Community,
In a shameless effort to quantify the Doomtown Reloaded universe, I have devised a simple metric which you can use to measure the “potential” of your starting posse. Naturally, there exists the relative impossibility of being able to assign value to elements of an (infinitely?) complex system, thus, what I have for you below can only approach the level of objectivity claimed by the ambitious and auspicious title. And so, let this opening paragraph serve as a sort of disclaimer.
Do you have a 10-Point Posse?
If you do, and assuming you stacked your deck both in terms of “Draw Structure” and what Eric Jome cleverly coined as “The Remainder” (I refer you, if you are new, to his essay here: Doomtown Deck Structures | Deadlands: Doomtown), and assuming there is synergy between these moving parts, all that’s left is to make sure your starting posse has the appropriate “potential” to ensure it has a reasonable chance of executing your deck’s plan. This tool has five primary categories and one auxiliary catch-all category; or, five “scientific” categories and one “artistic” category, as deck-building in DTR draws from both methodologies.
…
The Primary Five:
- Stud
- Upkeep
- Starting Cash
- Influence
- Dudes
Stud
If your posse contains at least 1 stud dude, it earns 2 points. If your posse starts an additional stud, it nets an additional point (3 total). If your posse does not start a stud, it nets only 1 point in this category.
Upkeep
If your posse pays less than 2 ghost rock during the upkeep, it earns 2 points. If your posse pays 0 upkeep, it nets an additional point (3 total). If your posse pays two upkeep, it nets only 1 point in this category.
Starting Cash
If your posse begins the game with 3 ghost rock (assume the loss of lowball), it earns 2 points. If your posse begins the game with at least two additional ghost rock above this minimum, it nets an additional point (3 total). If your posse begins the game with less ghost rock than this minimum, it nets only 1 point in this category.
Influence
If your posse starts 4 influence, it earns 2 points. If your posse starts more influence, it nets an additional point (3 total). If your posse starts less influence, it nets only 1 point in this category.
Dudes
If your posse starts 5 dudes, it earns 2 points. If your posse starts more dudes, it nets an additional point (3 total). If your posse starts fewer dudes, it nets only 1 point in this category.
If your posse meets the minimum requirement for each of these categories, you have yourself a 10-point posse!
…
The Auxiliary:
This catch-all category either adds or detracts points from your starting posse based on conditional circumstances relating to the primary five metrics, as well as an attempt to assign point values to abilities and other card texts whose contribution to the game are of a more qualitative nature.
Examples of this first type include: dudes who are only a stud under certain conditions (Jacqueline Isham, Jim Cheveyo, John “Aces” Radcliffe, etc), dudes whose upkeep reduces under certain conditions (J.W. Byrne) or are otherwise compensated for under certain conditions (William Specks), dudes who can make money under certain conditions (Irving Patterson, Angela Payne, Three-Eyed Hawk, etc), dudes with “virtual” influence (Jake Smiley) or who can gain influence under certain conditions (Erik Samson, Joseph “Dusty” Hill, Miranda Clark), and dudes who “count as” more than one dude under certain conditions (The Brute, any Harrowed dude). All of these are examples of when a point should be added or subtracted from your posse’s total.
Examples of this second type include powerful abilities/traits/skills, other measures of a posse’s sum efficacy outside of the purview of the five primary categories, and drawbacks. Though I can’t really think if any drawbacks offhand, some powerful abilities might include Xiong “Wendy” Cheng’s and Mariel Lewis’s ability to exert power over a shootout, Allie Hensman’s ability to advance the pressure of the clock, Randall’s and Bai Yang Chen’s traits which confer card advantage, or Leonardo “Leon” Cavallo’s ability to control areas of the board. Or similarly, a posse which offers multiple skilled or keyworded dudes with which to play special exclusive hearts and clubs from the card base. Or a posse whose influence is evenly spread so as to be able to contest multiple deeds and/or incur setbacks that don’t immediately threaten the game. All of these harder-to-measure instances should add a point to your posse’s total.
…
In summary, I feel this is a good metric to begin to assess whether or not your starting posse is viable not only for casual play but also for competitive play. I know that when I am anticipating the latter, I would not bring a deck to a tournament that didn’t at least rate a “10” on the above metric.
Cheers!