Re: [HOE] Hell on Earth d20

["Randy Mosiondz" <mosiondz@home.com>]

I've played in the Weird West setting, run a Hell on Earth campaign and also
run a D&D 3e campaign and short Star Wars d20 game.  I'll be the first to
admit that the Deadlands system is far superior than the d20 system in a lot
of respects:

1) Build Point versus Class-Level based - Deadlands is great for making
custom characters, much like Matt was saying.  It is FAR more flexible and
realistic in terms of developing and advancing characters.  Most of my HoE
players appreciated this.

2) Realistic Combat System - you go into a gunfight in Deadlands, you are
usually scared (if you have half a mind) of having your brains blown out.
Even with a single shot, there is a chance of your number coming up, no
matter how small.  In d20, you can go into a fight saying, "I have X hit
points - no gun can do X damage, so I can at least take X shots before going
down!"  Thus, it loses some of its edge.

At the same time, there are actually some plus sides to the d20 system
(don't stone me, I'm just playing devil's advocate here):

1) Quick Combat System - I got to hand it to WotC, they have designed a very
quick combat system.  Where you can easily spend an evening on a single
fight in Deadlands ('specially against the Walkin' Dead... damn zombies!),
the same can be gone through using d20 in about a quarter of that time.
Sure, you don't get a play by play of what limb took how much damage, but at
the same time there are people who find combat dragging if they can't
resolve it within a certain amount of time.  For people willing to sacrifice
some combat realism to speed things up, this is a boon.  The slow combats
was the main complaint of my player group when I ran a 6-month HoE campaign.

2) Concise Combat System - even though it's quick, the d20 combat system
rules are pretty concise as well.  Surprisingly enough, this doesn't really
slow down gameplay that much, resulting in a quick fight that is still
pretty tactical and fun.

3) Familiarity - "one system to rule them, one system to find them"... you
know the rest!  Once you know one d20 system, you know them all.  This is
true within the Deadlands universe, although not outside of it.  It may not
be the best system, but most people know it, and I'm pretty comfortable with
taking my D&D group and plopping them down into the Weird West with
Deadlands d20.

Given the choice, I still prefer the Deadlands system for Deadlands and the
d20 system for D&D.  However, players can be funny creatures sometimes, and
when I wrap up my WFRP campaign and head back into HoE, a serious debate
will likely follow about whether to use HoE d20 or the regular flavour...

Cheers!
--
Randy Mosiondz | mosiondz@home.com | http://members.home.net/mosiondz
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they
have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many
parts."
- Shakespeare