RE: [DL] Which System to Use for a New Game

["Daniel Stack" <danielstack@mediaone.net>]

Thanks to all who made some very insightful replies, making
me thing in directions I hadn't.

I'm still mulling it over and probably will for a while longer -
the Star Trek game we're in is going to last through the
end of September and then a real life trip down south 
to Virginia and Florida for the wedding anniversary
thing (egad, we'll be yankees in enemy territory! :-) )

The Deadlands system certainly has the edge in terms of
flavor.  We have a small group (currently a GM and three
players) and they all seem interested when I mention poker
chips and playing cards, even the player who loves D&D
wizards, so the group certainly is willing to give it a try, which
leads me to lean towards giving it a try.  The system has enough
similarity to LUG-Trek (roll a bunch of dice and keep the
highest result) and WEG- Star Wars that I think we'll have a
good starting point for getting a handle on the rules. 

The main advantage to the d20 system, as everyone else has
indicated, is that it is familiar to a lot of people, myself included.
It'd be nice, for example, to be able to say "ok, we'll be doing
a Weird Wars one-shot as a special Halloween adventure, but
don't worry, it uses the same rules we've been using for D&D,
Star Wars, and Deadlands..."

It's a lot easier for me to eyeball a d20 character and say - 
"a-hah, this is a good match for my players."  Fortunately,
I'm a grizzled enough GM... err. Marshal... to realize halfway
through an encounter I made an NPC too powerful and
retroactively tone him down.  

Odd, I seem to be convincing myself to go for the Deadlands 
system. :-)  I'll have to see how I like Hucksters and Hexes
once my friendly neighborhood hobby shop gets in the copy
they've been promising me.  

Thanks again for the comments.

-Dan