SHELTER HOUSE RULES
In my HoE campaign, I felt that the Sykers, Doomsayers, Templars and Junkers were becoming a little too prevalent. In comparison to their Weird West counterparts, their powers come relatively risk free. Add to this fact that there is really no incentive to playing a "norm" and you have a situation in which it becomes silly for most players not to consider picking one of the "big four" as a character type. As a result, one posse I worked with was comprised of three Sykers (although one was a greenie), two Doomsayers, two Junkers, one Templar and a Witch (hey, there's one oddball in every group - you've gotta love 'em). In my opinion, that was WAY too much power for a beginning posse to be able to throw around. In my view of the Wasted West, these power boys should be a bit more rare, and definitely not wandering around in packs like this. I wanted to develop a system to limit the ammount of power in the posse, provide some incentive to playing a "norm" and still maintain a degree of "Wahoo Factor" that is important in my games. Below are the rules my posse now has to follow upon experiencing a fatality and having to roll up a new character. While it does take away a bit from choice, I feel it both tones down the power of the posse and forces a player to be a bit more creative in the character creation process.
Step 1 - Concept
Players may not choose to play Junkers, Toxic Shamans,Templars, Sykers, Doomsayers, Harrowed and Cyborgs. Instead, before dealing with character concept, they must draw a card and consult the following table. A player may choose to play a witch. If this is the case, they do not draw a card and get no additional points.
2-9: The player receives 2-9 additional points to increase aptitudes or edges.
10: The player may choose to be a Junker, or receive 10 additional points.
Jack: The player may choose to be a Junker, Templar or receive 12 additional points.
Queen: The player may choose to be a Junker, Templar, Toxic Shaman or receive 14 additional points.
King: The player may choose to be a Junker, Templar, Toxic Shaman, Syker or receive 16 additional points.
Ace: The player may choose to be a Junker, Templar, Toxic Shaman, Syker, Doomsayer or receive 18 additional points.
Either Joker: The player may choose to play any of the above (inc. Harrowed or Cyborg) or receive 20 additional points to increase aptitudes or edges (Wahoo!).
If a player is not happy with the result of this draw, they can take an automatic d4 for a stat (the coordination equal to the card they drew) and discard it, and draw again. For example, Bob draws a 3 of spades.If Bob wanted to keep this card, he could play either a witch (no points) or one of the many "non-power" archetypes ("norms") starting with three free additional points to be used toward aptitudes or edges. He wants to try for something else, however, so he takes an automatic 4d4 (the card he drew was a spade) as one of his stats, discards the 3 (this just means you don't shuffle it back in) and draws again, this time getting a King of clubs. Bob keeps this card and decides to play a Templar. He gets no additional free points and when drawing cards to determine his stats, he'll only draw 11, since one stat will already be a 4d4. A player can make this draw a maximum of three times (always give your players enough rope to hang themselves with) and the last result must be taken. Any d4's taken at this step may not be discarded. Other archetypes that have special powers such as old style hucksters, hexslingers, blessed, old ways shamans or kung fu masters should be negotiated on a case by case basis with the Marshal (personally I view these types as very rare and make them an option only if a Joker is drawn). Optional Added Rule: A player who just lost their character and is starting this process to make a new one may draw an additional card for each point of grit his previous character had at the time of death and choose the best one as the first draw (hey - call it karma). This does not apply to additional draws after the first.
Step 2 - Determining Traits
Keeping any d4's from the previous step into account, the player then reshuffles the deck and draws the appropriate remaining number of cards for traits. If the player is unhappy with their draw, they can take an automatic black joker (draw for its coordination) and redraw the appropriate number of remaining cards. Using Bob as an example again, he initially draws 11 cards (remember his 4d4) and doesn't like the results for his Templar. He takes a black joker (draws a heart for its coordination) and reshuffles and draws 10 cards (two stats are now gauranteed: 4d4 and 3d12). The Marshal may choose to let the player draw for the joker's game effect or (if you're feeling like an evil bastard) may simply choose an effect for the player (they ARE getting a "free" d12 after all). [Marshal's Note: Personally, I use Kirt "Loki" Dankmyer's "Wild Card Mutation Table" for players that take this Black Joker option. This table (intended to be a bridge between the "normal" and "major" mutation tables) is jam-packed with "Gamma Worldy Wahoo Goodness" and I recommend it highly. You can find it on the Shelter's Marshal Tools Page. ] This redraw may only be done once, and the second result must be taken.Yes, by using this system it is possible for a player to end up with the effects of three jokers - WAHOO! (It has happened once in my posse so far!)
Step 3 - Other Stuff
For every $1000 a player spends at the start on guns, ammunition, armor, etc., they must assign a point to an appropriate professional skill area as a rationalization for having it all. For example, Bob wants his Templar to have great equipment to help in his fight against evil in the Wasted West, so he puts several points into belongings and dinero as edges, giving himself a hefty chunk of starting money. In addition to his sword, he wants an Infantry battle suit ($1100), a helmet ($500), combat boots ($100), an NA assault rifle ($200) a spare clip ($20) and 90 rounds of ammo ($90) (total: $2010). He decides that his Templar is an ex-NA soldier and assigns 2 points to professional: armed forces.
Players that are playing Banshee Sykers and wish to take Veteran of the Wasted West must instead take
Veteran of the Faraway War. This wonderful little option for "the Bald and the Beautiful" was designed by Jay Kyle and can be found over at the HoE library on Pinnacle's site. It was also recently cleaned up a bit and printed in Pinnacle's Epitaph #1.
If a player wishes to take any Veteran, they must submit a written background to the Marshal detailing exactly how they gained the experience that earned them the status of being considered a "veteran" (just showing up and being there doesn't cut it). If the background doesn't adequately explain, the Marshal reserves the right to not give the full fifteen points. This not only gives the characters more depth, but tends to encourage better role-play from the players.
While typically, players seem to go for the "10:10" ratio in Edges and Hindrances, there is no point limit to the number of Edges a starting player is allowed to spend on. A Marshal's Word of Warning to my own players, as well as to anyone else that decides to use this particular rule: it never pays to over-spend on Edges! While this game effect can create a load of Wahoo, abuse of it can leave a character without a much needed skill when she needs it most - too much of anything is bad! That said, a note to Marshals: as I said before, always give your players enough rope to hang themselves with. :-)
Players may keep chips from session to session, but can never start a session with more than five chips. All excess chips must be converted to bounty at the start of the session.
Sleeved cards must be used by the end of the round and cannot be held over into subsequent rounds.
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