[RPG] How does Armour work in Savage Worlds

Good question; upon reviewing my Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition, I note it doesn't explicitly say that cards are re-dealt at the beginning of each round. That's how we've always played it, though, because of the implications of the Joker section no doubt. In the Revised Rules, it notes you should reshuffle the deck any round in which a Joker is dealt too.

As a result, I think it's their clear intent that cards be drawn every round, though like many parts of Savage Worlds, they don't bother to state it explicitly.

If you wanted to go to a "one time draw" initiative system, you could just give that person all the Joker benefits for the whole combat, and treat it as a big spotlight time for them. Alternately, if someone gets a Joker, they get it for one round and then they and only they get a new initiative card after. Why? Because Jokers are WILD!

Generally when I write my stories, I'm more focused on making orcs be plausibly orcs, and then letting the PCs figure out the best way through whatever made sense in the context of the setting. It is a philosophical departure from D&D, but I've found you see a lot more clever avoidance of fights by PCs when the world is designed that way.

That said, when I'm looking at the statline for for an antagonist and wondering if it is a good fight I look at the following:

1. Can it hit the PCs? (Look at its die type for attacking, make sure you'll hit most PCs at least 25% of the time)
2. Can it get through the PCs armor? (As above, look at the damage dice and think about the expected value)
3. Conversely, can the PCs hit and damage the antagonist?
4. Finally, will the antagonist slaughter the PCs (Look at average damage and hit chances, if you're going to hit most PCs most of the time, and do serious damage, then be careful)

This is a bit more work than just looking at a CR, but after you do it a bit, you'll start to get a "feel" for what works and what doesn't. Also, don't be afraid to modify stats some to suit your needs- if a normal orc doesn't do it, maybe they should be up against a bigger, nastier breed orc with some better combat stats.