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Re: [DL] Deadlands Reboot 2004 [OT]


On Monday, July 28, 2003, at 09:48 AM, Jeff Yates wrote:
Not having the Lost Colony Companion (which I'm gathering uses the term
'reboot') and with the forums down, I can only speculate also. But given

I don't have it either, but I gathered that reboot had been applied by the fanbase. I thought the LC Companion wwas basically kind of like "The Quick and the Dead" or "The Wasted West" a setting book, with hooks to the meta plot, but not much else.

the fact that PEG and Mystic Eye have amicably parted ways, perhaps Shane
meant that PEG was going to 'reboot' it's efforts to publish Deadlands
materials? Perhaps even going so far as to hire a brand or line manager
type person -- could the new Savage Worlds line be selling well enough that
PEG can actually hire??? That'd be good news. Wild speculation on my part,
but definitely good news. Shane has mentioned that Mystic Eye was going to
handle the grunt work for Deadlands while he focused on new stuff. And now
ME is out, so maybe there's this strange pile of cash at PEG that is going
to a Deadlands line manager so Shane can continue to focus on new stuff.

It's a good question. My personal crackpot theory is that Shane's realized that the entry barrier to get into Deadlands is pretty high... As such, the sales pool is unlikely to grow, and much more likely to shrink.

Getting the approval deals to do this would be a nightmare (While I think most are on good terms, the sheer number of authors that have contributed to Deadlands is pretty high) but I think some sort of ultra-revised edition would sell well. Minimize new material, but divide up a lot of the current material, edit it down, and release it in a more logical manner than the current line is... For example, have a jumbo Huckster book with all hexes, variant Hucksters, and maybe even some of the other 'wizard' arcane backgrounds like the Blood Mage. I'd probably keep the Shaman rules (updated as necessary) in the 'Indian Book' but put any the other 'Faith' based backgrounds together. (Voodooists, etc). Include things like the new guns and other gear (along with the weapon modification rules) in a new Law Dog supplement. New stuff can be added to fill holes, especially as the person doing this looks at the current spread of setting coverage. This can also cover all three key areas. Maybe combine the 'catalog' for Mad Scientists into a 'gear' book by having Smith & Robards 1877, Smith & Robards 2081[1], S&R: Banshee Colonist Special Edition, and any others that make sense.

Of course, there's a big difference from me being Mr. Big Man on the Internet ranting and Shane looking at his financial figures.

Mind you I'm just about the least qualified person to make guesses about
what's going on at PEG HQ, but I'm feeling all rosey and optimistic at the
moment ;-) That and list traffic is a little low, so wild speculation will
have to substitute for useful meaty Deadlands topics. For now at least.

I'm pretty close to you in that qualification list. Of course, since the forum is down at the moment, all the loonies are back here...

If anyone that does have a LCC feels like posting a little bit more about
what it mentions, we could speculate further.

Yeah, it'd be nice. I'd like to hear a general overview that tells what's in it, state of the print/binding, etc. As for newws on a reboot, I'm already expecting to have a long discussion about the recent announcement that White Wolf is ending/rebooting their World of Darkness over the next year and a half!

[1] I doubt S&R could do much publishing after the bombs hit... Actually, did S&R even make it into the 21 century? Either way, a neat way to do such a book would be to take inspiration from Shadowrun and have 'catalog pages' with notes from survivors detailing unconvential uses for various gear the might find. Kind of like a gamer-oriented no detail Anarchist's Cookbook if you will.