Re: [DL] Hexslinger Required (even longer)

[toadpooka@juno.com]

On Thu, 23 Nov 2000 16:53:35 +0100 DEHAIS Bertrand <DEHAISBE@cic.fr>
writes:
> 
> (sorry for my approx english and the general fuzziness of my ideas)
No complaints here.  If you'll notice, you ferners have better manners
and English language skills than a lot of the Americans on this list. 
Here's an example:
"whatever moron was whining about hucksters needs beat"
This person was trying to say one of the following statments:
"Whichever thoughtful person it was that raised the interesting questions
about Hexslingers needs beets, for beets are high in potassium and
vitamin A."
"Whoever asked the question about hexslingers has made me angry enough to
wish harm upon them, for I am not capable of understanding their complex
punctuation and capitalization."
I'm not sure which it was, but I'm sure that this person had his or her
reasons.

Anyway, about the hexslingers...
They do seem to have gotten the shaft a bit in the thoroughness
department.  I figure that they were a neat idea that needed more room to
explain than was available (they'd have made a great chapter in the
Epitaph or the combined-book format).  They didn't quite fit in with the
subject matter of Law Dogs, besides the fact that LD had a lot of gun
rules in it.
A while ago, I came up my own little redefinition of the Hexslinger,
which made them a bit different from Hucksters, as well as a little more
convenient.  Since then, I personally reconsidered this positiion, but
others might be interested in it.
Basically, I said that the muckraker Ned Buntline spent a good deal of
time following Doc Holliday around, intending to write a biography of the
man.  During this time, Buntline saw a few things that were "out of the
ordinary," and eventually got Doc to teach him the art of hucksterin'. 
Buntline tinkered with it a bit, and developed hexslinging so he could
avoid persecution more easily.  He also got into the habit of using Doc's
face (by using that one hex, I can't remember) when getting into duels,
just for the added fear factor.  He even taught a few hexslingers, who
really thought they were dealing with Holliday the whole time.  Buntline
wanted to record his knowledge, and he did so in a way that he knew well.
 He wrote a series of dime novels featuring a character who was very
similar to Doc, and used magic in gunfights.  The people of the Weird
West didn't have as much of an appreciation for such things as we do
today, and only about 8 of the novels were ever published.  The later
ones had very few copies sold, as well.  But, for those who could read
between the lines, the books were invaluable.  Each novel has 3-4 hexes
encoded in it.  They don't have the edition/Reliability problems of
Hoyle's, since only one edition was made, but you have to find and buy a
lot of the books in order to get a good selection of hexes.  Of course,
Buntline now has both Doc Holliday and the Agency after him, but he sees
it as his job and duty to make information known.  He IS a journalist,
after all.
As for the visible signs of a Hexslinger's actions, here are a few
examples:
-The guns glow and spark.  You could hide this with the Gunplay skill
like a huckster does with Slight o' Hand.
-The guns emit a trail of ghostly smoke
-The hexslinger's eyes glow.  A lot of the art in the book shows this,
though that's hardly something to measure the rules by.  The hexslinger
could hide this by closing his eyes or squinting just right, so they'd
always have that Clint Eastwood look to them.
-The barrels on the hexslinger's guns spin of their own accord
-Some remnant of the showdown between the manitou and the hexslinger is
visible to everyone.  Either there is an audible demonic cry of pain when
it's shot.  A spattering of blood across the hexslinger's face, or, if
the 'slinger loses, a spot of blood appears on his shirt, as if he'd been
shot, but no wound is caused (unless he backlashes, in which case you
could actually have a bullethole open up in his gullet).
I also required all hexslingers in my campaign to be focus dependant, not
on one particular gun, but on a gun of some sort, so that the above
effects could be appropriate.
--
From Whom It May Concern,
Rich Ranallo
"Long live the legend, it'll outlive us"
-Violent Femmes, "Death Drugs"

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