Re: [DL] Lone Stars Thoughts (spoilers)(long)

[Reemull <reemull@yahoo.co.uk>]

 > From: Mr. Christopher McGlothlin, M.Ed. 

>          I can't tell for certain from the message, but are 
> you Mr. Roy 
> Spence by any chance? I'm happy you finally got your book in 
> any event.

Yep, you've got me bang to rights.  I had to change my email as
otherwise I could only post in html - which meant that I hardly posted
at all.  For some reason the place I pre-ordered LS:TR from took 3
weeks longer to get the book to me than another stockist I could have
used.  If it was the only thing I'd ordered I might have gone elsewhere
- but as it was I had to wait impatiently.

>          My sincerest thanks to you for taking the time to 
> sit down and pen 
> such a thoughtful critique. This sort of thing is gold to we 
> writer-folk, 
> and I very much appreciate this series of posts on All Things 
> Lone Stars.

Not a problem, prior to Dead Presidents I didn't realise that writers
were actually that interested in this type of feedback and actually it
helps me to sit down and think about the whys behind the information
that is presented. The discussion about the supernatural aspect of LS
has caused a few thoughts to stir in the back of my mind. 

> >S
> >P
> >O
> >I
> >L
> >E
> >R
> >S
> >
> 
>          Wow...that's some of the highest praise I've ever 
> gotten--thanks 
> very much!
>          To be fair, though, I had a *much* easier job of it. 
> I was writing 
> a DL book in a Texan literary voice, while John had to write one in a

> "Yankee" idiom. As a writer, you can have a lot more fun as 
> "Stone Cold" 
> Steve Austin than you can as William F. Buckley.;-)

So the fact that I found some of MiBD tedious to read is testament to
the skillful writings of John Goff? :-)  Seriously I didn't want to do
John Goff any disservice as I do indeed like MiBD, however I did find
Lone Stars a more enjoyable read.

<the nice Rangers>
>          Three things to consider here:
> 1) If they weren't fine upstanding gentlemen (and 
> ladies--don't forget 
> Capt. Porier and her compatriots), Gen. King can and would fire them.
> 2) Even if they were more the "anti-hero" sort, King would not openly

> document their faults in the Ranger Bible.
> 3) Nothing in LS precludes a Marshal from making, say, Capt. 
> Heivilin an 
> infant-devouring Abomination, if that would make for a fun 
> scenario (And 
> yes, the Ranger officers were intentionally left a bit 
> sketchy just so 
> individual Marshals can fill in their blanks anyway they see fit).

Ok - I guess then I maybe I would have liked a little Marshals
paragraph providing some truer insights into the people behind the
legend, however I accept equally that I have to use my own imagination
at some point! I had noticed the appearance of Captain James Heivilin
in the book and was initially going to mention it in my posts - but
decided better of it.

<Ranger Stats>
> 
>          A Marshal can stat them anyway they want--what could 
> possibly fit 
> more easily in their campaigns than that?;-)
> In the end, I 
> had too much material I liked far better to cut any of it to 
> make room for 
> word-count-gobbling dual stats.
>          Also, since the Ranger officers are tied to 
> geographic areas, 
> statting any less than all of them invariably makes a great 
> lot of them 
> useless text to somebody's campaign.

I did wonder if there would be a brief mention of Rangers who were on
assignment and were last known to be in X region - with a few cryptic
clues concerning the assignment to allow Marshals to pick up from where
the book left off and having a decent excuse to move the Ranger
slightly from his last known position.  However I do appreciate that
dual stat books are likely to be less character stat orientated - which
to my mind clears up a whole heap of possibilities in other
publications such as the Epitaph or on the web site. 

I think though having some characters that are well defined is a
worthwhile exercise as it is an easy way for a Marshal to inject some
colo(u)r into their game.  I must admit not being American can
sometimes be a hindrance concerning the feel of certain places - of
course watching numerous westerns helps immensely, however being able
to put a well defined character into your game is a real advantage.

<"the band">

> >I can understand why it is done and they need referred to 
> somehow - but I 
> >cringe a little at that one (however as much as I dislike it 
> - I cannot 
> >come up with anything better so maybe I should keep my mouth 
> shut? :-) ).
> 
>          LOL--Your candor is priceless, good sir!

If all I can say about the band is that it makes me cringe a little, it
really isn't constructive feedback - so I was just declaring the
uselessness of the comment while still registering my dislike.

<Chaplain Corps>
> 
>          Based on some feedback I got in playtest, I 
> deliberately decided 
> to leave this vague. I won't speak on behalf of my 'testers 
> (esp. since 
> they're here on the List, and can jump in if they are so 
> inclined), but 
> some of them *really* hate the whole idea of the Chaplain Corps.
>          As the creator of the CC, naturally, I disagree.;-) 
> However, they 
> did persuade me that the Corps should be left undefined so 
> they might then 
> be as unobstrusive or ubiquitous as an individual Marshal sees fit.

I like the CC - I thought MiBD struggled a little to find variations
for an Agency only campaign - however I think that this will always be
the case unless the players are very good at making up true character
characters and developing backgrounds.  I felt the inclusion of the CC
eases this a little for a TR posse.

<how many in the band?>
>          As a later post indicates, one can actually "do the 
> math" and get 
> a rough count if one is curious.

Thanks Marcus for posting that - I'm not so good with regiments and
companies etc.

<finishing comments>
> >I would have liked some "unofficial" comments from say, Hank 
> Ketchum, 
> 
>          I felt Gen. King did a pretty good job of doing that 
> all on his own, but I respect your view on this matter.

Yes, but he is pretty restricted by his position - having Hank Ketchum
say "Look son, this is how it *really* is..." would have been cool
IMHO.
> 
<Organisation Ranks>
> 
>          Again, thanks for your understanding. This was 
> unavoidable, IMO, 
> in trying to combine real-life military ranks with the 
> classic DL Rank Edge 
> with the d20 System. It was always going to be a monster of 
> Frankenstein-like dimensions, but it is gratifying to know 
> the stitches 
> weren't *too* off-putting.
> 
I've found it helps to try and think out how you would do it, after 5
mins look back at the book and concede... they've actually done a good
job :-)
> 
<Doc Holliday>
>          If you go back and look at what's been written of 
> Holliday in DL 
> thus far, impending death has apparently made Doc a changed 
> man. While that 
> quite obviously flies in the face of history, I couldn't in 
> good conscience 
> contradict multiple, previously published, DL books, 
> including the main 
> rulebooks, and suddenly change him into "historical Doc".
>          On the plus side, the "dying man yearning for 
> redemption" was 
> *exactly* the hook I was looking for to make the Shootist 
> different from 
> its "huckster with guns" forebearer, so I went with it.

To be honest I wasn't really that aware of there being a DL Doc - maybe
that comes from reading bits and bobs about him over a long period of
time and not actually gathering all the information together to see the
whole picture.  I'll go back and look out my books and have a read. 
However I do suspect that my Doc Holliday might lean back towards
history when my posse encounter him.

> >PS  Argh! Forgot to mention the fighting moves!
> 
>          I hope those were to your liking.
> 
Actually I did like them - my problem, as I have stated before, with a
few of the moves published previously was I was unsure what the
opponent was meant to be doing, stuck in the air while a 3 action move
was being performed on him, and this made them unwieldy.  On reading
those in LS:TR they seem a lot better, however as they say, "the proof
of the pudding is in the groin shot" 

Thanks for everyone's comments.

Roy


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