as said before, i really dislike the idea of an involved dealer. he should be more of a side character. an important character, but uninvolved with the main story. perhaps he just "redeals" cards whose previous owners were killed.

I don't seem to remember anyone agreeing to that title besides you...?

Repostan' for content:

Ever heard of the Queen of Hearts?

The Bloody Queen, they call 'er. She's a pistol, a pretty little thing, but once she's drawn, she ain't going back in 'er holster until she's drawn blood from every damn living thing in sight, and that includes her wielder— and once she's made you bleed, you ain't gonna stop until you run dry. They say she's done in many a 'slinger who thought they could handle her.

But now, you've heard of those massacres happened north of here, in the Gultch? I met a guy who survived. Said in the middle o' it all, was one man, covered in blood, holding up a nice little pistol, red-handled with a big ol' heart on the side. Guy was just standing there, bleedin' like noone's business, shooting everything that moved and some things that wern't; and once he heard his laugh he couldn't do nothing but run...

Hey, all I'm sayin' is, maybe the Queen's finally found her mate....

>>6331861
works for me.

>"The Dealer," whom wields "The Rules," commences/runs "The Game," and afterwords he "Shuffles" the losers' Guns back into circulation.

This is the best answer I have seen to The Rules and the Dealer so far. He doesn't go around killing, and his gun doesn't even shoot. He just is unshootable and presides over The Game. After it's finished the last 'slinger standing gets [insert reward here] and the loser's guns are gradually passed back into play via the Dealer.

They say you can't hit the wastes without tripping over one of the Gunslingers. That's malarkey.

I haven't spent all my life inside the walls of Dodge, or New Athens. I've crawled the frontier... and you know what? I've never seen one honest-to-God, genuine Gunslinger before. The closest I came was when I passed through a town a week after a duel between two of them. I don't know what they were - they said that it was one fella with a carbine, another with a huge ol' hand cannon. Not sure of the particulars, other than that. Didn't ask.

Hell, if you don't look close, you can miss the fellas with Shooting Irons entirely. They just look like any other gun to me.

>>6331857

I like thinking of him kind of like the Compte de Saint Germain in Unknown Armies: He's around, he's doing something, and it's up to the GM what that something is.

I like the "Dealer is the Devil" idea floating around. It would explain the power of the Deck and the toll that each one (or a lot, from the fluff) seem to take.

>>6331861
I like it. Take it easy.

Where was the first thread of this? Did it 404 already/is it archived?

Alright, we have a basic idea and a very vague consensus. Should we up this on 1d4chan?

>>6331861
It sums the game up pretty well. I can stick with it until someone suggests something better.

>>6331933
it's archived.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/6330023/

>>6331903

Ehh, I'm taking it easy. It's just that the only mention I saw of it last thread was Anon suggesting it then suddenly OH LOOK GUYS WE'VE GOT A LOGO.

The Dealer should be the devil.

Who else could make things so powerful? And why would anyone else even make them in the first place?

So we got the guns and all, now how about government? Transportation?

>>6331933
It's archived. Last one on Suptg right now.

>>6331862
Damn I just wrote up something for the Queen of hearts and find this.

Well time to try another. Dibs on the King of Hearts

I'm thinking that the cards will eventually begin to change their wielders, Bloody Mary would leave most men dry as soon as she cleared leather, but should she come upon a man of such perfect wanton slaughter that it begins to slake even her inhumane thirst, she might deign to sustain him.

The blood of the dead at his feet seems to slither across the ground and seep into his skin, he carries a stench of stale life spilt in the sand wherever he goes, leaving only blood drops, corpses and crimson tinted brass in his wake.

>>6331946
i disagree. i think the only supernatural forces in the world should be the guns themselves. the dealer should be immortal and little else.

>>6331936

Yes

>>6331948
Mecha-horses and maglev trains.

So is this an actual card game, played with a deck of cards?

>>6331960
"This gun of mine glows with an awesome power"?

>>6331979
It's an actual Card game, played with Guns.

>>6331979

RPG setting we're trying to make. Read the last thread, it was awesome.

The Dealer?

Yea, yea, 'course I heard of him. Wouldn't be much of a 'slinger if I hadn't, right?

Course, that don't mean I know much. Don't even rightly know if I believe in the man, if that's what he is. Some sey he was the first gunsmith, and that the 54 were his masterworks. Some sey he made a deal with the Devil; his soul for a weapon the world had never seen before. Some sey he IS the Ol'Scratch himself, and that once the Deck comes together, well, it'll be Biblical. Wha'ever he is, most sey he's still hangin around. He put himself in these guns, see, and as long as they're here, he'll be here, until they do whatever it is he built 'em for.

What do I think? I think a youngster like you oughta shut up and mind your manners. You're a good kid, don't be sticking your nose up around the 'slingers. Trust me. You'll be happier that way.

reposting for content as well:

My name is Jake, and I’ve got one of the guns. The big ones. The legendary ones. Mine is the Ten of Spades, “Atonement.” Why this gun chose me, I’ll never know. Atonement is a lawman’s gun, the gun of the righteous. Before, I hated the evil of this world, but never really found the motivation to stop it. I even once walked away when I saw a woman being brutally raped by some punk gang. Now, though, I have to stop it. I must prevent evil. These guns, they’re not normal guns. Obviously they’re more powerful than regular ones, but there’s something different. Now, if I see something bad going on, my insides burn and my head pounds until I intervene. After I put down the criminal bastards, there’s this high like you wouldn’t ever imagine, even from the crazy shit those wasters sell. Essentially, the gun has me hostage, but I don’t mind. Now I have the power to destroy the enemies of justice. In my hands is the hammer of the righteous. May whatever lies beyond here have mercy on those who would stop me. I will not.

>>6331948
BLIMPS.

GIANT TRAINS AND ARMORED MOTHERFUCKING BLIMPS.

Should be lots of ruined cities and canyons and stuff for gunfights. Low human population compared to today, harkening back to the Old West. Maybe some kind of apocalypse? Perhaps even triggered by the Games of the past? "When the Guns were found and the Game was played, everything changed."

time to archive.

>>6332054
Beat ya to it.

How about instead of trying to come up with an entirely new world with magic trains and shit, it's just the regular world, same as it ever was, except it has these FIFTY FOUR guns in it.

No 55th gun. That's retarded as fuck. A Dealer is cool, yeah, but a 55th gun is stupid.

>>6332080
I like the idea of a gun that protects the owner from the other ones though.

And then there is the Red Joker, which is a rumor and all that.

So why not combine the two?

The Dealer wields the Red Joker, which protects him from harm.

>>6332080
A 55th Something could be good, but only on the grounds that it really is an oddity. No Rules Card, just an oddity. Maybe it's the first, maybe it's the last, no one actually knows, since no one's even certain it exists, less so than the rest of the guns.

And the guns should be spread over the world, they lose their mystique if they're clumped together so close that EVERYONE knows about them.

We seem to be split on whether or not there's a special "extra" 55th gun. I'm of the school that people THINK there's one, when really it's just whatever gun The Dealer uses at the time.

>>6332047
Skip post apoc for this I think, alternate history will serve fine enough.

>>6332105
Then what's the Red Joker?

The Dealer is the true "Card 55"... every once in a while he'll pass through town, seeking info about the Cards. Why, nobody knows. But his own sidearm is just as ominous looking as one of the Guns, holding the same power as all four Aces, leading folks to believe it is some previously-unknown Card. Or so it seems. The gun is an ordinary gun... it is the Gunman himself who holds the power.

And for those few who know his secret, well, even they don't know what might happen, should the Dealer one day hold all the Cards...

But notice this... I never said he was gonna kill 'em. Worse things than death, as the sayin' goes.

The Dealer just wants the Deck back in his hands, however he can get it.

And as any fool who's ever sat at a poker table knows, when the stakes are high, a dealer can and will bend the rules to suit himself.

(Ever seen Sam Elliott as Caretaker in "Ghost Rider"? That's who I picture the Dealer looking like.)

>>6332127
Where the Black Joker makes its wielder die gloriously and famous, I think the Red Joker should force its wielder to survive in anonymity.

Post civil war, alt president used one of the guns to change the tide of the war. Epic stuff

~On the World~

Welcome to the City-States of North America. Leave your nationality at the door.

We aren't much for the larger nations out here. You put power over too large a group in the hands of a man, and you tear his soul apart... oh, there's a few good ones through history, but once we figured out that true representation wasn't possible on the scale of a large nation...

Ah, it's all history. The point is, you've got the forty-nine city states, running from New York all the way to the newly-founded city state of Los Angeles. Up north you've got what used to be Canada, before the war of 1812... now it's just more citystates. The City of Quebec, and New Athens. Nice places, I'm told.

There's a sort of a feudal system in place. It's more stable than you'd think - often times the Code Duello is enough to settle an intercity dispute, especially between the aristocracy.

>>6332110
Well then we leave it a mystery
Does the Dealer have it?
Or does he not?
Is he the Devil?
Is he somethin' stranger?

>>6332159
GM fiat, leave it at that. I support this.

>>6332141
Someone mentioned that, yeah. The Red Joker actually erases its wielder from history, leaving vague tales of the gun, and nothing else.

>>6332080

I do like the idea of The Dealer, but I agree that he shouldn't have a gun. It's him that's special— He made them, there's a bit of him in every one of them (whatever he is) and they can't harm him. You point one at him, and the trigger locks, or it misfires, or it throws off your aim.

He's a good GM tool that way. He obviously has some agenda, and he's always moving invisibly in the background—he could be anyone. How do you know he's not in the crowd watching your gunfight? That he's not watching you from the back corner of a bar when you whip out your Card to show it off?

And what is his purpose? Why did he make the guns? Who is he really? That's up to the GM to decide. Although I do like the old style devil allusions, either as him being the devil himself or just someone who sold his soul— it fits with the gambling and wild west themes.

>>6332159
Nobody knows for certain. Sure, there's rumors out the ass about it, but nothin' provable.

>>6332132
Reposting things that were already in the last thread will just make it autosage faster for no benefit.

What will tech be in the world? Maybe farming tech just never really took off and farmers working the land without pesticides are still the norm. Ranchers with huge cattle herds own vast estates to graze them, and the Big Cities have never really grown up into truly Metropolitan places with such huge skyscrapers.

The leader of the New Confederacy Party (NCP) got his hands on the Ace of Spades and uses it in his battle against the Northren and Darkie forces of the Weird West.

>>6332127
Taken from my original Ace of Clubs description:


It was a rather plain looking six-gun. It didn't have the exotic features or elaborate inlay of some of the other Deck members. It was just a rugged, simple, pistol. But it served its master well, when it allowed itself to be wielded. Anyone who wasn't worthy couldn't get a shot off, the gun would just refuse to work. But for the one in a million man who it could call its owner...

>The action was smooth and clean, the trigger always ready to fall at a hair pull or hold back if the Owner was about to shoot someone he didn't want to by accident. It flowed free out of its holster in a split-second when needed and stayed there at all other times. It shot fast and accurate, it would put the bullet where it was pointed and nowhere else. It was a gun meant for a master gunman, and it served those who sought their own ways in life - whether they were lawmen or bandits if they chose a path with full knowledge of where it would take them and wouldn't allow anyone or anything to get in their way this gun would serve them faithfully to the end of their days.

