[HoE] assorted [HOPLER]

["B.D. Flory" <bflory@frontiernet.net>]

My posse started character creation last night for "From the Ashes", and it
gave me time to isolate and analyze some big concerns I have with the DL:
HoE game world.

	First and foremost are issues of game balance.  I can say with some degree
of certainty that I am far to the left when it comes to schools of
role-playing.  Storyline and character development are items that I hold
near and dear to my heart.  As such, game balance between different
"classes" (in this case Arcane Backgrounds), usually matters very little to
me.  However, when such a glaring disparity exists as does in the HoE
universe, I *do* notice.  Fortunately (or unfortunately), this problem
seems to be restricted to HoE; I've never had a problem with Hucksters,
Mads, or Blessed overpowering the "norms" in the party in a Weird West
game.  In all honesty, I do not expect to be able to say the same of HoE in
a few months.
	A primary factor in this concern is the mitigation of the probability of
backlash.  In the Weird West, power always comes with risk.  Even Blessed-
potentially the most powerful AB in the setting- need to be wary of the
Sinnin' table.  In HoE, I cannot say the same.  For the most part, the
backlash rules in HoE seem to be included strictly for form's sake, and do
not present a real danger to the posse.  Sure, every now and then a
Doomsayer is going to go bust on his 5d12 faith roll.
	Maybe.
	A similar situation exists for sykers.  The Templars, OTOH, get off scot
free, nary a naughty backlash mechanic among them.
	The only AB that seems reasonably balanced under the current rules are
junkers.  Sure they can build devices of incredible doom, but there is risk
involved.  Risk of jury-rigged components falling apart.  Risk of the
fickle tech spirits abandoning you at your hour of need.  The risk of being
*burned* is very real.  Thereby the junker is perhaps the only AB that is
roughly balanced with a non-AB starting character.  Kudos to you, Mr.
Hopler, for including this aspect in "The Junkman Cometh".

	Exacerbating the problem of overly powerful ABs are some of the Edges and
Hindrances (?) available.  For the best example, one need look no further
than Children o' the Atom.  The hindrance 'Lifetap' is either
ill-conceived, ill-categorized, or ill-managed.  In any case, it makes *me*
ill.  For those of you in the dark, the Hindrance affects the way strain is
spent by a Doomsayer.  Half of the strain a Doomsayer spends on any spell
is instead (not in addition to) lost from the Doomie's wind total, with any
odd point distributed as the Doomie sees fit.  For example, he would cast a
Nuke for 2 strain and 2 wind, with an additional point lost from either
strain or wind, player's option.
	Can you say "broken"? 
	Good, I knew you could.
	In my experience a Doomsayer is largely limited in the long term, when it
comes to strain.  Normally, low strain issues will not come into play until
the end of an adventure, forcing the Doomie to make some hard choices on
when and which spells to cast.  By subbing Wind for Strain (which, I might
add, requires a *minute* to recover, as opposed to an *hour*), the problem
of strain management is essentially removed.  Barring property and posse
damage, the Doomie may now cast nuke with abandon.
	Ah ha! But I could make individual encounters more difficult, yes? 
Perhaps.  But what about the gunfighter?  The old soldier?  What about all
the other characters that can't dole out destruction on a massive scale? To
use a D&D frame of reference for a moment, it's like plopping a 20th level
character into a party of 1st level characters.  One of two things is going
to happen: tailor to the low-levels, and have the high level clean house. 
Bored low-levels.  Our other option is to challenge the high level, and to
hell with everyone else.
	Because that's exactly where they'll go.
	They won't have the firepower to stand up to the punishment they'll take.
	Further complicating matters are additional edges such as Child o' the
Atom (extra strain).
	It's no wonder the days of AB-lite posses have passed us by.  Rather than
being a rare, mysterious, and sometimes dangerous gift, players often must
take an AB simply to keep on an even keel with the rest of the party.
	Feh.

	Finally, I come to the last (and possibly most important) complaint:
Killer Tomatoes.  The complaint is more general than that, but I find
killer tomatoes are the symptom most emblematic of the underlying disease. 
Stuff like this simply does *not* belong in Hell on Earth.
	Right about now, I can hear many of you cracking your knuckles, ready to
lay into me for making a blanket statement like this.  I'm sure I'll
receive plenty of messages along these lines: "Who do you think you are,
coming in here and telling us what does and doesn't belong in the HoE
universe?!  We'll play the game however we want!" Guess what, kids?
	You're welcome to it.
	But Killer Tomatoes and other assorted silliness are not out of place just
because *I* say so.  I'm just another guy who plays Deadlands.  Killer
Tomatoes and such are out of place because they're inconsistent.  Because
until now, the Deadlands universe has not been a Saturday morning cartoon. 
And with a dime novel entitled "Killer Clowns" coming down the pipe, it
looks like it's going to get worse.

	I realize that any and all of these complaints can be fixed by Marshal
caveat, and in my campaign, most will be.  But every game needs a baseline.
 Every game needs a style, a genre, and a substance that is indelibly
linked with said game.  Looking at Hell on Earth as a whole, the universe
seems to be slowly sliding into a mish-mash of ideas- a patchwork quilt of
style and substance.
	I only hope it can still be salvaged.


B.D. "Killer Tomatoes my left nvt" Flory