Latest revision as of 20:40, 26 April 2012

Its an idea I have had for a while, so here it is.

The Idea

Serenity Bebop died a premature death, partially due to me not understanding GMing (see also What I Have Learned About GMing), and partially due to poor chemistry between players. Even before we started that game I had toyed internally with the idea of using a Deadlands variant instead of Hero, but since I already did all the Hero conversions and some of the players like that system a lot, I went with that.

I dont regret that decision (hell, I dont regret anything, ever), yet I have changed feelings dramatically. To me, Hero is like Tony Mandarich (Sam Bowie for Matt#5). All of the measurables, looks awesome on paper, but doesnt deliver at the table (on the field). The character generation is second to none. Its often more fun than actually playing the game. The rest of the game can often be an exercise in frustration.

Deadlands is very different. The character generation is pretty lame on some levels, though the cards add a somewhat interesting aspect. The rest of the system looks good, yet when its embraced and actually played it turns out even better. Those silly poker chips make all the difference.

In the end, we all know its the people who make the biggest impression, yet having the correct tools (game system), is important.

The System Conversion

I am going to need to write up as much equipment as possible. When that is done, it will appear here: Deadspace Equipment. I plan on working this page daily, so check back frequently. I am also very interested in hearing comments and suggestions.

Genre Specific Changes

I have heard Firefly referred to as a space western, and if thats the case few changes should be necessary. The more I think about this the more I think that the only changes will be addition of high tech items.

Character Generation

In the other Deadlands games the GM has generated all characters and allowed players to choose from the stack. Players are generally allowed to make a few skill or characteristic changes, and do whatever they wish with Edges and Hindrances. I will continue this trend.

Character Requests

Any potential player who would like to make a character request, please post it here.

The Morrow Project: Evergreen Initiative

This group of ideas is an attempt to make a card drawing system for character generation workable. The goal is to introduce the fun and variability of a random element into the design portion of character generation while preserving the balancing aspect of design. The problems within the Deadlands system itself will also need to be addressed.

The two main issues to resolve are: How do we ensure a reasonable level of balance in card draws and how are multiple dice in a characteristic used?

Draw Deck

The issue of draw imbalance will be addressed in a couple of different ways. One is to reconstruct the draw deck. In other words, instead of using a standard deck of playing cards with jokers, multiple copies of the middle result cards will be added to create a larger and more balanced deck.

I have created two different draw deck compositions. One is an 80 card deck, the other a 100 card one. For each deck I calculated simple percentage chances of achieving particular results, but they are only accurate for the first draw (unless you really care about the math, you can assume they are accurate for all draws). I like the way both turned out, but I am concerned it may make things too homogeneous. This is why testing is important. Right now I am leaning toward the 100 card instance. In either case if a second deuce is drawn, the player may draw again and replace it.

The final balancing factor will be a minimum threshold for card points (17). If all of the drawn cards do not equal this minimum level, one card of the players choice can be replaced with a 3 point card in the suit of clubs, if this does not bring it above the minimum, another may be substituted as well. Card points are based on their value in dice (d4 is 0, d12 is 4).

Characteristic Dice

One of the clunkiest mechanics in Deadlands is the interaction between characteristic and skill checks. If you do a non-skilled check, you divide your highest die by 2. But, in some cases having 3d8, keep highest and divide by 2 (characteristic of 3d8 and no skill) might be better, or at least seem better to the player who is creating the character, than having 1d8 (same characteristic with skill level of 1). Keep in mind the 'aces' rule, where any die with its highest possible number rolled is rolled again and added to the previous result.

Potential solutions: limit aces to one (or none) on non-skilled checks without the expenditure of a white chip.

Other ideas: The Deadlands: Invasion page also posited a solution which might be workable, but I fear it might make success too easy.

Characteristics

I think Deadlands has some potentially redundant characteristics, so I may want to consolidate it down to a slightly smaller set. My idea is to consolidate Knowledge and Smarts, and then combine Nimbleness and Deftness.

Character Generation Procedure

To create a character, draw 11 cards and place them in the following areas: one for each characteristic, one for Equipment, one for Edges/Flaws and one for Skills. The meaning of cards vary for each type of assignment, see the following table.

Special Considerations

Under Edges/Flaws some values come with an asterisk. Those values are allowed to choose one of the arcane background traits, with approval. Nothing over the top will be allowed.

Equipment is another special case. Each character was issued a specific set of equipment which will be chosen by the player. If the 'None' option is chosen, all of that characters equipment is somehow compromised. Outside of this, I do have a system in place for equipment, but I cannot go into too much detail about it without giving away the opening scenario. So, you will need to trust me on this. Better cards assigned here will definitely have better effects.