Re: [DL] Keepin' the posse honest (spoiler)

[Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com>]

Spoilers below

 >I'm curious: do many Marshals feel it necessary to keep their players 
"honest"
 >with house rules and the like? Our own Marshal does it just to mess with our
 >heads, because I like to think we're pretty good about distinguishing between
 >player and character knowledge (speaking as a Marshal-in-training), but 
I'd be
 >interested to know if people have found this to be a problem, especially 
those
 >of you still working with the First Edition rulebook.

I suppose "keeping 'em honest" was a bit of a misstatement.  It's not 
really a problem - but I just like to let the player's know that not 
everything they read will remain accurate.  Even with player's who are good 
at separating player vs. pc knowledge, it takes some of the oomph out when 
the players know what's coming.

Remember - you are targeting the players for your creep outs, not the 
characters.

The fact that terror and fear are not the ultimate goal of the Reckoners, 
just a useful tool along the way, is not something that the players know 
about my game.  When I run again, I am hoping for that exact reaction that 
I got here - "Hey!  How can the Reckoners be gaining fear if they are 
killing everyone around here off?"  and I'll just look at the player, 
shrug, and smile knowingly.  I may even hand out a fate chip to that 
player.  Viola - the story becomes fresh again in the knowledgeable 
players' eyes as they look at all of their past adventures in a different 
light.  I may even hand out legend chips for other reasons besides 
storytelling.  Sure - if the fear level is dropped in an area where fear 
and terror are the goals, the storyteller gets the chip.  But in other 
areas where the bad guys have different goals, storytelling means squat.

Another thing I do is I give away a non-spoiler right away.  I tell my 
players - especially the Doomtown ones - that Abraham Lincoln is dead. 
dead. dead.  He died from a head wound which means that he can't come back 
harrowed.  period.
That lets the players know right off that I'm veering away from the PEG 
canon, and that they can't really trust what they know.

-------------------
Allan Seyberth
darious@darious.com
Deadlands fan site - http://www.darious.com/

In success be moderate.
                 -Poor Richard's Almanac 1734