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

[DEHAIS Bertrand <DEHAISBE@cic.fr>]

spoilers

	-----Message d'origine-----
	De:	Munch Wolf [mailto:munchwolf@yahoo.com]
	Date:	mardi 27 mars 2001 01:41
	À:	deadlands@gamerz.net
	Objet:	RE: [DL] Keepin' the posse honest  (spoiler)

	>
	> The way I see it, if its brain is damaged or 
	> destroyed, the 
	> harrowed/undead
	> is down for good. Isn't that stated in the main book
	> or book o' the 
	> dead ?

	Yes, that particular abomination is gone and its soul
	goes back to the hunting grounds (BotD pg 102), but
	there is nothing saying ANOTHER manitou can't revive
	the body as an abomination.  Note this wouldn't be
	common, timely, and would probably involve outside
	assistance (voodooist re-raising a partially complete
	body), but it is possible.  The only thing that would
	completely stop the reuse of a body would be the
	blessed 'Final Rites'.

Agreed. I was considering the harrowed/ basic walkin dead case only. For
now, in my game, I'll stick to my rule saying that a full brain is required
for a manitou to enter the body. When my players understand a) what a
manitou is and b) that manitous animate harrowed/ walkin dead, I'll confront
them to gifted manitous raising or re-(re-)raising a badly head-damaged
body. Right now, they use to put an extra bullet in the heads of their
victims, 'for security' although they don't know exactly why and how it
seems to close the case.


	I would LOVE to know where this rule is, book and
	page.
	From the original rulebook, pg 161, "Whenever a player
	character dies in the game and her body is mostly
	intact (especially the head), ..."

	Mostly intact ... not completely intact ... not brain
	wholey complete ... not dies of only a guts wound ...
	mostly intact, I have yet to see the rule that says,
	"Sufficient head wounds are assumed to demolish the
	brain, leaving insufficient material for a manitou to
	take up residence." and would really like to know
	where it is.

Agreed. While I usually let a maiming (and maiming only) head wound put a
harrowed down for good, said wound could affect the upper neck/jaw area and
sever the head from the body, yet not making the manitou leave. In any case
the body doesn't have anything that can be called "head" left.

	Now for examples where not alot of brain is needed ...
(snip walking fossils and bone fiends)

	Finally, Patchwork Science (RVC2, pg 82), "Meister
	figured out that by putting a portion of a single
	brain in each of the attached parts, reanimation was
	possible.  What she didn't know was that she was
	creating a type of walkin' dead that has brains
	everywhere in its body - not just the head!"
	Pieces of brain in all parts of the body ... and note,
	to kill the creature all body locations must be
	maimed.

Reminds me : my players were recently confronted to their first patchwork
abomination (in The Last Stop). After they put it down, one player examined
the body and was attacked by the still unwounded right arm. They shot more
rounds in the body, but nobody specifically aimed for the arm nor hit it by
chance. Right Arm, frighteningly smarter than the posse (hence the upper
cases), stopped moving and waited. Then they decided to destroy the body..
with dynamite. A good throwing had the stick falling just near the corpse,
where Right Arm quickly and easily grabbed it and threw it back. A few chips
later, they decided to set the body on fire, which finally destroyed it. I'm
don't think they have realized each part had to be 'killed', although they
all saw the monster was created from different parts. It sure isn't going to
help them understand what (re)animates what in WW abominations.

	and since I briefly mentioned it last time, but didn't
	fully cover it, check out the picture in Back East:
	the North on page 76, which was supposed to be the
	final answer on this question a long time ago (but
	seems that it's not).

Oops, forgot to check it at home. I don't let pictures make up for rules
anymore. I did it once (in another game) and there was a harsh and fruitless
debate on what was exactly happening in the picture.

	>  There's no telling
	> what is or isn't the same anymore. Keeps players on
	> their toes!
	> 

	You say you like keeping players on there toes, but
	find it difficult to accept the same body with a
	mostly intact brain could be used multiple times by
	different manitous for different abominations?

The first time my posse fought BV zombie crews, they had quite a bad
surprise when the headless ones kept kicking back. Since then, there's been
the Right Arm incident, so now I suppose they'll never be sure anymore that
a body won't rise again, unless there's isn't enough left to rise...
Yet I still hope that one day they'll understand a bit better how some
abominations keep walking their homelands.

	-Munch Wolf


bertrand