[DL] Alternate uses of Overawe

["Chris Aniballi" <aniballi@mc.net>]

Hey all,
I just had a quick question about something that came up in my last
Deadlands session. I already ruled on it, but I did want to post it to the
group to get some other opinions and such, to see what everyone else thinks.

I have a blessed French Monsignior (sp?) type character. Another character,
a squeaky kid with a propensity for getting into trouble with authority was
busted by the local sherrif for troublemaking. I decided it would be fun to
have the sheriff ask the Blessed to take care of the kid, to in a sense, be
his guardian. This worked out well for the group, and has led to some
interesting dialog exchanges with the unruly lad.

So anyway, in the last session the kid, Butch, was again up to no good, when
Father Guillaume found out Butch made an attempt to flee, fearing punishment
(having a bit to do with both his background and his worst nightmare). No
one can catch him in a race (damn pace 17!), so the issue came up when the
Blessed tried to use overawe to get the kid to stop in his tracks. I ruled
this to be acceptable, as the Father used his impressive overawe skill to
'threaten' the kid with what punishment would occur if he continued to defy
him.

After the session, however, the player with the Kid brought up that this
would, in effect, give Overawe two uses, as it can be used in combat to get
opponents to stand down, second guess themselves, or flee. He basically
wanted to know what the rationale was for overawe to be used in two fairly
different circumstances. After we discussed it a bit he and I came to the
agreement that it could be seen both ways, but as a concession to the player
I agreed to get a few outside opinions on this matter.

So I guess the question to all the marshals is, to what type of outcome to
you permit overawe checks to be used for, and what type of opposed roll
would you recomend that a character could use on a non-violent or friendly
character to prevent them from fleeing a situation such as I described above
where life isn't exactly at stake?

Chris Aniballi
Spent four hours in my room last night trying to overawe a turnip
===============
"The Grim Reaper's ridin' high tonight. Last call, everyone." -CL