Mouth of Hell Rulebook, Online Edition [INLINE] Table o' Contents * Welcome to the Weird West! * Welcome to Deadlands! * Them Cards * Playin' * Startin' the Game * Table Layout * Controllin' Deeds * Sequence o' Play 1. Gambling Phase 2. Upkeep Phase 3. High Noon 4. Nightfall * Winnin' the Game * Shoppin' * Movin' Around * Shootin' * Shootout Sequence * Draw! * Jobs * ...An' All the Rest * Glossary * Job and Shootout Example * What's New in These Rules * Clarifications and Errata Welcome to the Weird West! The year is 1876, but the history is not our own. The Civil War grinds on. A huge earthquake has sunk California into the sea, and formed a labyrinth of sea-canyons known as the Great Maze. The Sioux have retaken the Dakotas. The Coyote Confederation dances the Ghost Dance on the high plains. Monsters stalk the deserts and prowl the dark streets of the boomtowns. And the dead walk among us. This is the world of Deadlands. In 1863, Raven, a vengeful American Indian shaman, released the manitous-demons that had been imprisoned in the Hunting Grounds for centuries-and a flood of supernatural energy. This awakened the Reckoners, mysterious beings that use fear to create deadlands on Earth-areas where humanity's terror is so great it actually warps the land. The manitous and other monsters that roam the Weird West create fear for the Reckoners, though to what sinister end the Reckoners work has yet to be revealed. But where there are monsters, there are also heroes. These brave souls are hex-slingin' hucksters, Bible-thumpin' preachers, deadly gunfighters, fearless American Indian braves, wizened shamans, and mad scientists armed with weird steampunk gadgets. Gomorra, the place some call Doomtown, needs such heroes. A huge vein of the superfuel known as ghost rock was struck in the Maze there, turning it into a boomtown overnight. Ghost rock miners search the twisting caverns or chip away at the faces of the Maze's towering mesas. After them come bartenders and soiled doves, outlaws and law dogs, politicians and other hard-bitten folk, all desperate to fleece the miners of the rock they spend their days scratching out of the unforgiving canyon walls. Gomorra's a hard place, and most that come to town these days seem to leave it in a pine box. That's why they call it Doomtown. [snip] Welcome to Deadlands! Those of you that've been to Gomorra before can skip to "What's New in These Rules" to find out what's new. As for the rest o' you, read on! Deadlands is the fast-action game of Weird West shoot-'em-ups and strange horror. Pinnacle Entertainment Group pioneered the Weird West, the setting for Deadlands, in its Deadlands roleplaying game and the Deadlands: The Great Rail Wars miniatures battle game. In the card game, you're the leader of a Weird Western Outfit in Gomorra, the biggest boomtown in the Maze. You need to organize your gang and manage your resources to bring Gomorra under your control. To grind other players under your bootheels, you need to build a little empire, protect it, and make sure your foes fail. You've got friends to fall back on: gunfighters, mad scientists, and stranger sorts, includin' those who've been to Hell and back. What Is Deadlands? This here's a tradin' card game, or TCG. You get sixty cards in the starter deck box this rulebook came with. You can fill out your deck with Saddle Bags (booster packs). New cards come out about every three months or so and advance a story that goes along with the game. How Does It Work? You need at least two people (one of 'em bein' you), a deck o' cards for each o' you, and about twenty counters-beads, pennies, shell casings, poker chips, or the like-per player. The Deck Buildin' a deck can be half the fun of a game like Deadlands. You can make a deck any way you like, so long as you don't have more than four copies of a card in it. You only get to use fifty-two cards (not countin' your Outfit card and Jokers), so choose wisely. For your first game, though, you probably just want to play with the cards you've got. Them Cards There are six kinds o' cards you can put in your deck: Dudes, Deeds, Goods, Events, Actions, and Spells. These represent different folks, things folks can have, occurrences, things folks can do, magic, and places for folks to go in Gomorra. You also have an Outfit card, which isn't counted as a part of your deck. Unique Cards Most Dudes and Deeds are unique, meanin' only one Deed or Dude of a given name can be in play or at Boot Hill at a time. (Boot Hill is where your killed and destroyed cards go.) You can have plenty of copies of a card in your deck, but you can't put a Dude or Deed into play if it's already in play or at Boot Hill. Some other types of cards can be unique, too; the same rules apply. Some Dudes and Deeds are Non-Unique, meanin' their type is pretty common. Even if your opponent has Non-Unique card in play, you can put yours into play, too. You still can't personally play more than one copy of a Non-Unique card or have two copies of one at your Boot Hill. Non-Unique cards also have special "card memory" (see "...An' All the Rest"). Dude Let's cover all the bits of this card one at a time. Pay close attention here, because a Dude has just about everything you might encounter on a card durin' your visit to Gomorra. poker value Every card (except Jokers) in your deck has a poker suit and value. This is for when you use the card in a poker hand durin' play. The value is a rough indication of how powerful the Dude is. Aces always count as 1s (ones), so they're low in poker hands. Bullet rating/Bullet bonus Bullet rating is a gunfighter's shootin' ability. If a Dude has a Weapon with a "+" number here-like +1-the Dude'll get that bonus to his or her Bullet rating. Influence/Influence bonus Dudes with Influence (a red poker chip) can get folks to do what they want. They can take control of properties around Gomorra for you. If a Dude takes on a card with a "+" number here, the Dude'll get that bonus to his or her Influence. Outfit symbol This shows what crowd a card belongs to, such as Law Dogs or Blackjacks. An Outfit symbol on a Dude means other Outfits that hire the Dude have to pay the Dude extra ghost rock each turn to keep the Dude workin' for 'em. Dudes without symbols are Drifters. They don't cost any extra and aren't part of an Outfit. ghost rock cost This is what you gotta pay to hire a Dude, buy a Deed, buy Goods, take an Action, or buy a Spell. Upkeep cost/Production Upkeep cost is what you have to pay to keep a card workin' for you. If there's a "+" number here, the thing has ghost rock Production instead. You can get ghost rock from some Deeds, fer example, to pay Dudes' Upkeep and buy more Deeds. There's more about this in "Controllin' Deeds" and in the "Upkeep Phase" section. text box This gives you all kinds of good information about the card, includin' details on special skills (like a Dude bein' a