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View Full Version : Deadlands Classic, a oneshot planning session.



janusmaxwell
2016-02-28, 04:41 PM
Currently in a classic Deadlands campaign and having a lot of fun with it, save for when Arenji cackles maniacally and I roll nothing but 2's on 5d12.

As our Marshal is using Dime novels and the attached adventures to said dime novels for our sessions, there is downtime between modules so he can read the next one and deal with school. I had the idea about 2 hours ago to have a one-shot encounter in the downtime between our last session and the next one, and I'm gonna ask him if we can have just a one-off little project for some XP and general heroism.

A part of this idea is that I would be marshalling the one-off, because while I enjoy the concept of DM'ing and would love to do it regularly...I'm not that experienced and the one game I tried to run imploded fairly quickly. Basically, I tried to run a homemade setting from scratch while dealing with a ----load of other issues and lost confidence after the first session. The players had a lot of fun, I just got overwhelmed

So, I give the real Marshal a break, try a one-off session of being a DM and the group gains some experience (Save for my character, as I don't know if I'd be comfortable making my guy a DMPC. Best to avoid the temptation, neh?)

The details of the one off are as follows:

While traveling by train through Illinois, the group has to disembark when the train has to stop due to Mourning Mist covering the tracks.
From the DL monster manual, it's a cloud of ghosts that arises from battlefields which became terrible massacres due to cowardly retreats or mutinies. The Mist will have an anchor symbolic to the cause of the massacre (The trumpet that sounded the call for retreat, for example) and cannot be destroyed unless a Blessed or an Indian Shaman purifies the anchor. While frightening, the Mist actively seeks to be dispelled, but the only way for it 'ask' for someone to find the anchor is by projecting images of the horrific slaughter into the mind of the victim, which might scare them enough to kill them.

That "seeks to be dispelled" is why it's covering the train tracks.

The group goes to a nearby town and asks about the Mist, and they are told it popped up when the Union lost a really nasty fight nearby, although the mists appearance did drive off the Confederates before they could capitalize on the victory. Further investigation reveals that the Union loss was due to a regiment turning on their commander, causing the collapse of the entire line.
Coming up with a reason for the betrayal. Most obvious would be the commander was a ---hole, but what if it was a case where the commander was a good guy and his soldiers were the ---holes?
The group finds out that the mist can be 'killed', but only once per day, and the only true way to destroy it is via shamanic ritual or holy exorcism.
HOW the group is supposed to find out that knowledge, short of the obvious "Somebody with a high Knowledge: Occult check makes a good roll". The 2 issues is that A: my character has the best Kn: Occult and I don't want to lead the group by the nose, and B: The information on the Anchors and everything are supposed to be Marshal-level knowledge, so making it just a DC 11 check seems too easy.
There are a group of Indians living nearby and a priest in town. Townsfolk and tribe don't necessarily like each other, but convincing both the NPC Blessed and the Shaman to find the anchor and dispell the mist is totally doable and the encouraged option, with both the NPC's coming with their own groupies. (a posse for the Blessed, a bunch of braves for the Shaman.)

The groups look for the anchor, with the hints/main assumption being "The gun that fired the first shot into the Commander's back." to those who are told the significance of the mist and it's origin.
A deck of playing cards from the Union soldiers who used their card games as time to plot their mutiny. When touched by the Mist, the player or NPC will see a group of soldiers holding playing cards in their hands and hear them talking about how they plan to make their getaway after killing the commander. Assuming they survive the Terror check, of course.
Whether real anchor or the red-herring, when one of the NPC's prepares to cleanse the Mist, another NPC from the other group kills the NPC and asks their leader to walk away.
Option A: Indian Brave kills Blessed, then asks Shaman to let the white men suffer for their crimes.
Option B: one of the posse shoots the Shaman and tells the Blessed they can possibly use the anchor and the mist to get rid of the troublesome Heathens

I'm leaning towards Option A.
Whether Shaman or Preacher, their reaction will be the same: Denounce the offender for stabbing someone in the back, when they are trying to destroy a monster that only exists because of a cowardly betrayal. Afterwards, they pay their respects/ask forgiveness for the fallen man and move on.

