One of the things that I think causes "old school" gamers to pause is the interpretation-factor of the dice. On one hand, we come from a background where everyone grounded in D&D pre-3e understood, generally what every single roll *meant*. Sure we'd have literal scads of debate on "what IS HP?" and "what IS AC?" etc. But the mechanics of the game expressed the mechanical expression of the Task Resolution within D&D to the point where we could all sit at the table and play.
The introduction of expressly "narrativist mechanics" has created an allergic reaction amongst the playerbase. But I think that experiment is largely played out.
That d20 task resolution mechanic has proliferated until the perceived "fixes" to the overall system with iterative editions until you have what we see today. There is this explicit understanding that a Hit is a Hit and it does Damage. And the Target loses HP, where HP is the abstract amalgamation of creature toughness, and the fights go on like a videogame where the Health Meter dwindles to zero. While I will fully admit, GM's (good ones at least) would describe what the combat looks like, what the wounds look like etc. the vast majority or players just roll to hit, and state damage etc. and whatever happens in your mind to describe the fight, if anything at all, is strictly your own until the GM tells you the creature drops and dies.
Whereas in Savage Worlds - new GM's will face this too, and it feels WEIRD because everyone has 3-HP. And most new SW GM's go... whoa! what? Savage Worlds encourages both players and GM's to describe what they are doing, and how they're doing it and let the dice tell you how well you do it - and the GM *should* add as much narrative flair to that roll to fully express what that roll meant based on its degree of success.
This also includes whether a "Hit" is actually a "Hit". Consider, an attack can succeed, but because of the Damage roll is not enough to do actual Damage, it gets the Shaken Result. Does that mean the bullet bounced off the PC's head? Does it mean it hit them and they're momentarily staggered? Does it mean that the bullet didn't actually hit the PC but instead hit the wall behind the PC spraying them with debris which causes them to be momentarily suppressed. Well... it can mean *any* of those things, but the end result if the PC is in the Shaken condition. The tempo of Savage Worlds IS fast (once you get the hang of it) and GM's *should* be describing and narratively interpreting the dice rolls but the *facts* of the result are never in question.
This is a large departure from where D&D is currently played by the majority of players, though I want to stipulate before people start protesting: Yes, GOOD GM's do this in D&D too, and yes, BAD SW GM's don't do this in Savage Worlds. But the facts are interpreting the results of task resolution is easier and more fun in Savage Worlds because it's meant to be done implicitly as a game about tropes.
This system lets you have all the seriousness and humor you want in-between the give-and-take of combat. It lets PC's win big and lose hard on good/bad rolls. But you always have a fighting chance to escape. This "swinginess" is a feature not a flaw. I don't have to pretend to dick around "CR" I can toss in whatever feels right and the PC's can feel like big damn heroes, or risk going down like chumps. But they *always* have a chance.
Several members of my group play in other groups on the side... and they have all been converted from 5e and Pathfinder to Savage Pathfinder, because my players have introduced them to it. ALL of them were staunch D&D/PF groups. And they all resisted until they played it. Now they're converts. And of course... they all play in other group too and are pitching it to those groups.
Based on the chatter I see and contribute to on the Pinnacle Discord, there are a ton of PF players that have moved over. As long as Pinnacle keeps converting over the Adventure Paths from Pathfinder, it will only get bigger. Plus the Fantasy Companion is doing its job giving GM's a means to move over from expressly "class-based" play to more free-form SW play.
It's a good train to be on and I'm glad my instincts were on point. Savage Worlds ain't perfect, but the flaws that exist in it are easily dealt with. It's a great system for beginning GM's and advanced GM's alike, and it's a godsend to new players. You can explain the system in like ten minutes. I could probably do it in five.