Re: [HoE] Junkman Cometh/Huckster ?

[AJSolis@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/22/99 1:12:48 PM Central Daylight Time, pphalen@gti.net 
writes:

> 
>  They don't really "play" poker.  The Hucksters have learned to visualize it
> as such to speed up the mental battle that they engage the Manitou with....
>  
    They visualize it as poker so that the "contest of wills" is nothing of 
the sort, but a game of chance.  No matter how much more powerful a Manitou, 
there is the same number of cards in a poker deck, and the same chance of 
getting a good hand.  If it were an actual contest of wills, the Manitou 
would win almost by definition, which is why Hoyle worked it so that with two 
very unequal opponents, the small fry can still win.
    Now, since it is a game of chance instead of a contest of power, I fail 
to see why having more powerful Manitou would affect the "poker game" itself. 
 I recall no indication that a more powerful Manitou is allowed to deal from 
the bottom as it were, nor any indication in Deadlands that it matters how 
powerful the Manitou is (except in the case of tricks).  If I have missed 
such references, then please someone give me page numbers so that a rather 
glaring lack of information can be rectified.
   If there is no such reference, then one would wonder why the rules have 
been changed.  Nastier backlashes, fine, I can see that.  But since the 
entire in game point to the poker aspect was that the huckster would have a 
chance to win even though the Manitou is going to be the more powerful, I 
fail to see the in game rational for stacking the deck against the huckster 
because the Manitou are stronger now.  They were always stronger (than the 
huckster), that is beside the point.   
    For that matter, from what I understand, an increase in strength would 
have no effect on the hexes either way.  In Deadlands, there are only two 
pertinent levels of Manitou: normal, and "baby."  Normal Manitou are what you 
take your chances with when you cast a hex, "babies" are what you deal with 
when you only need infinitesimal levels of hunting grounds energy.  If the 
increase of Manitou power would have any effect, it would eliminate the ease 
of tricks, in which case hucksters would stop using them, as easy as that.
   I hope people realize that I am coming from another angle than the other 
individual who dislikes the rules change, that individual is arguing the 
problems in game play.  I am arguing against the problems in the "theory IC."