deadlands classic: some basic questions

[brehobit]

OK,
I realize this probably isn't the right place for the question, but there is some delay in getting onto the peginc forums and I'm running my first game tomorrow so I thought I'd come here hoping someone knew the answers to a few questions. These are all for deadlands classic

#1 What can one do in an action? Can you stand up from behind a rock, shoot twice (with the right kind of pistol) and duck again as a single action? If you aren't running, is there any penalty for moving and shooting? Can you cast and move in the same action?

#2 Anyone get a sense of the rules for shooting into melee or a grapple? I think I'll just make it up as we go, but it _is_ going to happen and I'd like to hear what others have done.

#3 Anything obvious I should be looking for?

#4 I've added some house rules.
A. I've reduced the backfire on the hucksters some (often they can spend a chip to turn a black joker into a non-card, but not if one of the other cards is the red joker, a one-eyed jack or suicide king). It should make casting a bit less crazy.
B. I'm restricting movement per action to your pace and anything more than 1/2 pace in an action is running.
C. taking 2 shots with a double-action pistol gives a -1 to each shot.

Are any of these clearly bad?

Mark

 

[scourger]

#1 The way we played it, you got to do one thing per card that you drew after your quickness roll. Movement was divided by the number of cards you drew, so if you used a card to move, it was just a fraction of your move. An attack olso used a card. Your example of standing up, shooting twice and ducking down again would reuire a draw of 4 cards to complete in a single round. Not many characters have that kind of quickness. Plus, the actions fall according to descending card order, so they likely won't happen all at once.

#2 No. But there is an innocent bystanders rule, so you can probbaly apply that.

#3 The system can be a bit clunky, but it's fun once you get into it. I prefer the Savage Worlds game, which is a derivative, because it is much easier to run; but then you don't get fists full of dice. A double-barreled shotgun is pretty much instant death limited only by the reload considerations. Sleeved cards are a player's friend, particularly to aim and shoot.

#4A I never played a huckster. I've read that the magic system can slow donw play.

#4B See #1 for a restriction on movement.

#4C There is a double-tap in Savage Worlds, but I don't remember the rules for double-action firing in Deadlands. It seemed like to only to fire twice on a single action card was to fire both barrels of a shotgun at the same target.

Good luck. Consider getting Deadlands Reloaded for Savage Worlds. It would make your job as Marshal much, much easier. It just won an Origins award, too.

 

[brehobit]

#1 The way we played it, you got to do one thing per card that you drew after your quickness roll. Movement was divided by the number of cards you drew, so if you used a card to move, it was just a fraction of your move. An attack olso used a card. Your example of standing up, shooting twice and ducking down again would reuire a draw of 4 cards to complete in a single round. Not many characters have that kind of quickness. Plus, the actions fall according to descending card order, so they likely won't happen all at once.

Sounds like your rules are sorta back a half an edition. In the new rules (when the player's guide came out) I'm certain you can move and shoot twice as a single action. I'm just not sure how exactly to run that.

Deadlands reloaded is mighty tempting....

Thanks for all the other comments. That was about what I was expecting!
Mark

 

[Particle_Man]

A double-barreled shotgun is pretty much instant death limited only by the reload considerations.

A Bullard Express Rifle is pretty much instant death, and you don't have many reload considerations with 11 shots of 4d10 pain at double the range of a shotgun or pistol. Ok, not exactly the most sportsmanlike of weapons, I admit. But if you have to make sure that the person you are shooting in the back of the head doesn't get a shot back at you...

 

[scourger]

Sounds like your rules are sorta back a half an edition. In the new rules (when the player's guide came out) I'm certain you can move and shoot twice as a single action. I'm just not sure how exactly to run that.

Deadlands reloaded is mighty tempting....

Thanks for all the other comments. That was about what I was expecting!
Mark

Yeah, we played DL when it was first released. Our more recent play was HoE, and even that was a couple of years ago. I guess it never got the update.

 

[scourger]

A Bullard Express Rifle is pretty much instant death, and you don't have many reload considerations with 11 shots of 4d10 pain at double the range of a shotgun or pistol. Ok, not exactly the most sportsmanlike of weapons, I admit. But if you have to make sure that the person you are shooting in the back of the head doesn't get a shot back at you...

You're right! I lost a leg to friendly fire from one of those guns. I didn't know the stats on it though.