Re: [DL] Re: Mad Scientists are so weak

[Marshal Black <marshal_black@yahoo.com>]

> You've also got a bias towards what happens in your
> own campaign. If 75% of your players are Mad
> Scientists then they're certainly going to be
> cranking
> out gadgets and they're definitely going to be
> complimenting each other. Most travelling Mad
> Scientists are not so lucky to travel with their own
> lab technicians and scientific support. And your
> players seem to be lucky enough to have their own
> psychologist on hand, a Blessed who can cast Panacea
> on your Mad Scientist once a week is truly a
> Blessing.
> I would say it's time for a little industrial
> espionage to gum up their cushy lifestyle.
> As far as I know, I'm the only player in my gaming
> group who has ever played a Mad Scientist, and only
> the second one to ever play a Blessed. I think
> mostly
> because the other players believe it's a waste of
> time
> to play one. Usually when I play a Mad Scientist the
> character is handled with kid gloves because of the
> insanities they acquire through devising blueprints.
> My last one was put down by the posse because they
> believed him to be homicidal.

While there is in fact a current bias in my campaign
it certainly didn't start out that way. In the
begining there was only the one MS with a party of
gunbunnys and a hex slinger. He used to do an awful
lot of "cookout" alchemy over an open fire. I have
seen the limitations at the lower level and they are
not incapable of being overcome. It certainly doesn't
negate what I had to say about using simpler
technology to achieve similar effects, or the
potential power of a mad scientist who performs
relatively small tasks or uses the power (as opposed
to theory) driven system that is alchemy. The "field"
scientist I was talking about got himself a horse
drawn wagon and was filling it with lab equiptment to
try to up his hands a little. He also regularly spent
reds and blues to increase his hands. 
You are correct though, you have more problems then
the nutbags in my game currently do. For one it sounds
like your party is poorly disposed towards them, which
makes it a lot harder to get their assistance in the
purely mundane matters of mad science. Have they been
given a good reason for that bias or are they just
being paranoid for safeties sake? Also when a
scientist is out on an adventure he doesn't have lots
of time for research so the devices have to be lower
hands for the sake of conveniance. A lot of the high
hand mad science a lone scientist does when travelling
happens between adventures as opposed to in them.
Being stuck indoors for the winter is a boon to the
scientists. When on the adventure proper, keep the
science simple (jacks to three of a kind) and use your
existing high hand gadgets. One other thing that's
important to remember is that not every blueprint
needs a 19- reliability. Thats the one thing way to
many mad scientists seem obsessed with. A good
tinkering/alchemy roll can get a low roll up higher
with no risk of madness. Depending on how your Marshal
runs the "parts" problems he may well let you take
apart and re-build existing devices a couple of times
with little to no additional costs on the grounds of
tuning it up or re-tooling it. Sort of how people
improve the performance of a car without ever having
to buy all the parts all over again.
As for the insanities, it is a risk, and they do tend
to add up. Can't deny it. However I really haven't
seen that be NEARLY as much of a problem as I have
with a couple of failed fear checks leading to long
term psychological hangups. The group of scientists I
run for are probably catching a lot more jokers then
you are because life on the trail tends to mean you do
less mad science, but the only person removed for the
party for being mentally unsound was a non-AB vet. As
a general rule the whole party can benefit from having
a psychologist around when all the gunslingers are all
terrified of bats, wolves, bugs, snakes, explosions,
fire, and blood. Depending on the deathcount of your
campaign (1 character per player per 3 modules is
about my campaigns average) no one will even have a
chance to notice your craziness before you are torn to
shreds. If you aren't dying quick enough to make that
a viable option, take up religion with an NPC preacher
and see if you can't find one who can help with the
madness. Go to Gloom and check your character into the
Asylum there for a little while. Invent a device or
potion that can help remove some of those troubling
psychosis. Alchemy is good for that because you can
request an effect without specifying a theory. Hell
see if you can convince your Marshal that mad
psychology is REALLY a science whose time has come.
(on a roll of 20, the patients head explodes)
Does your group have a similar attitude towards
hucksters by the way? I've found they are a lot more
dangerous to the parties well being then the mad
scientists are. Hucksters have a nasty tendancy to
fail utterly when you need them most, and cause spell
effects which hurt other players under combat
conditions where there is little time (and fewer
chips) to respond. 

Marshal_Black

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