Re: [DL] Injun's, Injun's everywhere ......

[Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com>]

><SPOILER: For anyone out there who is part of the Airdrie Posse don't read
>this ..... and Davie that means you!>

also general plot Spoilers.



>Once they have found the preacher and tied up some loose PC
>subplots, I will draw them in to the three part Devils Tower set.  My main
>problem is I have hit a bit of a block on interesting ways of incorporating
>the Lost One into these adventure's without him just becoming another party
>wanting the Heart for themselves.  The PC's know nothing about Raven or
>really the Reckoning and so I though it could be a great shock for them to
>discover the power of the Heart, who Raven is and what he could accomplish
>with the Heart.  Does anyone have any thoughts, tweaks I could use?

Well - I think that it is about time for the Posse to be attacked by a band
of Indians who were just recently stirred up by the Lost Son.  That should
move the plot thread closer to the party (who will probably casually
dispatch the attacking Indians.)  Have this happen a couple of times.

The fame from that encounter will spread, and the initial offer from Heart
of Darkness should follow.  Of course - the reputation for being an Indian
fighter may have it's own drawbacks.

> I thought that it might also be a
>problem when the characters encounter Stone.

Well - if you put the villian in front of the party, you have to expect the
villian to go down.  Use cunning and tactics.  

For example - Stone wants to take down the posse.  Okay.  He follows 'em,
and waits until one of them is alone and then hits that posse member with
10 5d6 shots to the head in one round.  Stone then ghosts away. . . 
A few months later, another posse member disappears. . . 
A year later, when the posse is tired of huddling together in a small
group, another posse member dies.
Two years later, when the posse is still huddling together in an armed
wall, someone tosses/levitates some dynamite into the middle of them.
Stone then wades through the stunned and/or winded survivors gunning them
down left and right.

Stone is one villian that you should never pull punches on.  No cheating of
the dice, no letting the character get away by fortunate happenstance.
Stone is not something the posse defeats, Stone is something the remnants
of the posse survive - if they are REALLY good.

The Last Son is not at that power level.  There is nobody at that power
level in the Weird West.  Grimme, Hellstrome, Biren and Raven - all are a
little less powerful then the Right Hand of Death.  
And remember that all of the Shamans failed to kill Raven (HoE storyline)
and they had a hold of the sob for over 200 years.

I imagine that the Last Son is an experienced hunter, and to the hunter
there is no greater weapon then patience.  
Wolves bring down big prey through the use of group tactics.  A hunter who
fails to get a clean kill can still eat if he follows the wounded deer
until it weakens and dies of it's injuries.
Or sometimes, the prey gets away.  There will come other days.

Have the posse attacked by groups of Indians on a fairly regular basis.
The posse will slaugher 'em up.  The Last Son won't care.  But the
reputation of the party as Indian Hunters will work against them if they
ever go near the Souix or Coyote lands.  Maybe the Last Son will start
slaughtering innocent Indians in the wake of the posse, leaving the the
impression that it was the posse that did it.

That should be enough trouble for the posse to handle.  A few months of
Indians full of righteous fury hunting the posse should leave them weakened
- so the Last Son goes off somewhere else for a couple of months, leaving
the posse to repair their reputation without the cause of their misfortunes
around - so that the posse can't REALLY expose the culprit.

Have you ever seen how powerful a full fledged Shaman can make a warrior
with a little bit of preparation?  
Now imagine 5 to 10 such warriors attacking the party - who think that it's
another "easy" Indian attack.  Don't forget the group of Shamen standing
back supporting the warriors with battle favors - and bow and arrow if need
be.  The Sioux attack out of surprise and are not willing to talk.
(initially)
This is the full wrath of the Sioux come down on the party.  Two groups of
good guys fighting each other.  

Far away, the Last Son smiles.  (GM side - while the posse's fate chips
have been bled by constant fighting, you fate chip stack should be growing
- and once you have 10 chips, stop spending the blue ones so that at the
final encounter you have a thick stack of blue to spend on your bad guys.)

Then, providing that any of the posse survives the encounter, a few weeks
later the Last Son can then show up to administer the coup-de-grace.  Well,
the Last Son and his dozen of fanatic followers -  show up.  
Hopefully the posse made friends with the Sioux instead of cutting them
down.   Their friendship may come in handy right now.  (Especially against
that stack of blue chips.)
If they are good, the posse, thoroughly irate and hopping mad, gets a
chance at payback and maybe to clear their name.

Of course, if the posse all dies, then it may be time to bring out the Hell
On Earth setting.  :-)  Make certain to mention that in the histories, much
havoc and many deadlands were created by this particular Last Son - who was
never brought down. . .   You might even use a (brilliant) suggestion I saw
on the listserv earlier - and have the HoE posse all be distant relatives
of the DL posse.
-------------------
Allan Seyberth
darious@darious.com
Deadlands fan site - www.darious.com/deadlands

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Tiggr: 
That's the wonderful thing about Chickens, Chasing Chickens is FUN FUN FUN,
And the Wonderful thing about Chickens
Is that when crossing streets they RUN RUN RUN!