Canyon o' Doom!!! [Deadlands]

Started by BraveEarth, October 27, 2012, 06:48:43 PM

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BraveEarth

Well Howdy there partner! There is big news in town, seems that Major John Wesley Powell, you know the one famous for his 1869 and 1871 expeditions through the  Colorado River into the Grand Canyon, had a bit of trouble on his third expedition. His corpse was lost to the river but belongin's of his survived. These here belongins wound up in the hand of Rutherford Ellington Dillenger known traveling Museum owner. Suddenly Mr. Dillenger up and contacts Powell's Family and the famous Explorer's Society. Something big is a brewin apparently Dillenger let it be known that he would be making a momentous announcement at the Salt Lake City Grand Hotel. Attracted by the man’s reputation, as well as rumors of involvement of the Explorers Society and Smith & Robards, journalists from all over the continent, both North and South have made their way to this distant outpost of civilization to hear what the Englishmen has to say. 

Okay so this is going to be a Classic Deadlands game complete with old school character generation, card drawing spell systems/ mad scientist creation, poker chips and gut wrenching terror. Anyone who is interested but doesn't know the background, wikipedia can help and I can help explain the loose ends. As mentioned Northern and Southern Allegiance characters are options, as well as anything you want to do. I will help with the character gen for each individual so please feel free to either PM or IM my yahoo, (Located <--- Over there). Given the nature of character turn over in Deadlands and this particular story being a bit inclusive for making new characters I'm going to start the game after a minimum of 7 join. Also anyone new to the system entirely I shall help and hopefully some other people familiar with it will band together to help make things easier.

1SAZ

I'm interested, but it's been a long time since I last played. That said, I'll have to hunt around for my books, but I figure we should have time while more interest pops up.

AndyZ

It's all good, and it's all in fun.  Now get in the pit and try to love someone.

Ons/Offs   -  My schedule and A/As   -    My Avatars

If I've owed you a post for at least a week, poke me.

BraveEarth

#3
Okay anyone interested who doesn't know that system I just found an pretty comprehensive tool on the web that would be rather helpful.

http://deadlandsclassic.wikidot.com/

Right now this thing seems like the grail to me

Edit: After reviewing it in a more sober state it isn't so comprehensive as I thought but it does lay out a good deal of the intial character gen

Meliai

I generally avoid games with a high mortality rate since I get attached to characters rather easily, but I've wanted to play Deadlands for AGES.

How do you plan on handling the card and chip mechanics online though?
    {{A/As updated 5/8}}           

CarnivalOfTheGoat


My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

BraveEarth

Chip Mechanics are easy because of the die roller we can just assign certain colours to certain numbers and work from there, The card drawing I have two decks with me that I would prefer to use because while there is a card drawing simulator on RANDOM.ORG they don't keep track of the deck after the initial draw. And I have not found a good deck simulator.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

Dug up my player's guide and it's 1st ed. That's what you want to use, yes?

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

BraveEarth

#8
I have the 2nd Edition although let me look up how much they changed things.


Muse

A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

BraveEarth

#10
More the merrier and also Carnival Fannin' is now a Concentration of Shootin' rather than it's own skill ACtion rather than needing the skill

Muse

: ) anyone got a character concept yet? 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

CarnivalOfTheGoat

Quote from: Muse on October 31, 2012, 12:55:31 AM
: ) anyone got a character concept yet?

Too many! That's the problem. I usually end up watching to see what others are fixated on and end up filling in the blanks.

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Meliai

I've got a half-formed backstory for the daughter of a Chinese railroad worker and a railroad baron's wife, but I'm still reading through the player's guide so I haven't decided on what her abilities are like yet.
Mad science is super tempting but might be overly ambitious for my first character in the system.
    {{A/As updated 5/8}}           

BraveEarth

I'm gonna just pm all interested with draws after riffle shuffling 5 times between nit perfect randomness but close

Muse

Awesome.  :) 

I'm torn between a Huckster and a Big Guy. 

Any thoughts? 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

CarnivalOfTheGoat

Despite what I said earlier about many ideas and tending to wait 'til others had theirs in, I'm definitely looking at a native American Shaman now. Never played one before (tendency towards gunslingers and Blessed).

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Muse

I have my books now.  Le'ts see what I can churn out before sleep time.  :) 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Muse

Not quite done yet, but any thoughts, Brave Earth? 

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Name:  Stargazer
Player:    Muse   
Occupation: Brave   
Age:  17   
Birthday:  It was spring. 
Height:  5’9”
Weight:  155   
Build:  38D, 26, 36
Skin:  Copper
Hair:  Raven black with feathers.
Eyes:  Violet like the setting sun. 

