Re: [DL] CALLING ALL MARSHALL Need some help!

[Munch Wolf <munchwolf@yahoo.com>]

--- Dirk <darklord@dark-sky.net> wrote:
> Hey all, looking for a little help here.  In
> preparation for an
> adventure I am getting ready to run, my posse will
> be traveling to
> anywhere between 5 - 25 towns... this is where I
> need some help.  I am
> looking for NPC descriptions of towns folk.  I'm not
> looking for stats
> for all the towns folk just descriptions of them and
> their rolls in
> town, and maybe a bit on their mannerisms.  I'm
> looking for priests,
> bartenders, sheriffs, marshals, serving girls...
> anything you've got
> will be  a great help, 25 towns is a lot to come up
> with and the time is
> fast approaching when I will need them.
> 

Sounds like a lot of towns.  Here's a quick house rule
that should be helpful:

When applying social rolls to a large group, keep the
appropriate bonuses and penalties.  When applying a
social roll against a specific individual roll a d6
for each edge or hindrance.  On a 1,2 or 3 keep the
bonus/penalty as is.  On a 4, or 5 ignore the
particular edge or hindrance.  The target is
indifferent to its effects.  On a roll of a 6 reverse
the effect of the bonus/penalty.  The target is
sympathetic to a hindrance or annoyed by the edge.

That's the quick method for dealing with improvised
towns folk.  The more laborous method would be to roll
a d6 and a d10 and consult the following chart once. 
The particular townsfolk has whatever edge or
hindrance that chart gives, and this becomes their
major identifying factor.

1)
 1 Ailen            2 Bad Ears
 3 Bad Eyes         4 Big Un
 5 Curious          6 Ferner
 7 Greedy           8 Habit
 9 Hankerin        10 Illiterate
2)
1 Intolerance       2 Lame
3 Mean As A Rattler 4 One Armed Bandit
5 Pacifist          6 Scrawny
7 Squeamish         8 Tinhorn
9 Ugly As Sin      10 Yeller
3)
1 Big Mouth         2 Cautious
3 Clueless          4 Doubting Thomas
5 Geezer            6 High Falutin
7 Law O' The West   8 Lyin' Eyes
9 Randy            10 Slowpoke
4)
1 Big Ears          2 Brave
3 Dinero            4 Gift of Gab
5 Keen              6 Purty
7 Renown            8 Sense O' Direction
9 "The Stare"      10 Two Fisted
5)
1 "The Voice"       2 Brawny
3 Eagle Eyes        4 Fleet Footed
5 Level Headed      6 Nerves of Steel
7 Seen The Elephant 8 Gallows Humor
9 Sand             10 Honorable
6)
1 Impulsive         2 Squeaky 
3 Tuckered          4 Outlaw
5 Superstitious     6 Self Righteous
7 Poverty           8 Knack
9 Weird Background 10 Veteran of the Weird West

If you only use one town I'd also recommend 1d4 Unique
folks. For 2-3 towns, make is 1d4-1 Unique folks, and
for anything greated 1d4-2 Unique folks.  For each
Unique folk draw a card.  A Club means roll twice
above.  A Diamond means roll three times above.  A
Heart means roll four times above.  A Spade means roll
five times above.  Jokers are a special case.  Draw
again and apply a supernatural or unusual twist to
that card (subject is harrowed, or linked to weirdness
some other way).  Now take the value of the card to
determine each unique person's occupation:

2 - Farmer (wheat, cotton, corn) w/joker - grows
supernatural crop like Jimsen Weed
3 - Hunter (fur trappers, fishermen, buffalo hunters)
w/joker - hunts Mojave Rattlers or Jackalopes
4 - Rancher (cattle, sheep, horses) w/joker - raises
abominations (mutant chickens?)
5 - Miner (ore, coal, silver, gold, bauxite) w/joker -
mines ghost rock
6 - Resource gatherer (lumber, stone, clay) w/joker -
collects petrified wood
7 - Religious (priest, nun, rabbi) w/joker - is
blessed
8 - Military (soldier) w/joker - is harrowed
9 - Entertainment (soiled dove, actor, gambler, bar
tender) w/joker - is huckster
10 - Trade items (runs general store, salesman)
w/joker - alchemist snake oil salesman
Jack - Works in service industry (runs hotel, or
restaurant, teacher, librarian, county clerk) w/joker
- is shaman
Queen - Artist (glass blower, blacksmith, gun smith)
w/joker - is Mad Scientist
King - Finance (banker, stock broker, loan/lien
officer, property assessor) w/joker - is black
magician
Ace - Law (judges, sheriff, lawyers) w/joker - is
hexslinger

Ok, so I wimped out on thinking up creative joker
choices and giving any semblence of reason to the
edge/hindrance table.  A better edge/hindrance table
would be balanced (there are more hindrances in mine
than edges), and each catagory would have a theme
(emotions, physical, mental, etc).  This is all just a
quicky method though for creating improv people.  Hope
it helps.

Tomorrow I should have another table for you (which I
used to base the career table on) to help flush out
those random towns some more.

-Munch "The king of useless tables" Wolf

BTW, don't forget to check out the Fear Effects table
at
http://freespace.virgin.net/max.trebilcock/deadlands/ddindex.htm


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