[DL] Weirdness randomiser

[Evil Robot Shane From Another Dimension <wishkah@redbrick.dcu.ie>]

 I've noticed lately that my posse is becoming rather heavy on the arcane
 backgrounds and other weirdness, to the point where the most mundane of
 the characters is feeling a bit left out.  It's a lot of fun and everything,
 but it seems to be turning the game into a little less western horror and
 a little more fantasy.  The problem is that there's not a whole lot of
 reason NOT to take an arcane background - they're cheap enough to be well
 worthwhile, and they're quite powerful.  So asides from trusting the players
 to make a well-rounded thought-out and characterful posse (which isn't as
 realistic of an expectation in Deadlands as it is in some other RPGs - this
 ain't so much a game of in-depth characterism as a game of zombie-bashing,
 at least not to the same extent of some other games), I figured I'd have
 to come up with some kind of artificial restriction.

 Now, either the Marshal could decide when there's been enough weirdness in
 the posse and lay down the law, refusing to let people make arcane
 characters, but of course that could lead to small amounts of resentment -
 he got to make the character he wanted, how come I get stuck with a stoopid
 tracker?

 So the other way to do it is to randomise it.  My D&D GM used to have a
 system whereby you'd roll a percentile die to determine your weirdness -
 Low scores meant you were fairly normal, high scores resulted in party
 members like a small, colourful, flightless magic-using bird, a fairly
 sentient bugbear and an elf in a world where there are no elves.  I
 figured I'd adapt this mechanic for Deadlands.

 Before character creation, cut a full, shuffled deck to determine
 Weirdness (which I've taken to include not only actual weirdness, but
 knowledge of weirdness).  Depending on the Marshal, a high draw can
 either be taken to mean something of exactly that weirdness level, or
 the player's choice of anything up to that level.

 Anyway, here is the utterly untested, only-though-of-it-this-morning
 table.


2             The character is an everyday joe, with nothing particulary
              remarkable about him except that he's that bit better than his
              peers.  He's cut out to be a hero, he just hasn't started down
              that trail yet.  He might be a telegraph operator, bartender,
              cowboy, undertaker, muckraker or saloon gal.

3 - 8         The character is your standard mundane Deadlands posse member -
              he's used to butting heads with folk that don't see things his
              way and can handle himself in a fight.  He might have run across
              some strange things once or twice, too.  He could be a soldier,
              gunslinger, Pony Express rider, Indian brave - somebody that bit
              harder than Joe Soap.

9 - Jack      The character has a minor arcane ability or connection, like a
              Knack or Marshal-assigned weirdness.  Alternatively, he might
              have some limited knowledge of the arcane, like by being a
              Pinkerton, Texas Ranger or Explorers' Club member.
              Alternatively, he could be a Veteran o' the Wierd West.

Queen - King  The character has one of the common arcane backgrounds -
              huckster, mad scientist, blessed or shaman (maybe some others
              depending on the focus of the campaign - martial artists in a
              Shan Fan campaign, voodooists in New Orleans, etc.)

Ace           The character has one of the less-common arcane backgrounds -
              voodooist, hexslinger, martial artist etc.  Alternatively, he
              could be a dual-class arcane background type - metal-mage,
              blessed martial artist etc.

Joker         The Marshal gets to have fun, and come up with something really
              weird for the character.  The character could be a dog, a brain
              in a jar, a friendly spirit in disguise, from the future -
              anything.


 Anybody got any comments or ideas about it?

 Wishkah

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