Re: [DL] Yarn for a posse of two / NPC Posse members

[balance@tubas.net]

On Tuesday, September 3, 2002, at 11:36  AM, John Billings wrote:

> Hi..
>
>
> 	I'm about to start Marshalling for a small posse of
> two people.  I'm going to start them off (as this is their
> first roleplaying game of anysort) with the senario i saw
> in a previous thread, to have the posse play towsfolky
> types and get munched by some zombies.

Always fun...

> Spolier
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> Space
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> For
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> Last
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> Stop
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> Last Stop before Last Stop
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> 	The question is what do i then lead them into?  I have
> given this some thought, please let me have the benefit
> of your collective experience, guys and gals..
> 	I'm going to let them choose archetypes from the 2nd
> Ed. players guide - we'll round 'em out as we go along, or
> roll up custom ones as they kill them off.

An interesting idea might be to use an established Deadlands 
organization like the rangers to add structure and built-in resources to 
the small group. Two agents acting as an investigative group is very 
plausible, and you can coexist peacefully between having the power to 
order the characters around or let them act independently. Default 
starting Agents are a bit tougher, so re-use of existing adventures 
could be difficult.

The major problem is that the agents tend to be 'in the know' but I 
don't think this is too severe unless you let it be abused. Also, you 
have to be willing to run more investigative campaigns, but the need to 
have investigative skills mean the characters won't be gun=monkeys, 
either.

> 	My first idea was to use a sort of 'Last Stop Lite',
> with half the Zombies, a toned down Bob, and only one
> Patch coyote for each player...  various other things would
> need reducing to, like the amount of people in the ambush
> that is slaughtered.  I guess you'd also have slightly
> harder tracking roll etc. to track the zombies, if there
> are less of them?  Not sure on this.

A fun way to handle this would be to have the agents assigned to 
investigate the events of the Zombie Nightmare setting... Also, this 
lets them see how nice those Agency-issue Gatling Pistols are.

> 	Secondly i wondered if there are any yarns that are
> designed for small groups?

Again, the more investigative adventures will take the least work. The 
Under a Harrowed Moon trilogy could work well if you either provide 
useful NPCs or trim the opposition a lot.

> 	The third idea was to give the group a couple of NPC
> characters to bulk out the posse, and run a full strength
> last stop - what are the thoughts on this?  Do players
> tend to end up relying ro much on the NPCs?

In general, yes. In most RPGs, characters have trouble really showing 
remorse for lost RedShirts, so I generally try to avoid them, I much 
prefer players with kin or other things I can use as RPG elements, 
though.

> anyway, i'll look foward to your responses :-)

Hope this helps!
--
Brett

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