There once was a girl among the Blackfoot people named Spring Breeze.  She was playful and whimsical, like a butterfly, flitting on the wind from one flower to another, beautiful and precious, capricious but kindly. 
   In her sixteenth year, Spring Breeze met a man with purple eyes and fell in love with him.  Many said she was shamefully doting on a white man from the traditing post, but she did not acknowledge them.  When the fall came, she no longer wandered into the countryside in search of her secret lover, but she was with child.  Her parents were furious, for they could have made a good marriage for their beautiful daughter.  Instead, she was doomed to be alone. 
   Spring Breeze didn’t care.  She said that the south wind had given her a daughter.  She would be strong—like her father.  She would be proud.  She would be brave.  She was destined to slay Manitou with strength and courage. 
   Everyone knew she was trying to hide the shame of being seduced and then spurned by a white man.  The wisest man in their band, fearing the girl would be rejected by all, even driven from her home, chastised the villagers for contradicting Spring Breeze.  The spirits would give a sign if her story was true.  ‘Til then, they should hush and judge not lest they be judged. 
   The babe was indeed a girl.  Her eyes were purple, like the sky at sunset.  The shaman declared that this was a sign that she was a true daughter of the sky, Stargazer, daughter of the South Wind. 
   Some of the Band were quite vexed.  They were forced to accept the fornicator without punishment, her bastard—clearly borne of a blue eyed white man—as one of their own.  Stargazer could feel the contempt her people had for her, veiled beneath polite words.  She was hurt and puzzled, but embraced her mother’s stories of her father with all her heart, accepting that she had a duty to protect the world from the Manitou.  Though she had no more aptitude for magic than any other of her band, she learned the warriors arts with speed and spirit.  By the time she was sixteen, she was taken on raids ith the boys of her generation. 
   While she wasn’t a big fan of some of the feminine arts, her completive spirit wouldn’t let her back down from learning them, either. She had to excel at all that she did, to prove to those who held her in contempt that she was the south wind’s daughter .
   In the quite of evening, sometimes, she stared at the stars and dreamed of adventure, glory, love and other things denied to her. 
   When the old holy man lay dying, her called her to his side.  “it does not matter who your parents are, little one.  You are who you make of yourself.  In that basket there, you will find tools suitable to the person you have made of yourself, a girl even the Manitou must fear.” 

Grit   0
Pace   13
Size   6
Wind   16

Cognition   2d10
--Artillery
--Arts
----
--Scrutinize
--Search (1)
--Trackin’ (3)
---

Deftness:  3d6   
--Bow (2)
--Flichin’
--Lockpickin’
--Shootin’
----
----
--Slight o hand
--Speed Load
--Throwin’ (4)
----Ballanced

Knowledge:  1d4
--Academia (3)
---Occult:    
----
--Area Knowledge: 
----The Black Hills (2)
----
--Demolition
--Disguise
--Language
----English (2)
----Indian Sign Language (1)
--Mad Science
--Medicine
----
Professional
----
----
--Science
----
----
--Trade (3)
----Blackfoot Crafts
----

Mein:  4d6
Animal Wranglin’
----
--Leadership
--Overawe
--Performin’ (2)
----Dancin’
----
--Persuasion
--Tale Tellin’ (2)

Nimbleness      2d12
--Climbin’ (1)
--Dodge (3)
--Drivin’
--Fightin’ (3)
----Tomahawk
----
--Horse Ridin’ (2)
--Sneak (1)
--Swimmin’
--Teamseter

Quickness   3d10
--Quick Draw

Smarts      2d10
--Bluff
--Gamblin’
--Ridicule   
--Scroungin’
--Streetwise
--Survival (3)
----
Tinkerin’

Spirit      2d12
--Faith
--Guts (3)
--
--

Strength:  d8

Vigor:  4d4


Edges: 
(4)  Belongings
(2)  Brave
(1)  Fleet Footed
(1)  Purty
(3)  Two Fisted
(0)  Veteran of the Weird West

Hindrances: 
(3)  Big Britches!
(3)  Ferener’
(1)  Habit:  Underdressed (-1)
(3)  Heroic

Equipment: 
Blessed Tomahawk X2
250

Your Worst Nightmare: 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

CarnivalOfTheGoat

#19
Two Indians? Interesting. I'm nearly done hacking together a stubborn Apache shaman girl.

You might want to see if you can get hold of a copy of Ghost Dancers somehow, there's a LOT in there about playing Indian characters. I would be reluctant to play a shaman in a game without it (but the DM has approved it. ;) ).

Blackfoot is an interesting choice for a tribe. Is she down from Canada or are you a Montana Blackfoot? We seem to be starting in Salt Lake City. Might want to add a little about what's bringing you down there to this White's funeral proceedings (or bringing you down there coincidentally, but that seems to be the thing drawing the party together).

