Firstly a very quick question about items, both character and standard items. Do characters have access to all these basic thing at all times without having to ‘Acquire’ in downtime ?
On the background I wondered about how people are in general playing the deadlands ? In your game do your players need to wear face masks and air tanks they way I’ve heard described in the RollPlay Assassin’s game ? Is this the same everywhere (eg among the horse tribes of Severos) ? Just curious.
Thanks
1) Yes. The part I find confusing is with the Leech’s items that go inside a Bandolier.
Bandolier: During downtime, you automatically refill your bandoliers, so long as you have reasonable access to a supplier or workshop.
Sample Creations (p 226) shows an example of a player crafting Drown Powder.
Maybe a Leech can have this stuff without much difficulty (depending on crew Tier?), but everyone else needs to spend a downtime crafting it.
2) I cannot help.
On the deathlands question, we play it that there are deadly clouds of fog in the deathlands (that have different awful effects; yellow fog that’s like mustard gas, red fog that turns you violent, purple fog that creates nightmarish hallucinations, etc). If there’s no fog around, you don’t need a gas-mask – but woe betide you if you get caught in the fog without one.
Some areas of the world get less deathland fog than others – like the great plains of Severos. And perhaps the nomads have their own folk wisdom to deal with it; they’re nomads, so when they see the banks of fog rolling in they ride on. And maybe they know of certain plants that can be chewed to counteract the effects, in a pinch.
1) As far as I can tell you never have to “Acquire Asset” to get anything on the Standard Items list (p.88) or any of your playbook Items. During a score you’re limited by Load to how many you’re carrying, but you still can have any of them if you have Load left.
During downtime, I’d say you can still also use any of those items, if it matters. Still not more than Load of them at once, though.
From my reading of the Leech, I think they can have access to the 13 listed special items whenever they have bandolier space available, and they have bandolier space whenever they have Load available. So, most of the time. But they can’t give any of those alchemicals or arcane items away, so if anyone else wants to have them they’d have to craft them. (In practice, I imagine Crafting will more often be used to make formulas that are not on the bandolier freebie list.)
I think you only Acquire if you want something that is higher quality than you usually are allowed to have, or if you need a bunch of something for your gang, or if you want something that’s not available otherwise, like a vehicle, or a set of five authentic Circle of Flame robes.
2) My personal preference is that the deathlands are like the Sahara or Mad Max, not outer space. That is, they’re hard to live in. They’ll kill you if you’re even a little careless. Anyone who has a choice, really, would rather live somewhere else. But if you’re tough you can probably survive a few days even if you’re completely unprepared.
But I also think the deathlands are deliberately vague so you can do whatever seems interesting to you.
Thanks everyone.
2) In my Deathlands, the face mask/air tank combos are enchanted with arcane power to protect one from possession because there isn’t anything inherently “poisonous” about the air in the Deathlands areas by themselves. You mistakenly obtain a mundane mas/tank combo and you might as well be wearing plain clothes.
The suit is just one method out of many to protect from possession in the Deathlands (such as the silver nail rings of The Silver Nails wear).
The Deathland Scavengers and the horse tribes of Serveros are not riding around in Victorian diving suits in my world…
Omari Brooks That’s in interesting take,I have a few issues with the idea of it being full of miasma and poison fog, the gear being magical tech is a cool idea.
1) The standard and character items are things you are assumed to have access to without great trouble (of course a Leech would have alchemicals, a Slide would a disguise kit, and anyone going into a fight would think to bring armor or guns). Acquire Asset is for the items you wouldn’t obviously think to have or would be more difficult to easily replenish.
2) I’ve always pictured the Deathlands as being like the Fallout wasteland–the environment isn’t that deadly for the most part, but the life (and undead) within it are. I also like the idea that people wear masks more out of superstitious fear than necessity.