Re: [DL] Greenhorn in the Weird West

["Stryfe Mac.com" <saintstryfe@mac.com>]

On Monday, December 3, 2001, at 12:45  AM, ArcHanGeL4216@cs.com wrote:

> First of all, similar to the question posed on "More Hell On Earth," 
> what
> books are IMPERATIVE for any Marshal worth his pesos? I'm on a really 
> tight
> budget, and will also be the only member of my gaming group to own a 
> copy of
> DL:WW.

My personal opinions:
the Player's Guide (My personal opinion is have two - I personaly keep a 
Revised PHB on the Table, and use a First Edition book with me. The 
first edition book was like 1 dollar on eBay.)
Marshall's Guide (I still read this over and look in awe of it. :-)
Hexarcana (this has new rules for Voodooists and Martial Artists, two 
fun "prestige classes", as well as an update on Hucksters, the Bless'd 
and Shamans.)
Smith and Robards (If you desire to play scientists, I feel this is the 
second best of the Arcane sourcebooks)
Hucksters 'n Hexes (the best of all of 'em, people will draw to 
Hucksters, especialy newbies, and well even w/ Hexarcana's benefits, you 
need a larger group of hexes, I also love the open ended Yarn it 
includes)
Rascals, Varmits and Critters - The "Monster Manual" is great in 
Deadlands. Rather then being a "marshall's only" thing - it splits it 
up, so that Players can taste and hear reports of what happened - and 
only the Marshall has the skinny. Also, it was written by fans. :-)
If you like a good adventure book, my favorite is by far Doomtown or 
Bust. I love playing in the compeltely fictional Gommora and the way 
it's handled in-game is above all else. My second favorite, is 
Ghostbusters. (Eh, I'm on an Andrew kick lately.)

Oh, and a good deal - Walmart carries Poker Chips w/ Hoyle on them for 
only a few dollars. My PC's always get a kick out of that.

Now books you don't need:
Quick and the Dead - lest your running w/ First Edition books, your 
revised PHB and MHB will have all the same data.
Fire and Brimstone - now people will smack me for this, but I think any 
good student of religion will know what's told to it... and most of the 
Miracles are common sense, and could be developed. Other info is given 
in Hexarcana. It's best quality is the top-notch Yarn, that's always one 
of my first run.
Deadlands Double Poker Deck - yes, not a book, but IMHO there are better 
looking cards for the money. Not to say the art isn't very cool, and 
yes, I own them. But If your on a shoe-string budget, there are nice 
artistic decks for about 5 dollars, for two decks, 5 dollars less then 
usualy.
RVC II - I love this book, personaly, but I also love weres so getting 
werewolves in DL:tWW was a bonus to me. The monsters are not as 
important, and generaly what is in there is not as good as RVC I, IMHO.

Not to say these all aren't awesome books (esp. FnB and RVCII) when you 
get the money!


> Is there anything out there about how to do other "mental games" 
> hucksters
> can play with the manitous for their hexes besides poker? I know the 
> good
> people down at pinnacle picked poker cuz *duh* this is setting in the
> American Frontier...but still, what if I'm an old, wizened Japanese 
> huckster
> that instead of playing poker, plays a game of Go or Mah-jong?
>

Sure, they exist, but officaly they arn't supported. Your on your own in 
this endeavor marshall. You figure out what brings what effect. I'm sure 
in Hucksters and Hexes or TMG they talk about this. Go and Mah-jong are 
not like poker - Poker's big advantage, other then setting, is there's a 
for-sure rank, from the common lowly Ace, to the Royal Flush. IMHO, this 
is a can of worms not for opening, too much work for only a moderate 
gain.

-Stryfe

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