The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Lot's of definite spoilers in this review - so if you're a player and you've been avoiding the Marshal only sections of the rulebooks, you'll probably want to skip the rest.

_Major Strengths_

Storyline advancement: Do you want to know how the Civil War went, and the latest on how the Rail Wars are going? You've got it. Needed a whole bunch of plot ideas to throw your posse against? You've got it. Looking for spy action, beautiful masked heroines, Rail Wars action, guerrilla warfare, lone gunfighters, shootouts, or twisted and vile abominations? You've got... well, you get the point.

_Major Weaknesses_

Somewhat out of focus: The one thing that Tales O' Terror does without reservation is to add new plot hooks. It introduces new mechanics, duplicating a couple of them from Law Dogs but To'T adds whole new ones not to be found anywhere outside of their new setting "Hell on Earth". (probably why they were included - so that the two settings remain with the same rules structure) It continues the story of some of the major plots from Quick and the Dead, but not all of them. Tales O' Terror needed to be much bigger to cover the various plot elements mentioned throughout the previous DL books. The Prospector's army is not mentioned (though we know it's eventual outcome from Hell on Earth). No mention of the Explorer's Society, the Twilight Legion, or the Ghost Dancers. Raven does get a brief mention, but Stone and Hellstrome's updates are left for other books (Heart of Darkness adventure and City of Gloom respectively). Likewise, no mention of Emperor Norton, the 108 Righteous Bandits, or several other established groups in the Great Maze. Santa Anna's army received a few one line mentions, but I expect he will get a broader treatment in the rumored Mexico sourcebook. Hopefully the Hoyle/Biron element will be explored in the upcoming New Orleans supplement.

_Strengths_

New Rules: In general they rules are good solid changes to the system - usually coming from player feedback about what they don't like. While I am not a fan of all the new rules (fate chips instead of XP - bleah, and according to the rules my characters can still start an Overawe test of wills by lighting a stick of dynamite and dropping it at their feet and walking out of the explosion), I am an incredible fan of companies that listen to their players.

Dealing with the issues instead of sidestepping 'em: The rationale behind the South's freeing of their slaves in the DL setting is further explained, taking it a step back from seeming like a politically correct avoidance of the issue. In a nutshell it has to do with international politics and a manpower shortage. Whether or not the South would really free all of it's slaves is (and has previously been) a matter for debate elsewhere.

_Weaknesses_

"See the stats/reference/rules in book XXX": At a rough guess the marshal's section has a reference to another book about every other page. Normally I would call this a major weakness, but the alternative is to add another 5-10 pages of info that is cut and pasted from other sourcebooks adding $$$ to the cost for information that I already own. Maybe I'm just spoiled from the Deadlands adventures - they have been really great about not requiring access to anything but the main rulebook.

Ravinites: A "new" organization. The first mention of Ravenites I've seen are the technophile Indians from Hell on Earth. Now there are Ravenites in the Deadlands setting - being set up to become the HoE organization. Before this Tales O' Terror and Hell On Earth, a Ravenite was someone to shoot as being a follower of Raven. Indians in Ghost Dancers were either followers of the Old Ways or not. I understand that they were just trying to find an anchor for the organization, but it comes across as kinda forced.

Disinformation: Not enough disinformation in the player's section of To'T. With two or three exceptions (out of the dozens of plot hooks given), the Tombstone Epitaph is right on the money. I think that an example of a perfect mix of information and disinformation was in City of Gloom.

Fear Levels: There is some inconsistency to the fear levels. Vicksburg has a fear level of 3, while the Cauldron has a fear level of 5. From what I've read, those numbers should be reversed. Vicksburg had the siege, starvation, disease, and still has monsters hanging around eating people. The Cauldron was just the site of a Rail Wars mixup.

_Other_ (comments in general that might not be about the book in question)

No resolution of storylines: While several of the previous plotlines were discussed, nothing was resolved. The Civil War has advanced to become the early stages of WWI (including international involvement), and the Rail Wars had a major battle in the Rockies. This tactic has both pro and con. Pro - if you're posse has become involved in the plot, their action's are not going to be "reversed" by the official timeline. Con - this could lead to the feeling that nothing ever resolves. Personally, I like ongoing and changing storylines. But - I also worry about a wide gap between the veterans of the game and those who are just getting into the Weird West. (For an example of that worry - the difference between teaching someone MTG when it first came out, and then trying to teach it two years later.... "well no, it doesn't work that way because that creature has a special ability - so that rule I told you about ten minutes ago doesn't apply)

Rules, rules everywhere: There are now new and revised combat rules scattered over several rulebooks, notably Quick and the Dead, Law Dogs, and Tales O' Terror. Hopefully they will all be combined and posted to the web site to cut down on the RPG trend of haves (die hard fans who own everything) vs. have nots (gamers who just own the main book) ending up playing with wildly different mechanics.

Too rapid a deadline?: There was an original schedule that said that X number of things must be out by Gen-Con '98. I /think/ that Tales of Terror and Law Dogs suffered from being too close to the crunch. They both have a feel of ex miscellaneous - they both cover a wide variety of info and there is a feel that they got stuck in these books in order to have the Deadlands setting "caught-up" by the Hell on Earth release. Now I've said that before about a DL product, notably Derailed, and was informed that such was not the case. Nonetheless, that is the feeling that I get from these two books. Hopefully they won't fall behind again. Though they now have two full settings with a third in the works.

International politics: Now that the war has shifted to a WWI style combat, the international scene will need to be padded out. Though I suppose France can be covered in a Mexico book, and England can be covered in a Canadian book.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Tales of Terror: 1877
Author: Steve Long, Christopher McGlothlin, John Hopler, Shane Hensley Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Cost: $20.00 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-889546-30-5 Capsule Review by Allan Seyberth on 08/12/98. Genre tags: none	Lot's of definite spoilers in this review - so if you're a player and you've been avoiding the Marshal only sections of the rulebooks, you'll probably want to skip the rest. _Major Strengths_ Storyline advancement: Do you want to know how the Civil War went, and the latest on how the Rail Wars are going? You've got it. Needed a whole bunch of plot ideas to throw your posse against? You've got it. Looking for spy action, beautiful masked heroines, Rail Wars action, guerrilla warfare, lone gunfighters, shootouts, or twisted and vile abominations? You've got... well, you get the point. _Major Weaknesses_ Somewhat out of focus: The one thing that Tales O' Terror does without reservation is to add new plot hooks. It introduces new mechanics, duplicating a couple of them from Law Dogs but To'T adds whole new ones not to be found anywhere outside of their new setting "Hell on Earth". (probably why they were included - so that the two settings remain with the same rules structure) It continues the story of some of the major plots from Quick and the Dead, but not all of them. Tales O' Terror needed to be much bigger to cover the various plot elements mentioned throughout the previous DL books. The Prospector's army is not mentioned (though we know it's eventual outcome from Hell on Earth). No mention of the Explorer's Society, the Twilight Legion, or the Ghost Dancers. Raven does get a brief mention, but Stone and Hellstrome's updates are left for other books (Heart of Darkness adventure and City of Gloom respectively). Likewise, no mention of Emperor Norton, the 108 Righteous Bandits, or several other established groups in the Great Maze. Santa Anna's army received a few one line mentions, but I expect he will get a broader treatment in the rumored Mexico sourcebook. Hopefully the Hoyle/Biron element will be explored in the upcoming New Orleans supplement. _Strengths_ New Rules: In general they rules are good solid changes to the system - usually coming from player feedback about what they don't like. While I am not a fan of all the new rules (fate chips instead of XP - bleah, and according to the rules my characters can still start an Overawe test of wills by lighting a stick of dynamite and dropping it at their feet and walking out of the explosion), I am an incredible fan of companies that listen to their players. Dealing with the issues instead of sidestepping 'em: The rationale behind the South's freeing of their slaves in the DL setting is further explained, taking it a step back from seeming like a politically correct avoidance of the issue. In a nutshell it has to do with international politics and a manpower shortage. Whether or not the South would really free all of it's slaves is (and has previously been) a matter for debate elsewhere. _Weaknesses_ "See the stats/reference/rules in book XXX": At a rough guess the marshal's section has a reference to another book about every other page. Normally I would call this a major weakness, but the alternative is to add another 5-10 pages of info that is cut and pasted from other sourcebooks adding $$$ to the cost for information that I already own. Maybe I'm just spoiled from the Deadlands adventures - they have been really great about not requiring access to anything but the main rulebook. Ravinites: A "new" organization. The first mention of Ravenites I've seen are the technophile Indians from Hell on Earth. Now there are Ravenites in the Deadlands setting - being set up to become the HoE organization. Before this Tales O' Terror and Hell On Earth, a Ravenite was someone to shoot as being a follower of Raven. Indians in Ghost Dancers were either followers of the Old Ways or not. I understand that they were just trying to find an anchor for the organization, but it comes across as kinda forced. Disinformation: Not enough disinformation in the player's section of To'T. With two or three exceptions (out of the dozens of plot hooks given), the Tombstone Epitaph is right on the money. I think that an example of a perfect mix of information and disinformation was in City of Gloom. Fear Levels: There is some inconsistency to the fear levels. Vicksburg has a fear level of 3, while the Cauldron has a fear level of 5. From what I've read, those numbers should be reversed. Vicksburg had the siege, starvation, disease, and still has monsters hanging around eating people. The Cauldron was just the site of a Rail Wars mixup. _Other_ (comments in general that might not be about the book in question) No resolution of storylines: While several of the previous plotlines were discussed, nothing was resolved. The Civil War has advanced to become the early stages of WWI (including international involvement), and the Rail Wars had a major battle in the Rockies. This tactic has both pro and con. Pro - if you're posse has become involved in the plot, their action's are not going to be "reversed" by the official timeline. Con - this could lead to the feeling that nothing ever resolves. Personally, I like ongoing and changing storylines. But - I also worry about a wide gap between the veterans of the game and those who are just getting into the Weird West. (For an example of that worry - the difference between teaching someone MTG when it first came out, and then trying to teach it two years later.... "well no, it doesn't work that way because that creature has a special ability - so that rule I told you about ten minutes ago doesn't apply) Rules, rules everywhere: There are now new and revised combat rules scattered over several rulebooks, notably Quick and the Dead, Law Dogs, and Tales O' Terror. Hopefully they will all be combined and posted to the web site to cut down on the RPG trend of haves (die hard fans who own everything) vs. have nots (gamers who just own the main book) ending up playing with wildly different mechanics. Too rapid a deadline?: There was an original schedule that said that X number of things must be out by Gen-Con '98. I /think/ that Tales of Terror and Law Dogs suffered from being too close to the crunch. They both have a feel of ex miscellaneous - they both cover a wide variety of info and there is a feel that they got stuck in these books in order to have the Deadlands setting "caught-up" by the Hell on Earth release. Now I've said that before about a DL product, notably Derailed, and was informed that such was not the case. Nonetheless, that is the feeling that I get from these two books. Hopefully they won't fall behind again. Though they now have two full settings with a third in the works. International politics: Now that the war has shifted to a WWI style combat, the international scene will need to be padded out. Though I suppose France can be covered in a Mexico book, and England can be covered in a Canadian book. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Tales of Terror: 1877