Imagine it being the gun of guys like The Man With No Name, just for an example. They can be beaten, trampled, nearly killed but they come back and finish what they started, often helping people out along the way with little or no thanks and often riding off in the sunset with the money they managed to take and no fame to speak of.

In contrast to this the Black Joker belongs to guys like Jesse James and other big named criminals.

55 is dm fiat, he's the Queen of Blades.

If you make him concrete at all the players will see him as a challenge, he's not a challenge, he's a force, a part of the game.

>>6332185
I just got an image of him punishing a gunslinger for showing off his gun recklessly

>>6332200
True true.
I saw him once, god's honest!
He ain't as big as they say. Hell I was taller than him.
And he just watched fights, never did have a duel...

>>6332197
"You can try all you like to take the gun from the devil, but you sure as shoot ain't gonna take the devil from the gun."

>>6332185
Yeah.

No gun for the Dealer. He doesn't need one.

So that leaves out the 55th gun. It does not exist.

The black joker is a glorious death, but always death, for it's owner. The red joker is the inverse. A life in anonymity. Even to an advantage though. People forget that he was even there. I mean, sure SOMEONE had to be there, but what did he look like again? He was kinda tall, right? Nah, maybe short.

A question arises: Should we include dice in this in some way?

>>6332250
But he can't die. The gun won't let him. As much as he wants to, as much as he hates living in a world where nobody acknowledges his existence for more than a passing moment, he's stuck.

>>6332197
Separate from what you're talking about, the idea of a 55th Something aint bad, but it don't have to be a gun, which is what I had tried to imply but failed.

It could be the ingot of iron that each gun has a bit of - taken from a collapsed mine beneath an Indian burial ground, surrounded by the corpses of the miners who were trapped in the cave-in, the ingot is bestowed with mystic, otherwordly powers, and as each gun increases in rank it contains more and more of the iron.

The 55th could be the first piece of it or the last piece of it to be struck off, who knows? I don't, all I know is rumors.

>>6332250
Now now, let's not be hasty.
We'll just leave the entire matter of the Dealer one big question.
That way, everyone is happy

It's pretty rough but it's a start. I think the idea of keeping it simple so you can focus on making the gunfights as epic as possible.

Speed
Precision
Power
Trick

Four attributes for every Gun. Combat could play out through a series of stunts. Considering the Gunslingers are superhuman it would be less like just putting a bullet in them and more of your Gun against theirs. A precise rifle that fires like a shooting star against a powerful shotgun that shakes the very earth to it's owner's defense. You could keep it simple by having the attributes numbered 1 to 6 and rolling under. And after so many successes, you get your coup de grace. Maybe some kind of hierarchy to keep from using the same attribute over and over again. And of course each gun has it's own unique power. The ground-shaking shotgun could blind it's opponent with a dust cloud, making precision a lot more difficult. And of course the the suit and number affect the attributes. Diamonds are precise and Clubs are powerful. The Black Joker is probably all 6s but it's power could be more of a detriment. And god knows what the Red Joker is capable of.

>>6332250
"I don't remember much more than he was blonde and... how odd I can't remember his name."

"So yer sayin' marm that he was... a man with no name?"

"I- I suppose so, yes."

>>6332275
Nah. Just anonymity. He can die, and someone else takes it, and they can die.

Only the dealer is immortal. Or maybe one other person, depending on what their gun is.

LET'S GET MORE GUN FLUFF IN HERE!

Spades for Power
Diamonds for Wealth
Clubs for Stoicism
Hearts for Passion

Black for Fame
Red for Vengeance

Why does the dealer have to be a he?

>>6332250
They say the Black Joker's the worst Card to hold, since it always costs a man his life.

But in my book, its brother Joker, the Red, is far worse. Killing a man is easy, quick... but the Red steals away a man's face, a man's identity... maybe even his soul, I don't know for sure.

If you kill a man, then someone'll still remember him, still grieve. But take away the memory of a man, and he's worse off than bein' dead, even if his heart still beats.

Some say that's why the Red Joker and Black Joker don't have names like the rest of the Deck - they don't need names, since their legacy speaks for 'em.

>>6332334
Because Satan can't possibly be a woman. That's God.

Gotta work the house of cards into this somehow. Maybe a hierarchy or something similar.

>>6332275
Nah, the gun has to be passed on. I liked the old idea of the Black Joker being invincible in gunfights but fated to die early and mysteriously outside of one. Perhaps the Red could be that you live forever as a completely anonymous guy who everyone forgets, and it can only be taken by killing the guy through superior skill in a fair gunfight and taking it from him... only to see his smiling corpse and suddenly find out why he was so glad you bested him. Not even a suicide for the holder of the Red, the gun will only release him when it finds a better shot to take it up.

>>6332313
: )

Las Bellezas: City of Queens

Just twenty miles south of the Rio Sangre and half way between Bueno Iglesia and Jackson City. Only city this side of Death Valley with a painted wall. Sixty nine feet tall and bluer than the sky above, that's the good 'ole Queen's Walls.

If you've got a vice, they've got your poison. Liquor flows like water and the dice never sleep. No one is turned away from the Bashful Blue City, it's a paradise of excess.

It's run by one of the Cards, they say. Nothing official, of course, the other Cities wouldn't stand one of those lowlifes havin' that much power. They say the Queen of Diamonds, a little charmed that goes by the name of "Duchess," positively runs the underworld. This bitch has his paws in everything from opium to the slave-trade; and his domain spreads a lot further than the city limits.

They say this queer knows the name of every vice lord in every city on the planet, and that they have to show their "respect" too.

As for the Gun itself, who knows? Some say it's wrought in gold, but that would make for a piss-poor weapon, if you ask me. I like to believe it's covered in diamonds lock, stock, and barrel, and that it draws the eye like a moth to the flame.

At least that's what I heard from my paw.

>>6332343
Naw... I like the idea that the Gun picks the Slinger. Red Joker knows its owner will forge his own path and doesn't desire fame, while Black Joker knows his Slingers want to live hard, fast, and loud.

Putting too much sinister drawbacks in the guns is going to make this drop from Wild West to Wild Grimdark EVERY GUN IS EVIL shit.

>>6332354
As poster of the whole "Red won't let you die" thing, I like this idea more. Keeps it circulating.

What kind of population are we talking about here? We've got 54 Guns (not including the 55th, not in general circulation [probably]) wielded by the Gunslingers, roughly 2,000 guns scattered around, and slugthrowers no better than a homemade zip gun lying around everywhere.

So assuming a population of maybe... 50,000, which seems rather small, the odds of seeing a Gunslinger is roughly .0000027%.

The Four of Clubs, or Devil's Bedposts, is a gun that has one significant advantage. It is not much more powerful than any other gun, or accurate... but you will never be caught sleeping with the gun. Never be shot in the back. Never gunned down unaware... in a duel, you're on your own, though. Which - admittedly - is why the last slinger that owned it is mostly unknown. He never drew it once.

The voices never stop now. Even in the thunder and peal of slinging, I can here each voice added to the chorus.

It seemed like such a simple choice. The old 'sligner had tried to tell me as he lay bleeding and screaming in the dust.

"Sure it's power boy, but oh Gods the cost."

I knew it's reputation and knew how to deal with him it rode.

Do you know how to out draw a gun that moves so fast the eye can't see it?

You don't

You wait the old fuck out while he is drinking and unload two barrels of buckshot into his back when he staggers to his room.

As he lay their coughing and gasping I reloaded and approached.

There was the draw.

Draw, heh.

As if you can something so magnificent a draw

I never even saw him move. He simply was laying on the ground, then he wasn't

There is no way to describe it.

The speed, none can begin to comprehend until they have seen it, and by then you are already dead.

He had me dead to rights, his hand never wavered, I'll give the old bastard that. He was tough. His back was a mess of ground meat but his aim held true.

Then his gaze changed, I wouldn't say softened, because there was nothing soft about the old man.

It was almost, pity? Yes pity in his eyes.

>>6332367
Oh, right. My brain naturally turns GRIMDARK. I blame the 90s. But aren't sinister drawbacks what are to be expected if we hint that the Dealer's the Devil?

>>6332378

Or wait no, .027%. I think. I am not good with the maths.

I spoke with a man who held the Ace of Spades.... he told me it was a double blade. It loved him one day, hated him the next. Sometimes it would jam, or it wouldn't come out it's holster, like glue was stickin it there....
But the days it liked him.... well on those days he just couldn't beat. It'd do everythin he wanted, so long as it got thanked for every bullet and every shot.

>>6332382
The gun shifted. there was no movement. It was pointed at me, then it wasn't.

The Lawman held the grip to me and asked. "You got the stones to hold my gun boy?" He coughed, his hand imperceptible lowered. "You want power, fame, riches? Well he can give them to you. Sure it's power boy, but oh Gods the cost."

The old man died there in the hallway of that nameless saloon in some god forsaken shithole on the llano.

As I approached I swore I could here people screaming. Not the whores who had heard me fire, but a ghostly sound, not quite real, seeming to come from behind the world if that makes sense.

There it was, the Suicide King. I swear as I reached to pick it up I saw the Stamp's eyes glowed, if just for a moment.

My fingers brushed the grip and I heard the old man's voice screaming in pain.

You want to know the cost of the fastest Draw, the ability to move like lightning and shoot like the Devil himself?

Do you know why it is called the Suicide King?

Every life that you end. Everytime you shoot down a man like a dog in the streets you will remember. Not with the mind of a man who has lived to much and has nothing but guilt left, but with the true regret of someone who has to here the screams of all those he killed.

There is no sleep for the man that wears Old King Heart. There is just the endless screams through the night.

I know someday I will put Heart to my mouth and add my own voice to the chorus.

>>6332367
The whole point of the Jokers is that they are special and trump the other cards... but at a price. I don't see any problem with it.

>>6332307
"The Black Joker"
Speed 6
Precision 6
Power 6
Trick 6

Power(Brand?) - You're pretty much unbeatable while wielding it but sooner or later, it will be your unmaking. And when it happens, it will overshadow everything you've every accomplished. You get your chance to make things right or live the life you thought you deserved but in the end, you'll have died for nothing. And everyone will know.

>>6332384
Why's the Dealer HAVE to be teh Devil though? Why can't he just be trying to manipulate stuff already in play?

Separate the Dealer from the Devil. After all, in real Poker tournaments the Dealer is just a man working for the organizer of The Game.

>>6332387
Then again, that power would cause people to become pretty rich and famous, so maybe you'd see one everyday, just don't know thats the reason he/she is famous.

"How did you know I'm a Slinger? Did you know it was the Deuce of Clubs?

This seems to catch him off guard, it always does. He tries to respond but I cut him off, I always do.

"I know what you're going to say. I know because everyone says the same thing. You'll act confused, try to dodge the question. Everyone tries and I won't buy it anymore."

I'm screaming by the time I finish. I'm usually not this angry, but they always do this. Always. All of them.

They decide to pick a fight with me because I'm little. "Hey lets pick on the little fat accountant." They all think like this, the Widow told me so. But the Widows good to me, she tells me before even they know they're going to do it. She keeps me safe.

He's still looks confused, just like the rest of them. He'll look like that when they lie him in the ground for good, when he stands before the Pearly Gates. It doesn't bother me, though. God'll see through his lies.