Mad Scientist, Shaman, or Huckster), how to use the card in the game if there's anything special about it, and any special actions the card can take. The text at the bottom in italics is "flavor text." It tells you a little somethin' about the thing the card represents. Flavor text doesn't affect the game, but it gives you an idea of what makes a card interestin' in the story you're playin' out. Deed Deeds are property in Gomorra. Some are buildin's. Others are ghost rock mines. They usually produce ghost rock, and some give you special abilities. You get a Deed's ghost rock Production every turn unless somebody else's Dudes take control of it (see "Controllin' Deeds" under "Playin' "). Most information on Deeds is the same as on Dudes. The one exception is Control Points. Control Points are in the same place on a Deed as Influence is on a Dude, but a Control Point chip is blue instead of red. If a Deed doesn't have a blue chip, it's not worth any Control Points. Control Points are how you win the game. If, at the end of a day, you control Deeds with more Control Points than your opponent's Dudes' total Influence, you win the game. Keep careful track o' your Influence to make sure nobody sneaks a victory past you. You can use the Influence track on the inside front cover of this rulebook. Make sure everybody can see everybody else's Influence total all the time. Goods Goods-Weapons, Horses, Hats, and other such tools o' the trade-outfit Dudes with everything they need to get their jobs done. Those Mad Scientist folks cook up some wacky Gadgets, and them Huckster types even dig up some weird stuff. You place Goods cards under Dudes to attach the Goods cards to the Dudes. A Goods card either improves things like Bullet rating or Influence or gives its Dude an ability. Dudes like to keep their Goods close at hand: they take 'em along if they leave your employ and are buried with 'em if they get themselves killed. Event Events are occurrences that happen sort of randomly in the game. You put 'em in your deck because you're hopin' they'll help you somehow in the game, but you never know when they're gonna come up. The best part about Events is that your opponent never sees 'em comin'. That's what gives you the edge. An Event takes effect if it turns up in a Gambling Phase Draw hand (see "Sequence o' Play" under "Playin' "). With a Labor Dispute, for instance, Strikes each produce 2 less chunks of ghost rock for the turn. You gotta keep your workers happy-the ghost rock won't mine itself. Action Actions are things you or your Dudes can do to advance your purpose o' controllin' Gomorra. You're gonna use a lot of 'em. There are three kinds of actions: Noon actions, Shootout actions, and Reactions. You do Noon actions durin' High Noon, Shootout actions right before you draw in a shootout, and Reactions whenever they get triggered. I'll explain all these things more later. Most actions come from Action cards played from your Play hand-the hand that contains all the Dudes, Deeds, Goods, and Spells you can play this turn. These Actions wind up in your discard pile when you're done with 'em. Other actions come from cards in play, like Dudes or Deeds. To use one of those, once per turn you can just say you're usin' it and then do what it says. If a card (except a Spell) has multiple actions on it, you can use each of its actions once each turn. If an action is canceled, any costs (bootin', discardin', etc.) still happen. If players ever want to take an action at the same time, start with the Winner of the Gambling Phase (see "Sequence o' Play" under "Playin' ") and go clockwise. Spell Some Dudes-like Hucksters, Shamans, and Blessed-have special skills. Those Dudes've tapped into higher powers. Spell cards represent the spells and abilities these Dudes can learn. You can attach a Spell card to a Dude if the Dude has the right skill: only Hucksters can cast Hexes, only Shaman can call Spirits, and only Blessed can perform Miracles. Spells are like Goods, in that Dudes like to keep 'em close at hand: they take 'em along if they leave your employ and are buried with 'em if they get themselves killed. You can only use each Spell card once per turn, even if it has more than one action on it (more than one action just means you have to declare which action you're usin' before you use the Spell each time). A Dude with more than one copy of a Spell card, though, can use each copy once per turn. A booted Dude can use Spells that don't require bootin'. These powers are unpredictable and don't always work the way a Dude wants. Each time one of your Dudes uses a Spell, you have to make a skill check (see "...An' All the Rest"). Outfit Card Your Outfit card-also called your home-tells you everything special about your Outfit. Though it's a location in Gomorra where Dudes can go, it's not a Deed. It includes your Outfit symbol, starting ghost rock, and startin' Production. Your Outfit card matches the back of your deck box. You can even use the deck box as your Outfit card. The side of the box describes your Outfit's stake in Gomorra. More than one person can play the same Outfit. If someone else has the same Outfit as you, you'll just have to fight that much harder. "The Cards Are Always Right" Some cards do pretty crazy things. If a card contradicts a rule, you'd better believe it can do what it says. The cards are always right. Also, for those of you who've been down this road before, this rulebook overrules all previous rulebooks. Bootin' Cards Most times when you use a card's abilities, the card tells you to boot it-turn it sideways 90 degrees. If a card's booted, it can't be booted again until it's unbooted-turned straight up. Cards come into play unbooted. Playin' You and the other players have got conflictin' plans for Gomorra. To keep your opponents from ruinin' the town, you need to get Control Points and Victory Points. Victory Points are permanent Control Points that you can keep track of usin' tokens or by tallyin' on a piece of paper. (Cards'll tell you when you earn 'em.) Startin' the Game Pick your Outfit and get yourself a deck o' fifty-two cards together (not countin' your Outfit card and Jokers). Beginnin' with the Mouth of Hell expansion, some Outfits have more than one home (either the back o' your deck box or the card that's just like it) that you can choose from. You can only have one home, so choose the one that has special abilities you'd rather have for your gang. Make sure you've got about ten or twenty counters per player to represent ghost rock. Heap 'em on the table to make the Bank. Take your Outfit card and put it in front o' you. On it, there's a picture of a brown bag with a number in it where the Upkeep cost/Production is on Dudes and Deeds. That's how much ghost rock you start the game with. Take that much ghost rock from the Bank now. You can spend some ghost rock now to start with up to five