So I just set up a gaming area for a local shop, and I'm going to start running games in different systems every sunday (shop owner loves cyberpunk, wod, deadlands, etc., hates DnD) and the first game I'm going to run is Deadlands, but I have a problem:
We have rules for Deadlands Classic (and I've read through everything but the class stuff in the WWPG) and Deadlands Reloaded; which one is easier to run for a new marshall? It seems to me that Deadlands Classic and Savage worlds are pretty similar overall, but which system would you suggest for someone new to the Deadlands setting? Any good online resources you know of for navigating the world of the weird west? I checked out the fan made timeline of doom, and I think I want to start the campaign in 1864 in Portland Oregon with the players playing members of The Agency on a mission to scout ghost rock deposits. Is that a good idea? Should I start them as normal PCs and have them recruited into The Agency? I also wanted to ask the players about what kinds of characters they wanted to play, and then after a certain point in the story (a few encounters after their initial introduction to the supernatural) bestow upon them the various magical options (have one character become a blessed, a couple hucksters, and the shop owner loves native american characters so I thought it'd be cool to make her a shaman, thinking about making them all harrowed by having them murdered brutally by a maze dragon, but I'm new to the system so I don't really know how strong this could be) which would be, hopefully two sessions or so in after everyone has gotten used to the system (we'll have about 4-6 players, and I don't know if any of them other than the shop owner has ever even played deadlands, I've played it for two sessions, and I died horribly thanks to terrible card draws during character creation (my best die was a 1d8, had two d4 stats).
I haven't yet opened the reloaded rules to look at yet, is it significantly different in any important aspects? I've done some cursory research into it and so far it sounds like the differences are fairly minor.
Would it be imbalancing to add the wild die d6 feature from savage worlds? Most of the deadlands content we have on hand is from my brother's collection and it includes several adventures (not at the shop, don't remember what all adventures we have, City of Gloom or whatever is one of the boxes, then there are several other adventures as well, and a few source books). Is there anything I should avoid from classic? Is there anything that would make for a good starting adventure? The problem I had with the system was that I was playing with a number of players who had significant experience with deadlands so it was hard to keep up with what was going on (they had chips and established characters and knew the system, whereas I didn't know the system, was playing a new character, and was new to the group so I didn't have rapport with anyone other than my brother so I didn't really take the opportunity to earn chips through role-play).
Is there a better timeline available than the timelines of doom fan made one? Will it have serious impact on a long-term campaign if I make geographical changes such as incorporating real-world forts and camps and stuff from the real world into the game (right now the plan is to have the party meet a contact in portland based loosely on a historical figure, send them south into northern california along the edge of the maze, and then send them back north to the Siletz Blockhouse, a little settlement with a military presence that monitors the Siletz reservation)? Are there any major conflicts between the russians and the union that would prevent them bargaining over ghost rock extraction and fishing rights (I guess historically the russians claimed fishing rights which the us, spain, england, and the french contested? My idea was that the union would support russian fishing rights to the northern edge of the oregon military region along with a share of ghost rock production in exchange for material and personnel support staking claim over ghost rock deposits so that the union would have the ability to construct rail back from the west to union rails in the east, eventually incorporating Kang and the Iron Dragon rail's track through the Sioux Nation, with the Union officially ceding to the Sioux sovereignty over their territory in exchange for right of passage along the Iron Dragon rails).
I want to run an introductory adventure to get everyone to learn the system and then move on to running through some published adventures (since I'll be running multiple games for multiple systems I figured published adventures, once used to the system, would really cut down on the work for me) and then over time flesh out some more character oriented story-lines. I don't mind if there are some changes to the over-all story of the Deadlands Classic story (not familiar with reloaded yet, haven't had a lot of time to read up on it yet, I believe the union and csa have agreed to a ceasefire in that iteration?), but I don't want anything to directly contradict or make certain adventures simply not possible (does an adventure go over how Kang was able to get rights to build rail through Sioux territory in one of the adventures or novels? would it be unrealistic to assume covert union support for Kang's line through indian lands? If I change this, does it bork anything up long-term?)
Right now I know none of the players except the shop owner herself, and my knowledge of the setting is less than her own, so I don't want to drastically change the setting, and I'm not locked in to the union being successful in their endeavor (the players could fail or succeed, doesn't particularly matter to me), but I do want to still have some element of surprise in the game (especially since I'm starting significantly earlier than the late 1870s like most of the adventures and story seems to take place in), but the players could, theoretically, spend a little over a decade helping the union connect the two lines, establish fortifications, build political ties with the Sioux and eventually the Coyote (work with the french in mexico and the coyote to cut off csa access to the west, stymie british efforts to harass the union from canada, etc.) to harass the CSA, and maybe work the ceasefire in this way.
