Puneet Varma (Editor)

Doomtown

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Designer(s)
  
David Williams

Age range
  
10+

Random chance
  
Some

Players
  
2-6

Playing time
  
Approx 45 min

Publisher(s)
  
Wizards of the Coast, Five Rings Publishing Group, and Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Doomtown: Reloaded (originally Deadlands:Doomtown) is a collectible card game, a companion to the Deadlands roleplaying setting.

Contents

The game sets itself apart from other CCGs by having each card also serve as a playing card and resolving certain in-game situations with a hand of poker, thus accentuating the Old West atmosphere of the game. The game involves complex deck construction and deep strategies, and was designed with multiplayer (three or more players) in mind. The sheer amount of card draw in the game makes luck much less of a factor, while the movement rules (in the style of board games such as chess) reward intelligent strategy.

Doomtown was heavily story-driven as well, with a detailed and intriguing storyline that affected cards and play styles. An example was the Fear Level that changed with each expansion and improved or disrupted play styles. Doomtown also held storyline tournaments in which players could directly influence the storyline. For instance, in the finals of a major storyline tournament, Sheriff Coleman was killed by a Sweetrock hired gunman; the sheriff was subsequently killed in the storyline, resulting in new events and action cards, and a later experienced version was Harrowed (revived as living dead) to avenge his own death.

Discontinued in 2000, a flier from the 2014 GAMA Trade Show revealed that Doomtown: Reloaded would be released in August 2014. This new version of the game is sold in the non-collectible "living card game" format.

The game in depth

Doomtown, like most collectible card games, has two places where a player can show their skill and creativity: deck construction and playing skill.

Terms

The game uses the terms below to define the game mechanics. Some of these terms are printed on certain cards, while others are produced or mentioned in the game during play.

  • Ghost Rock (GR): The money of the game. Used to buy or pay upkeep on items, dudes, etc.
  • Production/Upkeep: Production gives X GR per turn, upkeep costs X GR per turn to keep the card in question.
  • Influence: Some Dudes have some and it shows how much the town populace knows/fears/respects them. Used to prevent the other player from winning and to control deeds.
  • Control: Some Deeds have some and it shows how important the structure is to the town. Used to win the game.
  • Victory Points: Like control, but it is won in game and cannot be taken away.
  • Bullets: The combat prowess of a Dude. The higher it is, the more cards you can use to make a poker hand. There are two types of bullets, Draw and Stud (affecting the hand similarly to draw and stud poker).
  • Outfit: The faction a dude belongs to. Dudes that belong to no specific outfit are called Drifters.
  • Pull: Drawing the top card of your (or sometimes an opponent's) Deck. This is used to determine if Spells/Gadgets are successful, or other game effects.
  • Draw Hand: A Hand of Poker.
  • Shootout: The combat phase of the game.
  • Cheatin': A Draw hand that has two or more cards with the same rank and suit (such as two aces of spades), not counting jokers. These hands are "illegal" and may be punished by Cheatin'! action cards.
  • Boot: When something is used, it is usually booted (turned sideways) to indicate that it has been used.
  • Fear Level: This changed with each expansion as storyline progressed. The higher this is, the nastier the town has become.
  • Boot Hill: The graveyard of the game. Different from the discard pile in that it isn't reshuffled into the deck when the deck becomes depleted.

    • Deck Construction

    There are eight types of cards in Doomtown: Actions, Dudes, Goods, Events, Deeds, Spells, Improvements, and Jokers. Each of those cards uses a specific Poker suit: Spades (Dudes), Clubs (Actions), Hearts (Goods/Events/Spells), Diamonds (Deeds/Improvements). Players use a variable number of each type of card (depending on their focus) to construct their deck. Furthermore, each card has a rank (from Ace to King, 1-13). In some types (Dudes and Goods) cards with high rank are generally more powerful, while in the others (Deeds and Actions) cards with low rank are generally more powerful. Each Doomtown deck resembles a poker deck, but with one major difference: players are allowed to include multiples of a specific rank-suit combination, at the risk of making some of their poker hands illegal. This way, players not only have to choose cards with useful powers, but also have to choose cards that will allow them to draw good poker hands.Outfits are also represented by a home card which gives starting funds, starting income and a useful ability.

    Restrictions

  • Each deck must be exactly 52 cards plus up to two Jokers.
  • There can be no more than four copies of a card with the same name in a deck.
  • Each deck must be based on one of the Outfits.

