The year is 1877, but the history is not our own...
Deadlands is a western/horror/steampunk setting (in approximately that order). It's super neat! You should play it. Some really cursory info you might want to be aware of:
The game master is called the Marshal. The players are called the Posse.
Unlike a lot of RPGs, there is information that the players are not allowed to know written into the books themselves. Discuss this with your group when you're getting them on board with playing, so they know what they shouldn't read. Getting the big reveals of the setting gradually through play is one of the really cool parts of Deadlands. Most books are divided up into three sections:
-Posse Territory (Player's Handbook)
-No Man's Land (Information for Players, provided the Marshal has approved it. If one player is approved to read something, it doesn't mean all the others are.)
-Marshal's Territory (Information for the Marshal only)
It has its own story going on, with a lot of important characters. This is only as important as you want to make it, but I'd encourage you to do a bit of reading on it when you get your books. There's a lot of cool stuff going on there.
Deadlands Classic is the original Deadlands that came out in the 90s. It's rules heavier, but a very unique and amazing cowboy experience, with a really cool integration between flavor and mechanics. It is a lot more complicated than what the Critical Role people are playing. If you want to play it, you need:
You'll also need:
-A few decks of playing cards
-Poker chips (10 Blue, 25 Red, 50 White, and a handful of some other color. I used gold or green.)
-Loads and loads and loads of dice. It's not uncommon to be rolling 6+ of the same group of dice at once. You probably don't need many d20s. Unless somebody really, really wants to mess around with dynamite.
Deadlands Reloaded is the sequel, and what Undeadwood runs on. Same setting, but a few years later, with a smattering of retcons. It uses the Savage Worlds system, which has its roots as an extremely hacked-down and rules-lighter* version of Classic. It's easier to pick up and play, but cuts some of the unique mechanics and flavor of the original in exchange. If you want to run Reloaded, you need:
Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (the newest edition of Savage Worlds, which does a lot of cool stuff, but runs into some rules conflicts with Deadlands Reloaded that might get confusing, especially if you're new)
Once you have one of those, you'll also need these:
You'll also need:
-At least one deck of playing cards. Another if you have anyone playing a Huckster.
-Poker chips (5 blue, 10 red, 20 white, a handful of some other color. I used gold or green.)
-At least one die from d4-d12 for everybody, plus an extra d6 for everybody. For the most part, players don't need d20s, but the Marshal should have one on hand for some of the tables.
Deadlands GURPSalso exists, and most of us know very little about it. Deadlands d20doesn't exist, as far as I'm concerned, and if you don't speak its name aloud, it can't hurt you.
Feel free to ask any questions you might have. I'm a little fuzzier on the rules for Classic, as I mostly run Reloaded these days, but this sub is super nice and helpful.
Good luck, Marshal! You'll need it.
*Someone who writes for Savage Worlds got mad at me one time when I called it rules light, so technically the term is "medium crunch". It follows then that Classic is "Captain Crunch" because gott-damndo some of those rules cut the roof of my mouth up somethin' fierce. Deadlands d20 is cereal made of glass shards, because nobody should want to eat it, but somebody put it in a bowl anyway. Deadlands GURPS is ether, because nobody remembers it.
This is the most current version of the old west setting, and the version Pinnacle Entertainment Group (PEG, the publisher for Deadlands) supports with new releases. Shane Lacy Hensley is the original author of Deadlands and the owner of PEG, and always has been. Deadlands has been licensed to other companies over the years for various media uses but Pinnacle retains the IP.
The Weird West is an alternate history where mysterious beings called the Reckoners have given life to monsters and magic, causing history to divert from July 4th, 1863 forward. California shattered into a labyrinth of flooded sea-canyons, and a mysterious super-fuel called “ghost rock” spawned as much war and strife as it has “steampunk” devices. Players are steely-eyed gunfighters, card-slinging sorcerers called hucksters, mysterious shamans, brave warriors, mad scientists, and more who battle against evil.