Any help or advice at all (critique of the story, pointers to some good references regarding the oregon region in deadlands, whatever) would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
We have rules for Deadlands Classic (and I've read through everything but the class stuff in the WWPG) and Deadlands Reloaded; which one is easier to run for a new marshall? It seems to me that Deadlands Classic and Savage worlds are pretty similar overall, but which system would you suggest for someone new to the Deadlands setting? Any good online resources you know of for navigating the world of the weird west? I checked out the fan made timeline of doom, and I think I want to start the campaign in 1864 in Portland Oregon with the players playing members of The Agency on a mission to scout ghost rock deposits. Is that a good idea? Should I start them as normal PCs and have them recruited into The Agency? I also wanted to ask the players about what kinds of characters they wanted to play, and then after a certain point in the story (a few encounters after their initial introduction to the supernatural) bestow upon them the various magical options (have one character become a blessed, a couple hucksters, and the shop owner loves native american characters so I thought it'd be cool to make her a shaman, thinking about making them all harrowed by having them murdered brutally by a maze dragon, but I'm new to the system so I don't really know how strong this could be) which would be, hopefully two sessions or so in after everyone has gotten used to the system (we'll have about 4-6 players, and I don't know if any of them other than the shop owner has ever even played deadlands, I've played it for two sessions, and I died horribly thanks to terrible card draws during character creation (my best die was a 1d8, had two d4 stats).
I haven't yet opened the reloaded rules to look at yet, is it significantly different in any important aspects? I've done some cursory research into it and so far it sounds like the differences are fairly minor.
Would it be imbalancing to add the wild die d6 feature from savage worlds? Most of the deadlands content we have on hand is from my brother's collection and it includes several adventures (not at the shop, don't remember what all adventures we have, City of Gloom or whatever is one of the boxes, then there are several other adventures as well, and a few source books). Is there anything I should avoid from classic? Is there anything that would make for a good starting adventure? The problem I had with the system was that I was playing with a number of players who had significant experience with deadlands so it was hard to keep up with what was going on (they had chips and established characters and knew the system, whereas I didn't know the system, was playing a new character, and was new to the group so I didn't have rapport with anyone other than my brother so I didn't really take the opportunity to earn chips through role-play).
Is there a better timeline available than the timelines of doom fan made one? Will it have serious impact on a long-term campaign if I make geographical changes such as incorporating real-world forts and camps and stuff from the real world into the game (right now the plan is to have the party meet a contact in portland based loosely on a historical figure, send them south into northern california along the edge of the maze, and then send them back north to the Siletz Blockhouse, a little settlement with a military presence that monitors the Siletz reservation)? Are there any major conflicts between the russians and the union that would prevent them bargaining over ghost rock extraction and fishing rights (I guess historically the russians claimed fishing rights which the us, spain, england, and the french contested? My idea was that the union would support russian fishing rights to the northern edge of the oregon military region along with a share of ghost rock production in exchange for material and personnel support staking claim over ghost rock deposits so that the union would have the ability to construct rail back from the west to union rails in the east, eventually incorporating Kang and the Iron Dragon rail's track through the Sioux Nation, with the Union officially ceding to the Sioux sovereignty over their territory in exchange for right of passage along the Iron Dragon rails).
I want to run an introductory adventure to get everyone to learn the system and then move on to running through some published adventures (since I'll be running multiple games for multiple systems I figured published adventures, once used to the system, would really cut down on the work for me) and then over time flesh out some more character oriented story-lines. I don't mind if there are some changes to the over-all story of the Deadlands Classic story (not familiar with reloaded yet, haven't had a lot of time to read up on it yet, I believe the union and csa have agreed to a ceasefire in that iteration?), but I don't want anything to directly contradict or make certain adventures simply not possible (does an adventure go over how Kang was able to get rights to build rail through Sioux territory in one of the adventures or novels? would it be unrealistic to assume covert union support for Kang's line through indian lands? If I change this, does it bork anything up long-term?)
Right now I know none of the players except the shop owner herself, and my knowledge of the setting is less than her own, so I don't want to drastically change the setting, and I'm not locked in to the union being successful in their endeavor (the players could fail or succeed, doesn't particularly matter to me), but I do want to still have some element of surprise in the game (especially since I'm starting significantly earlier than the late 1870s like most of the adventures and story seems to take place in), but the players could, theoretically, spend a little over a decade helping the union connect the two lines, establish fortifications, build political ties with the Sioux and eventually the Coyote (work with the french in mexico and the coyote to cut off csa access to the west, stymie british efforts to harass the union from canada, etc.) to harass the CSA, and maybe work the ceasefire in this way.
Any help or advice at all (critique of the story, pointers to some good references regarding the oregon region in deadlands, whatever) would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