    • Types of Cards

  • Deeds: These are used for two reasons, to provide income and to win the game. Deeds have three defining stats - control, cost, and production/upkeep. Some deeds have actions or restrictions on them
  • Dudes: These are your gang, ranging from old-style Wild West desperadoes and lawmen, to Lovecraftian witches and mad scientists. Each dude belongs to a specific outfit (except for drifters) denoted by a small icon below the characters influence. Dudes are used to conduct your business and disrupt your opponent's plans. Dudes are often expendable.
  • Goods: The normal stuff your dudes will equip and use, from Horses and New Hats to Death-Ray contraptions and mystical Bullets.
  • Spells: Used by the different spellcasters: Hucksters, Shamans and Blessed. There are three types of spells: hexes (used by hucksters), Spirits (used by Shaman) and Miracles (used by Blessed).
  • Events: Random stuff that happens in town. Events are not played directly, but take effect when they appear in your draw hand during gambling phase. Only one event per player can resolve each gambling phase.
  • Actions: These are all the nasty surprises you will play on your opponent(s). They are divided into Noon actions (playable on their own), Shootout actions (played during a shootout), and Reactions (played in response to another action).
  • Jokers: You can have up to two Jokers in your deck. There are various Jokers to choose from - some are simply wild cards, while others have secondary abilities but restricted usage (e.g. only in shootouts) or only when making a 'pull'(a one card pull to determine the outcome of something within the game.

    • Deck Focus

    Players usually focus their deck on doing one thing well. There are many viable goals to choose from. Some outfits are better equipped for some goals; for instance, Blackjacks (the game's outlaw gang) usually have good shootout stats and other offensive abilities. Below are some popular deck types. Players may mix two or more types, such as a shootout deck that partly relies on spells.

  • Shootout: These decks focus on hunting down and killing the opponent's most influential characters, so that they can win the game with just a few Control Points. Usually full of action cards.
  • Spellslinging: These decks focus on using one or two characters packed with spells to manipulate the game. For example, one could use spells to reduce the opponent's influence until the end of the turn, again enabling a win with just a few Control Points.
  • Hiding/Turtling: These decks focus on pumping out more control points than the opponent could handle, and winning without much bloodshed, in effect "buying the town". The Sweetrock faction is notorious for this. Another variation of this type is the Collegium's first outfit ability, which gives control points for building Mad Science gadgets.
  • Flooding: Overwhelming the opposing player by putting as many deeds as possible into play as quickly as possible.

    • Rules

    The game is played in turns ("days"). Each turn consists of three phases. In each phase, players play one action each until they all pass consecutively. (In contrast, in Magic: The Gathering, each player may perform as many actions in a row as he likes.) When all phases are complete, a new turn begins.

    Phases

  • Gambling Phase is a round of lowball poker (where the worst hand wins). The winner gets one GR from each other player, and wins initiative, i.e. he gets the first action in the various phases of the turn (actions then proceed clockwise). In this phase, very illegal decks (such as decks consisting mainly of one suit, or mainly of one or two ranks) get punished, because (unlike in shootouts) they cannot manipulate their cards to avoid an illegal hand.
  • Upkeep Phase Players also gather GR from deeds with production, and must pay GR for card's upkeeps (or discard some of their cards that require upkeep)
  • High Noon is the main part of each turn. Here players can buy deeds and goods, recruit new dudes for their gang, move dudes around to take control of other deeds, start shootouts, and generally promote their strategy while disrupting that of the opponents.
  • Nightfall is the end of each turn. The game may be won during this phase. Otherwise, each player prepares for the next turn; booted cards are unbooted, play hands are refilled. The player with the most influence at nightfall is rewarded with an extra bonus card for his play hand.

    • Movement

    Movement is a major part of the game. Your dudes must move from one place to another, and their ability to do so is based on the physical arrangement of the deeds. Your deadly shootout hand may be useless if you can't catch your opponent as his dudes run around town disrupting your business.

    Winning/Losing

    As the game progresses, a player may end up in a weak position (e.g. losing all his dudes), but it is possible to recover from such a position. The game is won when, during Nightfall, one player has more control + victory points than the highest total influence of a single opponent. (In a later rules revision, a variant called for beating the "lowest total influence". It doesn't matter in two-player games; in multiplayer games, the former is more realistic, while the latter leads to quicker games.) Control points are acquired by controlling deeds that provide them. Deeds are controlled by the player with the most influence at the deed; if there is a tie then the owner of the deed controls it (even if they're not involved in the tie). Some goods also have control points. Victory points are given by meeting a condition of a card. For example, the Law Dogs outfit grants a victory point each time their controller kills a wanted dude with more than one influence OR puts a wanted dude in jail. Some jobs earn victory points as well.

