This is the last game I will have with my current play group before moving 10k+ Km. So the characters they will create won't be useful in the future.
I want my players to play a short story (about 20h-30h) where combat could not be present. The story is simple: on the last day of summer a farwest kid wishes that the day will last for ever. The wish is granted and the town is now trapped in a time loop. The loop is there for more than 120 years, and time has eaten away at the resident's sanity. Even though they are repeating a wonderful day again and again, they are more than a little psycho.
A full town of chaotic neutral cowboys with sanity close to 0. What could go wrong?
Here combat optimization is a bad idea, even you wanted to fight, going up against a whole town on the edge of self destruction in a game where guns kill is suicidal.
How can I advise my players to not try to over optimize their character for combat, without giving too much of a hint that this will be a role-play heavy scenario?
The party will come to this town on their quest to retrieve a MacGuffin.
The story is based on the Stone Cold Dead supplement for numerous encounters in the town. And the town is based on the French "Hundred Miles and Years" Deadland Reloaded scenario.