Also, blessed weapons looks like something special (Particularly, 'Blessing' is a specific medicine in Ghost Dancers), and like a fast horse or a gun with some kind of bonus value, such things are usually only gotten through the Belongin's edge, which you don't seem to have taken? If you want them to work against Spirits/Monsters with some sort of bonus capability then you're probably looking at 'Spirit Weapon' or something similar and a point or two in Belongin's.

I'm also a little puzzled looking at your Aptitudes. I haven't played Deadlands in forever, so maybe I'm missing a rule somewhere, but I thought Aptitudes were bought from a pool based on the total of your Knowledge + Cognition + Smarts die sizes (which for Stargazer would be 24 points, looks like) but you seem to have nearly 40 points in Aptitudes, plus a bonus point spent on Edges above and beyond the total of your Hindrances (-10 points of Hindrances, 11 points of Edges).

Am I confused about character generation in this regard? Because I haven't played this game in probably close to ten years but I remember there are definitely "math errors" on the sample characters including the text sample character generation 'Ronan'.

Help?

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Muse

Hm?  I put four points in the Belongings edge, Carny.  A sample level 3 item is "A tomahawk blessed by a powerful Indian shaman."  The cash value example for 4 is 4 times that of 3, so it seemed appropriated enough. 

Every character get's about 5 points of free skills, including 2 in Area Knowledge (Home County) and 1 in Climbin'. 

The other fifteen came from Veteran o' the Wierd West, for which I owe the GM more backstory and grant him license to make my life very, very interesting. 

I don't usually use that when I make deadladns characters--except for really interesting concepts--but this seemed a very short campaign.   

*  *  *

I chose Blackfoot because I meant to base my roll playing off of the book Fool's Crow.  And don't think anyone expects a game like this to be too terribly authentic, but I like to have a good guideline. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

BraveEarth

I think you underspent your Aptitude points Given you have the aforementioned 39 levels and I count 41 total without subtracting your given 5. Your edges are off and for Veteran you have the table I have to draw from.
Nine: Insane
This dude’s mind’s not what it once
was. Give him a mental illness from the
mad scientist’s Dementia Table.

1–2 Absent Minded: The scientist tends to forget everything but his work. He might forget
to wear his pants one day or eat raw coffee the next. Whenever he needs to
remember an important detail, he should make a Fair (5) Smarts roll. If he fails, he
can’t remember it.

Muse

*laughs*  ooh, fun. 

And thank yuo, I'll fix it. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

CarnivalOfTheGoat

#23
Quote from: Muse on November 01, 2012, 08:08:34 PM
Hm?  I put four points in the Belongings edge, Carny.  A sample level 3 item is "A tomahawk blessed by a powerful Indian shaman."  The cash value example for 4 is 4 times that of 3, so it seemed appropriated enough. 

I have no idea how I missed seeing that.

Quote from: Muse on November 01, 2012, 08:08:34 PM
The other fifteen came from Veteran o' the Wierd West, for which I owe the GM more backstory and grant him license to make my life very, very interesting. 

And I have no idea how I missed seeing that, either! What the heck, eyeballs, wake up...Okay, you can see why, having missed a fifteen-point Edge, I was confused about the point quantity! *Ponders* VotWW is tempting. Very tempting.  But I already got double jokers on the draw. XD Best not tempt fate further!

Still, oh man, 15 points...I have a problem in that my character's 'concept' foundation as it were as a Raven Shaman is VERY expensive (Raven costs double, and to be useful as a shaman it really helps to have at least one ritual at 5, and a 5-point guardian spirit (*COUGH* 10 points for Raven?!) is also crazy useful...It adds up fast so... yeah, kind of leaves very little for the rest of the character. So she's kind of an inexperienced youngster with powerful mojo...And not a lot else.

Makes VotWW look AWFUL tempting. >_>

Quote from: Muse on November 01, 2012, 08:08:34 PMI chose Blackfoot because I meant to base my roll playing off of the book Fool's Crow.  And don't think anyone expects a game like this to be too terribly authentic, but I like to have a good guideline.

Yeah, I think there are serious limits to how much one can expect as far as cultural authenticity (particularly since Deadlands twists things around a bit) but one can try to at least poke about and make an effort rather than a John Wayne movie cliche'. :) I actually have friends on the Navajo rez and have met a few Apache, so...TINY bit more comfortable trying that! I don't imagine anyone will scream about authenticity, and I can't imagine anyone will be offended so long as you've tried to do a little homework and obviously are not mocking the idea by camping it up with a Hollywood stereotype.

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

1SAZ

Just giving everyone the heads up, I'm still sorting out my character, though I'll be playing a huckster assuming there is no objection. Otherwise, things should be quite interesting.