This is list of official rulings made on the Deadlands List Server. While there may be a few missing, the vast majority are included in here. I have tried to avoid duplication with the FAQ where possible, so if you don't find what you're looking for in here, please check that before querying it with me. If you find any mistakes, are unsure as to the meaning of a ruling, or think that I might have missed one, please send me a telegram to let me know.

All the rulings have been made by either Dave Williams (Game Designer), Ryan Dancey (former FRPG Big Boss), Ed Bolme (current FRPG Big Boss), Neal Steed (former keeper of the FAQ), or Gerry Crowe (current keeper of the FAQ).

Blue Text = Changes made since the last version of the Rulings

General Rulings

Acing

• If one or more of your dudes are aced in a shootout, those dudes do not go to Boot Hill until all reactions to their acing have been played. An example of the game effect is this…if you control Nasty Docs, and one of your dudes there is aced, you still control it while any reactions to the acing are played. You can therefore use the Doc's to harrow the dude, even if you would lose control once the dude went to Boot Hill
• When a dude is aced, but before he goes to Boot Hill, his influence counts towards control of the deed he is at. This is significant when using reactions such as Nasty Docs.

• Actions include Moving, Calling Out, Shoppin’, and any card ability preceded by the text "Noon", "Shootout", or "Reaction"

• Boot Hill refers to all player's Boot Hill piles, not just your own.

• You cannot call out or start a shootout with your own dudes.

• All dudes created by a card effect (Bounty Hunter, Sharks etc.) are considered to have a value of Ace

• If you control another players dude, and he is sent home booted, he goes to the Controller's home i.e. yours
• If you control another player's card, and it is discarded, it goes to his discard pile, not yours.
• Control can change at any point during a turn, and many times per turn.

• Cheatin' Cards are played at the point a Draw Hand is revealed. Any reaction that states it is played 'after' a Draw Hand is revealed is therefore played after Cheatin' cards, not at the same time as was the case in the past.

• If you cannot draw enough cards from both your Deck and your Discard Pile, draw as many as you can
• Rank 11 is the highest possible hand rank, and Rank 1 is the lowest.
• You must always show the cards in a Draw hand, not just the values

• Certain effects allow you to search your deck for a card. Your deck does not include your Discard Pile

• All cards are discarded face up
• You may not look through any discard pile, including your own

• You must be able to pay for your starting posse.

• If an event appears in a Lowball Hand, it must be played.
• Only events that appear in the final lowball hand are triggered.
• Events are played after all other reactions to the Draw Hands

• Has a minimum of 1
• If it goes above 10, keep track of it's value, but treat it as 10

• If a harrowed dude is aced, his Goods and Spell cards follow him to whichever location he goes following his Harrowed Pull
• Harrowed Pull occurs after all other reactions to the dude being aced. However, it is not itself a reaction. - Reversal

• You can refuse a shootout when at home, unless the card says otherwise. You will boot but remain where you are

• Shootouts are not compulsory…you may let a job happen successfully even if you have dudes at the location.
• When a deed is owned by one player and controlled by another, and the Deed is targetted by a job, it is the Controller who puts together a posse to defend it.

• If a card forces a dudes controller to move him, the dude follows the normal rules for booting .
• If a card moves a dude directly to a location, the dude is only booted if the card says he is.
• A booted dude may still move via a card effect, so long as the card doesn't require him to boot.

• If a 3^rd player sends dudes into a job to assist one side or the other, he may play shootout actions. He may also play reactions, but only when the card does not require him to have a Draw Hand e.g. Quickdraw.

• If a card changes ownership, for example Claim Jumper, and is discarded, it is returned to the original owner's discard pile.

• You must refill your Play Hand at Nightfall if able

• You only reveal a Draw Hand once. Even if you discard your Draw Hand and redraw, say through Bluff or Double Dealin', you are not revealing a new Draw hand.

• "In a shootout" means from the beginning of the shootout until the end of the shootout.
• If there is every any point at which there is only one posse, then the shootout is over and the other posse "wins".
• To use a shootout action, a dude must be in a shootout.

• You may always choose not to pay upkeep on a card. If you don't pay it, the card is discarded.
• Cards with 0 upkeep or a positive production cannot refuse that production in order to discard them

• A dude becomes wanted at the moment he forms or joins a posse for a shootout on someone else’s Private land.