Dudes under your control in town-the first members of your gang. Take these out o' your deck before shufflin' and put 'em face-down. They can be from your Outfit and Drifters, but you can't hire other Outfits' Dudes 'til after play starts. Oh, and startin' with Dudes ain't considered "bringing them into play," just so you know. Don't spend all your ghost rock on these Dudes. If you do, you won't be able to pay for stuff like Deeds. On the other hand, if you don't start with a Dude or two, somebody else might take Gomorra right away. Everybody reveals who they plan to hire at the same time. Players revealin' the same Dude (unless the Dude's Non-Unique) each draw the top card of their own deck. The player with the lowest-value card keeps the Dude. The others shuffle the Dude back in their decks. To pay for the Dudes you start with, toss the ghost rock for 'em into the Bank. These Dudes start at your home unbooted. Now shuffle your deck and draw five cards for your Play hand. Table Layout After you use a card, it usually goes to your discard pile. If you run out o' cards, shuffle up your discard pile and make that your new deck. Some cards are aced (killed) durin' play. If a card you own is aced, it goes into your Boot Hill. Boot Hill is a discard pile that you do not shuffle back into your deck when you run out of cards. All cards in play can be viewed by all players. Put your home in front of you. This starts your street-the row of Deeds you own (though your home, remember, isn't a Deed). Deeds are are in town unless they contain the words Strike or Out of Town. When you bring an in-town Deed into play, put it at one end o' your street, adjacent to the location at that end. As players place their Deeds, the play area becomes a town map. New in-town Deeds make your street longer. If an in-town Deed with locations on both sides is destroyed, the two locations adjacent to it move together and become adjacent to each other. Strikes and other out-of-town Deeds are outside Gomorra and not adjacent to anything. When you bring one of these into play, put it off to the side or behind your street. Controllin' Deeds You'll probably own Deeds you bring into play for the rest of the game. But just because you own a Deed doesn't mean you control it. (You always control your home, and no one ever controls the Town Square.) Whenever a player has the most Influence at a Deed, that player controls it, even if someone else owns it. If a card refers to "you," it's talkin' about its controller. If you control a Deed, you get its Control Points and you are the only player who can use that Deed's abilities. Some Deeds have abilities that only the owner can use, but they say so, like this: "Owner Reaction: Boot this Deed to...". A Deed's controller can change more'n a couple o' times a turn. These things happen. This doesn't destroy the Deed, move it, boot it, or otherwise affect it. If there's a tie for the most Influence (even a 0-0 tie), the owner has control, even if the owner's not part o' the tie. Durin' the Upkeep Phase, you collect ghost rock from Deeds you both own and control. If you own a Deed but don't control it, you're outta luck. On the other hand, if you don't control a Deed, you don't have to pay any Upkeep on it. If a Deed's owner and controller are different players, no one gains or loses ghost rock from it. If a Deed is ever destroyed, any Dudes that happen to be at it have to go home. They boot if they weren't already booted. Sequence o' Play A turn in Deadlands has four phases: the Gambling Phase, the Upkeep Phase, High Noon, and Nightfall. 1. Gambling Phase At the beginnin' of each turn, every player antes up 1 ghost rock. If you haven't got any, just borrow one from the Bank. (Pay it back in the Upkeep Phase before you do anything else.) Then players set aside their Play hands and draw five-card Draw hands. You can't play cards from Draw hands; all you care about with them is their poker values. This is lowball. Unlike other Deadlands poker hands, the lowest hand wins. (Players with exactly tied hands-like A, 2, 3, 5, K and A, 2, 3, 5, K-draw again to break ties.) The back of these rules includes a hand-rank cheat sheet. The player with the lowest poker hand, called the Winner for the turn, gets all the anted ghost rock. The Winner gets to take the first action each phase o' the turn and whenever players want to take an action at the same time. After you determine the Winner, check to see if any Event cards turned up in any Draw hands. If they did, the instructions on those Events immediately carry out. Start with the Event with the highest value and work to the one with the lowest. If there's a tie, start with the Winner and go clockwise. Each Event can only take effect once per turn, even if it's canceled, so discard any duplicates without effect. Once all Events are dealt with, discard lowball hands. 2. Upkeep Phase The first thing you do in the Upkeep Phase is collect all the ghost rock your cards have been producin'. Add together all the Production numbers on all your cards and take that much ghost rock from the Bank. If a Deed's owner doesn't control it, nobody gets its Production. You promised to pay a bunch o' your cards every day, and they want some of all that ghost rock you just got. To keep 'em, you have to pay an amount of ghost rock to the Bank equal to the total of these cards' Upkeep costs. If you can't or don't pay a card's Upkeep cost, you have to discard it along with any cards attached to it. You don't have to pay Upkeep on Deeds you don't control-or Deeds you don't own, even if you control them. If a Dude is on a Deed that leaves play, the Dude goes home booted. Any Dude you hired that's from another Outfit wants a little bit extra. (A Dude is from another Outfit if the Dude has an Outfit symbol on his or her card and it's different from the one on your Outfit card.) You have to pay 1 extra ghost rock for each point of the Dude's Influence. Players can do this phase at the same time. If one of you gets ornery, you can do this phase one player at a time, startin' with the Winner and goin' clockwise. 3. High Noon Startin' with the Winner and goin' clockwise, each player gets to take one action at a time. You keep goin' 'round and 'round the table like a square dance 'til everybody decides not to try any more actions. You can do five different things-six, if you count reactin', but reactin' doesn't count as usin' up your action for a round: Shoppin': Bring in a Dude, Deed, Goods, or Spell from your Play hand and pay its ghost rock cost. (See "Shoppin' " in this section.) Actin': Take any Noon action, whether it's an Action card in your Play hand or on a card that you control in play. Movin': Move one o' your Dudes. (See "Movin' Around" in this section.) Callin' Out: Have one o' your unbooted Dudes call out another player's Dude at the same location. (See "Shootin'" in this section.) Nothin': Pass on your action. This doesn't mean you can't take a crack at somethin' later in the turn. As soon as everybody passes consecutively, it's Nightfall. Reactin': Now, if a player does somethin' that triggers a Reaction you have, you can jump on in and play it. It happens immediately. If there's a question as to whose Reaction happens first, start with the Winner o' lowball and work your way clockwise, playin' and resolvin' one Reaction each until everybody's done. If an action is canceled, any costs (bootin', discardin', etc.) still happen. After Reactions, resume play with the player after the varmint who triggered 'em. 4. Nightfall Once High Noon's over, you can discard any Events in your Play hand plus one other card, if'n you want to get rid of it. Then fill your Play hand back to five cards. The player with the most Influence in play (see "...An' All the Rest") draws a six-card Play hand. If there's a tie for the most Influence, nobody gets an extra card. Next, unboot your booted cards. Then go back to the Gambling Phase. Winnin' the Game If it's the start of Nightfall and you have more Victory Points plus Control Points than the Influence total of any one player, you win. If two or more players meet the victory condition at the same time, the one with the most Victory Points plus Control Points wins. If that's tied, the player with the most Influence wins. If that's also tied, play another turn and check again. Shoppin' To get a Dude, Deed, Goods, or Spell from your Play hand into play, pay for it durin' High Noon and put it on the table unbooted. You can start usin' its abilities this turn. Dudes start at your home. When you bring a Deed into play, put it at one end o' your street, adjacent to the location on that end of the street. You attach Goods and Spells to unbooted Dudes (a booted Dude's too tuckered out to care about anything new). If a Dude's ever discarded or aced, the Dude's Goods and Spells detach and go wherever the Dude is goin'. Only your Dudes in a location you control can get Goods and Spells, so don't let 'em wander if you're expectin' a Smith & Robards shipment. A Dude can carry any number of Goods and Spells (them's mighty big saddlebags!). Also, if two or more o' your Dudes (booted or unbooted) are in one location you control, they can trade Goods (includin' Gadgets) as a Noon action, so long as they don't take anything they're not allowed to carry. A Dude won't trade Spells or any card he or she got in a trade the same turn. Weapons A Dude can have one Weapon ready to use at a time. If a Dude with a Weapon attaches another one, the new Weapon is unready-face-down-and doesn't affect play, though other players can still affect and view it. Once per turn, a Dude can switch his or her ready Weapon as a Noon action. Once per shootout, a Dude who hasn't used an action on a ready Weapon can switch his or her ready Weapon as a Shootout action. Horses A Dude can only have one Horse. A Dude with a Horse won't replace it with a new one, either-Dudes get mighty attached to their Horses. Movin' Around Locations next to each other in a street are adjacent. Deeds (and the home) on one gang's street aren't adjacent to another's. The Town Square is between gangs' streets and adjacent to everything in town. (It's not a Deed.) Out-of-town Deeds ain't adjacent to anything. At High Noon, you can use an action to boot and move a Dude o' yours to another location (Deed, home, or Town Square), adjacent or not. There are two moves a Dude can make bootin' (but the Dude must still be unbooted): a move from home to an adjacent location or a move from Town Square to an adjacent location other than home. Each of these moves still uses up a High Noon action. Neither of these moves boots the Dude unless the Dude's joinin' a posse (see "Shootin'" and "Jobs" about posses). A Dude can move any number of times per turn, but most moves require bootin'. Movement caused by a card also doesn't boot a Dude, but movement restrictions still apply. For example, say the Casino Morongo is next to your home. To its left is Miss Coutreau's. Past Miss Coutreau's is the Sunny Side Hotel. Now, say you've got a Dude at home. For your first Noon action, you can move the Dude without bootin' from home to the Town Square. On your next Noon action, you move the Dude to the Sunny Side Hotel. Since the Hotel is adjacent to the Town Square, your Dude still doesn't boot. Finally, you decide to move the Dude back home. This boots the Dude because you're not movin' to an adjacent location. Movin' the Dude to Miss Coutreau's would also boot the Dude because you only get "free" moves from your home and the Town Square. Now that the Dude's home booted, the Dude can't move any more: even though the Town Square and Casino Morongo are adjacent, the Dude still has to be unbooted to move. If a Dude is ever sent home booted, the Dude goes to his or her controller's home. Ignore movement restrictions. If the Dude is already home, the Dude stays there and still boots to "run upstairs and hide." Shootin' As a Noon action, one o' your unbooted Dudes can call out another player's Dude at the same location to a shootout. The Dude you call out can refuse, but then has to boot to run home and hide. If the Dude you call out is booted, the Dude has to accept the shootout. You can't call a Dude out when the Dude's at his or her home unless a card lets you do it. Dudes don't boot for goin' into a shootout. Just to keep things clear, we call the player and Dude doin' the callin' out the dealer. The player and Dude bein' called out are the target. If the target accepts the dealer's call-out, other Dudes at the same or an adjacent location can join in the shootout. A Dude and everybody who joins up with him or her like this is called a posse. Any Dude, even a booted one, at the same location can join. Dudes at an adjacent location have to boot to get to the shootout's location and join their side's posse, even if they're movin' from their home or the Town Square. Only Dudes belongin' to the two gangs involved (controlled by those two players) can join the posses squarin' off for a shootout. If lead flies in a Public place like the Town Square, a Saloon, or even your land, folks figger you're shootin' in self-defense. If a shootout ever erupts at a Private location (a Deed'll tell you if it's Public or Private, and homes are Private) that you don't own, your posse's Dudes become Wanted (see "...An' All the Rest") when they join the posse. If a card lets a Dude call someone out, it tells you if the call-out can be refused and what happens to the winner and loser. Unless the card says otherwise, the shootout happens at the target's location and both sides can form posses. All Dudes in both posses move to the shootout's location. One common restriction is: "No other Dudes can join this shootout." That means only those two Dudes can join the fight. Shootout Sequence 1. Startin' with the Winner-or the target if the Winner has no Dudes in the shootout-and goin' clockwise, each player with Dudes in the shootout can either pass or play a Shootout action. Actions must come from cards in the shootout, unless an action brings a Dude into the shootout or is a Reaction. Keep playin' Shootout actions until all players pass consecutively. Shootout actions' effects last until the shootout ends. Once per shootout, a Dude who hasn't used an action on his or her ready Weapon can switch his or her ready Weapon as a Shootout action. If a Dude is ever sent home booted, the Dude leaves the shootout booted, even if home. 2. The dealer and target choose and announce their shooter from the Dudes in their posse, for this round of the shootout. 