Deadlands "Poker" system

[Runesong42]

I'm not sure if Deadlands is OGL or not, but I would like to know how their Poker system works. I'm told they use cards and chips, but I'm not sure how, or why. I would consider using such a system for any upcoming Western d20 games I'd plan on running in the future. As as aside, it would also be cool to have a "diceless" system on which to base any homebrew games I may create.

 

[ST]

Their system is kind of an unholy mess, I'm afraid -- there's dice for resolution, with cards and chips mixed in as well. The cards are mostly for initiative except for the spellcasting system. It's not compatible with d20 or anything (the Deadlands d20 system doesn't use cards).

But I'm not here to be negative! I'd recommend you took at Dust Devils...

http://www.chimera.info/dustdevils/index.html

Simple system, cheap PDF download if you're just mining it for ideas, and the resolution system relies entirely on cards.

(The writer's made another game, Nine Worlds, that uses cards for resolution in an even fancier way, but it's not a Western.)

 

[Munin]

Runesong,

Cards in deadlands are used for a number of different things. Firstly, they are dealt at the beginning of combat to determine initiative.
I'm not sure about the d20 version, but in original deadlands cards are used to in character creation to determine abilities. For example, if you draw a joker during character creation, your character will have a weird past that the Marshall determines and is revealed through play.
Cards are also used to cast spells and other special abilities in the game.

Chips are much like Fate Chips found in other d20 games. They are used to improve rolls and soak damage.

Hope that helps!

 

[Munin]

One more thing,

If you're thinking of using a deadlands like system, I can't recommend Savage Worlds highly enough. That system uses cards and chips, is much easier to get ahold of than deadworlds, and there are several deadlands adventures written for the Savage Worlds system.

 

[scourger]

Deadlands is a great game for what it does: western horror. The use of cards, chips & dice was thought to be inspired by our group. The last guy to run it (in Hell on Earth Format) doesn't want to pick it back up because he doesn't want to take the time to brush up on all the rules. One little kooky feature is that it is possible for one character to get as many as 5 actions in a combat round but another character might get only 1 (the quickness dice pool roll determines how many cards are drawn for actions). This mechanic had the unformtunate effect of some players waiting around for their one action while other players got multiple actions. Still, it was fun if you didn't try to game the system (but there's always some wise guy in the group who does).

There was also to be a Deadlands Reloaded using the simpler Savage Worlds rules system, which is a derivative of the Deadlands and Great Rail Wars rules mechanics. Here's a link to a free demo:

http://www.peginc.com/Games/Savage Worlds/Downloads/SW Rev/TestDrive4.pdf

I tried using cards for initiative in a d20 game sort of based on this model. Blackjack Initiative--21 was the best you could do. It was warmly received by the players. It does require a lot of cards or shuffling of 1 deck. I think it could work much better if the Dex bonus to initiative is ignored and Improved Initiative lets you take a hit (another card) at the risk of going bust (with a 1 init). As a GM, I liked it that the foes went when their cards were up. But, my players did not like the idea that Dex bonus wouldn't count for initiative anymore. I think Dex affects enough other stuff as it is: ranged attack bonus, AC, Reflex save, many skills, and even melee attack bonus & number of attacks of opportunities with the right feats. I also liked that the initiative order changed from round-to-round.

Chips are easy to incorporate. I use blue ones in d20 for clever role-play, having a painted mini, or other in-game rewards that I want to encourage. Each is worth +5% XP at the end of the session or can be traded-in druing the game to re-roll a d20 roll.