Specific Card Rulings

1^st Bank is Robbed

• Cannot Target a Strike owned and controlled by a Player who also controls the Miner’s Union House.

• This does not give the Weapon trait to a non-weapon gadget copying an action from a weapon.

• The dude can't be changed to a draw by an opponent's shootout action, nor can he have his bullet rating reduced by an opponent's shootout action

• He does not cost less if selected as a starting dude with Big Jake

• Dude uniqueness rules apply to the Terror
• Can be used to play the Werewolf

• Terrors joining the shootout after Austin has used his action are not affected

• If multiple dudes have the the highest value, all are affected

• If you search your deck but don't find a strike, you must still discard a card.

• This is continually re-assessed throughout the turn, so the Deed in question can change.

• The banished dude is not booted when moving to his new location
• The dude is moved immediately
• If the dude has no other location to move to, he remains where he is but out of the shootout.

• He does not cost less if selected as a starting dude with Scooter

• He can boot to discard zero cards.

• This refers to all Cheatin' cards, not just those that effect the Draw hand
• Cannot cancel the effect of Pembroke's Analysis of Hoyle as it's not a Cheatin' card.

• The maximum applies to the bonus from Mad Scientists in play. You can use cards such as Double Time to increase its production beyond the +3 maximum.

• Dudes return home booted "after nightfall". This means they will remain booted until the following Nightfall.

• Do the pull after the job ends, regardless of it's success.
• He can begin this job even when booted.

• Draw the top card of your Discard pile before discarding this card.

• The shootout takes place at the targets location.
• After the shootout, the Bounty Hunter dude is removed from play, not the card.
• If he is aced, it will trigger the loss of Eureka.
• He can target dudes at resticted locations, such as the Abandoned Mine, as he come's into play there rather than moving there.

• When determining which dude is discarded, you do not add the dude's value to the pull

• Only dudes aced as a result of the shootout are sent home booted. Dudes aced at other times during the Brawl, for example through Snakebite, are aced and sent to Boot Hill.
• Any dudes that the Winner has to lose as a result of the shootout are also sent home booted.
• A Dudes can start as many brawls as he wants in a turn. It's not an action printed on a card in play.
• If an Unlucky Charm is played on a dude in a Brawl, he can be aced as normal.

• Occurs before a deed is aced, so always happens before reactions that occur when a deed is aced.

• You cannot discard a Joker to create a shark

• Once the dude has joined a posse, using cards like Caught With yer Pants Down will not prevent him taking part in the shootout.

• This dude is protected during Draw Resolution against cards that ace a dude (e.g. Take Ya With Me)
• This dude is not protected against cards that ace a dude during a shootout (e.g. Bow and Arrow)
• If there are 2 dudes in a shootout, one has a BPV, and you lose the shootout by 1 rank, you must ace the unprotected dude.

• Cannot join a posse that includes Howard Findley

• If a player has no Ghost Rock and his dude is sent to the California Queen by another player's action, no payment is made.

• If the experienced version drops his influence, it cannot be raised again from zero for the remainder of this turn.
• If the experienced version is wearing Blue Jeans, he cannot drop his influence so cannot use his action.

• Collegium New Front dudes hit with this gain no benefit from attached gadgets, and so will not get a VP for acing a Stud.

• If this reduces a Soul Blast pull to an Ace or lower, it does not ace the Huckster.

• You may jump a copy of a non-unique claim that you already have in play

• If the shootout takes place on your opponent’s Private land, your posse becomes Wanted

• Gain Control Points for all high difficulty gadgets in play, not just those you control.

• You cannot send a dude aced by the Courthouse back to Jail
• A Harrowed Dude still gets the Harrowed pull.

• You can use him to ace your own Terrors (thus earning a Victory Point if you are playing the Agency

• There is no minimum zero on Curse, so if a 0 bullet dude is cursed for -1, and later in the turn is given a +1 weapon, he will be still be a 0 bullet dude for the remainder of the turn.

• Dudes sent to the Slaughterhouse will not return.

• The 5 GR can be used to pay for the Terror you are bringing into play
• If Hells Fury is used to bring a dude back from Boot Hill, he is not considered a Terror until he arrives in play. Therefore you do not get the 5 ghost rock from the Deadland.

• If pulled for a Soul Blast (or similar card), the Death's Head Joker is aced and you pull again. The Huckster is not aced.

• With the Headline Rule in effect, this will cancel and ace the Event selected for resolution.

