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Deadlands is a genre-mixing alternate history roleplaying game which combines the Western and horror genres. Steampunk elements are also prominent. It was written by Shane Lacy Hensley and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
The eight-times Origins Award-winning setting has been converted to many other systems over the years and is available in the original Classic Rules, the revised Classic Rules, d20 System, GURPS, as well as a Savage Worlds version called Deadlands: Reloaded.
Deadlands: The Weird West Background
The game is set in the United States in the last quarter of the 19th Century. The canonical year for the first edition of Deadlands is 1876. A later supplement, Tales o' Terror, advances the game's backstory and metaplot ahead one year, to 1877. The second edition of Deadlands uses the updated backstory of 1877 as the canonical starting point.
The basic rules provide for characters and settings that could be expected to appear in the "Wild West" genre of movies and pulp fiction, and most of the in-game action is presumed to occur in the wild frontiers of the American West, or in barely-tamed frontier towns like Tombstone, Arizona or Dodge City, Kansas. However, later supplements expanded the in-game adventuring area to include places such as the Deep South, the Mississippi River, Mexico, and the Northeastern United States. These supplements often provide for adventures set in urban areas such as New Orleans, New York City, or Boston.
The canonical, basic setting is referred to as the Weird West due to the juxtaposition of the Western setting with the horrific and fantastical elements of the game. The history of the Weird West is identical to real-world history, up until July 3rd, 1863. On this date, a group of American Indians from various tribes, led by a Sioux shaman known as "Raven," performed the Great Ghost Dance in an effort to drive out the European settlers. This ritual created a conduit to a spiritual realm populated by powerful malicious entities known as the "Reckoners." The events surrounding and immediately subsequent to Raven's ritual is known as "The Reckoning."
The Reckoners feed on negative emotions, particularly fear. Sufficient levels of fear in the population of a given location allow the Reckoners to begin subtly altering the environment of that location: the sun shines a little less brightly, trees become stunted and "evil" looking, rock formations take on the appearance of corpses or monsters, and so on. The more powerful the fear, the greater the environmental changes.
The ultimate goal of the Reckoners is to turn the entire Earth into an evil, haunted wasteland -- literally a Hell on Earth. However, the Reckoners cannot directly enter Earth's realm unless the overall fear level of the entire planet becomes sufficiently high. To this end, they use their powers to create monsters, madmen, zombies, and other creatures and villains that will sow fear and terror throughout the land.
The first instance of this occurred on July 4th, 1863, shortly after the Great Ghost Dance when, at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, dead soldiers from both sides of the conflict rose from the battlefield and began indiscriminately attacking the surviving soldiers and civilians. Since then, undead gunslingers, hostile Indian spirits, strange cults, and deadly creatures have begun terrorizing the world. The American Civil War drags on thanks to the machinations of the Reckoners, and the country remains divided into U.S. and Confederate sections, while federal agents and Texas Rangers struggle to deal with the eldritch menaces while hiding the awful truth from the general public.
The unleashing of the Reckoners has had a number of important side effects. Magic was revealed to be real, although it involves challenging otherworldly spirits, "manitous". These same manitous can possess a recently deceased body and reanimate it, creating a "Harrowed". Harrowed beings are sometimes under the control of the spirit (who uses the opportunity to spread fear) and sometimes under the control of the deceased being. Scientific progress rapidly advances as the Reckoners support experimental designs that normally would not work. This progress drives Deadland's technological level from historical levels to a "steampunk" setting. The Reckoners create "ghost rock," a mineral that burns hotter and longer than coal and supports the steampunk technology.
Players take on the role of various mundane or arcane character types, including Gunfighters, Lawmen (such as U.S. Marshals or local sheriffs), Hucksters (magic users), Shamans, Blessed (those of faith), and Mad Scientists in an attempt to learn about the Reckoning and the mysterious beings behind it.
Unique aspects of the Deadlands game
Deadlands features a unique way of creating playing characters for the game. Instead of spending character points, or randomly rolling dice, a character's abilities are determined by drawing cards from a standard 54-card poker deck (jokers included). The cards drawn determine the character's Traits, (their basic attributes). The game also uses polyhedral dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20) which are referred to as the "Bones", and a set of red, blue and white poker chips.
