™

By: John Goff

™ ™

By: John Goff

™ Hexarcana

Written & Designed by: John Goff Original Martial Arts Design by: Robin Laws Editing & Layout: Joyce Goff, John Goff & Josh “Roach” Reid Cover Art: Pete Venters Interior Art: Michael Chen, Chris Libey, Jeff Rebner, Kenneth Water Cover Design: Zeke Sparkes

Logos: Zeke Sparkes, Charles Ryan & Ron Spencer Special Thanks to: Lee Banson, Paul Duke, Shane, Michelle, Caden & Ronan Hensley, John & Christy Hopler, the Listserv Rowdies, Jay Kyle, Jason Nichols, Allan Seyberth and Dave Wilson

Deadlands created by Shane Lacy Hensley. Dedicated to: Shane Hensley, for creating the worlds of Deadlands and a dozen other reasons.

Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc. Deadlands, Weird West, Dime Novel, the Great Rail Wars, P.O. Box 10908 the Deadlands logo, and the Pinnacle logo are Blacksburg, VA 24062–0908 Trademarks of Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc. www.peginc.com or [email protected] (800) 214–5645 (orders only) © 1999 Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Visit our web site for free updates! Printed in the USA.

™ Table o’ Contents

Introduction ...... 4 Chapter Three: Archetypes ...... 73 New Secrets of Posse Territory...... 5 The Marshal’s Shaolin...... 54 Handbook ...... 123 The Times, They Are A’Changin’ ...... 54 Making a Martial Artist .... 55 Mano a Mano ...... 57 New Aptitudes ...... 58 New Edges ...... 60 Martial Arts Hindrances .....61 Ch’i Powers ...... 66 Chapter Four: The Way of the Spirits ...... 83 Chapter One: A New Drum for the Chapter Four: The Divine Dancers ...... 83 Calling ...... 7 New Guardian Spirits ...... 84 Secrets of the Fire & Brimstone Updates .... 7 New Favors ...... 86 Arcane ...... 125 New Miracles ...... 8 Shuffling the Deck ...... 125 New Gifts ...... 15 Chapter Four: Your Kung Fu Is Weak! ... 126 New Divine Interventions. 17 Conjure Bags & The Spirit Ain’t Willing .... 126 Curses ...... 93 Who Do Voodoo? ...... 126 Chapter Two: Basic Beliefs ...... 94 Index...... 127 A Whole New New Aptitudes ...... 96 Deck...... 19 New Edges ...... 97 The Old & the New ...... 19 Calling the Loa ...... 97 New Tricks...... 20 Doin’ That Voodoo ...... 101 New Hexes ...... 23 Conjure Bags ...... 102 The Science of Magic ...... 30 Spell Descriptions ...... 103 When Magic and Science Meet ...... 33 The Tricks ...... 34 The Hexes ...... 35 Even if you’ve already got the Get Your Mojo original versions of those rules, odds are you’re going to find a good bit of Risin’ new stuff on each of them. We’ve retooled the arcane You’ve got in your hands the single background: enlightened rules (over-the- largest collection of magical options for top kung fu fighting) to bring it more in characters in your Deadlands campaign. line with the revised rulebooks, the If you’ve looked at the back of this Weird West Player’s Guide and the work, you probably already had some Marshal’s Handbook. The voodooist is idea of what you were getting yourself also somewhat changed from her into before you even cracked the spine original incarnation as well. on this tome. But in case you don’t However, even if these new judge a book by its cover, let us assure backgrounds weren’t enough, you’ll find you everything mentioned back there is an additional 80 or so totally new in here. powers, spells, and options, as well as a That’s right—over 150 spells, hexes, few new Aptitudes and other goodies favors, and more all in one place! as well. We’ve included the arcane backgrounds from our popular boxed Using This Book sets (The Great Maze, City o’ Gloom, and River o’ Blood), the martial artist, the Unlike many of our other metal mage, and the voodooist. All sourcebooks, Hexarcana only has two three of those sets are now out of print sections. and we want everyone to have a shot Posse Territory by far contains the at playing those character types. meat of this book. It’s divided into five chapters, each dealing with a separate arcane background. In each of those chapters you’ll find new spells or powers associated with the type of magic. You may also run across new Edges, Aptitudes, or other options as well. In the chapters devoted to blessed, hucksters, and shamans, we’ve also included any information you might need to update the appropriate sourcebooks to the newer revised rules.. We added in notes correcting any kinks those pesky gremlins might have thrown into the printings as well. Finally, at the end of this section, we’ve provided archetypes for the three new character types in this book: the martial artist, metal mage, and voodooist. The Marshal’s Handbook is very short in Hexarcana. Since the book is mostly dedicated to player character options, most of what’s in this brief section is the details on exactly what happens when good magic goes bad. We’ve also updated Marshal-only info from the sourcebooks mentioned above, included any errata that slipped past us in the first printing, and dropped a few notes of explanation for a secret or two the players might not have the full story on. Posse Territory

Chapter One: The Divine Calling

Gaining & Losing Miracles We’ll start this shindig with the gunhands of Good in the Weird West, There is one area with a minor the blessed. We’ve got an offering plate change. Characters no longer gain a new full of new miracles, some new gifts, miracle or gift by raising their faith and even a divine intervention or two. Aptitude level. Now, the only way to gain Like many of the chapters in this a new one is to pay 5 Bounty Points. book, though, we’re going to take a However, on the upside to this, a minute to talk about a previous blessed no longer loses access to a sourcebook and update anything that miracle or gift if he fails the required needs it to the revised rules. Spirit roll for transgressing against his religion. Fire & Brimstone Of course, his ability to use the miracle is reduced as he still loses a Update level of faith, but he keeps the miracle. For the most part, the rules and Uhm, We Meant... options we presented in Fire & Brimstone need little fixing to work We’d be courting serious trouble if with the new revised edition of the we tried to claim the book was perfect Weird West Player’s Guide and though. There are one or two instances Marshal’s Handbook. The blessed of information we forgot to include or and their miracles work pretty much misstated. Let’s take a minute and the same as they always have, with correct those little oversights. one exception. First off, we claimed Leonidas Polk This miracle lets a blessed pass on a was a Methodist minister. That’s a little bit of that divine authority folks in white lie we confess; he was actually the spotlight seem fired-up to lay their an Episcopalian. hands on. Granted, it doesn’t last but a The miracle retribution lists its TN as few minutes, but, honestly, some of “Special.” Well, it must be really special, those kings and lords didn’t last much because we didn’t tell you what it was! longer! The miracle’s TN mirrors the standard A blessed can only anoint a healing TN for the wound inflicted (pg. character with the same faith as he 141, Weird West Player’s Guide). has—for example, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc. Once cast, the miracle provides the chosen character with a The Rewards bonus to all her Mien-based rolls, either Trait or Aptitude, equal to her faith of Faith Aptitude level. If she doesn’t have the same faith as Okay, now that all that dull stuff is the blessed this miracle has absolutely out of the way, let’s get down to the no effect. good stuff—the new miracles, gifts, and The blessed cannot cast this miracle such. on himself. Another blessed of the New Miracle same faith could, however. Descriptions Anxious Seat TN: 7 These miracles are available to Speed: 1 blessed characters of any religion. Duration: 1 round/faith level There are four elements to each Range: 5 yards miracle besides the actual description The “anxious seat” is the front row of the magic’s effect. pew in a church or revival tent. It’s TN is the Target Number the blessed called that because that’s where the needs to make on a faith roll to folks who are itching to become new accomplish the miracle. converts are usually asked to sit. Speed is the number of actions it This miracle lets a blessed lend a takes to complete the invocation. little spiritual help to a cowpoke, Duration is the length of time the provided he’s willing to show a little invocation stays in effect. patience. Like anoint, a blessed cannot Range is the distance at which the cast this miracle on herself, only miracle can take effect. another character. Once invoked, her target can spend Anoint Action Cards preparing to attempt a single Trait or Aptitude roll. As each of TN: 5 the target’s Action Cards comes up in a Speed: 2 round, he simply discards them, letting Duration: 1 minute/faith level the Marshal know he’s using them for Range: Touch anxious seat. Kings, presidents, and most other He can discard a number of Action important leaders throughout history Cards up to the blessed’s faith Aptitude have looked to religion to sanction and level. Then, on his next action, he gains support their rule. After all, they figure, a bonus to the Trait or Aptitude roll with Heaven for them, who’s got a equal to the number of cards he chance of standing against them? discarded for the miracle. So, if the blessed invoking anxious seat had a faith 4, the target could get a maximum of +4 to his next roll. 10 Posse This bonus lasts until his next action or for 1 round for every level of the blessed’s faith, whichever comes first. Ashes to Ashes

TN: Opposed Speed: 1 Duration: Instant Range: Touch There are few things as distasteful as a cowpoke that doesn’t have the common decency to stay dead. The miracle last rites can help keep the dead quiet, but there’s always a corpse somewhere just waiting to get up and tear into some innocent person. Ashes to ashes lets your blessed put a walkin’ dead or other reanimated corpse like a zombie or skeleton back down where it belongs. Unfortunately, it has no effect on more dedicated undead like vampires or ghosts, but fortunately, those aren’t nearly as common. The blessed must touch the abomination on the head with his bare hand to invoke this miracle. Not surprisingly, those things aren’t too receptive to a pat on the forehead, though, so this requires a successful fightin’: brawlin’ attack to the head. The blessed can either call the shot (taking the -6 modifier) or swing wild and hope for a lucky hit location roll. Once he’s smacked the zombie upside the head, he may choose to do This miracle lets a blessed accept no damage, but instead invoke ashes to another character’s wound penalties for ashes immediately. This doesn’t take an a short time. Once invoked, the blessed additional action; he can strike the receives any modifiers the target walkin’ dead and invoke the miracle all cowpoke might have suffered due to on one action. wounds. It doesn’t actually transfer the He must make an opposed roll of his wounds themselves, Wind loss, or any faith versus the undead’s Spirit. If he other effects, just the suffering. wins, the thing drops (un-) lifeless to The target character gets no penalties the ground. If he loses, he’s fair game to his Trait or Aptitude rolls for wounds for it. for the duration of bear the cross. This miracle has no effect on The blessed receives the penalty for Harrowed; they’re too stubborn to drop the wound modifier in addition to any that easy. she might have herself. Combined in this fashion, it’s possible the modifiers Bear the Cross might take her over the normal -5 TN: 7 maximum! Speed: 1 Should the target be thick-skinned or Duration: 1 round/faith level otherwise suffer less than the full Range: 5 yards/faith level penalty for his wounds, this immunity Heaven knows the heroes of the does not carry over to the blessed. She Weird West have enough trials and gets the full amount. If she has an troubles to bear. Anytime a good soul ability that allows her to reduce wound can help carry those burdens, it’s penalties herself, she applies only to almost as good as a victory for Light. the combined total, not to each set of modifiers. Console Jawbone of an Ass

TN: Special TN: 5 Speed: 1 Speed: 1 Duration: Instant Duration: 1 round/faith level Range: 5 yards/faith level Range: Touch Running like a scared rabbit can be Samson’s faith turned the jawbone of downright embarrassing—especially if a dead mule into a fearsome weapon. the local townsfolk look up to your Your hero might not always have her gunslinger like a dime novel hero. favorite hickory stick on hand when it’s Fortunately, with console, a blessed can time to knock a few heads for the help his companions avoid such a greater good, so she might want to shameful development. take a few pointers here. This miracle lets your hero cancel When successfully invoked, this the effects of a failed guts check on miracle turns any vaguely club-like another character. The TN for this item into a holy head-cracker. The item miracle is the original TN for the failed must be rigid, roughly cylindrical in guts check. The blessed has one shape and at least a foot and a half in advantage though, the Fear level length. Beyond that, there’s a lot of doesn’t modify his faith TN; he’s only leeway; a stick, chunk of firewood, rolling against the original number. broomhandle, or even a bone does If he succeeds, any temporary effects, nicely. such as fleeing the scene, short-term The weapon does your hero’s Trait or Aptitude penalties, and the like Strength damage, plus an additional 1d6 are immediately lifted. Longer term for each success and raise she gets effects, however, like reduced Traits, when invoking jawbone of an ass. On permanent Hindrances, and even lost top of that, the weapon has a DB of +1 Wind, are not remedied by this miracle. for each success and raise as well. She needs fightin’: brawlin’ to use Fast the weapon effectively. Since many blessed have issues with taking a life, TN: 5 she can choose to do either lethal or Speed: 1 minute brawling-type damage with it. Duration: 1 day/faith level The weapon’s damage isn’t magical Range: Self so some abominations may not be too A truly enlightened soul supposedly impressed with it. can subsist on nothing but spiritual sustenance. Of course, that’s little Judgement of the consolation when your stomach’s empty and grumbling! Unrighteous Fast lets a blessed survive without TN: Special food for a number of days equal to her Speed: 1 faith level. She still needs water during Duration: 1 round/faith level that time, but only half as much as Range: 10 yards/faith level usual. At the end of this period, she Vengeance belongs to the Powers must eat real food for at least a day That Be, but occasionally, they’re willing before she can invoke fast again. to share it with a faithful servant. Your hero can’t benefit from the Judgement of the unrighteous lets a effects of this miracle at the same time blessed show the particularly wicked she’s attempting to use the fastin’ the errors of their ways. Aptitude, by the way. That defeats the The downside to this miracle is that spiritual purpose of the Aptitude! the blessed must first turn the other cheek—although not necessarily intentionally. In other words, your hero has to let the bad guy hit him first and 12 Posse take at least a single wound level before he can cast judgement of the unrighteous. Once that’s happened, the blessed can invoke the miracle. He has to target a specific opponent when he The Blessed 13 does, and he’d be wise to choose the one that’s done the most damage, as you’ll see in a minute. Also, he can only pass judgment of toting cultist, offsetting the last the unrighteous on foes with human penalty and actually gaining a +2 intelligence (or greater!). No bonus. He still suffers a -1 penalty condemning the poor beasts of the from the earlier wound, so his field! The Marshal has final call on total bonus against the target is what’s a fair target for this miracle. +1; against any other foes, he’s -3. When invoked, this miracle converts His first action is to cast smite on any wound level penalties caused by himself. Since this move isn’t a the target opponent from negative direct action against the target, modifiers into positive ones as long as he doesn’t get the bonus to his the Trait or Aptitude roll is directly roll. However, on his next action, affecting that foe. Thus, a fightin’ attack he wallops the goon with his axe or spiritual backhand miracle would get handle, gaining the bonus not the bonus, but a succor cast to keep only to his fightin’ roll, but also to another hero in the fight—even if she’s his damage as well. If, on his fighting the target—wouldn’t. next action he chooses to invoke Later attacks by the target during spiritual backhand against the the duration that cause damage may target, he gets a +2 bonus to his increase this modifier if they cause faith roll, and +2 to the Wind he heavier wounds. Use the highest causes if the miracle is wound level caused by a single attack successful. before or during the miracle’s duration. Of course, the blessed has to still be suffering the modifier; there’s no passing judgement for events in the distant past! In addition, any damage the blessed causes the target gets the same bonus, whether it’s lethal or brawling. Wounds from other sources still cause their normal penalties, however. These may even cancel out the benefits of the miracle, which is why judgment is best invoked against the blessed’s most dangerous foe! Finally, even if the blessed has the thick-skinned Edge or other means of reducing the wound penalty, he gets the bonus modifier as if he didn’t. And, in case you’re wondering, your hero can’t combine this with bear the cross, but he could use it with martyrdom.

Reverend Harding takes a bullet from a cultist’s pistol, causing him two wound levels. He’s already suffering a Light wound (-1 penalty) in the same location, for a total of a Serious wound (-3). He invokes judgement of the unrighteous against the gun- Opportunity’s Knock Perseverance

TN: 5 TN: 7 Speed: 1 Speed: 1 Duration: 1 round Duration: 1 round/faith level Range: Self Range: Self Sometimes, your hero gets only one If at first you don’t succeed, try chance to turn the tide against the again; that seems to be the point the forces of Darkness. If she misses it, divine powers are trying to hammer even by a second, all hope might be home with this particular miracle. lost. Luckily, with a little divine Perseverance awards your hero for not guidance, your blessed never need miss giving up just because he doesn’t enjoy such an opportunity. immediate success. When invoked, opportunity’s knock When the blessed casts perseverance, turns another of her Action Cards into he chooses a single Trait or Aptitude roll the equivalent of a red Joker. She and action he’s trying to accomplish. For doesn’t get a draw from the Fate Pot, the duration of the miracle, each time but she can go at any time during the he fails at the task, he gets a +1 bonus round—and even interrupt another to his next attempt at that exact same character’s action with a Quickness task. This modifier is cumulative until check. he succeeds, then it’s completely She can’t use this on a card up her cancelled. sleeve, but she can keep another For example, if he’s attempting to hit Action Card there and still enact the a particularly nimble walkin’ dead with miracle. Also, she can’t keep the Action his Peacemaker, each time he misses he Card she chooses to affect this way gets a +1 to the next shootin’ roll. So, beyond the end of the round. should he miss three times in a row, his fourth shot is at +3. Once he does hit the confounded thing, though, he loses all the bonuses on the next attempt, but the cycle does start over if perseverance is still in effect. The miracle can only target one specific activity and associated Trait or Aptitude roll. If your blessed changes tactics and tries a different method, he loses any bonuses. In the example above, should the hero decide to give up on his marksmanship and beat the zombie with a stick, he gains no bonus from perseverance.. The bonus to his shootin’ is lost, although he can start over if the miracle’s duration allows. Prayers of the Faithful

TN: 7 Speed: 2 Duration: 1 round/faith level Range: 10 yards/faith level There’s strength in numbers, particularly if those numbers are joined in a common faith and cause. This miracle allows your blessed to draw upon the power of other faithful of her own religion to assist in overcoming hardships. Once invoked, any cowpokes in range can immediately sacrifice one of their own Action Cards—just as if they The Blessed 15 were making a vamoose—to utter a little prayer of support for the blessed. For this prayer to actually work, the character making the prayer must have The TN for the miracle depends on at least one level in faith and have the the intensity of the fire and is shown same religion as your hero. He also has on the table below. to spend the Action Card at the time of If successful, the miracle the miracle’s casting—no waiting! immediately quenches the fire. Unless Each character can only do this once, restarted by an outside force, the fire and your blessed cannot participate in stays permanently extinguished. Due to this part of the miracle. For each the power of this miracle, however, no character who sacrifices an Action fire can restart on the target for 1 round Card in this manner, she gains a +1 for each level of the blessed’s faith. bonus to her next Trait or Aptitude While quench does initally put out roll—which she must specifically state ghost rock fires, unlike other blazes, when she invokes the miracle. No these do restart on their own after 1 pulling the old bait-and-switch on round for every level of your hero’s faith divine favor! Aptitude. The bonus your hero gains in this manner can’t be greater than her faith Aptitude level. For example, if she has Quench faith 5, the maximum modifier she can receive from these prayers is +5, no matter how many are praying for her. Intensity TN The miracle lasts for 1 round for each Lantern, torch 3 level she has in faith, or until she Campfire 5 attempts the named Trait or Aptitude Bonfire 7 roll—successfully or not—whichever Small burning comes first. building 9 There is one exception to this limit. Large burning The blessed can garner prayers of the building 11 faithful to assist with her own natural Magical fire, healing rolls. To do so, she must invoke ghostrock 13 the miracle the day prior to actually making the healing roll. Even though Sparrow’s Fall such healing normally takes longer than the duration allows, Heaven cuts TN: 5 her a little slack and allows it. Speed: 2 Finally, a blessed can only benefit Duration: 1 day/faith level from a single prayers of the faithful at a Range: 1 mile/faith level time, even if she invokes it for another They say Heaven knows when even Trait or Aptitude. a single sparrow falls from its perch. That’s probably a little beyond the realm Quench of even divinely inspired humans, but with this miracle, a blessed can at least TN: Special keep track of one of her own flock. Speed: 2 When she invokes this miracle, your Duration: Special blessed must name a specific person. Range: 10 yards/faith level Furthermore, she can’t target an There’s a place for fire in a religion, unwilling character with sparrow’s fall; but burning down a schoolhouse—or the subject must allow it, otherwise it worse, your hero himself—isn’t it. With simple fails. Finally, the target character quench, your blessed can invoke a little must be within range at the time she Heavenly aid in extinguishing fires of invokes the miracle, or it fails before both earthly and unearthly origin. she even rolls her faith. If these conditions are met and she This miracle is cast as an active makes her faith roll, for the duration of defense—in other words, as a vamoose— the miracle, she is constantly aware of because often abominations have a the state of the subject’s well-being. In habit of jumping out at your character game terms, she knows the target’s when he’s not expecting it! To invoke wound levels and current Wind. strength of fellowship, your hero must If she gets a raise on her faith roll to spend his highest Action Card. invoke sparrow’s fall, she knows the Sometimes the servants of Darkness rough direction and distance to the manage to put the frighteners on folks chosen character. before they’ve even had a chance to roll Finally, thanks to the power of the Quickness. In that case, your blessed miracle, she can give Fate Chips to the can chuck a white Fate Chip (or higher) chosen character to prevent wounds or into the Fate Pot to invoke strength of Wind loss for the duration of the fellowship at that time. miracle without having to sacrifice one Your blessed counts toward the of equal value to the Marshal. She can number of the total bonus to the guts do so regardless of the distance check and receives it as well. separating the two, but the blessed A cowpoke can only benefit from a must be conscious to pass along the single strength of fellowship at a time. Fate Chips. Your blessed can only invoke a single The Lord Provides sparrow’s fall at a time. The drain on her spiritual awareness is too great to TN: 7 let her maintain more than one. Speed: 1 minute Duration: 1 hour/faith level Strength of Fellowship Range: Self The Good Book tells the faithful to TN: 7 ask and their needs shall be answered. Speed: Vamoose This miracle proves the truth in that Duration: Instant passage. Range: 5 yards/faith level Once she’s invoked the Lord provides, Earlier we mentioned strength in your blessed gets a +5 on her numbers, but there’s also courage there scroungin’ rolls, plus an additional +2 as well. Strength of fellowship helps for every raise. Now, she may not find your blessed boost the morale of his exactly what she wants if her roll is fellow worshipers when faced with the successful, but she does find what she horrors of the Weird West. needs. Exactly what that entails is the When invoked, strength of fellowship Marshal’s call, of course. provides a bonus to the guts rolls of all The miracle is likewise effective in a cowpokes within range who share your wilderness setting. There, the blessed blessed’s religion (i.e., have at least 1 gains a similar bonus to her level in the same faith Aptitude). This appropriate survival rolls to find food bonus is equal to the total number of and water. Out in the wilds, it’s a little characters within range of your blessed more straightforward than in the city, who have the same faith Aptitude as so for every success and raise, she he does. Those who don’t neither gain finds enough food and water to feed a from nor contribute to the bonus. single person for one day. There is no upper limit to this modifier, but it only applies to a single Water of Life guts check made in the same round as the miracle is invoked. Later checks do TN: 7 not get this bonus. Speed: 1 Duration: Instant Range: 10 yards/faith level All life on earth needs water to 16 Posse survive. Given that, it’s really no surprise that most religions place a great importance on the substance. Turning this fount of life into foul poisons, toxic liquids, and the like just doesn’t sit well with many blessed or The Blessed 17 their divine patrons. Water of life lets your hero cleanse liquid of any harmful impurities and turn it to a revitalizing tonic. Regardless For the duration of the miracle, of how foul or toxic the target liquid is anyone who imbibes the liquid must this miracle converts it to the purest of make a Vigor roll against a Fair (5) TN pure water. Acid, poison, alcohol, or any or settle down for a nice, relaxing nap. similar vile substance is instantly For every raise the blessed gets on her neutralized and purified. faith roll to invoke this miracle, that TN Your hero can change 1 gallon of increases by +2. liquid per level of his faith to water Even if a drinker manages to stay with this miracle. He doesn’t have to awake, he suffers a -1 modifier for every see it, but he does have to know where success and raise your hero received on the water is and it must be within her faith roll to all other Trait and range when he invokes the miracle. Aptitude checks for the duration of the So, for example, he could transmute miracle. the acid in a tank on a mad scientist’s As noted, a single drink is sufficient back to water if he knew it was there; to cause the effects noted above. At the however, he can’t simply cast the miracle Marshal’s discretion, cowpokes who blindly and cleanse the entire area. imbibe the liquid with gusto may The miracle has an added effect: Not receive additional modifiers to the Vigor only is the liquid cleansed, but water of roll to remain awake. life provides it with a mild healing power. Any hero that drinks of the water so created regains 1d6 Wind for New Gifts each success and raise the blessed received when invoking the miracle. We described gifts in detail in Fire & She must drink the liquid within 1 Brimstone. If you don’t have that book, minute of its conversion, however, for the simplest explanation is that a gift is this effect to work. a miracle that’s always in effect, with no faith roll needed to activate it. Sort Water to Wine of a “Holy” Edge, if you will. TN: 7 Gaining New Gifts Speed: 2 Duration: 1 hour/faith level A blessed picks up a gift in exactly Range: Touch the same manner as he does a new The previous miracle completely miracle: pay 5 Bounty Points. And, as purifies liquid, making it crystal clear before, if the Marshal’s working with water. This miracle, on the other hand, the rules in Fire & Brimstone, the turns a beverage into a pacifying blessed must pray for a day and make intoxicant. an Onerous (7) faith roll before spending Sure, drunkenness is frowned on by those points. nearly all religions, but between shooting an enemy or rendering him New Gift senseless without violence, most would likely choose the latter! Descriptions When cast, water to wine turns up to Gifts don’t have common elements in 1 gallon per level of your blessed’s faith their descriptions like miracles. There is of water, coffee, tea, whiskey, or just no TN, since the gift is always in effect; about any other, non-alchemical there’s no speed or duration for the beverage to a pleasant, but powerfully same reason. And, unless the gift intoxicating, drink. A single sip of the specifically states otherwise, the range liquid is sufficient to cause its effects. is always self. Clarity of Thought bonus to her first Dominion roll equal to her faith Aptitude. This roll replaces the All your hero’s time in prayer and regular Harrowed card draw. meditation must have centered his mind, because he has the ability to think clearly in the worst situations. Good Karma Whenever your hero draws a single Your hero has built quite a stock of Action Card, he can discard it and good deeds to draw on in a clutch. For immediately redraw another. that reason, even Fate doesn’t seem to Unfortunately, even the calmest minds be quite as harsh with him as it is with occasionally stumble, so if he pulls a most folks. black Joker, he’s stuck. Whenever your blessed spends a red This gift is cumulative with the Edge Fate Chip to add a die to a Trait or level-headed, but only when your Aptitude roll, the Marshal doesn’t get a blessed draws a single Action Card. If free draw from the Fate Pot. Also, he draws more than one, you can’t use anytime your hero pulls the black Joker, clarity of thought, but you can still use he still has to discard the Joker and any the effect of level-headed. sleeve card, but at least the Marshal doesn’t get to draw from the Fate Pot. Favored of Heaven Thank Heaven for small favors! The Powers That Be are looking out for your hero. So much so, in fact, that Gumption she has no chance of coming back Call it determination, pluck, or just from the dead as a walkin’ dead, plain cussedness, but whatever it is, vampire, or any other foul form of your blessed’s got it in spades! She just undead. doesn’t know when to give up, and her If your blessed is put down by a Heavenly allies appreciate that trait. critter that would normally cause her Once per game session, your hero to come back as an unholy undead, she can reroll a single Trait or Aptitude has the good graces to stay dead and in check; however, she’s stuck with the the ground. She’s got no protection second result, for better or worse. against other forms of unearthly This doesn’t cost her any Fate Chips, transformation like lycanthropy—or but she can’t make a reroll if she goes worse. bust on the first attempt. She can Also, when she’s unlucky enough to spend Fate Chips on the second roll as die through other means, there is a long as she doesn’t go bust. Even then, chance that Heaven intervenes. She if she’s got the gift divine providence, draws a number of cards equal to her she’s allowed to spend Fate Chips on it faith Aptitude plus one additional. as usual; if not, she’s out of luck. If she draws the red Joker, she somehow avoids even certain death. Saint Patrick’s Boon Her work on Earth obviously isn’t finished yet, for she tenaciously clings Your blessed is a born snake- to life. She does suffer a Critical wound handler! Well, maybe not born, but with to the guts, or at least enough to raise a little divine assistance, she does just her wound level there to that location; fine. She’s totally immune to natural however, somehow she remains alive. animal venoms, like those of a rattler, If she draws a black Joker, for copperhead, or even a scorpion. The whatever reason, her Heavenly patron(s) bite might sting a bit, but she suffers has allowed her to return as a no ill effects from the poison. Harrowed; however, she does get a This resistance extends to other poisons as well, although it’s not completely full proof against them. She gets a +4 on Vigor rolls to resist the venom of abominations, alchemical 18 Posse toxins, or poisons created through black magic. New Divine Interventions

Divine interventions are the “big guns” of the blessed. We introduced them in Fire & Brimstone and there’s a whole passel of them in that book. If you don’t have that sourcebook handy, here’s a short explanation of how they work Blessings

Every time your blessed takes an active roll in lowering a Fear Level, she can gain a Blessing. A Blessing is needed to request a divine intervention. Also, your blessed must have at least faith of 6; she can still gain a Blessing, but she can’t use it until she raises her faith to the minimum level. Using a Blessing

Your blessed can call upon a divine intervention by spending a Blessing. As before, she has to make a faith roll against the intervention’s TN. She can’t add to her roll or lower the TN through other miracles or hexes (prayers or the faithful) or lower the TN (penny ante), Fiery Furnace but she can spend Fate Chips. TN: 13 Intervention Speed: Vamoose Duration: Concentration Descriptions Range: 5 yards This intervention protects the blessed Intervention headings follow the and a number of companions up to his same format as those of miracles. faith level from certain death due to natural or environmental hazards. This Dust to Rust includes blazing fire, avalanches, mine TN: Special collapses, or even being swallowed alive Speed: 3 by a whale! Duration: Instant Once activated, all your blessed can Range: 5 yards do is pray and attempt to move from This intervention calls on the might the area. If he can’t leave the area, he of Heaven to send an infernal device must continue to pray as he awaits back to the Hell that spawned it. If rescue. During this time, his friends successful, the intervention turns a must remain within 5 yards of him or gizmo into a useless pile of rusted junk. closer, depending on the circumstances. The TN for this intervention is equal Exactly how your hero and his to the Construction TN for the gizmo. companions survive the disaster is up You can find that number on The to your Marshal, but she can be as Gizmo Construction table in the Weird creative as she wants. West Player’s Guide. If your blessed This intervention is no help against makes that number, the gizmo is toast. direct attacks like artillery fire, black magic, or an abomination’s attack.

Chapter Two: A Whole New Deck

In this chapter, you’ll find a deck full Unless you read differently in the of new tricks and hexes, as well as the following sections, just use the rules in secrets hidden in a very unlikely place. Hucksters & Hexes as written. But before we get into the new stuff, we’re going to take a minute to clarify Learning New Hexes a couple of things from Hucksters & Hexes, as well as even admit to a If you’re using the expanded rules for mistake or two. That last statement learning new hexes detailed in alone ought to be worth the time it Hucksters & Hexes, it only takes a takes to read this book! couple of changes to make them fit with the hexslingin’ Aptitude. First, after your hero has completed The Old & all the steps necessary to learn a new hex, she has to spend 5 Bounty Points, The New instead of a single one; however, she now learns it at her hexslingin’ level Hucksters & Hexes was released instead of level one like the text states. under a slightly different system of rules than the newer, hexslingin’-based Tricks set from the Weird West Player’s Guide. As a result, some of the For those of you without Hucksters & instructions in that first book might Hexes, we’ll go into tricks in a little seem a little unclear or just more detail in a minute, so don’t worry downright confusing. Well, we’re too much about this section right now. going to straighten all that out. Hucksters use the hexslingin’ Aptitude Shadow man has a duration of based on the associated Trait to cast ”Concentration.” Now, you’ve probably tricks now, just like with hexes. been wondering how your huckster is Also, if your cardslinger draws a supposed to sneak while maintaining black Joker while casting a trick, he the hex. This hex is a specific exception doesn’t automatically take backlash. to the rule that a cowpoke can only Now, the trick fails, he loses 2 Wind take simple actions while and must make an Onerous (7) Smarts concentrating on a hex. She can use roll. Only if he fails that roll does he the sneak Aptitude while maintaining suffer backlash. shadow man, but is otherwise limited to simple actions. Miscellaneous Stuff Silver-tongued devil has a Range of “Self,” not “Touch.” Cowpokes wishing to become Talisman has a Speed of three days, hucksters now need at least one level like the description says, not two as in hexslingin’ before they can purchase noted in the beginning entry. the Edge arcane background: huckster. That applies whether they’re starting characters or picking up a deck later in Tricks their career. Ignore the part about hucksters with Back in Hucksters & Hexes, we a level of 3 or more in a Hex not taking introduced a sort of minor hex called a backlash from the red Joker. Like the trick. These magics allow hucksters to Weird West Player’s Guide says, work smaller effects without worrying hucksters no longer take backlash on so much about backlash. the red Joker, regardless of their If you’ve got that fine tome, you hexslingin’ Aptitude. already know the lowdown on tricks. Any time the text refers to “hex level” You’ll want to read through this section just substitute “hexslingin’ level.” There anyway to catch up on a few tweaks are no individual hex levels anymore. we’ve made to update them to the And, just in case we’ve missed hexslingin’ Aptitude revisions. something, if a rule in Hucksters & The basic idea behind a trick is that Hexes flies in the face of the Weird West the huckster can avoid the big league Player’s Guide, ignore it. manitous he needs to power potent hexes and instead grab one of the little Whoops! guys and mop the floor with it. Spiritually speaking, of course. As usual, a pack of gremlins got into Now, these peon manitous aren’t the printer’s presses and played havoc much good for casting a real hex like with some of the hex descriptions. soul blast, but they work just fine if all Here’s a few that need correcting or your hero wants to do is light a cigar. further explanation. Bodyguard has a range of “Self,” not Casting a Trick “Touch.” Gambler’s luck needs two Since they’re minor magics, casting a clarifications. First, it has a range of trick is a whole lot easier than a full- “Self,” not “Touch.” Second, the chips the blown hex. cardslinger gains with it can’t be used All a huckster has to do to fire off a for Bounty Points, although they do still trick is make a Fair (5) hexslingin’ roll count against the 10 Chip limit. using the associated Trait for the trick, Poltergeist has an area of effect of 5 just as if she were casting a hex. She yards/hexslingin’ level. doesn’t draw a full hand, though.; instead, she draws one card for each success and raise she gets on the roll. If your huckster gets a red card, just 22 Posse one, the trick works. Even if she has 12 black cards and the lowly Deuce of Diamonds, the trick works. Of course, every now and then, even one of the little guys gets a lucky shot in. If your huckster attempts to cast a Hucksters 23 trick and fails (it does happen!), she loses 2 Wind. If she’s unlucky enough to draw the black Joker, she’s gotten hold of one of the shrimps’ bigger cousins. Not only Finish does the trick fail, causing her to lose 2 Trait: Mien Wind as above, but she’s also got to Duration: Permanent immediately make an Onerous (7) Range: 1 elixir Smarts roll to let go of the nasty or This trick can put a shine on even take backlash just as if she were the grimiest spittoon in a backstreet casting a real hex. If she makes the roll, Shan Fan saloon. she still loses the Wind, but she gets The finish trick lets a huckster out of Dodge before the angry spirit polish up an item to make it look like gets a shot at her. better-than-new. It shines metal, This last rule is a bit of a change brushes velvet, polishes wood, you from Hucksters & Hexes. We’ve eased up name it. on cardslingers a little here to bring the It doesn’t do a thing for the item’s risk for casting a trick more in line functionality; if it was broken before, with the rewards. it’s still broken after finish is cast—but it looks good! A fast-talking huckster Learnin’ Tricks can use this hex to get a +2 bonus made to his persuasion rolls to sell an As you’ve probably guessed, tricks are item for a higher-than-normal price. easy to learn. During character creation, This trick can only spruce up items you can opt to learn three tricks instead up to the size of about a love seat or of one hex for every level of your chest of drawers. In case you haven’t hexslingin’ Aptitude. You can mix and guessed, it only works on inanimate match tricks and hexes when creating objects; if your hero wants to dandy your huckster as well. For example, if himself up, he needs to use the groom your hero had hexslingin’ 3, he could trick. Gizmos are fair game, though, as learn three hexes or nine tricks, or two long as they fit the size requirement. hexes and three tricks, etc. After character creation, your huckster can learn a new trick for 2 Fooled You! Bounty Points and a couple of nights Trait: Smarts practicing. He doesn’t have to have a Duration: Concentration teacher, worry about academia: occult Range: 1 elixir rolls, etc. Tricks are simple enough that This trick is a favorite of gambling he can figure them out for himself. hall cheats and a couple of outlaws who’ve mastered the secrets of Hoyle. New Tricks Fooled you! lets the caster create a small, two-dimensional illusion—just All tricks take a single action to about the size of, say, a playing card or complete. Additionally, each of the a face on a wanted poster. The illusion tricks described in the following pages is static (that is, it doesn’t move), but have three entries: Trait, Duration, and can be just about as complex as the Range. huckster wants. The caster can also Trait is the Mental Trait the huckster make the image created in color or uses to determine the die type to use monochrome, as best fits his situation. with her hexslingin’ Aptitude. It can’t convincingly duplicate an Duration is the length of time the imprint, but it is able to duplicate a trick stays in effect. Most are bloody print, a small piece of a note, instantaneous, but some last longer. change a face on a wanted poster, and Range is the distance at which the so forth. trick can be performed. The illusion lasts only as long as the The second is pick me up has an huckster concentrates on it and heightened intoxicating effect on the remains within range. folks it cures. For every point of Wind recovered with this trick, the imbiber Mirror gets the effects of a full shot of whiskey—all at once. So, if your hero Trait: Knowledge has been on the losing side of a Duration: Concentration serious brawl, she’s liable to be drunk Range: 2 yards off her feet before she can recover all Even the wisest man doesn’t always her Wind with pick me up! know what’s around the next corner. On the other hand, it’s hard to use On the other hand, the most foolish this trick to get a cowpoke drunk huckster can, provided he knows this without raising his suspicions. If he’s trick! lost no Wind prior to drinking it, it’s no Mirror creates a small shimmering more potent than a regular shot. If your area about 2” in diameter that acts just hero goes to thumping on him prior to like, well, a mirror. It’s great for looking buying his drink, his suspicions are around corners, behind doors, or at an probably going to be running a little opponent’s poker hand. high! The caster can move the mirror The Wind recovered is permanent anywhere within two yards of himself (unless beat out of the cowpoke again by spending an action. The mirror is later!), but the intoxicating effects wear insubstantial and can be moved off normally, usually after just a few through solid objects. hours. Pick Me Up Startle

