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

["Ogy Joe" <ogyslists@mail.midtnn.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

Well, here's a generic idea for starting out based on some of what you 
said above (I'm making this up off the top of my head).  All of the 
posse members wind up in the same town looking for their next freelance 
mission.  Whereever in the town they wind up, they see a poster stating 
the need for a few good men, pays well, and tells where to go.  All the 
posse members end up at the location and are pointed to 
investigate "strange disturbances" somewhere.  (Like I said, this is 
generic.  You can fill in the blanks with various details.)  When they 
try to get more information, they are given very little.  People have 
seen or heard things here, but their wild imaginations have blown what 
they actually heard or saw to great proportions.  So many different 
descriptions are given that they add up to nothing other than creeping 
out the posse.  After investigating, it turns out it was far worse than 
they were told and the people that sent them knew about it.  Go from 
there.

Maybe this will help you out, or at least give you some general idea of 
things you could do.

Ogy Joe
"How can you expect to succeed if you don't risk failure?"