    Uniqueness

    Due to the game's strong storyline, dudes and deeds are unique; if one copy is in play, you cannot play a second copy. Some exceptions are made for particularly common archetypes, such as the random drifting gunman or the dingy saloon. This uniqueness recognizes Boot Hill as well; if one copy is in Boot Hill, you cannot play a second copy. Due to this uniqueness, the game employs card memory; if a dude or deed is changed (e.g. a dude's influence is permanently reduced), discarded, and played again (even by another player), then the changes remain in effect.

    Shootouts

    Doomtown has a unique form of combat. Each player has a posse, which usually consists of dudes from his outfit and drifters. There are many cases when a player wants to control a location, or just kill an opposing dude. This is accomplished by entering a shootout. The default way to do this is to call-out the opposing dude, who may either refuse and chicken out or stay and fight. If he stays, both players gather a posse of their dudes and enter a shootout.

    The shootout has two phases, the shootout action phase and the draw phase. During the shootout action phase, players perform shootout actions, either from their hand (e.g. "Sun in Yer Eyes" or "Out of Ammo"), or printed on cards in their posse. Shootout actions are used to influence your posse's combat potential for the round, either by increasing your bullet rating or reducing the opposing posse's bullet rating. During the draw phase, each player draws as many cards from his deck as his bullet rating allows: five cards, plus extra cards for Stud bullets, plus the option to discard and replace cards for Draw bullets (done as one lump group). Each player tries to form the best poker hand he can. Due to jokers and Cheatin', five of a kind is possible. The Dead Man's Hand (Ace of Spades, Ace of Clubs, Eight of Spades, Eight of clubs with a Jack of Diamonds as the fifth card) is ranked highest. This hand is historical in nature as it is the hand Wild Bill Hickok held when he was killed. Each poker hand has a rating from 1 (high card) to 10 (Dead Man's Hand), and the losing player suffers a number of casualties equal to the difference in ratings. (In case of ties, each player suffers one.) After that, any player can either chicken out or stay for another round.

    Usually, the trick of the game is to force your opponent's most crucial dudes (usually those with high influence) to enter an unfavorable shootout. Various action cards allow you to do this, such as "Ambush", "Don't Like Yer Looks!" or "Massacre".

    The Setting

    Gomorra is a town that sits by the California Maze (large parts of California which collapsed during an earthquake). The Maze is filled with mesas, which in turn are filled with Ghost Rock, the most precious substance on earth. Gomorra becomes an immediate boomtown, and many key players of the world arrive to take control of the territory.

    As with any boomtown in the wild west, the only law is the law of the strongest. The law dogs just don't have the manpower to stop everything. Things are beginning to get weird as the more occult factions arrive with their own agendas, and horror quickly begins slipping into the town.

    The Outfits

    The original game had ten outfits, each working in a different way to the others.

  • BlackJacks: The outlaws of the game, constantly robbing the populace and bearing a grudge against Sweetrock. Blackjack was their original leader.
  • Law Dogs: The law of the town. Usually consisting of a sheriff and his deputies, they hunt down wanted dudes and dispense justice.
  • Collegium: Mad scientists who use Ghost Rock to power their gadgets. These guys can dispense some serious hurt if you let them.
  • Sweetrock Mining Company: The big corporation in town with lots of capital to spend. They employ shady and highly aggressive tactics to win the town.
  • Whateleys: A Lovecraftian family involved in witchcraft and demonology. Very nasty. They are the primary users of Hexes in the game.
  • Sioux Union: A coalition of many different Indian tribes. They are the main enemy of the Whateleys in the original storyline. They are also the primary users of Spirits spells in the game
  • Maze Rats: A band of pirates, mostly Chinese. They raid the mines of the Great Maze and use Kung Fu.
  • Texas Rangers: Agents of the South (the Civil War is still dragging on). Their general policy toward the supernatural is "shoot it or recruit it".
  • The Agency (A special branch of the Pinkertons): Agents of the North. Under the guidance of the Ghost, they aim to cleanse Gomorra of occult influence.
  • Lost Angels (replacing the similar Flock, which was eliminated from the storyline): They think they are the chosen of God, but their reality is much more sinister. They use miracles in an attempt to bring about the Apocalypse.

