RE: [DL] unheroic heroes

["Sean Dalziel" <seand@graybar.on.ca>]

It's possible that others have said what I'm about to, if so crop it up to
great minds think alike.

> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: [DL] unheroic heroes
>
> I've got a quandry about my current group.  What do you do when the posse
> does something that is not "good guy"?

Before I get into the story I would just like to point out that Westerns and
Deadlands in particular do not need to be black & white in morality.  Many
of the archetypes for this game are people who would not be viewed as 'good
guy' but are still venerated as heroes.

So, my first piece of advice is to let the players walk their path as they
see fit.  If they kill a snitch, that's just one step toward corruption by
the Manitous right?

[Cold Blooded Murder]

> So what's your play on this?  I mean, the weasel is a lowlife working for
> the bad guys, but snapping his neck for no reason?  I mean, he
> didn't put up
> a fight, told them everything he knew, literally pissed in his pants from
> the intimidation factor, kept begging not to hurt him, etc.

OK, so Mao and the other character are the targets.  They have let the
darkness of the land seep in and should be tempted toward more wicked acts.
Perhaps several of the villagers are monsters.  Wouldn't it be easier to
just torch the whole village?  Seems logical to a person on the road of self
destruction.

> Now, my GM play was first, my NPC said, "Whoa! You can't do that, etc."
> *snap!* "I can't believe you did that, I can't believe I'm in gang of
> outright murderers, etc. I'm out of here, talk to the hand, etc." and he
> left them.  Yeah, I guess he should've done something like draw on them or
> something, but this NPC has been around Mao long enough to know that's
> pointless, so I just had him leave them high & dry.
>
> Second, I wiped out all bounty earned up to that point.  I
> figure, Fate's a
> cruel bitch....
>
> So, does everyone think that's a reasonable response?

More temptation toward evil.  The Manitous would note that a couple of those
'fighting' against them are prone to acts of evil, maybe they could become
agents?

> Would I be out of line to slap a Forsaken, or Damned, or Cursed
> hindrance on them?

Not yet.  They only did it the once but if they continue to act in a
cold-blooded fashion then do so.  Perhaps they won't receive as many chips
at the end of the story since the Powers of Light are a little peeved at
them.

The Thornlord