3. DRAW! and reveal Draw hands to see who wins this shootout round. See "Draw!" below. 4. After Draw hand Reactions, the loser aces a number of Dudes in his or her posse equal to the number of hand ranks by which his or her Draw hand lost (check the cheat sheet on the inside back cover). If there's a same-rank tie for first, each posse loses one Dude even if one player has a better hand. Put aced Dudes in Boot Hill with any attached cards. 5. Discard the Draw hands. 6. Startin' with the dealer, players can chicken out by bootin' and movin' any Dudes in their posses from the shootout to their homes. If a Dude's already booted, the Dude can still run home. If the Dude's already home, the Dude can still boot to leave the shootout. 7. Go back to Step 1 to start Round 2, and repeat until only one posse is left, at which point the shootout's done ended. For an example of a shootout, see the "Job and Shootout Example." Draw! Over and over in your fight for Gomorra, you're gonna be told to "draw." When you draw, you put your Play hand aside and draw a new, five-card hand from your deck-a Draw hand. Bullet Ratings Drawin' is all about Bullet ratings-and the color of your Dudes' Bullet rating bullets. If your shooter's a Stud-meanin' his or her bullet's silver-you get to draw an amount of extra cards for your Draw hand equal to his or her Bullet rating. Make sense? So if your shooter's a 3-Stud, you draw eight cards. If your shooter's a Draw, you can discard a number of cards equal to his or her Bullet rating, then refill your hand. So if your shooter's a 2-Draw, you can redraw up to two cards. A Goods that gives a Bullet bonus to a Dude increases the Dude's Bullet rating number, regardless of whether the Dude's a Draw or a Stud. If a Goods' Bullet is brass and the Dude's is silver, it doesn't matter. For example, a Goods givin' a 3-Stud Dude a +1 Bullet bonus always makes the Dude a 4-Stud. You also get to draw one extra card for each Stud other than your shooter in your posse, and you can redraw an extra card for each other Draw Dude in your posse. So if you've got a 3-Stud shooter and two Draw Dudes in the shooter's posse, you get to draw eight cards, then discard and redraw up to two. That can make a pretty darn good poker hand. Notice that the extra Dudes' Bullet rating numbers don't matter. That's because those Dudes aren't your shooter. Here's some advice: if you have a Dude with a 0 Bullet rating in a posse, don't use that Dude as your shooter 'cause that Dude won't help one bit that way. But the Dude can sure lend a hand to a shooter who has a useful Bullet rating number. You might have both Stud and Draw bonuses in a posse. Take the Stud bonuses first. If you have a bigger Draw bonus than the number of cards in your hand, the extra bonuses are wasted: you can only redraw for Draw bonuses once each Draw hand. Makin' a Draw Hand When you finish drawin' and discardin', keep the five cards that make the best poker hand. (If you don't know poker, get a copy o' Hoyle's book or the first Deadlands rulebook). For all draws except the Gambling Phase draw, ignore Events. You might wind up with cards o' the same suit and value in your hand. You can play this kind of illegal "cheatin' " hand, but if another player plays a Cheatin'! (Action) card on it, you'll have to pay the consequences. Jobs Certain actions set you up to do a job, which usually involves gettin' a bunch o' yer Dudes together to take care o' some unpleasant business. When you're gonna do a job, the Dude doin' the job (called "the dealer," just like in a call-out) puts together a posse to do it. A posse can be a single Dude or lots of 'em. The card that describes the job'll tell who the dealer is. Usually, the dealer boots to start the job. You can't target your own Dudes with jobs. When a job starts, any other Dude in the same location as-or adjacent to-either the dealer or the location of the card targeted by the job can join the dealer's posse. Dudes not in the target's location have to boot to join the posse. As with any posse, booted Dudes can't join unless they're already in the target's location. Dudes that can't move to the target's location can't join, either. Once the dealer's posse is together, the player whose card is being targeted by the job can put together a posse to stop it. The target's posse can be made up of Dudes that are in the target's location or any adjacent location. To join the posse from an adjacent location, a Dude has to boot, so a booted Dude can only join the player's posse if the Dude's sittin' in the right place. Again, Dudes that can't move to the target's location can't join, either. All Dudes in both posses move to the target's location. If the dealer and target both end up with posses there, a shootout starts. A Dude belongin' to a player not otherwise involved in a job can join a posse for the job if both Dudes' players agree on it. Such a Dude doesn't get a Draw hand durin' the shootout, but his or her player can play Shootout actions. If the dealer's posse is still standin' when the smoke clears (or if the defendin' posse never shows its face), the job works and its effects resolve. Otherwise, the job fails. Usually this means nothin' happens. After the job's over-successful or not-all survivors of the dealer's posse go home booted. Survivin' Dudes in the target's posse stay at the job's location. For an example of a job, see "Job and Shootout Example." ...An' All the Rest That's about it. Here's the lowdown on some other stuff you might find handy. Also, you'll want to look over the glossary. Aces Aces always count as 1s (ones), so they're low in both hands and pulls (see "Pullin' " in this section). Card Memory When a unique card gets changed durin' play-like a Dude gettin' Wanted, for instance-that change applies to all cards of that name, for all players, and for the rest of the game, unless somethin' specifically changes it. Changes to a card's value or suit are ignored durin' draws and pulls. Changes on your Non-Unique cards are permanent for you but not for anybody else. Experienced Dudes Things change. People change. In Gomorra, when a Dude