Whether it's original, Reloaded, or the other spin-off, (Back off, I just woke up and never played that one, so the name is eluding me) feel free to discuss them here.
To start things off quite simply, I have two questions regarding OG Deadlands.
A: Anyone ever thought of making a cheat-sheet for the various monsters in DL that a Harrowed can 'Count Coup' from? 'Cause if not, I might do that. Just a blurb of Name and Power, because I'd be interested in that for a quick-reference.
B: As a guy who's played a mad scientist character twice, I'm having a bit of 'trouble' coming up with interesting or unique inventions for my current one; a chick working for the Men in Black (Dusters). So far, I've turned a Ballard '72 into 1800's M1 Garand (clip with 5 bullets instead of single shot) and I have an IDEA for putting pseudo-bayonet attachments onto all sorts of guns, a la the PS2 game Darkwatch. (Pistols have talon/hook shaped blades attached to the bottom of the grip, rifles have blade running underneath the stock so if something gets close enough that you have to cold-cock them with the rifle butt or grab the barrel and swing it like a baseball bat, they take a short-swords length of steel to the whatever.)
Question is: any better ideas for mad science, and is it worth it to have the extra sharp bits added onto existing guns in case of surprise melee?
I could really use some Deadlands art. Or just western art. I'm about to start running a SW game of Deadlands.
Bentley Bennett
I'll dump what I have.
This is one of those settings I've wanted to try for years and I'm interested to hear how other people's experiences went. Anyone have advice for running a Deadlands game?
Jack Collins
I once had great success with a mad scientist - Billy Braxton, Boy Genius - who would continuously scrawl invention ideas on whatever surface happened to be handy. Basically what I did was I would look at whatever situation the party was in at any point, and come up with a dozen ridiculous, dangerous and impractical inventions that could get the party out of it. Stuck in a well? Coal-powered stilts, explosive-heel shoes, super-dense foaming soap. Dumb things that would only really be useful for solving the immediate problem. Never built like, 90% of them on account of it not being the time nor the place, but occasionally - usually when we were in a similar situation some time later - with a bit of creativity I'd be able to pull out just the right tool for the job.
Of course I invented my way straight into the looney bin - character had to be retired after I ended up building a giant death ray in an attempt to blow up the moon for reasons that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time but were tragic in hindsight - but such are the perils of the improvisational sciences.
So to answer your question, best path of mad science I ever found was to find common situations that you will find yourself in, and then invent utilitarian devices to help get you out of them. Utility should never be underestimated.
Chase Kelly
>Anyone have advice for running a Deadlands game?
The books for it were pretty cheap off Amazon. Other than that, uh...It's a deadly as fuck system. Don't go too balls deep on the players. Also shotguns will ruin just about anyones day.
Blake Cox
No problems with making it challenging for the players then?
Ethan Wood
>the other spin-off, (Back off, I just woke up and never played that one, so the name is eluding me) Hell on Earth? Lost Colony? D20?
Jace Harris
Pretty much, yeah. Everyone has 3 health levels basically, and you need to roll over their toughness to damage them. Toughnesses are usually around 5 or so, and the average weapon does 2d6 before any Edges or anything else.
Brayden Powell
Backpack shisha pipe that doubles as flamethrower or smokescreen. Clockwork arm-exoskeleton that compensates recoil of a bigass revolver. Walking cane that shoots liquid nitrogen. Blinding flash built into monocle. That how you mad science.
Lucas Young
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Mason Rodriguez
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Zachary Clark
Once you get through the Character Creation and a round of combat, which you can adapt to surprisingly quickly despite how complicated it sounds on it's face, things can flow pretty smoothly.
As for running the game, keep in mind the Mad Science Reliability rolls, where any machine or alchemical concoction could backfire if you roll high on a d20. (only time when a Nat 20 is bad) Also, Jokers are wild cards, and the RED Joker is the player's friend. The BLACK Joker is your friend and will seriously fuck-up a characters day.
As for the enemies, you do NOT have to make them harder or adjust them very much. A lot of the critters that are stronger than just "mutant animals" have bullshit immunities and weaknesses that require quests in and of themselves.
