[DL] A few rules questions

[Vang <kao@hamilton.net>]

Hello, I've got a few questions about the Deadlands Rules. I've been
playing for the last several months yet I am still unclear on a few
things that I can't seem to find elsewhere:

	My group has come up with a situation several times now where a player
will roll a majority of 1's yet still make his Trait or Skill check with
at least one die, sometimes due to getting an Ace.  Does the player
still fail the roll?

One thing I have come up with is to have the trait or skill check turn
out in a way that leaves the player in a situation that is somewhat
pyrrhic.  For example, a cowpoke crossing the desert uses his Survival:
Desert aptitude in an attempt to find food when he runs low.  While he
makes his Target Number exactly, he still comes up with a majority of
1's.  So the cowpoke is able to find food, but it is of such a type that
is so salty that it causes him to require extra water the next day.

	If a player raises an aptitude with concentrations, does that mean
each concentration is raised to the new aptitude level?  I can
understand how this would work with Shootin' Concentrations as they are
very similar to each other (Point at whatever is bothering you, pull
trigger, & repeat as necessary) but how would this work for
concentrations that are not similar such as Science: Biology and
Science: Physics?  I really can't see Stephen Hawking someday deciding
to become as talented a biologist as he is a physicist.  I have an idea
on how to reflect this; have the cost to buy a new related concentration
be three bounty points and the cost to buy an unrelated concentration be
five (or more) bounty points.

        My third question is about the Artillery: Gatling Guns and
Shootin': Automatics aptitudes.  Does a character need both skills to
fire a Gatling Gun or can he make do with just the Shootin' Automatics
skill? 
Are there penalties for not having the Artillery: Gatling Guns skill and
if so, what would they be?

Thanks,

Keith "Vang" Oberschulte

"There is no task so simple that an actor in an infomercial can't make
look impossible"