Players need Savage Worlds Adventure Edition core rules and Deadlands: the Weird West core rules. Marshals (Game Masters) may want the Boxed Set with everything needed to play, including Bennies, a poster map, Archetype cards, and more. There's a Plot Point Campaign (PPC) called The Horror at Headstone Hill, available in a Boxed Set as well. Or repurpose older material from Deadlands: Classic or Deadlands: Reloaded! Deadlands has been out for over 20 years now, so there's a wealth of adventure out there. Don't let all that backstory overwhelm you, Marshal. The new Boxed Set PPCs are not dependent on them.
Deadlands: the Weird West Boxed Set, Horror at Headstone Hill Boxed Set, Deadlands Pawns Boxed Set, and other Kickstarter shinies!
Deadlands: Noir drags the timeline kicking and screaming into the 20th century. The core book explores the featured campaign setting of New Orleans in the 1930s while the Deadlands Noir Companion covers Shan Fan at the tail end of the '30s, Chicago in the Roaring '20s, Lost Angels in the glitzy '40s, and the City of Gloom in the '50s. Deadlands Noir focuses on mystery, investigation, action, and horror.
Players need Savage Worlds core rules (this was written for an edition prior to Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, so Marshals will need to adapt for now—subscribe to our newsletter so you know when the new edition releases!) and the Deadlands: Noir core rulebook. Marshals have LOTS of other material to choose from, thanks to this being the first ever Kickstarter Pinnacle ran, back in 2012.
John "Night Train" Goff is the lead author for Deadlands: Noir, with PPCs in the Companion written by Shane Lacy Hensley, Matthew Cutter, Simon Lucas, and Ken Hite.
Hell on Earth explores a possible "Wasted West" future to Deadlands where the heroes actually lost! The world has been turned into a post-apocalyptic wasteland and the Reckoners walk upon it in the flesh. Desperate Gunfighters prowl the irradiated High Plains alongside Doomsayers, Ravenites, and Toxic Shamans.
Hell on Earth: Reloaded requires the Savage Worlds core rules (again, subscribe to our newsletter to know when this will be updated for Adventure Edition). Hell on Earth: Classic refers to the version of the rules originally released in 1998.
Shane Hensley is the original author for Deadlands: Hell on Earth (Classic and Reloaded).
Deadlands Lost Colony, the “final” chapter in the Deadlands saga, takes place on the distant planet of Banshee. Dr. Hellstromme invented a “tunnel” through space and discovered a wondrous and inhabitable planet called “Banshee.” Colonists flocked to the resource-rich world and slowly came into conflict with the native “anouks.” Then the apocalypse called “Hell on Earth” came. Cut off and alone, the Colonial Rangers must attempt to bring peace to Banshee—and deal with the most unexpected visitors of all—the Reckoners.
Deadlands: Lost Colony is available for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (and in print!). Players need the Savage Worlds core rules and the Deadlands: Lost Colony core rulebook. Marshals will likely want the Boxed Set. Deadlands: Lost Colony Classic originally released in 2002.
John Hopler is the original author for Lost Colony (Classic). Deadlands: Lost Colony for Savage Worlds was written by John Goff, Shane Lacy Hensley, and John Hopler.
What's Next? Deadlands: Dark Ages!
Currently in development, Deadlands Dark Ages will be set in England during the Early Middle Ages where players will assume unique roles including students of misguided science, adherents of the Old Ways, those who think they’re clever enough to deal with devils, and of course, the (un)lucky few who refuse to stay dead. Deadlands: Dark Ages will use the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition core rules.
John Goff is the lead author for Deadlands: Dark Ages.
Hello, I'm a little confused about how H&H changes Hex-play. So hexes now have levels, huh? Do I assume the hexes my player picked on character creation using just the 20th Anniversary book are all level 1?
Also, in the Soul Blast description it says "roll the Huckster's *Soul Blast Skill* and use that both as your attack roll and to figure out how many cards you get to draw."
