RE: [DL] Are We Doing It Correctly?

[Seanchai <Seanchai@compuserve.com>]

   I am combining a whole bunch of replies into one response. 

Daphné wrote: 

>>>    We'd played about five sessions and I'd give out about one of each
color
> chip per session. That's about the average anyway. There are only two
PCs.
> This is (was) the big bad guy:

Now, I haven't Marshalled all that many games myself, but that seems a
little excessive to me, unless you're *really* making your posse spend
chips
like they're going out of style<<

   I am. Of course, I am spending my own chips as well. We ended one of the
more recent sessions and no one had any chips left over. 

>>Maybe you should award either a red chip *or* a blue chip at the end of
the session instead of both. White chips are another matter, of course.<<

   I could, but it's been a great game and the players are going a great
job. They spend their Bounty Points wisely and with an eye toward
developing their characters rather than just their characters' abilities,
if that makes any sense.

>>Umm, oh my God! Glad my posse didn't run into him ;-)<<

   I know. He was supposed to be a campaign long bad guy and a direct
servant of the Reckoners. 

>>I'd like to know what kind of guns (if guns it was) that your posse was
using. Frankly, with normal six-shooters, 3 levels of armor means he should
have been taking 1d4 damage per shot. Even with a rifle, it would still end
up being 3d4 damage<<

   Double action pistols. It was the open-ended rolls that got Michael to
the point where he couldn't become unstunned in time.

>>I'm just amazed that he was so severely wounded in that first action that
he was too stunned to do anything for the rest of the combat.<<

   The PCs got one or two actions before him, wounded him, and so he had to
make a moderately difficult Stun check. He failed it. Even with chipping,
he failed it. 

>>Otherwise, it just sounds like you had a streak of bad luck with your
evil guy.<<

   After reading people's responses, I think that was a big factor. But I'm
not sure I like the Stun rules. 

>>My condolences, however. It really bites that they killed your fearmonger
with such ease.<<

   I got me a new once. PC has an enemy level 4. 


Munch Wolf wrote: 

>>2) Did he draw his guns first, or did the players?
Was this witnessed by other people?  If the players
gunned him down in a town just for making threatening
remarks, they might find the local constibles want to
talk to them.  Just because someone seems evil, does
not make it right to kill them.<<

>>6) Villains hardly ever go up to complete strangers
and announce, "Ah ha, I am the villain and I will make
your life miserable, even though I do not know you." 
They tend to be sneaky (or else everyone in town would
know they are a villain).  If the players ace your
villain and he hasn't done anything yet, have him turn
out to really be innocent, insane, or a target the
real villain sent the player to take out.<<

>>8) Again, you can't just go around killing people
without the local law (townsfolk if you are the local
law) getting upset.  Unless the players knocked him
off somewhere far from civilization, they're going to
face reprocustions.<<