    • Experience

    Another feature of the storyline was borrowed from Legend of the Five Rings. Dudes and even Deeds would become experienced as the storyline progressed. These experienced cards count as the same card for the purpose of uniqueness. Sometimes an experienced card just has slightly better stats; sometimes it is greatly changed (e.g. Sheriff Coleman becoming Harrowed and defecting from the Agency and Law Dogs to work with the Texas Rangers); occasionally, some stats are notably worse (e.g. Howard Findley, the original leader of Sweetrock, went insane).

    Story Arcs

    The original story arc started relatively peacefully, but started getting progressively nastier until it climaxed with the arrival of the Demon Knicknevin. The final expansion of that story arc saw the death of many prominent characters (such as the leaders of the Sioux and Whateleys), along with almost half the characters in existence until then, and the destruction of an entire faction (The Flock). The demon was defeated, but at a great cost to the town, which was almost razed to the ground. The next story arc began with this reduced base, but was not fully fleshed out before production of the game was discontinued.

    Awards

    In 1998, Deadlands won the Origins Awards for Best Trading Card Game of 1998 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Card Game of 1998.

    Expansions

    Deadlands was first released in the summer of 1998 and employed the then-new Rolling Thunder system. The factions were released separately in small packages called Episodes. This allowed the storyline to be finely detailed, as each episode progressed the storyline to accommodate the new outfit and expand the story. Each expansion also has a symbol next to the artist credit line. This allows collectors to identify the set.

    After episode 9, the Rolling Thunder system was deemed ineffectual, and the game went back to the more common release system of one expansion every 3–4 months.

    Cancellation & Beyond

    Wizards of the Coast bought Deadlands rights from Five Rings Publishing (when they purchased FRPG as part of the TSR buyout). WotC produced the 9 episodes, the Pine Box base reprint, and the first 3 expansions. When their contract with Pinnacle ended, WotC chose to end their production. Although the game had good sales in the United States and Europe, fans figured the game had died when they stopped seeing updates.

    AEG purchased the license to publish (from Pinnacle Entertainment Group and WotC) Deadlands and restarted production, but a good deal of its following had already moved away. AEG worked diligently to get a base set into print and spent a great deal of capital to create the "Boot Hill" set, which was unfortunately a set of reprints and only 9 new cards with the remaining outfits getting their own "clan" weapon that had identical mechanics. AEG overestimated demand, and made too large of a print run, which was complicated further by a warehouse accident that led to some of the product becoming damaged and unsellable.

    To this day, AEG holds the license for Deadlands. John Zinser, president of AEG and a fan of the mechanics, has repeatedly promised to bring Deadlands back to the market in some form (by some accounts "tying it in with a blockbuster Western film.") Shane Hensley, the creator of the Deadlands setting, has refused to discuss licensing the rights for Deadlands to anyone else stating that the rights belong to AEG. He has also stated that he is a fan of the CCG and would love to see AEG bring it back.

    After the game stopped, fans kept it alive by holding their own tournaments and building their own expansions. Doomtown was also quickly ported to the Gatling engine. However, the Gatling engine proved to be slow and occasionally suffered from internet instability and to this day it is difficult to actually find a game of Doomtown there. Unfortunately, the site(CCGworkshop.com) that hosted the Gatling engine, is no longer online.

    A Doomtown plugin exists for online play at LackeyCCG and for OCTGN.

    A fan group, "Harrowed Entertainment Group" is running events and creating unique prizes, as well as honoring The "Champions" who have won major events in a fan set "Saints & Sinners" (formerly called "The Champions Project".) This is done with permission from AEG, as long as it is made clear it is a fan project.

    Fans continued to hope that AEG will keep its word and put Deadlands back into print. Some wrote to AEG and John Zinser annually, asking him to keep his word and to bring Deadlands back, even if in a minor way. There were rumors and "leaks" that something was in the works since 2011. There was a comment made on Boardgamegeek that it was in the works for Gencon 2014 but hasn't been officially commented on. At an interview at Gencon 2013 Shane Hensley, creator of the setting said twice about Doomtown, "Look for it."

    Brought back into circulation

    Finally on March 20, 2014, AEG announced a reboot of Deadlands called "Doomtown: Reloaded". It was released September 8, 2014 and is distributed as an Expandable Card Game (ECG).

    According to the website, all its Doomtown: Reloaded products will be released with fixed cards with no randomization. Which regularly releases expansions that can be added to your Base Set to bring you new cards that inject new mechanics and new strategies into your decks.The expansions can be found in "Pine boxes" where they introduce new concepts, outfits or ideas into the game. And "Saddlebags" which release at approximately two per quarter (unless there is a bigger release scheduled).