Just like she did, my Widow. Just like she always does.

>>6332416
I like to think that the Cards attract each other. Even if the wielders don't know it, the Cards want to be back in the Deck.

Maybe the Dealer is actually God? That separates him well enough from Satan. Or possibly Death incarnate?

>>6332319
What's taken so far? The Queen of Hearts and what?

>>6332378
That's not the odds of seeing one, that's the odds of being one. You probably see at least 50 people every day. Many more if you live in a city.

>>6332387
Is that going off the idea that every person carries a gun, so it's 54/50000?

>>6332396
Then the Jokers are invariably cursed. Should the other Cards have drawbacks? From the looks of things, most of the fluff on the faces seems paint them as double-edged swords, so should we have them also have (less serious) drawbacks?

>>6332452
I wrote Ace of Spades...
>>6332393

>>6332250

How about this? The Red Joker is the reset mechanism for the Deck? Should anyone amass too much of the Deck, the RJ is always able to kill them. The Red Joker is the knife in the back, the poison in the food, the straight embodiment of a kill that comes from nowhere and leaves no trace behind.

The 'slinger is completely anonymous, unmemorable, and utterly incapable of picking up another Card. The Red Joker will protect you from the world at large, but in return it gives you the most ignoble, debasing death a 'slinger can have: old age.

>>6332460
Its more than 50000, its the whole world remember?

>>6332452
Hawk's Eye, the Queen of Spades. Unrivaled for distance accuracy; can shoot a buzzard out of a noonday sky even if it's just a fly-sized black speck in a sea of cloudless blue.

>>6332442

The time had come. The ranch house was filled with the sound of conversing men, none of them knowing why they were invited nor present. The food was good, even if the company was a bit odd. Each man seemed to have a peculiarity to his demeanour, almost a bit too cautious. The clock rang midnight, and there was the distinctive click of a hammer being pulled back.

The man in the black waistcoat strolled through the gore, looking at the cards and at what had been the people that they owned, collecting and cleaning each sacred firearm. It was once again time for the Shuffle.
The man smiled.

I'm out /tg/. Keep working on this. I think somebody needs to do stick this up on 1d4chan and compile the writefaggotry.

They say Red's Vengeance.

It's much like its twin, as soon as you pick it up you're a dead man. The funny thing a man might carry the Red for years and never know it, but something will invariably give it cause to come to life. Tragedy hunts the holder down, someone will bring him as low as any man can fall and kick him in the belly once he gets there, they'll take his love, take his land, beat him tell he cannot stand, and then Red comes to life.

From that day he'll be a shade, drifting through life like a leaf on the wind, but the gun will slay everyone that wronged him, killing until everyone that so much as slighted poor faceless vengeance breathes no more.

Of course, there will always be one more, the lasts thing past the lips of Red's hands is always the barrel of that damn gun.

I saw a Card once. Two, really. I didn't know it 'til later though. I was just a boy. Lil' older than five myself. I was in this little town in the Midwest, somewhere near Dodge City, cain't rightly remember exact like.

I was playin' with this girl I was keen too. We were playin' somethin' or other. That's not important though. Cause the thing is, we was playin' there, and alla sudden, this fella walking down the street falls over. Right over. Dead. Not a sound, not nothin', just dead. All the people crowded around 'im, and I was standin' back behind my daddy's legs.

When the doctor comes, he takes a look at 'im, finds a hole no bigger than my thumb, gone straight through this fella's heart.

Then there was all kindsa gasps. Cause this fella had a pistol hangin' offa his belt. One a the Cards. Five a Clubs it was. And no, I don't know what it was it could do. Never gotta chance to find out. Feller by the namea Bill White picks it up, starts goin' on about it. Then alla sudden, he falls over too, dead. That's when everone ran back inta their homes or the salloon. We just sat inside, and watched. Two bodies out there on the street.

'Til dark, hours later, when this big feller comes ridin' into town. Looks like a trapper, kinda guy you'd see out in Oregon lookin' for beaver.

So this trapper fella, he comes riding inta town, this rifle on the sida his horse. None a us think nuthin' of it, not 'til later of course. But it had to be a Card. Cause this guy, he stops nexta these two bodies, the stranger and Bill White, and he scoops of the Five a Clubs and sticks it in his pants. He knew it was there. He shot 'em. Both of 'em.

It was hours, I'm tellin' ya. On horse. Hadta've shot 'em from 10 miles away. At least.

>>6332460
That's going off of the idea (number of gunslingers)/(number of people present). I'm fairly sure that's how probability works, anyway. I dunno. So yes, 54/50000.

>>6332491
Most likely, but I'm just trying to demonstrate that without some sort of organizing/collecting force or whatnot, it's ridiculously unlikely to run into another one even in an extremely low population, assuming complete randomness.

>>6332474
Debasing for some, perfect for others. If the Black Joker is the Devil (lets roll with this for a second), living big, large, grand and glorious. Fame, glory, wealth and a savage, early end so it attracts criminals with big egos and big stuff to prove.

And we go your route - the Red Joker is a symbol of justice, or ending injustice. It's the Ying to Black Joker's Yang (Or Yang to its Ying, I dunno) then the Red Joker is a symbol of heaven and angels.

The Dealer is an unbiased third party. True balance, that's what the deck represents. Tilted neither towards good or evil, neither towards folly or success, the deck, when all together, is balanced.

The Devil has an interest though - he can't directly do anything with the Deck, but he can influence men. He's the one who organizes the game separate of the Dealer, who just wanders about any more and is mostly uninvolved. He doesn't act openly, but he does make himself felt in the temptations he offers people.

In the end its all up to the characters to make their decisions with the lives they have. For good or ill.

Instead of a 55th, just have a case for all the guns that the dealer carries. Or a gun called the Case, but that seems too silly to me.

>>6332545

How about this:

The Dealer has a holster, but no gun...

>>6332555

Any gun placed inside becomes a functional replica of whatever Card the Dealer chooses?

The house always wins, you know?

>>6332555
Cool

>>6332545
Not a bad idea at all. Not a bad idea.

After all, decks of Cards come in boxes.

>>6332545

Maybe that's what the Dealer looks like- the man carrying around a briefcase, collecting the guns and walking away...

>>6332591
And then he finds folk what got the touch of destiny about 'em
And he gives 'em a deal
'E says
"I got this here gun, probably fit you perfect. You kin have it... but 'member, someday I'll be back for it."

>>6332591
That's what I was imagining yes. Sort of a G-man feeling. Then of course he also deals them back out again.

I cursed silently. Then a little louder. Then I finally broke out with a scream that they heard back in town.

"Mister... you really need to relax." The nurse sighed. "If you keep squirming, it's gonna hurt more."

"Whiskey..."

"Right." She poured me a double of Red Jack, and I slammed it down with a sigh.

"Thanks." I reclined again, staring at my broken leg.

"Don't mention it." I had been here three days, and she had barely said anything to me besides the occasional admonition.

"You know..." My tongue finally loosened, by pressure and by drink. "I'd have felt better... if the doc had left his shotgun with you."

"It's only good to 20 yards."

"You've used it?"

"Plenty of times." A long pause.

"So what do you have?" She smiled, almost sadly - or was that pity? Condescension? My head was still foggy. And then she pulled it out... "Smythe Thirty-Five. A real Shooting Iron... the seven-shot model, isn't it?"

"The Jackpot, yeah." She smiled in a cold way, and slipped it away again.

"You a good shot?"

"Better than someone that feels safe with a shotgun."

"...really?" I loosed the vest. She turned... and then turned pale.

"Nine hells..." She stumbled, falling against the wall. "And you want me to... to PROTECT you?"

"Can't use `er properly like this. Not in pain, not weak. It'll finish me." Silence.

"I thought those things made you..."

"Gods on earth?" I laughed. "Nah. Not the Eight of Diamonds. It'll make you fast... make you strong. Hell, you can even shoot around corners once you've got the hang of it... but it tears you up after." I shook my head. "I'm too old for `er."

Almost five minutes passed before I handed the Gun to her.

"Her name's Lucy. We'll start trainin' you as soon as I can get on crutches."

So the King of Hearts is a curse of madness, driving it's bearer to suicide? In exchange for lighting reflexes and quick draw?

The Queen of Hearts is what? Stoic slinging, the ability to shoot and keep shooting no matter what injuries you sustain until ultimately you bleed to death, and it's curse is a irresistible blood lust.

so, what, does the dealer just come and pick up a Card if the wielder died and no one was around to claim it?

or does he take it no matter what, even if another Card bearer is just bending over to snatch it?

can a Gunslinger take on an heir, someone he'll pass on his Card to if he gets the chance? or does the dealer come by to present a Card to the apprentice, fancy box and all the accouterments?

>>6332223

So I'm sitting in a saloon outside 'a Taloosa. I'd come into town an hour ago, just catching a quick drink before hitting the trail, trying to keep the law off my back.

So this mountain of a man walks in, jus' reekin' of gin, slams his gun on the counter and yells "Any one of you yellow sonsa'bitches wanna fight?"

Now this gun of his was a massive piece, a revolver had'ta be as big as yer arm, and everyone could see the engravings down the side, and the square inlay on the handle.

The brute just grins "Tha's right. The Three o' Clubs. Nobody gonna mess with me now. I gots a Card." The whole place is silent as the grave. He swings it around, stalkin' over to a group of ladies by the end of the bar. All of us there, we knew that there was no way this was gonna end any way but badly.

Then, in the silence, a man stands up from the back of the bar and walks over. Guy's got no gun on him, he's tiny compared to the man, but all he says is "I'll take you," plain as day.

Needless to say the brute was steamed. He whips his cannon around and glares down the barrel at this little guy. But the man just stood there. Didn't flinch.

And he couldn't do it. The beast just stood there, sweating, gun out, couldn't fire, couldn't even move. And then, even weirder, the man just shakes his head an' walks over to the big guy and whispers something, right to his ear.

She's been called the Black Bitch, The Queen of Spiders, the Bloody Queen, The Lady of the Tombstone, and whoall knows what else.

For me, though, She's simply The Lady. Some nights she sings me to sleep, others she digs her teeth into my hand and won't let me rest until near 'bout ever'one around me is pooling their blood.

I ask no questions, I tell no lies, but I still haven't the foggiest idea how the Queen of Spades came into my hand.

>>6332631
I imagine the Dealer would just be there to re-Shuffle the deck, so to speak.

Like if there were a bunch of Cards in one place he'd show up when a Slinger died and take the Card to another location so they can remain distributed.

>>6332631

I think the Dealer might only get involved if it becomes necessary - massacres that leave nobody to claim a gun, or several guns depending on the situation. He keeps them in circulation, but the game doesn't seem to require overly formalized and regulated means of inheritance. As for people carrying multiple Cards... I don't know how to deal with that. I don't think this should be like Highlander in that respect.

>>6332650

And the big guy— he stats CRYING.Jus' standing there, silently, tears down his face like a baby. And the quiet man, he takes Card, right outta his hand, and walks over to ME with it. Says "You look like you could use some firepower, boy," and puts it on the table in front o' me.

Yea, tha's it. That's how I got my Card. Not as dramatic as some of the stories ya hear, but it worked out fer me.

Who was the man? Ya know, its the damnedest thing, but for the life of me I can't remember what the guy looked like. He was just... there, ya know? So normal your eyes just slide off 'a him. Even when he was right in front o' me. Then he was gone again. But what I won't forget was what he said to me: "boy". I mean shit, I've seen plenty o' years in my time, I'm no young man no more, but the way he said that, it was like I wasn't ANYTHING to him, just a kid.

No I ain't gonna show it to ya! You daft or something?!

>>6332631
The Dealer is an enigma. Sometimes he engineers the downfall of a Gunslinger and takes the Gun. Sometimes he's just there to take the Gun... and sometimes he isn't there at all.

Some say he's the Hand of God, working everything out for the best possible outcome between him and the Devil in their terrible game. Some say he's working for the other side.

"Men, I've got a special game for you today..."

The man in the black waistcoat walked into the bar, looking around.

"You fine men will do today."

He placed his briefcase on the bar, and opened it up. Snugly packed was a revolver- a playing card of some sort, I'm thinking the five of hearts was emblazoned upon the grip. Quick as a flash he loaded six bullets and aimed it at us. Five shots, five dead men, one very astonished barkeep, and me. The sixth shot didn't take.

"It seems he's chosen you today," the man remarked. He holstered the gun and took it off, sliding the whole thing on the bar in front of me.

"Don't worry if you don't know how to use it," the man remarked. "It'll use you."

I think a general theme here needs to be that if you pick up one of the 54 you are a dead man. The old maxim "Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword" certainly applies, but the 54 start to remove the random chance of a man's life. They have destiny, and a man needs powerful will to deny it.

>>6332631
If the Dealer is always collecting them it would take all the fun out of it when two 'slingers meet and take the mystery out of finding one abandoned in the wilderness, or on a skeleton. It could just be that the guns draw people to them so they never get lost through happenstance or dying away from others.

Better if the Dealer watches and doesn't collect.

It was the damndest, almost stupidest thing I had ever seen.
See it was business as usual whenever the gang came to town, drinking, whoring, fighting all that stuff. When out of nowhere walks this Lil' Lady, had brown skin, mighta been a Muelatto, and strapped with one Pistol. Well things happened, and Jeb that sick bastard tried something, and got a Spur in the crotch fer it. He pulled out his guns and started shooting as the girl ducked behind the Bar, and then the damndest almost stupidest thing happened. He got shot, but the shot was from directly behind him, nowhere near the bar, and standing right there was that lil' lady. The gang all grabbed their guns and went after her. But she always leapt and skipped out of sight and coming back entirely out of nowhere. I was the only one she didn't shoot, she'd never aim a gun at a Gunsmith. Instead she tol' me. Tol' me what the gun could do and tol' me it's name.
Whispering Wind, the 10 of Aces. You can be anywhere you want as long as no one looking can see where you are.

>>6332704
Oh, but sometimes he does collect, and give...
But only sometimes... and ya never know WHY

>>6332703
The greatest men who ever picked up a Card were the ones who put them back down again and walked off.

If you ask me, this talk of one smith that made 'em all is horseshit. No one could make that many monsters. It's simply impossible.

Sit down an' let me tell you the truth. You see, there's a perfectly good reason why all them Guns showed up at the same time. My great-great-grandady, back when he was knee high to an ant, used to shovel coal and fetch tools for a gunsmith. His name was Obadiah Springer, and he was a real master. Everything he made was a work of art. One of the best in the world, he was.

Anyway, one night he starts yellin' at me ancestor to start the bellows and boil some coffee. He worked like a madman for seven days and seven nights, nonstop, with little food or water and no sleep. This whole time he never let anyone see what he was workin' on...

>>6332703
The fluff seems to lead that way. The guns choose their victims. If they develop an affinity for the bearer they will lessen their curse and function well. If they despise their bearer they will manipulate events to lead to their downfall.

The deal watches, and by whatever inscrutable measure he find deems you unworthy he will take your gun and give it to someone else.

>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701
>>6332701

>>6332704
Well he could be a mix, leave the gun to fate, or shuffle it to a deserving person, who knows.

Wielder of the Ace of Diamonds.

All three of them.

>>6332717
>10 of aces
>implying you're retarded

>>6332751
I like the Idea of one of the aces being twins or maybe even triplets. They don't take kindly to being split up, but whenever the holder of them dies, the Dealer makes sure they get split up. Seems he knows they tend to find their way back.

"You're not getting the gun."

"It's time, Earp."

"I don't think so."

"You've had your fun with the Ace... but you made three mistakes. First, you got greedy."

"I just did my job."

"Little too eagerly."

"Debatable."

"...second... you assumed that no one could take the gun from you."

"I outshot Red."

"You weren't meant to."

"Funny how it worked out then, ain't it?"

"THIRD... you covered the mark. You made the world think that it was just a pearl-handled shooting iron."

"Seemed like a smart move."

"It wasn't, Wyatt. It was dumb. Dumb as a coyote that's been mule kicked one too many times."

"Why do you figure?"

"I branded them for a reason. The legend... "

"What about the legend?"

"I like the legend."

"Hm. You know, the legend says that an Ace can gun down the devil itself."

"Does it, now?"

"I think I should find out, Dealer."

"He... heh...."

"Mm?"

"Go ahead, my dear Wyatt. Go ahead."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...New York Times has reported that part of the outskirts of Dodge City was obliterated by mishandled nitroglycerin, resulting in 50 casualties, half of which were from a mine cave-in from the shockwave. Among the dead were noted lawman...

Is it a good thing I'm thinking of the Guns in the same way I think of Stands?

>>6332765
You're retarded

what do we have so far?

>>6332786
Seconded

>>6332717
For those of you who were left a little confused the Ten of Aces basically grants the wielder Short Range Teleportation, but only as long it's wielder is unseen and only to spots where the wielder is unseen. Basically it's a little like that Scene in The Three Amigos, without all the sewing.

>>6332786
I second that motion

>>6332809
>ten of aces

Why are you so retarded?

>>6332809
no one's confused, it's a gun that lets you bamf, that's all well and good. The issue is that you seem to think that Aces are a suit.

>>6332787
A plethora of ideas, rumors, tall tales, contradictions, and legends. In other words, exactly what you'd get out of sitting around a saloon for a day.

>>6332809
>Ten of Aces

You've never actually seen a deck of cards, have you? There's no such card as a "ten of aces". Idiot. GTFO.

>>6332736
This means there are people who used to be wielders but survived until they were taken out of the game. How would they interact with players and the other new card-holders?

>>6332787
There are 54 Cards: each one a firearm with possibly supernatural qualities. Each one corresponds to a playing card (including the two jokers, the Red and the Black). There are both advantages and drawbacks.

There are some 2,000 or so regular guns, decent but they pale in comparison to the Cards.

There are countless slugthrowers, basically homemade zip guns lying around. Count yourself lucky if you don't maim yourself.

There is the Dealer. Not much is known about him/her, including his or her existence. Also referred to as the 55th card or holding the 55th card. Most of the details of this will probably be left to the GM.

>>6332774
Seems like the dealer would say less than that...

>>6332774
Epic misfire?

>>6332822
I screw up Aces and Spades a lot.
So it's the Ten of Spades not aces.

>>6332727

By the end of the week he was razor thin and gaunt as a ghost. His eyes were all glazed over and he collapsed at his workbench. Me granpappy tried to rouse him, but to no avail. He was dead as a doornail.

Anyhow, the youngster was about to call for help when he caught site of something shining.

Right there on the bench were four beautiful silver revolvers, each unique and a work of high art. The boy went and picked one up, turned it around and around in his hand, and marveled at it's beauty.

Eventually, he spotted a small sigil on the butt of handle, a tiny little rectangle enclosing a little clover thingy (I think it's called a "club" in cards) and the number "4."

He was about to take a look at the other ones, when a raggedy man strode in and pushed him aside. Quick as a wit he snatched the three guns on the table and hide 'em somewhere in his coat. The he turned around and stared my ancestor right in the eye.

They both glanced at the gun in the boys hand, then met each others glare again. The boy squeezed the pistol to his chest and shook his head.

The man gave him a devilish smile and turned about. He strode back out of the smithy laughing like a man possessed.

My great-great-something-grandaddy went on to use that pistol. It even took on his name.

"The Duke."

Yessiree. I'm the descendant of the great Johny Eastwood.

Now...

do you want me to shoe your horse, or not?

>>6332774
It seems good, but I can't really imagine the Dealer being that talky- or, for that matter, negotiating.

>>6332835
I get that (although I'd think there are a fair few more than 2000 standard guns) I'm asking which guns are down so far.

I was there the day it happened. Grace's Card and old Roland fought.

It was a great and terrible beauty. The sound of powder screaming to the Heavens. Roland the Jack of Diamonds, kept firing. Never reloaded just round after round. Hammers flying as the boy he rode seemed to not even aware he was there. He had surrendered himself body and soul till there was only the Gun. My maam kept trying to pull me from the window, screaming and hysterical. I couldn't let her, most people will never see a Card, let alone to dueling. As implacably persistent as Roland was, he was no match for the Six of Hearts that day. The old woman who carried Grace's Card, couldn't have been a day under fifty, just kept laughing and dancing. Yes dancing. Every shot missed her, as she spun and whirled, she seemed to age before my eyes. Still the maddening laughter continued. Finally she had danced to within feet of the boy Roland rode, and with a florish of her gun hand, seemed to flick a round right between his eyes.

With the final crack of a round the boy fell dead. The woman slowed as she holstered Grace's Card. Now she truly seemed ancient. Picking up her cane she turned and left town. Slowly the townsfolk left their rooms to examine the carnage.

Not a single bystander had been shot in the duel.

Well that was untill some of the local toughs started fighting over Roland.

>>6332827
I said it before, I screwed up Aces with Spades, get off my back.

Reposting so it isn't stolen.
Now with stats!
White Crow
6-Chambered Revolver
Power - 2
Speed - 5
Precision - 4
Tricks - 3

"So, you heard? Yeah, I've got one. Take it if you got the balls."The man looked young, but the hardness in his eyes betrayed his age."This here's the Jack of Hearts. Also called the White Crow. Sure, it looks normal, but you won't even see me draw it to shoot you dead."The man sat forward."I'd be lying if I said I knew how it did it. MY hands don't move that fast..." He stood up."Well, what're ya waitin' for, kid? We gonna fight or are you gonna wise up? No? Fair enough. I can tell you now that you won't see the next sunrise. This gun is named after an omen of death for a reason."

>>6332877

But it's so comfy up here!

>>6332863
I can see him being pretty damn talky if he where the Devil. Might not deign to speak to us mortal folk, but I think he might spare a few words when Wyatt Fucking Earp tries to shoot him with one of the Aces.

>>6332774
Awesome.

>>6332766
Well if were going by the number to gun list from the last thread, 5's and 6's are twin pistols, which could make for some cool standoffs or even partners.

Trying to flesh out the world a bit more, besides the Cards:

Winston Smyth

If you ain't got a Card, chances are you've got your hands on one'a Smyth's fine creations, hot off the 'lines out East in the civilized lands. He makes 'em cheaper than anyone else, so just about anyone can get one. Rifles, pistols, shotguns, big or small, you name it, Smyth and Co. makes it. He's got a deal with the Law back East, too; you get in a run-in with the army, and chances are you'll be meeting Mr. Smyth's newest.