   There are two PCs in the game. One is the sheriff of the town, Harvard
City. He's Blessed. The other is the sheriff's brother-in-law and he's a
Huckster. The premise of the game is that the sheriff's wife, who is the
other character's sister, has just been killed in a raid on the town and
the Huckster brother-in-law has come to see what's what. 
   During the first session, the sheriff is brought to a body whose lips
and eyes have been eaten away. The brother-in-law, who has come along,
helps to investigate but not much is to be found. Later that night the
brother-in-law sneaks back to the site where the body was found, changes
into a wolf, and sniff around. He finds a trail and follows it to Redbird
Valley, the local haunted area. The sheriff manages to catch sight of the
Huckster leaving town and follows him.
   They discover an abandoned cabin in Redbird Valley and a Chupacabra
inside. They kill it. We start to get a picture of how combat will work in
Deadlands. The pair camp near the cabin and discover in the morning that
the Chupacabra isn't really dead. They "kill" it again, sever its head,
burn the rest, then head back into town.
   The next day I introduce Michael. He asks to speak to the sheriff alone.
He tells the sheriff, who is Blessed, remember, that he's an emissary sent
from on high to let him know a war is coming. He intimates that he's the
archangel Michael. He speaks rather poorly of the Huckster brother-in-law,
trying to widely the distrust between them. The Huckster has the Arcane
Background which gives him a Harrowed power because of a dark deal his
ancestors made and Michael drops hints about it to the sheriff. 
   The PCs investigate the Chupacabra some more, killing every morning
where they've got it locked up into a jail cell. They don't make much
progress and so the sheriff keeps turning to Michael for guidance. When
Michael decides the sheriff has swallowed the bait, he tells the sheriff
that the town's problems could be solved if the sheriff is willing to make
the ultimate sacrifice. The sheriff agrees.
   The next night Michael takes the sheriff to the Redbird Valley and opens
up a portal to the Hunting Grounds there. He bids the sheriff enter it -
after he puts aside his weapons. The sheriff keeps his weapons but,
trusting and not knowing any better, enters the portal.
   The Huckster has seen the sheriff leave the town with Michael, whom he
doesn't trust very much at all. He follows them and gets to the valley in
time to see the sheriff enter the portal. Michael walks up to the Huckster
brother-in-law on the way to town and gloats. They get into a brief battle,
but it's a stalemate. 
   The next session we start with the sheriff creating a Miracle which
opens up a portal of his own. He has realized he's been tricked when he
sees his Guardian Spirit, who starts to lead him back to the real world.
The sheriff manages to open a portal and comes back into the real world in
time to catch up with the brother-in-law.
   They both rush back to save Harvard City from Michael.
   They discover the town encapulsated with Michael in fog form. The
sheriff Consecrates his weapon and fires into the fog. I decide that this
can actual hurt Michael in this form and so he pulls back. The PCs chase
after him, but loose him. 
   A few days later, the attidude of the townsfolk changes toward the
sheriff. The official from the mining company, who pays the sheriff's
wages, brings him into his office and says they might be letting him go due
to unsatisfactory performance. The PCs discover that the "new sheriff" has
said the PC sheriff is a rapist and scoundrel after talking to some of the
town's more...crotchety residents. 
   The PC sheriff calls a town meeting to clear the air, challenging the
new sheriff to appear. During the meeting, the PC sheriff makes some
headway in convincing the townsfolk that he's not a criminal. When they're
about neutral, the new sheriff makes an appearance. The new sheriff is, of
course, Michael.
   The PC sheriff and Michael start to exchange accusations. Michael has
spent some time convincing people that his story about the sheriff being a
rapist in Oklahoma is true and the PC sheriff doesn't help his case by
claiming that the new sheriff is a demon. 
   Then the PC sheriff casts the Protection Miracle. 
   He holds out a cross and uses the Miracle to force Michael back out of
the church (which was being used as a meeting hall). At this point the
towns people start to believe that the new sheriff really is a demon. 
   When Michael is all the way outside, the PC sheriff uses Quickdraw right
away to initiate combat. I get something like a 9, 7, 7, and 6 for my cards
and the sheriff goes first. He's Two-Fisted and uses one single-action
pistol and a double-action one to wound Michael fairly well. Michael fails
his first Stun check.
   The PC sheriff wounds him again in his next action, which comes before
Michael's double sevens. When Michael goes to make his next Stun checks,
not only is the TN very high (for a d8 anyway) but his wound penalties are
massive. So he doesn't make it.
   Michael just wants to get away - he has the means, if he can take an
action. But he just can't make the check. I have no chips left and just
take it when the PC bullets come. Michael's facade gets blown away, making
certain that the onlookers realize he really does have a demonic nature.
The PCs finish him off. 

>>7) Guns are lethal, for both the posse and your
forces.  You arn't playing D&D.<<

   Yeah. I've played many different games and recognized that Deadlands
would be fairly lethal. I just want to find out *how* lethal its going to
be. Is it going to be a case of whomever shoots first wins or was this more
a fluke? 


Mike wrote:

>>D12 is the highest die type a stat can get.<<

   Oh. I thought that only applied to PCs. 

>>Another thing I noticed was that he had no "Guts". A posse member with a
high "Overawe" [or just a really good roll] could have negated all his
actions with a "Broken" result and sent him running with his tail between
his legs.<<

   No, they couldn't have: I'm not using those rules. I don't like
mechanics like Overawe unless its an outside effect.


John Goff wrote:

>>Only take the wound modifier from the highest wound level, not all the
wounds combined. That means, the highest modifier he should _ever_ have
received was -5, assuming he had a maimed limb--which makes his highest
possible Stun check TN a 12. Tough on 4d8, but far from impossible.<,

   Yeah, but isn't the TN for a Stun check when you've taken a Critical
wound is 11, right? Trying to get an 11 on a d8 when a -4 is applied to
each roll is, in my opinion, a little more than "tough." It's not at all
impossible, but I had no chips of any kind to spend. 

>>First, I usually don't have players (or NPCs) apply wound modifiers to
stun checks; I know the rules say different...but who cares? I do apply
them to the recovery roll, but not the initial check to avoid it. Do what
works for (and makes sense to) you. :-)<<

   I think we might ignore wound penalties on all Stun rolls. That ought to
keep things deadly and difficult, but not too difficult. 


Pat wrote: 

>>After reading these stats, I wanted to make sure that you were, indeed,
handling damage correctly.  Once you roll your open-ended damage roll, that
is divided by the size for wounds.<<

   Yeah, we are. 

>>As previously stated, with armor level 3, a peace maker would be reduced
to 1d4, so most shots would only be doing one wound, or less.<<

   4d6 (for hitting in heads or guts) would be reduced to 4d4, then 3d4,
then 2d4, right?


Ron Conner wrote:

>>5. If you want the little bugger to live then just FUDGE! <<

   I don't use a screen.


   Thanks, everyone.

             Seanchai
 
"Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a
harbor." - Arnold Toynbee