I have the Deadlands roleplaying game, all the editions, and when it come to Kung Fu, this is one of the maneuvers that just has the coolest name.

So then, how to incorporate it into the Doomtown mechanics???

The Bull Demon techniques already gave us kung fu tricks for casualty mitigation, so I didn't want to crowd that design space.

But the Kung Fu bag of tricks did not yet have a Cheatin' Resolution in their arsenal, so I thought I would try that.

... But we also knew we were aiming for a high value kung Fu technique, and that can really be a hard sell if a card cannot pass its own check. So this needed to be magically powerful.

Seizing the Pearl of Death is a spectacle to behold. It replaces itself, it dazzles and confounds a nearby onlooker. AND it causes a 2 casualty swing in the shootout, as you return the leaden pearl to sender. And if you can do all of this and stay legal, the legend of your kung fu master sticks with her for the rest of the day. (alas Doomtown memories are short, and tomorrow only the opposing player will remember what you did to them)

my initial playtest name for this idea was "Table Flip". Both for the gamer reference and for the trope of flipping a table to use as cover.

this can be a great way to survive a round when a dude is in way over their head. Or even, if you are feeling dirty, to Behold White Bull and live to tell about it.

I believe that there is a full blown article on the development of the second wave of Heroic Legends.

Honest Andrew Lane here went through a ton of changes, with my play test team telling me the number of different ways that I was letting the manitou take control.

The Ghost provides a degree of action economy. If you have the money for a weapon, but are not sure if your opponent is going to oblige you with a fight, you can try, and if they back down you can play that deed you were considering.

if facing off against a melee weapon deck, you can sand bag your weapon and get them to commit to a fight that you can turn favorable.

if you are using weapons that turn your dudes into studs, you can wait out their Sun in Yer Eyes and use a weapon to restore a semblance of studdage.

this card feels like it was made to shut down people who want to camp out in the town square. just make sure she has backup or an exit plan if they want to get into the fight. a personal ornithopter or make the smart choice is a way to get out of a tight spot with the damage already done.

Tumblebleeds is another card where the art came first. Our resident Marshal Artist, David Hammond, had this piece done up, and I had to design how in the nine hells Tumblebleeds from the RPG would take form in Doomtown.

The weeds don’t make it indoors, but they can certainly enhance plans for a town square murder blender. And while you can send intrepid heroes to dispatch the infernal thistles, the removal job happens in town square, and Tumblebleeds make that a dangerous place.

Safety tip, in tie hands their is still a loser. Try not to be that player.

Another of the aspects that more than one playtester submitted ideas for was a way to mitigate the frequent and heavy handed Boot costing of some of the early Miracles. Design was swinging the pendulum hard back from the raw strength of Hexes, and early miracles showcased a comparative weakness

Enter Babble On. On 9, solid value for passing whatever Miracles you might be running. Conditional use for shootout control. Makes spells like Soothe more better.

But for all that, you do need to pay a ghost rock for it. No free rides.

Sometimes on the design side of things you get yourself in a spot. "I want another gadget horse, but what can it DO that is different than what we already have?"

Enter the Iron Mole.

While not much mining is going on these days around Gomorra, or Tombstone, or Deadwood, the advantages of mechanology can still pay off to increase production.

And while the dude running the drill cannot contest in town locations with ease, should a ruckus break out, she can goose enough speed out of the Iron Mole to come to the rescue.

Classic Doomtown had a number of cards with the bullet trait. Most were some sort of silver bullet solution to dudes with certain traits. Including them was a question of risk of a wasted card in some matchups vs an auto kill of, say, an Abomination.

The Magnum Bullets in classic inspired these. As did the myriad ways we have these days of pumping up hand ranks. These babies make short work of Force Fields.

And, for those interested in reliable value structures, this is a playable 3❤️ that you can easily roll back into the deck (for free even).

Akin to a Pearl-Handled Revolver, but more expensive. But it does trigger Mystical interactions.