The branching plots for resolution are as follows (UNLESS only 1 of the two 'purifiers' is asked to assist or the Party has a Shaman or a Blessed to perform the ritual themselves)

After being denounced by the Shaman or Blessed, the betrayer is killed and they perform the ritual to cleanse the anchor. (If the Shaman, he'll Quickdraw a warclub and cave in the brave's skull. If the Blessed, another member of the posse will shoot the backstabber dead.)
Would it be in line for a pissed off Indian Shaman to kill another member of the tribe in such a circumstance? While I could argue the Shaman and Priest respecting each other or even being buddies, it'd feel cheap if I didn't tryto make the reaction align with their culture.
If the party speaks up/throws in their two cents on the Brave or Posse member being a backstabbing moron and makes the successful Overawe/Persuasion check, they will have an epiphany and stand down, resulting in Bonus XP for the group for finding a non-lethal solution. There will be negatives to the check if the PC making the check isn't the same race as the betrayer, but bonuses if the PC pulls the "This thing exists because someone was stabbed in the back, you moron!!!", they'll get bonuses to their check.
If the betrayal happens before the real anchor is found, there is confusion and then a mad scramble to find the real anchor as the Mourning Mist descends on the group, like it was drawn by an act similar to the one that spawned it. Assuming an NPC or a PC nut-up and risk wetting their pants by getting a head full of "OH GOD IT"S HORRIBLE!" to find out what the anchor is, it get's purified and the day is saved.
Yeah, I'm making that last part up regarding the behavior of the Mist, but it adds a bit of tension, eh?
If the Indian Brave killed the Blessed and is given a verbal dope-smack by the party, they will try to communicate with the Mist to find out what the real anchor as a way to make amends. My sense of DRAMA wants this moment to be an Auto-fail on the Terror check, where the Brave suffers a heartattack and manages to gasp out what he saw/what the real anchor is before keeling over.


So, that's my one shot. Other fluffy stuff, like the reactions from the town depending on the branching paths, and finer details like "Whether the Mist will hound the party/group while they're combing the battlefield and possibly need to be distracted" would also be helpful.

So...what do y'all think?
We DO have a Blessed and a Shaman, along with a Harrowed and a Mad Scientist (me), so this is probably a coffee-table encounter once the checks are made for "Oh, that's how we get rid of it.", but I figured I'd be thorough.

Vitruviansquid
2016-02-28, 06:56 PM
You may have a problem with the group wanting to "kill" the mist for a day, and then just have the train leave before it comes back.

The origin of the Mist: It seems pretty obvious to me that the best way to explain this is to have the men mutiny because they didn't want to fight for one reason or another. Civil War battles were quite terrifying, so I'm not sure any further explanation is even necessary. Maybe the unit's been mauled in a previous battle, the ration's bad, there has been rumors of a particularly fearsome enemy force, and so on, and so the men insisted on running when the commander insisted on staying, perhaps in a cruel and punitive way. That conflict of interests caused the subsequent mutiny where a soldier put a bullet in the commander's back. Rather than nicely letting the Union mutineers flee, the Confederate of course rode them down, only to be driven away by the mist that arose after the slaughter.

Finding out about the Mist: It is obviously a problem when the railroad's blocked. Maybe the railroad company or locals have hired a man to investigate? Or maybe a Confederate deserter could be caught and give this knowledge?

Resolution: It may be an anti-climax if an NPC causes a problem (killing the Blessed/Shaman) that an NPC then solves (denouncing the traitor). It may be better if one side turned out to have ulterior motives all along and sabotaged the effort. The PCs then have a shootout with the sabotaging side, killing everyone but the Blessed or Shaman, grabbing him, and then forcing him to perform the exorcism.

janusmaxwell
2016-03-01, 01:11 PM
You may have a problem with the group wanting to "kill" the mist for a day, and then just have the train leave before it comes back.

That is a viable option, things being as they are, I can accept them just going "KILL IT!" and then running like hell.

Though, it could be a thing where the train actually goes into the mist, at least past the first car or two, and the people all run like buggery, so the group has to either round up the engineers (or find new ones) after killing the mist so they can GTFO.

That doesn't seem to railroady...and I just realized the irony of that statement, lol.


The origin of the Mist: It seems pretty obvious to me that the best way to explain this is to have the men mutiny because they didn't want to fight for one reason or another. Civil War battles were quite terrifying, so I'm not sure any further explanation is even necessary. Maybe the unit's been mauled in a previous battle, the ration's bad, there has been rumors of a particularly fearsome enemy force, and so on, and so the men insisted on running when the commander insisted on staying, perhaps in a cruel and punitive way. That conflict of interests caused the subsequent mutiny where a soldier put a bullet in the commander's back. Rather than nicely letting the Union mutineers flee, the Confederate of course rode them down, only to be driven away by the mist that arose after the slaughter.

That works...hmm, gonna adlib here (I can pull stuff out of my backside very easily, lol. It's a gift!)

Need to look up Civil War Union rankings so I get the terminology right (A General would be the guy in charge of the entire battle, who would be in charge of a particular line or regiment?)

The commander (Need a name) had a well justified reputation as a gloryhound and egomaniac at the expense of common sense and the soldiers under his command. (Think Custer) and he made it clear he was getting frustrated with a 'defensive' role during the battle. A group of soldiers plotted that the moment he had enough and gave the order to Charge into a slaughter, they would shoot him and desert.

Then the day came, and it was when the General was on that part of the line, which gave the conspirators cold feet but also drove their superior the irrestistable urge to show off in front of the higher ranking officer. When the General turned away for a moment, he gave the order and the conspirator's hesitated. With only half the regiment actually charging while the others were waiting to desert, the traitors killed their commander under the eyes of the shocked General. As he ordered them to stand down, they killed him too, and the Union line fell into complete chaos.


Finding out about the Mist: It is obviously a problem when the railroad's blocked. Maybe the railroad company or locals have hired a man to investigate? Or maybe a Confederate deserter could be caught and give this knowledge?

Hmm, a single survivor of the Union who is in the town, drowning his sorrows in whiskey or in jail for the crime of desertion?

Oh! Have him be part of the Generals entourage/bodyguards who escaped and the townsfolk are accusing him of being a deserter because he keeps badmouthing the 'brave soldiers' because the regiment in question was comprised of locals.


Resolution: It may be an anti-climax if an NPC causes a problem (killing the Blessed/Shaman) that an NPC then solves (denouncing the traitor). It may be better if one side turned out to have ulterior motives all along and sabotaged the effort. The PCs then have a shootout with the sabotaging side, killing everyone but the Blessed or Shaman, grabbing him, and then forcing him to perform the exorcism.

Could work, though there has to be some kind of "non-shootout option" just so there's an opportunity for bonus BP from finding the peaceful solution, rather than "finishing the encounter".

THAT'S how it can be done!

Using the stuff I just thought up about the "local regiment" and have families of the conspirators looking to cover-up the betrayal/looking to stop the party from finding "evidence" of the mutiny. (Don't think I'm using that term right, cause isn't mutiny exclusive to ships/navy?)

Alright, gotta come up with some names and notable NPC's.

The witness: A Union soldier who saw the murder of the commander and the general, and while he and others tried to hold it together, the deserters went into a panic and stayed to make sure there weren't any witnesses. He managed to get away before the Confederates took advantage of the confusion to massacre the Union. Is incredibly bitter and will readily cuss out/insult the townsfolk if/when the party comes to ask him what happened, mostly to piss of the sherrif/jailer since they won't hear a word about their fallen sons.

The sheriff: Good man who's son was killed, and is among the loudest deniers of the regiments betrayal. Can be convinced to come with the party to the battlefield when the source of the mist and how to dispel it is uncovered.

Another significant townsperson/Possibly the owner of the local Saloon/Grocer: Also lost a son and is denies the regiments cowardice, but is well aware of the plans for betrayal as his kid sent letters home asking his dad to help him get as run away afterwards. When the group goes to find the anchor, will show up with other conspirators to kill the party and convince the sherrif/his posse to help in covering up what happened.

Here's where that difficulty check to convince one side or possibly both to stand down rather than kill the party comes in.

Deadlands difficulty checks being what they are (Foolproof=3, Incredible=11) I'm tempted to make the 'Convince Sheriff' check a 9 with a +4 to the party if they bring up the "We're trying to stop a monster created by a betrayal.", while the Saloon owner would be an 11 with a +2 to the party the other way.

The problem with that is the group as a whole has ridiculous %&$*-ing luck and I'm more than tempted to make the Sheriff an 11 and the Saloon owner a 15 because the guys will roll 20+ on various checks all the GD time...

Rather than needing someone to be touched by the Mourning mist, have letters in the possession of the Saloon owner hint that the true Anchor/cause is a deck of playing cards.

It could be a "Cause" because the soldiers needed a way to converse privately and plan out the mutiny, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to work up the guts to go through with it.

OH! Even better, it's a MARKED deck of cards they used to plan the mutiny! That's what I'll do!

The resident blessed: Trying to offer comfort to people, but thinking that lashing out in grief is counterproductive/needless. Doesn't like the idea that locals could do something cowardly but if the truth comes out, it'll help the families move on with their lives. (possibly)

Whatever/Whoever will reveal the Mist is created by a betrayal and has an anchor = I've still got nuthin'...need to work on that.