There comes a time when dudes perish, through no fault of your own. or maybe you sent them off deliberately on a fool's errand.

Debt of Blood turns the loss of a precious dude into almost as precious stud bullets. Only for the turn, or for the shootout, but that might be enough.

Intentionally you cannot kill your own dude and extract the benefits of Debts.

since the noon effect will last until the end of the turn, it does require a dude to go to Boot Hill. Wounded / Discarded is not enough. This may create a situation where you send a sacrificial warrior into a fight and TRY to get a bad hand. Weird times in the weird west. or you just want to salvage something from seeing an unexpected legal five-of-a-kind.

reactions always hold a weird place. They break up the traditional back-and-forth of all the other portions of the game, and need to respond to triggers common enough so that they are worth the card stock they are printed on. Refusing callouts, or leaving after a round of fighting should be common enough to qualify.

Any Port in a Storm essentially turns into movement. I expect most players will be paying the extra ghost rock cost to unboot upon arrival at their new location, because otherwise they might still be tracked down and called out.

If you are refusing a shootout or running from a shootout started on your opponent's turn, this will set up the next action to you, and at the location you want to be. Grab a bullet boost from Charlie's Place, get angry drunk at Cliff's #4 Saloon, go Shoppin' for some goods, or call out an interloper on your land.

and when your opponent looks at a full posse running a job and says "okay", you can leave yourself with at least one mobile piece on the board.

Want the ability to make an opposing dude a draw, like Sun in Yer Eyes but still pass spell Difficulty?

Running higher difficulty gadgets, but need more studs?

Suppressing Fire is for you.

once they know this is your trick, more effort will be put into going into fights unbooted, or booting more of your guys (and weapons).

For too long spell decks had to just accept that they could not run Sun In Yer Eyes or The Stakes Just Rose. Now they can, it just takes a little bit more work to squeeze a similar reward. Unprepared, Rosenbaum's Golem, or 54 Card Pick-Up might be handy for setting up the first half of this little action. As for the second part, any shootout movement could work, Pinto, Carter's Bounties, Walk The Path, or Shadow Walk.

or you might just use the second half of this card to restore your chief shooter to proper studness after your opponent hits them with Suppressing Fire, booting that now decorative Pearl-Handled Revolver.

Working on the farm is good for the soul, and hard work is often its own reward, but a card and ghost rock don't hurt either.

a prize card for an Origins convention tournament, the victor wanted to do something for his girlfriend, whose family actually operates an eponymous "Smith Family Farm".

we continue to make out of town control points hard to come by - this one requires a dude to be present to perform the needed labor.

Like a number of our backer cards, Ken here wanted to align with the Rangers, even though it comes with no mechanical impact.

in the Deadlands universe, one of the maxims of the Texas Rangers is "Shoot it or Recruit it" - usually in reference to sentient Harrowed dudes. Ken here is more 'organic' in his approach, looking to find common ground across the disparate factions.

utilizing out of faction dudes is not something that is normally done in competitive Doomtown, the combination of the upkeep penalty and the inability to start out of faction dudes typically makes it more reliable and cost-effective to use the dudes that your faction provides (or Drifters).

but that might change. Combine this dude with a faction that can reliably hold down town square, add in some extra sources of control points, and Ken just may drive home a victory.

Jonathan Chase Causey turned around a back-to-back set of victories, and decided that he wanted to do an item instead. so we made the explosive vest that "Dynamite" Jacc wears so dapperly.

The influence bonus showcases how disruptive an explosive jacket is on the operation of local businesses.

in play, the Fail-Safe is sort of like Ambush on a stick - wait for the right time to strike. if they do not defend, you do not have to blow up your dude (in case they call your bluff). But if they do defend, and fail to deal with the vest wearer, the following turn might just look the same.

the Father's Cross was a "name a card" prize.

to that end, I was tasked with making a goods that should obviously support Blessed dudes. At the same time I wanted to make a goods that would have some sort of wider application.

First version did not have the Sidekick Trait. But my trusty playtest team made me see the light - the sidekick trait works better under existing rules, and has complimentary effects in existing cards.

a story request for a controlling huckster of a woman. maybe a soiled dove. maybe a socialite. Maybe all of the above.