Trait: Spirit Trait: Smarts Duration: Permanent Duration: 1 round/hexslingin’ level Range: Touch Range: 1 yard/hexslingin’ level There’s nothing like a shot of This trick strums on edges of the whiskey to snap a cowpoke to his five senses, tickling the part of the senses. This trick adds a little brain that controls the “flight or fight” supernatural zing to a shot glass full of instinct. It affects every person and liquor—”good stuff” or not—and while animal in range for its duration. some saloon patrons shudder at the It’s not terribly effective against most thought of polluting a perfectly good folks because humans just aren’t all drink, the benefits are undeniable. that on top of their senses—often in Once successfully cast, this trick more ways than one. The worst startle causes a shot of whiskey to restore 1d6 can do to a cowpoke directly is cause Wind to the person drinking it. Just the him to suffer a -1 to any guts check he thing for those all-night saloon brawls! has to make during its effect. There are a couple of drawbacks to Animals are quite a bit more pick me up, though. First, it won’t work susceptible to the trick, however, as on anyone under the effects of another they tend to be a little more aware of trick, coffin varnish. For some reason goings-on than their masters. Horses that trick complete cancels pick me up; become skittish, dogs perk up and in fact, both magics’ effects are nullified growl, cats’ hiss and arch their backs, if the same person tries to benefit from and so forth. one while under the influence of the Now, most savvy Westerners are other. going to notice their animals are acting up, and maybe get a little skittish themselves. A quick-thinking huckster can no doubt find dozens of ways to use this trick. 24 Posse Finally, any ridin’ or animal handlin’ roll made on animals under startle’s effect is at -2 for the trick’s duration. Tinhorn Shuffle

Trait: Smarts Duration: 1 round Range: Touch For this trick to be effective, your hero must have a deck of cards handy. When cast, it causes the deck to spray from his hand into the air, as if he’d just executed one of the worst shuffles in the history of poker. The cards erupt upwards in a near- mesmerizing blast of color and motion, drawing the attention of anyone within 5 yards. The tinhorn shuffle makes the explosion of cards even more eye- catching than normal, wafting them about on air currents for a moment before dropping them to the ground. The effect of this—other than making the caster look like a total rube—is to give a +2 bonus to all filchin’, sleight o’ hand, and sneak rolls for that round. The huckster himself can’t take advantage of the bonus, as he’s largely the center of attention, but another posse member who was clued in on the act certainly could. New Hexes

These hexes can’t be found in Hoyle’s Hand refers to the minimum poker Book of Games. All are relatively new hand the huckster must draw to power creations from various cardslingers in up the hex. Depending on the hex, the Weird West. Of course, that means better hands might mean the hex is learning them isn’t going to be as easy stronger, lasts longer, or has some as cracking a book and studying for a other enhanced effect. little while. Speed is the number of actions it Your huckster is going to need to takes to finish the hex. A very few find another huckster to teach him any hexes might take longer and aren’t of these hexes. A few have worked really suitable for combat. These hexes their way into other publications, have their speeds listed in minutes, though, so your hero might—just hours, or even days. might—stumble across one or two if he Duration is the length of time the peruses the right books. hex stays in effect. “Concentration” What are the “right” books, you ask? means the huckster must concentrate Well, that is the question isn’t it? Your on the magic and can take only simple hero will just have to keep looking. actions like moving or speaking. Other hexes require Wind to maintain; those Hex Descriptions last as long as the huckster pays the Wind to keep the hex in effect. A few Just like in the Weird West Player’s use a combination of both. If that’s the Guide, the hexes below have five case, the huckster either maintains entries: Trait, Hand, Speed, Duration, concentration or pays the listed Wind to and Range. keep the hex in effect. Trait is the mental Trait used to cast Range is the distance at which the the hex. hex can take effect. Some hexes target the huckster himself, but then give him an ability to affect targets at a longer the fact she was in a dark robe or range. If that’s the case, we’ll tell you in light-colored pants and shirt can. The the description of the hex itself. The viewers might see a figure move to a hex Cardsharp is a good example of mantelpiece and take something but this. not exactly what it was. Anyone on the same side of the A Glass Darkly glass as the caster and within the hex’s range can see the images unfold in the Trait: Cognition glass. Folks on the opposite side can Hand: Pair see nothing but the long-necked Speed: 2 gawkers staring out the window. Duration: 1 round/hexslingin’ level The hex targets the most psychically Range: 5 yards powerful event (murder is always a safe This hex lets the huckster and his bet for this one!) in the period searched companions view psychic imprints left by the huckster. Subsequent castings of in a window pane by events occurring a glass darkly by the same cardslinger on the other side of the glass. don’t review the same scene, but When cast, the viewers get a instead move to the next most potent shadowy replay of an act or other event in the period. occurrence that took place on the other side of the glass. In effect, the huckster rewinds time to view events of the past A Glass Darkly through the window. Details are very hard to make out, as the images are little more than shadow Hand Time plays and blurry; for example, a Period Scanned murderer’s face can’t be identified, but Pair 1 day Two Pairs 1 week Three of a Kind 1 month Straight 1 year Flush 5 years Full House 10 years

Black Cat

Trait: Smarts Hand: Two Pairs Speed: Vamoose Duration: Instant Range: 5 yards/hexslingin’ level Every so often a cowpoke just plain beats the odds and pulls off the impossible. And sometimes, your huckster may have rather seen him fail. Black cat lets your hero twist probabilities at the last second. With this hex, your cardslinger can force another character to immediately reroll a Trait or Aptitude check he’s just completed successfully. He—and your huckster—are stuck with the results of the second roll, for better or worse. Beware, this can be a double-edged hex! To cast black cat, your huckster must make a vamoose and spend her highest remaining Action Card, with sleeve cards going first. If she can’t vamoose, she can’t cast black cat. If she gets the requisite hand, the victim has to immediately roll the Trait or Aptitude again against the same TN Hucksters 27 and with the same modifiers he had on the original roll; however, due to the effect of the hex, he actually gets a +2 bonus on the second roll. Your hero can hurl one card on each Obviously, then, your huckster of his Actions. doesn’t want to cast black cat on For every hand above the minimum relatively easy tasks. She’s better off required, each card gets an additional slinging a confound hex instead. +2 to damage. Occasionally, your However, it’s great for foiling a one-in-a- huckster may opt to not take a higher- million shot. ranking hand so he can use other, Finally, since the target has to more potent cards. succeed in the first place, your hero The damage dealt by these cards is can’t use the hex to give someone a considered magical, by the way. second chance at a failed task. The hex lasts until your huckster has chucked all his cards or the duration Cardsharp expires. Any cards he has left in his hand at the end of that time fade Trait: Knowledge quickly to nothing, as do all he’s Hand: Pair thrown. Speed: 1 Duration: 1 round/hexslingin’ level Velvet, faced by a threesome of Range: Self gun-toting henchman, casts Cardsharp is pretty true to its name; cardsharp. He draws an Ace, two 3s, with it a huckster can create his own two 5s, a Jack, and a King. He isn’t dead man’s hand! lucky enough to pull a flush, so he This hex works a little different than opts to keep the two 5s, Ace, Jack, most, because the value of every card and King. While the other pair would in the five the huckster uses to make have boosted all his cards’ damage by his final hand matters. If you’ll +2, he decides to take the higher remember, a hand of cards magically damage dice and hope for good rolls. appears in the huckster’s hand before He slings the Ace first, and hits with he casts any hex. With cardsharp, those a 6 on his throwin’: balanced cards remain, imbued with energy from Aptitude. He rolls a Strength check the Hunting Grounds and gets a whopping 4 as his highest Assuming he makes the minimum die—after all, he’s a gambler and a hand to cast the hex, each card of the gentlemen, not a brute! He now rolls final five he keeps becomes a razor 1d12—getting an 8— and adds it to his sharp weapon he can hurl at his foes. Strength roll for a total damage of 12. Doing so effectively takes the throwin’: He’s still got 4 cards to throw too. balanced Aptitude. The cards have a Range Increment of 5, and a maximum range equal to the caster’s hexslingin’ Cold Snap Aptitude level times 5 yards. Trait: Knowledge The amount of damage done by the Hand: Pair card is the huckster’s Strength plus a Speed: 2 bonus amount based on the value of Duration: 5 rounds/hexslingin’ level the card itself. Deuces do +1d4, values 3 Range: 5 yards/hexslingin’ level to 8 get +1d6, 9s to Jacks do +1d8, Kings It’s hard to be light-fingered when and Queens are +1d10, and Aces inflict subzero temperatures are freezing the +1d12. Jokers do damage based on the blood in your veins. Cold snap lets the card value they’re copying (usually an huckster bring a supernatural spell of Ace, unless your hero needs them to winter weather down over an area, improve his hand!). However, the suit of causing everyone a lot of grief—and the card doesn’t matter for damage numb appendages! purposes. Everyone in range has certain Fifty-Two Pickup Corporeal Traits lowered for the Trait: Smarts duration of the hex as the uncanny Hand: Ace chill settles into their bones. Even Speed: 1 undead and other abominations suffer Duration: 1 round/hexslingin’ level these effects. Except, of course, those Range: Touch that are native to frosty climates or are If tinhorn shuffle catches folks’ otherwise resistant to the effects of attention, fifty-two pickup grabs it, cold. clubs it over the head, skins it, and All in range have their Deftness, sells the pelt for a profit! Nimbleness, and Quickness Traits This hex was no doubt developed by lowered by a die type. For each hand some cardslinger who felt the trick the huckster gets above the minimum didn’t go far enough with its effects. to cast the hex, those Traits are Instead of a seemingly clumsy spray of dropped by an additional step as well. cards that flutter into the air, fifty-two Once the die type reaches d4, the pickup fills an area with a swirling Coordination is reduced instead, to a mass of tumbling, spinning cards. minimum of 1d4. The hex effects originate from the Once the Trait reaches 1d4, the poor huckster, who, just as if he were sap is as cold as he can get, short of a casting tinhorn shuffle, must have a permanent visit to the undertaker! deck of cards in his hand to begin with. The cold radiates out from the The cards explode up, out and around cardslinger, so she’s affected as well. him, multiplying their number a While it doesn’t give much offensive hundredfold or more. They whip about advantage, cold snap is a good defense, in an area up to 5 yards across for if your hero has the guts to take a little every level your hero has in hexslingin’. chill herself. Anyone in the area, or attempting to look at, shoot, or otherwise affect targets in it suffers a -2 to all vision- based rolls, whether they be purely Cognition-related, like search, or tied to another Trait, like shootin’. For every hand the huckster gets above the minimum of an Ace, this modifier is increased by an additional -2. A word of warning, however: While fairly effective, this is a truly obvious hex. Your hero is going to be hard pressed to explain it off as anything but “black magic” to a rope-toting lynch mob of peace-loving townsfolk. Hell’s Bargain

Trait: Spirit Hand: Ace Speed: 1 Duration: 1 Wind/round Range: 5 yards/hexslingin’ level With all the deals hucksters cut with—or, more correctly beat out of— manitous, it was only a matter of time before one of them figured out how to stack the deck with the spirits. At least as far as convincing one into bringing a cowpoke back from the other side, that is. In short, Hell’s bargain makes it more likely for a fellow to come back Harrowed. This is actually one of the Hucksters 29 easier hexes for a cardslinger to sucker a manitou into powering, since the confounded things are prone to reanimate the dead anyway. It has to be cast on the body of a Hell’s Fury character who’s died in the last round. Trait: Spirit For obvious reasons, a huckster can’t Hand: Pair cast it on herself. Speed: 1 The target of Hell’s bargain draws an Duration: 2 Wind/round additional number of cards according to Range: Self the hand the huckster gets when If your hero is tired of getting her casting the hex. These cards are on top kiester kicked around by barroom thugs of any the poor sap might already get or those fancy-pants Shan Fan kung fu for a high Grit or other reason. The types, Hell’s fury is just the hex for her. exact number of cards is indicated on Hell’s fury summons up flames from, the table below. well, probably the fires of Hell itself. As you might guess with a hex These wrap the huckster’s body like an named Hell’s bargain, there’s a catch. unholy shroud, but don’t so much as First, if the target does come back singe a hair on her head or even a from the grave thanks to Hell’s bargain, thread on her duds. roll for Dominion normally. The manitou Folks that touch her, on the other gets a bonus to its roll equal to the hand, are in for a world of hurt. The number of extra cards granted by the hex does damage to the body part that hex. At low levels, that’s not too bad, comes in contact with her, based on but it can be a killer later on! the hand she gets when she casts Second, if he doesn’t come back Hell’s fury. If the hex causes so much Harrowed, there’s a pretty good chance as a single wound to the cowpoke, that the manitou still decides to animate the hit location catches fire and burns for corpse—but as a walkin’ dead. Without an additional 2d8 damage each round reshuffling the deck, the target draws until extinguished. an additional number of cards equal to Fires started by the hex can be the bonus he got from Hell’s bargain. doused or smothered normally. Don’t count his Grit for these draws. It’s important to note that the folks If a Joker comes up in the second must touch the huckster, whether batch, his corpse becomes a walkin’ punching, kicking, or prodding. If she dead in the next round. Now, keep in touches them, the fires do no damage, mind it’s awful hard to tell a Harrowed nor can she use Hell’s fury to ignite from a walkin’ dead—until the zombie combustibles, except as noted above. starts trying to eat a brain or two! Like fifty-two pickup, this is a fairly obvious hex, what with the wreath of Hells’ Bargain unearthly flame and all. A huckster would be advised to take care when using it to avoid hemp neckties. Hand Extra Cards Ace 1 Pair 3 Hells’ Fury Two Pairs 5 Three of a Kind 7 Hand Damage Straight 11 Pair 1d6 Flush 13 Two Pairs 3d6 Full House 17 Three of a Kind 4d6 Four of a Kind 19 Straight 5d8 Straight Flush 23 Flush 6d8 Royal Flush 27 Mirror, Mirror When a huckster casts this hex, it allows him to discard an Action Card Trait: Smarts and draw a new one to replace it Hand: Two Pairs immediately after he rolls Quickness at Speed: 2 the beginning of a round. If his hand is Duration: 1 Wind/round good enough, he can do this more than Range: 5 yards/hexslingin' level once. The exact number of times your Here’s a hex that’s handy for evening hero can discard and redraw is up the odds in a stacked fight—at least determined by his hand and shown on as far as your huckster is concerned. the table following sleeve card’s Once mirror, mirror is successfully description. cast, your hero chooses a target within The huckster actually doesn’t gain range. Usually, it’s an opponent, but it any Action Cards through this hex; doesn’t have to be. those are determined by his Quickness Next, she has to win a contest of roll as usual. Spirit with her intended target, and for Each discard and redraw is done every hand she gets above the separately, so it’s possible for a minimum for the hex, she gets a +2 huckster to discard a card he received bonus to her roll. If she wins, she and on a previous redraw. He doesn’t have the target temporarily swap a single to use the discard/redraw ability during Trait, Corporeal or Mental, of her choice a round if he doesn’t want and he can for the duration of mirror, mirror. chose to discard/redraw less than the Now, bear in mind, she usually has total number allowed by the hex. no idea exactly what another Since he’s basically running a cheat cowpoke’s Traits are, but, with a Fair (5) on the laws of nature, there is a Smarts roll she can usually make a chance he can get caught. If he pulls good guess—at least about Corporeal the black Joker on a redraw, not only ones. Mental Traits take a bit more does he lose it and his hole card (if exposure and the Marshal decides any), but he also suffers backlash, just when your character knows enough as if he’d drawn it while casting the about an individual to make that sort hex. of educated guess. However, it’s a little easier to take the Finally, this hex can only swap Traits second time around, so the roll to between human or nearly-human determine the result gets a -4 modifier, targets (Marshal’s call). Animals and to minimum of 1. other nonhuman creatures are too alien to make the exchange. Velvet casts sleeve card and gets two pairs, letting him Sleeve Card discard and redraw up to three Trait: Smarts cards at the beginning of each Hand: Ace round. On his next Quickness Speed: 1 roll he gets a total of two cards. Duration: 1 round/hexslingin' level Drawing, he comes up with a Range: Self Jack and a Three. He chooses to A good gambler doesn’t need to cheat keep the Jack, but discards the to win, but sometimes having the right Three. His redraw is only a Five, card up his sleeve makes all the and so, since he has two more difference—unless he gets caught with it, discard/redraws remaining, he that is. Sleeve card lets a huckster tweak decides to discard it and draw time to a minute degree, stacking the again. This time he gets a Nine. odds in a fight slightly in his favor. Although he could discard one more time and redraw, Velvet decides to stick with the Nine and forfeits his remaining redraw. He can repeat this draw/redraw 30 Posse process each round until the hex’s duration expires. Sleeve Card

Hand Discard/Redraw Ace 1 Pair 2 Three of a Kind 3 Straight 4 Flush 5 Stayin’ Put

Trait: Spirit Hand: Pair Speed: 1 Duration: Concentration or 1 Wind/ round Range: Self This hex makes the caster tougher to budge from a spot than an Arizona mule on Sunday morning. It puts down magical “roots” that help hold the huckster in place. While stayin’ put is in effect, the huckster gets +5 to all her Strength rolls to resist being pushed, pulled, tugged or even lifted. For every hand above the minimum, she gets an additional +2 to the roll. Stayin’ put makes a huckster a great doorstop! She also gets this bonus to any The Demon’s Eye climbin’ roll made to hang on or avoid falling. The hex doesn’t help her Trait: Cognition actually climb, just stay stuck to a spot Hand: Ace once she gets there. Any climbin’ roll to Speed: 1 move up or down a surface doesn’t get Duration: 1 Wind/round this bonus. Range: 10 yards/hexslingin' level On the other hand, even she has to A huckster casting this hex forces a fight against the hex to some degree. manitou to give him a tiny glimpse of Her Pace is lowered by 2 while she the immediate future. In effect, he sees maintains stayin’ put. with a “demon’s eye,” hence the name There is a benefit to the hex’s of the hex. He can’t make out exact supernatural restraint, as well, however. details or discern the outcome of As long as stayin’ put is effect, your events; his vision is limited to a snippet huckster gets a +2 to all guts checks. In of the next few seconds only. addition, if she fails the check, she can What this means in game terms is choose to stand her ground if the result that when your hero casts this hex, the of the failed check forces her to flee. In Marshal has to reveal some of the Action effect she gains the Edge nerves o’ steel, Cards for the opponents your hucksters although in this case it might better be are facing. Better yet, she has to show called Feet o’ Lead. the highest cards first down to the She still suffers any other effects, lowest, so even with a minimal success, though. The hex only prevents her from at least you know when the soonest she having to flee; however it doesn’t can shoot your hero is! protect her from Wind loss, negative The total number of cards revealed is modifiers, or more lasting dementias. based on the final hand your huckster gets when casting the demon’s eye. She also has to let you know which of your inventions. A big part of the reason hero’s opponents have which cards, in Sitgreaves was successful in getting the case she tries to get sneaky. contract was the fact he used to be an Cards up an enemy’s sleeve don’t employee of Smith & Robards in their count against this total, but even the Research & Development section. minimum hand lets you know from Sitgreaves left the company for round to round which opponents are reasons we’ll go into in just a moment, holding Action Cards and which aren’t. but pursued the contract for the catalog The table below shows how many printing not out of loyalty to his former cards your huckster can reveal employers, but because R. Percy according to his hand. Sitgreaves has his own agenda. “Mad” Science The Demon’s Eye Sitgreaves, like a handful of other folks in the Weird West, had made the Hand Cards Revealed connection between the sudden ease Ace 1 with which Hoyle’s formulae were Pair 2 practiced and the advent of “mad Jacks 3 science.” He did a little homework and Three of a Kind 4 pieced together that the floodgates on Straight 6 “creativity” opened right about the Flush 8 same time so-called hucksters began Full House 10 having such tremendous success. He Four of a Kind All placed the timeframe for the sudden change in the rules of the universe somewhere between 1863 and 1868. Lots The Science of unusual things were going on over those years, so he couldn’t quite nail of Magic down an exact date. Nonetheless, he became convinced Recently, a man named R. Percy that hucksters and mad scientists were Sitgreaves linked so-called “mad just two different approaches to the science” and the arcane practices of same processes, but, because Hoyle. The result is a new group of practitioners of either discipline tended hexes that draws on certain, almost to ignore the other, neither realized it. pseudo-scientific, theories to explain You see, Sitgreaves had a leg up most their form and function. others didn’t—he was familiar with both These “scientifically-based” hexes are Hoyle’s hexes and the “inspired” genius currently only found in a single place. of mad science. They’re also closely tied, in many cases, R. Percy Sitgreaves had mastered the to mad science. For that reason, we’ve secret of Hoyle’s tome early on and separated them—and the details behind even dabbled a bit in mad science their development—from the other himself. However, he tended to hexes in this chapter. approach mad science in a fashion unlike his peers, since he suspected Man With a Plan the “muses” guiding the scientists’ hands were actually manitous. He also R. Percy Sitgreaves is the 43-year-old realized that not only did other mad owner of Infinity Press, the company scientists seem unaware of this, but that has the contract to print the Smith the majority would not accept this as & Robards catalog for unique fact. Perhaps the inventors did not actually peer into the Hunting Grounds as hucksters did, or the manitous 32 Posse warped their perceptions so that what they saw was a reflection of the physical world. After all, if human hucksters could alter their perception of the Hunting Grounds to see that of a poker game, it only followed that the manitous, who were far more experienced, could warp their appearance to fool an unprepared visitor. Either way, since the scientists had no empirical evidence of Sitgreaves’ claims, they would be very unlikely to accept them as anything but the ravings of a lunatic. Rather than make himself a target for public ridicule, he kept his ideas to himself. He also suspected the few who did occasionally catch some glimpse of the source of their power often went insane. The “laws” of the world their scientific minds rely on are shattered. Their minds simply couldn’t handle the fact that the world as they know it is a sham. Some became afraid of the dark, others spouted utter nonsense because delusions of pink elephants are easier to believe than a demon whispering the plans to your last invention in your mind’s ear. This is why, he theorized, so many of the best inventors are slowly going insane. The Manitous’ Purpose The revelation frightened Sitgreaves Smith & Robards in its implications. He’d gone head-to- head with manitous enough to know Sitgreaves is certainly the man to they were not likely to be passing along make these assumptions. Not only was plans and designs out of the goodness he once an employee of Smith & of their hearts. Robards, but he’d been a tinkerer and He knew the manitous are evil, so inventor all his life. He stumbled onto the only logical reason he could Hoyle’s secrets while traveling abroad, conceive for their assistance was to but it was little more than an hurry humankind toward a horrible interesting hobby of his until 1863 conclusion. Perhaps, he supposed, the when all Hell opened up. manitous were handing humanity the After that, he began honing his skills means to destroy itself in the gadgets as a huckster, suspecting he would one of mad science. day need them to fight against the evils The number of new and devastating he had glimpsed time and again in the weapons coming out of the laboratories Hunting Grounds. of the “mad” scientists seemed to bear Then, in 1871, he found himself in Salt out his theory. Especially when one Lake City, and was fascinated by the considered the few advancements in stories of Hellstromme and Smith & healing or devices built to help Robards. Possessing an active mind, skill humanity compared to the numbers of with his hands, and a fresh outlook on horrible new weapons designed to “inventing,” Sitgreaves was offered a job incinerate, crush, spindle, and as a researcher. This was before a otherwise mutilate that rolled out every saboteur blew up one of the company’s month from laboratories across the main labs, and it was much easier to get West. on staff. He watched his co-researchers with in his hand than in certain other places, interest because he could never quite he is able to use a little magical seem to equal their abilities. He had prodding to create a grenade. grown too fond of his abilities as a To date, he has never been able to huckster, and the long, tedious process conjure ghost rock. This is the one of invention no longer suited him. element the manitous can’t seem to When a month had passed and he create from “thin air.” had nothing to show, his employer gave him a week to prove himself or be The Gorgon fired. In desperation, he turned to the Hunting Grounds. The manitous were Sitgreaves might have kept his all too eager to help. discoveries secret had he not realized The very next day, he presented Mr. he was being stalked by a horror from Robards with the electrostatic gun. Yes, the Hunting Grounds. Although he has, that one was his. as yet, only caught glimpses of the At first he was elated; then, he beast, he’s named it a gorgon because became afraid. Over the next few it seems to be exactly that—a metallic- months he watched his fellow inventors scaled, yellow-eyed bull straight from carefully. With the careful application of the Pits of Hell. his hexes, he learned the awful truth. He has no idea why the gorgon Manitous swarmed about the hasn’t killed him yet—or even why it’s complex. His companions were drawing hunting him in particular. He their ideas from the Hunting Grounds suspects it is waiting for as well. him to have some further revelation or unearth a Thaumaturgical hidden secret his research is speeding towards. And 126 Diffusion when the abomination does, he fears it may strike before he can After that discovery, he turned to spread the word to others. crossing his skills in invention with the To ensure what he has discovered secret arts of Hoyle. At first he focused continues, he’s taken two steps. The on the design process itself. He found first is to devise several new offensive magical ways to make the manitous and defensive hexes with which to reveal the process by which another protect himself. He’s afraid the inventor’s device had been made. He ubiquitous soul blast might not work also found ways of making the on the gorgon, and created several new manitous help him in his work, thus spells of a more physical nature. the devil’s workshop. His second safeguard is hidden Over the last two years, he within the pages of the Smith & concentrated on hexes that conjure raw Robards catalogs. He may not stop all material and assemble them into useful the mad scientists from racing the devices. He called this summoning and world toward oblivion himself, so those assembling of materials “thaumaturgical huckters who decipher his hidden diffusion,” as it uses the power of the message will continue the research Hunting Grounds to accelerate the he’s begun and find a way to thwart natural (or in this case, unnatural) the inevitable. tendency for matter to move from an area of higher concentration to one of Infinity Press lower concentration. So, under this principle, since there is less of a Of course, he doesn’t want this concentration of gunpowder and metal information shared with the public at large. In the course of his research on the topic, he’s uncovered evidence that indicates public hysteria only makes the 34 Posse influence of the manitous stronger. To that end, he purchased a printing press, founded a small printing firm named Infinity Press, and secured the contract to print the 1876 Smith & Robards’ Catalog from his former employers. Hucksters 35 Hidden within the catalog is not only the story you’ve just read, but also the hexes Sitgreaves has perfected using his rather unique approach. He found the them turned out to be great offensive structure of a catalog to be particularly and defensive spells that have nothing receptive to encoding arcane formulae to do with building or inventing devices. and has had great success with it. To the When Sitgreaves created the grenade uninitiated, nothing appears out of order; hex, for example, a huckster friend of even those wise to Hoyle’s original text his proved how potent it was against a often overlook the secrets of the catalog. pack of young rattlers that had Nonetheless, word is slowly getting cornered him. around among hucksters in the Weird Some of Sitgreaves’ other spells are West that there’s more to be had from useful only if your character or one of the latest Smith & Robards than the her companions is a mad scientist. Just newest fashion in bulletproof vests... treat those hexes like any others, and if your hero is a mad scientist as well, When Magic & pay particular attention to those that increase or augment his abilities—you Science Meet may find they’re among the most powerful, though perhaps in a far more subtle and long-term way. What makes Sitgreaves so special that he’s figured out something few others even suspect? The biggest Finding the Hexes reason is he’s not only a huckster, but Any huckster studying the catalog he’s also a mad scientist as well! He with the intent to find a specific hex has both arcane background: huckster has to make a Hard (9) academia: occult and arcane background: mad scientist. roll to find the complete formula. The You’re probably wondering right now same applies to hucksters trying to find if your character can do the same the new pseudo-scientific tricks as well. thing. Sure she can! Of course, to look for either, the If you’re making a character from huckster has know they’re there in the scratch, simply purchase both arcane first place. background: huckster & arcane There are two ways for this to background: mad scientist. Spend your happen. First, someone in the know can skill points wisely, because you won’t pass the information along. The second have many to go around. is for the huckster to stumble across If you want your existing character the formulae himself. to pick up a new arcane background, Any character with the Edge arcane she can do it as detailed in the Weird background: huckster simply perusing a West Player’s Guide. If she already has copy of one of Infinity Press’ catalogs one of the Edges, it should probably may notice snippets of the formulae. If take about six months of game time to he rolls a successful academia: occult develop the other. Speed things up to check—based on Cognition instead of three months if there’s a teacher Knowledge—against a Hard (9) TN, he available. catches enough of a glimpse of the A character with neither arcane codes to realize there’s more to the background Edge doubles those times, book than first meets the eye. must have a teacher, and must have After that, he must spend a number the minimum levels in the required of days equal to 15 minus his Smarts Aptitudes for each: academia: occult and die type deciphering the codes and hexslingin’ for hucksters or mad science reading the text. Once he’s finished, he and science for mad scientists. can find individual hexes and tricks as Sitgreaves’ hexes doesn’t require a described above. huckster to be a mad scientist. Many of The Goods This trick doesn’t work on live organic material. No bracing people, Now that you know a little about the compadre. Your hero could, however, history of the secrets of Infinity Press, brace a fellow’s boot to the floor—if she it’s time to reveal the actual arcane could get a hold of it long enough to formulae themselves. perform the trick, that is! Most of the hexes’ effects are rather distinctive and have a “technological” Debug air about them—if a rusty piece of Trait: Knowledge metal whizzing through the air at Duration: Next use or 1 hour lethal speeds is technological. Any Range: Touch huckster seeing one of these in action There are times when a mad scientist can make a Fair (5) academia: occult roll really needs a device to work correctly. to realize she’s just seen a hex even With his debug trick, Sitgreaves Hoyle never dreamed of in action. developed a method to give a device a magical “once-over,” ensuring that the The Tricks gizmo has a bit less of a chance of falling apart or exploding the next time it We’ve already covered the details on is used. The huckster needs about five casting tricks and their descriptions minutes to tinker with the device, earlier, so let’s go right to the real tightening a screws, oiling a joint, etc. reason you’re here. Once he’s finished, the device’s Reliability is increased by +2 the next Brace time it is used. This bonus applies only Trait: Spirit on the next use. If the device isn’t used Duration: Concentration within an hour following the casting of Range: Touch debug, the benefit is lost as well. Sitgreaves developed the brace trick A gizmo can gain the benefit of only to help himself when building larger a single debug trick at a time. Further gizmos or constructs by himself. This improvement of the device’s Reliability trick gives the caster a phantasmal requires either redesign or a more “third hand.” She channels a small powerful hex. amount of spectral energy to hold an object in place or to brace a structure. Stabilize The object or structure supported Trait: Smarts must be one the caster could handle Duration: Concentration herself, and she has to actually hold Range: 1 yard the object in place while casting the Volatile chemicals and explosive trick. After that, she can move up to substances are pretty common tools of three yards away from the braced object the average mad scientist. Sitgreaves and still maintain the trick. developed stabilize to add a modicum of A cowpoke trying to move a braced safety to his work environment. item must overcome the brace in a This trick allows your huckster to contest of Strength. The trick’s Strength stabilize any one flammable or is equal to the caster’s. In addition, if explosive substance within three feet of this trick is used to support, say, a him. The amount affected is equal to a ceiling that was collapsing (assuming single cubic foot; mad scientists who the huckster was strong enough to insist on working with larger amounts actually hold it up!), it would buttress of dangerous compounds at any one the ceiling with the caster’s Strength. time deserve what they get! No more, no less. Any substance your huckster targets with stabilize has its damage die type lowered by a single step. For example, a 36 Posse stick of dynamite stabilized has its damage die type lowered from d20 to d12. This can also lower the damage die of any fire—except ghost rock, which is oddly resistant to the trick. Hucksters 37 The effect lasts only as long as the huckster is actively concentrating on the substance in question and remains within range of it. is 2 ranks lower than would normally be needed to invent the device to a Tool minimum of an Ace (use the Elixirs table in the Smith & Robards Trait: Knowledge sourcebook). Duration: 1 minute/hexslingin’ level The time it takes to glean the theory Range: Touch is equal to 5 minutes times the rank of The tool trick allows a huckster to the original hand needed for the gizmo.. create a tool from some raw material. A The huckster must be able to casting of this trick creates a single, perform some basic chemistry tests to non-steam powered, hand tool. cast this spell. That means he needs a Common tools created by the trick few beakers, test tubes, and powders. are hammers, screwdrivers, awls, and He doesn’t really need an entire lab— the like. The trick doesn’t create the tool the process is magical after all, but it from thin air, however; it needs raw takes a bit of swirling, bubbling, and material to work with. For instance, a distilling to help the mind understand rock could be transformed into a what the manitous are telling it. hammer, a jagged piece of metal could If the huckster is a mad scientist and become a saw, and a stick could be the spell is successful, he may now turned into a awl. brew this elixir himself. If he is not a The tool can weigh up to one pound mad scientist, he can relate his formula for every level of the caster’s hexslingin’ to someone who is, within a number of Aptitude. hours equal to his Smarts die type. After that, the formula fades from his The Hexes mind and the knowledge is lost. Once related, a mad scientist must As with tricks, we’ve already given still make an Incredible (11) Smarts roll you the lowdown on what all the to understand the process and make entries under each description mean, use of it. The listener may only make so let’s just get to the hexes themselves. this check once. If he wishes to try again, the huckster must cast analyze Analyze again for a “fresh perspective.” Trait: Cognition Barricade Hand: Ace Speed: Special Trait: Knowledge Duration: Special Hand: Jacks Range: 1 elixir Speed: 2 Sitgreaves dabbled in alchemy while Duration: 1 minute/hexslingin' level at Smith & Robards. One of the most Range: 5 yards/hexslingin' level aggravating problems he faced was Using the principles of thaumaturgical figuring out what someone else’s diffusion, barricade conjures up a formulae was made of. If he could temporary wall of metal shards and come up with a spell to do the work for other junk for your huckster, and her him, he could come up with new elixirs pardners to hide behind. in half the time. Analyze finally gave The wall stands only 3’ high and is 3’ Sitgreaves the break he needed. long for every level your hero has in This hex automatically reveals the hexslingin’. Barricade provides Armor components of an alchemical formula levels against ranged attacks for any hit (or an ordinary chemical formula if a location covered by it (see the combat more mundane use is ever needed). The section in the Weird West Player’s Guide). hand needed to understand the formula It gives no protection against melee attacks whatsoever; the attacker can immediately, although it doesn’t usually just reach over it to wallop your reach full potency for a few rounds. cardslinger, although if she casts it Whatever the power of the blast between them, it might slow him down furnace, the energy begins at the level if he has to clamber over the mass of generated by the lowest hand (a single metal to get to her! Ace) and increases one level up the Like most creations of Sitgreaves’ table per round until it has reached the “thaumaturgical diffusion,” the material level indicated by the huckster’s hand. summoned by the barrier hex does not Metals melt after the necessary level remain after the duration of the hex. It of energy has been maintained for 2 seems to almost instantly corrode and rounds per level of the minimum hand crumble to dust. In moments, even the necessary to affect it. For example, it dust dissipates, leaving nothing behind. takes 4 rounds for the energy to reach The exact toughness of the wall—in the level necessary to affect aluminum, other words how good it is at saving and then another 8 to actually melt it. your metal mage’s hide—depends on the Steel, on the other hand, takes 18 hand she pulls when casting the hex. rounds, and tungsten a whopping 20! The hex has no direct effect on nonmetal items or creatures; however, Barricade either of these may suffer damage if they are in contact with an item affected by this hex. Most energy from Hand Armor Level the hex stays within the metal itself, Jacks Light (-4) but some does leak out as heat. This Two Pairs 1 leakage is nowhere near the level of Three of a Kind 2 energy affecting the target item, but it Straight 3 is high enough to cause severe damage Flush 4 to less resilient substances—like human flesh! Any character touching an object Blast Furnace affected by blast furnace takes damage at the beginning of each round to the Trait: Spirit hit location(s) in contact with it. Since Hand: Ace the hex takes a moment to reach Speed: 2 damaging levels, usually only cowpokes Duration: Concentration intent on injury—or a bit short in the Range: 10 yards/hexslingin' level smarts department—suffer from this. Technology, weird or otherwise, relies However, touching an item after it’s heavily on metalworking. Just because had time to heat up does do the listed an inventor can’t afford a full smelting damage to the body part contacting it. operation doesn’t mean she doesn’t Even if the hex is insufficient to melt need one. This hex provides a huckster the item, it does still heat the metal, with a pocket-sized forge no larger and anyone or thing touching it takes than her deck of cards. the damage indicated by the huckster’s Blast furnace causes metal items to draw hand. Flammable items may catch heat up and eventually melt. The fire as well. huckster can affect a single metal item Once the hex ends, the metal, melted of up to 10 pounds per level of her or not, immediately cools to room hexslingin’ Aptitude. temperature. Any fires or other damage The strength of the hex’s energy resulting from the metal’s heat depends on the huckster’s hand. The continue until dealt with normally. hex begins to heat the metal Curiously, ghost steel doesn’t even get warm unless the huckster draws a Dead Man’s Hand (2 black Aces, 2 black Eights, and the Jack of Diamonds). If 38 Posse this happens, the ghost steel actually spontaneously combusts causing 3d6 damage to anyone touching it. Blast Furnace

