RE: [DL][HOE][LC] About the Reboot...

["Jeff Yates" <jyates@primaryfunction.com>]

I guess I gotta post on this one.

I'm not crushed by these events.  I'm a huge Deadlands fan.  Bought all the
books (some twice).  Bought the CDs, the dice, the badge, the litho.  But
the story, at least from the publisher's standpoint, does come to an end
eventually.  The new books will cover all the story -- beginning to end and
wrap up all the current loose ends.  If all you want to know is metaplot and
backstory, then this will satisfy.  For all three "timezones."  This is
happiness for me.  I want to know about the Cackler.  I want to know how the
Rail Wars end.  I want to know how Silas ends up after Unity.  I want to
know how things settle out on Banshee once they learn what happened on the
other side of the gate.  I want to know if a certain red-eyed fellow finds
out what his wife is up to.

There are no real new rules to present.  Maybe there could be a reedit to
clarify, but there's no new rules.  Hucksters, shaman, junkers, sykers,
they've all been covered.  All that's left is to present story.

Will there be new personalities statted out in the new books?  I don't see
how not.  Yes, they'll be statted for Savage Worlds, but SW is based on
Great Rail Wars, which is based/derived from Deadlands itself.  If I want
Deadlands stats it's easy to get there from SW stats.  A little bit of
effort on my part.  But to bring in the d20 haters who were really upset
about how much page space d20 stat-blocks occupy, you'll see that SW stat
blocks are tiny, smaller than Deadlands blocks, and there'll be that much
more room for story elements.  D20 lovers will be kinda out of luck, but
since you have always gotten the short end of the Deadlands stick and have
had to do sooo much of your own conversions, this stuff should be old-hat.
Smelly old hat, but still old hat.

So everyone who complains that there's not enough meat in their books,
they'll get more meat.  Yes, this marks the end of the Deadlands line.  But
the end had to come eventually.  Yes, Deadlands got converted officially to
Savage Worlds when Shane said he wouldn't do that.  But any Savage Worlds
people who missed original Deadlands boat will be brought onboard.  Since
Shane seems to ending his officially published Deadlands yarns with these
Reboot or Reload books, the community will be the source for new stuff.  And
adding Savage Worlds people to the community will expand the source of
fan-made new stuff.  AND with an official wrap-up, we will know what we can
write that won't interfer/contradict the official story lines.

I will mourn the end of the story.  I will rejoice in the completion of it.
I will torture my players with it using whatever rules set pleases us.  I
won't berate Shane for running his business the way it will be successful,
or for knowing when it's time to step down from the front of the epic and
move on to new stories.

May all your zombies smell fresh!

Jeff Y.
Marshal for the Dynamite Gang