    Initially there were four factions: the Law Dogs, the Sloane Gang, the Morgan Cattle Company, and the Fourth Ring. Now there is two new additions to the factions: the Eagle Wardens, and the 108 Righteous Bandits that have been added in the expansion set, "Immovable Object, Unstoppable Force".

    Storyline

    Welcome to Gomorra. A bustling settlement in the Weird West. Rebuilding after a cataclysmic event as the town was seized by ghost rock fever (like gold fever, only worse), while the citizens of the town struggle to remake their lives. But of course, powers always come into play. Various factions fight for control of the town, sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes right out in the streets. It’s not a common day that lead does not fly.

    Soon it will be time for you to choose your allegiance. Will you join the noble Law Dogs, set to preserve law and justice in the town? Or will you find yourself falling in with The Sloane Gang, and taking what you want regardless of who it costs? Perhaps you have an eye for progress… and cash, well the Morgan Cattle Company is always looking to hire driven individuals. Lastly, maybe you have something to run away from, something in your past that simply won’t let go, there’s always the Fourth Ring and its circus you can run off to. They’re always taking in lost souls….

    The Lingo

    So there’s a lot of you greenhorns from back east movin’ into Gomorra these days. As part of the Gomorra Town Council we thought it best to write up something that might help you become accustomed to the lingo around these parts.

    This ain’t all the words we use, but this’ll get you accustomed to the things you’ll be seein’ around here....

    Abomination – Some horrible other-worldly critter. Something that just ain’t right. In the game, "Abomination" is just how we talk about them. It don’t do nothing on its own, but sometimes other cards might just help or harm them Abominations.

    Ace – When a Dude is shot dead as a doornail, and permanently removed from the game.

    Boot – When you have to turn a card sideways to do something. Booted Dudes can’t do a whole lot during the turn.

    Casino – A deed where you go to lose all your money. Heh heh, well, really its just a type of deed that some Dudes may have abilities in.

    Casualty – In a shootout, the number of ranks by which your poker hand beats your opponent determines how many casualties are taken.

    Cheatin’ – When you play a hand that couldn’t be made from a normal 52 card deck, you’re Cheatin’. Oh it’s fine to do, but some people might play some cards that get ya for it.

    Control Points – These numbers on some Deeds are how you win the game. Get more of those in play under your control than your opponent has Influence Points, and you win the town.

    Dude – A character card. These fellers gonna win or lose the game for you. They have Influence, sometimes.

    Deed – A card that represents a building, ranch, or other real estate in and around Gomorra. They have Control Points, sometimes.

    Deputy – A dude that’s been ordained to act as the law. Some cards affect Deputies.

    Drifter – A dude that ain’t got no outfit to call home. They’ll work for anyone willing to pay.

    Gadget – One of those wild inventions the Mad Scientists create.

    Ghost Rock – This mystical type of coal was discovered just after the mad shaman Raven unleashed the demons onto the earth. Funny that. No one seemed to mind that it howls when burned and releases ghostly skulls into the air, cause it’s powerful and has pushed innovation forward. Ghost Rock represents your money and resources in the game.

    Grifter – Shady fellers that can do stuff before the game begins, but you can only have one in your starting posse.

    Goods – A card that represents things Dudes’ own, such as guns, hats, horses, and dogs.

    Harrowed – When a dead Dude just refuses to stay put in the dirt, we call them Harrowed. They’re much harder to put down again too.

    Hex – Spells created by Hucksters using special magic that comes from poker decks. Hexes are cards that mess with the game in ways few others can.

    Holy Ground – Places that seem to be a bit more touched by the Lord than others. Abominations don’t tend to like those places.

    Home – This is the card that represents your Faction. It’s also a place in town so Dudes can move to and from there.

    Horse – Look, I know you’re one of them dandies from New York City, but do I REALLY need to explain this?

    Huckster – A gambler who has learned to manipulate spirits through his card-shark abilities.

    Influence – A stat on Dudes that shows how much pull they have in town. As long as you have more of it than your opponent has Control Points, you’re still in the runnin’ to win.

    Job – A special kind of action where Dudes get together to accomplish something other than just killin’ other people. Though they still often kill other people during the Job anyway…

    Mad Scientist – Creators of wild inventions powered by ghost rock. Some aren’t necessarily mad, some can be quite pleasant.

    Mystical – Something that ain’t of this earth.

