Re: [DL] Experience in DL

[balance@tubas.net]

On Monday, February 18, 2002, at 09:11  AM, Grand Master Nilus of the 
Dark Angel Chapter wrote:

> First Veteran of the Wierd West is for people who have had some prior 
> experience with the "normal" World.  Supernatural wierdness tends to 
> make you learn from your mistakes a lot quicker.

True. VotWW seems to presume a wide range of potential experiences. 
Great to work into hindrances, too!

My players are strangely reluctant to take it, though.

> Second.  A deadlands character is Hardly equivilant to a First level 
> D&D Character.  Take a look at some of the NPC's that Deadlands stats, 
> with a few exceptions most able body, well drawn characters can take 
> them in a fight when they are newly created.  I can understand Marks 
> complaint with certain games(especially 2nd Edition D&D, where first 
> level blew) but in Deadlands character generally start out very tough 
> and Experience tends to flow quickly to them(as long as they play there 
> flaws well)

This is a very important point. A base D&D character (even 3rd edition, 
which is certainly more consistent than previous editions, and therefore 
deserving of praise.) ism stereotypically an adventurer who's just left 
home. Yes, the hero has some quality that makes him or her a *hero* 
(I.E. they've got an adventuring class level, instead of being a 1st 
level NPC class) but they are, at the start, nothing special.

Deadlands assumes characters should be larger-than-life. Characters tend 
to have certain basic elements drawn in broad strokes, with smaller 
details added. A starting character tends to be either a grizzled 
veteran, an expert at whatever it's specialty is, or (in rare cases) a 
clueless newbie, It's quite possible to make a starting character that's 
nearly as good of a gunfighter as many legendary characters.

Why the difference? It's just because of a difference in what the game 
represents. D&D is derived from heroic fantasy stories, so the story of 
a character going from an untried adventurer to a legendary hero is part 
of the package. Deadlands draws from Westerns where the hero often has a 
long, interesting past before the story starts, and this is 
represented...

> If Mark really wants some more starting points.  Let him use the 
> Veteran of the Wierd west from HOE(In HOE Veteran of the Wierd west is 
> called VOTWastered West,  VOTWierd west means that a character actually 
> has been around for 200 years)  Essentially they get 25 C-Points, and 
> are allowed to raise anything with them.  There are also varient rules 
> for raising attributes with these points(Its cheaper then with XP).  
> But the chart that a Marshal draws on is really bad...REally REally bad

I use the 'exotic' character options for new characters as well as 
trying to work with them to fit them into the story.

The options like Werewolves, Vampires, voodooists, etc. are great for 
'replacement' characters. They tend to be slightly more powerful to 
start with, but have their own baggage that keeps the character 
interesting.

Also, a good way to give a character some power that doesn't require 
making them more powerful is to work closely with them on character 
creation. For example, my posse will be traveling a lot soon. If anyone 
needs a new character during this journey, locals will be suggested to 
make both working them in easier and make the characters extremely 
useful. When a bunch of Kansas farmboys have to go to Lost Angels, 
having a local guide is extremely useful.

> OVerall if you want your player more experience, Give them some bounty 
> to work with.  If you just have one player complaining, Tell him to 
> quit being a munchkin Gamer and get back to the rest of your group.
>

I'm admittedly stingy with experience. However, since most characters 
can start off pretty powerful, no one seems to complain.

My posse is going to be splitting up heavily soon. Because of this, I'm 
going to let players keep the same fate chip pool no matter which 
character they happen to be playing... As such, they'll have some 
'Marshall-friendly' characters (with some serious drawbacks, but the 
skills they need for the adventure) they can play to the greatest extent 
and then use the (possibly posthumous) chips earned to bump up their 
main character.

I regularly give out a couple of draws a week for purely 'experience' 
purposes. And it works. It also keeps the rate of power increase slow 
for characters and villains.
--
Brett

LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER 
MAN? (Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett)