Re: [HOE] (HOE) Re: Losing Edges

["Nick Zachariasen" <zacharin@pluto.dsu.edu>]

> I don't like this view. If you lose an edge you lose the points, if you
> get an arm chopped off you don't get the points for OAB. If you get your
> arm fixed you have to PAY TRIPLE the cost of OAB, even though you never
> took the hinderance.

Well, my point behind still having the Edge and not having it do anything
for you is sort of like Mad Scientists in HoE.  They're still Mad
Scientists, they just don't work :) .  As for the OAB example, hey, if you
don't want to get your arm bitten off, then don't get into melee with a
Wendigo!  It's assumed risk, I say.  Things like that are just part of the
danger of combat.  You get a Maiming shot in the leg, you're lame.  Now, I
could see where you could make a case for not having to buy it off if you
heal it naturally (much like reverting from newt status), but if your leg is
gone, them's the breaks.  Deadlands is designed to have players actually
fear being damaged in combat, unlike that OTHER game- whaddaya call it?
Truncheons & Flagons?  If your posse becomes Outlaws, hey, they shouldn't
have blown up that orphanage!

> 2. You get edges and hinderances when you start and you can't involutarily
> pick up new ones. You may lose an arm, but you are not a one armed bandit
> (i.e. if you get your arm replaced you don't have to buy off OAB, you
> never picked the hinderance). Likewise if your sidekick dies you should
> have kept a better eye on him/her/it and it's gone. There's nothing to
> stop you from picking up a new one, IN CHARACTER, but it's not guaranteed
> by any stretch of the imagination.

This is the flip side of the coin.  Sometimes you can gain Edges through
roleplaying, like Law Man (you prove yourself to the Rangers or take a job
as a local Sheriff, for example) or Friends in High Places (good thing you
saved that sugar magnate's daughter!).  These are more social Edges, and
they can, in my opinion, be gained through good roleplaying.  Now, if the
player(s) wants to pay some Bounty to get these, I can whip up a situation
in which they can earn it, but it would just be more enjoyable to simply
give it to them as a reward for being led right into my trap :) .

Nick "Devious Little Bastard (Ol' Dirty's white cousin)" Zachariasen