[Deadlands Relaoded] Got the bundle, what now?

[Valyar]

The sales this year was unexpected and I couldn't resist to get the Deadlands bundle. Playing gunslinger in the wild west is something that I have wanted for a long time, but unfortunately I will be the GM again.

So, I am new to Savage Worlds, I played few games and watched numerous YouTube videos on the system, Deadlands setting review and some 50 Fathoms and Deadlands session recordings, mainly from the Digital GM (as he has the best noise/audio quality ratio).

The question is - what is the best order in which to play the scenarios that come with the bundle so we can learn the system and move throught the adventures in a consistent way? What is the "classical" way to start Deadlands game, which adventures to pick and stitch together to evolve into some form of campaign?

Is this possible with all those adventures, or some are stand-alone and can't be made part of a long game without too much work?

Any advise is appreciated.

[Talyn]

Several are stand-alone adventures. Some of the more common one shots or starters are Guess Who's Coming to Donner? and Coffin Rock.

The Flood is the first Plot Point Campaign (PPC) which has a Western Meets Mystic China feel to it. Each PPC is set in a specific year and are intended to be played as a single campaign (ie. each one starts new Novice characters and ranks them up as the story progresses; you don't take the same characters from one PPC to the next.)

[Valyar]

Thanks Talyn! So from the bundle there are two PCC - Blood Drive and The Flood, all the rest are adventures and short adventures.

Is this list accurate?



Plot Point Campaign: Deadlands Reloaded: Blood Drive 1 - Bad Times on the Goodnight
Plot Point Campaign: Deadlands Reloaded: Blood Drive 2 - High Plains Drover
Plot Point Campaign: Deadlands Reloaded: Blood Drive 3 - Range War!
Plot Point Campaign: Deadlands Reloaded: The Flood
Adventure: Deadlands Reloaded: Knights with no Armor (Savage Worlds)
6x Short Adventures: Deadlands Reloaded: Saddle Sore (Savage Worlds)
Adventure: Deadlands Reloaded: Coffin Rock
Adventure: Deadlands Reloaded: For Whom the Whistle Blows
Supplement, Players: Deadlands - The 1880 Smith & Robards Catalog
Supplement, SettingDeadlands Reloaded: Grim Prairie Tales
Adventure: Deadlands Reloaded: Don't Drink the Water
Adventure: Deadlands Reloaded: Murder on the Hellstromme Express
Supplement, Setting: South o' the Border Trail Guide
Supplement, Setting: The Great Northwest Trail Guide
Adventure: Deadlands Reloaded: Guess Who's Coming to Donner?
Deadlands Reloaded: Dead Men Walkin'
Deadlands Reloaded: Devil's Night

[Talyn]

Blood Drive is not a PPC, it's just a trilogy of adventures. I don't even own them so not sure if they're actually chronological or not, but I presume they are?

PPC-wise the official order is:


The Flood (1879)
The Last Sons (1880)
Stone and a Hard Place (1881) (currently in development for Fantasy Grounds)
Good Intentions (1882) (unsure if this has been assigned a developer yet or not)


Along with Stone and a Hard Place, I'm doing the tie-in adventure A Tale of Two Killers which is not required, but does tie into the PPC if you wish to include it along the way.

[ddavison]

I think Blood Drive is supposed to be a good way to introduce players to a wide variety of Deadlands elements. I ran a group through Coffin Rock before going off into The Flood and that worked well too. I modified Coffin Rock to have them all wake up in wooden coffins around a campfire outside of town. When they wondered into town they didn't know where or why they were there and they started wondering if they were still alive. It does a great job of having the environment change with the rising Fear Level as well. Very thematic.

[Valyar]

I modified Coffin Rock to have them all wake up in wooden coffins around a campfire outside of town. When they wondered into town they didn't know where or why they were there and they started wondering if they were still alive. It does a great job of having the environment change with the rising Fear Level as well. Very thematic.
After I get familiar with the adventures. I might hijack this, sounds like fun start :D

Thanks for the suggestions, Talyn and Doug!

[mac40k]

You may not be aware that the Deadlands Reloaded stuff was released before the current version of Savage Worlds. One of the big changes was the removal of Guts as a core skill and relegating it to a Setting Rule. In order to use the FG Deadlands Reloaded stuff, refer to https://www.peginc.com/store/deadlands-deluxe-ified-pdf/. The biggest thing is you will just have to have players add the Guts skill manually to their character sheet since it isn't available for drag-n-drop in the Skills list anymore.

[Valyar]

So Deadlands products are not updated to reflect that. Thanks for the heads up, mac40k! Not sure how big is this, still going through the core system :)

[Topdecker]

I ran my players through some one-shots and then a few adventures in Grim Prairie trails as I steered them to the Coffin Rock adventure. Once that finished, I moved them on to THE FLOOD.

I originally had planned on running BLOOD DRIVE, but it seemed too long. I just wanted enough adventure to get the players to a seasoned level before starting The Flood. Coffin Rock was recommended as a good, fairly concise adventure that helped players learn about the Deadlands prior to starting a big plot point adventure. The Flood - after it gets started - is very free form with plenty of distractions and things to do that are not plot related.

Top

[Valyar]

I am finally ready to GM Deadlands Reloaded - finished the reading of SW Rulebook, DLR Player's and Marshal's guide and have "Don't Drink the Water" and "Coffin Rock" ready for my gunslingers. I didn't think the setting and the system will appeal so much to me. Quite exciting times ahead!!!! And so much adventures are published already and many in the FG... <3

Question: How to properly configure the gatling equipment that is shooting from 1 to 3 damage dice? The default strings do not work properly in combat.