(Part 2) Top products from r/savageworlds

> I wouldn't call DnD 5th edition rules light though.

It's not "rules light," but has a fairly limited number of mechanics to worry about. There are very few (any?) issues with the rules where stuff isn't intuitive (in contrast to something like 2e, where some checks you wanted to roll high and others you wanted low).

> There's lots of rules, spells and conditions all in 3 books spanning ~900 pages just for the basic game to run.

Nope. All you need is the free PDF to get started. There are a lot of spells, but any individual character doesn't need to worry about most at once, instead just learning about new stuff as it becomes available.

The Dungeon Master's Guide is not at all required to run the game, and actually doesn't cover any required rules. It's most useful section is the Treasure chapter, with everything else being more "conversational" insight, some random generators to help the DM do stuff, etc.. Player's certainly don't need to purchase it.

The Monster Manual is important, but only needed by one person.

> Then you add in Xanathars, Tome of Foes, Volo's guide and that's another ~900 pages and a total investment of like 350$ CAD.

None of those books are at all required, and most are simply filled with useful "fluff" like generating backgrounds, detailed racial information (society of fey creatures, etc), and some optional rules for downtime activities between adventures.

Of those books, only Xanathar's Guide to Everything actually has stuff that you could argue is useful to players in a mechanical way. Fortunately, damn near all of it was previously made available for free in Unearthed Arcana, so if you just need the mechanical player options, you probably don't have to buy the book.

You don't have to spend anywhere close to $350 CAD to run 5e. You're looking at $0 for players to get started, or $57 if they want to buy the PHB at full retail for some reason. You can instead just get it online for about $35.. Even that's only needed if you want the rules for all the subclass specializations -- the core rules free PDF includes everything you need to actually play the game.

> Let's not forget about the work you research and study you have to do to run a module, which could be like another 200-300 pages that you need to know in and out for the game to run smoothly.

Huh? Modules are generally just a single adventure, and certainly not "200-300 pages." If you're talking about a full Adventure Path that spans nearly all the levels, then yeah those are larger. But you're also talking about something like a 1 year or more of actual game play. Furthermore, you don't need to know it in and out "for the game to run smoothly." The GM probably needs to at least skim over each chapter to have a general idea of what's happening, but actual prep time for any given session is no more or less than Savage Worlds. I know because I run both.

Can't get more unique than Low Life by Andy Hopp, with the setting book The Whole Hole: Keister Island and The Whole Hole: Holy Crap. It's a setting where you get to play as bugs, worms, or sentient Twinkies after Earth has had several apocalypses. The books are filled with gloriously color-illustrated pages and puns galore. There is also a ton of lore, but the beauty of the setting is that you can make anything up and it'd still fit. The books are solid hardcover quality although the font may be a smidge tiny, but there's a lot of stuff in the books!

Since you have ETU & Thin Blue Line, both of which are "modern" settings, I'd look into acquiring some fantasy-based ones such as Hellfrost or Beasts and Barbarians (I rather like B&B's Jalizar, City of Thieves for their urban fantasy). In addition, can't go wrong with picking up one of the Deadlands: Reloaded campaign books.

These are the folders I used: 4-section manila folder (Sections are the number of surfaces that papers can be fastened to. 4 section has one divider, for a total of 4 interior surfaces.)

(and these are a more simple folder I use for a different game: 2 section manila folders )

For the redacted documents, I used a chapter from one of david weber's honor harrington books (from the baen free library). The redacting itself took some time, but once done I just reprinted it for the other folders.

The largest component was time... actually making the characters was pretty fast. Since they were legendary rank, I just gave them what I wanted. :)

I'm thinking of upgrading to these 4-section or even these 6-section. They're pretty expensive, but they'll last a loooong time.

These would be perfect IMO.
They look cool, and they came and went so fast that they don't look familiar to most people.

http://www.minidisc.org/minidisc_s.gif

This is an excellent book I read a long time ago. Can't find the hardcopy anymore, though.

I might have to buy it again.

Realms of Cthulhu

Nice... there's another SW G.I. Joe tribute called Strike Force 7 which I've run a campaign from.

We use minis and these https://www.amazon.com/CIEHER-2000pcs-Elastic-Bands-Rubber/dp/B07KJZ215G/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=mini+rubber+bands&qid=1555016421&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Different colors for different things, so we can know if any character is shaken, wounded, stunned, flying any status effect, they all have a color.

The book my group uses looks like it's out of print, but it's compatible with the current version of Savage Worlds Amazon Link.

I guess if you're not interested in buying a used book, you would need to get both, yes.

Also don't forget a deck of playing cards, it's how you track initiative in Savage Worlds

Mad Amos. Short story collection with a folklore/tall-tale feel, following the mountain man Mad Amos Malone and his unusual horse Worthless.

Wikipedia's Weird West article has a good run-down of the genre.

A while back I read an amazing Weird West short story that was scanned out of 1920s pulp magazine, of all things, which stood up against anything recent, but I can't remember the name or the author. :( Among other things, it involved a cussin' contest that turned the sun blood red and tore a hole in the sky,.