Like a lot of games, Deadlands plays down the effects of being shot with rules that on average take numerous bullets to take down the typical man. And like many games, it does this despite the fact that this just isn't true in either the real world or the western genre. See my page on Realistic Firearms in RPGs for more background information on the subject.
To better represent the genre and to bring things a little closer to reality, the following rule changes are in effect:
Subtract one from all the Size ratings in the game to a minimum of one.
The hit location chart, and the results of damage by location are changed as shown to reflect right/left sides better. The location of the wound will also modify any TN values check for Unconsciousness and Stun.
The Left/Right sides are specified in the table to avoid a second roll. This however requires some special care when moving the hit location with raises. Such movement can't switch directly from left/right sides, the location must first move into the body and then back. Once the movement have started, lump the left/side together- the location starts on the original side. Example: Rolled hit is a 4, meaning right leg. To reach the left leg the shot must first move to 5 (lower guts) and then back to 4 which can be claimed to be left or right at the attacker's desire- selecting left leg in this example.
| Hit Location (d20) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Die Roll | Location | Wound Modifiers | Damage | TN |
| 20 | Noggin | Wound affects all actions | +2 dice | +2 |
| 15-19 | Upper Guts | Wound affects all actions | - | +0 |
| 12, 14 | Right Arm | Wound affects any action taken with the injured arm. Critical injuries prevent the use of the arm. | - | -1 |
| 11, 13 | Left Arm | - | -1 | |
| 10 | Gizzards | Wound affects all actions | +1 dice | +1 |
| 5-9 | Lower Guts | Wound affects all actions | - | +0 |
| 2, 4 | Right Leg |
Most movement is reduced 33% (round down) per wound level. Highest wound affects any action taken with the injured leg (mostly movement related checks). The character may always crawl or move at half Pace with a crutch or other support. |
- | -1 |
| 1, 3 | Left Leg | - | -1 | |
Modifiers: +2 When fightin' or Point Blank Range when shootin'
-/+ 2 Waist-high advantage when fightin'
-/+ 2 Head-high advantage when fightin'
The following table summaries the damage effects:
| Damage Levels | |||||
| Wound Level | Description | Bleeding | Vigor TN | Knockdown | Modifier |
| - | Wind | 0 | 3 | n/a | 0 |
| 1 | Light | 0 | 5 | n/a | -1 |
| 2 | Heavy | 0 | 7 | 0 | -2 |
| 3 | Serious | 1 | 9 | 1 | -3 |
| 4 | Critical | 2 | 11 | 1 | -4 |
| 5 | Maimed | 3 | 13 | 1 | -5 |
Damage is no longer cumulative in the sense that wounds in a location add together. Simply take the highest wound instead.
All bleeding wounds are applied cumulatively against the Guts and is considered a single wound, killing the character if it should ever reach 5.
In place of the standard Deadlands Stun check, characters must make a Vigor roll against unconsciousness when they suffer lethal damage. The TN value is listed in the Damage Levels table above. If the check fails the character's Wind immediately drops to zero from shock, do not roll for additional Wind damage.
The same Vigor check is used to determine if the character is stunned. If the character makes the check with at least one one raise, he shrugs it off and keeps going. If not, he's stunned until his next action card. Attacks vs. stunned characters take only half (round down) the target skill modifiers to represent their unbalanced state.
Brawling Damage can stun the character as well, if the damage (after the defender's Vigor roll) is 5 or more.
Anything doing damage in the movies has a tendency to knock people down or even backwards. Knockdown effects are noted in the Wounding Chart above.
Brawling Damage can cause knockdown as well. Divide the initial damage (before being reduced by a Vigor check) by five (round down) to determine the knockback result. Example: 12 Wind divided by 5 gives 2, and a Knockdown result of 0.
Knockdown of 0 means that the character falls in his same hex. A value of 1 means that he is knocked one hex (directly away from whatever caused the damage).
In the movies, punches thrown in fist fights tend to hit with much higher frequency than sword swings or knife thrusts. This of course is to make barroom brawls more exciting. Given the Vigor check reduction of Brawling Damage in Deadlands, this wouldn't be a bad idea in the game either for the same reason. Another common scene in movies/TV is the landing of a punch or kick in the middle of a knife fight or sword duel. The following rules are intended to reflect both of these clichés.
The target number for a non-lethal Hand-to-Hand Attack is a 3.
The target number for a lethal Hand-to-Hand Attack is a 5.
If a character making a lethal attack fails at a target number of 5, but succeeds at a target number of 3- he may inflict his normal non-lethal Fightin' damage on his target if he has a concentration in any of the unarmed Fightin' Aptitudes (Brawlin', Martial Arts, or Cinematic). This represents slipping a punch in while blades are swinging.
Like many rpg systems, Deadlands characters are just as easy of a target if they are greenhorns or legends of the west. However things just don't seem to work that way in the western genre where the more impressive heroes seen able to walk through a hail of bullets while more common men are dropping like flies..
Besides, I've sent a great deal of time making those hoglegs more dangerous, now it's time to swing things back a little.
Characters have a Passive Ranged Defense equal to half (round down) whatever combat Aptitude (Shootin, Bow, Fightin', Throwin) they happen to be using at the time (meaning in their last action). If they weren't using a combat Aptitude, they can use whichever is higher.
The Passive Ranged Defense is added to the TN of anyone attempting to hit them with a ranged weapon. Example: John Smith has a Shootin Aptitude of 5, that means that anyone attempting to plug him has to add 2 to his TN.
The Passive Ranged Defense may not be used when the character is unaware of the coming attack.
The character also halves this this bonus (round down) again if he is moving directly towards the attacker in open ground. "Towards the attacker" in this case means within 60 degrees as judged by the hex map.
In short, this functions much like a character's Brawlin', but in respect to range combat instead of hand-to-hand combat and at half the effectiveness to represent that fact that it is more difficult to duck bullets.
In the official rules, this is a straight up roll that is actually less likely to to be helpful the more difficult the attack was for your opponent in the first place.
Use the following change:
The Vamoosin' die roll is used to replace the base 'to hit' TN of 5 (or 3 in the case of brawling attacks). The TN remains unchanged unless the player rolls higher that than the base number- unless he goes bust. A bust Vamoosin' roll means the base TN is reduced by 1. The Vamoosin' TN is then modified normally just like any attack.
Secondary characters are rather easily taken out in the western genre. To reflect this, any wound to minor characters characters are increased by one step.
Minor Character status is determined by the GM, but generally it references unnamed NPCs.