But you know what I heard? Owning the gun trade? Havin' more money than any o' us'll ever see? Hobnobbin' with the President and all them rich Guvernment folks? That ain't enough for ol' Mr. Smyth. I heard, he's been sending more and more men out here, men with some weird guns likes I've never seen, and you know what they're looking for? Yea, that's right. The 54. I dun think he's gotten his hands on any of 'em yet, but I wonder. What would happen, if he managed to take one of those mothers apart? Would we have another Dealer on our hands?

>>6332812
>>6332790
>>6332786
>You're retarded

Fine.

Deleted since it seems so utterly offensive to you guys. I was just going to write a tale of a normal man sucked into the world of super powered guns.. all aimed at him for one stupid lie.. but fine.

So, what do you guys think of this?

The Guns were made independently by different smiths across the globe, but all around the same time. The only things consistent in the stories are that they suddenly acted crazy and forged a few guns all at once, then died. After that, either the weapons were taken by greedy people around them, or a mysterious man walked in and took them without saying anything.

Were the designs sent as miracles from God, or a curse from the Devil? Who knows?

So there are 54 guns if unsurpassed quality and power, each of a powerful will and possessed of unique abilities. To own such a weapon is a death sentence, but some take it gladly.

These guns are kept in circulation by a gestalt of G-Man and Satan.

Can I play this? Like now?

>>6332945
I don't see any problems with it, for the most part

>>6332307

Incoming Shitty Writefaggotry.

You know I came to this town to get away, figured a small town in the mountains would give me a little peace. Never had a problem with bandits. Everyone just lived their lives, content with what they had. I don't don't know what I did but the Lord saw fight to take it away from me.

It was a quiet day as usual when the Gunslinger came to town. Everyone tried to ignore him but power like that has a way of keeping your attention. He sat alone in a corner of the saloon, ignoring everyone in favor of his bottle of whiskey. But just to drive the fact he sought solitude home, he put his iron down on the table. A shotgun bigger than I've ever seen. It was covered in dust and grime. Hardly seemed like he could lift it let alone fired it. But he just hefted off his back one handed and let it fall heavy on the table. Everyone turned to stare while he cleared his throat.

"This here's the 9 of Spades, "The Earth's Cry". A genuine Card. Now if y'all know what they're capable of, I'd oblige ya to keep your eyes to y'all selves."

And so we did. Everyone kept to themselves for the next 2 days. We kept clear of the inn and no one caught his eyes. It was uneasy but it was peaceful.

Until another Card came.

>>6332945
..Do all of their creators have to be dead? I like the idea of some of them being around to tell the Guns current Wielder about meeting the Dealer and jazz like that.

That man over there? Master tracker and hunter, always bringing in fresh furs and deer and the like to sell. Lived way out, all on his own. He was in town one day when a bunch of bandits came in, Firing their guns up in the air, said the town was their's and they would kill everyone here ifn we didn't pony up all our money. Leader of them had one of the cards,the deuce of hearts, pretty little pistol, shiny too. Puts a bullet in a mans heart everytime. The hunter walked out of the saloon, his rifle in hand. A solid lever action rifle, nothing special looking about it. He takes one look at the bandits and the leader, and raises his rifle. The leader had his gun out in a flash and they just stood there looking at each other. Then the leaders head exploded, but there was no sound, in quick succession all the other bandits fell down, from shot unseen and unheard. Everyone just looked at the hunter who only looked grimly at the result. He picked up the six of hearts and stuffed it in his belt, no one was gonna question him taking it. He came back in the saloon and got his drink and we went back to our business as the undertaker began his. Rumor is that the hunter has the Jack of Spades, one of the cards just like the leader, which is completely silent and reloads so fast you can't even see it happen.

i wrote this trash before i saw someone had written about the six of hearts, so i apologize to that person, but i'm too lazy to try and change it

>>6332945

I don't think even that much should be known. The actual forging of the guns is a mystery. I do prefer the idea that they all came from a single source, though, being the Dealer. It completes the whole "Card" motif so much better.

>>6332961
Only if I can roll Revolver Ocelot.

Seriously, that seems like a good example of what Diamonds would let you do. Ricochet shots, dual (triple?) wield, play Russian Roulette by juggling three guns at once, etc.

Now you lissen here, son, because there's a good few hours left of life for you yet, and I ain't one to send a man to his death without a word as to why.

There's three things that not even a fool does in this here town. You don't play rough with the ladies at Old Sal's. There's no funny business with the cards at Ringo's. And there ain't ever gonna be a merc band callin' theyselves the Dead Man's Hand.

Now you're a kid who's got a taste for history, and that ain't so bad a thing, but you wasn't here the time the real Dead Man's Hand showed up, a good twenny years back near enough. We didn't cotton on to who they was at first, they looked like any one of the mmerc bands, 'cept a bit more hard-bitten than most. Still, they was polite, they paid their tab, and they kept their pieces in their pockets, so we was happy enough to have them. And when they asked where Radcliffe was, we told them Cliffy lives in the old house near the edge of town, and off they went to see 'im.

"Pull." I heard the coin roll off his fingertips as he threw it as hard as he could. My arm lashed out of its own accord, and drew the trigger. I heard the telltale high crack of the Five, and then, off in the distance, a soft PTING.

Right through the center.

"Holy hells." Mac had the Three of Hearts himself, hardly a stranger to the oddities of the Cards. But still, he was blown away by the Five of Diamonds. Why, I'll never know. He lowered his binoculars, squinting. "Bullseyed it without looking!"

"The ears." I gestured upwards. "Makes `em sharp. Not bad as far as a party trick goes."

"Or a barfight."

"Knock out the lamps..."

"And you're the only one that can shoot straight."

"Damn. I've been out too long, didn't think of that." The Good Lord did not bless me with excessive brains. Or adequate brains. But I still got by.

"So... the question is, what do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Mac hopped back on the horse. "Two Gunslingers. Both with a Card. Seems there's some fate at work there."

"Probably." I laughed. "Hell if I can figure out what it's pushing us towards."

"Well... where were you going?"

"In all honesty? I just want to get back to New Orleans. I have an inheritance to collect."

Mac nodded. "Trouble in the Big Easy, then."

"How do you figure? I'm picking up my great uncle's..." It was then that it hit me. "Wait, just because... you don't think..."

"We've got Cards. Fate is pushing us to go where we're needed!"

"The Lord moves in mysterious ways."

"FATE!" Mac laughed as he spurred the horse. Frankly, I was convinced that he was completely insane. But he might be right. Maybe. I pulled my shirt back over my gut, and slung myself back onto Bobo. Time to get riding...

>>6332961
58-62 guns, by my count.

And I'm still of the opinion that the Devil is just trying to manipulate the people who own them, not that he himself is the Dealer.

A Card Deck is balanced and random. If the Jokers are the Wildcards (Black is glory and death, Red is anonymity and life for extinguishing evil), and each card has a drawback that balances the advantage given, then it's all about balance and order.

The Dealer only appears to redistribute the Deck and keep the Cards from accumulating in one spot, but he doesn't take overt action.

However this doesn't stop the Devil from assuming this identity, or a similar one, to perpetuate his Game.

>>6332976

His arrival was almost serene compared to the other Gunslinger. No one would have noticed if it wasn't for the Nine of Spades rising. He said nothing, didn't even look at us. He simply picked up his Gun, loaded it, and stepped outside. His every moment spoke of murder. A few of the more brave ones waited a few seconds before rushing to the windows. I myself would have kept to my seat if it weren't for what happened next. I toppled from my chair like the ground itself was rioting. I took a look outside and I don't think I've slept a wink since. They stood a few paces away from each other. They didn't say a word, just staring. The first 'Slinger had his shotgun levered over his shoulder. The earth was torn all around his feet. Across from him was another Gunslinger, tall of frame and pale of face. He held a rifle down his side, sparks dancing across the barrel. Before I could make sense of it, he spoke.

"Three of Diamonds, "Thunderous Fanfare" You killed one of my Hand. I'm here to return the favor."

And as he finished he pulled his rifle up to his shoulder, quicker than I could see. The shot was fired with the crack of thunder and the smell of ozone. And just as quick he fired two more shots off into the sky. There was a loud ping and a spark on our water tower. He had ricochet a shot off the tower, attacking from two sides.

Meanwhile the Nine of Clubs merely smiled as the shots struck the ground where he had been. He had thrown himself to the side, propelled off a mound that hadn't been there before. His shotgun fired twice with the sound of a rock slide, catching the tall man across his arm.

The Three of Diamonds didn't seem phased, he just gritted his teeth and fired at a spot far too near the saloon for my liking. It struck the ground right before the Nine landed and what happened next I still can't believe. He merely smiled and brought his hand up to his eyes.

>>6332978

How about dead, crazy, or just disappeared (maybe even walked out with the Dealer with a smile on their faces)?

Still enough inconsistency to make it interesting.

And that's about when we figured it. They stroll up, calm as you please, and the tall one with the big duster pulls out 'is Piece, a sawn-off shotgun. That's what they calls the ones the artisans make, see, 'cause they're a piece- o' work. This one was special, though, looked just like the Eight of Clubs. He fired it just once, and we saw that this weren't no copy, but the real thing. No pellets, just those blast of wind or somesuch, tore the shack to pieces and blasted apart everything inside it but the iron safe and Cliffy be'ind it. And it didn't stop there neither, but went through Old Sal's and made a mess of every poor bastard on the ground floor 'fore it collapsed on them. Couple of the ladies and a feller was with them got out soaked in blood, and they was the lucky ones.

Now I'm movin', and I ain't so slow else it'd be you lect'ring me, but 'fore I can even reach for my iron Cliffy's up, and it turns out the daft bastard's not half the fool he pretended, 'cause he's got his hand on another Card, looked like the Queen o' diamnods or somethin'. He spins the cylinder an' pulls that trigger, and it sounds like a damned stampede or something with more bullets than are in this town comin' out the business end.

These cold bastards don't even move, and the short one pulls a pistol, ornate as anythin', and it ain't nothin' if it aint the Ace of Spades, 'cause he shoots down ev'ry last one o' Cliffy's shots before they hit, like somethin' outta a bad novel. The shots go wild, and any poor bastard dumb enough to have come to look cops it, and a couple who was hiding anyway. Couldn't hear none o' what Cliffy was yellin' over them screams.

Alright, finished removing my retardness from both threads.

Is that better guys?

So Cliffy hides behind the safe, and I see him reloadin' just six shots despite what he'd just sent downrange, and waiting for one o' them fellers to come in sight. 'Cept, they don't.

The thin one takes out this rifle, real long, real smooth, and Eight of Spades done down the side in this fancy silver. He lines up on the safe, and takes a shot. All you hear is a gongin loud enough to drown out the screams 'cause that bullet musta gotten inside it, and then a tink and a yell as it somehow comes out the back and hits Cliffy in the hand. He grabs his Card in his good hand, and makes off like a bat outta hell. I had my own iron out by now, but damned if I was gonna take a shot at Cliffy and I know it ain't good for the health to be linin' a shot on those fellers. If folk with a Card can't do it, then I got no business tryin'.

