D6 System vs Savage Worlds
Compare D6 System and Savage Worlds side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| D6 System | Savage Worlds | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Universal | Universal |
| Play Style | Toolkit, Modular, Cinematic, Hackable, Skill-Based, Character Building | Cinematic, Fast-Paced, Tactical, Pulp Action, Combat-Heavy, Heroic, Miniatures |
| Core Mechanic | Rate attributes and skills in numbers of six-sided dice, then roll that pool and total it against a difficulty number set by the GM. One die is the Wild Die: a 6 explodes and is rolled again, while a 1 can introduce a complication. Pips give +1 or +2 between full dice, and Character Points can be spent to add dice to a roll. | Roll trait die + wild die (d6), keep the highest. Target number 4. Raises every +4. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d4–d12 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | Low | Medium |
| Runnability | High | High |
| License | Proprietary (licensed from West End Games) | Savage Worlds Adventurer's Guild |
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Gallant Knight Games | Pinnacle Entertainment |
| Year | 2024 | 2018 |
| Best For | Groups who want one adaptable engine they can take across genres — cinematic action, fantasy, cyberpunk — with modular crunch they can dial up or down. | Fast-paced pulp action across any genre. Great for large groups and mass combat. |
| Highlights | Attributes and skills are rated in numbers of d6 that you pool, sum, and compare to a difficulty number, so improving a trait literally adds dice. One die in every pool is the Wild Die, which explodes on a 6 to push results higher and can trigger a complication on a 1. Genre Modules for fantasy, cyberpunk, superpowers, and more bolt onto the same core, so one engine spans many settings. | Fast resolution, genre-flexible, handles large groups well |
| Considerations | Large dice pools mean rolling and summing many d6s per action, which slows resolution for highly skilled characters. The breadth of optional modules and rules variants means groups must decide which subsystems to use before play. Character creation allocates dice and pips across attributes and skills, requiring some up-front arithmetic. | Exploding dice can produce extreme variance in outcomes, setting books vary in depth — some provide minimal mechanical content beyond a genre frame |