For Example, Stone men. Just like it sounds on the tin, except they eat people (Or pretend to since, you know, they're rocks) and have supernaturally good hunting and tracking capabilities as long as they have their club in hand. Weaknesses: They are afraid of blood that they didn't cause, so a player could scratch their hand and pull a "Back, you fiend!" a la a cross to a vampire. They can be lit on fire, but it takes twelve hours until they disintegrate, and until then they are a flaming rock-man of murder. And they can be stabbed with wooden stakes of a certain type. (Based on the ritual that made them)
Yeah, don't go hard on your players. The game will do that as written. But don't be afraid to call out players who fudge their rolls because I swear to GOD the Harrowed Huckster is pulling that shit left and right. (Bodyguard Hex that get's him 19 mother-fucking extra wounds, my aching ass.)
Anthony Torres
Thanks for the advice user.
Is Reloaded a better system than the OG Deadlands? I've heard some conflicting reports from people.
Isaac Fisher
They're very similar systems, coming from someone who has owned and played both. Savage Worlds itself was basically a streamlined/improved version of Deadlands system actually.
You might as well go with Savage Worlds.
Chase Brooks
Suggestions for the Savage Worlds version:
When GMing, be free with giving players Bennies. As others have said, Savage Worlds can get lethal in a hurry. Bennies are a player's life-line.
Remember that fire-fights don't all occur at close range, on flat plains, in clear daylight. That makes fire-fights less dangerous.
The incapacitation and death rules are very non-traditional. Read them carefully.
Hudson Morgan
Anybody have real gameplay stories from Deadlands?
Josiah Perry
Nothing worth telling. I put one player through a drinking contest with a dead man, ran some train heists, players blew up a dirigible. Fun times, but nothing that really shines.
That said, any interest in some Deadlands adaptations of Barsoom races and shit? Also, stuff for Tripod Martians and Rockwell grey style aliens?
Jose Kelly
I recommend starting with normal goons. Cattle rustlers, train robbers, bar fights, or some other mundane issue. Let the players learn how to not die before getting to the spooks in the shadows.
Lucas Perez
Love this game
Brody Cook
Going from d&d 5e to deadlands was so jarring Just witnessing my players starting off i gave them lower starting cash then recommended because i did not want everybody to have nothing to work up to They get enough money to afford nicer things one of them purchases a shotgun I read the rules for think "wow thats a bit strong but im sure it will be ok" They encounter a unnatural monster One fucking blast that thing is gone Shot guns are fucking magic in universes where magic is little to none
Eli Wood
Remember, it being a deadly system goes both ways.
Carson Davis
Oh yeah i know i love the system it just shocked me into learning it more the first time round
Nathaniel Ramirez
>I'm about to start running a SW game of Deadlands.
Hmm... I'm about to start playing a SW game of Deadlands. See you next Saturday?
It's my first time playing the system, actually, so I don't know where character should fall on the spectrum from grim to zany. The book plays it straight, but people who've storytimed it make it seem like Blazing Saddles.
Austin Sullivan
>>Hmm... I'm about to start playing a SW game of Deadlands. See you next Saturday?
Nope, not me. I only got one player, and I don't plan sessions, I run it off the cuff.
Gavin Richardson
First time playing original deadlands. >everybody meets up in the saloon playing cards, hitting on prostitutes and sizing each other up. >party of 8, three of which are gunslingers >two of the gunslingers obviously have to see who is the quicker draw and go outside to have a shoot off >third is quiet and doesnt look like the traditional two gun, quick draw artist so stays out of it >they pull out a bottle of whiskey and toss it into the air >both pull their guns and shoot and both miss >third gunslinger, using a shotgun, had a slower initiative, shoots, and obliterates it with two shots before it can the ground. >"You don't have to use pistols to be a good shot."
Later that session the party was fighting a chupacabra. >Everyone was getting ready to find it and fight. >Tensions were high. >It finally breaks out of hiding and charges the party. >shotgun guy gets initiative this time, opens both barrels and drops it dead in its tracks >fight over >que rest of the adventure, everyone bitching that he's a big dirty cheater
Elijah Hall
Someone he's only played Savage Worlds deadlands how does it differ from the original?
I know a rise is done every five points rather then four. But I was thinking of a house rule that in anyway seeing as a roll of 4 on a d4 is technically at least a 5 anyway.
John Rogers
Are there any good recorded games of people playing deadlands?
Austin Barnes
Get a fucking cowboy hat.
It's great for everything. Staying in character, shuffling your bennies, some other third thing.
Dominic Perry
Keepin the rain off yer head.
Lincoln Roberts
Hiding your erections
Thomas Stewart
So, weird question I know, but I gotta ask: if Deadlands D20 was a thing, do you think you could convert the D&D 5e system to run Deadlands?
