RE: [DL] Dead Presidents Comments <SPOILERS>

["Mr. Christopher McGlothlin, M.Ed." <cmcgloth@halifax.com>]

At 02:31 PM 7/26/2001, Roy "The Shooter" Spence wrote:
>More Dead Presidents thoughts and spoilers...
>Still pretty long though.
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         Thanks once more, good sir, for the follow-up post!

>I guess that, knowing the subject of the adventure, I had just automatically
>assumed that the adventure would incorporate a significant amount of
>investigation and I was just surprised when I found very little.

         Me too.:-)
         (I didn't see any of the changes made to my manuscript until I got 
the author's copies.)

>Actually, the Slaughterhouse did strike me as a little different from the
>normal Deadlands horror - far more in your face gory horror.

         DL writers all bring an individual perspective to their works, and 
mine has been shaped by Hammer Horror films (I dedicated Horrors of the 
Weird West to Christopher Lee, in fact). To wit: a group of 19th-Century 
people will be very genteel to each other, before spilling litres of blood 
in gorgeous Technicolor at the climax of a scene.
         Such is the rather warped perspective that gave birth to the 
Slaughterhouse scene. It creeped *me* out as I wrote it, and I have high 
hopes it will affect Posses in a similar fashion.;-)

>  Also I was
>wondering what happened to Dr Nicks modified PPGG&DD(!!) that should be in
>the Slaughterhouse? - were there ever any modified stats for this?

         You'd have to ask Shane about that. In my version, Dr. Nick throws 
the bokkor out for so much as *suggesting* his mechanical panacea for all 
mankind could be used in such a fashion! That's a lot truer to how I 
conceived of Nick as a character, and left the voodooists to do their 
bloody job with knives.

>To be honest I don't mind tangents and red herrings

         The problem was, I didn't intend the Ch. One scenes that were 
ultimately revised to be either! Blessedly, Shane did a good job of fixing 
that problem (Thanks, Shane!).

>Actually this might tie in with something that I was wondering about.  In
>BEtS, pg 84 talks about Davis's plan to blow the Prison (as is done in the
>adventure) and mentions that the resulting pillar of fire will reach the
>Iron Works and destroy it too - which in turn should just about cause the
>complete destruction of Richmond, however none of this is mentioned in DP
>(or the gas undoubtedly released as a result of the Iron Works'
>destruction).  DP seems to limit the destruction to the first blasts
>effects.

         As I said before, Chapter Three of DP as I wrote it may well have 
sucked, but (questions of contradicting BE:TS aside) I still feel the Posse 
should have been given a chance to either save all of Richmond, or destroy 
all of Richmond. Automatically obliterating half the city just isn't as 
satisfying for the players, who have already been railroaded quite harshly 
in previous parts of the adventure.
         That said, Shane knows far better than I what Big Events need to 
happen in DL, and for what reasons, so I trust absolutely that, while it's 
not something I'd have chosen myself, Richmond's Apocalypse-by-half 
ultimately sets up something way cooler than anything I could conceive of.
         Like The Game, Shane IS "Just that d@mn good."

>And finally, I was wondering about Varina Davis (and Winnie) as well.  They
>seem to be a major link in the whole Davis secret - so why did he leave them
>alive?  I mean it's been 4 years, it would be easy enough for them to have
>an accident in that time and remove a potential loose end.  The fact they
>are still alive means that they must be worth something to Davis in a
>living/non undead/non doppelled(!) state - but I'm not sure exactly what.
>If a reason has ever been given, I've managed to miss it, if not, has anyone
>any thoughts?

         The Doppelganger kept Varina and her children alive because it had 
plans of establishing a frequently heavy-handed autocracy from the start, 
and was canny enough to realize that a charming First Lady and clan of 
smiling children could be used as effective distractions in the court of 
public opinion, when needed.
         Also, killing them would arouse too much unwanted suspicion from 
the most threatening quarters. If some anti-Davis journalist in Truth or 
Consequences, New Mexico dies in an "accident", only hardcore conspiracy 
nuts will be pointed towards the fact Jeff Davis ain't what he used to be. 
However, if the President's lovely family dies, John Q. Confederacy (as 
well as Varina's very rich and very powerful family) starts to wonder if 
something's rotten in Denmark...or Richmond.
         As far as Doppeling Varina, a Lesser Doppelganger would be too 
obviously vicious and nasty to serve the Fake Davis' needs, and a mere 
First Lady doesn't rate a Greater Doppelganger in the Reckoners' scheme of 
things.

         Thanks again for the feedback, Mr. Spence!

Deo Vindice,
Mr. Christopher L. McGlothlin, M.Ed.

Freelance Writer for the Deadlands and DC Universe RPG Lines
Moderator of the New Gamers Order Listserver
Southern by the Grace of God