Deadlands, a horror-steampunk-Western, was created by Shane Hensley and released through Pinnacle Entertainment way back in 1996. The original version of the game, which expanded over thirty sourcebooks, a mild revised edition in 1999 and spin-off miniatures game The Great Rail Wars, was hugely successful, popular and critically-acclaimed. In 2001 the company pivoted with Deadlands d20, a version of the game using the same rules as Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. This was monstrously unpopular, and the commercial failure of the game almost drove Pinnacle out of business.
They made a comeback several years later by using the streamlined version of the Deadlands rules from Great Rail Wars to launch Savage Worlds, a generic or universal rules set that could be applied to any kind of setting, from space opera to epic fantasy to steampunk to historical. The game was a big success and in 2006 they released Deadlands Reloaded, a revised version of the game acting as a setting for Savage Worlds. This was also highly successful. In 2018 they released the revised Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE) and in 2021 released Deadlands: The Weird West, the current version of the setting.
Deadlands postulates a break from established history during the American Civil War. At the Battle of Gettysburg, the hordes of dead soldiers come back to life and start spreading across the country. Shortly thereafter, a huge earthquake destroys most of California. In the ruins prospectors find "ghost rock," an unusual substance that triggers both a "ghost rock rush" and huge leaps forward in technology, particularly for the way it supercharges steam technology. Supernatural creatures start appearing across the continent (and, it's at least hinted, the world). Magic suddenly becomes real. The result is a setting that resembles the real Wild West, but one in which magic and steampunk technology also coexists. The setting can be described as a Western meets Lovecraft meets The Difference Engine. The setting is noted for its huge tonal variation (it can move from adventure to horror to comedy) and its well-described array of factions and personalities.
The original game spawned several spin-offs. Deadlands: Hell on Earth is set in the post-apocalyptic future, asking what happens if the forces of evil win and reduce the Earth to a "deadland," a world of fear and despair. The vibe here is more Mad Max. Deadlands: Lost Colony is set in space, on a colony planet settled before the Reckoning took place on Earth. Deadlands Noir is set in an alternate, possible 1930s where the focus is more on gumshoe detectives in the back-alleys of places like Chicago and New York, and the forces of evil have to be much quieter and more subtle.
Deadlands: The Dark Ages is both a prequel and sequel to Deadlands, set in 877 on the island of Britain. Morgan le Fay has been retroactively resurrected thanks to events in the mainline Deadlands setting, a thousand years further in the future. Her return changes history (which may or may not result in ramifications in the extant Deadlands settings), but it also spawns opposition, namely the return of Merlin with the goal of stopping her schemes. He recruits bold adventurers to help take down Morgan and return history to the right path (more or less), whilst they also have to fend with issues such as Danish invaders and civil insurrection.
The Dark Ages range will launch with a core rulebook, a graphic novel called Merlin's Champions, the Accessories Box including dice, bennies, tokens, archetype cards, action cards, maps and some 3D terrain. The Cursed Village set adds more terrain, enough to build a full village (cannily, the 3D terrain can be repurposed easily for other roleplaying games). Optional accessories include metal dice and item cards. There are an array of options for physical products and PDFs (and both).
The Dark Ages Kickstarter has already hit its goal, with additional stretch goals expected. The campaign will run until 4 October.
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