Well, if dice pools are a deal breaker for you
kosherinfidel, there's nothing I can do to sell you on
Ubiquity. The core mechanic is stat + skill = dice pool vs. a difficulty number. All modifiers are dice either added to or subtracted from your pool, including weapons. Attacks are a single roll with successes in excess of the targets defense inflicting damage.
In my opinion it's just as fast as
Savage Worlds because everything is that same roll. Plus, as each individual die has a 50% of success, instead of rolling for NPCs you can just assume half their dice pool will be succeses. That really speeds up combat, since the GM doesn't even need to roll for NPCs.
But you're absolutely right. $20 to $40 for the core book (depending on what game you get) is nowhere near as cheap as the $10 the
Savage Worlds Deluxe: Explorer's Edition will cost you. I really do tip my hat to Pinnacle Entertainment for making such a cost accessible book. And despite it's pulp flavor,
Savage Worlds is setting neutral, while
Ubiquity doesn't have a system only book. Which it desperately needs. Nothing in the
Ubiquity rules are really setting specific, but having a setting-less system to start from is easier than stripping out background fluff.
There are currently four setting books for
Ubiquity.
All for One: Régime Diabolique - by Triple Ace Games. $24.99 Strap on your sword, salute the King, and prepare to cross swords with the creatures of darkness! A mashup of swashbuckling action and supernatural horror set in an alternate history France in 1636.
It pains me to say this, but Triple Ace Games just made a
Savage Worlds version of
All for One: Régime Diabolique. It's $27 though.
Desolation: A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy - by Greymalkin Designs. $19.99 A fantasy world brought low by an apocalypse. You could use this to play fantasy in
Ubiquity if you stripped out the apocalypse stuff, or play something similar to Dark Sun.
Hollow Earth Expedition - by Exile Game Studios. $19.99 The core
Ubiquity book for doing 1930's pulp action adventure. It's assumed that you'll journey into the titled Hollow Earth to adventure, but there's lots of stuff to do on the surface as well. Follow up books are
Secrets of the Surface World (which introduces magic, psychic powers, and weird science gadget creation) and
Mysteries of the Hollow Earth (which adds more magic and races, and details lots of interesting spots in the Hollow Earth). An upcoming book is
Revelations of Mars (to do John Carter-type Basroom adventures, and of course NAZIS IN SPACE!)
Leagues of Adventure - by Triple Ace Games. $39.99 Steampunk adventure set in an alternate 1890's Victorian Era. I have no idea why this book is so pricey, as it is essentially just
Hollow Earth Expedition rolled back about 40 years. There are a few rule systems in here that were introduced in the HEX supplemental books, but I still don't see how they can charge so much.
So yeah. I love
Ubiquity, think it deserves more credit and attention, but realize that
Savage Worlds will forever be the big boy overshadowing it. Pinnacle Entertainment has really done a fantastic job in producing, supporting, and promoting it's product. I can't deny them that despite not liking the system.