Dust Devils PDF download

[Matt Snyder]

Hey, folks, I got motivated today and put together a nice playtest version of the Dust Devil rules I posted below.

Please visit  my website to download the file. Sorry for the size and speed. I'll work on trimming it down when I get more time. For now, it'll have to do.

Thanks!
Matt[/url]

[Zak Arntson]

Reading the thing, a few questions:

* Traits - I like that there's no designation between good and bad Traits. But then, you get into trouble when "Dumb as a Post" can't often get you a bonus card to draw.

* Knacks - Do you arbitrarily assign the points from 1 to 4? Or do you get a half-dozen points to distribute among Knacks?

* When the Dealer Draws, does she Draw for each npc? This could get hairy if it's a big shootout between rival posses. Perhaps in this case, the Dealer should draw for the entire group. Players losing to the hand suffer, Players winning the Dealer's hand succeed.

* Dealing damage to attributes based on your winning hand: Do all of the cards in your winning hand count towards attributes? If I have 4 cards (a 3 of a kind, and an extra), can I use the extra card's suit?

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I really dig this mechanic!!  I've got a wild-west game in the works, but in it's current form it's nowhere near as elegant as Dust Devils. I really want to playtest this (and maybe fiddle/add some stuff for more color. You know, Lovecraftian or Dinosaur things)

[Matt Snyder]

* Traits - I like that there's no designation between good and bad Traits. But then, you get into trouble when "Dumb as a Post" can't often get you a bonus card to draw.

True, it is more difficult to find the advantage of a 'negative' trait, but you can make it work for you -- "Dumb as a Post" might cause you to lose a card in conflicts in which you use Eye, but you probably earn an extra card for conflicts involving Guts, or even Heart.

* Knacks - Do you arbitrarily assign the points from 1 to 4? Or do you get a half-dozen points to distribute among Knacks?

[EDIT]Ahh, editing. If it isn't there I meant to say you should assign 13 points to the SIX KNACKS. I'm still tinkering a bit w/ this, but that should be suitable for any playtest.

* When the Dealer Draws, does she Draw for each npc? This could get hairy if it's a big shootout between rival posses. Perhaps in this case, the Dealer should draw for the entire group. Players losing to the hand suffer, Players winning the Dealer's hand succeed.

Aha! Great question. Yes, my intention was to have the Dealer draw a single, perhaps sizable hand that he can "divvy up" among his PCs, or effectively treat a group of outlaws as one NPC with one hand to play.

* Dealing damage to attributes based on your winning hand: Do all of the cards in your winning hand count towards attributes? If I have 4 cards (a 3 of a kind, and an extra), can I use the extra card's suit?

No, you deal only an amount of damage equal to the cards in your combination. So, three of a kind is three damage, full house is five damage, etc.

I really dig this mechanic!!  I've got a wild-west game in the works, but in it's current form it's nowhere near as elegant as Dust Devils. I really want to playtest this (and maybe fiddle/add some stuff for more color. You know, Lovecraftian or Dinosaur things)

Thanks for the kind words! By all means, playtest! I'd love to hear how it goes for you. Heh, cowboys and Dinosaurs -- just saw parts of a movie on AMC with those very elements. Classic.

Hope that answers your quesitons. Keep 'em coming. It's clear I need to edit the darned playtest rules already!