So Cliffy's leggin' it, and they ain't movin'. The big one with the coat like them Germans wore takes out an iron, or what looks like it. It ain't fancy, or special, and looks like any ole one I can find at Sam's when he gets a cart in. 'Cept I know this one's special, because there's just something about it, you know, lookin' at it. It sends the part of your brain what knows when to shoot and when to duck screamin', and yet it looks so Goddamned beautiful you can't bear to look away. And that's when I figure out that right there is the Ace of Clubs, the Trump Card what beats all the others and never has to fire a second shot.

He pulls it out, and aims it like he don't care, then pulls the trigger. There ain't a bang, barely even a whisper, and Cliffy drops. No drama, no gore, not even blood. He just falls like God hisself reached down and turned him off like a lantern.

>>6332976
>>6333000
Now this whole fiasco was sometime midday, under a bright blue sky. But I'll be damned if the Nine wasn't damn near turned to dust by a bolt of lightning. The smell of gunpowder and burning flesh. A still Gunslinger covered in blood and dirt. I don't think a soul in that saloon moved a muscle. We just stood there and watched as he walked up to the Nine's charred body.

"That little stunt 'll cost me. But it was worth it. I lost a comrade but I think this might take off the sting."

He pried the Gun from the corpse's smoking fingers. I don't think he even noticed us as he left. He just loaded up his horse and rode off, a dusty wind following in his trail.

But come to think of it, I'd rather not have the attention of a man with two Guns.

And then this fifth one appears. No idea where he'd been 'cause we'd only seen four of these folks, but there's somethin' about him that tells you he's been here all along. All five of 'em walk up to Cliffy, the fifth takes back the Queen o' Diamonds, and each lays a card on 'is back and walk away. And when I'm done trying to keep things calm and get the Doc savin' a couple of the poor folk what got caught up in this, I go and take a look. Sure enough, the cards are right there, Queen Diamonds, Eight Spades, Eight Clubs, Ace Spades, Ace Clubs. And then it hits me; that was the Dead Man's Hand. We got a visit from a merc crew right outta Goddamned kids stories, and that they'd only killed a quarter the damned town was a mercy.

And that's why I gotta do this, kid. Your buddies are dead, but I ain't cruel. I sent 'em off quick. I just wanted you to know why you had to go. You're goin' because we learned a damned important lesson that day. You don't steal from the Dead Man's Hand, and you don't let nobody who does live. Else they'd come for you, and that'd be the ruin of all of us. They already came here once, and they ain't gonna appreciate a second visit.

Now you just hold still, and I'll make this quick.

OP of first thread here.

Hitting the hay soon... I've never seen /tg/ leap on an idea so eagerly. Except maybe Ruby Quest, or WalPocalypse.

Keep going - at this rate, we'll have a full sourcebook churned out by Saturday. Hell, maybe even a full RPG.

Even if they don't have the same creator, there should be certain things that ring similar through the entire deck. At the same time, each card needs to have a uniqueness about it, which supports the idea of having different creators, who were perhaps their first wielders. The Dealer was similarly taken by a mood, and made a case with 54 specially shaped spaces, shaped for guns he hadn't seen yet. The guns could come from all over the world, even.

How is the rest of the world doing, anyways? Are the Cards the first instance of weapons like this being created? Was there a cycle of Tarot-swords during the European Renaissance, or is this the first time that something supernatural has happened like this? Maybe it happened before and there is no record, but I'm a big-picture perfectionist faggot who likes to consider everything, so here I am.

>>6333039

The problem is you need to work on this big picture before you explode it so large that nobody cares any more.

>>6332983

But "real" dealers don't make the cards, they just, well, deal them. But "real" casinos do have cards made for them (sometimes w/ their own logos on the back, or custom art), and also EMPLOY the dealers.

It was just a thought though...

maybe it would work well as a rumor.

>>6333001
That sounds a bit better. But I think there should be at least one or two where they didn't completely lose it or die. Said gunsmith would have to be a pretty unnerving son of a gun himself.

Tarot blades? Nah. Nothing like that. Oh, there were rumors of high magic back in the old days, and they still say that the three swords of the Crown Jewels of England are enchanted, but God knows if that's true. Lots more mysticism in the orient, none that I'd know of - I haven't been to California in years, that's the best gateway to the east that I know of.

>>6333069
I had the idea a moment ago that the Dealer was the original merchant who sold the 54. As a result he's cursed to watch over them and ensure that no one gets too many of them in their possession or that too many of them concentrate in one place, but at the same time he's incapable of destroying them.

>>6333060

I never looked at it that way. Everyone can disregard me now.

Does each Suit have a certain similarity, or each Number? If they are capable of dealing with each other long enough, such elements might lead to people getting superiority complexes about their own suit, while making fun of the others. Jokers have nothing like this, but they are probably lunatics anyways.

>>6333039
We should just keep it in the wild west. The Gunsmith made the Guns, the Dealer deals them out. The grand scheme of things is probably better suited for whatever the DM wants it to be.

>>6333039

All of them, despite their different styles, put identical card marking on each of their creation (although each with a different number and suit).

The Dealer still needs to be an almost divine mystery, with no explanation or fluff other than his name, his immortality, and his job of "Shuffling" dead peoples' guns.

At least I think so...

>>6333004

>>6333001

"Samuel."

Colt didn't bother looking up from his work to reply. "The door was closed, can't you see that? I'm busy right now, come back later."

"Samuel, it's time."

Colt looked up from his work and laid his eyes upon the man. Almost completely insignificant, the man walked up and put his briefcase upon the work table. Colt shook his head and continued working. "This is going to be my last, then."

"Yes."

"It... it was good while it lasted, I suppose." With a red-hot blade Colt put the finishing touches on his life's work- a symbol on the bottom of his life's work. A♦. The man takes the revolver and lays it gently in his briefcase.

"Come now, Samuel. Time to leave."

Both the man and Colt walked out the door, both in step.

"Worry not, Samuel- I'll make sure the Peacemaker ends up in good hands."

>>6333113
as I recall...

Club are best with raw firepower, Diamonds with speed, Hearts with "trickshots" like ricochets and such, and Spades with accuracy/distance.

>>6333113
Let's say that each suit is better suited to different methods. Clubs have more stopping power. Hearts are better for quick drawing. Diamonds always find their target and Spades can pull off all kinds of tricky shots.

>>6333140
Is this your Ace of Spades?

>>6333176
The problem here is that there is significant overlap between 'always find their target' and 'trick shots', ricochet shots being a prime example and bullets curving to hit their target being another.

>>6333176
>>6333140
regardless, the general idea is that the suites designate a trait. Maybe the numbers designate a make? All the ____ are Shotguns, all the ____ are rifles and so forth?

Regardless I think the aces need to be pistols.

What I think is a good idea is to make a big old chart. All the numbers get one quality, all the suits get another, combine them and you have your gun, subject to tweaking for game balance/making it unique.

>>6333140
Pretty sure there was some Writefaggotry contrary to that though, A Club card and a Spade card don't really have powers that have anything to do with Accuracy or Power.

>>6333209

Remember, in this case "always finds its target" could mean "from 10 miles away" or "through solid objects", and "trick shot" means anything from firing in opposite directions to bullets phasing in and out of existence to guns that shoot lightning instead of bullets.

FUCK YEAH.

>>6333242
Luckily for us, canon works by consensus, not by whoever writes/posts it first.

>>6333209
Good point. I guess we could try and define them more. Accuracy as far as sharpshooting and long distance. And trick shots like ricochets and something like more theatrical shots. Hitting a knee cap at 60 paces is accurate. Shooting someone's gun out of their hand is tricky.

Perfect? No. Workable? Perhaps.

>>6333222
Aces should be representative of the peak of their category. The Sharps Rifle I posted for the long range and accuracy for Ace of Spades, a Derringer for Heart, a pistol for Diamond, and a Shotgun for Club.

Just as basic examples.

>>6333255
That- yeah, that seems like that works.

>>6333222
Aces need to be derringers.

You know, ace up your sleeve and all that.

>>6333280

I think the traits should be mostly reasonable, nothing SUPER SPECTACULAR except when you get up into Face Cards and of course the Wild Cards.

Maybe the number designates magnitude?

"So, like I said, it was around dawn when we were halfway through the pass in the hills. You know the place, about a half mile or so out of town, its a narrow ass path, rocky and hotter than hell in the summer 'cause theres no wind. Well, I was coming back from tradin' in the lower rim, corn always gets a good price down there, and while i'm over there, I met this little slip of a woman.

No Jeb, it wasnt like that, calm down already.

See, she wanted a ride north, and thats where I was going, and it wouldnt be gentleman like to not offer, would it? I figgered it'd be nice to have someone to talk to, but she didnt say much on the way up, just sat there in the back of the wagon, wearin' this big poncho, looking out at the hills, probably thinking about some boy she has somewhere.

When, just as the sun is starting to come up, we get jumped. Bandits, it was like they just melted out of the dirt itself. In a flash I got a knife to my throat, and up the road there was a rifle pointed at my face.

Things looked bad, clearly. Thats when it happened.

>>6333113

All the suits have a common sort of style to them, and if described alone, are actually very similar. The difference comes when they are put in the hands of their wielders. The gunslingers all have their own style, and that style combines with the suit of the Card to produce a unique power. This is something of they mythos of the cards; that they are mostly considered as nollocks because the stories change all the time. Few realise the stories change all the time because the weapons change. A marksman with a Club will have a rifle that can shoot as far as he can see and kill whatever it hits, if he can see, or an assassin might have a revolver that can kill people through walls if he knows where to put it, but a hunter might have a shotgun that can put down literally anything in a single shell.

The suit of Clubs is about Power. They are extremely powerful weapons, and that times the user tells what they can do.

The suit of Hearts is about perfect accuracy, hence, aim for the heart. If you can put a bullet in someone, it will put that bullet in someone. But you are still restrained by the caliber and range of the weapon.

The suit of Spades is about trickshots and fancy pulling. It plays with probability, but can't do the impossible. An assassin might be able to kill people around corners, where a lawman might be able to shoot someone with his gun still in the holster.

The suit of Diamonds is about speed. A hunter might gain icnredible speed himself using the rifle, a duelist will be able to draw stupendously fast, and a badnit will be able to put out shitloads of shots.

Basically, take your person, take your suit's trait, and see what they make up.

>>6333240

That ruins the fun. I think we should just leave it open.

Define the most powerful guns: the Red and Black Jokers and the Aces. Then let the rest be up to the GM and the players. Make "Card" creation be an entire step of Character creation: the player buys it's stats and abilities the same way he does personal skills. If not, you take away half the fun.

>>6333303
One of the bandits noticed the girl, not that she was hiding anyway, and the rest of them started laughin' in a way that'd chill you, even in august at noon in the desert. You didnt need any real schooling to know what they had in mind. I looked back at her, and she was standing up in the back of the wagon, still with that poncho draped over her, couldnt even see her arms. One of those guys was yellin' at her to get down, when she started moving, quick as lightning. All of a sudden she's got a gun in her hand, I didnt even see her draw it, a biggun too. She snapped off two shots, then jumped off the wagon, shooting again as she did. Three guys dead before the shooting even really got started.