And, if you are a shooting huckster, this can add up the bullets.

Mind you, I am fully aware this is a 2, which is a rare breed of value for a huckster deck. So this doesn’t carry the same nuclear deterrence as a Soul Blast in a high pulling deck. But what happens when your noon hex control lock down has a surprise slip through the net? Or a first action job before you can begin choking their position?

Or Blue Lightnin’ makes use of more conditional spells. Or to get that huckster skill boost needed to make a spell reliable. Or a sneaky way to ramp up the bullets of Bobo.

and allows José Morales to lock in the stud without giving up a slot that could be used for Corporeal Twist

More than one contributor submitted ideas involving influence fights, or “rap battles” as some call them.

In retrospect, after our Tombstone visit, this should probably has the Government trait. Oops.

Makes some of those zero stud dudes look pretty spiffy though, if you can force the fight to be here.

Also really hamstrings shooter tactics relying on bullet boosts (Faster on the Draw, Thunder Boy, Zach Deloria)

Trying to come up with cards to support Abominations is a balancing act, so easy to go too strong (when Abominations already have strong tactics), or so weak as to make a card be a waste of our limited production.

And what do abomination tactics usually complain about? Influence. So here is a little saloon that caters to a rather “odd” clientele.

Feel free to use those extra bullets to start a commotion. Or Rope and Ride someone into the slavering jaws of your unnatural death trap.

Or just be happy for a private saloon on seven.

A 2/1 CP deed on 8’s?? The ability to scout extra cards from your opponent while fishing for their jokers? Kills a Heretic Joker? Rewards you against stacked decks?

What is not to love?

I like information about opponents decks, even if my veteran inertia still doesn’t think to look at either of our discard piles.

Probably says something that this sweet lady made appearances in a number of decks the first event that this set was allowed for.

Another piece for those of you looking for safe out of town production. Although less safe.

Competition on the 10 spot is pretty fierce though.

Of course this could also be a great lure in a jobs based deck looking to generate isolated marks.

Or another deed for Arnold Stewart to go looking for.

Nothing too tricky

An eleventh hour add in to answer the question, “when are the first peoples getting a Core Deed?”

The challenge was how do you do a core deed for FP that fits their themes and doesn’t become the next Spirit Fortress?

Lots of my bad ideas got smashed by my playtesters, thank goodness.

So here we support Holy Grounds and Town Square dominance.

The timing was courtesy of Chief Stephen Seven-Eagles.

Makes sure you have someone in town square to start next turn. As long as you are not worried about blocking / protecting income, you can recover a dude who would be “stranded” on a deed next turn.

And you can still throw some Silver Pheasant's Bounty on it to turn it into a money maker. Or hit it with some CP from the Office of Ancestral Affairs.

have you ever drawn up your shootout hand and wondered "what the &^$? How did all my off value cards find their way into this draw hand?" Or the flip side, faced a straight flush from a deck with exactly one way to do all that? Or the cursed double joker legal five of a kind?

Enter Red River Roulette.

as long as you can spare a dude to sit at the table and call out "double or nothing!", you can make some magic happen.

if you can bait someone into a big Siege Of The Orphanage, so much the better.

also spicy if you can inflict a non-casualty removal effect at the same time (Jael's Guile, Coachwhip!, Ricochet, etc)

with art from our in house artist of death, David Hammond, and bearing a distinct likeness of the PT designer, my best friend, Laura Scott, Nicole is full of tricks.

For the old school players, the idea is that she is a third Sumner sister, after the Classic Rachael and Jewel.

Nicole offer 2 influence at 5 cost / 1 upkeep, like Dr. Dawn Edwards. But Nicole has a shiny silver bullet over Dawn's brass. Also, like Dawn, Nicole can transform into a dangerous terror.

Once Nicole transgresses, in for a penny, in for a pound - she sacrifices the influence that controls locations or keeps you in the game for a hefty +3 bullets in order to get some right proper killin' done.

You can take advantage of this and have an innocent looking 0 stud call out a dude on their turf, transforming once the call out is accepted. Or participate in a Kidnappin'.

And, if/when you win lowball, you can calm her fiery nature and reclaim your ability to exert control over deeds.

(and she is an 8 of spades, stud, with upkeep - a magical combination for Dead Man's Hand decks)

Winona is intended to fit the no upkeep skilled drifter slot, like Theo Whateley-Boyer, Wilber Crowley, or Roderick Byre. This should help open up Spirits for factions other than the First Peoples.

And she is relatively cheap, no upkeep influence.

And she brings a meta-ability to discard sidekicks, freeing donkeys, owls, dogs, hares, and photographers from their servitude - which translates into an automatic extra casualty.

This one was a challenge. Step one - "Charles Urbach is doing art for an Experienced Quaterman" Step two - bump a card idea we were already looking at Step three - stare at QUATERMAN and think "what would an expererienced one Do?" Step four - read the Quaterman fiction piece and get inspired.

of course I had to keep the original's bullet protection and relentless boot resistance.

Now powered by the Essence of Armitage, Q-Prime has the durability of being Harrowed.

in a mental nod to ED-209 form Robocop, this gadget dude has a single minded pursuit of the law - in this case, legal hands. And he will turn on his master (controller) if he senses such a transgression.

Camillus S. Fly, intrepid photographer to the stars.

And just the guy you need to pump up a dude from a robust draw into a studly stud.

and, as a transient, he is happy to dive back into the deck to come around again, maybe as part of a Dead Man's Hand?

or just use his cheap 2 draw bullets to go looking for a fight, everyone likes to take a shot at the paparazzi.

he has been moving in the shadow of the story for long enough - now Jonah steps into a more commanding role.

in line with most of the factional Kings, Jonah can slide into play earlier when playing to his plan - and Jonah's plan is Hexes, in full spectacular variety.

Yes, 3 upkeep is noteworthy. But so is 3 influence and 3 stud bullets.

The action though. getting rid of an opponent's attachment without fail can change the course of the game. Sure, Jonah's cost/upkeep tends to move him as an endgame play, but he can certainly tip the balance of power in your favor.

for an extra Spicy kick (particularly if you are running the low difficulty spell tricks), consider dropping Jonah right into the fight with Serendipitous Arrival - you get a stud, an influence boost to controlling the location, and pop an attachment of cost 0 (spells?) or even a 1 cost (if his arrival is at their private location).

Tomas here is rather versatile. Cheap, no upkeep influence? Check. Huckster 1? Check. Ability that can save the day? Check.

Start Tomas in a high value Hex deck (J,Q,K), and opposing weapons will be a concern of the past. Load up on zero cost spells and enjoy the economic advantage. Or use him to send a key value in your draw structure back into your deck. Use him to make use of certain "meta-game" spells that are not showing their usefulness right now.

Drop the value plan down to 10's and you can Shadow Walk in, and blast something like a Legendary Holster or Adler's Needle before it ruins your day.

As always, it is hard to compete with Barton Everest, but Indian Charlie certainly tries. If you can get him to to four bounty he becomes resistant to efforts to remove his Stud (although Sun in Yer Eyes still costs him bullets).

Ramping up his bounty also protects this "little guy" from getting hit with a shotgun - since you do not want to gift wrap ghost rock for your opponent like that.

otherwise, Charlie is pretty straightforward, and a good fit in Outlaw 2's - with Back Ways or maybe a Hostile Takeover

He's got several competitors, but I feel like Pete Spence has a strong claim to be the best Dude in HCYM.

Yes, he's just a cheapie Dude with an ability that's narrower/weaker than Doomsday Supply, but while you have to draw each copy of Doomsday Supply seperately (which may or may not be on-value), Pete lets an Outlaw deck tutor from day 1 for a whole bunch of geared-towards-specific-opposition cards (Peacemaker, Shotgun, Tusk, Scattergun, Knight's Chasuble, Fancy New Hat, and more).

And yes, he's limited to what's in your discard pile at any given time (Travis Moone and Henry Moran may help out here), but within those limits, he can run the job in your own home just by stepping outside first, acfivate Elliot Smithson's ability immediately, and give you a head start on bounty generation.

And with no Influence, Pete can be tossed into plenty of non-Outlaw-decks as a later-game cheap body who can also fetch you a couple of

• Melee Weapons for Abram's Crusaders
• Various other gadget weapons, including Net Gun which is geared towards constantly discarding and even fits his value, as well as Decimator Array
• Similarly for Morgan decks, including being a backup for Maggie Harris as a Yagn-fetcher (and if you get them both out, Irving Patterson gets to do his join-a-job-at-home-while-booted-for-1-GR trick twice per turn).
• Attires for First People Bethany Shiile decks, or just to go with influence-leveraging (hello Ranger's Bible for Enapay)
• Nunchucks for Kung Fu decks, and Attires to pump influence for Behold White Bull
• A selection of Mystical Weapons (Devil's Six Gun, Jael's Guile, Stone's Colt Dragoons...), and Chasubles for Bayou Vermillion

Another member of the WildCards crew, even if the art looks nothing like him.

This started as one of my first ideas. I had this one before Emre made the open call for what would become Hell's Coming With Me - under the playtest name "White Hat".

I thought it would be a good element thematically to have a dude that was so intrinsically good that his stats would suffer if he transgressed.

Originally no upkeep and five cost, the shift was the result of concerns of just how robust the Law Dogs zero upkeep starting posse could be.

I was also convinced to get the noon action added as a way to clear his name in the event of the Law Dog Mirror match.

another 2 stud 2 influence without upkeep like Johnny Ringo

originally the bounty was removed straight away, but playtesters advocated in favor of those key Oulaw cards whose functionality is tied to their Bounty (the Aims Brothers, Desolation Row, Marion Seville, Maria Kingsford, etc)

On the board Cheating Punishment this strong keeps things legal, or makes them limit the amount of bounty they commit to the struggle.

Being able to remove the bounty when the cheating resolution resolves either limits the future impact of Virgil, or, if the hand rank reduction forces deaths, limits the financial windfall that their bounty would have provided.

Another of our 'Solo Artists', Joan is also not a quitter.

she has an impressive 4 stud bullets. And Blessed. And Deputy.

But she will not leave a fight. she ignores pistol whips, or the similar tactics thrown your way.

but she cannot back down either. Sun in yer eyes and you barely scrape through the round? Too bad, she is going to stick it out and hope for the best. Willa Mae will leave Joan behind.

this judge was developed as a Noon Control tool to accompany the Law Dog Bounty Punishment theme.

It took several iterations to get the Judge right.

when a deck dedicates itself to stacking bounty, crossing the threshold is pretty easy. effectively neutralizing a dude for a turn.

to keep the Judge from being to repeatably oppressive, he does allow the defendant to renounce their wayward ways. But by then the damage is done and the dude is home booted.

there were a number of submissions from PT of cards to do shootouts using influence, which the gang called "rap battles" internally.

Speaks with Buffalo can only call down the influence fight in an effort to find the right cards, but if it all works out, he unboots to mitigate the boot cost of his job.

Sure, your opponent can pull a 'matador' and ignore the job - and let you cycle two cards - adding another tool to the First Peoples already established arsenal.

one of a few newer dudes intended to fight solo, despite the inherent risks associated with such tactics.

and, for the dedicated kung fu deck, there is very little that a 9 value kung fu dude cannot perform with confidence.

melee weapons in the low values are a little sparse, but a Bowie Knife is super versatile.

Here we have a shaman that supports Totems and Holy Grounds - and will at least help out should a fight break out.

While we do not have any spirits that do their thing without booting, Tsintah can make sure to get something out of some of those more "conditional" spirits.