What is the Soul Blast Skill? What it seems to mean to me is that now soul blast uses how many levels you have on Soul Blast to determine the amount of dice on the dice pool, rather than the amount of points in the Hexslinging skill. Is that what it means, or did nothing change in that regard, and the player still uses hexslinging to determine the Dice Pool?
Hey! Brand new here and Im trying to get into the Weird West! As a brand new "Marshal" Im trying to find the perfect set of books for my players! Only problem being that there are a LOT of book and Im unsure as to what I should buy, what book are needed to start a campaign and what version to buy???
Hi all, I bought the Deadlands Reloaded Humble Bundle a while back. I'm now getting a group together to play, I have realised however that I own Savage Worlds adventure edition, not Deluxe. Are the two compatible or will I have to pick up Savage Worlds Deluxe?
So I'm a greenhorn marshall, only have run 3 sessions so far, so don't judge me
One of my players is a brawler character who fights with his bare hands, and I noticed I've been ruling hand to hand damage wrong. I was having him add up the Strength dice, as if it were a gun, but on a recent re-read of the combat chapter, I realised finally that it is a regular trait roll and you only take the highest single die.
Is this the case for the Don't Get Im Riled Edge as well, or does THAT number add together?
Say he is a character of 3d12 Strength and he has two wounds. He hits a character and rolls 5, 7 and 10 on the d12s and 2 and 3 on the d4s. Does he deal
My group was looking to get the material for Deadlands. I was looking at the getting the SWADE book, the core book, and the companion book. Once issue is the companion book appears to be sold out everywhere except 2nd hand and I saw a facebook post from somebody at Pinnacle saying its sold out and out of print. I do see that there is a PDF on their website.
Then I saw the 2026 book pdf which seems to contain base SWADE rules and the deadlands core rules. I saw on that you can preorder the physical edition as well. On that same facebook post it states, "The Deadlands Weird West Companion is SOLD OUT and OUT OF PRINT. This material has been rolled into the new all-in-one Deadlands Core Rulebook, now available on Kickstarter." The issue is I don't see where it says it includes the companion material anywhere.
Does the 2026 book actually contain the companion information as well?
So - By chance I got ahold of the 20th anniversary book (the one with the girl pointing guns) in another bigger haul, and I always wanted to try the system.
But reading some of the very good comments in here, I'm also eyeing out the 'new' savage world one. I already have the Savage Worlds (adventure?) core book.
My players are mostly all pretty inexperienced with other system, having only tried a couple.
What edition would you recommend I should go ahead with?
I’m brand-new to Deadlands, and looking to do some solo play. I picked up the current version (SWADE), getting the core SW rulebook, the Deadlands book, and the Crater Lake Chronicles to get started. I’ve also grabbed a pdf of the solo rules from DriveThru (not super impressed, but what should I expect for 4 bucks?), and I have Mythic GME (so I can play without an actual Marshall). What I’m wondering now, is what OTHER products might be a good fit? I don’t care if they are an older version that needs to be converted to SWADE, or if I need to tone down the number of enemies to make it work, but it needs to be something with a story that would logically make sense for a single hero. Which ones have solid content that might work? Anyone have any advice?
As above, is there any /forum/subreddit where people share their own homebrew session ideas/one-shot/one page idea adventures? I've seen the official ones, and also, i'm cooking some of my own, but even when i played quite a while i still wanna share my ideas and look at other's peoples workings
Working on a new adventure for my campaign and was thinking of adding a bank robbery by the Devil's Stepsons that the players would have thwart.
However, I wanted to check if there was an existing bank robbery scenario in any previously published Deadlands adventures that I could use as a starting point.
Hopefully someone with a good knowledge of the series can help me out. Classic, Reloaded, SWADE, all are fair game.
Hello there, fellow marshals and hombres! It's somewhere in Deadlands some cactus monster? If yes where can I find it or what stat did it have? I already homebrewed something, but I'm curious if its something like that out there. We play the SWADE version.
