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

["Roy Spence" <roy.ster@virgin.net>]

> - 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.

My first Deadlands adventure was set in the (made up) town of Tumbleweed.
In town as a (reasonably obvious) Agency operative who (due to failing
sanity) was having trouble investigating the disappearance of a fellow
operative and general weirdness going on in town. Therefore she employed the
posse to report on any "strange" occurences and to find her fellow agent.
The posse got involved in the rancher/miner war etc and generally got
settled into town life, with several backgrounds also coming into play to
keep them occupied.  Everytime something weird came up, they would
investigate and bring it back to the Agency operative for a cash infusion
(they eventually noticed that her little remaining sanity was failing each
time they brought something "weird" to her for cash), until they eventually
found her fellow operative (at which point she lost the plot completely (got
jumped by werewolf) and was eventually killed by a PC after she blew 2 PC's
up).  The PC's were left with the body of the original operative and
evidence of some major badness that the dead agency operative had uncovered,
and they eventually left Tumbleweed in search of it (leading on nicely to
the next stage of the campaign).  Worked out quite nicely with having the
mostly normal stuff at the beginning but with the idea that weird stuff is
out there, until they got to all flaming weirdness at the end.  Probably the
best start to a game that I've e

One tip, having a hero (eternal or otherwise) in the posse is a definite
plus for the GM, however you must be wary of over using that card.

> - 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.

I think that after a couple of battles most posses will get rather
interested in Grimme - it also depends on how they go (were they easily
defeated - were they a struggle?)  I would instead work it in as an
investigation into Grimme and his workings in Lost Angels rather than play
it as a direct battle.

> - 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...

I set my first adventure in Nevada, next door to the Maze and then moved
over once people were comfortable with the setting.

Hope this is of help



Roy