Re: [DL] Advice, Pitfalls, and Monsters of the Week (mild spoilers)

["RainGod _" <xotzil@hotmail.com>]

Comments below.

--Jacques (Chris' friend)

"Will a broken skeleton key open a broken door?"

>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.

Having a basic framework for yourself to work from can have a really nice 
payoff when they finally see how everything fits together. Things that are 
unrelated at first become important later on, and suchlike.

>- My biggest worry is that there will be a lack of direction.[..]

<snippity snip snip>

Start out by providing some kind of reason for the posse to be together. 
They're all on a train that gets attacked by a rival rail baron's troops, 
or, they're all WAITING for a train for one reason or another and it never 
shows up.

From this initial meeting, put one or two things out in front of them that 
will entice them to take the next step. ForEx: what they were waiting for on 
the train is missing, and they have to go after it, or after escaping from 
the prison camp the rail barons' troops kept them in, they stumble into an 
adventure (the abandoned town from Adios A-Mi-Gos," for example).

>- 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.

Yes and no.

Billy Graham attracts THOUSANDS of people to his religious gatherings, and 
people around here will openly admit that they go to them. Do you suspect 
them of something insidious?

If both the posse (who are ostensibly trying to do good), and the Angels 
keep coming up against each other, appear to have similar goals (get the 
evil thing away from this group of cultists, though Grimme's cultists want 
it for their own, not immediately obvious reasons), AND both exhibit "holy" 
mojo, are you going to think they're doing wrong?

A lot of it is about presentation. That and plausible deniability. So yes, 
it IS a little X-Filesish, but the way you present Grimme and his goals will 
do a lot to derail party suspicion.

>
>- 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...

If you want a city and its immediate environs, start in/near the City 
o'Gloom. LOTS of setting material, and not a lot of earth-shattering 
revelations.

If you're okay with hoodoo, and one city just isn't big enough, go with 
River o'Blood. Again, there is a LOT in there to keep a party busy, and more 
than enough room to stretch your own creativity.

>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... :-)

P'shaw. Questions spark conversation and debate, and both are good things.

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