Mad Scientist (Deadlands) and Arcane Background

Deadlands is an alternate history western horror roleplaying game written by Shane Lacy Hensley and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. The history of Earth is similar to our own until 1863, when at the Battle of Gettysburg, the dead rise up. That signifies The Reckoning , a bizarre event that brings magic back to Earth, allowing monsters, spirits, and other supernatural forces to once again inhabit the world of mortals.

Now the year is 1877 (or 1876 if playing by first edition rules). The place is the Wild West but haunted by the forces of darkness. Undead gunslingers, hostile Indian spirits, strange cults, and worst of all, the sinister Reckoners. The American Civil War drags on, while federal agents and Texas Rangers struggle to deal with the eldritch menaces while hiding the awful truth from the public Back East.

Players take on the role of gunfighters, hexslingers, shamans, or pious blessed, mad scientists, and even saloon gals in an attempt to learn about the Reckoning and the mysterious beings behind it.

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 to be released in 2005 called .

The Deadlands setting also has a miniature figures wargame called The Great Rail Wars and a collectible card game game called Doomtown. The two other roleplaying games Deadlands: Hell on Earth and Deadlands: Lost Colony are set one hundred years into the settings future in a post nuclear wasteland and another planet respectively.

Game terms

• Harrowed: a Harrowed character has risen from the grave due to his or her body being possessed by a Manitou. As an undead, a Harrowed has a variety of special powers, but these are balanced by supernatural drawbacks, such as the fact the Harrowed constantly needs to battle their Manitou 'inmate' for control of their body. Because of the presence of the Manitou within their bodies, Harrowed can absorb the life energies of certain abominations to gain mystical powers, such as "Soul Eater" and "Sicken." The process of absorbing this energy is called "Counting Coup."

See also

• Deadlands: Lost Colony
• Deadlands: Hell on Earth
• Weird West

External link

• Pinnacle Entertainment Group