Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

GMSam · Novice Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 20

I've convinced my gaming group to take a break from Pathfinder to try Savage Worlds! I chose Deadlands for the one shot game to hook them in (good choice?). I do not have any Deadlands books, but I printed the pregens and a bunch of the one sheet adventures, but I'm having a tough time choosing and I like to invite any pointers/advise/encouragement for me as the GM? Thanks!

I own Deluxe and played the system only a few times - love it.

MrDNA · Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 11:46 pm Post subject:

I've only used one of the one-sheets, but it was a good time: Lynched! The terrible tree beast ended up being the least of the PCs problems, but your PCs probably won't murder an innocent boy to squelch rumors that they're witches. Probably.
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Wibbs · Seasoned Joined: 02 Jan 2011 Posts: 407 Location: London

I'm quite partial to The Gatling Decision, but it would need a good 3 or 4 hours depending on the speed of your group. It can be found here:

http://www.savageheroes.com/adventures/the%20Gatling%20Decision.pdf

GMSam · Novice Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 20

Thanks,any advice on selling the setting better? How should I tell the group that the PC's are together? What is a Posse in this world? I'm using the pregens from the site.

Ronin84 · Seasoned Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 144

GMSam · Novice Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 20

Thanks! So, The term posse in the one sheets doesnt refer to a particular organization or team, just the "party" of PC's?

Wibbs · Seasoned Joined: 02 Jan 2011 Posts: 407 Location: London

Yeah, 'posse' is just the general way of refering to a group/party of players in Deadlands.

GMSam · Novice Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 20

ok thanks,

Next. You all play allot of the Deadlands universe, what iconic/memorable things should I include for my groups first taste of the setting? I also want to sell them on the Savage Worlds system, what rules should I be sure to include to capture the systems strong points?

Thanks to you all for the help.

newForumNewName · Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 11:31 am Post subject:

Gunfights. And brawls. Possibly with zombies.

EDIT: And use minis. Minis (paper, plastic, or metal) are awesome.
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ValhallaGH · Legendary Joined: 25 Apr 2010 Posts: 4453

Ronin84 · Seasoned Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 144

Gambling, it is something that seems to always come up at our games! Playing poker with personalities has been a favorite of ours!!

The other little bit that has made it in is a Train and two gents that seem to always be around a little bit of trouble...it has appeared at the beginning of two of our sessions and once at the end...

We are such kids of the seventies and eighties...

Smile

GMSam · Novice Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 20

This is great you guys, thanks! I will work in a train and gambling if the one sheet doesn't have it. Do you actually play a poker hand with the players? How do you use their gambling skills?

On a side note: I just got the DL wild dice for each player, I bought a bag of .45 shell casings for bennies and I cut out the little pregen and glued them to a small "wooden fence" I made out of pop-cicle sticks. I'll post a picture if anyone is interested.

I really appreciate everyones help, It's building my confidence. Apperently, like most of you, I've been running/playing rpgs on and off since the 80's and I've never been so nervous about starting a game! Embarassed

Wibbs · Seasoned Joined: 02 Jan 2011 Posts: 407 Location: London

There are special gambling rules in the Deadlands Player handbook. I think they come right after the rules for Duelling and use a lot of the same mechanics.

GMSam · Novice Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 20

I haven't bought those books yet. Im not sure my group is gunna like it. If I bait the hook and get a bite, ill buy it all.

ValhallaGH · Legendary Joined: 25 Apr 2010 Posts: 4453

The core Savage Worlds include the rules for the Gambling skill (in the skill entry, thankfully).

Deadlands has a number of (very cool) setting rules that alter how Savage Worlds works. Which means that, when you play it for real, there will be some changes to get used to.

My advice is to choose an adventure and read through it ASAP. That way you have time to figure things out, ask questions that get answered, and make changes to make the game more appealing to your friends.

Best of luck, and feel free to bring up any other questions.
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GMSam · Novice Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 20

OK, I'll choose and repost. If there are any setting rules that would be helpfull for a quality one-shot, please share. Thanks.

Wibbs · Seasoned Joined: 02 Jan 2011 Posts: 407 Location: London

One the main reasons I like the Gatling Decision is because of the variety of what people get up to. As written there's:
- Gambling
- A fist fight
- Haggling over money
- An attempted train robbery
- A moral decision to make
- Probably a reasonably large scale fight at the end

It wouldn't be too hard to add in a duel if you have a character who is that way inclined.

I've recently run a heavily adapted version of this for the start of a new campaign, and if you choose it I would be happy to let you know some of the other tweaks I've made.

Cheers,

Wibbs

Jordan Peacock · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:31 pm Post subject:

For the sake of adding to the brainstorming, if I were going to pick up Deadlands again and introduce it to a new group, it might be worthwhile to do some "pop culture research." That is, do you have any favorite Western movies? If so, try watching one or two of them again, taking note of interesting details in the movie that really help to flesh out the feel of this being in the Wild West. There might be some interesting turns of phrases that you could work into NPC dialogue, or some of the characters might inspire you as NPC archetypes to fill in the background.

I'm not suggesting any SPECIFIC movies, because what really matters is YOUR vision of what the Wild West is like, and what you're enthusiastic about - and all the better if any of your players have seen the same movie(s). All you'll need to do is toss in some weird science and some supernatural strangeness, and you're in Deadlands territory.

Then, to echo ValhallaGH's suggestion, if you're going to run an adventure, be sure to read it through all the way first. I find that really helps to avoid quite a few awkward "speed bumps" in the session if I've already familiarized myself with the adventure. Knowing the whole "story" also makes me better prepared to salvage an adventure when the players take things "off the rails" and head off in an unexpected direction.

Also, if you're going to work in some action on a train at some point, I just thought I'd point out that there's a handy pdf of some tiles for the interior of a train (originally from "Murder on the Hellstromme Express") in the Downloads section.

By the way, the idea of using shell casings for Bennies sounds positively AWESOME. Very Happy

If I had some lying around, I'd have to try that out.
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ValhallaGH · Legendary Joined: 25 Apr 2010 Posts: 4453

Bennies as Fate Chips is the big setting rule that comes to mind; there are the various arcane backgrounds, the gunfight rules, and the harrowed, but the Fate Chips is the big thing.

And your casings as bennies idea is too cool and too appropriate to not use. So, stick with that for your one-shot.
_________________
"Got a problem? I've got the solution: Rocket Launcher."
"Not against a Servitor."
"... We're all gonna die."

GMSam · Novice Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 20

OK guys, I love the "Gatling Decision" adventure, it's great. My only comment is that it doesn't seem very "weird" west, no zombies or steampunk-ish stuff. I may add some, any suggestions? Do you guys think that starting just one of the characters off already in a heated card game. is "fair" to the player or the party? Couldn't the players just say "I wouldn't play a card game with this guy"? Still don't get how to have the PC "loose" the card game so he can go nuts, what if the PC's win the card game?