Carmilla sports an ability that can work like Paralysis Mark. Unless she fails the check (which is a little more difficult, since it targets the oft-neglected Grit).

But she is also a back up huckster on 10 value and has 2 inflluence. I expect to see her in deck lists.

The final installment in our tribute to the Wildcards roleplaying troupe.

In game James Bogue is vengeful and overprotective. he also sports a mystical revolver, but we had to make limits. slightly better than the stock 2 stud 1 influence line - at the potential risk of lower value.

important safety tip - the React can only be used once per turn.

the real world John Yarbrough has been a friend of mine since back in the Dooomtown Classic days. John has always been a Texas Ranger at heart, even when the Classic version of that faction embraced the recruitment of harrowed dudes.

Furthermore, back in the day, we had a side bounty for the "Tastes Like Chicken" challenge, a card that allowed a harrowed dude to eat a whole horse for a benefit. John claimed that bounty in a creative way, and we thought to honor that history.

and since we all know that the undead have ... appetites, consuming your own horse or sidekick covers the next upkeep. or, with the proliferation of Sidekicks and Horses in the environment, eat one of theirs to cost them the card they paid for.

Stan here has been in the works for a while. Story team wanted this dirty law dog to happen, and than means new tricks with bounty.

Not much in a fight, Stan wants to engage at an opponent's Private location, then gift that bounty to the other player while running home.

You could set up a posse with Pintos and Ragged Mules, run an Ambush with Stan, and if your opponent under commits, bring in reinforcements. If they defend big, have Stan run home tattletale all about the other guy.

kickstarter backer Shane Tilton and I go back to the days of Classic Doomtown, and since Shane himself has a doctorate, he wanted his dude to have earned a similar honorific.

While anti-abomination tech has not traditionally been in the law Dog bag of tricks, it is something that Shane wanted, and I was able to incorporate it as a kicker bonus effect. It might be unlikely, but when Alan Campbell or New Varney Nosferatu come knocking, Dr. Tilton can certainly knock back.

plus he is a Mad Scientist on 9, a value that will succeed with all needed pulls, and at the very least he will make a number of deck lists on that strength alone.

our very own Ken Naabe, after earning the original Thunder Boy from charitable contributions went and backed the kickstarter to get a vanity card, and why not experience the version we already have?

Ken wanted a blessed connection, and making a wanted dude a draw felt appropriate, so I created a variable cost, either boot TB or a blessed in your posse. You can outmaneuver it, or boot key pieces with actions like Unprepared.

the other key decision will be which Thunder boy to use. Start the cheap one, and hope he doesn't die before you can upgrade him? just run the 7 version as a hammer?

Supporting First People's Kung Fu continues to be tricky, since they are late the the martial arts party.
A decent Kung Fu rating can help a low value dude (who fits in with the kung fu plan of the deck) to also be able to successfully perform Techniques once in play. Since some of the existing First Peoples tactics support creating an advantage in the cards in hand, SuAnne can extract shootout strength at the cost of one of those cards.

just no bouncing around with Jade Rabbit tricks, SuAnne fights straight up and in your face.

a while back one of the big UK tournaments had a prize for a Deputy, awarded to the Fearmongers. while sure, Carter Richardson was a drifter deputy, what would happen if Deputies started showing up in all of the factions??

Danny keeps your nasties from feeling the full force of the local laws, and the darkness of his soul mirrors the beasts most terrible in your employ.

As an extra plus, as a Q value he is protected from most value targeting effects, and is useful in Spell difficulty driven value structures.

I cannot take all the credit for this one. "what if a dude could carry a totem?" came up in a chat with another player, and I ran with the idea.

not super easy to use. Limited to being at deeds so that we didn't have the questions about the "deed only" totems.

Still need a Shaman handy to activate the totem - but hopefully these dancers will improve the tactical play options of Totems.

“Schelly” here is a backer card. Initial designs had both abomination and harrowed traits, but that proved a little too much.

Another piece for the Fearmonger control tool box, albeit one that requires more direct conflict.

I wanted to give gadget entrepreneurs a little boost in the form of a stud that can fight for them without always having to risk both a mad scientist and a gadget attachment. Roger here is a gadget enthusiast - but cursed with gremlins that keep him from using the thing that he admires. but he will protect them with vigor.

