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A brief bit I wrote about Deadlands a few years ago after running my first session : I still support these sentiments, except moreso. It really is a fantastic system and I love it so.
"Started running a Deadlands campaign on Sunday for the regular Sunday RPG gang. After a recent run of disappointing games, it feels good to be back in the GM’s seat (Marshall, for Deadlands) and the session was fun. Actually, it was a freakin’ riot, leading from a classic spaghetti western feel all the way to a dark and foreboding cliffhanger. For the first session in ages everyone was in character and ready to roll from the moment things began right up ’til the final bell.
First time I’ve played Deadlands, let alone ran a session, so I was a bit nervous about getting the assorted rules and regulations right. It has way more rules (ie, more than one) than I like in my RPG’s. A lot more. There are tables, and stats, and different types of dice, and poker chips and playing cards. Now, you’re not going to hear me say this often, so gather in round. The rules rock harder than Gary Coleman in a washing machine. If you play this game systemless you’ve missed the boat. Pick up your hat and hit the door. I mean it. It’s all about atmosphere and roleplaying potential. It’s all about throwing a chip in the ring in order to make that almost but not quite leap to safety. It’s all about being heroic but prone to occasional catastrophic failure.
It’s probably the finest roleplaying *system* I’ve ever laid eyes upon. You wouldn’t want to run anything but Deadlands with it, mind you. That would be crazy talk and just asking for trouble. Of course, it’s exactly the fact that the rules mesh with the world in order to extend and enhance atmosphere that makes it a winner. Sure, it may not be every day that you want to play a spaghetti western with a touch of menace. In fact, it probably didn’t occur to most of the roleplayers out there as a top ten candidate for even a couple of sessions of play. let alone a campaign.
It should. Westerns are fun. Showdowns are fun. Hell, wranglin’ cattle across the Texas plains is fun, if you do it right.
So, I’m raisin’ a glass here to Deadlands. The finest damn roleplaying system I’ve come across in all my days. If you haven’t played, go out and do so. Y’can download the Players Guide for free these days and you sure ain’t gonna get a better deal than that. G’wan, git. If you have played it then go out and start a new game for old times sake.
Oh, and there are GURPS and D20 versions of Deadlands too. I don’t know about GURPS, but the D20 version is a freaking abomination to be avoided at all costs. It cuts the heart and soul outta the game and replaces it with gutless rolls of twenty sided dice. As I said, never have I seen a system so tightly welded to the game in terms of atmosphere and play mechanics. Cut that out, and you’re left with Western Cthulu and D20 rules. I actually considered picking up the D20 version (given the guys I play with are mostly down with D20, it seemed the easiest transistion) until I realised that they’d cut the cards. And the character. And the balls and the soul. Why are you still here? Pick up the phone and get a posse together, cowpoke!" |
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Of the couple of playtests I've run through with my brothers it was pretty much spot-on for what we needed to do. It rewards stunts... specifically the cinematics of the action movie genre. Try it out and see if it sticks.
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