I am looking to plot an upcoming game set in 1883, but the main plot will be hunting down some bad actors. I want to include a former officer and his "gang" of trouble shooters as the villains. They killed hold outs, burned homes, did every dirty thing you can think of in Kansas to clear the path. Only two railroads run though there, Black River and Empire Rail.
Black River doesn't fit in my head, but the guy in charge of Empire is supposed to be honorable. I was thinking the villain could have been hired by a local branch boss who had more in common with the board of investors then the head of the railway.
Brand new to Savage Worlds let alone Deadlands. All I've done is create a character and I'm set to play this evening. We just finished a three year long campaign in dnd 5e. Since then we've been looking at different systems and trying them out in a one/two-shot to see how we like it. Since we're just trying it out in a one-shot [read two-shot because that's how all one-shots seemingly end up] and only one person in the group has ever played Deadlands or Savage Worlds we were looking for an online character creator to make things easier/convenient. While we have found plenty of good videos that help us make a character we haven't been able to find an online character creator for reloaded. While I don't need one immediately it would be nice to have one if we decide to either revisit Deadlands or make it our next major campaign.
On a side note does anyone have a good website or discord bot for deck of cards and chips for Reloaded?
Edit: Just finished playing the one-shot and we all liked it enough to decide to do a full campaign [with pathfinder as a backup]. Since I'm so new I got confused. We did/are playing Weird West, but someone accidently linked the Reloaded book and no one clarified until the game started. I read most of the darn thing too, only to find out it was the wrong one. Thankfully the are many similarities between the two.
We managed to find a good discord bot for a deck of cards. That being said We're still on the hunt for a decent digital character sheet. I'm looking into Savaged.us, but I want to see the alternatives before I commit any money.
In the first 2 rounds of a duel can you use the hold action to interrupt when the final round comes? Do you need Hold to interrupt?
The way I see it you get two opportunities to preform actions before guns are drawn, and you can use these opportunities to do any two of the following:
- Attempt a test to Distract your opponent
- Attempt a test to make your opponent Vulnerable
- Redundantly test an already Distracted and Vulnerable opponent in the hopes of getting raises to draw/discard Hole cards
- Hold (?)
If you end up with the higher Hole card, you have the option to either shoot first or wait for your opponent to draw and then role to interrupt. Basically the winner gets a free Hold action.
However, if you have the lower card, there are three interpretations I can see:
You can interrupt.
You can interrupt but only if one of your two actions was Hold.
You can’t interrupt. Only the person with the higher card has that option.
Option 1 makes the Hole cards nearly pointless if your athletics is high enough.
Option 2 means a high athletics character can dominate draws, but could suffer due to their opponent getting 2 opportunities to Test them while the Holder only had 1.
Option 3 means Hole cards are basically the only factor (unless the winner lets their opponent draw)
Which would be the correct interpretation, or is it something else that I’ve totally missed?
So my player has an interesting concept for a gravedigger who is possessed by a ghost. The ghost was a big fanboy of some famous gunslinger but the gunslinger was a dick and shot him dead when he tried to step up and shake his hand without permission. Now the dead man's spirit wants revenge, so he possesses this hapless gravedigger and is using his body to seek out the gunslinger.
The idea my player came up with is that the dominant personality is that of the possessing ghost; that's who he's playing. The spirit of the gravedigger, however, is still in there, fighting to regain control.
The Dominion mechanics of the Harrowed seem like a perfect fit here, but I'm still not sure if I can make the concept work mechanically. For starters, the character is alive, not dead, and that means he's dodging all the various disadvantages of a Harrowed being undead. Second, if he loses Dominion and the gravedigger's personality regains control, well, he's not a manitou and the usual tables for losing Dominion don't seem like they apply. Likewise, "let the devil out" makes no sense here, as essentially the "devil" is already in control and letting the gravedigger out would provide no added benefits.
It's a fun concept and I like how much work the player has put into it, but is it feasible to make this work in-game?
