Greetings all! ^_^

Hey!  A cat, a hamster and an anemone walk into a bar... oh, I see you guys have heard that one.

Yes, you are a hamster aren't you? Well not to worry. You look like a rather domesticated rodent. And my sophisticated palate only fancies Free Range Vermin these days.

And I've been working out, just in case you change your mind.  I'll pull out a whisker on the way down!

Hey, wait a minute.  Who you calling 'vermin', furball?

Furball is it? Wait I have a brilliant come back for you. Oh yeah, it takes one to know one.

Hello all.  The furry ones will rule!

Fuzzy is overrated.

Depends on what part is fuzzy ;)

I was reading a short story recently set in the old west which included a little bit of "other-worldly" stuff such as zombies and Native American shaman that were more than just medicine men.  Was there a GURPS setting that fit that sort of description?

There sure was!

http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=148

Oh, and the cover is pretty cool, too.

Here's the closeup:
http://index.rpg.net/pictures/...pic.phtml?picid=3724

Geesh, what took you guys so long?  I posted that question, like... minutes ago?! ;P

Thanks!  I know how having just seen a movie, or getting a new video game or reading a good story can start a hankering for a certain kind of game, but this one really got me going.  Has anyone ever played such a game here?

I did briefly. Zombies were on the way to town Dawn of the Dead style. Sadly, I had to drop out due to real life issues. It was quite fun while it lasted, though.

How weird does the setting get in terms of the unnatural?  Is there a theme to the whole thing or is it just any sort of spooky monster stuff in a western setting?

I don't own it but I would think as a GM, you could run it as strange or subtle as you like.  Like in WOD, all the strange stuff (vampires and Werewolves) remains more hidden.

I never owned the book, so I don't know for sure.

As someone who's played the original game, though I once owned the GURPS version, I can say things get pretty darn weird; I prefer my supernatural pretty subtle, and a good GM can make it such, but basic Deadlands is more of the "whelp, here's a horrible, oozing monster with spiders-for-a-face, time to die in a pointless attempt to stop it, and then rise from our graves as one of the undead."  Well, it's a tad less overstated then that, but not by much.

The theme is that a group of spirits from the Hunting Grounds known as the Reckoners were contacted by an indian Shaman named Raven, with the express intent of expelling the white man.  This opened paths between the spirit world and the normal world, and basically magic came back.  Some people cast spells through cards, called Hexslingin', some through native rituals, and others invent devices thanks to the inspiration of these spirits.

Conceptually, quite interesting, but I add it to my list of things that are better done with GURPS.

Interesting.  The short story I read (and I gave the book away, a compilation of about two dozen stories) sound almost as though it were inspired by that.  It's definitely got a "white man" viewpoint, as it's the evil Indians that summon help from the spirit world to fight back the invasion.  And I agree, subtle is better, or else it ends up sounding like a bad DnD romp.

I was never big into GURPS magic though, having just learned the basics to get by - do you know if there's alternate sytems or rules for this setting, or is it just plain magic that happens to come from different sources?

There is; they have new rules for all the various magic types.  It's really, like, 3 or 4 new, but slightly unimpressive, magic systems in the one box.

Personally, in 4e, I'd almost just use Powers for all magic and be done with it, as GURPS magic is, let's face it, generic by the very nature of the beast.

GURPS Spirits and Voodoo had that fantastic Ritual Magic system; I can't wait for Thaumatology.

Deadlands produced several "dime novels" during it's run.  A group I play with either exclusively plays Deadlands or it's descendant, Hell on Earth, Wasted West, which is a post-apocolypse version of the same world.  I perfer Deadlands.

There's a GURPS Deadlands game somewhere around here, but I think it, ironically, is dead.

Personally I like the GURPS magic system, it has advantages and disadvantaged as compared with AD&D.  I am still trying to figure out the powers book so far.

Oh, there is a Deadlands GURPS game that is slowly getting going.  I thought it had died but now it seems to have some life in it.

Fantasy has a few alternate ideas for the basic magic system and Thaumatology will update some of the old systems to 4e.

I find magic systems, along with Super powers, skills or whatever, to be a matter of taste from one system to another - like apples and oranges.  Obivously, DnD has the progression of characters at its core.  You start very small and have (nearly) unlimited potential - fun at times, but very high fantasy.  I like the feel of GURPS at times, since although mages may not be super powerful, the power they possess compared to those who don't use magic can be significant.

For example: a 1st level fighter vs a 1st level mage in DnD - compared to a 150pt fighter vs a 150pt mage in GURPS.  I suspect there'd be a much more varied outcome of the GURPS encounter when compared to the DnD one.

I copied a DnD mage pretty well with Super Memorization(spells only, one use/slow reload, preparation required) I didn't go all the way with one use of spell slot per day, mine could reload in a minute.

The thing I like better about GURPS is the customization you can do.  In AD&D you can have a thief/mage or fighter/mage but there is not as much freedom as in GURPS as far as how much of a mage you may want to be verses a thief or what ever.

Amen, sister.