Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[iskandar]

Oy you, yes you, you a marshall? No, well then skeddaddle befor I send the demonic cattle stampede of plot device after ya nosy' little tuckus.









Okay, now that the kiddos are in bed, fun time. Stone. He's a tough ol cuss to roleplay, mostly because there ain't a lot to his character except he is a heel and likes to do evil, sort of a big bossman for the wild west for all of you wrestling fans. So, now we come to a situation, considering the fine folks up in the high towers of the pinnacle entertainment group life tree are fixin on making between a stone and a hard place and assuming the title aint referring to the indian chief whose daughter you seduced about to bash your brains in, well were going to be playing stone soon and mostly both old and young stone. So, I got to usin my noggin and came up with somethin. Old stone is old. really old. 250 years old. He's been killin heroes for darn near three centuries by now and after that period of time anyone's mind might begin to crack and boredom sets in. So here is my suggestion for playin stone. The young un should be as described in Mary Sue vs Mary Sue #2: the reckonin. As in "silent, evil psycopath". The old stone, ay kay ay the one whose been fillin up boot hills with the good guys should be played more like a classic western black hat evil guy. Shootin people in the head during duels must get borin the umpteenth time, time to add in some banter. By no means make him less scary though. Have this added rediculousness add to his terror, the guy can not only kill you in his sleep, he can do so while entertaining himself. Whatcha think?

[Cutter XXIII]

I'm contractually obligated not to say too much about this (actually there's no contract, I just ain't gonna spill any beans)...

...but I think you're on the right track, amigo.

When my group last met Stone, he walked out of a burning house, slaying every hero in sight. When only the (Novice) posse remained, he looked 'em over, holstered his guns, and sneered, "...You ain't even worth the lead." Stone turned on his heel and left 'em there, too scared to take a shot at him.
_________________
Matthew Cutter
Deadlands Big Bug (Brand Manager)
Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.

[Noshrok Grimskull]

When my Classic Deadlands posse played through the Devil's Tower trilogy, they had some unpleasant encounters with Stone.

One one occasion, while racing him towards Devil's Tower, they really needed to stop for a rest in a small town. And while checking into the local hotel/saloon for a night's rest, Stone walked into the joint right after them!
And told them that if they dropped out now and left him alone, he wouldn't kill them.
Being player characters, they not only didn't agree but one also drew his gun...
Three rounds of combat later the building was a smoking ruin (due to exploding dynamite), one PC out of six was dead and the other 5 were more or less severely injured.
And Stone? Not a scratch! He even told the survivors that they should count this as a final warning and that next time he won't hold back!

So... Fast forward to their showdown atop Devil's Tower.
Stone was already starting some sort of ritual to turn the area into a Deadland via the Heart of Darkness, so the PCs were pressed for time.
They managed to get the diamond away from Stone and then most of the group just tried to stand their ground and delay Stone while one of them rushed out to destroy the thing.
And somehow they made it! The Heart of Darkness was destroyed, and at that very moment Stone just got up, holstered his guns, tipped his hat and said: "You win this round." And then he just turned and left, leaving the PCs bleeding and more dead than alive in the dust.


Yeah, in my games, Stone has a weird sense of honor. He'll kill you alright, but if you are not an immediate threat to the Reckoners' plans, he'll let you live. For now.
_________________
"If you think I'm crazy, you should see the people I'm locked up with." - Steamdriven

"This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes 'ding' when there's stuff." - The Doctor (Doctor Who)

[Vonether]

Now if you need something, like a role model -- and I do use that term loosely -- for your portrayal of Stone, then you can't do no better than the Saint of Killers from the Preacher comics.

He gets hit with a nuke. He says, "Not enough gun" and walks away. He gets sent to Hell and his hate freezes the damned place and the devil has to let him go.

If you ain't afraid of no spoilers, then here's his life bare on that darned Wikiwhatsit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Preacher_characters#Saint_of_Killers

If you like the Weird West, then you can consider Preacher as a good side dish of reading to enjoy. (I am assuming that if you're not the type to get all sensitive over things like violence, sex and religion.)

[otherdoc]

I second the Saint of Killers idea - very cool character to use as inspiration.

I remember at some point Shane saying he based Stone (partially, at least) on Clint Eastwood, so that might help inform how he could be played. When I use him (sparingly - like a lot of powerful personalities of this kind, a little of Stone goes a long way!) I usually mix Eastwood in with a couple of other actors.

When I used Stone in a Deadlands campaign a few years ago, I did a few odd things with him that I wouldn't normally do when portraying him, mostly because I liked the imagery. The most memorable of these was when I officially introduced him for the first time (since prior to this the players had only seen him in disguise) - he was on horseback in all his undead glory, cracking a whip, whooping and hollering as he herded a huge stampede of Los Diablos straight toward the posse.
_________________
My Blog: Jim - Yes, THAT Jim
My Setting Creation Podcast: Crucible of Realms
My RPG Podcast: The Great Debate!

[Noshrok Grimskull]

[Cutter XXIII]

My hands-down favorite depiction of Stone, walking nonchalantly out of an exploding town, conveys a good amount of his demeanor...


_________________
Matthew Cutter
Deadlands Big Bug (Brand Manager)
Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.

[ValhallaGH]

I always liked that pun. Thanks Cutter!