Re: [DL] Mad Science Arcane background.

[Marshal Black <marshal_black@yahoo.com>]

> s
> p
> o
> l
> e
> r
> spoilers
> 
> 
> 
> Is thier any real point in buying this advantage? In
> 
> the dozen or so games of deadlands I've been in, and
> 
> all the other's I've personaly heard of, the typical
> 
> MS starts off with the one invention he's built,
> uses 
> it, and then never uses the mechanics of the edge 
> ever again. I've yet to see a MS acually sit down
> and 
> make up something new, so could not a player make a 
> guy that has up to 5 points of belongin' and
> roleplay 
> the rest of it rather then spend the 5 points on the

In the game I run the party currently has a lot of mad
scientists and they all are building stuff constantly.

The AB is worth it, do you have Smyth & Robards?
Letting them de-engineer other peoples blueprints is a
good way to get them using their skills. Players also
need to know what is possible and how easy it is...
while they don't get to look at the dementia table (or
in S&R the new and nifty less sanity damaging version)
they know that permanently bad effects can happen to
them if chance doesn't go their way so they are
worried about trying in the first place. For example,
do you know how much it costs to build one of those
devices they invent... and are they aware of it as
well? One of the biggest problems I have seen with
other posse's and mad science is that with the
exception of alchemy... no one knows what anything is
supposed to cost when you are building it not buying
it. The solution a lot of Marshals take seems to be
"Smyth and Robards price" or the prices out of the
back of the main rules if they don't have that
available to them. On the surface it's not a bad
decision, after all no one put any rules about it in
there, but if you think about it... that has a
detrimental effect on your scientists. If S&R is
charging 500$ for a device, then they must have built
it for less if they intend to realize a profit all
real world businesses work this way. You have to make
the item for less then you sell it. For your
scientists if they have to spend 500$ and risk their
sanity on a potentialy lower reliability device then
they could just purchase... why bother? Realistically
they should be able to make devices for less then the
listed prices in the books it also encourages them to
do so. They can even put their scrounging/persuasion
skills to good use by finding some of the components
in a junk pile or bargaining with the local chemical
supplier for a cheaper deal.
Also that starting device usually sucks on starting
reliability. You don't get "store bought reliability"
for a starting device... they have to roll their skill
to determine the starting reliability. This means most
personal gizmo's start off at a 10, 12 or 14
reliability. Seeing how any inventions in S&R's
catalog start at 16 or higher, it is a wonder why your
scientists don't try improving their score with a
little research. Even just one raise improves the
chances of not busting by 10%. As the augmented MS in
my posses can tell you... that 10% is the difference
between having an arm... and not having an arm.
You might also encourage them with some cheap and
dirty examples of mad science to get their minds
working. The rotating rifle out of the Collegium book
is a beautiful cheap piece of mad tech that most
scientists can work up over the course of a day. It's
not that expensive to build, and has a lot more
ammunition then most other equal damage rifles even if
they choose the all high caliber barrels version.
Also mad scientists are scared off by the high hands
necessary to make the "really neat" gadgets like time
travel devices and mind control beams. They should be,
that's powerful shit. But you can encourage them to
make lesser devices... the hand isn't really that high
to make the quadruple barreled shotgun out of Phantasm
II (...at least I think it was 2) and just imagine how
much your parties gun bunnies would be drooling at the
chance to apply 4 seperate 2d6+4d6 attacks to some
poor innocent defenseless zombie who only wants a
little love... and brains of course.
While it is your game and your call, I don't think you
really ought to hand them a ton of equiptment to make
up for their lack of interest in the system. You want
your players to be mad scientists and PLAY mad
scientists... that way you get to eventually drive
them insane, turn them against the party, and have yet
another available stock villain for your universe bent
on global domination with the use of his steam powered
chicken deboner and an army of rubbery undead farm
fowl. Talk to your Mad Scientists and encourage them
to build new and interesting things.
After all... that's what the manitou would do.

Marshal_Black


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