Can you play the new "Deadlands The Weird West" on SWADE Ruleset?

[Valyar]

My group is eager to start Deadlands game, and for now the only support (and modules owned) are for Deadlands Reloaded. The new Deadlands is yet to be out of Kickstarter and I doubt FG will release it anytime soon for the SWADE ruleset.

I don't want to run Deluxe + Reloaded, but the lack of compatibility between Reloaded modules and SWADE Ruleset is holding me back and I am a bit in stalemate.

So the question is - how do you think we can play the new Deadlands on SWADE ruleset with Reloaded modules?

[amerigoV]

Generally yes, but their will be some clunks. I would not load the Deadlands extension as it used the old 3 color bennie system and its not automated (you cannot drag and drop all types of bennies like you normally can with SWADE). Unfortunately, by not loading the extension you will not get the cool theme that is built in. You can certainly load up the modules. You might need to add specific Edges/Hindrances that your players want that have changed from Reloaded.

If you are looking to run a specific adventure you certainly can load it and run it. You should test the NPCs - I tend to copy them and restat them to make sure the new edge effects are working. I should really test it (for example, Block now negates one gang up. I am not sure the SWADE ruleset will recognized Block's effects from a Deluxe NPC. But the normal stuff all works - attacks and skills).

[Valyar]

The DL theme rocks and not being able to use it due to the benny thing sounds like a bummer. I already noticed that some NPCs feats when opened show a blank window, even though I have all SWADE and DLR player and marshal modules loaded.

Not good timing with this request from the group.

[fubeca150]

The NPC Edges thing is a problem with all of the older stuff so far as I can tell. Happens in Rippers and Hellfrost for sure, and I think I've seen it in 50 Fathoms, but I'm not certain. I don't know Savage Worlds well enough to just run w/ names only without all the supplemental stuff, so it's important that I have that easily available to me when an NPC makes their entrance.

Given that there's some prep work regardless for the older stuff (for changed attacks, powers, and Edges) I just quickly rebuild the NPCs out by making a new copy of the NPC and drag all the current SWADE stuff in. I wouldn't suggest doing everything in one go, but after a few sessions you'll have a routine that works for you well enough that you can even do it on-demand if the players get something involved that you weren't ready for.

Some of the NPCs have a black lock and you can update the root entry. It'd be nice to be able to suppress the ones that have a red lock on them but I haven't figured out how to do that. In Hellfrost I'd gone in and removed the records from the XML, updated the powers directly to SWADE rules, etc., but then that happened to be the same timeframe Hellfrost was getting updated a few times within a few weeks and I got tired of re-doing it after each update.

One thing I want to say is.. "Worth it!!" The time I invest in prep is more than made up with the fun and speed we have with FGU tracking all the stuff that was impossible for us to deal with at the table, and it helping deal with all the rules we forget (since we're all pretty new to Savage Worlds) is a huge boon.

[Valyar]

I am also leaning towards this approach. Probably I will ditch the existing PPC for DLR and go with the new DLWW adventures and campaign, prepping them from the ground up (I hope I will have time for proper prep). The only thing I have to figure out is how to use the nice DLR theme without the benny mechanics implemented in it, as it is incompatible with the SWADE and DWLL rules.

[Talyn]

It would also help the various devs if it were reported which specific NPCs in which specific DLC exhibit this behavior so they can get stuff patched. If there are feedback threads for a setting use that, otherwise make a new post so the dev and/or one of the forum mods sees it to contact the dev.

[fubeca150]

I don't have the expectation that these old modules be upgraded. I wouldn't mind, but I got what I expected. But basically all the older non-SWADE Savage Worlds source book, module, etc., either have their edges and hindrances under Special Abilities or have them in their description block and don't do anything.

For instance,

Rippers GM Guide:
Abominable Snowman (And anything else)
I have to drag everything into the appropriate Traits and combat tab.

Horror Companion:
Alligator-Lion Hybrid (and anything else)
Everything is under Special Abilities instead of being under Edges and Hindrances. Click on "Armor", "Fear" or "Improved Frenzy" and it'll show a "New Feat" screen. The bummer of that is that it creates an empty "New Edge" in the edge list that needs to be cleaned up later.

These old items don't have automation, so that's why it's important to drag stuff from Edges and Monstrous Abilities back onto the monster.

Rippers Companion GM:
Same problems as Rippers GM.

Rippers Resurrected GM:
Same problem as Horror Companion.

I haven't opened the Deadlands stuff, but I would expect it to work similarly to either the Rippers (old), Rippers Resurrected), or Horror Companion.

[Talyn]

Whether anything gets patched or not depends on the individual developer. Not everyone is keen on going back and doing full-blown updates (especially SWD to SWADE) like Kevin and I do.

As for the categorization of everything being in Special Abilities that's because until a year or two ago, that's how the ruleset worked so all NPCs were built that way. It's only recently that @Ikael coded the ability for the character sheet to know what you dropped on it and filter things. However the automation for those still works (or should) regardless. The NPCs would need to be rebuilt from scratch to refilter them, and that puts us right back to "not everyone is keen" on going back and tweaking things for all the shiny new toys the ruleset adds that weren't there when the project was originally developed.

But things like above where someone mentioned windows were blank, that should not be happening, and those should definitely be reported for patching.

[fubeca150]

Ah. Okay. So yes, as you requested for a list of specific modules and such, I listed those.

The special abilities, when clicked on in those older modules, create a "New Feat" entry in the Edge list and are blank because they are creating a new entry in the Edge list. Happens even in the newer old modules like Rippers Resurrected, as I mentioned above.

As for older modules being updated, I have no expectation that they be upgraded and I feel like I got what I anticipated I'd get.

[Talyn]

The good news is that Rippers (and I think the Horror Companion?) is Kevin's project so I can let him know via Discord about this. Plus I'm sure he'll stumble onto this thread on his own.