changes as the story rolls along, that Dude'll get another version o' his or her card with the Experienced trait on it. Different versions of the same Dude are considered distinct cards for play, but they are the same card for deckbuildin' and uniqueness. You can't have two versions of the same Dude in play. As a Noon action, you can switch a version of a Dude from your hand for one in play that you control. Put the card you're replacin' in its owner's discard pile-but it isn't aced or discarded. The new Dude keeps the old one's attached cards. You can't switch in a unique Dude if a gang already has that unique Dude in play. You can switch in any version of a Dude. You might switch a non-Experienced Dude for an Experienced version (time can do weird things in Gomorra). You can also switch a Dude that you switched earlier in the game. Fear Level This number represents how scary life is in Gomorra. Some cards can't come into play or work different if the Fear level is above or below a certain number. At the beginnin' o' the game, the Fear level in Gomorra is 4. If a card effect increases or decreases the Fear level, have the player that made the change keep track o' the current Fear level usin' a die or other marker. Make sure everybody can see it. The Fear level can't go below 1 or above 10. Jokers Jokers are a special kind of card that doesn't count against your fifty-two-card limit. They're only useful if they come up in a pull or Draw hand; they can't be played out of your Play hand. Harrowed Dudes Some Dudes start out Harrowed. Others come back that way when them manitou buggers get inside their heads. Either way, Harrowed Dudes still walk around when they should be pushin' up daisies. Mark your Harrowed Dudes with counters so you know who's who. The Harrowed get a few benefits for havin' to come back to this Hell called Gomorra. If a Harrowed Dude is aced, the player that aced the Dude pulls (see "Pullin' " in this section). This isn't considered an action. If the card is an ace, the Harrowed Dude goes to Boot Hill just like normal folks. Otherwise, the Dude still ain't been put down for good. If the pull is smaller than the Dude's value, the Dude just goes home booted. If the pull is bigger than the Dude's value, the Dude gets discarded with all o' his or her stuff. As of Mouth of Hell, there is a new type of Action card in Gomorra called a Harrowed Ability card. It gives Harrowed Dudes special powers, known as Harrowed abilities. Such an Action card has the Harrowed Power indicator, such as: "Noon Harrowed Power: Target an unbooted Harrowed Dude...". A Harrowed Dude cannot be targeted by more than one copy of each Harrowed Ability card per game, although there is no limit to the number of different Harrowed abilities a Dude can have. Influence Your gang's total Influence goes up and down as your Dudes die, you hire new Dudes, and special cards raise and lower Dudes' Influence. Keep careful track o' your Influence to make sure nobody sneaks a victory past you. You can use the Influence track on the inside front cover of this rulebook. Make sure everybody can see everybody else's Influence total all the time. Negative Statistics The cost of somethin' can't ever be less than 0. There's no such thing as a negative cost. As for any other stat-it can go below 0, but whenever you check it, it's counted as 0. Pullin' When you're told to pull in Deadlands, you take the top card of your deck and look at its value (A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, or K). Usually, you compare that number to a number indicated in the pull instructions. Aces are 1s, jacks are 11s, queens are 12s, and kings are 13s. When you're done with whatever made you pull, discard the card you pulled. Skill Ratings Some Dudes-like Mad Scientists, Shamans, Blessed, and Hucksters-have special skills that set 'em apart from the pack. On a skilled Dude's card is a label that tells you what kind of skills the Dude's got, like Mad Scientist. After that label, there's a number-the Dude's skill rating (i.e., Mad Scientist rating, etc.). You use this with Spells and Gadgets. Spells Each action on a Spell card has a Difficulty level. Whenever your Dude wants to cast a Spell, you pull. If the value of the pull plus the Dude's skill rating is more than the Difficulty, the Spell succeeds and you resolve its action. Otherwise, the Spell fails and nothin' happens (although this is still considered an action; it becomes the next player's turn to play an action). Just so you know: the Blessed in Elijah's Flock work the same as other Blessed Dudes, but most folks in Gomorra think they're tappin' a different power than other Blessed Dudes. Gadgets Mad Scientists use their skills to build Gadgets (a kind of Goods), fancy machines only someone off their rocker could invent. If you've got a Mad Scientist in your gang, you can use a Noon action to have the Mad Scientist try to "create" a Gadget you hold in your Play hand. Boot the Mad Scientist while the Mad Scientist is in a location you control. Pay the cost to put the Gadget into play, then pull. If the pull plus the Mad Scientist's skill rating is more than the Gadget's Gadget Difficulty, the Gadget works. Attach it to the Mad Scientist. If the pull plus the skill rating isn't higher than the Difficulty, the Gadget falls to pieces and anything you paid for it is lost. Curse your luck, and toss the Gadget into your discard pile. Wanted Dudes Wanted Dudes are hunted by the Law. Spin 'em 180 degrees to show they're Wanted. If you ace a Wanted Dude in a shootout, you earn a bounty of 1 ghost rock. You can boot one or more o' your Law Dogs or Texas Rangers with more combined Influence than a Wanted Dude to make the Dude un-Wanted: it pays to have friends in high places. A Wanted Dude who's "made Wanted" is unaffected by that effect. Glossary Abomination: A type of Terror. ace: Put into its owner's Boot Hill. adjacent: Next to. A Dude is adjacent to a location when in a location next to it. The Town Square's adjacent to all Deeds in town. Streets don't wrap around; Deeds at either end of a street aren't adjacent. A location isn't adjacent to itself. Bank: The central pile of ghost rock tokens that nobody owns. This is not the same as the Deeds to The 1st and 2nd Banks of Gomorra. boot: Turn a card 90 degrees to show it's busy doin' somethin' or has finished its day. Boot Hill: Your pile of destroyed and aced cards. Keep this separate from your discard pile. Usually, cards don't come back into play after goin' to Boot Hill. Be afraid o' those that do. control: For a Deed: Have the most Influence at, even if somebody else owns the Deed. For a Dude: Have in your gang. When a card refers to "you," it's talkin' about its controller. Control Point: The number in the blue poker chip on some Deeds. If you control a Deed, you get its Control Points. If your total Control Points plus Victory Points is more