It was fast, I couldnt really see cause it was still dark inbetween those hills. But I know she got the one with the knife at my throat right twix the eyes, and the one with the rifle in the heart, he only was able to shoot once anyway.

When it was over, she walked up to me, still with the gun in her hand. She thanked me for the ride, and then I saw it, the card on the handle. One of the 54, no lie, I swear on my brothers grave. She thanked me for the ride up here, and told me that she would walk the rest of the way. No foolin'"

TL;DR: POOR QUALITY WRITEFAGGOTRY THAT DOESNT EVEN NAME THE GUN CAUSE I DONT KNOW CARDS. THE GUNS POWER IS THAT IT DOESNT NEED TO BE DRAWN, ITS JUST "THERE" WHEN NEEDED, GIVING THE WIELDER THE TIME FOR THAT SPLIT SECOND SHOT.

ALSO: 200 POASTS, AUTOSAGIN'

>>6333290
That's a bad pun and you should feel bad.

>>6333283
I like it.

I'm thinking the twos should be the smaller, more concealable derringer-type guns- either that, or we could have those as the split pistols.

>>6333222
probably not. if you make type designations for each suits it limits PC building more than necessary. plus, not having it can lead to interesting combinations (spade shotgun being able to cause each individual pellet to hit exactly where you want it for example)

It's always fully reasonable for an individual DM to just have their own charts or whatever for each gun anyways.

How do the Jokers work, randomly get one of the super-high-tier abilities on draw?

>>6333290
naw, the Aces need to be an exemplary representation of their suits, both in function and in form.

the Noisy Cricket was funny, once. four of them, all revered from the start, would be silly.

>>6333242
Well the powers are what sets the Guns apart. Two Guns could be just as powerful. Except one sets fire to the air and another lets the Gunslinger always find cover. The stats are what the Guns are good at. The powers are what makes them capital g Guns.

Only card I ever saw was a two. I figure it must've been the spade, though the guy didn't say. He was doing trick shots for spare change - shoot an apple off your head, that kind of crazy shit. Had a kid with him. When it looked like things were starting to wind down, he takes this kid and says to him, "Son, go take this walnut and stand down there." Now one of the deputies, who'd been watching this whole thing, had decided he's had enough - I mean, who shoots at a kid?

So he goes to say something and starts to pull his piece, and this crazy son of a bitch has turned and snapped off a shot just as quick at you like. No one really says or does anything till the deputy starts hollarin.' Fella was yellin, "He shot my balls!" and rolling around in the dirt. The guy, the kid, and his gun were gone by then.

I heard that the shot'd literally taken the deputy's balls off. That, and nothing else. If a two can do that in the hands of some young buck street performer, what the hell would a King do?

>>6333318
>AUTOSAGIN'

Anyone archived this one?

>>6332945
This idea is much more appealing than the dealer being the one who made all of the guns. Now to get stories for the smiths.

I don't like the idea of just having each smith go crazy, make a lot of awesome guns, die, and then having greedy people grab up the guns, or the dealer coming to collect.

This is awesome for one smith, but the other three should should have different circumstances. I'll start writing one up, but I'm a slow writefag.

>>6333368
its on sup/tg/.

New thread at >>6333385
in which I misspell 'convenience'.

>>6333344
>Except one sets fire to the air
Global firestorm, everyone dies.

>>6333368
No Autosagin' till 250, I think.

Plenty of time to dump some more old West guns before I hit the sack.

Whatcha guys want, cap and ball or cartridge guns?

>>6333371

Who said anything about four smiths? Maybe there are 54, maybe twelve, maybe nineteen. No one knows.

He stumbled into our room with eyes like a deer caught in a thunderstorm. I'd heard a couple screams from downstairs, figured someone had just been caught cheating or drank some of the bad stuff what made 'em see demons and the like.

My friend told me different. Told me we had to pack, get out of this town, maybe we could reach the California border in a couple days. I'm sittin' here, puzzled as fuck, no sooner than the word "why" came outta my mouth than he just started ramblin' on.

"There's a Card in this inn," he started, "and we'd best not even try to look at the guy what has it." I looked at 'im for a sec, movin' my hand so he'd go on. He sits down, pours himself a drink, and downs it in one gulp before continuing.

>>6333407
Haha, yeah. But then again magic isn't exactly a huge fan of physics.

I found the idea of one smith, the dealer, who is also potentially Old Nick himself the best.

>>6333420
Cartridge all the way

Forgive my intrusion, eloquen/tg/entlemen, but while I'm in agreement with the idea of the Dealer being Mr. Gun 55, where he is the power, not the weapon, I'd like to think that meeting the Dealer should be a point of either VERY good, or VERY bad luck. The dealer certainly wants the deck...but he can't HAVE it. He can't USE it. If the dealer tries to take one of the deck from a dead man, the gun disappears, appearing elsewhere. IF the dealer beats one of the gunmen in a duel, with the gun as the prize, and does so without killing the man, THEN he can get the weapon...

And whenever that happens, the city disappears off of the map.

More to the point, I LIKE the idea of Certain Flashy Death/Protection with anonymity of the joker dynamics. I also would hazard that the King of Clubs, if it is a shotgun, is a weapon designed to be the ugliest sonnuvabitch around, and the gun does NOT require ammo to shoot...but it DOES require 'feeding'. You beat someone with that barrel, and they WILL go down in a heap. Hold the open tip to the corpse, and you'll hear things the likes of which the world was not meant to hear...and you'll have a shell for each year the victim lived. However, the King don't eat what it didn't kill with a touch - if you shoot a man with the King of Clubs, it won't consume the body. You have to beat the fucker to death to appease the King's appetite.

>>6333385 yo

>>6333459
Dealer made the Aces, Devil made the Black Joker. Nobody knows who made the Red Joker... guess the Red erased him just like it had everyone else tied to it.

>>6333459
I disagree, I never liked the idea of Satan ever taking a direct role in fucking with things.

>>6333460
Cartridges it is.

The King of Clubs is a hand-cranked gatling gun. Most stories tell of it being wielded by a mad Russian the literal size of a bear.

I wonder, have we gotten smokeless powder in the setting yet? Or are we still using black powder and loading our colts with .44-40?

>>6333493

The numbers represent the power. A Two is a better gun than you'll ever see in a Piece, but not excessively powerful. Up to Ten you get special traits, five being remarkable and ten being to the extreme. Once you hit the Faces, you get actual abilities, the capacity to do something that just isn't possible, like shooting more than six shots from a Diamonds six-shooter or having control over the spread of a Spades shotgun.

The suits do matter, and they work like in poker. Dimaonds, Spades, Hearts, Aces. Still, like in poker, having good cards is one thing but being able to play them is crucial. If the Gunslinger is better, they can outdo a better Card.

Diamonds are the weakest. Speed is good, but being lucky is better. A lucky quickdraw beats a fast quickdraw. A lucky shot can shoot down incoming rounds. Lucky can do things speed can't.

Clubs is good, but Hearts beats it. Lucky only makes unlikely killshots more likely, accuracy makes them certain. Being lucky is like being good sometimes, being good is being good all the time.

Hearts loses out to Spades. Spades, and sheer power, trumps. You can kill a Spades-holder first, and you had better pray you do. Once they fire, you are dead. You can't trickshot a Spades bullet out of the air, it has too much force for that. You can't outrun them, or dodge them, although if you're fast you can be out of the way before they fire. You can shoot a Spades-holder all you like with Hearts, but unless you kill him before he fires, you're dead. Brute force trumps.

Naturally, though, the nature of these sutes is such that the weaker a suit is, the less likely the user will rely just on it. Spades users become overconfident more easily than hearts, more easily than clubs, more easily than diamonds. Being a bad gunslinger is not something you can compenstae for all the way just by having a more powerful Card.

>>6333508
He calls it "Sacha"

>>6333501
I say we keep organized religion out of this. Some may say the Dealer is the devil but he's something no one will ever understand.

>>6333541
Numbers do not represent power. a 3 is about as powerful as a 9, although it has a different specialty. Face cards are more powerful in ascending order and overwhelmingly specialist. The Jokers are Deus Ex Machina Guns.

>>6333541

>>6333541

OR I COULD PROOFREAD MY SHIT.

SWAP SPADES AND CLUBS.

Nine of Diamonds, The Lord's Vengeance.

I've heard about it, yeah. Heard it goes from holy man to holy man. Preacher to Rabbi to Imam to Shaman, any man with a word edge ways toward God.

Heard it's fast, fast as lightning; more bullets than any gun could hold faster than any man could fire. Hunts the wicked, truly bad men that walk these lands. Rapists, murderers, and their ilk.

Heard it can only be used once. "The lord giveth and the lord taketh away." Every bullet hole you put in a man comes back on the shooter.

Talked to a man who saw it once. Wasn't enough left of Father MacMalholm left to put in a box, barely enough left to sweep under the deck I heard. He killed the enemies of god that day though, all thirty-seven of them, all of them bad men, very bad men. Said it happened faster than a blink of an eye.

He said an easterner came by not minutes later said words over him he couldn't understand, took his gun, and rode off. Heard he laid low another nineteen men attacking some pilgrims heading back to Jerusalem.

>>6333571

>>6333549
Like I said, "potentially."

You don't need to be a religfag to enjoy the idea of an ultimate evil/trickster using mortals for blood sport, but I agree it shouldn't be something the players know/can know.

>>6333543
I think you'd need a stock or something for that one, the barrel seems impractically huge, and leveling it with your bare hand/wrist rifle style is probably a bad idea if you don't like burns

>>6332945
So... the gunsmiths were Dorfs who went into moods?

>>6333541

I don't like the idea of there being too much of a power scale.

Jokers beat Aces, Aces beat Faces, and Faces beat plain cards, but that should be the extent of it.
that way there's a variety of abilities for individual Cards, not just a gradient.

>>6333450
Now what he said was this:

The gun--it's a shotgun, real fancy. Odd as that is, you'd expect something up, and wouldn't you know it the handle has eight hearts running up the handle. Nobody in the tavern so much as looked at 'em for 10 or so minutes, then a trio of the bastards who declare themselves the town hotshots on account of there being nobody else that wants to just walk right up to him.

The biggest one doesn't even try subtlety, just asks him for his weapon, tellin' him it's against the law and he'll bring it to she sheriff for confiscation. The guy doesn't so much as turn his head. "Stopit"--all he said, not like a sentence so much as its own rod. ''Fraid I can't, friend", the roughneck spit at 'em. So the gunslinger just reaches for his weapon and puts it to his shoulder. Not above it so he can aim at the harasser, right like he was gonna shoot himself. Now the three are havin' a big laugh about it and shoutin' to the tavern that this man respected 'em so much, that he'd give them his arm along with his gun.

>>6333613
The laughing stopped with a single 'click'. Everyone's eyes were on the gunslinger's finger. That one noise was louder and loomed bigger over the room than a thousand shots would at that moment. Not more'n three second later, one o' the follower guys' arm gets blown clean off, flies across the room. Immediately after, the man puts the gun to the side of his hip like he's aimin' for his own gut this time. Click. The second one falls over like a house o' cards, blown clean in half by a silent shot that never was. The leader, scared shitless, screams louder than any of 'em and runs out the door while the gunslinger's hand begins to rise.

Click.

