[DL] Advice, Pitfalls, and Monsters of the Week

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

To my pleasant surprise, the players in my group seem to like the idea 
of using the classic Deadlands rules when we play a campaign (not
for another month or two at least...)

What I'm interested in is what advice people out there would offer in
starting a campaign.  Being a big fan of massive epics like Babylon 5,
I've learned NOT to inflict such a complicated storyline on my players,
at least not at first, but rather to start out slowly.

What I do worry about are some pitfalls I see and I'm curious if some
more grizzled Deadlanders have encountered them or have advice
on how to avoid them...

- My biggest worry is that there will be a lack of direction.  This is
a new campaign setting for the players, so a lot of the early game
will be dedicated to slowly immersing them in the setting.  One
thing a lot of the adventures seem to assume is that the characters
are a bunch of mercenaries, always looking for the next way to
make a fistful of dollars.  I'm contemplating whether giving the
characters a long-term patron would help give them direction
and help them learn about the setting.  Two obvious patrons
are the Agency and the Texas Rangers.  But I don't want to
lead the players by the nose either - anyone have any experience
in such games?  The other possible patron would be the teacher/
mentor of the Huckster in the group - the player of that character
loves D&D-style wizards, with the whole master-apprentice
relationship.  

- I also see something of an X-Files syndrome.  It seems Grimme
and Hellstromme are behind EVERYTHING going on in the 
Weird West.  :-)   Am I imagining things?  Is there a good way
to present this?  After a few dozen battles with the Guardian Angels
I'd think any self-respecting possee would start thinking about
taking Grimme out.  Which I'm sure they couldn't do, which could
get really frustrating.

- Are there any regions that lend themselves really well to immersing
characters into the setting without overloading players with too 
much information?  I absolutely love the Maze, but at the same time,
it looks like there is a LOT going on there...

Thanks for all the advice given to this Deadlands newbie thus far.
I hope I've contributed to ideas and campaigns beyond being a
voice in the wilderness throwing out random questions... :-)

-Dan