than another player's Influence, you win the game. discard pile: Where cards go after bein' used, unless they've been aced. Draw hand: A five-card hand drawn to resolve a shootout or other conflict, separate from the Play hand. It gets discarded after it's used. Drifter: A Dude who doesn't belong to an Outfit. "Drifter" is not an Outfit. Dude: A character or personality tryin' to help its player take control o' the town. gang: All the Dudes under your control. Harrowed: Undead. A Harrowed Dude is a Terror. Harrowed ability: An ability given to a Harrowed Dude by a Harrowed Ability card. Harrowed Ability card: A type of Action card that gives Harrowed Dudes special powers, known as "Harrowed abilities." It has the "Harrowed Power" indicator. home: Your Outfit card. It starts in play and is the first card o' your street. New members o' your gang report here. This is not a Deed, and you always control it. It's Private. illegal Draw hand: A Draw hand with two or more cards of identical suits and values (Jokers excepted). You can play illegal Draw hands, but somebody might nail you for cheatin', with one o' them "Cheatin'!" Action cards. Influence: How much power a Dude wields around Gomorra, shown by a number in a red poker chip on some cards. Dudes with Influence can help you take control o' Deeds. in play: Started with or played from a Play hand. Cards in Boot Hill and discard piles aren't in play. in town: Where your home and the Town Square are, as are all Deeds that aren't labeled "Strike" or "Out of Town." The Town Square is adjacent to everything in town. job: An action taken by a posse. location: Any Deed in play, the Town Square, or any home. Dudes can travel to these places. Non-Unique: Allowed to be put into play even if another player has it in play or in Boot Hill. A single player still can't play more than one Non-Unique card or have two copies o' one in Boot Hill. Outfit: A group tryin' to control Gomorra. out of town: Outside Gomorra. Strikes are all out of town. Out-of-town Deeds usually aren't adjacent to any locations, not even other out-of-town locations. own: Have brought into play. Play hand: The five-card hand that a player plays cards from durin' the turn. posse: One or more Dudes temporarily grouped together to get into a shootout, do a job, or stop another posse from doin' a job. pull: Draw a card, check its value, and discard it. ready Weapon: The Weapon a Dude uses. Extra Weapons attached to a Dude are kept face-down and do not affect play. removed from the game: Taken out of play and the game without bein' aced or discarded. shooter: The lead gunfighter of a shootout posse. shootout: A gunfight between posses, resolved by comparin' Draw hands. skill rating: A number on a Dude, such as "Mad Scientist: 1," that tells you how skilled the Dude is at castin' Spells or creatin' Gadgets. street: The row of Deeds each player builds usin' in-town Deeds. Strike: A concentration o' ghost rock. Since most ghost rock is out in the Maze, all Strikes are out of town. Terror: An Abomination or a Harrowed Dude. Town Square: The area between streets. It's an in-town location (but not a Deed) adjacent to all Deeds in town but no Deeds out of town. unboot: Turn a card straight up. unique: Not allowed to be put into play if another player has it in play or in Boot Hill. Dudes and Deeds are unique unless they say otherwise. unready Weapon: A Dude's extra, face-down Weapon, which does not affect play. Vault: A player's pile of ghost rock tokens. Victory Point: A permanent Control Point-type o' thing you get for doin' somethin' special. Wanted: Wanted by the law. Mark Wanted Dudes by spinnin' 'em 180 degrees. you: The controller. Normally, you control cards you own, but control can be taken by another player. Job and Shootout Example Bob's Outfit is the Law Dogs; Alice's is the Collegium. Alice has brought The 1st Bank of Gomorra into play. Bob decides to ignore his Dudes' oaths of office and go burn down The 1st Bank with his Arson card, a job. If you don't know what a card in this example does, look it up at the Schoolhouse: http://www.frontiernet.net/~adman/Deadlands/schoolhouse.html. Roundin' Up Posses Bob has Reverend Simon MacPherson at home with Nate Hunter, who has a Pearl-Handled Revolver. Bob plays Arson, names The 1st Bank, and appoints Hunter to lead the posse on the job. Bob has T.C. in the Town Square, which is adjacent to Hunter, so Bob boots T.C. and the Reverend to join the posse. Alice sees what's comin' across town, and she decides it's time for the big showdown. If she can win it, she'll have a bunch of Control Points (from The 1st Bank) and Bob's Influence total will go down a whopping 5 points. She'll likely win the game. Alice gathers some Dudes to defend The 1st Bank. The non-Experienced Erik Zarkov and his Ray Gun are with Robert Holmes at her home (adjacent to The 1st Bank), so they boot to join the defensive posse. Hangin' Judge Gabriel with a vial o' Miracle Elixir is at The 1st Bank, so he joins up without bootin'. Gerald Klippstein and Marcus Perriwinkle are over at the Dispatch Office, two locations away. Since they aren't adjacent to The 1st Bank, they're not close enough to join the posse. Round One Alice won the lowball draw at the beginnin' o' the turn, and as the Winner, she gets the first Shootout action. She uses Zarkov's ability and tries to overcharge the Ray Gun. She pulls a 7¨, so Zarkov gets blown to bits by th malfunctionin' Ray Gun. Bob's got a clear advantage in this shootout round so far. He passes for his action. Alice uses Klippstein's Shootout ability to drive Klippstein and Perriwinkle to The 1st Bank to join in her posse (Klippstein is booted). Bob, who's out of Shootout actions, passes again, countin' on his superior firepower to win the fight. Alice plays Caught with Yer Pants Down on Hunter, who goes from a 5-Stud to a 4-Draw. Then she pays 1 ghost rock to use the Flamethrower. Bob, more nervous now, has no Studs in his posse. Without Shootout actions, he still has to pass. Alice is done, so she passes, too. Both players declare shooters: Alice declares Klippstein as hers; Bob declares Hunter as his. Klippstein is a 3-Stud, so Alice draws eight cards. She gets 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 8, 8, and K. Alice has three Draw Dudes in her posse, but she discards only two cards: the 5 and the K. She draws a 5 and a 7. She discards the 5, 7, and 3 to get her Draw hand of Two Pairs: 3, 4, 4, 8, 8. Bob's shooter isn't a Stud, but he has one Stud in his posse, so he draws six cards: 2, 2, 3, 8, 10, and K. Since he has a 4-Draw shooter and another Draw in his posse, Bob can discard and redraw up to five cards. He keeps the Pair of 2s and discards the rest. He draws 4, 9, 9, and a Joker! He discards the 4 to make a Full House: 9, 9, Joker, 2, 2. Bob's hand'll beat Alice's by four ranks, and she'll lose her whole posse. Fortunately for