--- Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com> wrote:Hey all. This thread's a wee bit dusty but no less relevant. I've been running Deadlands since it was released at Gen Con so many years ago. In fact, Shane's lovely wife Michelle sold me my first copy. Anywho, here's a system I cooked up to do away with the random character generation for both WW and HOE.
> Which is not really a problem - the difference
> exists for everyone - except
> that all players do not start equal. A lucky draw
> will usually dominate
> the rest of the party. Especially when you look at
> the 36 bounty points
> required to raise a d10 to d12.which brings up an idea I've been toying with for some
time now, but haven't tried to implement or create:
character creation points, or rather, character
creation without cards, you lose the randomness of
getting a mysterious past but it would equalize the
all of the PCs.
Each player receives a set number of points with which to purchase the DIE TYPES for each of their ten Traits. I usually allot 20 points but other Marshals may choose to raise (for more powerful characters) or lower the amount (for weaker characters) by an increment of 5 depending upon their individual tastes. Each die type costs a certain number of points, here are the costs:
Die
Type Cost
d4 -1
d6 1
d8 2
d10 3
d12 4
Thus a player who wishes their hero to have a die type of d10 in their Cognition would have to spend 3 of his/her 20 points leaving 17 to spend elsewhere. A negative point costs indicates a rebate of one point for use in improving another Trait. Under no circumstances may a character have more than 4 traits at the d4 level.
Now comes the COORDINATION NUMBERS. Each hero receves 25 dice to distribute as they see fit. Each die costs one point so a coordination of 3 would cost 3 points out of 25. The minimum Coordination number is 1, maximum is 4.
Another system is much quicker and nets the same results is to have players distribute a set number of d6's, d8's, d10's, and d12's, I recommend the following dispersal strategy:
Die
Qty Types
4 d6's
3 d8 's
2 d10's
1 d12
Once the die type of each Trait is determined the players then distribute 25 dice among their 10 traits to determine their Coordination Numbers. As before one die costs 1 of their 25 points, the minimum is 1 and the max is 4. Simple! If a player wishes to have one or more traits at the d4 level he/she may do so. By selecting a die type of d4 the player may increase the die type of one of their other Traits by one step.
As for the Mysterious Pasts I converted these to Edges & Hindrances, if anybody is interested I could post them.
Game on!
>>J
--
Joseph "the Ogre" Wolf
coyote@net-link.net
Line Developer, Dark Heaven Legends
Reaper Miniatures, Inc.