Re: [HoE] Greetings and Questions

[AJSolis@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/15/99 3:50:55 AM Central Daylight Time, 
bflory@frontiernet.net writes:

> 
>  1) What's wrong with a Christian universe?  There is a rich tapestry there
> for the PEG folks to draw on for storylines, the four horsemen being a
> prime example.
  Well, there is nothing wrong with a Christian Universe, what gets me is the 
misdirection involved.  In Deadlands, you have shamans who deal with nature 
spirits, hucksters who deal with the evil cousins to said spirits, yadda 
yadda yadda.  In HoE, you find out that the Manitou are more along the lines 
of demons/souls of the damned.  I guess you could say my reaction is 
"Arghhhh! Make up your minds already!"  :)

>  
> 2) And who says it *is* a Christian universe?  There are many theories
> about why the reckoners appeared as the Four Horsemen, not the least of
>  which is that they appeared that way because they are a convenient symbol
> of people's fear.  'Sides, the universe seems a bit too inclusive to be
> cubbyholed as a Christian universe.  For example, there are no less than
> seven religions in Fire & Brimstone (blessed book for Weird West), and all
> are granted powers by their respective deity, be it Allah, God, or
>  whatever.
>  	This is not even taking into account Shamans, who draw powers from 
nature
> spirits.  How's that for Pagan?
>  
   Fine, it is an ecumenical universe.

> Probably, but mad scientist gadgets are by definition unreliable.  Would
> the Reckoners entrust their survival to a gadget that has (at least) a 1 in
> 20 chance of malfunctioning? I think not...
   I still think it would be less energy consuming for the Reckoners to 
prevent a malfunction than it would be for them to do the entire trick 
themselves.

>  
> Perhaps, perhaps not.  I point you to the idea of "meridians," first
> discussed (I *think*) in Brainburners.  The idea is that it's very
> difficult for one type of AB to learn another type of spellcasting, because
> he's trained his mind to work with arcane energy to the exclusion of
> others.  Kind of like hardwiring a circuit.
>  
    I think you are talking about the theories of the Cult of Doom's First 
Saint, whatshername.  It is hardly a hard and fast rule, since you can have 
Junker Doomsayers, Syker Doomsayers, and Huckster Mad Scientists running 
around. 


> There's a HoE book on the way that deals with Shamans and such.  IIRC, it's
> called "Toxic Shamans" or "Spirit Warriors" or some such.
   I thought they weren't doing new splatbooks for the Deadlands abs in HoE.

> Taint? I'm sorry, but I'm drawing a blank here.
   Sorry, tired.  Read Strain.  Do you guys think the deadland abs should 
worry about strain? I could certainly see the argument that Hucksters don't 
have to worry about it do to the theurgical nature of their powers, or that 
Blessed have that taken cared of for them by the powers that be, but just 
wanted to get feedback from you guys.

>  
> Haven't done this.  OTOH, I don't know if I should.  If you remember, there
>  were only two AB enhancement powers for Harrowed: "Luck of the Draw" and
>  "Mad Insight", for hucksters and mad scientists, respectively.  Both of the
> aforementioned arcane backgrounds rely heavily on interaction with Manitou-
> since harrowed powers are provided by Manitou, it made sense to have these
> powers.  *If* I were to do such a thing, I would only do it for Junkers,
> since they are the only AB in HoE that relies on Manitou- directly or
> indirectly- for their powers.
    Well, all abs work by accessing energy from the Hunting Grounds one way 
or another.  So by the above reasoning, would you not allow Luck of the Draw 
to work in the Hunting Grounds since the Huckster is manipulating the energy 
Manitou free?  Anyway, I did ask how appropriate it felt to others.  In my 
case, I think it would be more appropriate for Doomsayers than Sykers, since 
Doomsayers channel the very energy of ghost rock, and considering ghost 
rock's origin I could certainly see an argument that a little help from a 
Manitou could go a long way. 


>  	Re: Brin and Shaw, I don't think anything "happened" to them, yet.  
It'd
> be fairly premature to end their involvement with the DL universe.  Brin,
> for example, has appeared in only one sourcebook.  I'll give dollars to
> doughnuts she's still out there.
>  
>  
   Ack!  Meant Biren, not Brin.  I figured she would still be walking around 
the Wasted West.  And please note that I only mentioned people who had a 
relatively decent chance to survive into the HoE times.