Alice, Bob's hand includes two cards with the same suit and value: that's an illegal hand! Alice plays a Cheatin' Varmint card she's been savin', reducin' Bob's hand three ranks to a Three of a Kind. Since Bob's Draw hand now only beats Alice's by one rank, she only has to ace one of her Dudes. Gabriel is an outstandin' choice. Alice aces the Miracle Elixir that Gabriel was carryin' instead o' Gabriel himself, and he's sent home. Bob aces the Joker he drew (per the Joker's instructions), and both players discard their Draw hands. Next, both sides get a chance to run home. Since Bob and Alice both think they see victory at the far end of this shootout, they stick to their guns. Round Two Alice used up all of her good Shootout actions in the first round, so she passes, and Bob does, too. They declare the same shooters and Weapons as the first time around, then draw again. Alice gets one less discard without Gabriel, but she still gets eight cards. After her discard and draw, she ends up with a Full House: 3, 3, 5, 5, 5. Bob groans and reveals a Three of a Kind: Q, Q, Q, 5, 3. The three-rank difference in their hands means Bob's whole posse will be wiped out, but luckily for him he's been holdin' onto a Just a Graze card. Bob pays for Just a Graze and now only has to ace two of his Dudes. He aces T.C. and the Reverend. At this point, with Alice's victory in sight, Bob realizes he'd better pull Hunter outta the fight if'n he wants to stop a Collegium win this turn. He sends Hunter home (booted), so the job fails and The 1st Bank is unscathed. Alice's Dudes stay at the 1st Bank, ready to defend it again if need be. What's New in These Rules Welcome back to Gomorra. Here are the changes made to this here rulebook since you last entered our fair town: * Some Outfits now have more than one home to choose from (see "Startin' the Game" under "Playin' "). * Lowball ties are clarified (see "Sequence o' Play" under "Playin' "). * Card memory doesn't apply durin' draws to changes to a card's value or suit (see "...An' All the Rest"). * The Fear level now starts at 4 (see "...An' All the Rest"). * Harrowed abilities are introduced (see "...An' All the Rest"). Clarifications and Errata * The Blackjacks' Outfit ability can be used any number of times per turn. * Activating (paying for) the Flamethrower is a Shootout action. * Gordo Andrade can have two ready Weapons. * If Ian Spencer Whitney uses his ability, his ready Weapon is considered unready until the end of the shootout. * Jack's Left and Right Shooters can both be ready on the same Dude at the same time. The most recent printing of a card (or Outfit) overrules all previous printings, which are considered to read identically to the current printing. (This applies to the reprinting of the same card, not the introduction of a new, Experienced card for a Dude.) You can tell the printing by the symbol before the illustration credit. For Mouth of Hell, it's «. Also, this rulebook overrules all previous rulebooks. You might have noticed that the flavor text (text in italics) on some cards is attributed to "CL." "CL" is Charlie Landers, the local bartender, who keeps an eye on the goin's-on around our little town. Credits Lead Designer David Williams Art Direction Bryon Wackwitz Story Czar Rob Vaux Visual & Graphic Design Al Skaar & Blake Beasley Design Team D.J. Trindle & Erik Yaple Initial Design & Story Concepts Matt Staroscik & Matt Wilson Conceptual Graphic Design Cris Dornaus & Steven Hough Development & Licensing Rick Arons & Edward Bolme Packaging Design Blake Beasley Typesetting/Layout Paul Allen Timm Production Team Travis Adams, Roger Mangelson, Hans Reifenrath, Jefferson M. Shelley, Michelle Lewis, Joe Fernandez, Tom Wänerstrand, Kate Archie, & Todd Reynolds Introduction Shane Lacy Hensley Fiction Rob Vaux Editing Matt Forbeck, D. J. Trindle, & Jessica Beaven Deadlands is created by Shane Lacy Hensley. Special Thanks to: anyone who taught someone else how to play the game. Artists: Eric Anderson, Michael Apice, Randy Asplund-Faith, Jason Behnke, Heather Bruton, Paul Carrick, Ron Chironna, Jim Crabtree, Audrey Corman, Paris Cullins, Kevin Daily, Jim Crabtree, Charles Daugherty, Danato, Liz Danforth, Cris Dornaus, Steve Ellis, Delfino Falciani, Edward Fetterman, Dave Fooden, Tom Fowler, Dan Frazier, Randy Gallegos, Anthony Grabski, Sharon Guest, Frederick Haas, Paul (Prof) Herbert, Heather Hudson, Robert Humble, Keegan, Mike Kimble, Lissanne Lake, KC Lancaster, April Lee, Dave Leri, Todd Lockwood, Thomas Manning, Lee Moyer, William O'Connor, Paolo Parente and the Posse, Jim Pavelec, Allan Pollack, Mark Poole, rk post, Mike Raabe, Alan Rabinowitz, Ellym Sirac, Brian Snoddy, Ron Spencer, Mike Sutfin, Susan VanCamp, Mark Texeria, Bryon Wackwitz, Sam Wood. Playtesters: Frank Bustamante, Matt Widman, Randall Beat, Randy Harrington, Zeora Sage, Stephen Vincent., Adrian Crowe Alan Cook, Keyth Brooks, Rob Everitt, Tony Coe, Frank Wyatt, Adam Hughe, Gerry Crowe, Eric Devlin, Robert Kramer, William Wolf, Jeremy Handler, Ian McGuigan, Joseph Stevens, Eugene Stanch, Sergio Pierro, Andrew Kutzy, A.J. Celli, Doyle Christensen, Reg Murray, David Rosehill, Ryan Tauscher Steve Horvath,, Joe Keyser, Ben Handy, Bob Jordan, Jon Palmer, Neal Steed, Patricia Oprysko, Joe Fulgham, Jim Callahan, Paul Lidberg, Gilbert Milner, Reg Murray, Peter Ceccardi, Craig Waechtler, Steve Milobar, Steve Horvath, Joe Zajaczkowski, Greg McNutt, JR Trombley, Claude Schafer Deadlands! Turn Order Gambling Phase: Ante 1 ghost rock and draw five cards. Lowest hand is the Winner, who goes first this turn. Upkeep Phase: Collect ghost rock and pay Upkeep. High Noon: Starting with the Winner, players take turns. A player can: buy a cards from his or her Play hand, take a Noon action, move a Dude, call out an opposin' Dude at the same location, or pass. Nightfall: Discard Events and one other card, if you want. Refill your Play hand to five; the player with the most Influence gets an extra card. Unboot cards. Hand Ranks 11. Dead Man's Hand: exactly 8S, 8C, AS, AC, JD 10. Five of a Kind: example AS, AC, AD, AH, AH 9. Straight Flush: example 8S, 7S, 6S, 5S, 4S 8. Four of a Kind: example KC, KS, KC, KH, 2C 7. Full House: example JS, JD, JC, 3C, 3H 6. Flush: example 10C,8C, 7C, 6C, 4C 5. Straight: example QD, JC, 10S, 9H, 8C 4. Three of a Kind: example 5S, 5C, 5D, 2H, 3C 3. Two Pairs: example QC, QS, AH, AD, KH 2. One Pair: example 7S, 7C, KH, 10D, 3C 1. High Card: example KD, 10C, 7S, 3C, AH If a hand can be more than one rank, it's the highest rank. The Fear level starts at 4. ...And for adventure on a different scale, Pinnacle Entertainment Group offers Deadlands: The Great Rail Wars!, the miniatures battle game of the Weird West!. The Deadlands roleplaying game and The Great Rail Wars are supported by a full line of Weird West miniature figures. © 1999 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved.