RE: [DL] my group the update

Kill them. Kill them all. At least once each. Then do the "You are the WHITE hats" speech mention already. And during character creation, let them pick hinderances except for GSoD (they obviously don't get it), Mean as a Rattler and Bloodthirsty (they take these too far/don't get it). I personally would still allow Veteran. With the explanation that they managed to live thru something, not necessarily defeat it. They gain no special knowledge from Veteran, unless of course they spend the points gained on skills pertaining to knowing such things... Accademia:Occult, et al. And explain that the repercussions of Veteran will be felt -- that dang bern table. But don't draw a card (or ignore it) and pick your own table entry. Go so far as to make or find a new table (there's a harsher... er, more expanded!... one floating around the 'net somewhere that I use). Keeps 'em wondering what they might have lurking for them if they know the original table already.

My group (when we had one... dried up for some reason when we weren't looking) very often took Veteran, they really wanted the points, but felt quite relieved to learn they lost an eye or leg or arm. Some visible result right away. The dread of "no immediately visible result" was quite hated. The Blessed that learned too late his 200lb canine (mastif) companion/sidekick was harrowed... the ex-soldier that I had convinced was a werewolf really just had a doppleganger that was a werewolf and criminal... the gunslinger that had near total amnesia and had to discover not only his past, but his _skills_ while we played... One player, being told that he was "only" scarred and mutilated by his Veteran experiences and got Ugly as Sin just about danced for joy.

My players picked Loyal and Heroic much more often than MaaR, but when they did pick Mean they played it right. Grumpy with bystanders, downright mean only for Bad Guys. Bloodthirsty only came up once or twice, but again was only reserved for the perpetrators of a crime, not the _witnesses_ like your bunch. GSoD came up more often, but really made them wince when an NPC was hit because of it. They moaned when it was one of them that took a bullet or arrow or knife because of GSoD. They stopped taking it when the Indian Brave/Shaman all pumped up on favors fired an arrow and GSoD'd it into one of the other PCs. Something like 14 wounds were done to the guts, very messy. (Musta looked like a fence post flying thru the air...) But as they were getting more and more deadly as a group, they much less liked the idea of friendly fire. ;-) Um, yeah, my point -- they actually tried to work around GSoD by taking hte time to get bystanders outta the way, and other things that made it a hindrance to the PC that took it. And they usually tried to make reparations when GSoD got a bystander killed. It's supposed to be a hindrance.. make sure it is one for the players that take it.

But definitely kill this bunch. Snipers are always good. You don't even have to explain who the snipers were, just shoot the whole posse dead. Perhaps the new posse will learn that the town shot them as witches. And has been shooting lots of other people too, arcane backgrounds or not. And the new posse has to deal with it, in a HEROIC fashion. Calm them down, tell some tales to bring down the fear level, truely arrest some people perhaps.