• Can be used even if all your dudes already belong to your outfit.
• If you Deputize a Drifter, he loses his Drifter status.

• Can be attached to a dude who does not control his location.

• If a dude with Influence is at the Dispatch Office, and his influence is reduced to zero, he retains the bonus until he leaves the Dispatch Office, at which point it is lost.

• This can be used to prevent dudes from joining a posse at any point in a shootout (such as Victor Navarro's action).

• She can summon Skeletons at the new Whateley home - the Extended Family

• Occurs after bonuses that add to production
• As production is only increased during the Upkeep Phase, the increase does not count towards Sweetrock control points.
• Multiple Double Times are not cumulative.

• When played on a lone dude in a shootout, that dude provides no bullet bonuses of any sort for the first round of the shootout.

• A dude played this turn may be a candidate for Mayor.
• If a dude boots to vote, and is successfully unbooted during the same turn, he may vote again.
• Takes effect at the very beginning of Nightfall, before Victory Conditions are checked.

• He can ace any Dude regardless of the Dude's location.

• If this is play and a second copy appears in Lowball, the second copy is discarded

• If a deed has already used an action on its card that turn before it is Foreclosed, it cannot use the same action again that turn if another copy of the deed is brought into play

• If someone reacts with a Bucket Brigade, the Bucket Brigade prevents the acing, so the Forgery doesn't resolve.  The forgers deed remains in his hand and his Forgery is discarded.

• He cannot give his bonus to himself.

• Cheatin'! cards may be played normally

• You can use the Gun even if it has moved this turn, so long as the dude using it hasn't

• Your dude is performing an action when
  • When you use an action printed on your dude
  • When you use an action printed on a card attached to your dude.
  • When you target your dude with an action from another card
  • Immediately after your dude moves to my location as per the Movin' rules
  • Immediately after your dude calls out my dude but before I accept or Chicken out
  • Immediately after your dude attaches a Goods or Spell card as per Shoppin' or trading

• Does not give ghost rock for Token dudes (Sharks, Bounty Hunters etc.)

• Can only affect an action printed on a dude, not actions on cards attached to the dude.
• Multiple copies can be applied to the same action on a dude.

• Not cumulative with Jack's Left and Right Shooter

• You can legally save the Judge after he aces a wanted dude (for example, using an elixir).

• Can have its Bullet Rating increased by the Weaponsmith
• This is not considered a Goods card until it has entered play. It does not have its cost reduced by the Scrapyard or One Eyed Ikes
• Remains attached until the end of the game.
• Comes into play as an Action, not a Weapon, so does not get a discount from the Law Dogs - Hunter's Office.

• This reduction is applied after all production bonuses

• Can be used whether you are the Dealer or the Target of the Job.
• Occurs before posses are formed, so will always react before cards like Diversion

• This reaction is triggered after a dude is aced i.e. after any reactions that may prevent the dude from being aced.

• You can select an already Harrowed dude from Boot Hill

• Shoppin' is considered a Noon Action, so you cannot attach Goods or Spells to a dude protected by this card.
• Both effects end after Nightfall

• Multiple copies of this card are cumulative.

• This remains a Goods card even after becoming a Spell equivalent.

• If Humphrey turns into the Werewolf during a shootout, any shootout effects on him do not carry over to the Werewolf.

• The cards must be returned to the deck in their original order.

• If the Icehouse is removed from play, a dude in it goes to Boot Hill. The dude is not considered to be aced again.
• A dude in the icehouse is considered to be out of play for cards such as Headsman’s Axe
• You can only target the dead dude with effects that could normally target a
  dude in Boot Hill.

• If the shootout is taking place at your Home, the dude is booted and removed from the shootout.

• Read this as "Immediately after this dude has moved into a location, boot the Spectacles to Call Out any one dude at that location. This Call Out may not be refused"

• If a dude moves to this Deed using a card effect e.g. Speed Of The Wolf, the Iron Gate still boots him.

• If this aces a Wanted dude with more than 1 Influence, the Law Dogs will gain a Victory Point if it was their Event

• Multiple dudes can be broken out with the same job

• That'll Leave A Scar is still aced regardless of whether you spend the 2 Ghost Rock.

• For subsequent draws, always draw 5 cards. That includes Sweetrock during Lowball, and all shootout Draw Hands.
• Cannot discard Eureka or Eureka?!?
• The Old Moon Saloon pays 1 ghostrock for each illegal hand drawn.
• Your final hand is the cheating hand that made you discard your last card in play. That's the point at which the Stampede ends, even if the Deed at the centre of a shootout is discarded, or one posse has all it's dudes discarded.

