RE: [DL] Mad Science Arcane background.

["Matthew M. DeForrest" <mmdeforrest@worldnet.att.net>]

Dear Brom,

The MS from my group (currently on hiatus, I am sad to say) used to do
Mad Science all the time.  He did a great job with it, too.  I'd
recommend the following when dealing with Mad Scientists:

1) Have them take 2 "specialties" -- engineering and electrostatics, for
example.  This gives them two areas.  The MS in my group, Professor
Dexter Doom, started out with two inventions (He got one via
Belongin's.) -- a Steam Wagon and a Electrostatic Pistol.  Now, I did
give everyone a little extra something to start out with and we decided
that he did not just reinvent the steam wagon.  He invented independent
suspension (+2 to all Driving Rolls in Rough Terrain.).  What this lets
him do is build on his primary invention.  By the time we put the
campaign on hold, the Steam Wagon had its initial independent
suspension, a weapon mount that allowed him to place his
electrostatic/lighting gun (He improved on his original -- see below) in
a mount he could control from his seat (Targeting through a mirror and
periscope-type arrangement), which he could link up to the steam engine
to keep charged, and had made the thing amphibious (More on that
later.).

Likewise, the electrostatic gun was expanded into a backpack
unit-powered lightning gun that had two settings -- stun (a la
electrostatic) and kill (a la the lightning gun).  The backpack was a
small ghost rock powered generator that kept the charge (As you can
imagine, the reliability roll when powering it up tended to make the
posse nervous -- kind of like when they power up the backpacks in
Ghostbusters.).

In allowing him to build on his prior blueprints, it allowed him to
develop his character and his inventions simultaneously.  It also lets
him run with a particular theory and apply it to multiple inventions.

2) The bonuses available for labs and magazine subscriptions in Smith
and Robartes helps.

3) Have fun with the draw.  When a MS ends up with a lot of bonuses,
draw his initial hand then start asking him card-by-card if he wants to
continue.  It really gives a sense of risk and tension.  Be warned,
thought, that this can backfire if the player's nerve holds.  When Doom
was drawing up his blueprints for the amphibious attachment, I figures
he would be attaching retractable flaps to the wheels and it would churn
through the water like a WWII amphibious transport.  His initial hand
easily won him that.  He had a number of raises, however, and I kept
handing him cards.  The cards quickly went in his favor and he ended up
with a flush or a full house or something equally shocking.  As a
result, he ended up creating a water jet engine (The thing they use on
jet skis.) that ran through the boiler.  The thing now goes faster on
water than on land.

I hope this helps.  Take care.

Matt

-----Original Message-----
 Is their any real point in buying this advantage? In 
the dozen or so games of deadlands I've been in, and 
all the other's I've personaly heard of, the typical 
MS starts off with the one invention he's built, uses 
it, and then never uses the mechanics of the edge 
ever again. I've yet to see a MS acually sit down and 
make up something new, so could not a player make a 
guy that has up to 5 points of belongin' and roleplay 
the rest of it rather then spend the 5 points on the 
Arcane background, on the one level of Mad science 
which he will never use, and on the one level in 
science which he will seldom use.