Re: [DL] Re: Deadlands Down Under Again (Spoilers)

[A Methylated Spirit <hercubadger@yahoo.com>]

> As for NZ, not Los Kiwi, Los Sheep! But seriously,
> why would the Reckoners be bothered with NZ? 

Potential for Spoilers)
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One word - resources. Gold and coal were/are already
abundant throughout the South Island. If you throw in
a little Ghost Rock  (California is merely the largest
cache of the material, not the only source) then you
have the setting to involve many of the European
nations.

Britain will be very keen on keeping their most
southern possession, you could throw in the
Netherlands who claim they first discovered the
country so should now have complete ownership, France
because they need to throw their oar into anything
that concerns England and so on.  The naval nations
need only apply as the material has to be shipped back
home somehow and aqua-lung equipped stage coaches are
still relatively rare. 

Combine this with the power base of the locals and
their attachment to nature and you have all the
workings of a good head butting competition. The
nature spirits do not want any encroachment on their
territory (they’ve seen what the Yanks have been doing
and want none of that down here) so will fight all out
to stop any development of “civilisation” on the
islands. The Europeans desperately require additional
sources of Ghost Rock to fuel their own war machines
so will continue to interfere as long as the supplies
hold. The Reckoners think of it all as a nice
diversion to stop European influence getting in their
in America way. Which leaves us with the settlers who
are just trying to survive day to day. On a limited
scale we’ve got Lost Colony already set up in the
1800’s as well as the Great Mine Wars between various
nations. If you liked the Civil War, how about one
based around many opponents rather than merely two?

Dubious mining practices combined with inter-nation
conflict could easily pollute vast reaches of the
wilderness not only vastly irritating the local nature
spirits as well as perhaps providing a relatively safe
environment for Reckoner spawned creatures to survive
(not a Deadland as such but well on the way).

When it comes down to it, it all depends on what the
players want in a game. Some like the game but not the
setting so transplanting the game into another
location works for them. Some like the setting but not
the game so changing game system works for them.
Others just like to fiddle with things to see where
they eventually end up. 


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"A lie gets halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Winston Churchill

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