Re: [DL] Starting a Game

[balance@tubas.net]

On Saturday, August 3, 2002, at 03:41  PM, Elliott Wong wrote:

> I'm looking to start a Deadlands campaign in the fall
> and would like some advice.

Good luck... Don't take any wooden nickels...

> I own a copy of the original Deadlands the Weird West
> RPG (1996) and know that there's now a Player's
> Handbook and a Marshall's Book as well. To further
> complicate matters, I know that there is a d20
> conversion of the rules as well.
> So... what should I do? Run a game with the books that
> I have? Get the updated rules and run that? Get the
> d20 books and go that route?
> I have not actually run a Deadlands game but have
> gamed extensively with xD&D, Palladium, Twilight 2000,
> and Call of Cthulhu.
> My players will be relatively new to roleplay and will
> not know the Deadlands system at all and will probably
> have some knowledge of D&D 3E.

This may be a better opportunity to try the classic Deadlands rules, 
then. A lot of gamers (myself included) have years and even decades of 
accumulated D&D lore that is sometimes hard to break... It can lead to 
habits in any game that while fine for a lot of D&D games may be 
destructive in a Deadlands game (d20 or regular).

> Having gone through the rulebook, I think the use of
> playing cards and poker chips is charming and adds
> character to the game (still not sure how hexes work,
> but I'll re-read the section). Don't know if d20
> excludes these devices but it would be a shame if they
> did.

Their are better people to answer me about the differences, but overall 
I'd recommend a casual sit-down to allow the players to think of 
character types and give you an idea of what they want to do... Some may 
want a campaign about heroes wandering North America, some may want a 
more grounded campaign. Depending on your players, there's even the 
option of startng as black hats who are slowly forced to turn greyer and 
greyer until the spiritual bleach kicks in...

You can also discuss the rules question. While I prefer the DL Classic 
system, if the group has already fought out the group-specific 
interpretation issues for D20, it may be the best choice. Of course, if 
the posse is interested and the Marshall has cash, a lot of the older 
setting books and boxes are single-location.... If I started a fresh 
Deadlands campaign at the moment, I might consider setting it in and 
around the Great Maze with the posse combinging Belonging points to buy 
a maze runner. Otherwise, I'd consider setting the game near the Mexican 
border so I can use all of the juicy South O' the Border goodness 
without losing access tos tandard Deadlands stuff.

So anyway, after the sit-down (as a suggestion, some groups may prefer 
to do this as a casual lunch or dinner. Some people really hate taking a 
gaming session to talk about meta-game type stuff) everyone has their 
assignments. You know how the players would like to steer the game and 
they have some character ideas.

As long as everyone has a good time!

--
Brett

LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER 
MAN? (Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett)