Abilene, Texas?  Laws no...  Deadwood's as far from home as I've been ever.  Don't think they'd let a Michigan boy wander down there, no way.

Maybe I heard of the Professor?  If he did something big enough Back East?

Williams charm is as a Eastern greenhorn in way over his head in Deadwood.  Not knowing folks fits.  Of course, once the stuff hits the fan, he'll stick with the folks that seem capable no doubt.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:28, Sun 19 Aug 2012.

Nick Cage's version?

Blasphemer! Nick Cave is not to be confused with American actors! (yes, the original.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrxePKps87k

...in case anyone is unfamiliar with the Australian God of Gothic Americana.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:17, Sun 19 Aug 2012.

Here's where we're at:

Tan Xiaohan is pretty much done. The player is still looking to link backstories with another character, but it seems none of the others have passed through Tan's life.

Moses and Zachery O' Connor are pretty much finished. Zach still needs to buy gear, figure out his free Advance, and draw his fate chips and 2 adventure cards. Moses still needs to buy his free Advance and his starting chips. Otherwise, I'm ready to start with them.

The Professor and Nate Williams are working out certain details. The Professor has gotten his Free Advance, his chips, and his cards and is ready to go, while Nate has not yet drawn his adventure cards or chips.

Thunder Walker has got his backstory done, but is still working on the character bits.

There are a few people who've RTJ'ed, but haven't gotten very far. One player has a character concept that we're ironing the kinks out of, the other two haven't gotten farther than concept.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:40, Mon 20 Aug 2012.

In reply to The Stray (msg # 50):

As far as Chinese immigrants in 19th century America, most spoke Cantonese. Mandarin was the language of the elite and of the extreme north. All dialects of Chinese share the same written language.

Well then I'm going for Cantonese.  Or whatever dialect lets me talk to the majority of Chinese in the game ;-)

Oh!  Right.  I speak other languages too....  Lessee....

English of course...

German (Ma's side of the family)

Siouan, but only a little.  The Indians still around back home had a Siouan dialect.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:05, Mon 20 Aug 2012.

So I was supposed to build my character this afternoon and instead I went out and had a few beers and some sake, and then some dinner, and then a few more beers. Yeah, so...sorry - I'll nail it tomorrow. Now that I have my character concept nailed down, it shouldn't take too long.

Aw, but ThunderVega, sake is held by many to be liquid inspiration!

...on Chinese dialects, though - Xiao's a Mandarin-speaker due to being a peasant from Hunan, where the language was used as a standard among ethnically diverse mountain folk, rather than from being posh. Our US' high concentration of Cantonese speakers in the 1880s was due to emigration being sourced primarily from the east coast, the explosion of Mandarin (now our China's first language) having started thirty years before - I suspect the long US Civil War and European involvement in that would have left a less bullied, stronger China, better terms after the Arrow War and thus more widespread emigration (and more Mandarin-speakers about) rather than just people nabbed from the provinces beside the trade coast. ...yeah, alternate history makes me witter, too...sorry!

In reply to Tan Xiaohan (msg # 55):

I don't think the Qing dynasty would have done much better in the world of deadlands. The unfair treaties that did most of the damage were put in place as a result of the first and second opium wars, both of which occurred prior to the changes in historical timeline. Much of what weakened the Qing was internal corruption and rebellion. If anything I thing magical powers among the triad and religious groups might have further weakened the Qing.

Chinese who came to America were recruited from coastal areas by Western merchants. They were almost all poor and desperate and sought a better life. I doubt that would change either. I am sure there were some from the north, but their numbers were far less.

The setting seems to have embraced this based on the existing game material.

Sorry to insert my opinion. In the end it like everything is the GMs call.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:15, Mon 20 Aug 2012.

It would depend on who capitalized on the sudden availability of magic, and which side the Reckoners thought would produce more trouble, honestly. But since I know next to nothing about Chinese history in either world, I'll just accept that Cantonese would be the largest language group in the West, but that Mandarin would have made a showing (especially among Kang's hand-picked forces).

Opinions are good things to have, and alternate history is for playing with! I do so love watching the ripples...I believed the Arrow/Second Opium war was also in the 1860s, but due to a poor education my history gets somewhat fuzzy east of India (so though I'd hold to the liklihood of a stronger China if called on to reason it out, don't trust my memory). The Stray's word is indeed the right of things as far as the campaign's concerned.

I do think the Chinese aspects of the Deadlandsverse are woefully underexplored, magical/mythological aspects included, compared to say, voodoo or the main native foci, though. Hopping vampires, cat-women and fire-breathing anorexic ghosts!

In reply to Tan Xiaohan (msg # 58):

I have a degree in Asian Studies and lived and studied in Taiwan for three years. I am especially interested in the Triad and other secret society. I am without my books as I am in the middle of a move but my memory says the Second Opiun War began in 1854.

Living in Taiwan versus China gave me a chance to see traditional Chinese relgion in action. It is a very rich tradition with a ton of great ideas from which to draw.

Ooo...do feel free to correct me on period/details, for sure, I would be most grateful. May I mine you for some of those religious observations at some point, specifically any on personal ritual/observances? My grip on Xiao's spirituality is hazy, but I know there's a great deal of folk belief in there.

It is such a vast area of knowledge I don't think anyone can know it all, but I will do my best to help you.

BTW I too am a fan of Nick Cave.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:08, Tue 21 Aug 2012.

Almost everyone who I think is going to play is mostly ready. I'm almost ready myself...just trying to pick out the hook that will get everyone together. My plan is to run a few preludes to get everyone in the same place.

I am looking for connections to other characters ...

Jack Boudreaux hails from the South, New Orleans. He left home a few years ago and has been drifting form one place to another since. Boudreaux, while he seems a bit of a charlatan is a loyal friend and a useful ally.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Tue 21 Aug 2012.

...such is the past, my friend - and here speaks an archaeologist! China is a big place, alternate histories are flexible when it comes to anachronisim, and all knowledge is a good thing*, both for the world becoming less ignorant in general and because the more 'realistic' a game, the more striking (and potentially hilarious) the oddities.

Yay! Ever seen The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford?


*provided one has a decent supply of brain bleach. Cattle husbandry techniques of the Western Isles, never ask about them.

Yes. Good soundtrack. Have you seen The Proposition?

Did you also reflexively go "No, don't shoot Nick Cave!" when Bob looked like he was about to?

Aye, it's one of my favourite (if permanently traumatising) films. I introduced the Stray to it and at least temporarily traumatised our dear GM with the exploding Aborigine...on the theme of Cave and favourites, ever read And The Ass Saw the Angel? They could never make that into a film because Eucharid's "narration" is too thick-smoke dense to ever translate, but man, if ever there was such thing as "blacklight prose" that is it. [thought] Oh, hey, Moses, you ever read that?

In reply to Tan Xiaohan (msg # 66):

No, haven't heard of that. And sorry about the cage/cave mistake,i blame it on my phone's keyboard! ;-)

Yeah, phone keyboards tend to suck.

In reply to Black Jack Boudreaux (msg # 63):

Zac has traveled around the South some with his father (a newspaper reporter), so there's a chance he'd know Black Jack... maybe he was a local fixer or otherwise helped with a story?

I have not read And The Ass Saw the Angel.

Ray Winstone is one of my favorite actors, Guy Peirce is another. So I saw The Proposal without knowing about Nick Cave's connection to the project.

@ Zach perhaps you were researching a story in New Orleans and ran afoul some dangerous people and Boudreaux helped extradite you from a bad situation.

Preview: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/rea...ib_dp_pt#reader-link
...y'all may need to keep a dictionary on hand, but as inspiration fodder for writing black humour and/or hellfire preaching it is strong stuff. Some reviewer described it as being like Faulkner x Whistle Down the Wind + narration by an utterly stoned blues musician, which is actually quite accurate.

Heh, my granny gets him confused with my boss...ach, actors! Someone tell me who they've been, then I'll know who they are.