[DL] Re: [WW] Re: Systems [Veering OT]

[PEGShane@aol.com]

Hi Deadlands and Hell on Earthers--thought this post from the Weird Wars list was relevant so I'm passing it on to all.

Take care!

Shane

In a message dated 4/23/2002 11:46:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time, gathomas4@juno.com writes:


> The Legendary Shane says:


Please don't ever say that again. A certain other designer refers to himself that way all the time. ;)

> > Good lord! No way! Have to disagree here. Even in regular DL, init. 
> > is much 
> > faster than in D20.
>
> Say what?! Shane, what drugs are you on and why aren't you sharing? =)
>
> i'm sorry, perhaps we should agree to disagree, but i've played a lot of
> games over the years and the DL Classic initiative system *is* stylish,
> and it's *cool*, and it *fits* the setting like no other -- but faster
> than d20 it ain't. 


Okay. I should have explained myself better. Mea culpa. Deadlands (to me) moves faster because one round of combat *usually* sums up what about 3-5 rounds of D20 combat does, due to multiple actions, wounds versus hit points, etc.

On a minor related note, our group really dislikes some of the D20 Init. rules, such as re--er. . .whatever it's called, where you basically pass on one action and you automatically act as if you rolled a 20 next action. Takes all the suspense out of who goes first.

Our group also had trouble remembering their Init. ;) We usually play with 6-8 people, and by the time it gets back around to you, people forget. Maybe we're all old and senile.

One other reason DL combat goes faster for us. If folks are just doing attacks, they can handle everything on their own. They roll their attack, know if they hit or not, roll damage, and then put a white, red, or blue chip on the baddie (or remove him). In D20, I have to look at my "Combat Matrix" (groan) and say, "Okay, the skeleton with the yellow bit of paint on his right leg (as opposed to the skeleton without the yellow bit, or the one with the blue, or one of the other 15 I have to put out to be a challenge) takes 1 hit point of damage." Next?

In DL, I go "Ace?" And two people do their attacks. While they're resolving those, I go to the next guy, and so on. It's *very fast* for us, but I understand how your mileage may vary because I've watched hundreds of Marshals sit there and resolve every action themselves, write down the damage instead of using chips, and so on.

> Shanester