Landon Butler
I wouldn't attempt it, and d20 Deadlands was a bad idea. It's just not a system that is meant for that kind of stuff. Just get the Savage Worlds version, it's both good and retains all of the flavor since SW is just the older Deadlands rules streamline and turned into a generic system.
Kayden Diaz
I'll try and put some more inspo art in here
Asher Clark
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Justin Smith
>That fucked up Washington coastline.
Jesus, it's not like it's hard to get right.
Also, find it strange that this is outright stating that Wasatch won the Great Rail Wars when it was supposed to be up in the air still.
Justin Turner
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Jeremiah James
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Ian Roberts
I know is kind of obvious but Doomtown: reloaded is allowed here? still, glad to see a deadlands thread here.
Jaxon Richardson
>Jesus, it's not like it's hard to get right
Remember, they did have absolutely gigantic earthquakes all over the world when most of Cali got wrecked by the quakes, user. Blame it on that.
David Young
Same here. I picked up a pack of cards and some poker chips as I'm readying a game for my usual group. It'd be the first game I actually run for 'em.
Isaiah Ross
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Lincoln James
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Brody Martinez
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Matthew Anderson
I'm looking to run a campaign in the style of Red Dead Redemption mixed with Lovecraft mixed with Hateful Eight mixed with gritty and spaghetti westerns. With zombies. And other monsters.
Is it doable with Deadlands?
Dominic Morales
Could never find a complete set of that
Also, fuck Shirow, he's wasted his talents on shit porn when he could of made great porn and Appleseed II.
Bumping to keep a discussion that's not D&D, 40k or bait alive.
The Burrowers (2008) is a good Deadlands movie. Dead Birds (2006) is shittier, but has some good spooky ideas.
Any others? Would Cowboys vs Aliens count, or was it too wacky?
Jack Davis
>Masamune Shirow >makes some of the greatest fucking cyberpunk shit EVER to come out of Japan in the 80's and 90's >spends the rest of his life drawing white women getting fucking by big black guys
Fucking Hell sunnavabitch motherfucker I have never been so mad at a waste of such fucking talent Goddamnit asshole stupid fucking 11 holy shit.
Luis Nguyen
>or was it too wacky?
Deadlands has a sense of humor to it. Plus given Lost Colony is a thing, sure, whatever, aliens are fine.
Connor Thompson
Yes, 100% yes.
Kevin Garcia
High Plains Drifter has a slight Deadlands vibe.
Also Dead Man
Ian Adams
Has anyone ever played Noir? Is it any good?
Anthony Ward
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Jack Jones
lads just dug up a copy of d20 deadlands from my dads loft, how aids is it?
Dylan Nguyen
Sorry bro, it's terminal. The only cure is to get the Savage Worlds versions. It's just not a game that was meant to be d20'd.
Jacob Diaz
I fuckin knew it
I got the pdfs tho, but really prefer the bewks ;-;
Brody Rogers
It's pretty cheap on Amazon. I got the players book, GM's book, and Savage Worlds for like $55 or so altogether.
Grim Prairie Tales Gallowwalkers Mad at the Moon Godmonster of Indian Flats
Adam Powell
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Jacob Lee
>the other spin-off, (Back off, I just woke up and never played that one, so the name is eluding me) Noir?
Carter Garcia
>The book plays it straight, but people who've storytimed it make it seem like Blazing Saddles. I'd say the average tone is more like The Hateful Eight in that while there is some amount of unsettling mystery causing tension in an adventure the player characters tend to be slightly larger than life and as such are a bit less affected by the grimness that surrounds them. That is until they find themselves alone with a monster.
Levi Sullivan
Sittin' in a corner lookin' menacin' when really you're just trying toget through your hangover.
Aaron Wright
I've found the tone is pretty malleable. The books are written with some humor to them. You're gonna get some Blazing Saddles. You're gonna get some John Wayne. You're gonna get some spaghetti westerns. You're gonna get some Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Much like any game, too much of one element makes it bad. A healthy mix is what you really need for a campaign. Thats why stuff like WoD gets made fun of, because it's always trying to make nothing but an oppressive tone and it comes off as almost comedically tryhard.
Juan Hughes
That is Deadlands in a nutshell.
Had a character, Mormon preacher, lost his arm in the first session to a non combat train accident. He used a shotgun, double barreled, and was good enough to take out a problem quick enough that a slow reload wasn't a problem. He died three times.
