RE: [DL] Newbie help

[Jeff Yates <jyates@primaryfunction.com>]

Welcome!  I'm a long time Deadlands marshal, and tormented my players with
this particular yarn.

Answers below...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-deadlands@gamerz.net 
> [mailto:owner-deadlands@gamerz.net] On Behalf Of Glen Engel-Cox
> Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 10:23 PM
> To: deadlands@gamerz.net
> Subject: [DL] Newbie help
> 
> 
<SNIP>

> Okay, the prairie tick makes an "opposed fightin': brawlin' 
> roll" to see if he can jump inside the gunslinger's mouth.  
> I'm assuming that's just a normal hand-to-hand combat kind of 
> thing.  So, starting with a TN of 5, you add the Gunslinger's 
> aptitude for fightin': brawlin' (say 2), for a total of 7.  
> Modifiers for the tick to hit?  Men are size 6, ticks are 
> size 2.  Does that mean a -4 for the tick?  Also, the tick's 
> trying to go for the mouth...does that mean the tick has to 
> get a 20 on the Hit Location chart or do I just go with the 
> description that says one raise means he makes it?

The trick here is the specialized attack rule for the tick.  Normal hand to
hand is an hombre's Fightin' roll (be it brawlin' or knife or what not)
versus the somewhat static TN of 5 plus the other guy's skill.  Ticks is
different, they use an opposed roll.  That opposed bit is the important
part.  The tick rolls Fightin', the gunslinger rolls his own Fightin', and
you compare the two results.  No size modifiers or what not.  (Perhaps
lighting modifiers if it's dark, definitly wound modifiers...)  Then the
winner, well, wins.  If the ticks wins, with a raise, it isn't just a hit,
it's a mouth hit.  Yummy!

> 
> On the other side, the gunslinger's going to want to blow 
> that varmint to bits.  The tick's size is 2, but the 
> description says that it's the size of a man's fist.  What's 
> the penalty for that?  The difference in sizes is 4 (man 6 - 
> tick 2), but the Small Target section indications that the 
> penalty would be -10 for size 1 or smaller, not -5 (man 6 - size 1).

Hrm, you seem to have found a loophole.  It's been a while since I've used
ticks, so I'm just gonna wing it here.  First, I'd go with the size of 2 as
given in the text (rather than the size 1 deduced from the descriptions of
"fist sized").  Then I'd go with the modifiers used when trying to shoot
something that is size 2, not size 1.  Then I'd use enough of the dang
critters to make shootin' with a pistol just not enough lead... Strategize,
retreat, use dynamite or a flamethrower to hit groups of 'em... But I'm a
mean marshal!
> 
> I apologize in advance if these questions are too simple for 
> ya, but I'm still trying to get a handle on this here system.
> 
> glen

No apologizin' necessary.  Just nice to see a new cowpoke around these
parts!

Jeff Y.
Marshal for the Dynamite Gang.