• The dude with the Shooter chooses who is aced.

• Does not negate any special abilities other than Noon, Shootout and Reaction actions.
• It does not remove the Noon job special action on the Jail.

• When Jim replaces a dude, that dude remains at the location, but out of the shootout
• Cannot ‘replace’ someone in a shootout that he is already in

• If you draw a Joker from your opponents deck, you get to decide its value
• Cannot discard for Bucket's Nelson, Dolores Whately etc, as it's only useful in Draws and Pulls.

• When Circus Sideshow is in effect, Joseph selects cards going into your own Discard Pile.

• Both his cost to bring into play and his upkeep are reduced by 5
• If you start with him, he is not brought into play from your play hand and his cost remains 10.

• Dudes can still be turned back to Draw dudes while Katie is in the shootout

• If sent home booted from a shootout (e.g. Pistol Whip), Kenny remains attached to his dude but is out of the shootout.
• If he's Wanted, he can be put into Jail. If he goes there alone, he reverts to a Goods and cannot be broken out.

• Takes effect at the very beginning of Nightfall, before Victory Conditions are checked.

• Only get 2 CP's when taking Grendel's Eye Strike.

• Dudes may use this action even when booted.

• Use the Bullet Rating of the dude that started the job, even if he or she is sent out of the shootout or aced.

• Each player may use this ability twice per turn, so long as he or she controls it.

• You must select either a Bullet bonus or a Value bonus, not a combination of both.

• You can use Forgery to put your own copy of the Manor into play. Control is determined normally, with the new owner winning any ties.

• Each rank has a definable "worst possible hand", which your hand should be considered to be. Note that if you raise your hand to rank 11, that "worst hand" happens to be identical to all other rank 11 hands

• Cannot target a dude protected by Shadow Man

• The Dealer must declare how many cards to discard first, then the Target.
• The Dealer draws his cards before the Target
• The Dealer declares his Draw Hand before the Target
• Playing this card in a Kansas City tournament is not a good idea - it is considered cheatin' and will lose you the game.

• A Shaman who has just been aced can cast this to save himself

• Mick may only use his action once per turn.

• Words in the action which refer to the original dude become self-referential (e.g. Lucky Ted's ability)
• All actions are retained permanently through Card Memory

• You can target a dude who is already harrowed - Reversal

• He does not have to be in the shootout to use his ability

• These are cumulative, but are only applied if the dudes are currently in play

• He can be outside the shootout and still use his action.

• A dude may wear multiple New Hats, and receives a +1 Influence bonus for each hat worn.

• You must search your deck for a gadget, it is not optional.
• Even if your deck contains no gadgets, you must still discard a card

• May not be used to attach a Goods card to a dude that cannot receive it.

• This cannot prevent a dude from refusing a shootout.

• Ghostrock gained here is received before reactions to the illegal hand, in particular Bankrupt Morals.

• Counts towards Sweetrock Control Points for that turn.

• If you discard the cards you may do so in any order

• As this is a Goods card, it cannot receive Influence or Bullet bonuses given to other Abominations.

• Multiple Peace Pipes are cumulative

• If the Huckster is aced after stealing a goods card, the goods card is returned to its owners Boot Hill
• Similarly, if you ace the goods card to Perry's Pawnshop, the card is returned to its owners Boot Hill

• The value reduction is cumulative

• He must take another dude along to use his action

• All dudes must begin and end the move in the same location as each other

• If this prevents a dude from being aced, any effects that would have happened had the dude be aced at the time do not carry forward to the end of the shootout. For example, if this prevents a Harrowed Dude being aced with no pull by the Holy Wheel Gun, the Harrowed will get the normal pull when it is eventually aced after the shootout.

• Any Events that say they are to be aced and that would effect Reggie are still aced, even though they have no other effect

• The Deed you play can be the same as the Deed you replace.

• Terrors joining the shootout after Simon has booted are not affected by his action

• You do not pay upkeep on any dudes turned face down

• Counts towards Sweetrock Control Points for that turn.
• Doubles Printed production, before other bonuses.

• The sniper does not move to the target's location. He stays where he is, although the shootout is considered to take place at the target's location.
• Shootout actions from the original shootout do not carry forward to this new one.

• If a dude somehow aces himself, he cannot subsequently play Scalpin
• Can be played before sending a dude to Jail

• The adjacency applies to both directions, i.e. the strike is adjacent to the Lift Winch and the Lift Winch is adjacent to the strike.

• Does not protect from cards that don’t target a dude
• Does not protect from cards that force the controlling Player to target a dude.
• Does protect against calling out

• Cannot be used to prevent someone joining a posse containing a Walking Dead - that’s not an action.
• All costs for the cancelled action remain paid. Booted dudes remain booted and cards played stay in discard. Any actions on cards are considered used for this turn.

• The player of this card chooses which dude is aced.

• Can be used when refusing a shootout to go Home unbooted.

• She cannot prevent a Harrowed dude joining a posse...that is not an action.

• If you search your deck but find no Spirits or Sioux dudes, you still don't get your outfit's ghostrock for that turn.

• This cannot be used to bring the Werewolf into play.

• To ace the target, you must pull more than 5 above the target number. If the target is T.C. (difficulty 4), you must pull 10 or higher to ace him.
• Can only target a dude in the opposing posse.

• The dude's suit does not change…he remains as a Spade.

• Does not provide ghostrock via the Graveyard or Undertakers.

• If your opponent has multiple eligible dudes, you choose which gets called out for the shootout.

• A dude protected by this cannot be aced during a shootout by anything other than a hand rank difference of 2 or greater, or 3 or greater if the second action is used. That includes a Shotgun, Snakebite, and any other card that might otherwise ace this dude

• The dudes sent home are not booted

• She is not considered a Goods card. She is a Dude with the Gadget attribute.

• Dudes return home booted "after nightfall". This means they will remain booted until the following Nightfall.

• If a Sweetrock player has a non-Sweetrock dude in play, and another player takes control of that dude, the Sweetrock player can put another non-Sweetrock dude into play. If and when control of the original dude is due to return, he must be discarded instead.

• Cannot start with the Lode, as it has a Control Point Chip.
• If it's protected Strike is discarded and then returned to play, it keeps it's protected status.

• Multiple copies of this card are cumulative.
• Can be played even if the loser subsequently saves his dudes.

• You can use this card to ace No Funny Stuff after it's been played.

• This cannot be played on a non-DMH Draw Hand that has had it's hand rank raised to 11

• A dude in Jail who is being aced cannot use goods/spells on himself to prevent the acing...he is out of play, and so cannot use those actions.

• This should read Controller Reaction:

• As it has a blue Control Point chip on it, Sweetrock Western Corporate Office cannot start with this strike.
• If it is discarded from play, the number of tokens on it is not retained by card memory. If it returns to play, it starts with 1 token again.

• If using Bottom Dealing for this spell, take the top card from your opponent's Discard pile.

• If he drops to zero bullets at the Casino Morongo, he is sent home first before being aced. Therefore he is not discarded, but aced and sent to Boot Hill

• Cannot be aced during a shootout by anything other than a hand rank difference of 2 or greater.

• Has no effect on a dude leaving the shootout after being aced

• The additional Influence is at the deed, and goes to the Controller. If the owner does not control it, his opponent could move all his dudes out and still retain control until the owner moves at least 1 influence in, thereby regaining control
• May not be booted for 2 GR if the dude was already Wanted…only when he first becomes Wanted

• Flushes are not considered ‘illegal hands’…they simply don’t exist as a Hand Rank
• Straight Flushes are not affected
• When raising or lowering your hand during a Total Eclipse, Rank 6 still exists. It is simply not represented by any set of card values.

• The increase in difficulty is only in effect for this pull - it is not a permanent change to a gadget difficulty.

• Multiple copies of this card are cumulative.

• He becomes harrowed immediately after being aced for the first time.
• The Graveyard prevents him from becoming Harrowed, but he still returns the following turn as a non-harrowed dude. He still gets the bullet bonus.
• If you have no Whateleys in play at the start of the turn after the figure is aced, he cannot return.

• Does not become wanted for joining a posse. Only dudes joining a posse that already contain a Walking Dead become Wanted.

• Dudes can make themselves Wanted.

• This includes Town Hall Victory Points.

• You can look through both your deck and discard pile for a Deed.

• If she is on a Pinto, she cannot flee out of town so she will run home instead

• It's production is considered to be zero.

• This player is still considered to have been targeted by a cheatin' card, so cannot be targeted again this Draw.