Another character, shootist, his whole shtick was magically enhancing his guns. Airship full of enemies was coming but he had time to buff his gun and had a stack of chips, it got stupid real quick. High rate of fire with a damage increased to instant kill numbers, armor piercing of 'yep ' and range of practically line of sight, dropped a dozen per round for a while until his chips started running out and he had to pull back.
Oliver Murphy
Literally what Deadlands was made for. Go forth and have fun, user.
Ayden Davis
Overly shiny, cgi guys.
Nolan Price
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Luis Allen
Man, I was listening to a D&D podcast where somebody started recommending this and the mega in the thread has opened my eyes. This shit looks whack. Anybody got some good stories to share?
Charles Harris
GURPS? Great Rail Wars?
The CG on that rifle's really obvious.
Zachary Miller
Anybody got a complete download of the Savage Worlds shit. And is it possible to adapt the d20 stuff over? Complete newbie but I'm getting sold on this game
Christian Phillips
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Colton Thomas
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Angel Stewart
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Easton Bennett
snip dot li slash SaWo
Jackson Perez
>he's wasted his talents on shit porn when he could of made great porn and Appleseed II.
Meh. The guy had two really good books in him and we got them. It was unreasonable to expect anything more of note. He's the same as Harper Lee.
Charles Lopez
Waiting for pinebox release new spoilers for DT:R. (anyone still plays this?)
Bentley Hill
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John Rivera
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Nathan Hernandez
Anyone have any good town and city maps for Deadlands?
>some of the best western-ish music comes from an old PS1 RPG series
Zachary Wilson
BAM!
Eli Ortiz
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Jack Gonzalez
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Gabriel Moore
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Jace Wood
My first game was with a posse of Mad Scientists. Each one of us had the prerequisite Arcane Background (Mad Science) and the Mad Science Skill at five. That is where we diverged. My character worked with the Collegium and created Bullet-Repellent Clothes. Another specialized in Artillery and had a 12-pound Vapor Canon as well as some Congreave Rockets. The Third one was insane and is our resident pilot and repairman (Metal Mage). The last one was the infiltraitor and alchemist. He had a made a Ghost Rock applique that he could use to alter his appearance adding +5 to Disguise checks.
Well anyway, the only time I played that character the following happened: The posse drove into town in a Steam Wagon. The Wagon failed its reliabity check and we were stuck.
Well to make a long story short, All of our devices failed their reliability cheacks at the same time: The Congrave Rockets spun around and exploded near out location. My bullet Repellant Clothes failed to deflect all 15 of the Shotgun blasts. The Infiltraitor's Applique failed and melted his face right off the bone and the Vapor Cannon blew up, igniting all the leftover Ghost Rock and weapons.
When this happened, our pilot got the wheel fixed.
John Carter
Ghoultown is Deadlands music. When I was talking to Shane Lacey Hensely at a con a while ago, we got to talking about his canceled plans for a Deadlands MMO. (Digital rights are now owned by Syfy due to them fucking his company over hard with Stargate Universe) He said he had secured Ghoultown and Abney Park to provide the soundtrack. He was great to talk too.
Jackson Richardson
That's awesome. Related, did that incident change your opinion of the system?
Robert Mitchell
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Ryan Scott
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Henry Reyes
Just finished the Vertigo Jonah Hex stories, would recommend to anyone interested in Deadlands.
1.Two Gun Mojo 2.Riders Of Worm And Such 3.Shadows West
Is how i would rate them in quality.
Jackson Russell
I very much disagree. Classic to me feels more involved. Savage worlds is a simplified version of their war game "Great Rail Wars"
Brody Lewis
I think the more streamlined SW version both keeps the feel intact perfectly, while also making the game play faster.
David Russell
>Anybody got some good stories to share? One time in a mostly solo game (my group is inconsistent as shit but my GM is flexible) my guy helped fight a bunch of bandits led by a werewolf. After blasting down most of the bandits with a Winchester and my Schofield I saw the werewolf coming from my upper window perch and waited at the front door of the old house for him. He came in right through the front door and then I emptied a Sharps Big 50 right into the fucker right in his wolfy face which definitely ruined his day but didn't quite kill him.
So I bashed his skill in by two-handed swinging the butt of the big-ass rifle I just blew his eye out with.
Aaron Lee
To be fair, Wild Arms 1's field map theme was literally a remixed song from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