In a Deadlands game, the Game Master is called The Marshal, and the players are called The Posse. Deadlands uses a system of die roll resolution that is somewhat similar to Shadowrun and The Storyteller System. A character rolls for successes with a handful or dice and hopes that at least one of the dice rolls the Target Number or higher. Rolling the highest possible number on any of the dice is known as "rolling an ace", and that die may be re-rolled, with the total being added to the initial roll value. In most cases only the highest single die's value (with "aces" added) is compared to a target number. For each five points over the target number the character is considered to have a "raise" which typically makes the character's action more effective. When attacking someone, raises give the attacker more control over where on the victim's body the blow or bullet strikes. When attempting to quickly a gun, each raise allows another round of ammunition to be loaded in a single action.
Spell Casting
Players with huckster characters use a deck of playing cards in addition to dice to cast their spells. A successful skill check allows the player to draw five or more cards and makes the best possible poker hand with those cards. The strength of the hand determines not only whether the spell was successfully cast, but also the strength of its effects. In the game world, this mechanic is explained as the huckster literally gambling with a magical spirit in order to get it to do his or her bidding -- a high ranking poker hand means the huckster has won, and the spirit causes the spell to be cast as desired; a low ranking poker hand results in failure. Both jokers are present and wild, increasing the chance of a good hand, but the black joker means that the spirit does something harmful to the huckster.Action Decks
Instead of rolling for Initiative as in most other RPGs, the players make a "speed" roll on the bones -- the exact number and type being rolled determined by each character's stats -- and then draw a number of cards from a community playing card deck based on the results of that roll. The Marshal then calls out card values, starting from Aces and going all the way down to Deuces. The card's suit indicates who goes first if the same value of card is drawn.Fate Chips
Along with Bones and Cards, characters get Fate Chips which are typically poker chips, although colored stones or coins can also be used. These are drawn from a hat or some other container that the player blindly chooses at the beginning of play. Each player draws a certain number of Fate Chips at the beginning of the game from the Fate Pot, modified according to player actions and Marshal preference. Fate chips provide things like bonus dice to use during certain rolls, or regain health at a critical moment. The drawback is the Marshal can draw chips as well for the badguys.Bounties
At the end of a gaming session, players can cash in unused Fate Chips for Bounty Points. These are like Experience Points in other systems and are used to improve Traits and Aptitudes. The Marshal may also award additional Bounty Points at the end of the session for completing the mission objectives and any exceptional role-playing that had been done on behalf of a player.Spinoff Games
The "Weird West" mark is used to distinguish the primary game setting from the various other settings:
- Deadlands:The Great Rail Wars -- a tabletop wargame with miniature figures.
- Doomtown -- a collectible card game. A sourcebook for the town described in the game was released under the title "Doomtown or Bust!". A secondary sourcebook, detailing the town after the events of the CCG, was released under the title "The Black Circle". A third sourcebook titled "The Collegium", detailing the Mad Scientist faction of the same name, was also released.
- Range Wars -- a tabletop wargame that used a collectible cardboard disks instead of miniatures. As much a spin-off from Doomtown as Deadlands, it used many of the same factions. The base set: Doomtown: Range Wars was released, and a single expansion, Ghost Creek. Material from this game was incorporated into the "Black Circle" sorcebook.
- Hell on Earth -- a role-playing game set in one possible future of the Weird West, where the Reckoners succeeded in turning the entire Earth into a haunted wasteland. This game features elements from the Western genre as well as elements from Mad Max-esque post-apocalyptic fiction and, of course, horror.
- Lost Colony -- a role-playing game set in the same future as Deadlands: Hell on Earth, except on another planet. This game features sci-fi, Western, and horror elements.
- Savage Worlds -- a miniatures and generic system derived from The Great Rail Wars.
See also
External link
Historical role-playing games | Horror role-playing games | Origins Award winners | Deadlands | Alternate history games
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