    Noon – A phase in the turn.

    Out of Town – A deed that isn’t on the town square. Will take booting to get there.

    Outfit – This is your faction.

    Posse – Your group of Dudes, and the group you have in a Shootout.

    Private – A building or land owned by a private citizen. Start a shootout here, and you’ll become Wanted.

    Public – A building or area open to the public. Shootouts happen here a lot, and it’s hard to figure out who started them, so people don’t become Wanted just for shootin’ at each other.

    Ranch – A deed where animals are raised.

    Saloon – A deed where you go drinkin’.

    Shootout – When your Dude or Dudes decide to exchange bullets with their Dude or Dudes.

    Sidekick – A kind of Good that can be sacrificed to take casualties during a shootout.

    Strike – A hole in the ground where people dig up Ghost Rock. Some Deeds may have this trait.

    Sundown – Last phase in the turn, where you check to see if anyone has won.

    Town Square – The street between your side and your opponents. Ain’t the safest place to move to, but you’ll have a hard time avoiding it.

    Wanted – Some actions may make a dude "Wanted". If a dude becomes "Wanted" you put a ghost rock token on him, which is called a bounty. If he becomes wanted again, he gets another token, and so on. Ace an opposing player’s Wanted Dude, you collect the bounty.

    Well, you ought to be good enough off now to not get shot on your first day here. So now… oh, well, looks like ol’ Clyde Owens has his eye on you. Best go ahead and buy a piece, you’ll be in the Town Square soon enough…

    The name of the game

    Doomtown plays equally well as a two-player or multi-player game. It is set in the old American West of the late 19th Century, in a boomtown where gunslingers, politicians, gangs and companies all vie for control of Gomorra. When you play, you will represent one such faction.

    But this isn’t just the Wild West; this is the Weird West. In amongst the cowboys and ranchers are spell slingers, abominations, and mad scientists.

    You win the game by being the person that ends up controlling the town. You generally get control because the dudes in your gang manage to exert their influence over key areas and establishments in the town.

    At its core, the game is about four things:

  • Building your deck
  • Creating a town
  • Moving around the town with dudes in order to control it
  • Having shootouts to sort out the conflict, because everyone is trying to control the town

    • Your Decks

    Doomtown uses a 52-card deck, just like a normal deck of playing cards. All of the cards have a suit and a value, just like normal playing cards. But there the similarities stop; each suit has a particular card type(s) associated with it.

  • Spades are dudes and represent the townsfolk. In your deck, dudes are people that owe you their loyalty and work to further your goals by their influence, their innate abilities, or their skills with a revolver.
  • The diamond suit is composed of deeds that represent the buildings and properties that make up the town that you are trying to control, each providing special abilities or game effects to the player who controls them. When you bring a deed into play, it normally goes on the street on your side of town.
  • Goods and spells are things that attach to dudes and are hearts. They can be anything from a flashy pearl-handled gun to a hex that summons monsters or a ghost rock powered gadget that protects your dude with a force field.
  • In clubs are the action cards. They represent the special jobs, tactics, and other activities that you and your dudes use in and around town, from holding up the stagecoach to asserting your legal rights to a deed.

    • The game comes with four pre-constructed deck lists that can be built straight out of the base set. Once you get the hang of them, you can start experimenting.

    Conflicts and Shootouts

    With all of these different factions wanting a piece of Gomorra, things can get ugly pretty fast. Doomtown uses card suits and values as a way to sort out some of the "unpleasantness" in town.

    Sometimes it is just about pulling a value off the top of your deck to see if a dude manages to perform a particular feat. Other times one of your dudes is going to get called out by another outfit. When that happens, that’s when a shootout can start.

    Shootouts are resolved with the distinct mechanism of poker hands. A dude’s ability in a fight is reflected in their bullet rating; the higher the rating, the more cards you will get to see to make a final poker hand of five cards. The better your hand, the more likely you are to win the shootout and inflict more casualties on the other side. Unless, of course, their posse got an even better hand. But then you can build your deck in special ways to optimize your chances of drawing a good poker hand.

    The difference between the player’s poker hand ranks is the amount of "damage" (or casualties) that the loser takes.

    People usually choose studs as their shooters if they can, because seeing as many cards in your initial draw hand before you make any changes is better than changing more cards. But sometimes it is either not possible or not worth it, as those pesky shootout actions can change all of your well-made plans.

    Win your shootouts, move your dudes around town, and gain more control points than they have influence, and Gomorra will be yours.

    References

    Doomtown Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA