So they have been talking about this one for a while now but Pinnacle made it official this week: the next setting for Deadlands is coming next month. Weirdly enough I have mixed feelings about this one. First, let's review what's out now:
- Deadlands: The Weird West - this is the original setting and the one where we met the whole concept of the Reckoners creeping in around the edges of reality, Servitors helping them do it in exchange for power, and a need for people to take a stand against them. It's one of the greatest settings in RPG-dom and one of my personal favorites. It gives a good set of reasons for cowboys and other old west types to fight monsters without having to transport them to a D&D campaign and it is brilliant. We've had original flavor, a second edition of that, a d20 version, a GURPS version, and then a couple of editions for Savage Worlds. There is a ton of supporting material, much of it with a regional focus so you can pick up the core book, figure out what area of the west speaks to you, grab something on that and get to rollin'. I've run multiple campaigns with it and will run more in the future.
- Deadlands: Hell on Earth - The other original system game and the one that bumped Gamma World and Twilight 2000 aside as my favorite overall post-apocalyptic RPG setting. It was also ridiculously well-supported and made the jump to d20 and then Savage Worlds as well. I haven't run nearly as much of this as I have Weird West games but I want to. I suspect it has been overshadowed a bit these last few years by Rifts as the other big post-apoc setting that seems to get a lot more attention. I ran through the basics here, Reloaded here, and then the supplements here, and here.
- Deadlands: Noir - In my opinion the first big misstep for Deadlands. It's the 1930's as the future of the Weird West setting which seems on the surface like a fairly rich vein with gangsters and weirdness (to start with) but from what I've seen it largely ignores the world-hopping Indiana Jones type options which would really amp it up. This is in keeping with the Deadlands games as a line being focused on America, particularly western America, and not really going beyond Canada or Mexico as the more distant parts of the setting. It makes sense in the prior two games but here we have a functioning society, the potential for international intrigue, and airplanes! This is the one setting book for Deadlands that I do not own as the concept just never clicked and never pushed my buttons for wanting to run a campaign - given the chance I'd rather run either of the two other games. There are only a few supporting products for it so I assume I am not the only one who felt the same about it. I remember thinking it sounded super-niche-y when they first announced it and I've seen nothing since to change my mind.
- Deadlands: Lost Colony - A spin-off from Hell on Earth that is set on a distant space colony that is dealing with ... a lot of the same problems we were dealing with in Weird West and the Wasted West. It's pretty self-contained as it's cut off from earth - it's more Weird West with lasers or tech guns instead of six-shooters and native aliens instead of native Americans, plus more Reckoner trouble. I appreciate it's potential for being the place where you finally finish off the Reckoners but I always saw it as more of a supplement for HOE than as a setting on it's own. I've never run this. I likely only would as the finale to a Wasted West campaign where you could really close things out.
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| Such a great take on this genre |
So there we have two great settings and two less-great settings in my eyes. Now we get the apparent awakening of the Reckoners in the new prequel where we're going back to Camelot to fight them:
From the Weird West to the Dark Ages
Dark magic rises in the time of kings and knights.
Ride with Merlin’s Paladins, battle Morgana’s minions, face the Great Wyrms, and confront horrors from beyond history. From Pictish undead to the Cult of Dagon, the Reckoners are stirring for the first time -- and Britain’s fate hangs in the balance.
Dynamic melee combat, legendary heroes, ancient ruins, and terrifying abominations await in Deadlands: Dark Ages, a brand-new setting for Savage Worlds from the creators of Deadlands, Deadlands: Noir, Deadlands: Hell on Earth, and Deadlands: Lost Colony.
Well, I am just not sure how to feel about this. Sure, it's a new Deadlands setting and there will probably be some cool stuff in it but ... it's a fantasy campaign. The very heart of tabletop RPGs! Calling it "saturated" is an understatement. My initial question is "what makes it different from all of the other fantasy rpg's out there and especially all of the other Savage Worlds fantasy games out there? Hellfrost, Beasts & Barbarians, and Shaintar are off the top of my head, not to mention Pinnacles own Pathfinder conversion line! I get that it's "Deadlands" so we will be fighting Reckoners and Servitors on some level but is that enough to really set this one apart?
I'm also not at all sure about that note on "Merlin's Paladins" - I don't think I've ever seen it phrased that way. Is this post-Camelot's fall? But it sounds suspiciously like a forced PC-aimed do-gooder organization which is something I am not a fan of in my games. Hopefully it's not "the PC organization" but we will see.
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| Such a great update on the original |
I know they've been working on and wanting to do this for a long time and Mordred does tie in to some other Deadlands history - don't ask, but it's a thing - so I get the need to get it out there. Speaking as a longtime fan of Deadlands and Savage Worlds too I'm just not all that fired up about this one. I'm also not lit up with anticipation for yet another Pinnacle crowdfunding effort - especially when I am still waiting on the last Deadlands campaign for "The Abominable Northwest" which was supposed to deliver books this month but has been delayed, and still waiting on "Rifts Europa" for Savage Worlds as well which is supposed to deliver in October. Then there is their about-to-complete Kickstarter for Doom Guard which I did not buy into but which is still being managed by this same team of people along with a couple of other efforts. I know crowdfunding is the way things work these days for small publishers but it still feels like there are a lot of balls in the air right now.
It's also up against the "if I decide to run a new Savage Worlds campaign am I going to run this over Deadlands, Hell on Earth, Rifts, Necessary Evil, or one of the other campaigns I already have on the shelf?" Not to mention other RPGs in general.
Maybe as some details emerge I will feel better about it. Time will tell.