Howling Howell Melton is another of our cards for the Wildcards roleplaying crew.

I was tasked with creating a brawling prizefighter - and I think it came out alright.

The fight has reduced lethality and a reward for winning, but killing the other boxer gets you disqualified (the prize money is used for funeral expenses).

on the counter side of the table, you can just pay to refuse, and their 2 stud 2 influence investment just sits there booted (and angry).

Obadiah here is a backer reward, and our loyal supporter wanted to capture his Deadlands mining engineer character. For that big price you do get two influence, a mad scientist for when you don't want to blow things up, and a job that can change the shape of your opponent's street.

Kassandra is a magical horse girl. She will follow those horses into the jaws of doom.

Allowing you to squeeze more movement out of a single horse, or, if you can crank up Kassandra's Bullets, have her ready to hop into the fight to protect one of your horse riders. Scatter some Pinto and Ragged Mule around and you can bring the whole gang into any fight as needed.

Supporting the austerity theme of the Anarchists alongside of their Blessed support engine.

Combined with ghost rock spending from Gracious Gifts and Property is Theft tactics, this little doomsayer could turn on a dime.

Wild combo trick - in a fight with 2 rock, resolution - pay 2 for It's Not What You Know.... With your newly minted Stud, play Point Blank

Abominations in the Anarchists serve a different role than the drifters and the Fearmongers. Lu Feng here gives another control piece. While he (it?) might not be much in a fight all by their lonesome, not all victories are achieved by violence.

And sometimes Booting a deed is more important.

still working through some of the unintended consequences of my changes to the Kung Fu rules and gutting of the pool of Kung Fu dudes.
While 2 upkeep is significant, you do gain an extra influence over the basic stud stat line, and a fairly reliable way to get your kung fu trickery going.

Witness him - shiny and Chrome. building on the anarchist idea of benefiting from having dudes in multiple locations, Buzz here works best when he has an audience.

also contributes a 5 of spades for them without asking for Kung Fu support.

Reloaded players might be sad to see that the home ability no longer makes the dude into a Stud.

It is still a great ability. The stud part was just a step too far.

Just being able to reset one of your pieces in the chess game is huge - possible unboot - even more so.

Another of my changes. Too many times in Reloaded there were "squabbles" over poor Jacqueline.

"You didn't use the React!"

Duh. I'm defending, it should be assumed I want to be a Stud.

--- So I removed the question.

The Brett Bunsen of Doomtown. Rob is one of the best dudes in Doomtown, and should be seriously considered for almost any decks starting dudes.

Really? He’s so weak, and pathetic. Yeah, but he’s also cheap, and pulls a lot of weight for only 1 ghost rock. For only 1 GR Rob is cheaper than most sidekicks and can similarly discard to cover a casualty, but can also ace to cover two, and additionally increases your draw bonus by 1. He can also carry a weapon, and becomes a very real threat without much cost when handed a Winchester Model 1873 or a Flame-Thrower. He can sacrificially be used to play Pistol Whip, or Unprepared to mess with opponents dudes. He can also perform some jobs on his own, either when there’s no possible opposition, or opposing would pull opponents into an awkward board position. They’re also the matter of simply pushing your luck. Even Rob can luck into a 5 of a kind, and for only 1 GR, a single moment of luck could spell the difference in a game.

There are some differences between him and sidekicks as far as bullet catchers go. He’s pretty allergic to shotguns, and he takes actions to move around instead being attached to a dude. Considering his versatility though, it’s a small price usually.

Lane Healey needed some love.

but how?

Dropping the cost to 5 would be TOO GOOD for a dude with 3 influence, and potentially 3 stud.

Dropping the upkeep would similarly be too good.

but Lane is iconic in the "horse support" theme of the Entrepreneurs.

so, if you can invest in a high horse for Lane to get up on, he gives you a break in the bill for his operating expenses.

if you are looking at Sewamus here and wondering isn't this just Elander Boldman ramped up?

yes

more influence and cheaper

of course, to use the shootout ability, you are committing Two precious influence into a fight.

also - some have noticed, my approach to the Experimental theme is less harsh. No one wants to have their dude evaporated by a Club to the side of the head, so the penalty neutralizes the bullets on a failure (and not the vigorous +3 of his predecessor).