiate themselves from each other as you can).