A horrible thump comes from outside the door like someone fainted, and flyin' all the way towards the bar, breaking a few classes, comes the leader's head. The man what did all this just grumbles like an irritated grandpa. "Tolemtheyshuddastopit, bastardknewwahcominforem". Again with the sentence-words. He lays a real big wad o' cash down on the table, presumably as payment for all the kinds o'
damages he did today.

>>6333566
Don't really like that. I think numbers should recognize power, but it shouldn't be important at the lower levels. A 2 and a 3 wouldn't be much different from each other, but a 10 to a Jack would be a huge leap.

>>6333592
I don't mind the Devil being involved, but I always saw him as the guy who doesn't get involved but manipulates the failings of men to serve his purpose. He doesn't make anyone do anything, he just encourages them to do things "evil" but in the end they make the decision.

I like the idea of him trying to manipulate the Game, with the Dealer being a neutral party, but I don't like the idea of him being at the center of everything. Just seems... I dunno. Way too Christian "THE DIVVIL MADE ME DO IT" though we certainly shouldn't NOT encourage the crazy religious characters not to use this as an excuse.

Pic is how I imagine Red Joker.

>>6333549

We may be focusing too much on the REAL fluff (what actually happened, who really made the guns, and where the dealer comes in for his own reasons) and not enough on what the generally accepted IDEAS will be in the game world for the NPCs to talk about and believe. The REAL fluff can be completely up to the DM, without really changing what the world believes or says at all. The idea that the smith, dealer, etc are somehow the devil or his servant(s) is probably going to be a canon belief, at least to some people in the world.

>>6333592
Yeah, that's a good idea. Maybe in someone's game he's the Devil. In another he's Coyote. But as fair as the player's know, he's just someone you don't want to cross.

>>6333612
This.

Numbers should be different, but not necessarily more powerful than each other.

>>6333508

>>6333631
Now what should the drawback for this be? I originally thought that as soon as the gun leaves your person, every shot you made with it suddenly hits like it should have (on you), but /tg/ can probably think of something better.

So quick reading, you've crossbred Deadlands with Saberhagen's Books of Swords series?

>>6333603
It's what would have been called a Buntline, and a metal frame stock would have been screwed on to the grip to stabilize it.

Jury's out on whether or not these weapons existed as anything but novely, but damn if they aren't cool.

>>6333641
>>6333641
>>6333641
THIS
Get those sticks out of your asses, of course superstitious settlers and frontiersmen will whisper that this mysterious, powerful figure is supernatural. DOESN'T MEAN IT'S CANON, JUST ADDS A LITTLE MORE DEPTH.

>>6333687

>>6333669
Or you "feel" the shots anyways, sooner or later you go mad from pain? I don't know.

>>6333713

>>6333699
This man has a point. It's the frontier. There's room for all kinds of crazy stories. It could all be true or a load of crap.

>>6333732

My grandpa liked to tell a story about the owner of the Ace of Spades - said it belonged to a German feller. It was a musket, or at least, grandpa said that it looked like one. Anyway, my grandpa had been telling this German guy about some nasty customer that had come through town about a month ago and raped some poor fella's daughter. Grandpa figger'd the law'd catch up to him soon enough, but the man'd managed to get out of town before being arrested. This ol' German, grandpa said, says something in that nasty tongue the Germans have, walks outside, and fires his musket. No one talks to the guy much after that - who fires a gun after being told a story?

Grandpa heard a week later that a man five towns over had had a musketball pass neatly through the back of his skull, out the front, and keep going while he was rutting in a whorehouse. Turns out he was that guy grandpa had been spinnin' a yarn about.

I still think grandpa knew what would happen when he spoke to that German feller.

>>6333742
Agreed. The West didn't exactly have the Internet, or even libraries for the most part. Like a huge game of telephone, it is.

>>6333728
That sounds pretty good. And what about the name? I was thinking something like "The Circle Road"--what comes around, goes around, no matter what you do on the journey.

>>6333766
And since we now have a metric fuckton of awesome fluff, we should probably figure out the crunch. That tends to be our downfall.

>>6333769
"The Equalizer", maybe.

So we've got some awesome stories, but not a lot of setting or system.

How are we going to handle statting characters and Cards? And what exactly does the world look like? Right now we have a City, a Country, and one potential non-card-weilding antagonist.

Lets get on this shit people.

>>6333732
I have like... dozens of old pistol pictures, a good number of old rifle pictures, and like... one old shotgun picture.

>>6333788

I'm not really the greatest at crunch, as I've never really done homebrew before. But I've got a lot of time on my hands, have been itching for a hobby or SOMETHING to do, and this shit is awesome. If I make something statistically retarded you guys can always throw me in a dumpster and do it yourselves anyways.

tl;dr I'll help/keep it going?

>>6333508
Sascha the gatling gun?

Okay, we're at about 265 posts now, it's actually autosaging now.

Continuation thread @ >>6333821

>>6333798
Well since we have separate stats for the character and the Card, I say we use the Card stats for combat and the character stats for anything else.

>>6333798
the problem is that this system seems much more suited to a single player or MMO FPS, not so much to a D&D type game.

The Aces are the superpowers, the Trump Cards. All the others are only a little more powerful than the first, but the Aces are not. They are so far beyond the power of the other Cards that you either need to be extremely good or hold an Ace yourself to kill an Aceholder.

The Ace of Diamonds is a short revolver that doesn't actually need to be drawn. Whenever you need it, whenever you want it it is already in your hand, firing. It will always buy you the first shot. The first shot means nothing if you can't hit, but to be good enough to take the Ace of Diamonds takes great skill, more than enough to make it count. The great price of the Ace of Diamonds is total control. When thinking someone harm brings them harm, you cannot allow your midn to stray even for an instant, lest a moment's frustration lead to a massacre.

The Ace of Spades is a long rifle. It is unlike the other Spades in that it is not restricted to the merely possible. It is capable of doing anything its Holder can concieve of, and that makes it as powerful as its imagination. In the hands of an incompetent it is worthless, but for those who have some experience, it is a tool without peer. Its price is constant forethought. Being able to do something does nto mean one should, and firing without thinking leads to... unforeseen consequences.

The Ace of Hearts is a single shot derringer with an extremely powerful cartridge, as powerful as most Clubs. When fired it will never miss, no matter how hard the shot. However, it must be employed within its all-too-short range, requiring the Holder to get in close to his or her targets, for the breaking of hearts is a business that puts your own at great risk.

These Aces are all extremely powerful, but they come with a built-in price that encourages them not to be used, a contingency built in by the Maker as he grew to fear his works. He was nto content merely with that, and setting aside his last work, built himself two more Cards to keep the others under control. These he called the Jokers.
The first is the Black Joker, the Card of Destiny. Its holder is uncannily difficult to kill, and it is a fine weapon for killing. So long as it is in its Holder's hands, he cannot die. The problem is, the Black Joker is not a subtle tool, and the moment its powers are used, countless thousands of 'Slingers descend on it to try and claim it for their own. The holder cannot lose a gunfight, but all too soon forgets that when he sets it down or loses it, he is all to vulnerable.

The Red Joker is a very different weapon, the subtelty to the Black's directness. It turns the Holder int oa perfect assassin, turnign him, nto invisible, but very narly the same. He is not seen, not recognised, not know, so long as he holds it, and unlike the Black Joker, the effects linger long. They grow, and grow, until the Holder is invisible to the world, and then it turns inwards. The Holder soon becomes incapable of recognising himself or his weapon, and sooner or later, will simply put it down and wander away.

>>6333476
here. I like the King as Gatling better; moving the Eater of Man to Jack work?

WHY IS NO ONE DOING THIS? Come on, /tg/, IDEAS!

Correct me if I fuck anything up.

FYI, This is unfinished, and a lot of bullshit, I'm going by someone elses Idea:

>How about the idea that the guns have similar but not identical powers depending on who wields them. Say the 7 of diamonds "The Fox" has powers, of say, duplication. But for one Gunman it duplicates the gun itself (temporarily) so he just pulls as many copies as he needs out of his clothes. But for another Gunman it duplicates himself. For yet another it duplicates the bullets mid flight. All the powers work differently and grow stronger along with its owner as he becomes more used to the Gun but at the expense that he and the gun's 'personalities' merge.

Still he was unsatisfied, for the Jokers were, if anything, worse than the Aces. They must be kept under control just the same, and by a weapon that afforded no protection to its user.

He turned at last to his unfinished Ace. It was unlike all the others, a simple revolver, six shots, almost indistinguishable from a workshop model. That, he decided, is exactly what it needed to be. The Club was about raw power, and where he had concerned himself before with ornate extravangance, this would be simplicity itself. He needed a trump card, and so he created it; the Ace of Clubs, the Hand of Death. It does not shoot fast, or strong, or wide, or indeed at all. Putting rounds inside it will simply cause ti to cease function. It inflicts no elaborate harm on the target. It simply kills them. The sheer simplicity of the Ace of Clubs was the source of its power, and what put it above all the others. It had all the power, and none of the danger. It was, in short, the perfect weapon.

Until he lost it.

The man could not have been more than thirty, yet he had a look of world weariness more appropriate for someone twice his age. He reached into his holster, and pulled it out: a small revolver, silver barreled and black-handled. It seemed unexceptional, until I noticed the Brand, a small heart with a crown over it, on the bottom of the black handle. Suddenly, I knew exactly what I was looking at.

The man looked me in the eye, and spoke, his voice just as world-weary as his gaze. "Yes, this is what you think it is. The Suicide King, King of Hearts. The King always finds his subjects, the bullets go straight to the heart without error. But each shot carries with it more than force and death. Every shot it makes the world seem more barren and hopeless to me. The sky is darker, colors are duller, people become far greater shit in my eyes. Each shot makes existence seem more bleak and pointless, and makes me crave release. That's how it got it's name, boy, it steals your will to live. I don't know how many more fights I've got in me, before I inevitably fall, and some fool claims the King for their own. But I will not be gunned down by a rival or an enemy. No, when it has sapped my will completely, I will die by my own hand, and to me it will seem the sweetest moment of my life."

>>6334111
shit looks tight man

>>6332980
Jack of Spades is traditionally known as Eunuch, or Ogier.

I have been naming my guns after the names of actual cards. There is a lot of history behind some of these names, and in this lost world it would provide a back ground most people wouldn't know. Maybe some sage of the Gun would know and be able to impart this knowledge to a young 'slinger, perhaps giving him so clue to it's nature.

Ogier is named after Ogier the Dane. According to his legend, he is the son of Geoffrey, king of Denmark. In La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, he had a son who was slain by Charlot, son of Charlemagne. Seeking revenge, Ogier sought out and slew Charlot, and was only barely prevented from killing Charlemagne. He resisted Charlemagne for seven years but made peace with him to fight at Charlemagne's side against the Saracens, in which battle he slew the giant Brehus.

Ogier the Dane had a sword named Curtana which, according to legend, bore the inscription "My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Durendal."

I like to think that the Gun would think of it's self as Cortana.

Another thought, since the Guns are for all intents and purposes alive, they would whisper to their bearers. Say someone finds a Card in the middle of no where clutched in a dead mans hand. He would carry it in ignorance and have recurring nightmares involving the Gun and would awaken with the name Cortana on his lips.