Hand Metal Damage Ace None 1d6 Pair Lead 2d6 Two Pairs Zinc 3d6 Three of a Kind Aluminum 4d6 Straight Silver 5d8 Flush Gold/Copper 6d8 Full House Nickel 7d10 Four of a Kind Iron 8d10 Straight Flush Steel 9d12 Royal Flush Tungsten 10d12+2 Bullet Proof

Trait: Smarts Hand: Pair Speed: 2 Duration: 5 rounds/hexslingin' level Range: 10 yards Sitgreaves was intrigued by Dr. Gash’s augmentation process. His first attempt to mimic some of Gash’s enhancements produced an ugly but useful effect—a bullet-proof vest that “grew” from the appearance is rather intimidating, and subject’s own skin. the subject gains a +2 modifier to This hex causes rusted, scalelike overawe attempts. metal growths to form on the subject’s skin. If the hex is cast successfully, the subject gains 1 level of armor. For every Bullet-Stopper hand over the minimum, the armor Trait: Spirit protection increases by an additional Hand: Ace level to a maximum of 5 levels. Speed: 1 These scales provide protection Duration: 1 Wind/round against most forms of damage, but also Range: 10 yards/hexslingin’ level impair the subject’s ability to move Some folks were just born unlucky freely. Every level of armor gained by and some folks get that way with a little this hex reduces the subjects help. This hex is one of the ways to get Nimbleness Trait by 1 die type, to a someone on the bad side of Lady Luck. minimum of d4. Any cowpoke standing too close to a The hex always produces the full target in a gunfight has a 1 in 6 chance amount of armor indicated by the of catching a stray round meant for the huckster’s hand. The caster can’t other fellow. If your cardslinger gets at choose a lesser effect for the hex. least an Ace on her draw hand to cast Bullet proof characters have a bullet-stopper, she ups that chance to 2 disturbing and distinctly unnatural in 6. appearance. As a result of the visual If, for some reason, the odds of the effects, all persuasion rolls made while poor sap getting hit by a misplaced under the effects of this hex receive a -5 bullet are already higher than normal, modifier. Conversely, the bizarre the hex increases them by one. She also increases the distance at The hex does the damage listed which her target is likely to catch a when the glop strikes its target, but it stray shot, detailed on the table below. continues to burn the target at the Note this spell doesn’t do a thing for beginning of each following round. shots aimed at the cowpoke in the first Each round, drop the damage die type place; it only increases the chances for a drops a level and it does damage again. bullet that missed other targets to hit Once the die type falls below d4, the him. In a heated gunfight, the target goo does no further damage, although isn’t likely to walk away unscathed— it does leave a nasty stain on clothing especially if the participants are poor or walls. That means on the minimum shots to begin with! hand (a Pair) the hex does no further damage after the initial hit. Unlike soul blast, this hex’s effect is Bullet-Stopper affected by inanimate objects, so if the target’s wearing armor or behind cover, she might escape damage. On the other Hand Bonus Distance hand, caustic glop does damage to Ace +1 yard inanimate objects as well. Pair +2 yards Caustic glop can burn through armor Two Pairs +3 yards in this fashion, lowering its protection Three of a Kind +4 yards permanently in that hit location. The Straight +5 yards initial round has no permanent effect on Armor levels, but each round Caustic Glop following, provided the glop is doing at Trait: Smarts least d6 damage or better on that Hand: Pair round, the target’s armor is lowered by Speed: 2 a level permanently as the acid scores Duration: Special it. In other words, the minimum hand to Range: 5 yards/hexslingin’ level do lasting damage to armor this way is Working so close to the toxic goop Three of a Kind. that is the City o’ Gloom’s Sludge Creek, it’s really no surprise that Sitgreaves eventually turned his efforts to a more Caustic Glop chemically-based hex. As with many of his first hexes, this one is decidedly offensive in nature—but, with a monster Hand Damage from the pits of Hell hunting the man, Pair 2d4 who can honestly blame him? Two Pairs 3d6 Caustic glop produces, well, pretty Three of a Kind 3d8 much exactly what its name says. Straight 4d8 When cast, a fist-sized blob of acidic Flush 5d8 goo flies from the huckster’s hand to Full House 5d10 his target. As with soul blast, the Four of a Kind 6d10 huckster has to not only cast the spell, Straight Flush 7d10 but also hit the target with it. Royal Flush 8d12 Use the same hexslingin’ roll to determine both the hex’s success and if Decrypt it hits. The glop requires a Fair (5) TN, but receives no range modifiers. The TN Trait: Knowledge to hit is affected by factors such as Hand: Pair cover, called shots, lighting, and so on. Speed: 1 Duration: 1 minute/hexslingin' level Range: Self This hex comes in handy for breaking codes and ciphers. Sitgreaves 40 Posse developed this hex as a result of his work on encoding hexes into the Smith & Robards catalog. Decrypt pulls coded and/or hidden messages out of texts, or rather it greatly assists a huckster in doing so. Hucksters 41 This hex gives a cardslinger a +5 bonus to his professional: cryptology rolls while it lasts. Each hand above a Pair gives him an additional +2. The hex works just fine if your hero is using it to boost her default in this Aptitude. Dementia Decrypt does provide its bonus to breaking a message hidden by the hex steganogram. However, obviously your Hand Hindrance huckster has to know there’s Pair Mild delusion: something concealed in a message in Subject believes some the first place! After all, it’s pretty basically harmless, but much impossible to look for something bizarre, idea, like horses if you don’t know it’s there. can perform higher math Rumor has it this hex was developed problems, or dirt is a either by the Union’s top-secret service, nutritious food additive. the Agency to monitor the Confederacy Jacks Absent minded: or by the group’s foes to break its own Subject must make a secret messages. Fair(5) Smarts check to remember important Dementia facts—such as what she is doing. Trait: Mien Two Minor phobia: Hand: Pair Pairs Subject gains a fear Speed: 2 ofsomething nearby. He is Duration: 1 minute/hexslingin' level -2 to all actions involving Range: 5 yards/hexslingin’ level the item/creature. Few folks understand the human Three Paranoia: mind as well as a mad scientist—at of a Subject has an unnatural least the failings of the human mind, Kind distrust of everyone else. anyway. Sitgreaves has studied mad She will allow no one, science and the entities responsible for even trusted friends, its students’ seemingly inevitable nearer than 5 feet. insanity. Straight Major Phobia: The result is a hex that lets the Subject gains an caster simulate a mad scientist’s overpowering fear of “madness” for a short while. Not something nearby. He is surprisingly, given the manitous’ nature, -4 to all actions involving this was a particularly simple hex for the item/creature and Sitgreaves to develop! must make a Hard (9) Dementia saddles the subject with guts check to directly the effects of a short-term mental affect the source of fear. illness. The exact type of madness and Flush Delusion: its effects depend on the huckster’s Subject gains a hand and are depicted on the table dangerously false following this description. misconception. The caster may suggest possible Possibilities include “I can effects for a result of delusion or fly,” sulfuric acid is a phobia, but it’s the Marshal’s decision good after-dinner as to the exact consequences of those cocktail, or that it’s a outcomes. He’s encouraged, however, to known fact that a draw on the circumstances at hand to surefire way to calm a shape any delusions or phobias the ravening werewolf is to subject may suffer while under the scratch its ears. effects of the hex. Devil’s Workshop This hex does just what you probably think it does: summon up a metal shell Trait: Smarts filled with explosives. It detonates on Hand: Pair impact with any surface, even if it’s Speed: 1 hour dropped. This isn’t a hex for Duration: Special butterfingered hucksters! Range: 1 yard The huckster can throw the grenade It’s not enough to simply have an idea just like dynamite. It has a burst radius for some outlandish device—somebody’s of 5, and causes damage as shown on got to build it! Sitgreaves is a lazy the table below. And, again just like inventor, so this was one of the first dynamite, this hex causes massive spells he created when he worked at damage which means it loses a step in Smith & Robards. This hex provides its damage dice with each range some supernatural help around the increment and its damage is spread workshop by making the tinkerer faster, randomly over a victim’s body. The more efficient, and “insanely inspired.” details for all of these effects can be The huckster can cast this hex on found in the Weird West Player’s Guide in herself or any other character with the Blowin’ Things All to Hell chapter. arcane background: mad scientist. The hand drawn reduces the construction time as shown on the table below. Grenade This hex must be cast on a tinkerer Grenade when he first begins construction of a project. It is “permanent” thereafter, until the item is built or dismantled. Hand Damage Pair 1d6 Wind (total) Jacks 2d4 Devil’s Workshop Two Pairs 2d6 Three of a Kind 3d8 Straight 4d8 Hand Time Reduction Flush 4d10 Pair 10% Full House 5d10 Two Pairs 20% Four of a Kind 6d10 Three of a Kind 30% Straight Flush 7d12 Straight 40% Royal Flush 7d20 Full House 50% Four of a Kind 60% Haywire Royal Flush 75% Trait: Smarts Grenade Hand: Pair Speed: 1 Trait: Knowledge Duration: 1 minute/hexslingin' level Hand: Pair Range: 20 yards/hexslingin' level Speed: 2 One of the problems with weird Duration: Instant gizmos is that your enemies can make Range: Self them too. Haywire hurries along that There are few problems in life that inevitable malfunction to make sure can’t be solved with a big enough your gizmo wins the day and the other explosion. Grenade proved this when guy’s blows up in his face. Sitgreaves one of Sitgreaves’ associates tried it has run afoul of Hellstromme’s goons against a pack of young rattlers. He more than once, and his protection is himself hopes it will do the job when this handy spell. the gorgon finally comes for him. The hex affects a single gizmo within range chosen by the huckster. Haywire affects any type of gizmo, from acid guns to flapjack machines to maze 42 Posse runners. It has absolutely no effect, however, against normal devices. If the hex is used against a complicated device made up of more than a single component gizmo, such Hucksters 43 as a submersible boat or an air carriage, your huckster must choose one of the component devices for the hex. He can’t affect the entire system of On casting the spell, he “works” with gizmos with a single haywire. the materials for a minute, and, if A gizmo affected by this device acts successful, has the device he so like it’s been ambushed by a whole desperately needs in hand. The cost is posse of gremlins. Haywire can cause high, though: It takes 1d4 Wind per round the device all manner of trouble— to keep the device from falling apart. ranging from a simple malfunction (Don’t reroll any Aces when checking for check all the way up to a Catastrophic this hex’s Wind requirement.) Malfunction. The exact effect depends This hex has no effect on existing on the huckster’s hand. gizmos. Also, the huckster gains no This hex has no effect on alchemical knowledge of what might be required to elixirs or tonics. build the infernal machine for real later. The device created by infernal machine isn’t perfect. The gizmo has a Haywire reliability of 10 plus your huckster’s hexslingin’ Aptitude level. For every hand above that needed to create the device, it Hand Effect gains an additional +1. No matter how Pair Reliability Check many bonuses the device has, its (+2 to the roll) reliability is never greater than 18. Jacks Reliability Check (+4 to the roll) Two Pairs Minor Malfunction Three of a Kind Major Malfunction Flush Catastrophe! Infernal Machine

Trait: Smarts Hand: Two Pairs Speed: 1 minute Duration: 1d4 Wind/round Range: Touch Sometimes a hero needs a weird gizmo in a hurry. If a horde of prairie ticks are descending on you, a quickly conjured flamethrower might be just the infernal device you need to save your soul. Infernal machine lets the caster take a bunch of junk and turn it into a marvel of mad science. The huckster must have roughly the same amount of scrap metal, wood, and other basic components of the device in question within reach. Your huckster must describe the device and its difficulty before casting infernal machine; no waiting until you see how good a hand he drew to decide! One last note: The manitous who The first method repairs structural grant this power do not provide damage for a short time. The hex can “mundane” devices to the huckster. replace lost Durability points to a single Infernal machine can’t be used to device or item. Jerry-rig even patches summon up a simple pistol, for damage to structures like walls and example. It can only conjure up weird buildings, but in this case, the hex only gizmos. affects a 2’ x 2’ section at a time. The It’s almost as if they want these total number of Durability points dangerous and unpredictable devices gained is based on the huckster’s hand. falling into the huckster’s hands—which The second method repairs bears out Sitgreaves’ suspicions nicely. functional damage to any device. Used in this fashion, jerry-rig raises the Jerry-Rig Reliability of any gizmo or device that’s been lowered due to damage or even a Trait: Smarts magical effect like the hex rust or the Hand: Pair Harrowed power devil’s touch. The Speed: 2 amount of improvement in Reliability Duration: 1 minute/hexslingin' level depends on the huckster’s hand. Range: Touch Jerry-rig won’t improve the One thing about machines that’s mechanism beyond its original almost a universal truth is they all break Durability or Reliability—it only repairs down at some point. Few things are as damage done to it. Also, at the end of disappointing as having a gizmo fail the hex, the item returns to its when your cowpoke’s life depends on in. damaged state, so the posse had better This hex allows your huckster to have a mechanic nearby! quickly, but temporarily fix a gizmo. It The exact effects of the hex are also works on normal devices and listed on the following table. Remember, equipment as well, but the effects on only one of the effects can be chosen those are just as brief. each time the hex is cast, although the There are two ways to employ jerry- hex may be cast on any given item as rig to repair damaged equipment. In often as the huckster wants. both cases, the repair only lasts a short Jerry-rig has no effect on gizmos or while—but if the posse needs the equipment that have not suffered machine working right away, often damage or otherwise had their that’s long enough! They can worry Reliability or Durability reduced below about long-term fixes if the heroes can the starting levels. In other words, your pull their fat out of the fire! hero can’t use it to beef up faulty Infernal Machine

Hand Description Item Two Pairs Slight (10%) improvement on Armor piercing ammo, 10% longer existing technology range rifle, shooting knife Three of a Kind Major (25%) improvement on Air catcher, silencer glove, 2 existing technology 5% faster locomotive, leverage bow

Straight Relatively simple, but new use Chain saw, rocket boots, of technology flamethrower Full House New use of cutting edge technology Sound telegraph, steam wagon, electrostatic gun Four of a Kind Entirely new but “realistic” technology Rocket pack, auto-gyro, submersible boat Straight Flush New technology that flaunts Heat or freeze ray the laws of science Royal Flush New technology that alters Mind control ray the laws of science engineering or to make “cheap” goods more reliable. He should invest a little more time or money to correct those. Hucksters 45 Jerry-Rig Magazine

Hand Reliability Durability Trait: Knowledge Repair Repair Hand: Pair Pair 1 5 Speed: 1 Jacks 2 10 Duration: 1 Wind/Round Two Pairs 3 15 Range: 1 weapon within 10 yards Three of Nothing spoils the fun of a good a Kind 4 25 shoot-out like running out of Straight 6 35 ammunition. Sitgreaves’ research has Flush 8 45 provided a near perfect solution to this Full House 10 55 dilemma. Four of This hex affects a single hand-held a Kind 12 70 weapon. It works on pistols, rifles, and Straight shotguns—including Gatling versions of Flush 15 85 the same. Magazine is ineffective for Royal weapons like full-sized Gatling guns Flush 20 100 and cannons of any sort. It also doesn’t work on more exotic weapons like flamethrowers or acid guns. Mad Insight While the weapon is under the effects of the hex, it has an effectively Trait: Spirit infinite supply of ammunition—the hex Hand: Ace creates a new round for every one fired. Speed: 1 Characters should note the shots left in Duration: Instant the weapon at the beginning of the Range: 1 yard hex. After the hex ends, that’s how This is the hex that started it all. many shots are left in the weapon. Sitgreaves actually stumbled onto it This hex does not increase the accidentally, then later came back and weapon’s rate of fire or otherwise refined the process. This hex works like affect it, except as noted above. a beacon to draw manitous to the mad scientist (or alchemist). The huckster can target himself or Magic Bullet someone else with mad insight. Trait: Smarts When successfully cast, the hex Hand: Pair allows a mad scientist to draw an extra Speed: 1 card when devising her blueprint. For Duration: 2 rounds/hexslingin’ level each hand above the minimum level Range: 5 yards needed to cast the hex, mad insight Sitgreaves lives in Junkyard where grants her an additional card. crime is rampant. He carries a gun The real drawback to this hex is that when he goes out late at night, but if your huckster suffers backlash while knows he isn’t a gunslinger. casting the hex, the manitou is liable to Fortunately for him, he doesn’t have to get a swipe in at the scientist working be quick as long as he’s got a magic with her as well! The huckster takes bullet. the normal effects of the backlash and Magic bullet turns one ordinary pistol a “research mishap” occurs as well. The or rifle round (no other type of shell) Marshal should roll on that table in into, well, a “magic bullet.” Assuming Smith & Robards if he has it. If not, he the bullet hits its first target, it bounces should devise some bizarre flaw for the out of the first victim and flies toward device. another target. If it hits that victim, it Magnetize might go on to hit a third, and so on up Trait: Spirit to a number of victims determined by Hand: Ace the spell, shown on the following table. Speed: 1 Figure the shot as fired from the last Duration: 1 round/hexslingin' level victim to the other. The range Range: 10 yards/hexslingin' level increment is 5 regardless of whether it Much like the name implies, this hex was fired from a pistol or a rifle, and magnetizes a metal item. Since just instead of rolling another shootin’ roll, about every technological device from use your huckster’s hexslingin’ (based Army revolvers to mechanical mules are on Smarts) to see if the bullet hits. built at least in part with metal, if your Regardless of the hand drawn, the huckster has this hex she can find magic bullet stops when it misses a endless potential for mischief. victim. The target item can weigh no more than 25 lbs per level of the hex. Other metal items stick to the target and Magic Bullet require a cowpoke to make a Strength roll to pull them loose or even just resist having them pulled from his grasp. Hand Extra Targets The TN for the roll is based on the Pair 1 huckster’s hand. The TN starts at Jacks 2 Foolproof (3) with an Ace (the Two Pairs 3 minimum) and increases one level of Three of a Kind 4 difficulty for every hand above that, Flush 5 including Jacks. Royal Flush 6 The target item draws any other metal objects to itself, provided they weigh less. If they weigh more than the magnetized item, it is pulled to them instead. The magnetism attracts any metal objects within a number of feet equal to the TN for the Strength roll. So, an item that takes a Foolproof (3) Strength roll to pull loose affects metal objects within 3 feet of itself. The magnetism persists for the duration of the hex and additional Strength rolls should be made each round if any other metal objects are within the range of attraction. Power Leak

Trait: Smarts Hand: Ace Speed: 1 Duration: 2 rounds/hexslingin' level Range: 5 yards/hexslingin' level Gizmos come in all shapes and sizes. They do everything from let a man walk on the bottom of the ocean or fly around the clouds. But, no matter how diverse they may seem, most of them have one thing in common—a power source of some kind or another. And no matter how fancy the doodad is, without power it won’t work. This hex takes advantage of that fact by siphoning energy from a non- magical power plant. The power source Hucksters 47 can be as complex as a steam engine or as simple as a wind-up spring. Even boilers fueled by ghost rock are considered non-magical for the Power Surge purposes of this hex. Only items which are powered solely Trait: Smarts by the effects of magic, such as relics Hand: Ace or other hexes, are unaffected by power Speed: 1 leak. Duration: 2 rounds/hexslingin' level When successfully cast, power leak Range: 5 yards/hexslingin' level begins to drain energy from the power Hindering an opponent is all well and source and weakens the effectiveness good, but sometimes it’s more of any device relying on it. The base important to your hero to improve his effect of the hex lowers the device(s) own situation. This hex is the opposite effectiveness by 10%, and each hand of power leak. It increases the power increase (Jacks included) lowers this by output of an energy source. another 10%. An Ace increases its energy The energy drained by the hex is production by 10%, and each additional dispersed harmlessly into the level (including Jacks) adds another 10% surrounding area. A really powerful to it. energy source, like a locomotive As with power leak, the exact affect engine, may temporarily raise the air depends on the device. Steam wagons temperature by a few degrees while it’s gain a boost in speed, mechanical being drained, but lesser ones aren’t skeletons become more powerful, and even noticeable. dynamite does more damage. See power The exact effect this power loss has leak for more details. depends on the device itself. Increasing the power output does Locomotives affected by power leak lose have a downside. A device affected by a corresponding amount of speed, power surge consumes a greater whereas a flapjack machine produces amount of fuel. The increase in fewer flapjacks, and Gatling pistols fire consumption is equal to the bonus slower. When figuring the effects of the production. For energy sources that hex, remember the golden rule—round don’t consume fuel, like spring loaded down. So, for example, a 20% reduction Gatling pistols, each 10% increase in is necessary to lower the rate of fire on efficiency reduces its Reliability by -1. a steam Gatling to 5. As with power leak, pure chemical The hex reduces the power of reactions that aren’t serving as power explosive devices, like dynamite, sources, like elixirs and acids, aren’t flamethrowers, or even bullets— affected by this hex. Power surge can reducing the damage inflicted by the help offset the effects of a power leak, appropriate percentage. In this case, but otherwise magic is unaffected as each bullet or stick of dynamite is well. considered a separate power source for targeting purposes. Razor Coils The effects of the hex end completely when the duration runs out; Trait: Knowledge power plants instantly return to full Hand: Pair operating capacity. Speed: 1 Purely chemical reactions not Duration: 1 round/hexslingin' level functioning as a power source, like Range: 5 yards/hexslingin' level those of an elixir or acid, are not Ranchers have been using barbed affected by this hex. Likewise, magical wire for years to keep their herds in effects, except the hex power surge, are line. Binding a human up with this not adversely affected by power leak. stuff is just plain cruel. But it’s effective. This is one of the first of the “thaumaturgical diffusion” hexes However, the substance has a Sitgreaves invented and its relatively reflective property that affects not only simple—but nonetheless effective— light, but also some forms of magic. design shows that. Hexes, black magic spells, voodoo spells, Razor coils appear as rusted wire and Harrowed powers that have a with pointed barbs laced throughout. targeted and ranged effect can be They materialize around the target and deflected with this hex. Area-of-affect entangle it immediately. spells or attacks cannot be reflected Anyone caught by razor coils can unless the caster is foolish enough to attempt to break free by making a target it directly on the huckster. Nimbleness roll against a TN Because the hex has an instant determined by the huckster’s hand. The duration, the huckster must cast reflect TN starts at Foolproof (3) for the in response to her opponent’s spell. To minimum hand (an Ace) and increases do so, she must spend her highest one level for every hand above that, action card—and a card up her sleeve is including Jacks. considered her highest—just like she’s If successful, the victim can free taking an active defense, like dodge. himself and act normally on his next If reflect is successful, the original action. Otherwise, he’s held fast until caster suffers the effects of the spell or his next action, when he can attempt power he had intended for your hero. the roll again. If the victim goes bust on The opponent’s level in hexslingin’, the roll, he’s trapped for the duration of conjurin’, black magic or the specific the hex. Harrowed power determines the hand Struggling against the barbed wire necessary to successfully reflect the isn’t a pleasant prospect. Every action a attack. The following table lists the victim attempts to break free and fails, hand necessary for each level. she suffers Wind equal to the amount by which she failed her Nimbleness roll. If she’s successful, however, she still takes Reflect 1d6 Wind, but she’s loose of the hex.

Reflect Hand Opponent’s Power Level Trait: Spirit Ace 1 Hand: Special Pair 2 Speed: Vamoose Jacks 3 Duration: Instant Two Pairs 4 Range: Self Three of a Kind 5 There’s a saying that goes the best Straight 6 offense is a good defense...or is that the Flush 7 best defense is a good offense? Full House 8 Whatever the case, this hex makes an Four of a Kind 9 opponent’s magical offense the Straight Flush 10 huckster’s defense. Royal Flush 11+ This hex causes a jagged piece of highly reflective, magically-charged metal momentarily appears in the air to Reverse Engineer the front of your huckster. The mirrorlike metal substance is intangible Trait: Cognition to physical objects—bullets, fists, broken Hand: Ace bottles, and so forth pass through it Speed: Special without any effect. Duration: Special Range: Touch It’s getting harder and harder for an inventor to come up with an original idea. With all the mad scientists 48 Posse running around these days, sometimes it seems like just about every good gizmo has already been invented. Some less scrupulous inventors have taken advantage of the brain sweat of other, Hucksters 49 more creative individuals for their own creations. Reverse engineer is a godsend for those folks. This hex allows your huckster to The closest Weird West equivalent of understand the theory behind a weird those are the rail lines crisscrossing the gizmo built by someone else. The hand frontier. Sitgreaves figured he could use needed to understand the gizmo is 2 these to transport himself quickly along ranks lower (including Jacks) than these modern day ley lines. would normally be needed to invent the Ride the rails allows your huckster to device (use the mad scientist’s Gizmo use a railroad track as a fast method of Construction Table in the Weird West transport—and she doesn’t even have to Player’s Guide). A minimum hand of an buy a ticket. All she has to do is cast Ace must be drawn. the hex while physically touching the It takes your huckster five minutes rails (so it can’t be cast while already times the rank of his draw hand to on a train). “get” the theory behind the gizmo. Next your hero determines where Your hero must be able to touch and she wants to go, and the Marshal inspect the device to cast this spell. If figures out the distance. he is a mad scientist and the spell is A good rule of thumb is to measure successful, he may now construct such the straight line distance on one of our a device himself. maps (or a more detailed “real” map if If he is not a mad scientist, he can you have one), and multiply by 1.5 to relate his theory to another mad account for all the different spurs, scientist within a number of hours detours, and so on. Finally, look up the equal to his Smarts die type. After that, distance on the table below to see how the supernatural imprint of the far a single hand gets you, and how blueprint fades from his mind and the long it takes to get there. knowledge is lost. The huckster remains visible and Once the information is passed on, a tangible for the first 50 feet of her mad scientist must still make an travel as he suddenly races toward her Incredible (11) Smarts roll to understand destination. Then she vanishes in a the theory your hero has described and flash, becoming nothing more than make use of it. The listener may only energy along the rail line until he make this check once. If he wishes to reaches his destination. try again, your huckster must cast If the track has been broken or reverse engineer again for a “fresh destroyed—not an uncommon perspective” on the theory. occurrence with the Rail Wars going on—the huckster’s trip is abruptly Ride the Rails ended. The rough and unexpected stop deals 3d6 Wind to the hexslinger, and Trait: Smarts she winds up on the ground at the site Hand: Three of a kind of the obstruction. Speed: 1 minute The same happens should she reach Duration: Special the end of a rail line, even if she knew Range: Self it was coming! The Marshal might want Sitgreaves occasionally has to travel to roll randomly to determine if the rail to get components for his devices and lines have been cut somewhere along formulae. This was inconvenient (and the way. The chance is 2% for each hand dangerous) until he read about a group needed to reach the chosen distance. of mystics known as druids. Centuries Fortunately, encountering a train ago, across the Big Pond in England, while riding the rails has no effect on these folks developed sites of power your hero. She’s actually melded into along routes of mystical energy called the track itself, so she may get her “ley lines.” Druids would travel along teeth rattled a little, but nothing else. these lines from site to site. situation! Scrap storm requires not only Ride the Rails that your hero concentrate on the hex to the exclusion of all but simple actions, but it also costs him 1d4 Wind each round he keeps it in effect! Hand Distance Time Just like with a Texas twister hex, Ace 10 miles 1 minute any attacks crossing the cyclone suffer Pair 25 miles 5 minutes a -2 penalty and doing anything while Jacks 50 miles 10 minutes within the area of effect requires a Two Pairs 100 miles 20 minutes character to make a Hard (9) Vigor roll— Three of as much to ignore the stinging bite of a Kind 200 miles 30 minutes the metal fragments as to work against Straight 300 miles 40 minutes the howling wind. Flush 400 miles 50 minutes However, unlike Texas twister, your Full House 500 miles 1 hour cardslinger can’t move the scrap storm Four of around; because it sits in a deadly circle a Kind 750 miles 2 hours around her. She can walk about at half Straight her normal Pace, though, and the storm Flush 1000 miles 3 hours moves with her if she does. Royal The metal fragments do damage to Flush 2000 miles 4 hours every cowpoke who’s within the storm based on the draw hand the huckster Scrap Storm pulls. The damage from scrap storm is considered massive—similar to an Trait: Knowledge explosion—and may affect more than a Hand: Jacks single hit location. Speed: 2 Duration: Concentration and 1d4 Wind/round Scrap Storm Range: Self Scrap storm is a good example of what happens when a Texas twister Hand Damage touches down in the City o’ Gloom. Jacks 1d4 Wind There are a lot of ways to describe the Two Pairs 2d4 event, but they all spell bad news! Three of a Kind 3d6 This hex causes a fierce, supernatural Straight 4d6 cyclone to whirl about your huckster, Flush 4d8 with a 5 yard diameter. A 1 yard diameter Full House 5d8 “eye” sits around your hero while she Four of a Kind 6d8 maintains the hex, which is a good Straight Flush 6d10 thing, since the rest of the cyclone is Royal Flush 7d12 filled with shards of razor-sharp metal flying nearly faster than the eye can see. A cowpoke walking through a scrap Shard storm usually ends up looking like he Trait: Spirit went running through a field of barbed Hand: Pair wire wearing a blindfold! Speed: 1 Keeping the unearthly winds blowing Duration: Instant and maintaining the sorcerous shrapnel Range: 10 yards/hexslingin' level whizzing within them is very taxing— Soul blast has long been a staple hex possible the most tiresome hex your for hucksters. However, the mystical huckster can attempt in a combat energy produced by the hex can only hit a single target at a time. If the hexslinger’s outnumbered by his foes, he’d better have a back-up plan! 50 Posse Sitgreaves realized his magic bullet spell was only useful if he could actually get to his gun, so he invented shard. Shard makes one or more jagged metal nails and hurls them at the designated targets. The nails last only a Hucksters 51 few moments, crumbling to rust moments after they’ve been fired. The huckster decides how many projectiles he wants to create before casting the hex. Each dart does the full Shocker damage indicated by the hand he Trait: Spirit draws. He can only create as many Hand: Ace nails as he has hexslingin’ levels. Every Speed: 1 dart he conjures after the first raises Duration: 1 minute/hexslingin' level the TN to cast the hex by +2. So, to Range: 5 yards/hexslingin' level create 3 darts with shard, your This hex creates a buildup of static huckster must roll his hexslingin’ electricity in a metal item. The effect is against a Hard (9). similar to that of an electrostatic Just as with soul blast, the huckster’s weapon. The first creature to touch the hexslingin’ roll to cast the hex is also item during the duration of the hex his roll to hit with the darts. Normally, suffers the effects of the discharge. your cardslinger rolls against a Fair (5) Shocker causes Wind loss to the TN. While this isn’t adjusted for range, victim according to your huckster’s cover does affect shard. Movement, hand. Also, the sudden burst of energy lighting, wound modifiers, and the like may startle and even momentarily stun may also apply. the subject. The powerful jolt raises the Your hero can choose to fire darts at usual stun check to an Ornery (7). more than one target as well. Each The hex immediately ends when a target after the first gives him a -2 character triggers the discharge. penalty to his roll to hit. Otherwise the energy dissipates at the Finally, he can target specific hit end of shocker’s duration harmlessly. locations with the darts produced by this hex. He can even choose different locations on each target! These receive Shocker the standard modifiers for called shots. Since each target of a multiple dart hex may have different modifiers to the Hand Wind huckster’s roll, it’s very possible some Ace 1d4 of the darts hit while others miss. Pair 2d4 Although the projectiles are created Jacks 2d6 by magic, the damage dealt by them is Two Pairs 3d6 not, so certain abominations may be Three of a Kind 4d8 immune to the effects of this hex. Flush 5d8 Full House 6d10 Shard Sliverspray

Trait: Knowledge Hand Damage Hand: Jacks Pair 1d4 Wind Speed: 1 Jacks 2d6 Duration: Instant Two Pairs 3d6 Range: 1 yard/hexslingin’ level Three of a Kind 4d6 When this hex is cast, a spray of Straigh 5d8 small metal splinters flies from your Flush 6d8 huckster’s hand, shredding anyone Full House 7d8 unfortunate enough to be in the area. Four of a Kind 8d10 The splinters created by sliverspray Straight Flush 9d10 shower a wedge shaped area in front Royal Flush 10d12 of your hero out to the hex’s maximum range. The wedge fans out to a width these hexes in Smith & Robards’ equal toits length. Thus, a four-yard catalog, but before he got the hang of sliverspray would widen from a width the actual skill itself, he developed this roughly equal to your character’s palm hex for passing messages. to a maximum of two yards at its When cast, steganogram completely farthest point. conceals a message written by your Every creature within the spray huckster so that it appears as takes the full damage indicated by the something completely different from huckster’s hand. This damage is what he inscribed. Only the intended massive damage, just like an explosion: recipient can see the true message see the Weird West Player’s Guide fo r under the false script. Your hero must more information on massive damage. name the recipient(s) of the message at For this reason, called shots aren’t the time he casts the hex, although possible with sliverspray. they need not be present. He can name If a rolled hit location is covered by one recipient for each level of his an object or otherwise blocked from hexslingin’ Aptitude. being hit by the slivers, any damage Others see an apparently innocent dealt is simply lost. Armor works missive on butterfly collecting, an aunt’s against sliverspray normally. favorite recipe, the weather, business dealings, or whatever else your character wants the cover story to be. Sliverspray If a suspicious reader scrutinizes the hex looking for hidden code, she has to make an Onerous (7) professional: Hand Damage cryptology roll based on her Cognition Jacks 2d4 to even catch a hint something’s amiss. Two Pairs 3d4 If she makes it, she only knows there’s Three of a Kind 4d4 a message other than the obvious one Straight 5d6 hidden in the text. To pull out what the Flush 6d6 note really says, she has to make an Full House 7d6 Incredible (11) professional: cryptology Four of a Kind 8d6 roll, this time based on Smarts. Straight Flush 9d8 Each hand above the minimum your Royal Flush 10d8 huckster gets when casting steganogram increases the TN by +2 Steganogram This applies to both the roll to spot the message as well as the one to actually Trait: Knowledge decipher it once identified. Hand: Ace Your hero can hide a message up to Speed: 2 a single letter-sized page in length with Duration: 5 days/hexslingin' level each casting, so really long-winded Range: Touch hucksters may have to make multiple Steganography is the technique of castings for a single correspondence. hiding a message so that no one The magic of steganogram works outside of its intended recipients even even if transmitted over a telegraph, by knows the message is there. the way, but the telegraph operator Technically, Hoyle was practicing must send the exact wording of the steganography when he hid the hexes cover story for the encoded message to in his book, not cryptology, since most make sense to the recipients. Beware of readers don’t have a clue there’s any gremlins when doing this—a single secret message there at all. Sitgreaves misplaced word can wreak havoc on a used the same technique when hiding steganogram. At the end of the hex’s duration, the message, both hidden and cover story become a jumbled mess of scrambled 52 Posse words and completely undecipherable to anyone, including the original recipient and even the caster. Transcribe

Trait: Spirit Hand: Pair Hucksters 53 Speed: 2 Duration: 5 minute/hexslingin' level Range: 5 feet/hexslingin' level Some inventors, like Sitgreaves, need On Three of a Kind or better, the hex to pace the floor and just can’t be has an additional effect. If the gizmo bothered to jot notes as they’re does fail a Reliability check, roll twice brainstorming. As a result, many a good to see what kind of malfunction it idea has died of loneliness before its suffers (Minor, Major, or Catastrophe) owner got around to writing it down. and take the best result. This hex creates a magical recorder to transcribe the spoken word onto paper. Upgrade Transcribe writes every word spoken within a range of 5 feet/hexslingin’ Trait: Smarts level onto a normal writing surface, Hand: Special whether it be paper, canvas, Speed: 2 chalkboard, or whatever. It will even Duration: 1 round/hexslingin' level provide simple punctuation. Although it Range: Touch can’t identify speakers, it does use Not only did Sitgreaves’ background varied types of “handwriting” to allow him to develop a hex or two to differentiate between them. garner the assistance of the manitous The hex writes only in your hero’s with the creation of gizmos—or to native tongue and doesn’t provide any repair them when they break—he’s even translation for foreign languages. found a way to force the hateful spirits Instead, it phonetically spells words spoken in any language other than her native one. Punctuation for other languages is spotty at best. Your huckster must have a writing instrument and surface in order to cast this hex. Although it was originally intended to help Sitgreaves track his research, of late the hex has found use as a tool for magical spying. As such, the Agency and Rangers find it useful. Tweak

Trait: Spirit Hand: Pair Speed: 1 Duration: Concentration or 1 Wind/ Round Range: One gizmo Sometimes it’s critical that a weird gizmo do what it was devised to do. This hex boost the dependability of a mad scientist’s invention. Tweak provides a temporary improvement in the Reliability score of a gizmo. A Pair (the minimum hand) provides a +2 bonus to a gizmo’s Reliability; it has no effect on “cheap,” normal goods. Each hand above the minimum gives an additional +1 bonus. to help him make an existing one more Reliability of 10, +2 for every hand effective. Or at least more complicated, above the minimum needed to cast the at any rate. hex. It can be enhanced with other Upgrade only works on gizmos. It hexes like tweak, but it can never have does so by adding even more of the a Reliability greater than 16 or that of manitous’ illogical concepts to an the original gizmo, whichever is lower. existing design. In game terms, it Your huckster doesn’t really gain any bumps a gadget one level of the mad true insight on how his newly upgraded science Gizmo Construction Table in gadget works; most of that is the work the Weird West Player’s Guide. of the manitous. All he does is come up Exactly what that entails is up to with the basic idea. So, as a result, he your huckster, but it must fight within can’t rush to the drawing board and the framework of the gizmo design come up with a blueprint for the new rules. In other words, your cardslinger gizmo. still has to come up with a concept of If he wants to do that, he has to exactly what and how he’s modifying follow the “accepted” procedures of mad the gizmo to do. A blueprint is science—or, in other words, the rules unnecessary, however, thanks to the from the Weird West Player’s Guide. manitou’s (unwilling) assistance. The hand required to cast the hex is Waste Product equal to two levels below the one to which the upgrade will boost the Trait: Knowledge device. So, if your hero is modifying a Hand: Pair steam wagon (Flush), that means the Speed: 1 level he’s upgrading to is a Full House. Duration: Permanent To cast the hex, then, he needs to draw Range: Touch at least a Straight. Of all Sitgreaves’ hexes, waste Remember, upgrade can only boost a product gives him the most hope that gizmo one hand rank. Your hero can’t his methods may eventually provide a turn a Gatling pistol (Three of a Kind) method to oppose whatever scheme into a freeze ray (Four of a Kind) with the manitous are cooking up for upgrade but he very well could humanity. temporarily boost that pistol to a Waste product turns fuels of any Gatling shotgun (Straight). kind into ash except ghost rock— Now, just because a device sits a without any combustion or other single hand above the gizmo your hero discernible chemical reaction. As soon has to work with, it doesn’t mean he as the hex is cast, the target matter is can make the conversion. For example, converted to plain old ash. it’s pretty difficult for even a manitou to What gives Sitgreaves hope is the fact upgrade a bullet-proof vest to a the hex also works on explosives in flamethrower! It might be possible to exactly the same fashion. Dynamite, make that bullet-proof vest AV 3—or nitro, even gunpowder—all turn instantly maybe even AV 4. to ash when waste product is cast. The magic of the hex makes all the For normal fuels like coal or peat modifications to the device. Through moss, the hex needs only a simple Pair thaumaturgical diffusion principles, the to be effective. Your hero can affect ten hex even provides the material pounds of fuel for each level she has in necessary to conduct the upgrade. hexslingin’. Note that waste product The drawback—and you just knew only works on wood specifically there was one didn’t you?—is that this prepared as firewood, not all wood. process is inherently unstable. The For explosives, the hand is based on gizmo enhanced in this manner has a the damage die type of the explosive or bullet propelled by it in the case of gunpowder, as shown on the table below. Your huckster can defuse a 54 Posse single stick of dynamite, one bullet, or 8 oz. of other explosives for every level she has in hexslingin’. Waste Product Hucksters 55

Hand Die Type of Explosive Pair d4 this he can monitor the electrical Jacks d6 impulses traveling along the wire. Even Two Pairs d8 though the signals are sent in Morse Three of a Kind d10 code, your cardslinger can understand Straight d12 the messages even if she doesn’t know Flush d20 a dot from a dash. Your huckster’s draw hand shows Weird Science exactly how much control she has over the lines and messages. The effects of Trait: Knowledge each hand are cumulative. Hand: Pair Speed: 1 Duration: 1 minute/hexslingin’ level Wire Tap Range: Self This hex applies the “unique” approach of mad scientists to more Hand Effect than just simple inventions. Weird Ace Listen to all messages science uses insight straight from the sent and received Hunting Grounds to boost any science Pair Send a message Aptitude roll, albeit in a roundabout and Jacks Stop a message from often illogical fashion. being either sent or For the duration of weird science, received your huckster gets to make two rolls Two Pairs Sift through the wire whenever he uses any of his science for any message sent Aptitudes and take the best result. within the past day For each hand above the minimum to Zilch cast the hex, he also gets +2 to the roll. The catch is if he goes bust on either Trait: Spirit roll, he suffers the effects of that Hand: Special catastrophe. Worse, he’s convinced his Speed: 1 whacked theory is completely sound! Duration: 1 round/hexslingin’ level Range: 5 yards/hexslingin' level Wire Tap Sitgreaves rightly figured if the manitous could warp science enough to Trait: Cognition make a strange gizmo work against the Hand: Ace laws of physics, they could warp it back Speed: 1 to stop the same device for at least a Duration: Concentration little while. Zilch proves that theory true. Range: 20 yards/hexslingin’ level With this hex, your hero can stop a The fastest method of sending mad scientist’s gizmo from functioning messages over distances is the temporarily. The draw hand to cast the telegraph, but it’s not the most secure. hex is two less than the hand to create And with wire tap, it’s even less so. the device in the first place (see the This hex lets your huckster tap into Gizmo Creation Table in the Weird West telegraph wires and messages. A Player’s Guide). The gizmo is complicated, cardslinger armed with wire tap can but useless junk for the duration. intercept, send, and modify messages A mad scientist can try to jump start sent over telegraph lines. her gadget prior to the end of the hex Wire tap creates a barely visible by beating your cardslinger in an ghostly white line from your huckster’s opposed test of her tinkerin’ versus your ears to a nearby telegraph wire. Through hero’s Spirit.

Chapter Three: New Secrets of Shaolin

The Chinese inhabitants of the Maze boxed set dedicated to the Maze brought secrets with them from their including a ton of information on the homeland. The most famous of those Chinese and their culture. secrets are those of their ancient fighting arts. For centuries, The Times, They practitioners of kung fu and other Chinese martial disciplines have made Are A-Changin’! extraordinary claims about their fighting traditions. According to legend, First off, if you’re already familiar the most accomplished martial artists with the martial arts rules from The can perform acts of superhuman power. Great Maze, you’re going to notice right Since the Reckoning, those claims have away that we’re handling them been proven. Legendary powers are differently in this book. now within reach of ordinary folk. Good In the 14 years or so since all Hell students progress much faster in these broke loose, many martial arts masters disciplines than they ever did before. have found it easier and easier to We won’t go into detail here access the supernatural energies that discussing the background or beliefs of power their more fantastic powers. the Chinese immigrants in the Great Since this method is a marked Maze. Suffice to say it’s a good deal departure from the millennia of different from the leather-slapping, traditions that form the basis of most tobacco-spitting you might be used martial arts, more conservative masters to in Deadlands. If you’re interested in are reluctant to deviate from the tried that sort of information, you’re in and true. However, few immigrants and luck though. We’ve got a whole inhabitants of the Maze are of the sort likely to be balked Edge, this is more than offset by the by mere custom. The system we present lowered cost of the powers. in this chapter depicts this new fu. You’ll need to talk with the Marshal If you’re a player reading this and find to figure out how many points are now yourself all fired up to try the new rules, left over for you to spend on your as always, check with your Marshal first. character’s other Aptitudes or maybe She may have different plans for her new ch’i powers. campaign. If you’re a Marshal and want to incorporate the new system into your campaign, it’s not a bad idea to talk it Making a Martial over with the players. Especially if you’ve got one or more martial artists already Artist in the game! Okay, that’s enough palavering. Here But I Liked the Old Way! are the new rules for kung fu heroes. A martial artist must have the martial If you’re already using the martial arts arts training Edge. He must also take the rules from The Great Maze and prefer fightin’ Aptitude with a concentration in them to the new incarnation, by all one of the martial arts styles listed means keep using them! Like we said, below. Once these minimum this new incarnation represents the requirements are met, the hero can buy beginning of the evolution of the any of the martial arts Edges, Aptitudes, fighting arts, not a rewrite of the rules. and chi powers listed below. While many masters—particularly on If the hero wants to be a fly-through- the North American continent—have the-air, fist-through-a-wall, snatch- embraced these advances, no small bullets-from-the-air type of martial number shuns them as well. It’s possible artist, he’s also got to buy arcane to have both types of enlightened martial background: enlightened and at least 1 artists in a campaign. Be warned though, level in the Aptitude ch’i. We’ll get into most traditionalists don’t get along well that in more detail soon, though. with the “disrespectful upstarts!” Fightin’ Styles I Love the New Way, But... While most folks out West think If you’ve already got enlightened there’s only one way to fight someone— martial artists in your campaign, you dirty—the Chinese have actually might be afraid you’re going to run into developed all sorts of subtly different trouble if you want to use the new styles. If your hero has taken the system. That’s okay—here’s a few quick martial arts training Edge, then she guidelines to make it as painless as must also pick up the fightin’ Aptitude possible. with one of the following Chinese-style Raise your character’s ch’i score to concentrations. the level of his highest ch’i power, if it’s Note that while each concentration not already. Individual powers no longer has its own name, for purposes of rules have their own level; it’s all based on descriptions, they’re all considered the ch’i Aptitude—a lot like the fightin’: martial arts. hexslingin’ Aptitude for hucksters. Your choice of style doesn’t restrict It’s a whole lot cheaper to make a your choice of other aptitudes or decent enlightened martial artist under powers listed in this book. Each special the new system. Although the Edge aptitude was discovered by a particular arcane background: enlightened costs 1 school, but techniques don’t remain point more than the old enlightened secret for long in the world of martial arts. Any martial arts teacher knows moves from a variety of different styles. You may also have picked up some 58 Posse moves by observing other martial artists, even opponents, in action. Martial Arts Fightin’ Concentrations

Drunken Style. You weave Martial Arts 59 around like you’re out of your tree on firewater, making your moves hard to follow and predict. Wing Chun. This style Eagle Claw. This is a fast, emphasizes power and big flurries of vicious style where you hold your punches at your opponent. Its moves hands like a claw and whale away on are both offensive and defensive at the your opponent’s pressure points. same time. Mantis. In this style, you hold your hands in a hook-like manner. You move from mesmerizing stillness to Mano A Mano sudden striking. Monkey. Based on the Since martial artists spend more time movements of apes, in this style you fighting up close and personal than hunker down, screw up your face, and your average cowpoke, we’d better then move with sneakiness and speed. clarify and expand some of the fighting This surprises opponents who’ve rules. underestimated you because you look so dang funny. Armor and Bare Hands Shaolin Temple. Moves are based on five animal styles. In the Normally, a fellow’s got to be a little Crane, you jab at people with your touched in the head to go hitting a fingers pressed together in a beak-like steel plate with his bare hands. manner; you also stand on one leg a lot. Any normal sap that insists on bare- The Snake is sneaky and fluid. The knuckle brawling with a locomotive (or Dragon is a punching style in which any other target with Armor Value 1 or sheer force is used to exert good, old- higher), does no damage whatsoever to fashioned crushing damage. The the target. In fact, if the Marshal Leopard style is all knuckles. The Tiger decides the target is tough enough, style is all about ripping away at your your hero actually may take damage opponent’s muscles. himself! The numbskull rolls a Strength Shuai Chiao. This Chinese check and suffers that much damage to form of wrestling’ discombobulates his fists. your eyes when you try to watch it. The Boxing gloves, boots (in the case of practitioner grabs or throws his kicking), or the like protect the hero opponent, while sneaking in all kinds against this sort of self-abuse. of highly-directed rabbit punches. Martial artists are specially trained Tai Chi. You focus something and toughened for this sort of fighting. called your ch’i, or internal energy, They do their normal damage, adjusted which then allows you to smack your down for the target’s AV, but take no opponent halfway to Philadelphia and damage themselves. That bonus 1d6 back. Your internal organs are also in damage lets them put a hurting on at exceptional shape, and can move least lightly armored targets! around inside your body to avoid taking wounds when you suffer a shot to the Attacks From Behind gizzards. (You gain no actual game benefit for this effect, but that doesn’t Generally speaking, fighters don’t stop you from constantly bragging add their fightin’ level to the TNs of about it.) opponents who are attacking them Tan Tui. In this style, you from behind. The same applies for mostly kick your opponent. Some have cowpokes who are attacked in hand-to- taken to calling this kickboxing. Up in hand while surprised. Most folks can’t Shan Fan, where martial arts defend against an attack they don’t see tournaments are held all the time, this coming! Your Marshal may make is very popular with the spectators. exceptions to this rule as he sees fit. Noggins & Gizzards Prone combatants suffer a -4 penalty to their own fightin’ attacks, and if Normally, bare-handed attacks by they do happen to connect, they humans get no bonus dice for blows to subtract -4 from the hit location roll. By the noggin or gizzards hit locations. the way, they don’t add the normal +2 Due to their special training, martial for fightin’ attacks either. artists’ attacks do get the usual bonus Fighters who have someone lying at dice—sometimes. their feet get a +2 to their fightin’ rolls It all depends on whether the fu against the easy target. They get no fighter is making a brawling-type bonus to the hit location rolls—not even attack or if she’s doing lethal damage. the normal +2 for fightin’—though. For normal, non-lethal attacks, the It doesn’t take any movement to martial artist does not get the bonus throw yourself to the ground, although dice for the noggins or gizzard. However, your character can only do it on one of if she’s making a lethal attack, she his Action Cards. Getting back on your does. feet does take an entire action, Simple enough. however. Prone Stun We covered the effects of being prone As you already know, stunned against shootin’ and other ranged characters cannot take any offensive attacks in the Weird West Player’s Guide, actions against an opponent. They are but we didn’t say much about how it also at a disadvantage when it comes affected people trying to stomp your to defending themselves. Someone who hero flat. Laying down in front of is seeing stars cannot vamoose and unfriendly types is not a good idea! does not add her fightin’ level to her opponent’s TN in hand-to-hand combat. New Aptitudes

To make all these nifty kung fu powers work, your character is going to need a few new Aptitudes. Most of these are specifically for martial artists. Ch’i

Associated Trait: Spirit This Aptitude is a measure of the martial artist’s ability to tap into the spiritual power of the Hunting Grounds. Without it, a fu fighter cannot generate the energy needed to use special ch’i powers described later in this chapter. Whenever your martial artist wants to use one of his ch’i powers, he has to make a ch’i roll against the power’s TN. If he’s successful, he spends the Strain listed for the power and it works as described. What’s Strain, you ask? Good question, and we’ll get to that in just a moment. By the way, your hero must have the enlightened edge to take this Aptitude. Fightin’: Butterfly Knife

Associated Trait: Nimbleness Butterfly knives are broad, flashy Martial Arts 61 knives about the size of a Texan’s Bowie knife, but with a much wider blade. Any cowpoke with fightin’: knife can pick one up and use it like a plain, Fightin’: Three-Sectional old Arkansas toothpick, but to get the Staff full benefit of the weapon, a fighter needs this specific concentration. Associated Trait: Nimbleness With it, he attacks using one of the A hero with this Aptitude can wield knives in each hand without the usual a three-sectional staff in combat. The -2 penalty for attacking with both staff, at first glance, resembles a set of hands. He still suffers the standard -4 nunchakus with big britches; however, penalty for off-handed attacks, however. the staff is Chinese in origin while A hero with fightin’: butterfly knife can nunchakus are Okinawan. It consists of use a normal knife in combat as well, three 2’ wooden sections joined by but he receives the special bonus noted short lengths of chain. The two end above only with true butterfly knives. sections swing freely from the middle. To purchase this Aptitude, a character A skilled wielder can turn the weapon must have the martial arts training Edge into a spinning, humming skull-cracker. and fightin’: martial arts . A fu fighter armed and trained with a three-sectional staff is very hard to Fightin’: Flying Claw defend against. As a result, she can ignore 2 levels of an opponent’s fightin’ Associated Trait: Nimbleness Aptitude when figuring her TN to hit in This Aptitude lets your fu fighter use hand-to-hand with the staff. So, for the deadly flying claw—a nasty metal example, if her opponent had fightin’: claw attached to a length of chain—as a brawlin’ 4, her TN to hit him would normal melee weapon. While he can only be increased by 2 (to a total of 7), put a hurting on opponents up close instead of the usual 4. without the ch’i power of the same This special ability only works against name, with it your hero can realize the modifiers caused by an opponent’s true powers of the weapon. fightin’ score and can never reduce the To learn this Aptitude, a character modifier below zero. Remember, it’s not must have the martial arts training a bonus to hit the target; it just offsets Edge and fightin’: martial arts . defensive modifiers. Needless to say, it’s quite a difficult Fightin’: Flying Crescent weapon to use and an untrained fighter is as likely to crack her own skull with Associated Trait: Nimbleness the weapon as she is that of her foe! A This Aptitude allows your hero to character armed with one of these who use the flying crescent—a metal blade isn’t properly trained in its use does not attached to a chain—as a normal melee get to reduce modifiers to her fightin’ weapon. It’s somewhat similar to the TN as noted above. flying claw, but different enough to To purchase this Aptitude, a character require a separate Aptitude to master. must have the martial arts training Edge To use this weapon to its fullest fu, and fightin’: martial arts. your hero also needs the flying crescent ch’i power. He can still cut folks to ribbons without the power, but with it, Medicine: Chinese he can really reach out and touch Traditional someone! See the power description for Associated Trait: Knowledge details. This new concentration of the This Aptitude requires a character to medicine Aptitude is not a martial arts have the martial arts training Edge and Aptitude. Any character can take it, fightin’: martial arts . although your Marshal may expect you For more on Strain and how it’s recovered, see the section on Ch’i Powers later in this chapter. Throwin’: Bullet

Associated Trait: Deftness This Aptitude is really only useful if your hero has the seize the pearl o’ death ch’i power. She can try chucking bullets at her foes without it, but it won’t amount to much. This throwin’ concentration cannot be used by default; it requires a hero to have arcane background: enlightened to even learn it. Throwin’: Flying Guillotine

Associated Trait: Deftness This Aptitude doesn’t do your hero a lick of good unless he also gets the associated ch’i power, flying guillotine. Then, of course, it’s quite wicked. Like throwin’: bullet, this concentration cannot be used by default and only characters with arcane background: enlightened can learn it. New Edges

We’ve got a few new edges for your to explain how you learned it if it aspiring martial artist. seems out of character with your hero’s background history. A practitioner of Chinese traditional Arcane Background: medicine, like a general practitioner in Enlightened 3 the Western style, can heal anything up Your hero has achieved the spiritual to a heavy wound, unless that wound discipline necessary to focus and control was inflicted by or on a martial artist. In his chi energy. Enlightened characters that case, the Chinese practitioner can may purchase any of the chi powers heal a serious wound. listed later in this chapter. If you wish to be able to use these powers, your Meditation character must also buy at least one Associated Trait: Spirit level in the chi aptitude. This Aptitude is only useful to a hero A hero must have the martial arts with arcane background: enlightened. A training edge to purchase this edge. successful roll against a Hard (9) TN lets her recover 2 Strain an hour instead of Martial Arts Training 3 the normal 1. She must roll each hour, Your character has trained for years in however, and must be absolutely still in the martial arts, under the tutelage of a peaceful surroundings to do so. sifu, or master. Her sifu may have been the head of a renowned school of martial artists or just a wandering wise man that most mistook for a 62 Posse saddletramp. He taught her the secrets of fighting, both standard and mystical. He also taught her a spiritual philosophy, which she can use to achieve harmony with nature, and also Martial Arts 63 to spout poetical-type proverbs that make her sound real wise and peaceful just before she goes out to crack skulls. To better enable her to crack those skulls, she deals additional damage The Cup Overflows 2 when fighting hand to hand. She deals Your hero’s ch’i energy is powerful. A STR + 1d6 damage when striking with mite too powerful, in fact. Whenever her hand or foot. This damage may be she uses any of the powers described brawling type damage or lethal in this book, her internal energy goes damage—your choice. all external and wreaks high holy havoc In addition, for each level she has in on the surrounding terrain. the fightin’: martial arts Aptitude, she For example, if she uses monkey knows one special maneuver, detailed a goes to the mountain to fly down a little later in this chapter. sandy hillside, clods of earth explode A hero can’t take this Edge without beneath her as if somebody’s planted also taking the fightin’: martial arts the hill with firecrackers. When she Aptitude, with one of the leaps into the air to kick a body, winds concentrations described in the sidebar. whip up all around her, whirling sand Each represents a different style of and leaves all over. Ever time she lands Chinese martial arts. a punch, it sounds like a thunderclap This edge also entitles your cowpoke going off. to pick up the arcane background: In short, she stands out like a circus enlightened Edge. clown at a funeral. Anyone who sees her in action knows there’s something Quick Thinker 2 not right about her. If they’re regular Maybe your hero has been trained to folks, they run in terror from her, as if avoid situations in which he might be she’s some kind of abomination. surprised or maybe he just doesn’t If somebody watching her knows seize up under pressure like most. about martial arts, he knows what Either way, there’s a tiny part of him she’s all about, and likely target her as that always expects an ambush. the one to shoot first in a fight. And When making Cognition rolls to see believe me, anybody with experience of if your hero has been surprised, he the weirdness lurking behind the never faces a Target Number higher surface of the Maze is going to know than 5. Even if he fails that roll, he still all about martial arts. gets 1 Action card during the round in which he was supposedly surprised. He “My Kung Fu is never surprised past the first round; is Superior!” 1— 3 don’t even bother rolling to recover. Anyone may buy this edge. Your hero is easily challenged to a fight, especially if the challenger has the cojones to claim to be a better Martial Arts fighter than you. You’re so proud of your martial arts abilities that you turn Hindrances three shades of purple when anyone dares to question your vaunted prowess. The following hindrances are Worse yet, there’s something about available only if you have martial arts the way you carry yourself that attracts training. They can be used to flesh out other similar hotheads with bone- your martial artist’s background or just headed attitudes similar to your own. help flavor the campaign in a more And wouldn’t you know it—challengers Oriental fashion. Remember, though, are extra likely to approach you at a you can’t take more than 10 points of moment of maximum inconvenience? Hindrances as a starting character. Your hero’s ability to resist the urge sifu’s sifu shows up and commences to to rise to a challenge is determined by bossing him around and otherwise how many points of this hindrance you making sure that he still gets the full select when you take this Hindrance. kick out of this Hindrance. Although the sifu has more kung fu in his little pinky that your hero has in My Kung Fu Is Superior! his whole body, for some reason she never ends up helping your cowpoke out much. If he asks for her assistance Value Level on a mission, she has other things to 1 Onerous (7) Smarts to do. If she’s along with your hero on a turn down any fight, she likely gets herself wounded challenge to fight. in the first scene, and needs protecting 2 Incredible (11) Smarts throughout the adventure (This is when to turn down a your hero cries “Sifu! Sifu!”). challenge. If she’s still healthy by the time she 3 Forget it—he’s got to meets up with the bad guys, she turns fight each and every up her nose and refuses to engage time he’s challenged! such measly opponents. In other words, you can’t use this Hindrance as a back “Sifu! Sifu!” 2— 4 door method of having your fu fighter’s bacon saved whenever he gets into Your hero is still in contact with his trouble. The sifu isn’t the cavalry. sifu, the master who trained him. The value of this Hindrance tells how Whenever he sees her, he must bow big a role the sifu plays in your hero’s before her and otherwise act as if he’s life. If you’re thinking of taking a 4 point a miserable bug and the sun shines out sifu, talk it over with your Marshal and of her patoot. He shows this “respect” fellow players first. If the sifu is forever even in public or in front of his friends. showing up, that’s going to affect the Although your hero can expect her to direction of the entire campaign. constantly castigate him for not living The table below gives you a rough up to some impossible Confucian ideal idea of how much trouble your fu of behavior, he is not allowed to give fighter is going to have with hissifu by her any lip, no matter what she says. the point-value of the Hindrance. There is no amount of humiliation he isn’t willing to endure in order to show his devotion to the sifu. Sifu! Sifu! The Marshal should know that it’s okay to threaten your character’s sifu, thus motivating him to go out and save Value Effect her on a regular basis. On the other -2 Sifu shows up infrequently. hand, he should try not to let your She rarely sends you hero’s sifu kick the bucket. on missions or requires Sometimes, though, the Marshal can’t rescuing. keep an extra alive without blowing his -3 Sifu shows up once every credibility all to bits. If your hero’s sifu couple of sessions. She does take one too many Winchester requires a mission or rounds to the head, your hero is rescue about one out of required to go through a lengthy period four sessions. of weeping and wailing. If you don’t -4 Sifu shows up every then buy off the Hindrance (see the session. Almost every Weird West Player’s Guide), the hero’s adventure is a mission picked by your sifu, a rescue mission, or the 64 Posse like. School Rivalry 2

There are countless schools of Chinese martial arts. These schools have Martial Arts 65 long histories, and those histories almost invariably include a deadly, ancient grudge against another school. Entire adventures might center around Martial Arts the feuding between rival schools. It’s up to you to pick the name of Maneuvers your fu fighter’s school; you can choose one described in The Great Maze or you Most martial artists worth their salt can just make one up. If you use one of know more than just the basic moves of the former, your hero already has a their school. A number of special built-in rival school. If you make up one maneuvers and weapons exist which, of your own, you’ve got to come up the when used correctly, can give a fighter name of a rival school as well. the edge she needs over her opponent. Every member of that rival school is Your hero learns one of the following guaranteed to hate your hero’s guts. maneuvers for each level she has in They can identify her as a member of fightin’: martial arts. The maneuvers that school just by watching her moves themselves cost no additional points; when she’s fighting. they’re part of the specialized training a And, wouldn’t you know it, it just so fu fighter receives. happens that she seems to be The only way to learn new maneuvers constantly running into members of is to increase your hero’s fightin’: martial this rival school, no matter how rare it arts. You can’t buy them separately at is. She isn’t obligated to fight them, but any cost. Mastery has its price, after all! they might feel obligated to fight her. In fact, you can just about count on it! When combined with “My Kung Fu Is Superior,” this can be a dilly of a Hindrance. Style Vulnerability 1— 3

Although your character may have learned moves from a number of disciplines, his sifu mainly trained him in one particular style of the Chinese fighting arts. This adherence to tradition is a big part of the spiritual essence of kung fu. It also makes martial arts easier to teach to large numbers of students, since it uses set formulas and techniques. The disadvantage of this training method is that you’re a sucker for the classic moves associated with certain other schools. Choose up to three styles described above in the Martial Arts Training edge. When your hero is fighting an opponent with a concentration in one of the styles you have chosen, his Target Number to hit your hero is reduced by 3. You get 1 point for each style you so designate. You can choose a maximum of three styles this way. Your character must have the martial Pace in this fashion, but he can clear arts training Edge to learn these intervening obstacles with the kick, maneuvers. like faro tables, other opponents, or All the maneuvers are based on the boiling rivers of lava. martial artists fightin’: martial arts He’s at -4 to hit with this attack, but Aptitude unless indicated otherwise. if he connects, he does an extra 1d6 Also, unless the description says damage and adds an additional +2 to differently, you must declare when your the hit location roll on top of the hero is using a maneuver before you normal +2 for fightin’. If he misses, he make his fightin’: martial arts roll. must make a Fair (5) Nimbleness roll to avoid coming down hard and taking 1d6 Disarm Wind damage. This is a special form of vamoosing. Get Up If your hero has an action card available when he’s attacked in hand- If an opponent knocks your hero to-hand combat by an armed opponent, down, the fu fighter can use this you may spend the card to make a maneuver on his next Action Card to fightin’: martial arts roll, but based on pop right back up and take an action Deftness instead of Nimbleness. on the same card. This normally Compare your hero’s total to his requires a Fair (5) fightin’: martial arts opponent’s attack roll. If your enemy’s roll, but the Marshal may adjust this for roll is higher, she has hit your fu treacherous footing, high winds, etc. fighter. If your character’s total is higher, the attack misses and your Ground Fighting opponent must make a Strength roll against a TN of 5, plus 2 for each raise The get up maneuver can be a your hero got on the disarm roll. If your lifesaver, but your hero’s enemies enemy fails the Strength roll, she has probably aren’t going to wait around for dropped his weapon. him to have a chance to get to his feet in a fight. Those low-down, ornery Eye Gouge cusses are liable to try to stomp his head long before his next Action Card Your hero must hit with two raises comes around. to use this maneuver. If she succeeds, Ground fighting isn’t so much a roll a contest of her Strength versus the maneuver as it is a method of fighting. defender’s Vigor. If she wins the If your fu fighter knows this maneuver, contest, her opponent takes 1d6 Wind opponents don’t get the usual +2 to hit and suffers a -4 to all rolls for the next your character when he’s flat on his hour due to his cry-baby eyes. back. Also, your hero suffers only a -2 If the opponent goes bust on the to his own fightin’: martial arts attacks, Vigor roll, he is permanently blinded in instead of the usual -4. He still one eye. subtracts -4 from his hit location rolls when attacking from the ground. Flying Kick Head Butt With this maneuver, your hero launches herself into the air at an Your hero really uses her head with opponent, leaping a distance equal to this maneuver! She smacks her his total movement toward the target forehead into an opponent’s face, this round. He can’t move a total causing him no end of pain and a distance of greater than his normal couple of tears to boot. She must get a raise on her fightin’: martial arts roll to connect with the poor sap. If she does, roll a contest of her Strength versus the defender’s 66 Posse Vigor. Don’t add the usual +1d6 bonus for martial arts to this roll. If she wins, her opponent takes the difference in Wind and must make a Hard (9) Vigor roll to avoid being Martial Arts 67 stunned. If she loses, her opponent is unaffected by the attack. Regardless of whether she wins or loses, she suffers 1d4 Wind herself for of his fightin’: martial arts against her cracking her own skull. opponent’s fightin’. If she beats her opponent, she can chuck him to the Lock ground anywhere within six feet of her. He must also make an Easy (3) Vigor This maneuver allows your martial roll to avoid being stunned by the artist to trap an opponent’s limb in a impact with the ground. This TN is painful hold, hindering further actions increased by 2 for every raise your on his part. Your hero must win a fighter gets on her roll. Even if he’s not contest of her fightin’: martial arts stunned, he must spend an action to versus her opponent’s fightin’ with at get back on his feet. least one raise. This maneuver only works on If she does, her opponent must roll a roughly man-sized and shaped contest of his Vigor against your opponents. No tossing Mojave rattlers character’s fightin’: martial arts. Should over your shoulder! he lose, he suffers a minus to any action he takes equal to the amount by which he lost the contest until he New Hand-to- breaks the lock. While maintaining the lock, your hero can take only simple Hand Weapons actions without losing her grip. The victim can spend an action to Chinese martial artists have brought attempt to break the lock by winning with them a number of weapons not an opposed roll of his fightin’ versus commonly seen in the Weird West. your hero’s fightin’: martial arts. Each of these new weapons has its This maneuver only works on own fightin’ concentration. Those with normal—and living—human opponents. special effects or requirements are detailed earlier in this chapter. The Spin kick Chinese sword can also be used with good, old fightin’: sword . This is a powerful kick with a lot of speed behind it. Your hero suffers a -2 penalty to hit with this attack, but if it hits, he does an additional 1d4 damage. Chinese Fightin’ Weapons

Sweep Weapon DB Damage Cost Flying Claw - STR + 2d4 $30 This is a non-damaging attack, but Flying Crescent - STR + 2d8 $50 your hero gets +4 to hit with it. If it Flying Guillotine - special1 $1502 hits, your opponent is knocked off his Knife, Butterfly +1 STR + 1d6 $5 feet and must spend an action getting Pole, 10’ +3 STR + 2d4 $2 back up. Pole, 5’ +2 STR + 1d4 $1 This maneuver only works on Staff, Three-Sectional +2 STR + 2d6 $10 roughly man-sized and two-legged (or Sword, Chinese +2 STR + 2d8 $15 less) opponents. 1 See description in throwing: flying Throwin’ (People) guillotine Aptitude. 2 Must be specially manufactured by an This maneuver can be used to unscrupulous metalworker familiar with attack, or—if you have an unused action the cruel and ancient techniques of its card—as an active defense. Either way, manufacture. your hero must make an opposed roll Ch’i Powers Strain

Now that we’ve gotten the more Focusing supernatural energies and mundane aspects of kung fu fighting shaping them to enhance one’s physical out of the way, let’s get down to the abilities is very taxing to say the least. really powerful stuff! Truly wise martial When used successfully, a ch’i power artists (in other words, those with the causes an amount of Strain to your Edge arcane background: enlightened) martial artist. can tap into the power of the Hunting Once an enlightened martial artist’s Grounds themselves. Strain has reached the breaking point With this supernatural energy to (equal to his Vigor die type), he can no augment their awesome physical longer channel these supernatural prowess, enlightened fu fighters are energies. nothing short of living legends. Starting Ch’i Powers: An Reducing Strain enlightened martial artist knows one A hero’s Strain is reduced by quiet power for every level he has in the ch’i rest and meditation. Every hour the fu Aptitude. fighter rests allows him to lower his New Ch’i Powers: After character Strain by 1 point. By “rest,” we mean no creation, raising the ch’i Aptitude does physical or mental exertion. not grant your hero any new powers. Instead, he must spend time in training and practice. Each new ch’i power costs Using Ch’i Powers 5 Bounty Points, but the only time To use a power, you declare the requirement is how fast your character power you want your martial artist to can accumulate Bounty Points. employ and make a ch’i Aptitude roll. If The Marshal may decide your hero your hero makes the TN, mark off the needs to find a teacher to learn a new Strain required and the power works ch’i power. If so, that can turn into an just as described. If she fails the roll, adventure in itself. However, fu fighters nothing happens. Failed powers cost no with the sifu! sifu! Hindrance at 3 Strain. points or higher get a little break here; If the power’s Strain would push the it’s safe to assume the sifu is willing to enlightened head-knocker past her instruct his pupil (your character) in the breaking point, the power fails and she new power. suffers no Strain. If the fu fighter goes bust Ki-Yah! on her ch’i roll, she suffers a surge of energy from To the enlightened martial artist, ch’i the Hunting Grounds. The is the name for a supernatural energy Marshal has the details on which all possess and can learn to this, but trust us, it isn’t focus and tap. Although it requires 126 going to be a pleasant event great stamina to use effectively, the for her! energy itself comes from the Hunting Grounds, regardless of what the ancient masters might claim. The Powers The spiritual and physical discipline learned through martial arts training is Below are the powers available to the key to using this power. There’s a enlightened martial artists. Here’s a little more to it than that, but that’s quick explanation of what all the something only Marshals need to know. mumbo-jumbo at the beginning of each power means. TN is the Target Number the martial artist needs to make on a ch’i roll to 68 Posse activate the power. “Opposed” means your hero must compare his roll to one made by his opponent. Don’t forget that in an opposed roll, the minimum TN is a 5. Even if your fu fighter beats his opponent, if he doesn’t get a 5, the Martial Arts 69 power still fails. Strain is the amount of stress the power puts on the martial artist. A hero doesn’t suffer Strain for failed ch’i rolls. Even if your fu fighter fires multiple Speed is the number of actions or arrows at a single target, a separate hit time it takes to complete the power. location must be rolled for every arrow. Powers with Speed “0” activate It is possible to make called shots with instantaneously with no prep time. some or all of the arrows, but don’t Duration is how long the power stays forget to figure in the TN modifiers for in effect once activated. If the duration is each separate arrow. 1 round, it lasts to the beginning of the next round, regardless of when the Li Ho knocks 3 arrows in his power was enabled during the previous bow and takes aim at 3 bandits round. “Concentration” means the power robbing a stage. Two are in his lasts only as long as the martial artist first range increment and the does nothing but simple actions. A last is in the second. He decides number means the fu fighter can take he wants to hit their gun hands that much Strain at the beginning of instead of causing a senseless each round (or time period if otherwise waste of life. The Strain cost is noted) to keep the power in effect. 4, and his TN is 11 for the first None of the ch’i powers have a range two, but 12 for the last. He rolls listed. That’s because they only effect an 11, hitting two of the outlaws, the martial artist himself. Some do but the third arrow whizzes enable the hero to make a ranged harmlessly into the desert. attack, but in and of themselves, they still only affect the martial artist, granting him a special ability. He still has to make the required rolls to hit his target. The specifics of those are detailed within the powers themselves. Abundance of Pecking Birds

TN: 7 Strain: 1/arrow Speed: 1 Duration: Instant Robin Hood’s got nothing on you! This ability allows your hero to string and fire multiple arrows simultaneously. The arrows may all be aimed at a single target or she may divide your arrows between multiple targets. All targets must be within your normal arc of fire and range. Your hero can fire up to five arrows at five different targets if she wants with this power, but she gets a -1 modifier to her attack roll for each target after the first. Make a single bow Aptitude roll and compare it to all the TNs for your hero’s chosen targets to see which arrows hit and which miss. It’s possible for some to hit and some to miss completely. Blood of Gold At that time, he makes his ch’i roll to activate the cobra strike, but only pays 1 TN: Special Strain. Once your hero begins a cobra Strain: Special strike, he may not perform any actions Speed: Special other than simple ones on his action Duration: Permanent cards until he unleashes the strike. Your hero has such control over the Instead, as each action card comes up, inner workings of her body that she can set it aside. use her ch’i to accelerate her own Your hero may unleash the strike on healing. any of his action cards—new ones, not To use blood of gold, pick a wound saved ones. At this point, he must pay 1 location on your hero, make a ch’i roll, additional Strain for each action card he and pay the appropriate Stain. The TN, has set aside to prepare the cobra Strain, and time required to heal the strike. If he can’t pay the required wound are shown on the table below. Strain, the power fails. Each success and raise against the TN Once the Strain is paid, he lashes out for the wounded location heals one in a lightning fast hand-to-hand attack wound level. that is +2 to hit and damage for each The power only heals a single action card he set aside earlier. location at a time. Your hero has to roll You may set aside as many action her ch’i and pay the listed Strain for cards as you want, but don’t wait too each location she wants to heal. long. If the black Joker is drawn, he A martial artist cannot cure Maimed must surrender all his saved cards at wound levels with this power. While the end of that round to be reshuffled she can recover wind with blood of and start all over again—although he gold, the power closing the gate is much doesn’t have to pay any more Strain or quicker for that purpose. make another ch’i roll. If your martial artist takes any action other than moving at half pace, all Blood of Gold cards set aside are lost and he must begin again. If you are attacked in hand-to-hand combat while preparing, Wound TN Strain Time he gets his normal defense, but he may Wind 3 1 1 minute not vamoose without negating the Light 5 2 5 minutes cobra strike. Heavy 7 3 15 minutes Serious 9 4 30 minutes Critical 11 5 1 hour Closing the Gate Cobra Strike TN: 5 Strain: 1 TN: 5 Speed: 1 Strain: 1 + 1/Action Card held Duration: Permanent Speed: 1 This ability allows your fu fighter to Duration: Instant recover lost Wind very quickly so she Your hero’s sifu taught him to wait can continue to battle her enemies. It’s patiently, conserving his energy, until so embarrassing to be the first one an enemy presented an opening—then knocked senseless! attacking with a single powerful strike. While blood of gold can cure lost When your martial artists activates Wind, it’s too slow to be practical to use this power, you must declare how many in the middle of a brawl. actions he’s going to spend beyond the If your hero makes her ch’i roll, she initial one to start the power. recovers 1d6 Wind for every success and raise she received (by the way, don’t forget to reroll aces). The total is the amount of Wind your hombre recovers. 70 Posse This may not increase your hero’s Wind above her normal maximum. Crane Guides the Arrow

TN: 5 Strain: 1 Martial Arts 71 Speed: 0 Duration: Instant Your martial artist has mastered the While your fu fighter can use this concentration necessary to be a true power on anyone, it really only affects sharpshooter with certain ranged characters using special abilities (like weapons. He’s even learned how to focus chi powers) that rely on Strain. For now, the power of the Hunting Grounds to only enlightened martial artists are give him supernatural accuracy! truly susceptible to its effects. This power can only be used in conjunction with throwin’ or bow Aptitude. It can’t be used with a gun, a Devastating Ape Strike hex, or any other kind of weird TN: 5 nonsense, nor, for some reason, does Strain: 1 crane guides the arrow seem to Speed: 0 function with flying guillotine. Duration: Instant You have to activate crane guides the This power allows your character to arrow before your hero makes his transfer ch’i energy to his foe’s body, attack roll. In other words, you don’t get causing her no end of hurt. to wait until you’re sure he’s hit the Use devastating ape strike target before making the ch’i roll and immediately before he attacks an spending the Strain! opponent using fightin’: martial arts. If For each success and raise, you may he hits, make a ch’i roll to activate the alter the hit location roll by 2 points in power, but, if your hero is successful, either direction, up or down. This is in add the result of that roll to his normal addition to any modifications you receive damage. Note you can spend Fate Chips for raises on the initial attack roll. on the ch’i roll to activate the power. By the way, if the attack misses, your Devastating ape strike can only be hero still spends the Strain—and used with a bare-handed attack; your probably should consider a few more hero can’t use it to augment a lessons with his weapon! weapon’s damage. Also, the damage is added after the effects of any armor, Crumbling Dam but if your fu fighter can’t penetrate the victim’s armor, devastating ape TN: Opposed strike doesn’t cause any damage. Strain: 2 Speed: 0 Duration: Instant Dragon’s Claw While most enlightened martial TN: 5 artists concentrate their extraordinary Strain: 2 powers on feats of legend, some take a Speed: 1 more roundabout method to defeat Duration: 1/round their opponents. Crumbling dam tires Few things are more frustrating to a an opponent out in the same way that master of kung fu than raining a dozen using a ch’i power does—by adding perfectly executed blows down on an Strain. automaton, and end up with only To employ this power, your hero uses bruised knuckles to show for it. With the fightin’: martial arts to hit her foe as dragon’s claw, a fu fighter doesn’t have normal. This attack does no physical to worry about that sort of humiliation. damage, but if she makes contact, roll When this power is activated, the a contest of her ch’i against her martial artist’s hands (and feet) are opponent’s Spirit. If she wins, her charged with focused energy, allowing opponent loses 1d4 Strain for every them to cut through wood, stone, and success and raise she received on this even metal. Your hero’s bare-handed roll. If she loses, there’s no effect. attacks gain 1 level of armor-piercing for every success and raise he gets on Flying Claw the ch’i roll to activate the dragon’s TN: 5 claw. So, a hero who gets an 11 on his Strain: 1 ch’i roll gains AP 2 for his empty- Speed: 0 handed attacks—enough to punch Duration: 1/round through a piddling bulletproof vest! This power allows your hero to use This bonus applies only to attacks he the flying claw to its full potential. Your makes with his hands or feet. In no fu fighter must have at least one level instance does the dragon’s claw affect a in fightin’: flying claw to purchase this weapon of any sort. Your hero could power. use the power in conjunction with the The flying claw is a metal claw on the head butt maneuver, but smashing end of a long chain. It can be used as a one’s head against really hard objects normal melee weapon against isn’t usually a good idea! opponents within 10’. If your hero makes A martial artist can also use this his ch’i roll and pays the Strain, he can power to simply break through propel it through the air at an opponent. inanimate objects like a door or wall. If There are no range modifiers, simply you’ve got access to Smith & Robards, make a normal fightin’: flyin’ claw roll to you can find detailed rules there. hit. The weapon does normal damage If not, use the armor values on page when used in this fashion. 133 of the Weird West Player’s Guide and The TN to hit is modified by the assume every 10 points of damage done target’s fightin’ Aptitude level, and the after adjusting for armor pounds a 2’ x victim can choose to use either fightin’ 2’ hole in the target. or dodge should she vamoose. If the claw causes at least one Fangs of the Serpent wound to the target, your martial artist TN: Opposed can yank on the chain on your next Strain: 4 action. If he wins a contest of Strength Speed: 0 with his victim, he pulls the target Duration: Instant back through the air to land at his feet, Crumbling dam lets a martial artist where he can lay a regular whipping drain the fortitude of an opponent, but on her. This special attack is completely fangs of the serpent goes one better. It optional; he can simply return the claw lets the fu fighter actually regain some by itself and throw again on his next Strain herself while fatiguing her foe! action is you’d prefer. To do so, she rolls fightin’: martial The flying claw, when powered by arts to hit as normal. This attack does ch’i energy in this way, has a ROF 1 and no physical damage, but if she makes your hero can hurl the weapon a contact, she then rolls a contest of her maximum of 5 yards times his ch’i ch’i against her opponent’s Vigor. Her Aptitude level. There are no range opponent loses 1d4 Strain for every modifiers to his attack roll. success and raise she gets on this roll. In return, she regains 1 Strain for every Flying Crescent two which are drained from her foe. TN: 5 Like crumbling dam, this power is Strain: 2 really only effective against characters Speed: 1 using abilities based on Strain. While Duration: 1/round she can use it against other victims, it This is another weapon which has no game effect whatsoever if she requires some spiritual power to use to does. its fullest. Your character must have at least one level in fightin’: flying crescent to purchase this power. The flying crescent is a big pole-arm type blade on a chain. It can be used as 72 Posse a regular melee weapon against any opponents within 10’. When powered by your hero’s ch’i, she can chuck it at opponents, like a fisherman casting a fishing lure, and hit them with its huge blade and then whiz the blade back to her, so she can go a-chucking it again on her next action card. Your hero’s TN for the attack roll is modified by her opponent’s fightin’ level, if any. Due to the nature of the attack, however, targets may choose to use either fightin’ or dodge to make an active defense. The flying crescent has a ROF 1 when used this way. The maximum range your hero can hurl the weapon is equal to 5 yards times her ch’i Aptitude level, but there are no range modifiers to the hero’s attack roll. Flying Guillotine

TN: 7 Strain: 4 Speed: 1 Duration: Instant Only martial artists who want to identify themselves as Pure Evil on a Stick use the dreaded flying guillotine. The weapon consists of a wire mesh bag attached to a ring. Inside the ring are a series of telescoping, ultra-sharp otherwise impeding the flow of the blades. The ring is attached to a chain ring over her head. The power only that the wielder holds. works on human-sized opponents, for Using the guillotine is sort of like a obvious reasons. razor-blade ring toss. If he fails the throwin’ roll, he’s out If your hero succeeds in chucking the the Strain it took to activate the power ring over an opponent’s head, he then and looks foolish tossing his fancy wire yanks the chain tight, activating the bag on the ground. blades inside the ring. The blades slice If he succeeds with a flying right on through his opponent’s neck. guillotine hit, the character The hero jerks the chain and is automatically suffers a level 5 wound to rewarded with a gruesome, severed head the head—and that’s why they call him in his wire-mesh bag. The opponent, Evil. sans head, is left spurting great gouts of Each time your hero wants to use blood all over the sagebrush. this bit of nastiness, he must pay the Your character must have at least Strain and roll his ch’i. He can’t one level in throwin’: flying guillotine to maintain flying guillotine like he could purchase this power. All attempts to hit flying crescent or flying claw. with a flying guillotine suffer a -6 Recently, some martial artists who penalty for the required called shot to specialize in fighting undead have the head, but each success and raise begun using the flying guillotine. your martial artists gets on his ch’i roll The weapon has a ROF 1 and a to activate the power reduces the maximum range equal to five yards penalty by one. times your hero’s ch’i Aptitude level; The Marshal may assess further however, he doesn’t receive any penalties if the target is hiding under modifiers to his attack roll for range eaves, wearing a large sombrero, or when using this power. Fury Fans the Flame The attack takes place on the same action and doesn’t require him to TN: 7 spend—or even have—another action Strain: 2 card to do so. If he gets a raise on his Speed: 0 second attack, he can once again Duration: Instant attempt to use fury fans the flame and This power lets your hero unleash a gain yet another attack. He can keep flurry of fists and feet on a single up this merciless rain of blows until he opponent. Some folks liken this attack fails to get a raise on his fightin’: to a gunslinger fanning his pistol and martial arts attack or he runs out of the analogy isn’t too far off! Strain. This is one of the very few powers The attacks may do lethal or that can be used after your martial brawling-type damage and the fu artist determines if his attack roll was fighter can switch between them if he successful. wants, but he must decide before he Any time your hero gets a raise on a rolls his attack. He can also make fightin’: martial arts roll using only his called shots and/or use any martial fists or feet (no weapons!), he can arts maneuver he knows while fury attempt to use fury fans the flame to fans the flame, but don’t forget to apply follow up with another attack. All he the appropriate modifiers to his TN. needs to do is make a ch’i roll against the power’s TN and spend his Strain. Li Ho is fighting one of Kang’s If his ch’i roll is successful, he can Silver Tigers. The Tiger has a immediately make another fightin’: fightin’ Aptitude of 4, but Li rolls martial arts attack against the same foe. a 14, giving him a raise on his Like the original attack, however, the fightin’: martial arts attack. Li second attack cannot use a weapon. then successfully activates fury fans the flame. On the same action card, he follows up with a spin kick. This gives him an additional -2 to his roll, but luck is with him and he gets an 11. That’s enough to hit his foe with the devastating kick, but not enough for a raise, so he can’t continue the assault on this action. Gimmick Weapon

TN: 5 Strain: 2 Speed: 1 Duration: 1/round Your hero is able to use an object not normally considered a hand-to-hand weapon when fighting. That weapon might be an umbrella, a suitcase, her own hair (assuming it’s long enough), or any other odd weapon. You have to be able to describe how your fu fighter is using it as a weapon to the Marshal, who is allowed to disqualify anything he finds simply too unbelievable or unduly silly. Regardless of the item chosen, your hero uses her fightin’: martial arts to wield it. The impromptu weapon does STR damage, plus an additional 1d8 for each success and raise your martial artist gets on her ch’i roll to activate Martial Arts 75 the power. It provides a +1 Defensive Bonus for each success and raise as well. Due to the nature of the power, your fu fighter might very well get Jade King’s Stance drastically different results from the TN: 5 same gimmick weapon over time. Strain: 2 While almost anything is fair game, Speed: 1 your hero can only use objects Duration: 1/round weighing up to 10 lb for each level she By striking the ancient and mystic has in her ch’i Aptitude. pose of the Jade King, your hero can intimidate your enemies and make it Hell’s Thunderclap difficult for them to attack her. This TN: Opposed applies even to those inferior sorts who Strain: 1 don’t know the Jade King from a Speed: 0 jackrabbit. Duration: Instant To activate this power, your hero must Use this power immediately after make a ch’i roll against a Fair (5) TN, but your fu fighter makes a successful the higher she rolls, the better. While fightin’: martial arts (unarmed) attack to this power is active, any enemies his opponent’s head. The attack can be wishing to attack your hero must make the result of a called shot or just a an Onerous (7) Spirit roll. That TN lucky hit location roll—it doesn’t matter. increases by +2 for every raise your hero Instead of causing damage, he gets on her ch’i roll. flattens his palms and claps them over If the opponent fails the roll, he is his opponent’s ears. Not only does he overcome by your character’s awe and set up a ringing in her ears, but he majesty and cannot attack directly. temporarily severs her connection to Indirect attacks, like causing an her ancestors, the source of her avalanche, stirring up a stampede, and prosperity and good fortune. the like are all fair game, however. Roll a contest of your hero’s ch’i If he succeeds, he can attack but versus his foe’s Spirit. She suffers a takes a negative modifier of -2 for every penalty equal to the amount by which success and raise your hero got on the your hero won the contest to all of her ch’i roll to activate the Jade King’s stance. Trait and Aptitude rolls. This effect lasts Again, if he chooses to make indirect 1d6 rounds, rolled secretly by the attacks, he suffers no penalty. Marshal. As always, the Marshal has final say This power only effects living targets on what is direct or indirect, but the (human or not) that have a pair of ears protection miracle (Weird West Player’s your hero can easily clap his hands Guide, page 176) should serve as a guide. over. Undead are immune to its effects. Your fu fighter can speak and use This probably isn’t your martial artist’s other powers which don’t require her to best choice against a Maze Dragon, for move in any way while Jade King’s example! stance is in effect, but if she alters her Warning: In some cases, the pose in any way the effects of this Marshal may have decided a character power are immediately canceled. This has been cursed by his ancestors. This includes taking an active defense or most often happens when a Chinese making a fightin’ attack. person fails to engage in the rituals Finally, while this power is active, necessary to propitiate his ancestors. If your hero can use it to boost overawe your hero disrupt a character’s attempts against enemies within 30 ancestral curse, your hell’s thunderclap yards. She adds +2 to her overawe total level is applied as a positive modifier for each success and raise she got on instead! her initial ch’i roll. All of her opponents must then roll guts against that treated as though they had a Size 8 number. This can be real handy for when figuring damage; if a target chasing off lynch mobs! already has Size 8 or larger, she only Regardless of the result or the gets a bonus of +1 to her effective Size. number of folks she’s cowed with her The recipients don’t actually grow overawe, you can’t gain a draw from the larger, though, just tougher. Fate Pot for achieving a broken result Your hero can include himself in this while using Jade King’s stance. You’ve got field and gain the benefits, but he must to earn those the hard way, pardner! pay Strain and increase his TN by 2 just like he does for each other recipient. If Li finds himself facing a rowdy he chooses to add himself in this press gang looking to crew a fashion, he still must select at least one ship to Lost Angels. He uses other person to harmonize with for the Jade King’s stance to convince power to work. He can’t activate it them to look elsewhere. He gets solely on his own. an 8 on his ch’i roll to activate A single person or group can only the power. Any of the thugs harmonize their ch’i with one martial trying to club him must beat an artist at a time. Any other attempts to Onerous (7) TN on a Spirit roll to use leopard and her cubs simply fail. act against him. However, Li decides to take the offense and Mantis Pinch makes an overawe attempt against the group. He got only a TN: Opposed single success on his ch’i roll, so Strain: 2 he gets a +2 bonus to his roll to Speed: 0 affect them. He rolls once for the Duration: 1/round entire group. Hopefully, the This particular attack does not cause toughs aren’t that tough! damage, but instead hits critical nerve junctions and impairs the flow of ch’i Leopard and Her Cubs energies through an opponent’s body. By choosing which nerve junctions to TN: Special hit, your hero can decide which of an Strain: 2 + 1/recipient opponent’s Traits to temporarily reduce. Speed: 2 To use mantis pinch, your hero must Duration: 1/round first make a successful fightin’: martial With this power, your enlightened arts attack. Then, pick a Trait and make hero can connect his ch’i energy with an opposed ch’i roll against your foe’s that of his companions in a field of Vigor. For each success and raise you positive juju. It’s often used by kung fu score, the opponent’s die value in that masters to aid their students in a fight. Trait is reduced by one step. You can’t During a battle, choose any number reduce a Trait below a d4. of your allies and make a ch’i roll This reduction lasts for as long as against a Foolproof (3) TN. The only your martial artist chooses to maintain catch is that the TN is increased by 2 mantis pinch—or until he runs out of points for every character you choose Strain, whichever comes first. to include in the ch’i field. You have to Undead and other abominations are choose at least one recipient by the immune to this power. way or the power fails. If the roll succeeds, your hero has Many Arms of the Spider harmonized his ch’i with his chosen recipients, making them more resistant TN: 5 to damage. All those affected are Strain: 1/attack Speed: 0 Duration: Instant Many Westerners aren’t considerate 76 Posse enough to follow the unwritten rule that only one foe may attack you at a time—maybe because it’s unwritten! Many arms of the spider allows your hero to teach them some manners. With this ability he can crack multiple heads at once or one head many times. He may activate this power on any of his Action Cards. Once activated, he may perform as many hand-to-hand attacks—with or without weapons—on that action as he has unused Action Cards. You must discard a number of Action Cards—highest first—equal to the number of attacks performed. Hole cards are considered your highest Action Cards, followed by the red Joker, by the way. Your fighter may move up to his full remaining Pace to reach his opponents, but this power does not allow him any movement bonuses. Merciful Sparrow

TN: Opposed Strain: 1 Speed: Vamoose Duration: Instant Is an opponent fixing to make a ranged attack on someone you’d rather not see perforated—including your hero? Well, merciful sparrow gives your martial artist the opportunity to intervene on their (or your) behalf! Mind of Quicksilver With this handy ability, your hero can forfeit her next action—assuming she TN: 9 still has one this round—to kick or Strain: 3 + cost of copied power throw a nearby object between the Speed: 1 opponent and his target, hopefully Duration: 1/round + special throwing off his aim. When it comes to martial arts You must be able to describe to the abilities, your fu fighter is a fast study. Marshal a suitable object that would Her masters trained her to carefully logically be available to your hero. observe other fighters and pick up their Sample objects might include floor tiles, tricks. rocks, tree branches, lengths of rope, Whenever she sees a character using spittoons, or small woodland animals. a ch’i power or martial arts maneuver Roll a contest of your character’s ch’i in an actual, we’re-in-genuine-danger- against her opponent’s ranged weapon here fight, she may use an Action Card Aptitude. If your hero wins, the attack to make a ch’i roll. If she succeeds, she is blocked. If she fails, she still has to gains the use of that special ability spend the Strain to make the attempt. until she stops paying the Strain to Yes, that’s an exception to the rule we maintain it. If she copies a ch’i power mentioned earlier. She’s still making that has a cost to maintain it, she must the attempt, so, like devastating ape pay that cost in addition to the 1 Strain/ strike, she still pays her Strain up front. round for mind of quicksilver. The maximum die type this power As a bonus, your hero can learn any can block is d12, no defecting cannon power she copies through mind of balls! The power also only works quicksilver without having to find a against actual physical missiles; your sifu. She still has to pay the Bounty hero can’t block soul blasts with it. Points, but she can do so on her own. Monkey Goes to the If you fail the ch’i roll, he runs out of Mountain juice in mid-leap and comes crashing back to Buddha’s green earth. For each TN: 3 point of difference between the actual Strain: 3 result and the Target Number, he takes Speed: 1 1d4 Wind. To keep him on his feet, Duration: Instant you’ve got to also make a Nimbleness Your fu fighter can travel great roll against of Wind taken. distances in the course of a single If you go bust on the roll, he takes action. Although it looks like he’s the damage above, lands flat on his literally flying, in actual fact he’s back, and has to make a Vigor roll leaping. against the amount of Wind he lost or He has to occasionally touch down be stunned! on objects as he leaps, although these objects don’t have to be strong enough Palm of Prevention to support his weight normally. They can be treetops, branches, or lampposts, TN: 5 for example. Strain: 2 Doing this requires a ch’i roll against Speed: 1 a base Foolproof (3) TN. That allows Duration: Instant your martial artist to cover up to 5 This power is especially preferred by yards up, down, backward, or sideways. pacifist monk-types. They use it to The TN increases by +2 for every 5 humiliate evil-doers without actually yards (or fraction thereof) beyond the hurting them. first 5 yards. If you succeed in the ch’i Using open-handed slaps, lightning- roll, he covers the distance and looks fast holds, and the occasional good doing it. downright sneaky trip, your hero throws her opponent about, preventing him from taking hostile action against her or others. She does no actual physical damage to her opponent with these maneuvers. His pride, on the other hand, may be severely injured. Your martial artist must spend an action preparing palm of prevention before actually attacking her foe. Once she’s ready, she must be within hand- to-hand range of her opponent. Make a normal attack with her fightin’: martial arts. For each success and raise scored, her opponent loses his next remaining Action Card. Hold cards go first, by the way. If, as the result of a single use of palm of prevention, her opponent is reduced to zero actions for a round—he must have had actions to lose in the first place—your fu fighter may immediately make an overawe roll against him. This does not cost her an action. On a broken result, her opponent is demoralized and decides to withdraw from combat. Other results have the normal consequences. Should your martial artist—or anyone else—attack him while he retreats, the effect is canceled, and he may freely attack once again. Righteous Reversal

TN: Special Strain: 2 Martial Arts 79 Speed: Vamoose Duration: Instant Your hero’s ch’i is so strong that she When he is hit in combat, your hero can inflict a form of supernatural can use this power to change the retribution on anyone rude enough to location of the hit—no, he can’t move attack her! the location off his body! He must When your fu fighter is forced to sacrifice his highest Action Card to do make a stun check, ifshe has any this. If you have no actions remaining, Action Cards remaining, she may use you can’t use this power. this power to force her attacker to Once river flows uphill is activated, make the stun check instead. you can modify the hit location roll in Make a ch’i roll against the usual stun either direction by 2 points for every check TN for the wound your hero just success and raise your hero got on his received; however, you must add +1 to the ch’i roll. TN for every 10 yards between your Unfortunately, this power has no character and her target. effect on called shots. It only works If she succeeds, the target must when an opponent is relying on luck to make the stun check instead of her. place the blow in a soft spot! The TN for her opponent’s Vigor roll is Fair (5), but with a +2 for every raise your hero got on her ch’i roll. If he fails Seize the Pearl of the stun check, he must make a Death recovery roll versus the same TN before TN: Special he can take any other action. Strain: 2 + 1/missile caught Be careful, though—righteous reversal Speed: Vamoose is not without its dangers. If she fails Duration: Special the ch’i roll, she’s stunned as normal Some martial artists prove the hand and suffers an additional 1d6 Strain! is not only faster than the eye, but even faster than a speeding bullet! If your An inconsiderate gunslinger hero is being attacked by a bullet or wings Li Ho for a Heavy wound. hurled ranged weapon, she can spend Hoping to show the pistolero the her highest Action Card to use this error of his ways, Li uses special active defense. righteous reversal. The target is While using seize the pearl of death, it 15 yards away, so Li’s TN is a 9 (7 doesn’t look like she’s vamoosing. for the wound, +2 for range). He Instead, she’s standing her ground and makes the roll with a 15. Li Ho plucking any arrows, bullets, spears, or avoids the stun from the wound, the like out of the air as they whiz and, since he got a raise, his foe towards her. must make a Onerous (7) Vigor Announce your character’s intention roll or be stunned herself. to use seize the pearl of death as soon as she’s been hit, but before hit location River Flows Uphill or damage has been rolled. Make a chi TN: 5 roll against a Target Number based on Strain: 1 the amount of damage dealt by the Speed: Vamoose missile. See the table at the end of the Duration: Instant power’s description for details. Even the greatest fu-masters can’t If she succeeds, she catches the bullet avoid every single hit. With river flows or other missile and is unharmed. If she up hill, they at least get a say in where fails, roll a d6. If it comes up odd, she an unavoidable blow lands. And, takes full damage to her right hand sometimes, that makes all the (left, if she’s a southpaw) in addition to difference between life and death. taking full damage to the rolled hit location. If your martial artist catches a bullet comes first. She has to make a ch’i roll or other missile, she may immediately for each missile so caught, but must throw it back at an enemy. For most only pay an additional 1 Strain for each weapons, she uses throwin’: balanced one. Once her next Action Card comes or unbalanced according to the missile. up or the round ends, she must pay 3 By the way, arrows are considered Strain to reactivate it, however. unbalanced for the purposes of this Finally, your hero can’t catch missiles power. On the other hand, if it’s a created by a hex, spell, or other magic— bullet, she specifically needs throwin’: no snagging bolts o’ doom!—and she bullet to toss it back. can’t catch weapons with a die type of The returned weapon has a Range greater than d12. Increment of 5, regardless of its original one, and does its full normal damage. That’s right—a Sharps Big .50 does 4d10! Missiles that do damage based on the Seize the Pearl wielder’s Strength use your martial artist’s Strength as a base. o’ Death The table below lists the TNs based on the damage die type of the missile. Missile For weapons based on Strength, use Die Type TN the bonus die type, not the wielder’s d4 3 Strength when possible. If the weapon d6 5 does not have a bonus die type, use the d8 7 TN for d4s. d10 9 Your hero can continue to use this d12 11 power until her next Action Card, or the beginning of the round, whichever The Serpent’s Embrace

TN: Opposed Strain: 2 Speed: 0 Duration: 1/round Mantis pinch uses pressure points to disrupt an opponent’s ch’i and weaken the body as a whole. The serpent’s embrace uses those nerve junctions to cause a foe’s muscles to constrict uncontrollably, immobilizing a limb. Your fu fighter must make a successful attack against a human opponent’s arm or leg, taking into account the usual modifier for a called shot. If he hits, immediately make an opposed roll of your hero’s ch’i against your opponent’s Vigor. If your martial artist wins, the limb goes numb and the victim can’t use it for as long as your hero maintains the serpent’s embrace. This power has no effect on undead or any non-human creature, natural or otherwise. Their pressure points either don’t work (in the case of the undead), or are different enough that your hero lacks enough knowledge of them to make the power work. Finally, a victim can suffer only a single serpent’s embrace at a time. The Slithering Eel

TN: 7 Strain: 2 Martial Arts 81 Speed: 1 Duration: 1/round Your hero can wrap a rope or other drive it away or even pound it flexible cord around an opponent so senseless. In other words, if your that it entangles him. She can use just martial artist is facing a hangin’ judge, about anything from a belt to thick, he might chase it off, but don’t expect shipping rope, but she needs at least 3’ to beat it to death! to bind up a single opponent. Also, be warned that some creatures She doesn’t tie it up or anything, but are immune to even magical attacks runs up to a foe and uses her superior and only a very specific weakness can speed and manipulation abilities to cause them harm. Apparitions are a wrap him up tightly. good example of this, so don’t go trying If the attack hits, her opponent is to start a fist fight with a ghost! As a entangled in the rope and incapable of rule of thumb, ifsoul blast affects the attacking or using any skill which creature, smoke parts for iron does as requires the use of his arms or legs. well. This lasts until he takes an action to While your fu fighter can’t use free himself of the rope. weapons with this power, he can At that point, make an opposed roll, combine it with martial arts maneuvers your hero’s ch’i versus the foe’s or other ch’i powers, like fury fans the Nimbleness. If he wins, he wriggles flame or ten-foot punch. free. If she has enough rope and her Step Back to Ward Off opponents are within 3’ or so of each other, she can entangle more than one Monkey with this power. Your hero can catch TN: 5 one goon for every success and raise Strain: 2 she gets on her ch’i power to activate Speed: 1 the slithering eel. Duration: 1/round If your hero stops maintaining the Step back to ward off monkey is power the victims free themselves useful when your hero is being shot at, automatically. or when deadly objects are being chucked in his direction. It’s a series of Smoke Parts for Iron maneuvers which confuse the human eye, causing it to misjudge his location. TN: 9 Once activated, the Target Numbers Strain: 3 of all of his opponents’ ranged attacks Speed: 2 are increased by +2 for each success Duration: 2/round and raise your marital artist got on his All the fu in the world is useless if ch’i roll to activate the power. This even your hero’s enemy can only be hurt by includes magical attacks that require magic. Well, all the fu except for smoke an attack roll to hit the target, like soul parts for iron. This handy power lets the blast or bolts o’ doom. martial artist channel his ch’i right to his fists and feet, making them, in effect, magical weapons. Ten-Foot Punch As long as he maintains smoke parts TN: 7 for iron, he can affect beings normally Strain: 3 immune to physical damage with his Speed: 1 bare-handed (and -footed) attacks. If his Duration: 2/round opponent requires some special act or Your hero’s kung fu is so powerful weapon to put it down for good, his she can beat on an opponent many feet pummeling won’t send it to Boot Hill, away from you. With ten-foot punch, she although he may be able to temporarily can use her fightin’: martial arts aptitude to attack opponents who are effects of pain and shock easier than outside of normal hand-to-hand range— regular folk. Whenever she is stunned, which can be pretty handy since so she may take an action to activate this many folks in the Weird West are power and automatically shake it off packing six-shooters! without making a Vigor roll. The exact distance at which she can As long as she maintains tiger perform this feat depends on her ch’i roll. shakes its mane, she may also ignore Her attacks affect targets up to 10 yards one level of wound penalties for each away for each success and raise she success and raise she got on the ch’i receives on her ch’i roll. roll to activate it. She can only use bare-handed (or bare-footed) attacks with this power, Veins of Iron although she can couple it with other TN: 5 powers like devastating ape strike or Strain: 1 fury fans the flame. Speed: 1 Duration: 1/round Thunder Strums the Pipa Through his mastery of his ch’i and TN: 5 his own physical body, your martial Strain: 1 artist is able to weather physical abuse Speed: 0 better than the average cowpoke. He Duration: Instant can’t actually avoid wounds with veins When your hero strikes an opponent of iron, but he can minimize the short in hand-to-hand combat, he may use term effects. this power instead of causing normal While this power is active, your hero damage. This allows him to land a flurry can subtract 5 Wind for each success of lightning-fast blows designed to sap and raise he gets on his ch’i roll from his opponent’s strength. any he suffers from wounds or the like. Roll normal brawling damage for your He still loses Wind normally from martial artist—including the bonus 1d6— picking up the pace or severe weather but for every success and raise your conditions, and so forth. hero gets on the ch’i roll to activate this And yes, this does make him one power, add +1d4. Your opponent then bad dude in a regular brawl! rolls a Vigor check against that total and takes Wind equal to the amount by Vengeance of Angry Monkey which she fails, if any. TN: 5 She must also make a Vigor roll Strain: 1 against a Fair (5) TN, +2 for every raise Speed: 0 your martial artist got on his ch’i roll. If Duration: Instant she fails, she’s stunned and can’t take Your hero has learned to mimic the any action until she recovers by rolling vicious attack of an enraged monkey; against that same TN. however, instead of hurling merely fruit or, uh, other things, she can turn nearly Tiger Shakes Its Mane any small item into a deadly missile. TN: 7 The missile does her Strength, plus Strain: 2 1d6 damage for every success and raise Speed: 1 she gets on her ch’i roll. Duration: 1/round To hit, she uses her fightin’: martial Your hero has learned to manipulate arts, but based on her Deftness Trait the flow of ch’i energy through her instead of Nimbleness. It has a Range body, allowing her to shake off the Increment of 5 and a maximum range of five times her ch’i. She can slap, headbutt, kick, or otherwise chuck the item at her foe; 82 Posse she’s not limited to simply throwing it. The chosen item can weigh more than 5 lb. for each level of her ch’i Aptitude. Venom Punch

TN: Opposed Strain: 3 Speed: 1 Duration: Special This power gives an opponent something to remember your hero by— and not fondly. When your hero punches an opponent with his bare hand (or, if he prefers, kicks her with his bare foot), he may introduce a small amount of his own ch’i energy into her system. His ch’i acts as an irritant, in effect becoming a poison that causes increasing harm to his victim over a period of time. Your hero must spend an action concentrating his ch’i before attempting to use this power. Once activated, the attacking hand or foot crackles with visible chi energy. Use fightin’: martial arts to hit as usual. For this power to work your hero must be able to penetrate your foe’s armor level—if any. If the attack hits, make an opposed roll of your hero’s ch’i versus his foe’s Vigor. If he wins, he does his normal martial arts damage. However, she also takes an additional 2d6 to the guts as his ch’i energy begins to invade her system. The ch’i energy continues to burn in his foe’s guts for an additional character with the medicine: Chinese round for each success and raise he traditional aptitude can stop the effects received on the opposed roll. of a venom punch by treating the victim As it lingers, it grow in intensity, for a round and beating a Hard (9) TN. gaining a die type each successive round. With a simple success, it burns Wind Blows Over the Earth one additional round, doing another 2d8 to her guts; with a raise, it lasts for two TN: 5 additional rounds, causing 2d8 the first Strain: 1 round and 2d10 on the second. The Speed: 0 maximum die type of damage caused Duration: Instant by venom punch is 2d12, but that If your hero successfully hits a foe should be plenty sufficient to take out using fightin’: martial arts, she can elect all but the toughest opponents! to throw him a fair distance instead of If the attack misses, the chi energy doing damage to him. For each success dissipates and is lost. Your martial artist and raise scored on her ch’i roll, she must spend another action to refocus it, can throw your opponent three yards. but he doesn’t lose any Strain. If he Unless she throws her opponent off a loses the opposed roll, though, he does cliff or into a pit of alligators, he lose the Strain, even though his doesn’t suffer any damage. He does opponent isn’t affected. take 1d6 Wind for each success and Normal western medicine does squat raise she got on the ch’i roll. against the effects of a venom punch. He’s also knocked down and must Even magical healing like lay on hands make a stun check against a Fair (5) or the medicine favor is too slow to TN +2 for each raise your hero got on cancel a venom punch; however, a her ch’i roll.

Chapter Four: The Way of the Spirits

Now, when your hero wants to learn As in most of the other chapters so a new type of ritual, instead of starting far, we’re going to give your character a from scratch, he pays 3 Bounty Points lot of new options, in the form of a and gains that new method at the medicine bag full of new favors. As same level as his other ritual Aptitude before, however, we’re going to update concentrations. It works just like our older sourcebook—in this case shootin’ or any of a multitude of other Ghost Dancers—to the newer revised Aptitudes that have concentrations rules and clarify or correct any areas related to one another. that need a little patching. Of course, each concentration of ritual, like ritual: pledge or ritual: scar, has its own associated Trait. That’s a A New Drum for little different than shootin’ or fightin’, which use the same Trait for all their the Dancers concentrations. Also, your shaman can’t default on a ritual concentration. He If you’re familiar with our older rules either knows it or he doesn’t. as well as the revised changes, you probably already know the effects on New Favors shamans and their magic system were slight. If you’re not, the only Starting characters get one favor for real difference is that now every point in their ritual Aptitude, individual rituals are actually regardless of the number of concentrations of a single Aptitude concentrations. If you’re using the named ritual. guardian spirit Edge Specific Favors from Ghost Dancers, your character can also learn an additional one for every A couple of favors from Ghost point she has in that Edge. The rules Dancers need a little clarification, so still apply for bonus favors for choosing let’s take care of those right quick. them from your guardian spirit’s favored Earth speak lists a Duration of medicine way. “Concentration.” This favor works like Learning new favors is a bit simpler. the hex shadow man in this respect. Now, if your shaman wants a new The shaman can use trackin’ and still favor, she has to pay 5 Bounty Points. maintain this favor. Any other actions, That’s it. Don’t worry about trying to except simple ones, end the favor. This raise the ritual Aptitude to gain a new is an exception to the usual rule. favor, just pay the cost and pick a new Wilderness walk works just like earth one. speak but with sneak instead. It’s possible the Marshal may want Spirit guide’s Appeasement Cost you to pay an extra 2 Bounty Points for depends on what the shaman is an unfavored medicine way under this seeking in the Hunting Grounds. system, but that’s his choice. He may also require your hero to find a teacher—either another shaman or a Spirit Guide spirit—but that’s his option. Guardian Spirits Target Sought Appeasement A general type of spirit 1 Looks like a coyote spirit got loose in Portal known to the Chapter Four: Guardian Spirits! shaman 2 Luckily, he didn’t stay long. Specific spirit or portal The Special Abilities paragraph in not known to shaman 5 that chapter should read: A particular spirit relic, a godlike spirit 7 “Special Abilities: Guardian Also, the spirit guide power no longer spirits can also impart special allows a shaman to contact another abilities with the expenditure of through her dreams. The shaman must a Fate Chip, as if they were a now use the favor dream walk (a new special kind of knack. These one introduced in this chapter) to do so. abilities are revealed as more Spirit weapon lists its Duration as points are put into the Edge: a 1- “Concentration or the duration of the point guardian spirit only trip in the Hunting Grounds.” That can imparts the first ability listed, a make it a little tough for a shaman to 3-point guardian spirit imparts wield the weapon herself. Now, the the first two, and a 5-point favor lasts for the duration of the guardian spirit grants access to shaman’s trip to the Hunting Grounds, the first three abilities. The or, if she’s remaining in the physical Legend Chip ability of the world, the Duration is “Concentration or guardian spirit can be used at 1 Wind/round.” any level, but the Edge may never be increased above level 5. You can always use a higher New Guardian chip for a lower ability.” Spirits The maximum value (and level) for the guardian spirit Edge is always 5 points. We first introduced the Edge guardian spirit in our Ghost Dancers sourcebook. We’ll give you the short version of how these work in case you don’t have access to that fine tome, but 86 Posse you can find out more about this Edge there. A guardian spirit is an Edge worth 1 to 5 points. For each point in the guardian spirit your hero may store 1 Shamans 87 Appeasement point for later use. These points don’t automatically refill when expended. Your hero must perform rituals as normal to replenish them. Legend: On a successful Hard (9) Guardian spirits are associated with Spirit roll, increase your hero’s guardian one or more medicine ways (or groups spirit Edge by 1. of favors). When your shaman uses his Oath: When given a choice between guardian spirit’s Appeasement points for a peaceful resolution and fighting, your its favored medicine way(s), they count shaman must always choose peace. double. For this purpose, you can track Your hero must always try to avoid half-points. confrontation rather than seek it when Guardian spirits also impart special solving her problems. abilities. See the previous section, Guardian Spirits for details. Dog When creating your character, you can select one additional favor for every Associated Medicine: Earth point in your guardian spirit Edge—or Dog holds an odd place among Indian two favors from the spirit’s associated cultures. Its namesake is a beast of medicine way. burden, guardian, and hunter—but Finally, guardian spirits have specific occasionally a source of food. As a spirit oaths that any hero choosing them is it is a protector and helpmate to the required to live by. If your shaman tribe, perhaps not as fierce in battle as breaks his spirit’s oath, he must make Wolf, but more reliable and trustworthy a Hard (9) faith roll or lose 1 point in the as a defender. guardian spirit Edge. The Guardian Spirits

Butterfly

Associated Medicine: Trickster This spirit embodies elusiveness and agility. Warriors seek to gain its favor to help them dodge their enemies’ attacks. Some Southwestern tribes even teach that man and all the other animals were made by the Great Butterfly White: The spirit grants your hero the misdirect favor. This costs him no Appeasement points. Red: Butterfly grants the confusion favor, with an Appeasement point value equal to the number of points currently stored in the guardian spirit. Blue: Cancels a ranged attack made on a target within 10 yards of your hero that requires the attacker to make an Aptitude roll to actually strike the target. Guns, bows, thrown weapons and even some spells fall under this description. You can spend the chip after the attacker has already made her roll. White: Your shaman can cancel the is equal to the points currently stored effects of a failed surprise roll by in the guardian spirit. No Appeasement spending a white Fate Chip. points are spent; they merely determine Red: The spirit grants your hero the the power of the favor. If your hero’s earth speak favor with an Appeasement guardian spirit has less than 2 point value equal to the points Appeasement stored, you cannot use currently stored in the guardian spirit. this ability. No points are spent; this is just to Blue: Automatically refill the determine the favor’s effects. guardian spirit’s Appeasement point Blue: Automatically and instantly pool. replace all your shaman’s lost Wind. Legend: On a successful Hard (9) This won’t take your hero above his Spirit roll, increase the guardian spirit starting total. Edge by 1. Legend: On a successful Hard (9) Oath: Thunderbirds aren’t known for Spirit roll, increase your hero’s guardian subtlety, neither are the shamans they spirit Edge by 1. accept. Your hero must choose the Oath: Your shaman must always direct solution to any problem. He must obey the dictates of his tribe. All never avoid fighting an abomination or Indians with a Dog guardian spirit are manitou, even involuntarily (as in loyal. If your hero no longer has a tribe failing a guts check and fleeing). for some reason, he bows to the wishes of whatever leader or group to which he has attached himself. Dog is not a New Favors leader. We’ve organized these new favors Thunderbird into medicine ways, just like in Ghost Dancers. If you’re not using that Associated Medicine: Visionseeking supplement or guardian spirits, don’t and war worry too much about the divisions. Thunderbirds are powerful spirits and We’ve provided a brief description at protectors of the Hunting Grounds. the beginning of each medicine way to They’re also the protectors of humanity. help you choose favors that best fit In recent years, more and more braves your shaman’s motivations and are being accepted by younger spirits of background, but there is no game effect this sort. The oldest, wisest shamans otherwise. among the tribes aren’t sure what this Favors have three entries in addition means, but fear it foretells humanity to the actual description of the effect. faces a terrible battle in the times ahead. Appeasement is the minimum The Thunderbird guardian spirit Edge number of Appeasement points it takes costs twice as much as a normal to garner the favor. guardian spirit. For example, it costs 6 Duration is how long the favor lasts. points to buy a 3-point Thunderbird Range is the distance at which the spirit. Due to the power and respect favor takes place or the “reach” of the these spirits command, your hero shaman, depending on the favor. As receives a +2 to all social rolls toward with huckster magic, the shaman must any shaman who knows your hero’s be able to see his target to affect, guardian spirit is a Thunderbird. unless otherwise noted in the favor’s White: The spirit grants the cleanse description. portal favor to your shaman. Red: The Thunderbird grants your Blessing Medicine hero the lightning strike favor. The Appeasement point value of the favor This medicine way is concerned with luck, chance, and overall success. Gambling and material wealth are important to some tribes, but blessing 88 Posse medicine is more far reaching than simply fixing a game of chance. Breath of the Spirits

Appeasement: 1 Duration: Instant Range: 5 yards/Appeasement This favor grants your shaman the ability to help himself and other characters recover from exhaustion, flesh wounds, and the like. This is a very valuable favor for war parties. Breath of the spirits restores 1d6 Wind to the shaman or any other individual within the favor’s range. For each Appeasement point he spends beyond the minimum, he can allow recovery of another 1d6 Wind. Your hero can give this to the same character or to another within range, but he must allot all the dice before rolling. No character can go above her starting Wind through this favor. Sacred Ground

Appeasement: 20 Duration: Permanent Range: Touch Just as Catholics have cathedrals or Jews have temples, certain places are holy to Indians. Some sacred ground is holy because it has always been so, but other sites, like burial grounds or sweat lodges, are made that way through ritual and appeasement of the spirits. Sacred ground blesses a site for a Turtle’s Gift tribe. This favor consecrates an area Appeasement: 10 with a radius of 1’ per Appeasement Duration: 1 year point spent to the spirits. Range: Self Any manitou or abomination Among many tribes, Turtle is revered attempting to enter an area cleansed by for his long life and his blessing is sacred ground, must make an Onerous sought to grant longevity. (7) Spirit roll, or be blocked at the edge. When your shaman is granted this This TN increases by +2 for every favor, she must make a Hard (9) Spirit additional 4 Appeasement points spent roll. If she succeeds, she ages at half when your shaman requests the favor. the normal rate for the next year. Even if the creature succeeds in its She may gain the benefits of Turtle’s spirit roll, all its Trait and Aptitude rolls gift only once a year. while on the sacred ground receive a penalty equal to the faith Aptitude of Earth Medicine your shaman (assuming your hero was granted the favor). This medicine way calls upon the The high cost of this favor virtually favors of nature spirits. Virtually all of guarantees only a lengthy ordeal can creation has an associated spirit: wind, provide a shaman the necessary fire, rain, animals, and even the ground Appeasement, so it’s only requested for itself. This is the most common truly special locations. In other words, medicine way followed by tribal your hero probably shouldn’t be using it shamans as it best allows them to to protect his nightly campsite! provide for and protect their people. Nature’s Wrath Remedy

Appeasement: 2 Appeasement: Varies Duration: 6 rounds Duration: Instant Range: 10 yards/Appeasement Range: Touch With this favor, your shaman calls on The favor heal treats wounds on the the spirits of the earth and any nearby body but not all dangers to a hero’s plants to hinder his enemies. Grass, health are visible. Remedy treats vines, even dirt and mud wrap the poisons and disease, invisible foes that victims’ legs slowing or even stopping can fell the mightiest warrior. them fast. The spirits hinder anyone, The Appeasement cost depends on except the shaman, who enters the area the type of poison or disease being of the favor! treated and is shown on the table below. Nature’s wrath affects a circular area five yards across for every Appeasement point spent. A creature in or entering Remedy that area must make a Fair (5) Strength roll or be stuck fast. It can try the roll again on each of its actions. Additional Poison or Appeasement points do not increase the Disease Appeasement TN to break free. Normal diease Even if it makes the Strength roll, it (smallpox, chlorea) has its Pace reduced by 2. Every or infection 4 Appeasement point above the minimum Normal poison 5 lowers its Pace by another 2 points. A Supernatural poison creature with 0 Pace is stuck fast for the or disease 7 duration. Secret Paths

Appeasement: 2 Duration: 1 day Range: 10 yards The spirits know the easiest paths to follow through the wilderness, and, if your shaman requests this favor, they can show him as well. Secret paths lets your hero move twice or more the normal distance in a day’s travel on foot. He can cover 20 miles with no difficulty at all. For every 10 miles above that he wants to travel, he must make a Fair (5) Vigor roll. Each check after the first is at a cumulative -2 penalty, to a maximum of -6. The most distance your shaman can cover in a day with secret paths is 70 miles. For every Appeasement point after the first, your hero can allow another character to gain the benefits of secret paths, but she has to make her own Vigor rolls to move the extra distance. Finally, this favor has no effect on mounted riders, gadgets like steam wagons, or autogyros, only on braves moving with the old heel-toe express. This is a favorite magic of raiding 90 Posse parties, letting them strike deep into their foes’ territory. Show the Path

Appeasement: 1 Duration: 6 hours Shamans 91 Range: Touch A pathfinder in the wilderness is a great help when moving from place to place, but only if she leaves a trail your The subject makes her promise and hero can see. And when she does, your seals it by cutting her own hand or shaman always has to worry that one other body part for at least one wound of his enemies might find it as well. level, so as to spill the blood necessary Show the path allows the shaman to to seal the pact. follow the subject unerringly for the Now, your shaman must spend duration of the favor. Conversely, if your Appeasement points equal to the hero is the most woodswise member of target’s Spirit die type. This gives the the war party, she can cast the favor on favor a duration of a single week. Each herself and grant another member of Appeasement spent above that amount the group the ability to see the doubles the duration. So, with 2 magical trail she leaves. additional points, the favor lasts 4 Casting this on an unwilling or weeks; with 4 additional, it lasts 16 unknowing subject requires your hero months, and so on. to beat the target in an opposed test of Each time during the duration of the Spirit or the favor fails. blood oath the subject breaks her Anyone with the ability to see promise, both her Spirit and Vigor die magical auras—like through hex sense, types drop a level. The only way to a Knack, or other ability—can also see regain the lost die types is for her to the trail left by this favor. either redress the transgression (if possible) or wait for the favor to expire. Ghost Medicine Your shaman must be careful on the wording of the promise, as blood oath, Ghost medicine is often called unlike the word o’ honor miracle, holds witchcraft or sorcery among the tribes. the subject to the letter, not the spirit These favors are most often the tools of the pledge. of evil magicians and shaman usually stay far from them. Devil’s Dance Each ghost medicine favor a shaman knows increases her Grit by one, but Appeasement: 1 only for the purpose of returning Duration: 4 rounds Harrowed. If she does come back from Range: 5 yards the dead, the manitou automatically has Hucksters insist on consorting with Dominion and the shaman must win an manitous to work their hexes. When it opposed Spirit roll against the manitou comes to gaining the attention of or be cast out of her own body forever. spirits—even manitous—shamans are undeniably experts. This favor helps a Blood Oath huckster attract more manitous with which to work her hexes—more than Appeasement: Varies she would care for. Duration: Varies This favor targets a single huckster Range: Touch and, for its duration, forces the This favor compels a brave to follow character to draw an extra card each his word—or suffer dire consequences. time she successfully casts a hex. This Your shaman must have the extra card can’t be used to form a cooperation of the subject to make use better hand, however; it only increases of this favor. She’s got some leeway as the huckster’s chance of getting to how she goes about getting that: a backlash by drawing the black Joker. friendly request, coercion, bribery, even Each Appeasement point beyond the outright abuse. All that matters is the first adds an additional card to the subject agrees to accept the blood oath. draw for backlash. Summon Serpent character has a higher card he has to put it up his sleeve. He can only have a Appeasement: 2 single card up his sleeve, so if he Duration: 6 rounds already has one there, or has more Range: Touch than one higher then your hero’s card, Ghost magic sorcerers are masters of he has to discard the extras when shapechanging. Usually, they shift their those card are called. own forms, but summon serpent lets Even if your shaman has a card up them turn a simple piece of wood into her sleeve going into the round, even a deadly animal. he can’t take an action before his This favor transforms a normal stick, highest card drawn for that round. at least 1’ long, into a rattler—no, not The one exception to this is if that kind, a rattlesnake! The snake another character draws the red Joker. follows the shaman’s orders exactly and In that case, she can act normally. won’t attack him, which is a good When your shaman’s card comes up, thing, since it changes into a snake in everyone with a card up their sleeve as his grasp! a result of coyote’s laugh (or otherwise) Every Appeasement point beyond the may act. Of course, this may mean a minimum allows him to transform an whole passel of braves are trying to go additional stick, assuming he has at the same time, so a contest of enough wood on hand. Quickness should be rolled. The Marshal has the details on a The trickster spirits have a twisted rattler’s profile and its poison in the sense of humor, so request this favor Marshal’s Handbook rulebook. with caution. If she draws the red Joker, the favor is canceled and she must discard the Joker (although he does get Trickster Medicine a draw from the Fate Pot). If she draws the black Joker, however, while he This is the medicine of confusion suffers the full effects of it, everyone and illusion. Many claim the trickster who drew more than a single Action spirits use their magic to teach and Card this turn must discard their highest. illustrate, but they’ve probably never Cards up the sleeve are unaffected. had one of those spirits play a prank on them. Misdirect

Coyote’s Laugh Appeasement: 1 Duration: 4 rounds Appeasement: 2 Range: Touch Duration: 1 round This favor calls upon the trickster Range: Self spirits to distract, divert, or annoy an There’s nothing Coyote likes better opponent’s aim in combat. A glint of than a good practical joke—unless it’s a sunlight, a heat wave, a barely glimpsed practical joke at a foe’s expense! movement in the corner of an eye—all When a shaman is granted this favor, of these are fair game for the spirits. she causes all around her to falter and Each Appeasement point applied to stumble in their actions for a moment this favor causes an opponents targeting and then all try to act at once. the recipient with a ranged attack to In game terms, coyote’s laugh takes suffer a -1 penalty to their rolls. effect the round after your shaman is granted the favor. In that round, no one in the combat can act before your Truth of the Crow hero’s highest Action Card. If a Appeasement: 1 Duration: 6 rounds Range: 5 yards It takes a foolish man to lie to the 92 Posse best liars in the Hunting Grounds. This favor asks for the trickster spirit’s assistance in finding the truth. However, in true trickster fashion, the spirits don’t give a forthright answer. Instead, they cause each lie to Shamans 93 make a terrible and bitter taste in the subject’s mouth. Truth of the crow targets a single character. Your shaman may make an opposed War Medicine roll of her Cognition versus the subject’s Vigor to catch the telltale Although the Indians are great pucker or grimace caused by the horrid warriors in their own right, a big part taste. This favor doesn’t give your hero of the reason they’ve been able to hold the truth, but it is good for a laugh their own against the white man and while she’s looking! his advanced weapons is their allies, the spirits. With the favors in this Visionseeking medicine way, a war party is a fearsome opponent for any military Medicine unit! This medicine way is devoted to Courage dealing with the spirits and their homeland, the Hunting Grounds. Space Appeasement: 1 prevents us from addressing all the Duration: 4 hours aspects of visionseeking medicine here, Range: Touch but full details on this medicine way With this favor, your shaman can are in Ghost Dancers. convince herself or her companions that any day is a good day to die. It’s Dream Walk often used by war parties facing terrible odds. Appeasement: 2 The recipient is immune to overawe Duration: 5 minutes attempts, gets +2 to all other guts Range: Self checks for the duration and does not Using his knowledge of the Hunting have to flee as the result of a failed Grounds, your shaman is able to enter guts check. Each additional the dreams of others. Distance is no Appeasement allows another character obstacle to this favor. to be included in the effects. He has to enter the Hunting Grounds There is a drawback, however; the to dream walk, either physically, favor breeds foolhardiness. Any time through a portal, or spiritually, with the your hero wants to flee or otherwise vision quest favor. Once there, he must withdraw, she must make an Onerous make an area knowledge: Hunting (7) Smarts roll or stay and fight! Grounds roll to find the correct person’s dreams. This has a TN of 17 (!), so most Hawk’s Swiftness dream walking shamans use a spirit guide to assist them (use the cost of a Appeasement: 3 specific spirit for Appeasement). Duration: 1 round Your shaman can observe the dream Range: Self and even speak to the dreamer through The race isn’t always to the swift— the favor, but can’t otherwise interact but that’s the safe bet. This favor grants with the dream unless he’s physically your hero a hawk’s swiftness in battle. in the Hunting Grounds. If your shaman Each 3 Appeasement spent gives is able to interact with the dream, he your hero an extra Action Card at the can warp it to cause the dreamer to beginning of the next round after suffer from the night terrors Hindrance. Quickness is rolled. If the dreamer is aware of your Although there is no limit to the hero’s presence and doesn’t want him number of extra cards he can receive there, she can attempt to force the through this favor, if he goes bust on shaman from her dreams. This takes Quickness, he forfeits those as well as an opposed contest of Spirit. his regular draw.

Chapter Five: Conjure Bags & Curses

There’s more to those Voodoo cults And with good reason. These folks down New Orleans way than have to be even more careful about superstitious mumbo-jumbo. It’s enough their doings than hucksters. A that the Texas Rangers have taken bloodthirsty lynch mob would let a more than a passing interest in them of hexslinger go in a heart beat over late—particularly with all the influence nothing more than a rumor of a LaCroix’s enjoying lately thanks to the Voodoo-practicing “witch doctor.” Bayou Vermillion. By the way, for clarity, when talking As with most human practices, there’s about the religion, Voodoo, we use a good side and a bad side to Voodoo. capital letters; if we’re talking about Since heroes in Deadlands are primarily magic spells, though, we use lowercase. just that—heroes—we’re going to concern ourselves with the primarily good side of Style and Substance the practice. The Marshal has the information on the bad side of Voodoo. It’s important to understand that while Voodoo has a lot of very visual Word to the Wise elements and a heavily supernatural flavor to it, voodoo magic tends to be In New Orleans, voodoo is pretty fairly subtle in its effects. Voodooists much accepted—if not exactly smiled don’t generally go about flinging bolts on—by most of the populace. Outside of doom or other flashy spells. Instead, the city, most practitioners of the they craft complicated and long-lasting religion are more skittish than long- spells that work behind the scenes tailed cats in a room of rocking chairs. rather than in plain sight. Basic Beliefs other and human beings. As a result, all rituals and ceremonies first honor Unlike many religions, voodoo doesn’t Legba, regardless of the practitioner’s have a strict set of moral guidelines. primary loa. The general ideas is most folks know This loa is also the guardian of gates, what’s right and what isn’t anyway, so fences, roads, and paths. He is known as cluttering up the religion with a lot of the Master of Crossroads—and since philosophy on it is a waste of time. crossroads are a favorite haunt of spirits What voodooists do pay attention to is and sorcerers in Voodoo, he receives showing the proper respect to a homage from magicians as well. powerful group of spirits known as Although he is represented as a loas. crippled old man dressed in rags, Legba has a terrific strength. Nonetheless, he Loas is often represented by a crutch.

Lots of folks tend to think of loas as Agwe the gods of voodoo, but that’s not quite Agwe is the patron of the sea, sailors right, they’re actually very powerful and sailing. Anyone planning a spirits. Each has its sphere of influence, shipboard journey is well advised to pay and the faithful petition them for aid. respects to him. He’s also viewed by many Haitians as the patron loa of Rada and Petro Haiti, so he’s got quite a following in the waters of the Caribbean. There are two types of loa—the rada Agwe has a fondness for gunfire. and the petro. For every rada loa, there Many ceremonies to him involve a bit is a petro aspect mirroring its influence, of gunfire to honor his desires. but with a darker, malicious cast. Rada loas are generally considered the “good” loas, and are the ones Damballah-Wedo voodooists most often pay homage to in Damballah-Wedo, or just plain their ceremonies. Damballah, is the snake god of voodoo. Petro loas are malevolent and Now, most folks north of the border mischievous entities. Even though their tend to look on snakes as squirmy and magic is more potent, it’s considered a creepy, but Damballah is viewed as a bad idea to consort with the petro loa— benevolent spirit by most voodooists. that’s the realm of the black magician, Damballah is one of the most popular or bokkor. of all the loas. Silver is his color, so he’s also the loa The Loas people seeking treasure most often consult for aid—maybe that has The total number of loas is probably something to do with his popularity. somewhere in the hundreds, but we’ve listed a few of the more powerful and Ogu commonly worshipped below. These are all rada loa as well—in case you were This boisterous loa is the patron of wondering. soldiers and war. He is a powerful combatant—and a powerful cusser, too! Legba However, Ogu is depicted as being as skillful as he is strong. Believers Legba serves as the interpreter to seeking aid in battle often petition Ogu the other loa. Only through Legba, can for assistance. the other loa communicate with each Few things please Ogu more than a chance to prove his toughness and ability. Ceremonies to him often include tests of will and strength. It’s not 96 Posse unheard of for chuals to burn themselves to prove their toughness. Loco

Contrary to what his name might indicate to the average cowpoke, Loco Voodoo 97 is the patron of plants. He’s also the loa responsible for healing the sick and injured and that makes him a right sanctified ground of the humfor. popular fellow! They’re often able to take advantage of Loco is a cautious sort, not given to the power of the loa in a more practical snap decisions or rushing into a fashion. These folks are called favo re d situation. Because his power is more chuals and you’ll find the details on subtle than some, Loco’s following isn’t them later. as large as many of the other loas. That is, until somebody gets hurt! Holy Ground

Ezili-Freda-Dahomey Just as in many other religions, certain This loa is the patroness of feminine areas are considered to be consecrated beauty, grace, and love. Her name is ground. These are sanctified to a loa or usually shortened to simply Ezili. She is loas and very important for casting flirtatious and passes her favor often spells. The two types of consecrated seemingly according only to whim. ground most often encountered are the Ezili loves the company of men, and humfor and the shrine. has romanced many of the male loa. Voodoo holy sites serve as worship and meeting sites, but they also serve Baron Samedi as a workplace for conjure doctors and mambos due to the connection to the The Baron is a member of the Guédé, loas. the group of loa responsible for the underworld and darker side of life. The Baron is a member of a trio of spirits. These three, Baron Samedi, Baron-la- Croix (not the owner of Bayou Vermillion!), and Guédé-nibo, are so closely united, it’s difficult to tell if they are three separate spirits or just different aspects of the same one. Although his realm is death and the graveyard, the Baron is one of the liveliest of the loa. He’s renowned for his black sense of humor and love of celebration. Mounting the Chual

From time to time loas possess, or “mount,” their followers, much like a rider mounts a horse. The “mount,” or chual takes on many aspects of the loa and gains some of the being’s power as well. Possession by a loa is a honor to a voodooist, and shows the spirit’s favor for the individual. Usually, this only occurs during secretive ceremonies in the humfor. However, a few voodooists are specially favored by their patrons and can open themselves to the loa outside the role in a congregation as mambos, but houngans wield just as much magical power. The Shrine

A shrine is a small altar dedicated to a particular loa. It usually contains a variety of ritual objects and sacrifices to the loa. Shrines are often found in the homes of voodooists. Unlike humfors, shrines are dedicated only to a single loa—usually the voodooist’s patron. Voodoo and the Dead

The spirits of the dead, receive special honor in voodoo for a pretty simple reason. Unhappy ghosts tend to make other folks unhappy as well. Voodooists have known this for a long time, but it’s especially true lately. As long as the spirits of the dead are shown proper respect, they tend to not bother the living too much. Voodooist put a lot of stock in proper funerals, wakes, and burials. Send a fellow off right and he’s not likely to come back is the general thinking. Not such a bad idea given the turn of events over the past decade or so. Many bokkor use petro magic to The Humfor compel the dead to do their bidding. A humfor is holy ground for voodoo The best known example of this ceremonies. You can think of it like a practice is the zombie—an undead slave voodoo temple or church, if you’d like. of a black magician. Such sorcery is as It’s a square, or sometimes round, frightening and repulsive to a voodooist building or hut with a number of as it is to the average cowpoke—maybe shrines to various loas. even more so! A humfor always contains a poteau- mitan, a large pole that serves as sort New Aptitudes of a supernatural lightning rod, aiding in the congregation’s efforts to contact the loas. A humfor is a kind of “neutral” holy ground—it honors all the Conjurin’ loa equally. Associated Trait: Special Ritual ceremonies are held to pay This is the Aptitude which practicing homage to the loas and petition for voodooists use to make magic. It their favor. Congregations of the functions in many ways like a faithful are lead by mambos, or voodoo huckster’s hexslingin’ Aptitude. queens, and houngans, or voodoo It’s seldom used by itself and works priests. Women hold the preeminent a little differently than normal Aptitudes. Each spell has an associated Trait. When your voodooist casts a spell, she rolls her conjurin’ Aptitude 98 Posse level, paired with the die type of the Trait with which the spell is associated. Note that conjurin’ is a separate and different Aptitude from faith: Voodoo. Faith: Voodoo is the belief in the Voodoo 99 religion’s tenets and conjurin’ is the knowledge to work spells through it. However, since the working of voodoo magic is directly tied to the religion itself, voodooists must have at least one Favored Chual * level in faith: Voodoo. Many spells rely, at Loa possession is a central part of least in part, on the voodooist’s faith as Voodoo. In ceremonies and rituals, it’s a well, so your character may want to fairly common occurrence—but it purchase more than the minimum in usually takes a lot of preparation to that Aptitude as well. perform. Some folks are favorite mounts of a particular loa, however. Possession Faith: Voodoo is almost second nature to these Associated Trait: Spirit voodooist. This is the religion followed by To purchase this Edge, your character voodooists. It includes a knowledge of must have at least 1 level in faith: the tenets of voodoo as well as the Voodoo. While your hero doesn’t have to names and spheres of the various loas. have arcane background: voodoo to Unlike most other characters with purchase favored chual, some abilities faith Aptitudes, voodooists do not gain are tied to voodoo spells. access to the protection miracle. Also, The cost of this Edge depends on the characters with this Aptitude seldom voodooist’s patron loa. become blessed—instead, they can If your hero’s one of these favored choose the arcane background: voodoo mounts (or chuals) select a rada loa as Edge (see below). his favored patron. From time to time, A character must have at least 1 level he can call upon certain aspects of the in this Aptitude to select arcane spirit for aid. This requires not only a background: voodoo. faith: Voodoo roll, but also the expenditure of a Fate Chip—not unlike a knack. The color of Fate Chip New Edges determines what type of assistance the loa grants. Only the hero’s patron loa can be Arcane Background: petitioned in this manner. Voodoo 3 See the next section, Calling the Loa, for all the details on this. Your hero knows the ways and the secrets of Voodoo. Maybe he’s a conjure doctor, a houngan, or even a mambo. Calling the Whatever her background, she’s able to learn voodoo spells as described in the Loa section on them. Your voodooist must have at least A favored chual may attempt to one level in faith: Voodoo to take this persuade his patron loa to aid him. Edge. Also, since the whole point of When a favored chual wants to call his this Edge is casting voodoo spells, he’s loa to aid him, he must first declare going to need the conjurin’ Aptitude. what color of Fate Chip he intends to Most folks that know how to work use. voodoo spells and rituals grew up near Next, he spends an action and makes New Orleans or in certain areas of the faith: Voodoo roll against a Fair (5) TN. If Caribbean. Of course, if you’ve got a successful, he captures the attention of good idea for a character that learned the spirit and can persuade it to grant a the mysteries of Voodoo another way, little of its power. Now, the voodooist talk it over with your Marshal—if he must spend the chosen Fate Chip to says it’s okay, that’s fine, too. activate the power. If he fails, he can try again on the Beside each loa is the Bounty Point next round if he wants. The Fate Chip cost to purchase the favored chual Edge is not spent until the power is activated. for that loa. Remember, a voodooist can However, if he goes bust on the faith only purchase this Edge once and only roll, he’s captured the attention of a for her patron loa. petro loa. He loses the chosen Fate Chip, and, to add injury to insult, he Agwe 3 becomes possessed by the loa’s petro counterpart. Agwe is very fond of gunfire— The possession lasts as long as the sometimes a little too fond. If he has a original power would have. The Marshal firearm handy when possessed by controls the hero for that time, and given Agwe, the chual must make an Onerous the malicious nature of the petro loa, (7) Spirit roll or fire off a couple of that’s plenty of time for mischief! Oh, rounds just to hear the sound of them! and by the way, the loa also manifests Also, a voodooist under Agwe’s the chosen power as well—only the petro influence is attracted to large bodies of loa uses it for its own ends. water. The chual has to make a Hard (9) Spirit roll to resist the urge for a Mount ‘em Up! quick dip any time he’s near a river, lake, or larger body of water. Below you’ll find the descriptions of White: The voodooist gains a +5 the powers each loa conveys on its bonus to all trade: seamanship rolls for chual. Like we said above, once the one hour per level of his faith. During faith roll has been made, these work this time, she can detect navigational just like knacks. hazards, such as hidden reefs or cross- Since the loa is to a degree currents, by making a Fair (5) Cognition possessing the voodooist, some aspects check. of its nature carry over into the chual’s Red: For the remainder of the day, behavior. The section on your hero’s she automatically makes all Cognition patron loa tells you exactly what effect rolls to prevent surprise or detect this has; often it’s fairly obvious or even hidden dangers. This ability lasts until extreme, so be careful about when your the next sunrise or sunset, whichever hero uses these abilities. comes first. Unless the description of the power Blue: All swimmin’ rolls are says otherwise, the length of the automatically successful and the hero possession depends on the color of gains +2 to his Pace while in the water. Fate Chip spent to activate it. The table Further more, he can also breathe below gives you these default times, freely underwater for the duration. but be sure to check the individual Legend: The voodooist can protect a ability descriptions as some of them ship and its crew from the worst effects vary greatly from those listed. of a storm at sea. The passengers might still get a look at what they had for breakfast that morning the hard way, Mount Duration but the ship won’t sink, founder, capsize, or otherwise fall victim to the storm, nor will anyone aboard her be swept Color of Time of overboard or otherwise seriously injured. Chip Spent Possession White 5 minutes Baron Samedi 5 Red 10 minutes Blue 30 minutes Folks under the influence of the good Legend 1 hour Baron Samedi gain a rather black sense of humor. Although they’re quite amiable, they tend to crack somewhat off-color jokes at the most inappropriate 100 Posse times. A voodooist mounted by Baron Samedi gains a 2 point habit: dark humor Hindrance. Additionally, the Baron’s presence manifests itself as a palpable sense of death. Anyone near the voodooist Voodoo 101 during a possession can detect the odor of decay similar to that of a Harrowed on a Fair (5) Cognition roll. Fortunately, the Baron has a fondness for a good time—and a good Damballah-Wedo 4 drink. When mounted, the chual has a A chual being ridden by Damballah- hard time passing up a quick swig of Wedo can’t speak for the duration of the “good stuff.” While he never the possession. She frequently hisses consumes enough to hamper his and her tongue occasionally darts out— abilities, he might hide the graveyard acting for the most part like a two- smell with the odor of whiskey! legged snake. White: The voodooist can cast the As you might guess, most folks find Heal spell to heal wounds on a this behavior downright odd. In addition Harrowed character at the normal TNs. to being unable to speak, the voodooist The spell dice must still be rolled to gets a –2 to all Mien based Aptitudes determine if the casting is successful. with people. This negative modifier This effect lasts for a single casting of does not apply to anyone with at least 1 the Heal spell. level in faith: Voodoo—although she still Red: The voodooist can ask a single can’t communicate with them. yes or no question of the spirit of a White: The loa guides the mount to recently deceased person. The corpse a minor hidden or lost treasure. The must be present and nor more than 1 value is equal to the result of the day per level of the voodooist’s faith: voodooist’s faith roll to call the loa in Voodoo may have passed since its dollars. It takes 10-60 minutes to locate death. The voodooist may spend more the treasure. than one chip per spirit. Red: The chual is immune to effects Blue: Baron Samedi’s presence of all poisons—natural, magical, or makes the voodooist invisible to otherwise. Any poisons injected into or walkin’ dead and zombies created by imbibed by the hero during this time black voodoo. The abominations are negated. This immunity has lasts completely ignore the character for as for a number of minutes equal to the long as he maintains the power. This chual’s faith Aptitude. power requires the voodooist’s Blue: The voodooist becomes concentration to maintain, so he may sinuous and serpentine in movement. only take simple actions like walking The mount automatically succeeds at or speaking for the duration. Even with all climbin’ rolls and takes no damage concentration, the effect ends after a from falls of 30’ or less. Also, the period equal to 10 minutes per level of mount is able to squeeze her body into the voodooist’s faith: Voodoo. spaces as small as 1’ in diameter. This Legend: The voodooist temporarily effect lasts for 10 minutes per level of raises a zombie (actually a walkin’ the hero’s faith. dead)—provided, of course, he has access Legend: The voodooist gains a bite to a dead body—that remains animate for attack for (STR) damage, based on 1 hour before collapsing back to a more fightin’: brawlin’. Worse yet, her bite is natural state of immobility. The as venomous as a rattlesnake’s. Anyone abomination follows the voodooist’s bitten by her must make a Hard (9) commands to the letter, so he must be Vigor roll. Success means the affected careful of the wording. location is paralyzed for 1d6 days. Since zombies are generally Failure results in death in 1d6 hours. A associated with bokkors and black Hard (9) medicine roll removes the magics, most voodooists use this ability poison, as long as it occurs before the only in dire emergencies; however, last half hour. This effect lasts for 1 because the effect is only temporary, few minute/level of her faith: Voodoo. Note followers of the belief view this power that poison is generally useless against as truly evil. undead and often ineffective against idea to keep them simple. The other abominations as well—like suggestion lasts for 10 minutes for every anyone would really want to bite one of level of her faith: Voodoo Aptitude. This those things anyway! has no effect on abominations other than Harrowed. Ezili-Freda-Dahomey 5 Legba 5 In order to attempt to call this loa, the chual, male or female, must be Due to the power of the loa, the hero wearing feminine clothing—that means must make an Onerous (7) Spirit roll. If a dress! While that’s not much of a he fails, he’s thrown into violent concern for her female voodooists, it convulsions from the force of his power may cause the males some discomfort. for 1d4 rounds and is unable to act until While possessed by Ezili, her chual all the seizure passes. After that time, the flirt as though they have the randy possession has normal effect. Hindrance. The hero isn’t required to For the duration of the possession, follow up on her flirtations, but they the voodooist gains a pronounced limp may cause no end of trouble later. By and loses 2 from his Pace. the way, Ezili only flirts with men, so if White: The voodooist is able to the chual is male, he might have some communicate in any spoken language. explaining to do after the loa departs! This ability lasts the for a number of White: The voodooist radiates grace minutes equal to the chual’s faith and poise. She gains a +5 bonus to all aptitude level. persuasion rolls made against men— Red: Legba’s presence allows the against women, this bonus is only +2. chual to open any non-magical lock or This bonus is in addition to any from door. The hero can open one lock a other sources. The bonus lasts for 1 round in this manner and the effect minute for each level of the chual’s lasts for a number of rounds equal to faith Aptitude. his faith Aptitude. Red: Ezili’s presence raises the hero’s Blue: The loa boosts the chual’s charisma and charm to supernatural physical strength enormously. The levels. The voodooist’s Mien is raised by hero’s Strength is increased by a a number of levels equal to her faith. number of levels equal to his faith This effect lasts for 10 rounds. Aptitude. This effect lasts for 10 rounds. Blue: The loa’s manifestation is so Legend: The voodooist can exert near powerful, any man must make an complete control over spoken opposed Spirit roll against the chual’s communication between people within faith in order to cause her harm. If he an area equal to 5 yards times his faith: loses, he can’t cast spells, fire a gun, or Voodoo Aptitude. He can allow one otherwise directly attack her. Male person to make perfect sense to another Harrowed are affected by this power, and yet be absolutely unintelligible to a but other abominations are not. The third. Or, he can simply turn the entire effect lasts for 1 round for each level of area into a babbling mass of confusion. the voodooist’s faith. However, he cannot change a person’s Legend: By winning an opposed roll words around or omit a portion of a of her Mien versus a man’s Spirit, she dialogue; he can only either allow it or can make a single, powerful suggestion not—and the choice must be made that is nearly irresistible. Short of before the person speaks. outright suicide, the target does nearly anything she suggests. Extremely Loco 5 complex instructions might be misconstrued, so it’s probably a good Voodooists possessed by Loco display his customary cautiousness. They gain the cautious Hindrance for the duration of the possession. Additionally, Loco 102 Posse prefers to heal wounds, not cause them, so a voodooist filled with his presence becomes a 3 point pacifist. White: The voodooist can pass through uncultivated areas without leaving any trail. Plain and simple, the Voodoo 103 hero is untrackable—even by a Texas Ranger with a pack of Tennessee Blue bloodhounds. This effect lasts for 10 minutes per level of the voodooist’s especially if there are other things to faith: Voodoo Aptitude. keep his attention—like a good fight! Red: By spending a red Fate Chip, White: The chual gains a +2 bonus the hero is able to heal a single wound to all rolls in a single bow, fightin’, or level on herself or a comrade. Doing so shootin’ concentration for the duration requires the mounted voodooist to treat of the spell. This bonus applies even if the wound for about 1 minute, but at the chual is using an Aptitude by the end of that period, the wound is default. reduced by 1 level—no roll required. This Red: The hero gains Armor 3 versus works on any level of wound up to fire and fire-based attacks for the Critical. duration of the spell. During this period, This ability may be used as many he’s also immune to the effects of times a day as desired (as long as the smoke inhalation. voodooist spends a red Fate Chip each Blue: The chual can ignore two time), but only once per patient. levels of wound modifiers and gains 1 Blue: The chual instantly restores all level of Armor versus all attacks. This her lost Wind and that of a number of effect is cumulative with any Edges or comrades up to her faith: Voodoo level. other abilities. The power lasts for 5 Legend: Loco’s power enables the rounds for every level of the voodooist’s voodooist to use the conjure doctor faith: Voodoo Aptitude. spell to completely heal all wound Legend: As a blue chip, but all the levels up to and including Maimed hero’s Corporeal Traits are raised by limbs on a target (including herself)—no one die types for a duration of one Aptitude roll necessary. It also cures minute for every level of his faith: any normal disease and poison Voodoo Aptitude as well. currently in the patient automatically. This ability can also affect supernatural diseases and poisons, but the voodooist Doin’ That must make an Incredible (11) conjurin’ roll to do so. It has no effect if used on Voodoo someone who’s already kicked the bucket though; the patient must still be alive. Starting Spells Ogu 5 Each voodooist begins with as many voodoo spells as she has levels in the Ogu’s presence in a voodooist is conjurin’ Aptitude. A voodooist with evident by his loud and, uhm, colorful conjurin’ 4, for example, starts with language. For the length of the four spells. These starting spells cost no possession, the voodooist suffers from a extra character points; they’re freebies 2 point habit: foul language Hindrance. to get your character rolling. Also, the warrior loa has never been one to turn down a good battle. The Learning New Spells voodooist under his influence must make a Hard (9) Spirit roll to avoid After character creation, voodooists rushing headlong into any real, or even can buy any of the spells that follow by potential, fight. spending 5 Bounty Points. These spells Finally, Ogu has a fascination with are considered common knowledge fire. Chuals frequently douse among practitioners of Voodoo; even if themselves with rum and light it while she doesn’t know them, your voodooist under his influence; however, he has seen and heard enough about them usually controls this minor pyromania— to work out the details for herself. To learn other spells, a voodooist using a conjure bag (see below) once it’s must seek out a teacher. This can be been prepared is fairly subtle. Most folks tough in areas outside of the West won’t have any idea something’s amiss. Indies or southern Louisiana—Voodoo just isn’t that widespread! Hallowed Ground Once she’s found a teacher, she has to spend a week studying. At the end Voodoo spells work best when of this time, she spends 5 Bounty they’re cast on the consecrated ground Points and she’s learned the new spell. of a humfor or at a shrine. There, the voodooist has an easier time making Casting Voodoo the connection to the loas on the Hunting Ground. Spells As long as the spell is cast in a humfor or a shrine, the voodooist gets To cast a spell, the voodooist simply a +4 bonus to his conjurin’ roll! That’s has to roll her conjurin’ Aptitude using why most conjure doctors set up a the appropriate associated Trait and shrine in their place of business. make the TN for the spell. If that sounds too easy, don’t worry, there are Ingredients a few other considerations. Unlike the hexes of hucksters or Most spells also require some pretty blessed miracles, voodoo spells usually odd components and/or monetary require fairly complicated rituals and outlay. Without these, the spell simply preparation. It takes effort to set up for a won’t work, no matter what the TN. proper gris-gris after all. Each spell gives a description of what, Anyone observing a voodooist casting if any, special ingredients are needed. a spell knows something is up—the In some, the necessary ingredients rituals are pretty darn obvious. However, are common enough that they can be purchased or found with a scroungin’ roll; however, others need an object, hair, or similar items belonging to the Conjure Bags intended target. Those items a voodooist has to acquire through guile, theft, or other means.

Throughout the spell descriptions, you’ll see us talk about conjure bags. Depending Final Steps on the locale, conjure bags may also be Even once the spell’s been called gris-gris bags, mojo bags, or any successfully cast, the voodooist might number of other names. Regardless of still have to do a little work to get it to the name, the function of the items is the take effect. For example, some spells same. require an item be hidden near the A conjure bag is a small pouch, often target to be effective or a conjure bag made of felt, no larger than the palm of be carried by the spell recipient. If that’s the hand. Occasionally, small bottles may the case, we tell you in the spell’s also serve as conjure “bags.” description. A voodooist uses a conjure bag to contain the various items required to Going Bust make a chosen spell work. If the bag is destroyed or its contents emptied, the Whenever a voodooist goes bust on effect of the spell automatically ends. her spell casting roll, a petro loa has A hero can determine the function of a managed to get its hands into the mix. conjure bag by emptying it and making an The spell ends up backfiring and has Onerous (7) conjurin’ roll based on his exactly the opposite of the desired Knowledge Trait,. effect. We’re leaving the details up to the Marshal to decide on a case-by-case basis, but just remember, it’s never pleasant! Building a Shrine

Since there’s such an advantage to casting a spell at a shrine or humfor, most voodooists build small shrines at which to practice their magic. A shrine is a small, consecrated altar to the voodooist’s patron loa. It needn’t be large—most are built in one corner of a small room; however, the rituals necessary to consecrate it are somewhat time consuming. The voodooist must spend a day preparing the area for use with rituals and offerings. The preparation of a shrine requires the voodooist make offerings worth at least $10. Alternately, a few hours and a Hard (9) scroungin’ roll can also provide the necessary items. At the end of a full day, she must make a Hard (9) faith: voodoo roll. If she’s successful, the shrine becomes consecrated, otherwise, he has to repeat the process until he makes the TN. The drawback to a shrine is a voodooist can only use a shrine consecrated to his patron loa. Other shrines are useless to him for spell purposes. A voodooist may only have a single shrine at a time. Building another removes the consecration of the successful, the humfor is consecrated, previous one. but if she fails, she has to start the rituals all over again. Building a Humfor Unlike a shrine, the humfor is Humfors are a bit tougher to consecrated for all loas. Any voodooist consecrate. They’re also much larger can use a humfor to cast spells and conspicuous—and with all the regardless of her patron loa. weird things going on lately, most folks look on voodoo as the work of the Spell Devil. So, what we’re saying is don’t go Descriptions building a humfor in the local saloon unless you’re fond of dancing on the Now that we’ve told you the basics of end of a rope! voodoo, we’ve got a whole mojo bag Building the humfor itself is a full of spells for your voodooist to learn. serious task. Even with the assistance Spells have five entries: Trait, TN, of a full congregation, this takes a Speed, Duration, and Range. minimum of 2d4 weeks and an outlay Trait is the Trait used to cast the of $100. There is no scroungin’ for a spell. Unlike normal Aptitudes, spells humfor! are tied to a specific Trait. Also, you Afterwards, it must be cleansed and can’t make a default roll for a spell consecrated just like a shrine; however, Aptitude. Either you know the spell or the process is much more complex and you don’t—no guessing! lengthy. The voodooist must spend a TN is the Target Number for the week performing the rituals and spell. These vary from spell to spell and offerings before attempting an some spells may have more than one Incredible (11) faith: voodoo roll. If TN for different effects. If that’s the case, we’ll tell you about it in the rotgut—and the bag must contain some description. form of graveyard dirt. The whiskey is Speed tells you how long the spell consumed regardless of whether or not takes to cast. Most of these are listed in the spell is successful. minutes or hours, but a very few take The scroungin’ TN for these less time. Certain spells let your ingredients is usually Onerous (7) for voodooist prepare powders or other the whiskey—the good stuff is hard to items for later use. These are detailed come by!—and Fair (5) for the graveyard in the appropriate spells’ descriptions. dirt. The Marshal may modify these Duration is the length of time the numbers depending on where your spell stays in effect. “Concentration” voodooist is when she goes hunting means the voodooist must actively them, though. concentrate on the spell and can only Once successfully cast, the voodooist take simple actions while maintaining must keep the conjure bag on her it. Because close ties with the loas help person for the spell tobe effective. maintain the magic’s potency, many Should the bag ever leave her spells’ durations are tied to the caster’s possession, the spell automatically faith: Voodoo Aptitude. Some spells ends. Otherwise, it lasts for 1 week per allow your voodooist to create conjure level of her faith: Voodoo Aptitude. bags that last until they are used; if While the spell is in effect, when that’s the case, we’ll note it in the drawing cards to determine if she description of the spell itself. returns from the dead as a Harrowed, Range is the distance at which the she draws an extra card for every level spell can take effect. Many voodoo she has in conjurin’. For each raise she spells enchant either a specific item or gets on her conjurin’ roll to cast the bundle of ingredients (called a conjure spell, she draws an additional card. bag). Sometimes the item must kept on the voodooist’s person, but other items Bad Ju-Ju may need to be placed elsewhere. Since the voodooist must assemble and Trait: Spirit enchant the item, the range entry for TN: 7 this type of spell is always listed as Speed: 1 hour Touch. However, the spell details the Duration: 1 day/faith: Voodoo level range of the item’s effects once created. Range: 5 yards/conjurin’ level Voodoo magic works best when the Baron Samedi’s Pact conjure doctor knows exactly who and what he’s trying to affect. However, the Trait: Spirit world being what it is, you can’t always TN: 11 know what’s around the next bend. Bad Speed: 4 hours ju-ju is a spell with broad applications Duration: 1 week/faith: Voodoo level for those nasty little surprises. Range: Touch The voodooist constructs a conjure When it’s time to cash your chips, it’s bag using $10 worth of ingredients—or, always nice to be on good terms with alternately, finds them with a Fair (5) the banker. This spell lets the voodooist scroungin’ roll. This takes the time build up a little good favor with the lord listed above. Once it’s done, the of the dead, Baron Samedi. voodooist has a handy little fail-safe In order to cast this spell, the gris-gris. voodooist creates a small conjure bag Bad ju-ju gives a single target within while making sacrifices to appease the range a -1 to a single Trait or Aptitude Baron. The sacrifice consists of a bottle roll for every success and raise the of whiskey—the ‘good stuff’, not voodooist got while making the conjure bag. He can even wait to see if his victim makes the roll before using the bag! 106 Posse To use it, he must make a vamoose (i.e., spend his highest Action card or the card up his sleeve) and tell the Marshal which roll he’s affecting, but that’s it. Although he can take no other action during this vamoose, the spell Voodoo 107 requires no further roll to be effective. If he’s out of Action cards, he can’t use bad mojo. While he must roll conjurin’ Also, the continuing damage receives separately for each such bag he wants no bonus dice for hit location after the to create, a voodooist can have as many initial damage is dealt; only the weapon’s bad ju-ju bags prepared as he has levels original dice of damage are considered. in conjurin’. However, he can only use While it certainly could be used on one bad ju-ju bag at a time on a victim. another weapon, the spell is only No double ju-ju! effective as long as the item remains in No one but the voodooist who casts the wound. A knife, spear, or other the spell can make use of one of these weapon is likely to be quickly and bags. The conjure bag lasts until used easily removed by the victim. or a maximum of 1 day for each of his Very large or damaging projectiles faith: Voodoo levels. usually pass completely through the body, but this varies according to the Bite of Arignee target’s Size. The Marshal has the final say, but, in general, weapons with a die Trait: Smarts type of greater than d10 don’t remain in TN: 11 human-sized victims. Speed: 1 hour The weapon remains enchanted until Duration: Special used (successfully or not) or the next Range: Touch sunrise, whichever comes first. Guédé-z-Arignee, a spider-like loa, is one of the lesser known member of Lafayette, with conjurin’ 4, Baron Samedi’s extended family. As enchants a bullet for his such, he’s seldom called for a Peacemaker with bite of Arignee. possession; most folks are just Later that night, he plugs a downright disturbed by this inhuman cultist with it. He hits the poor loa; however, he can be a powerful ally. sod in the gizzards and does an This spell enchants a bullet, arrow, or extra 1d8 on the initial hit for a similar weapon to cause continuing total of 5d8 damage. Since he pain when left in a wound—even more receives no bonus dice for the hit than usual. The voodooist must smear location on subsequent damage, the weapon with melted sugar candy (a the next round, the bullet does favorite offering of Arignee) and 3d8 damage to his opponent’s inscribe the loa’s vé-vé (or symbol) in guts. On the second round, it the candy coating. That means this does 2d8, and only 1d8 on each of spell doesn’t work on shotgun pellets! the last two rounds of the spell. The bullet or other projectile causes damage on a number of successive Bitter Tongue rounds equal to the voodooist’s conjurin’ level. At the beginning of each Trait: Smarts round following the initial wound, it TN: 9 causes one die less damage than its Speed: 1 hour normal amount until it reaches a single Duration: 1 day/faith: Voodoo level die. At that point, it deals one die for Range: Touch the remainder of the spell’s effect. With this spell lets a voodooist When used with weapons that are creates a conjure bag that puts a curse based in part on the wielder’s Strength on the victim that sours his words and Trait, like a bow and arrow, the spell makes his smoothest speech sound only affects the bonus dice rolled for the like 5 miles of bad road. Just like with weapon. The Strength portion is not beneficial conjure bags, a bitter tongue considered for the purposes of bite of mojo bag is tailored to a specific person Arignee. and is useless against anyone else. Unless the target is the town idiot, shaking, everyone’s heard the one he’s probably not going to volunteer to about gift horses and looking in their carry the bitter tongue conjure bag. The mouths. voodooist must place it in the victim’s The treasure has a value equal to home or living quarters. For those folks $1d10 for every success and raise he who don’t have a spread to call their gets when casting the spell, plus $1 for own, the bag has tobe secreted in their every level the voodooist has in the belongings to work. If the bag is conjurin’ Aptitude. removed from its hiding place, the curse Whether or not it’s actually money or is lifted. some other item of value is up to the The conjure bag gives the victim a Marshal. The caster has only a general negative modifier to all Mien based rolls idea of what type of valuables he’ll made equal to the caster’s conjurin’ find, but he does know once he sees level. For example, a bag prepared by a them. The voodooist knows the location voodooist with conjurin’ 3 provides its of the treasure and the valuables are owner with a -3 bonus to all the always within a single day’s journey of victim’s Mien rolls. the voodooist. The bag must contain some small A treasure located in this manner personal belonging of the intended never belongs to anyone. However, there victim that is related to social may be a few obstacles for the voodooist interactions. Good examples of such are to overcome before he can claim his a comb, a razor, aftershave or perfume, prize. Legends always warn of ghostly or an earring. guardians watching buried treasure! Unless the target is having a Attempts to use this spell more than rummage sale, it’s not too likely a once in a single week automatically fail. voodooist is going to be able to buy one of those or obtain it through scroungin’. Cemetery Gates A victim can only suffer from the effect of a single bitter tongue conjure Trait: Spirit bag at a time. After the first, any others TN: 9 are ineffective. Speed: 5 minutes Duration: Until the next sunrise Buried Treasure Range: Touch Lately, it seems a lot of folks have Trait: Cognition been sneaking out of Boot Hill—folks TN: 9 that ought to have stayed put, if you get Speed: 4 hours our drift. With this spell, a voodooist Duration: Special calls on Baron Samedi’s influence to Range: Self protect a portal against trespassing One thing about practitioners of zombies. Voodoo, they’ve got a firm grasp on Cemetery gates makes an opening what’s important. This spell is a prime impassable to the undead. The spell example of that understanding. With must be cast on a door, window, or the assistance of the loas, voodooists other opening. It can’t be cast on open have a talent for rooting out ‘found’ ground or even a hallway—it only works money. on a portal of some sort. When successfully cast, the spell For the duration of the spell, all leads the voodooist to a lost or hidden forms of the undead—including ghosts, treasure worth an amount of money. Harrowed, and nosferatu—are unable to Very seldom does this spell turn up a pass through the opening. Other chest of pirate gold or a lost ghost rock abominations find the barrier mine. But, while the value isn’t earth- unpleasant and are stopped by it for a single round. At the end of that time, the creature can pass freely through it. Each casting of the spell affects a 108 Posse single portal or opening. Remember, a zombie stopped at the door can still climb through the window! Charm o’ Success an area up to 30’ x 30’. Once used in this fashion, the dust is effective for 1 Trait: Smarts hour per spell level. TN: 11 All characters inside the affected Speed: 4 hours area, with the exception of the caster, Duration: 1 week/faith: Voodoo level suffer a –1 modifier to all Cognition Range: Touch based Trait and Aptitude rolls per level With this spell, the voodooist creates of the voodooist’s conjurin’ Aptitude. a conjure bag that provides its owner Only the voodooist who created the with a supernatural edge in business. dust can use it. Each packet keeps its As with all conjure bags, each is potency until used or for 1 day per level tailored to a specific person and is of the voodooist’s faith: Voodoo, useless to anyone else. whichever comes first. As long as the conjure bag is with its owner, he gains a bonus to all rolls made in a specific trade or professional Coax Aptitude. The bonus provided by the Trait: Smarts bag is equal to the voodooist’s level in TN: 1 conjurin’. A bag prepared by a voodooist Speed: 2 hours with conjurin’ 3 provides its owner Duration: 1 day/faith: Voodoo level with a +3 bonus to the chosen Range: Touch Aptitude. Coax provides a person a The trade or professional Aptitude to supernatural ability to influence be affected is chosen at the time of the another individual. While this spell uses bag’s creation and can’t be changed. conjure bags like many other voodoo The contents of the bag must contain spells, it actually requires two such items related to the profession or trade bags—one for the spell recipient and selected; for example, a tailor’s bag one for the target of the spell’s effect. would contain, among other items, a As usual, each bag is tailored to a needle and thread, while a blacksmiths specific person and has no benefit or might hold horseshoe nails. effect if given to another person. While the exact item is going to vary The person seeking to gain the according to the target’s profession, in persuasion bonus must carry her general the ingredients are so simple to conjure bag at all times. The voodooist obtain as to not require the voodooist to must hide the other conjure bag in the spend any money or even effort on home of the person to be influenced. If scroungin’. the victim’s bag is removed from its A person may benefit from a single hiding place or the recipient’s bag lost, success conjure bag at a time. Others, the spell immediately ends. even for other Aptitudes, are useless. The conjure bag gives the recipient a positive modifier to all persuasion rolls Cloud the Mind made against the victim. The bonus is equal to the voodooist’s level in conjurin’. Trait: Knowledge The bag for the recipient of the spell’s TN: 9 bonus must contain some small personal Speed: 1 hour belonging of the intended victim. The Duration: 1 hour/faith: Voodoo level victim’s bag must contain an item Range: Touch owned by the spell recipient in a ball of This spell creates a packet of powder melted wax. The items must be related that confounds and confuses folks’ to social interaction in some way. thinking. People in an area affected by Examples of such items can be found in this magic just aren’t as mentally aware the description for bitter tongue. as normal. The voodooist may cast the spell for To be effective the powder must be her own benefit or for someone else. A spread over an area no greater than 10’ voodooist may have no more active square per level of the voodooist’s coax spells at a time than her level in conjurin’ Aptitude; for example, a conjurin’, regardless of the recipient or voodooist with conjurin’ 3 could affect target. The location for curing a disease is normally the guts, although certain ones may affect other areas of the body. Check with the Marshal for details. The voodooist can only cast conjure doctor once a day for every level he has in conjurin’. Unsuccessful castings do count against this daily limit. Unlike many other kinds of spellslingers, a voodooist can heal himself with this spell. This spell has no effect on abominations or Harrowed characters. Conjure Doctor

Wound Level TN Light 7 Heavy 9 Serious 11 Critical/Normal Disease 13

Curse of Failure

Trait: Smarts TN: 11 Speed: 4 hours Duration: 1 week/faith: Voodoo level Range: Touch Multiple castings for the same With this spell, the voodooist creates recipient and same target are not a conjure bag that puts a curse of cumulative. failure on a victim’s business. Just like with beneficial conjure bags, a curse of Conjure Doctor failure gris-gris is tailored to a specific person and is harmless to anyone else. Trait: Smarts This bag uses ingredients similar to TN: Special those for charm o’ success, except the Speed: 30 minutes related items must be damaged in some Duration: Instant way—nails bent, needles dulled, etc. Range: Touch It’s not too likely the target is going to A voodooist with this spell can heal agree to carry a cursed bag around with wounds or cure a normal disease. him, so the voodooist must place it in Supernatural diseases cannot be the victim’s place of business. For those affected by this spell. folks without a set place of business, it Each casting of the spell affects a must be placed in their home. If the bag single hit location. The voodooist must is removed, the curse is lifted. make a conjurin’ spell roll against the The conjure bag gives the victim a TN for the wound level in the location to negative modifier to all rolls made in a be affected. If he succeeds, all wounds in specific trade or professional Aptitude. that location are completely healed. The modifier suffered by the victim is equal to the voodooist’s conjurin’ level. For example, a bag prepared by a voodooist with conjurin’ 5 provides its 110 Posse owner with a -5 bonus to the chosen Aptitude. The trade or professional Aptitude to be affected is chosen at the time of the bag’s creation and can’t be changed. Voodoo 111 The contents of the bag must contain damaged items related to the profession or trade to be affected. A victim can only suffer from the A voodooist can only create as many effect of a single curse of failure conjure derange conjure bags at any given time bag at a time. After the first, any as he has levels in conjurin’. others, even for other Aptitudes, are useless. Dream Send Derange Trait: Cognition TN: 9 Trait: Smarts Speed: 1 hour TN: 5 Duration: 1 message Speed: 6 hours Range: 20 miles/conjurin’ level Duration: 1 day/faith:Voodoo level The loa often communicate with the Range: Touch faithful via dreams. With the aid of While voodooists are usually pretty their patron loa, a few voodooists are used to having a loa jump into their able to use a similar ability. head for a little while, most other folks Dream send allows the voodooist to aren’t. This curse takes advantage of send a short message to another that fact. person. The image of the voodooist With derange, the voodooist crafts a actually seems to appear in the target’s conjure bag that causes anyone in dream and speak to him. possession of it to suffer the negative The message is very brief—no more effects of a loa’s possession. In game than 1 word per level of the voodooist’s terms, that means the victim picks up a conjurin’ Aptitude. The spell doesn’t mental Hindrance of some sort, like big allow two-way communication. britches, randy, mean as a rattler, and so The voodooist doesn’t actually appear forth. in the dream, only her image does. In Since there are more loas out there fact, she has no way of knowing the than ticks on a hound, the voodooist message was even received—but since can choose virtually any Hindrance of only death and very powerful magic this sort he wants. The only stipulation can prevent it, it’s usually a safe bet. is that it must be mental in nature; The spell can only be attempted once when in doubt about this, ask your per target per night. The target doesn’t Marshal for his ruling. By the way, grim need to be asleep at the time the spell servant o’ death isn’t a mental is cast, the magic will delay until he Hindrance; it’s something much worse. eventually does bed down. The voodooist can give the target any If the voodooist has an item Hindrance with a point value equal to or belonging to the target or knows him less than 1 point for each success and personally, she receives a +2 on her raise he receives when crafting the bag. casting roll. So, for example, a voodooist who rolls a 13 on his conjurin’ roll to make the Eye o’ the Beholder charm can select any 1 or 2-point Hindrance; however, the voodooist may Trait: Cognition only select a single Hindrance; he can’t TN: 11 split the points among multiple ones. Speed: 5 minutes Like bitter tongue, the catch to this Duration: 1 round little magic is that the bag must be Range: 3 feet placed on the victim’s person—or at Everyone’s heard the old adage about least his place of residence. See that beauty and the eye of the beholder. spell for further details on exactly Well, by working her spells the right where it’s acceptable and where it’s not way, a voodooist can find a whole lot to hide one of these conjure bags. more in an eye than just good looks. Note that the voodooist doesn’t know that the house is the third one on Sycamore Street in Virginia City, but she should pick up enough clues to point her in the right direction. And, once she, or anyone to whom she’s described the vision, sees the actual site, they recognize it for the spot identified by eye o’ the beholder. Foretellin’

Trait: Cognition TN: 9 Speed: 15 minutes Duration: Until the next sunset Range: 3 feet Some folks say the gift of foresight is as much a blessing as it is a curse. That may be true, particularly if a cowpoke can’t do much about the future except hold on and ride it out. However, a skilled voodooist can sometimes call on favors from the loa to get Fate to swing a fellow’s way. A voodooist can do foretellin’ on herself as well as others.; however, she can only cast the spell on a willing subject. Now, there’s a whole heap of ways voodooists go about seeing the future— To cast the spell, the voodooist must some use tarot cards, some read tea look into the eye of another person. leaves, and others use an odd collection Yes, that does mean she can’t cast the of bones. Regardless of the effect, the spell by herself—and in case you’re foretellin’ spell is always resolved as wondering, no mirrors either. follows. As she casts the spell, the other The voodooist rolls her conjurin’ person concentrates on someone they Aptitude against the spell’s TN (9). If wish to locate. If he has a personal successful, she draws one card from belonging of the desired individual to the top of a deck of cards, plus one help him focus his thoughts, the card for every raise. After she’s drawn voodooist gets a +4 on her conjurin’ roll. her cards, she chooses one—unless she If she’s successful, she catches a draws a black Joker. Black Jokers are glimpse of the target’s whereabouts— automatically chosen—the voodooist has say, an exterior view of a house, a no say in the matter. natural landmark, or other similar Until the next sunset, the person for image that can help locate the person. whom she did the foretellin’ receives She doesn’t actually see the individual the modifier listed on the table below. in question, only his location. Red cards foretell good fortune for the Each raise she gets on the roll gives recipient, while black cards speak of her a larger-scale view of the location, danger and trials. The value of the card helping to further pinpoint it. determines the amount of good fortune or difficulty. Only one foretellin’ can be performed for any person each day. This 112 Posse stipulation applies whether or not the spell was successful. Sometimes, the loas like to hold onto their secrets. Foretellin’ Voodoo 113

Card Effect 2-10 Red/Black: Neutral reading. No effect. Second, the voodooist’s level in Face Red: Mild success. The hero conjurin’ directly subtracts from any gains a +1 to all Aptitude damage done by a spell or hex. Against rolls for the next day. spells that cause only Wind, it subtracts Black: Difficulties ahead. The from the Wind instead. This is in hero gets a –1 to all Aptitude addition to the first effect, so a rolls for the next day. damaging spell directed at the owner of Ace Red: Moderate success the gad suffers both penalties. foretold. The hero gains a The gad is effective against hexes, +2 bonus to all Aptitude black magic, and voodoo spells. It rolls for the following day. provides no protection against favors or Black: Moderate trials in the miracles. near future. The hero The voodooist can only create as suffers a -2 penalty to all many gads as she has levels in Aptitude rolls for the next conjurin’. Each gad is tailored to its day. owner and no one else gains any Joker Red: Loa’s boon! The hero benefit from it. gains a the bonus listed for a red Ace above, plus Malison a draw from the Fate Trait: Spirit pot. The chip must be TN: Opposed spent in the next day. It Speed: 1 can’t be used for Bounty. Duration: Instant Black: Loa’s curse! The Range: 5 feet/conjurin’ level hero suffers a penalty as With this spell, the voodooist can put for a black Ace, and must the “whammy” or “evil eye” on a person. sacrifice his lowest Fate Most voodoo spells are fairly complex Chip back to the pot. affairs carefully shaping power granted Gad by the loa. This isn’t one of those. It’s just about the only quick-and-dirty spell Trait: Smarts available to the voodooist at the spur of TN: 11 the moment. Speed: 4 hours With this spell, the voodooist Duration: 1 day/faith: Voodoo level unleashes a very minor curse at her Range: Touch victim. There’s not a lot of finesse to This spell creates a conjure bag that malison, and its only effect is to provides the owner with a potent temporarily stun the target—but protection against magical attacks. sometimes that’s all a hero needs. In order to be effective, the owner To cast the spell, the voodooist must must keep the conjure bag with her at be able to see her target while she all times—it doesn’t do any good sitting casts a short verbal ritual. Then she home on the nightstand! makes an opposed roll of her conjurin’ The gad protects the owner against Aptitude versus her victim’s Spirit Trait. evil mojo in a couple of ways. If she’s successful, her target is First, any caster of a spell or hex stunned, just as if he’d failed a stun targeting the owner of a gad conjure check from a wound. He can attempt to bag receives a negative modifier to his recover on each of his Actions by spell roll equal to the voodooist’s making a Vigor roll against a Fair (5) conjurin’ level. This also applies to any TN. The TN is increased by +2 for each opposed rolls resulting from the spell or raise the voodooist received over her hex effects. victim’s total. If she fails, the spell simply fizzles. A successful casting of this spell However, if she goes bust, she is makes a single packet of poison stunned and must roll her Vigor powder. Each packet contains just against an Onerous (7) TN to recover. enough poison to effect a single person. Malison is very taxing on the The poison does 1d6 damage to the voodooist and costs her 1d4 Wind each victim’s guts for every level the time she casts the spell. If she loses voodooist has in conjurin’. This damage consciousness, the spell fails. is considered to be magical in nature. However, in order to be effective, the Ogu’s Aura victim must breathe the powder—it has no effect if its eaten or injected. Trait: Smarts Obviously, targets that don’t breathe, TN: 11 like Harrowed, are completely immune. Speed: 4 hours The most common method used to Duration: 1 day/faith: Voodoo level deliver the powder is for the user to Range: Touch simply blow it into the victim’s face. With this spell, the voodooist creates This requires the user to be within five a conjure bag that provides its owner feet of the target and make a Fair (5) with magical protection against harm. Nimbleness roll. If she’s successful, the For Ogu’s aura to be effective, the victim gets a snout full of the poison spell recipient must carry the conjure and takes the damage. bag at all times. Should she lose it, the Most folks are caught completely off- spell immediately ends. As with all guard by a puff of deadly dust and get conjure bags, the magic is tuned to one a good breath of it before they realize person and simply doesn’t work for the danger. Even if they hold their someone else. breath, the powder is still in their The owner of the conjure bag gains nostrils when they do inhale; however, limited defense against physical someone wearing a diving suit or damage. The magic serves as light similar sealed breathing device is armor equal to the voodooist’s conjurin’ unaffected by the powder. level. So, for example, an Ogu’s aura bag Otherwise, armor—including magical prepared by a voodooist with conjurin’ 4 armor and Ogu’s aura—is completely works as light armor -4. useless against poison powder. The spell does not provide any If she fails, the powder disperses protection against magical weapons, before it gets to her target and has no effects, or spells. These do full normal effect. Finally, if she goes bust on the damage. Nimbleness roll, she inhales when she At any given time, a voodooist can should have exhaled and takes the only have as many Ogu’s aura conjure damage herself! bags prepared as he has conjurin’ levels. Only the voodooist can use the packets and she can have no more Poison Powder packets prepared than her conjurin’ level at any one time. The poison Trait: Knowledge remains effective for 1 day per level of TN: 9 the creator’s faith: Voodoo Aptitude. Speed: 2 hours Duration: Instant Pool o’ Doom Range: Touch (Special) Using this spell, the voodooist can Trait: Knowledge create small packets of poison dust. TN: Opposed The poison can be quite deadly when Speed: 4 hours inhaled, so it’s nothing to sneeze at! Duration: 1 hour/faith: Voodoo level Range: 2 miles/conjurin’ level Voodooists have a nasty reputation for casting malicious spells on folks 114 Posse when they’re least expecting it. Pool o’ doom doesn’t help those rumors one bit! This spell lets a voodooist turn a pool of water into a poisonous, acidic liquid moments before his target takes a sip Voodoo 115 from it or even just washes up. To cast it, the voodooist must have a knife, a bucket of water, and ingredients worth $50 dollars. If he’s the stingy sort, each successful Poultice scroungin’ roll against an Incredible (11) Trait: Knowledge TN gathers $25 worth of ingredients. He TN: 11 also needs at least a thimbleful of his Speed: 2 hours intended victim’s blood. Exactly how he Duration: Special gets that is up to him... Range: Touch He then mixes the ingredients into This is one handy spell to have the bucket as he casts the spell but he around if your hero is planning on doesn’t roll his conjurin’ Aptitude yet. getting into a lot of gunfights—or any Once he’s finished, he must then watch other type of fight for that matter! It the reflection on the surface of the creates a quick-and-dirty healing water. Or, rather, the lack of one. For poultice that anyone can use. the duration of the spell, the water The voodooist must assemble $10 shows a reflection only if the target worth of ingredients (or round them up approaches a pool, bucket, bowl, or with a Fair (5) scroungin’ roll). Then, he even glass of water within range of the spends a couple of hours performing the voodooist. If she does, her reflection necessary rituals over them and putting appears on the surface of the them together into a bound packet. voodooist’s bucket. A canteen or shot glass has too small a surface for the spell to be effective, by the way. As soon as it does, the voodooist must stab it with his knife. At this point, he rolls an opposed contest of his conjurin’ (Knowledge) Aptitude versus her Spirit Trait. If he wins, the water turns to a deadly burning acid as it contacts her body, whether as a drink or just to wash up. If he fails, she gets a cool refreshing drink of water. Either way, she doesn’t know a spell has been cast. If the victim touches poisoned water, she takes 1d10 damage plus another 1d10 for every raise the voodooist received on the opposed roll to any hit location that comes in contact with it; if she’s drinking it, that’s straight to the guts! On following rounds, the damage continues, but reduces by one die type each round. So, on the second round, it does d8s, then d6s, and finally d4s damage. Once it drops below d4s, the poison has run its course. As soon as the poison stops causing damage, it becomes normal water again—thus making an undetectable poison! The poisonous liquid only affects the victim; another person can drink from it at the same time with no ill effects. To use the poultice, a cowpoke need before, finds them with a Fair (5) merely apply it directly to a wounded scroungin’ roll. He makes his conjurin’ hit location and let it sit for 5 minutes. roll and takes the time listed above. At the end of that time, the wound is Once it’s done, the voodooist has a healed as though a doctor with the pocket-sized friend-in-need.. medicine: general Aptitude had treated it The conjure bag gives a single successfully. target—including himself—within range In other words, if the wound is a a +1 to a single Trait or Aptitude roll for Light or Heavy one, it is reduced one every success and raise the voodooist level; however, unlike “modern” got while casting the spell. And, like medicine, there is no time requirement bad ju-ju, he can wait until after the on how quickly the poultice must be target gets her total before chipping in applied; it works hours or even days with his own boost. after the injury. To use it, he must make a Vamoose It can even work in conjunction with and let the Marshal know which roll a real doctor’s medicine Aptitude, he’s affecting. He can’t take any other allowing a double whammy on the action during this Vamoose, but the no injury! Of course, the doctor must tend roll is needed at this point. If he’s out of to the wound within an hour after the Action cards, he can’t use bad mojo. initial injury as usual. Only the voodooist who made the bag Unfortunately, poultice can’t help can use it, by the way. wounds of Serious or greater levels; Once again, like bad ju-ju, he must however, if a wound of Serious or roll conjurin’ separately for each such higher level is reduced to Heavy or bag he wants to create and he can lower levels by either good, old have as many bad mojo bags prepared fashioned sawbones or another magic, as he has levels in conjurin’. However, poultice can then be applied with he can only use one powerful mojo bag normal effect. on any single roll. The poultice packet retains its The conjure bag lasts until used or a potency until used or for a number of maximum of 1 day for each of his faith: days equal to his faith: Voodoo score, Voodoo levels. whichever comes first. A voodooist can have no more Red-Handed poultices prepared at any one time than he has levels in conjurin’, although he Trait: Cognition can sell or give these to other folks or TN: 9 keep them himself. Speed: 1 hour Duration: 1 hour/faith: Voodoo level Powerful Mojo Range: 1 mile/conjurin’ level This spell is a good reason for Trait: Spirit burglars and thieves to stay on a TN: 7 voodooist’s good side. With it, the Speed: 1 hour voodooist can track down stolen items, Duration: 1 day/faith: Voodoo level and sometimes even identify the thief! Range: Touch Fortunately for the criminal element, This spell is the “good twin” of bad ju- few law dogs rely on voodoo to do their ju. Instead of providing some poor sap investigations. with an unwanted hindrance, it gives a The voodooist must cast the spell at last minute leg-up to a soul in need. the location the item was stolen from. Just as with bad ju-ju, the voodooist This usually means she’s got to be constructs a conjure bag using $10 careful to avoid a lynching for worth of ingredients—or, again as “practicin’ witchcraft!” If she’s successful, red-handed begins guiding her to the item’s location, provided it is within the spell’s range. 116 Posse If she gets a raise on the conjurin’ roll, she can also identify the thief; however, to do so, she must actually touch the stolen item before the end of the spell. Otherwise, the thief’s identity remains unknown to her. Voodoo 117 Before a civic-minded voodooist volunteers her services to the local sheriff, she’d best remember townsfolk forget about petty larceny pretty darn This charm doesn’t directly protect quick when faced with “black magic!” against harm as such, but it does go a long way towards warning the bearer of Revelation Dust dangers ahead. And, like a great warrior once said foreknowledge is half the Trait: Knowledge battle—or something like that, anyway. TN: 9 The spell creates a small conjure bag Speed: 2 hours and requires the voodooist to include Duration: 1 minute/faith: Voodoo level ingredients worth $25. He can also Range: Touch locate the necessary items on a Hard This spell creates a small packet of (9) scroungin’ roll. The recipient of the powder that helps extract the truth and bag must be present during the casting penetrate deceptions. of the spell for the magic to work. To use the dust, the voodooist must As long as the owner keeps the bag sprinkle it over a person. For the in her possession, for each success and duration of the spell, the target must roll raise the voodooist got on his conjurin’ an opposed test of his Spirit vs. the roll to make the bag, she gains a +1 to all voodooist’s conjurin’ any time he’s Cognition rolls to detect traps, ambushes, questioned. If he looses, he must answer or other hidden dangers. That includes truthfully. If he wins, he can choose not surprise rolls, but not necessarily other to answer and with a raise, he can lie. Aptitudes like trackin’, scrutinize, or the In general, one “yes-no” question can like, unless the Marshal rules failing be asked each round; more involved exposes the owner to immediate danger. questions take considerably longer. We Should the owner ever lose recommend handling these exchanges possession of the conjure bag, the with a watch and real time. magic is dispelled. Salango’s charm The dust is also handy for uncovering works only for whom the voodooist disguises, magical or otherwise. When creates it. sprinkled on the target, the voodooist A voodooist may have only a single rolls her conjurin’ Aptitude vs. the Salango’s charm in existence at any target’s disguise or other Aptitude as given time. Further charms dilute the appropriate. If she wins, she can see the loa’s attention and cause all the through the disguise. The Marshal may charms—including the original—fail. roll dice even if the target isn’t disguised, just to keep the hero guessing! Sending o’ the Dead Only the voodooist who created the dust can use it. Each packet keeps its Trait: Spirit potency for 1 day per level of the TN: 13 voodooist’s faith: Voodoo Aptitude. Speed: 8 hours Duration: 1 week/faith: Voodoo level Salango’s Charm Range: 1 mile/conjurin’ level This is a potent curse that touches Trait: Spirit every aspect of the victim’s life. While it TN: 9 doesn’t directly doom the target, many Speed: 6 hours a poor soul has suffered their demise Duration: 1 week/faith: Voodoo level thanks to this spell. Range: Touch When successfully cast, sendin’ o’ the Salango is one loa any voodooist dead plagues the victim with malicious would be well advised to make friends and mischievous ghosts that confound with. Salango’s role is as guardian of all nearly every endeavor. For the duration folks in danger—pretty much business of the spell, the target of the sendin’ as usual for heroes in the Weird West! gains the bad luck Hindrance. In order to cast the spell, the If he succeeds in counting coup voodooist must have in her possession during that period, the conjure bag an item of value belonging to the traps the essence of the abomination; intended victim. The spell is ended if however, should he lose the bag or if the victim recovers the personal item its contents are emptied, he also loses used in the spell’s casting. Also whatever coup power he gained. expended during the casting of the If another hero is also attempting to spell are other costly ingredients and count coup on the same creature, the sacrifices totaling $50 in value. voodooist may roll his conjurin’ Each successful scroungin’ roll Aptitude (based on Spirit) instead of against an Incredible (11) TN gathers $25 merely his Spirit Trait if he wishes, but worth of ingredients. However, the this is optional. If he wants, he can still victim’s possession must be obtained roll his Spirit Trait. through hook or crook—not scroungin’! Finally, a voodooist may not gain Multiple castings of this spell on a more coup powers in this manner than single target have no additional effect. he has levels in conjurin’. Soul Trap Spell Breaker

Trait: Spirit Trait: Spirit TN: 9 TN: Opposed Speed: 4 hours Speed: 15 minutes Duration: Special Duration: Instant Range: Touch Range: 5 feet This ritual allows a voodooist to This handy spell lets a voodooist create a powerful conjure bag capable attempt to dispel the effects of another of stealing the supernatural essence of magician’s sorcery. It only works against powerful abominations. hexes, voodoo, or black magic. It has no When successfully cast, the conjure effect on miracles or favors. bag allows the voodooist to ‘count coup’ To be effective, the voodooist must on certain powerful abominations. He make an opposed test of her spell gains the same benefit as a Harrowed breaker Aptitude vs. the other caster’s would. See page 165 of the Deadlands Aptitude in the spell she’s trying to rulebook for details on counting coup. dispel. If she wins the contest, the When creating the conjure bag, the target spell ends immediately. voodooist must specifically name the If she gets a raise on her opponent, abomination from which he seeks to the spell is warped back onto the steal the essence. For example, “the original caster if possible. He now Hangin’ Judge outside Albuquerque.” suffers the full effects of his own Additionally, if the creature has a magic, just as if he’d cast it on himself. specific weakness, a sample must be Of course, if the spell can’t affect the included in the bag’s contents. A bag to caster, ignore this effect. capture a Hangin’ Judge’s coup would If the voodooist gets 2 raises, in contain, among other things, a bit of a addition to rebounding the spell, the hangman’s rope and a lawman’s badge. caster of the original spell takes 3d6 Once the bag has been filled and the damage to the guts! Even if the spell ritual completed, the voodooist has 1 can’t affect the caster, he still takes the week for each level he has in faith: damage in this case. Voodoo in which to count coup. After On the other hand, if the caster of that time the conjure bag loses its the original spell should get a raise in enchantment and is useless. the opposed contest, the voodooist suffers the effects of the spell as well as the original victim, if possible. And, if her opponent gets two raises, the voodooist gets the previous effect and 118 Posse 3d6 damage to the guts herself. In either case, the original spell is unbroken. Voodoo Doll

Trait: Smarts TN: 13 Voodoo 119 Speed: 8 hours Duration: Special Range: Touch (Special) A voodooist may have only a single This spell creates the single item doll at a time. Only the creator can use most familiar to those uninitiated with the voodoo doll. This spell has no effect voodoo, a voodoo doll. These potent on abominations or Harrowed. charms aren’t as common among practitioners of voodoo as most folks believe—they’re time consuming and Wanga difficult to make; however, in spite of Trait: Smarts the drawbacks, a properly enspelled TN: 11 doll is still a potent weapon. Speed: 6 hours Each doll can only affect a single Duration: 1 day/faith: Voodoo level person who must be chosen by the Range: Touch voodooist at the time of creation. The This spell makes a normal weapon spell requires a small part of the person much more potent for the voodooist. In be included in the doll, usually hair or effect, wanga turns a weapon into a nail clippings. kind of special conjure bag. Additionally, other ingredients and The spell enchants a single weapon, sacrifices totaling $50 must be used providing it with a bonus to all damage during the construction. Each it causes. When using the wanga, the successful scroungin’ roll against an voodooist adds his level in conjurin’ to Incredible (11) TN gathers $25 worth of the damage done. So, for example, a ingredients. And, it goes without saying the hero can’t use scroungin’ to obtain a piece of the target’s body—at least not without a very impressive explanation! Once the doll is made, the voodooist can use it to cause the target terrible pain by twisting, poking, sticking, or otherwise damaging the doll— as long as the person is within 1 mile per level of the voodooist’s conjurin’. To do so, the voodooist must win an opposed roll of his conjurin’ Aptitude versus the target’s Vigor. Using the doll within the confines of a shrine or humfor, grants a +4 bonus to this conjurin’ roll as well! If he’s successful, the victim loses Wind equal to the difference in the rolls, for example, if he got a 15 on his conjurin’ roll, and the target only received a 7 on her Vigor check, she would take 8 Wind from the doll. If the voodooist fails the contest, there is no effect. If he goes bust, the spell is broken and the doll is useless. The voodooist can attempt this sort of attack once for every level he has in conjurin’; however, he can spread these magical assaults out over the duration of the spell; he does not have to make them all at once! Peacemaker under the effect of a voodooist has in his conjurin’ Aptitude wanga spell cast by a voodooist with to all her gamblin’ rolls. It also gives her conjurin’ 5 would do 3d6+5 damage a similar bonus to any Cognition or whenever its creator fired it. Cognition-based roll to catch another The damage inflicted by the weapon gambler cheating in a game she’s does cause Wind to Harrowed or other playing. If she loses possession of the forms of undead, but otherwise is not bag or cheats herself, the magic considered magical in nature. dissipates, leaving her to her own skill. In addition to the weapon to be Multiple bags of this sort are not enchanted, the spell requires an cumulative; in fact, the loas consider additional $20 dollars worth of that a form of cheating with results as ingredients and sacrifices to be above! expended during the casting. A Hard (9) A voodooist may have only as many scroungin’ roll also produces these winnin’ ways conjure bags in existence ingredients. at any time as he has levels in conjurin’. Only the creator gains the benefits of the wanga—in the hands of anyone Zobop’s Fix else, even another voodooist, it has no special abilities. A voodooist may have Trait: Knowledge only a single wanga at a time. TN: Opposed A wanga can be used with bite of Speed: 6 hours Arignee. However, the bonus only Duration: Until the next sunrise applies to the initial damage. Just like Range: 1 mile/conjurin’ level the bonus dice for certain hit locations, The Zobop are a group of evil bokkor damage on subsequent rounds does not prone to hexing others with evil magics receive the extra points. just to show their own powers. Some are even rumored to be cannibals. Winnin’ Ways Honest voodooists have an abiding hatred of these malign sorcerers, but Trait: Smarts often a member of the Zobop is simply TN: 9 too powerful for a conjure doctor to Speed: 6 hours confront. This spell was originally Duration: 1 day/faith: Voodoo level crafted to help even those odds a little. Range: Touch A “fix” is another word for curse in No, the name of this spell isn’t voodoo magic, and although the title talking about the voodooist’s charming says it’s “Zobop’s,” it works equally well personality; instead, it refers to a subject on anyone. Zobop’s fix creates a nearer and dearer to most folks talisman that makes the voodooist’s hearts—money. Or, more specifically, victim more susceptible to the gambling for money. voodooist’s other spells. The voodooist enchants a conjure It requires, like most powerful voodoo bag containing ingredients with a value magics, that the voodooist get his of $15; of course, since money is hands on a piece of his intended precious to most gamblers, he can put victim’s body. It doesn’t have to be them together with an Onerous (7) anything that’s likely to be missed, like scroungin’ roll instead. an arm or a leg; a fingernail or hair He must specify the owner of the clipping is more than sufficient. Once bag at the time of casting—even if it is he’s got that, he sits down and starts himself. The conjure bag works for no his rituals. At the end of the two hour one but the owner. As long as the period, he makes an opposed roll of his owner keeps the bag in her possession, conjurin’ versus his target’s Spirit. it grants her a +1 for each level the If he wins, he gets a +1 modifier to all his conjurin’ rolls to affect the victim. That applies to resisted rolls as well as regular conjurin’ rolls. Furthermore, any 120 Posse spell with a range of greater than touch has double the normal range when cast against the victim. The spell provides no bonus to damage nor does it lower the victim’s own rolls to resist spell effects. Voodoo 121 Only the voodooist can take advantage of this bonus and only as long as he has the enspelled charm in his possession. command it as above. The undead’s Lafayette casts a pool o’ doom original controller can attempt to regain against a target he’s saddled with a control on each of his actions by rolling zobop’s fix. He has conjurin’ 5, so he the contest again. Should the original gets a +5 bonus to the opposed roll controller win, the spell ends and the to see if the spell works and his voodooist must recast zombie master to spell now has a range of 20 miles challenge his control again. instead of the original 10! On the other hand, if the voodooist gets two raises on the initial contest— Zombie Master or any later one—her control is complete until she stops concentrating. Trait: Spirit Language is no barrier to the TN: Opposed voodooist’s control; the undead Speed: 2 understands the intent of her Duration: Concentration commands. However, the zombie or Range: 5 yards/conjurin’ level walkin’ dead must be able to hear—or at Making zombies is the realm of the least see—the voodooist in order for her bokkor, and good—or at least non-evil— to command it. Zombie master conveys voodooists steer clear of the practice. no other special communication However, once a fellow’s back from the abilities beyond those noted above. grave and walking around, there’s no reason he can’t do a favor or two for a friend of Baron Samedi! This spell is one of the few voodoo magics that don’t require a conjure bag or other ingredients to be prepared ahead of time. That is, if you don’t count the walkin’ dead—and somebody else usually takes care of that. All the voodooist needs is a bit of backbone and a good conjurin’ Aptitude. Zombie master lets the caster take temporary control of a walkin’ dead and/or voodoo zombie. It has no effect on Harrowed, ghosts, vampires, or other forms of undead, however, and any voodooist who tries to use it that way is likely in for a terminal case of death! In the case of independent walkin’ dead, the caster rolls a contest of her conjurin’ Aptitude against the corpse’s Spirit. If she wins, she can command it for as long as she concentrates. If she’s facing a voodoo zombie or walkin’ dead created by black magic or similar power, she must roll against the creator’s Spirit instead. Even if she wins, she doesn’t necessarily have full control of the undead. A simple success or a single raise on the roll means she can Martial Artist

Traits & Aptitudes Personality

Deftness 2d6 Do not test me. I merely wish to be Bow 2 left alone. What do you say to me? I do Nimbleness 2d12 not threaten you. I carry no gun. Climbin’ 1 Ah, you say you have heard of me. Fightin’: martial arts (Wing Chun) 4 You know my reputation, and you wish Sneak 2 to fight me? No. It is against the Quickness 4d10 principles I was taught by my sifu. I Strength 4d6 must not fight without cause. Vigor 2d10 In the words of my sifu: Cognition 3d8 “When peace and Search 1 harmony rule—” Knowledge 1d6 Pardon me? Area knowledge 2 You say your Language: kung fu is Cantonese 2 superior? It is Language: not good to English 1 joke with Medicine: me...You say Chinese it is no traditional joke. 2 I am Mien 2d6 sorry my Overawe 2 friend. I Smarts 3d6 wish you Spirit 1d8 no harm, Ch’i 4 but my Guts 2 kung fu is Meditation 2 superior. I’ll Wind 18 give you one Pace 12 last chance Edges to take Arcane backgroud: back your enlightened 3 challenge. Light sleeper 1 Yo u Martial arts training 3 will not? Quick thinker 2 HEEEEYYAAHH! Hindrances Curious -3 Quote: “My kung fu is stronger than Heroic -3 yours!” “My Kung Fu Is Superior” -2 Style Vulnerability: Drunken -1 Special Abilities: Strain 10 Ch’i Powers: Fury fans the flame, gimmick weapon, monkey goes to the mountain, veins of iron Martial arts maneuvers: Disarm, get up, head butt, Lock Gear: Derringer, 25 rounds of ammunition, knife, and $238 in CSA currency. Metal Mage

Traits & Aptitudes Personality

Deftness 1d8 Science? P’shaw. What you call Shootin’: pistol 2 science is really a form of madness. I Sleight o’ hand 2 happen to know that your inspiration Throwin’: balanced 3 comes from dark sources. Nimbleness 2d6 Oh, certainly the seed Climbin’ 1 of the idea began in Sneak 1 your own mind, but it Quickness 4d6 was demons that Strength 1d6 nurtured it. Mad? Of Vigor 3d6 course I’m mad—I Cognition 4d10 consort with the same Scrutinize 2 devils as you. Who Search 2 wouldn’t be insane dealing Knowledge 2d12 with such horrors. The Academia: occult 4 difference is that I Area knowledge 2 understand the origin of Language: English my abilities—and I can 2 tap in to their incredible Science: power in several ways. engineering 2 Science: physics 1 Quote: “Hex or Mien 2d6 infernal device? Both Smarts 3d8 lead to madness.” Bluff 2 Scroungin’ 2 Tinkerin’ 3 Spirit 2d10 Guts 2 Wind 16 Pace 6 Edges Arcane backgroud: huckster 3 Arcane background: mad scientist 3 Hindrances Bad luck -5 Curious -3 Yearnin’ -2 (to combine science and sorcery). Special Abilities: Hexslingin’ 4 Hexes: Devil’s workshop, haywire, infernal machine, scrap storm Mad Science 4 Gear: Double-action Colt Peacemaker, deck of cards, box of bullets, tool kit, steam wagon, and $132. Voodooist

Traits & Aptitudes Personality

Deftness 2d6 No, I ain’t troublin’ nobody unless Shootin’: pistol 2 they go troublin’ me. I don’t do bad Nimbleness 4d6 works like some folks around here Climbin’ 1 who know the mysteries, but turnin’ Sneak 2 evil back on itself ain’t evil. Quickness 3d6 If you’re wantin’ a gris- Strength 1d6 gris on a rival for some Vigor 3d8 young filly’s heart, you go Cognition 1d8 lookin’ elsewhere. But, if Scrutinize 2 you’re wantin’ help at Search 1 some honest work, I’d Knowledge 2d6 be happy to lend you a Academia: occult 3 hand—for a price. Area knowledge 2 Now, from what Language: English 2 you’re tellin’ me, this Medicine: general 2 ain’t no everyday Mien 4d10 problem you’re sufferin’. Performin’: dance 3 No, it sounds like there’s Smarts 2d10 some bad mojo workin’. Bluff 2 Not the worst I’ve seen, Scroungin’ 2 mind you, not by a fair Spirit 2d12 piece. I don’t expect we’ll Faith: Voodoo 4 get to that point either— Guts 2 not unless you start Wind 20 coughin’ up snakes, that Pace 6 is! Edges Take this home with Arcane backgroud: you and sprinkle it Voodooist 3 three times each night Favored chual: under your pillow. That’ll Damballah-Wedo fix you right up. 4 Hindrances Quote: “There’s Enemy -3 (evil conjurin’ work here. I bokkor) know the signs.” Superstitious -2 Stubborn -2 Vengeful -3 Special Abilities: Conjurin’ 4 Voodoo Spells: Conjure doctor, poison powder, powerful mojo, spell breaker Gear: Derringer, 25 rounds of ammunition, knife, and $238 in CSA currency. The Marshal’s Handbook

Chapter Six: Secrets of the Arcane

Shuffling the Marshal, your section in this book is a whole lot shorter than usual. That’s Deck because there’s very little for you to worry about here. Most of the rules and The biggest change to hucksters tables you need are in the Marshal’s from the revised rules is the addition of Handbook rulebook. the hexslingin’ Aptitude. This simplified We chose not to reprint any material much of the character side to the from full-sized sourcebooks like Fire & arcane background, but we’ve got to Brimstone or Ghost Dancers both to apply a little touch-up in a spot or two avoid repeating ourselves and to give us to make the transition from old to new more room for new stuff. books smooth. Still there are a few loose ends in our other arcane-background sourcebooks Losing Hexslingin’ Levels that we’d like to tie up before we close out. And, since those are all for your Losing a level of hexslingin’ does not eyes only, we waited until now to do it. cause a huckster to lose a hex, even We’ve also got a little background though the amount of starting hexes info and behind the scenes information she gets is based on that Aptitude. that’s not for players’ eyes hidden This is merely a game mechanic to here. Finally, we’ve got to give you allow a character to start with enough the goods on what happens to hexes to be enjoyable and to represent those pesky fu-fighters when they that more experienced hucksters have go bust on a ch’i roll. more hexes. After creation, they are no longer tied together. Creating New Hexes possible for him to actually make or beat the TN and still go bust as long as the The full details on how to balance a majority of his dice are 1s. If that’s the new hex a player wants to develop are case, he loses the Strain and 1d6 Wind. in Hucksters & Hexes. We’re not going to rehash that subject here, but we did want to hit one aspect that’s changed The Spirit Ain’t with the new hexslingin’-based Willing! hucksters. For the “trial run” casting of the hex, A couple of quick notes on Ghost Hucksters & Hexes says to have the Dancers and we’re done, Marshal. cardslinger roll the appropriate Trait. First, on pg. 97 of that book under With the addition of the hexslingin’ Sacred Grounds, it makes it sound Aptitude, things got a little easier; now like appeasement points can be she rolls her hexslingin’ based on the quadrupled if a shaman favored by a appropriate Trait. Odds are that’s going particular medicine way practices it in to give her a little bit better chance at the right place. Actually, we meant to success. say appeasement points were tripled not quadrupled in that case. Oops! Backlash Spirit Guide Everywhere the Extended Backlash Table mentions the result affecting a If the shaman wants his spirit guide huckster’s skill level in a hex, instead to take him to the Deadlands, the guide read it as affecting his hexslingin’ takes the Appeasement and then Aptitude instead. refuses, but does give him a +2 to his area knowledge: Hunting Grounds roll. The Gorgon Hunting Grounds Encounters You guessed it, Marshal, the gorgon is actually a particularly nasty We gave you a neat encounter and specimen of the Reckoners’ favorite travel times table for the Hunting errand boy—los Diablos. This one is a Grounds, but we forgot to tell you how little more circumspect about its attack often to roll for encounters! For and is biding its time. journeys up to one day in length, roll So far, Sitgreaves’ hexes actually once; up to a week, roll twice. For further the Reckoners’ designs. A good longer trips, roll once for each week, number of them are designed to kill, plus one additional time. If the cleanse maim, or otherwise cause discomfort. portal favor is used, by the way, Waste product and stabilize are the first subtract 5 from the first encounter roll. steps he’s actually made toward off- setting the downward trend, and the Who Do Voodoo? Reckoners are noticing his research. When the gorgon does finally go for Both types of loas are actually Sitgreaves, he’s going to find his skills inhabitants of the Hunting Grounds. In tested to the utmost. fact, you can think of loa as just another name for “spirit.” Rada loa are Your Kung Fu Is Weak! potent spirits just like those worshipped by the Indians, while petro loa are Going bust on a ch’i roll costs the particularly powerful manitous. martial artist the normal Strain for the If the voodooist goes bust on a power, plus 1d6 Wind for every point his conjurin’ roll, a petro loa (manitou) has highest die missed the TN. Yes, it’s gotten into the mix and fouls the spell. Use your imagination as to the final result, Marshal, but you can’t go wrong if you have the result backfire on the 128 Marshal caster. One important note: When a spell does backfire it always gets the caster, not the intended recipient! Index Derange 109 Judgment of the Sending o’ the dead 115 Devastating ape strike 60 unrighteous 10 Serpent’s embrace 78 A glass darkly 24 Devil’s dance 89 Legba 94,100 Shard 48 Abundance of pecking Devil’s workshop 40 Leopard and her cubs 74 Shocker 49 birds 67 Divine interventions 17 Loas 94-95, 98-101 Show the path 89 Agwe 98 Dog, guardian spirit 85 Loas, calling 97 Shrines, Voodoo 96 Analyze 35 Dragon’s claw 60 Loco 95, 100 Shrines, building 103 Anoint 8 Dream send 109 Mad insight 43 Sleeve card 28 Anxious seat 8 Dream walk 91 Magazine 43 Slithering eel 79 Arcane background: Dust to rust 17 Magic bullet 43 Sliverspray 49 enlightened 60 Earth medicine 87 Magnetize 44 Smoke parts for iron 79 Arcane background: Errata 7-8, 20, 84, 126 Malison 111 Soul trap 116 Voodoo 97 Eye o’ the beholder 109 Maneuvers 63-65 Sparrow’s fall 13 Ashes to ashes 9 Ezeli-Freda-Dahomey 95, Mantis pinch 74 Spell breaker 116 Bad ju-ju 104 100 Many arms of the spider Stabilize 34 Baron Samedi 95, 98 Fangs of the serpent 70 74 Startle 22 Baron Samedi’s pact 104 Fast 10 Medicine: Chinese, 59 Stayin’ put 29 Barricade 35 Favored chual, Edge 97 Meditation, Aptitude 60 Steganogram 50 Bear the cross 9 Favored of Heaven 16 Merciful sparrow 75 Step back to ward off Bite of Arignee 105 Favors 83, 86 Mind of quicksilver 75 monkey 79 Bitter tongue 105 Fiery furnace 17 Miracles, gaining new 7 Strain 66, 67 Black cat 24 Fifty-two pickup 26 Miracles, new 8 Strength of fellowship 14 Blast furnace 36 Fightin’ concentrations 59 Mirror 22 Summon serpent 90 Blessing medicine 86 Fighting styles, martial Mirror, mirror 28 Ten-foot punch 79 Blessings 17 arts 56-57 Misdirect 90 The demon’s eye 29 Blood of gold 68 Finish 21 Monkey goes to the The Lord provides 14 Blood oath 89 Flying claw 70 mountain 76 Throwin’ 60 Brace 34 Flying crescent 70 Nature’s wrath 88 Thunder strums the pipa Breath of the spirits 87 Flying guillotine 71 Ogu 94,101 80 Bulletproof 37 Fooled you! 21 Ogu’s aura 112 Thunderbird 86 Bullet-stopper 37 Foretellin’ 110 Opportunity’s knock 12 Tiger shakes its mane 80 Buried treasure 106 Fury fans the flame 72 Palm of prevention 76 Tinhorn shuffle 23 Butterfly 85 Gad 111 Perseverance 12 Tool 35 Cardsharp 25 Ghost medicine 89 Pick me up 22 Tricks 19, 20-21, 34 Caustic glop 38 Gifts, gaining new 7, 15 Poison powder 112 Trickster medicine 90 Cemetary gates 106 Gifts, new 15 Pool o’ doom 112 Truth of the crow 90 Charm o’ success 107 Gimmick weapon 72 Poultice 113 Turtle’s gift 87 Ch’i powers, new 66 Good karma 16 Powerful mojo 114 Tweak 51 Ch’i powers, starting 66 Gorgon 32, 126 Power leak 44 Upgrade 51 ch’i Aptitude 58 Grenade 40 Power surge 45 Veins of iron 80 Clarity of thought 16 Guardian spirits, new 84 Prayers of the faithful 12 Vengeance of angry Closing the gate 68 Gumption 16 Quench 13 monkey 80 Cloud the mind 107 Hallowed ground 102 Quick thinker, Edge 61 Venom punch 81 Coax 107 Hawk’s swiftness 91 Razor coils 45 Visionseeking medicine 91 Cobra strike 68 Haywire 40 Red-handed 114 Voodoo doll 117 Coldsnap 25 Hell’s bargain 26 Reflect 46 Voodoo spells 101-102 Conjure bags 102 Hell’s fury 27 Remedy 88 Wanga 117 Conjure doctor 108 Hell’s thunderclap 73 Revelation dust 115 War medicine 91 Conjurin’ Aptitude 96 Hexes 19, 23, 33, 35 Reverse engineer 46 Waste product 52 Console 10 Hindrances, martial arts Ride the rails 47 Water of life 14 Courage 91 61-63 Righteous reversal 77 Water to wine 15 Coyote’s laugh 90 Humfor 95-96, 103 River flows uphill 77 Weird science 53 Crane guides the arrow 69 Infernal machine 41 Sacred ground 87 Wind blows over the Earth Curse of failure 108 Infinity Press 30, 32 Salango’s charm 115 81 Damballah-Wedo 94, 99 Ingredients, spells 102 Saint Patrick’s boon 16 Winnin’ ways 118 Debug 34 Jade King’s stance 73 Scrapstorm 48 Zilch 53 Decrypt 38 Jawbone of an ass 10 Secret paths 88 Zobop’s fix 118 Dementia 39 Seize the pearl o’ death 77 Zombie master 119