Mr Welch's Mad Musings: Deadlands Classic

A look into one of the most successful horror games, Deadlands takes you into a wild west setting where the Civil War still rages a decade after it should have ended, California has slid into the ocean and dead walk the Earth. A game renowned for its just absolute depth of source material, as well as its unique mechanics and open-ended character creation. Late in its run, it focused on products mostly tied to its card game version, which caused a fair bit of division with its players.

[@Titan360]

"Adios Amigo, which made me want to drive up there and punch 'em for that pun." Waht? That makes no.....oh. A Mi-go. That DOES deserve some punching...

[@danhelsting6308]

"Head, Heart and Run" - Words to live by

[@tallaaron1115]

This is a classic and the old game in another world was called Banshee. It was a combo of Hell Raiser cube + one character's soul just to get there to survive the end of Earth.

[@Nightbreed24]

I never played it, but I know it and recommended it to a friend, who was looking for something different. They played in my setting: Langtry, the HQ of Judge Roy Bean, close to Fort Davis, home of the Confederate Camel Corps. Lipan Apaches, Mexican rebels, Bayou Vermillion goons, outlaws, giant vinegaroons, Lipan Apaches, the works. They liked it.

[@CaptCook999]

Absolutely loved playing Deadlands! We got extra chips for writing in a journal and reading those journals about my Gunslingers adventures really makes me want to play even more!

[@bloodrunsclear]

‘Women of negotiable affections’ I’m remembering that one!

[@imjodokast]

Deadlands Reloaded eventually let you kill Stone. I wouldn't say the Reloaded settings really dropped background as much as it just trimmed it to what really mattered to the current state of the meta-plot. Hell on Earth was the one that drew me to the setting, love it all but diffently feel the post apocalyptic setting is better dropping the meta plots.

[@samuelbroad11]

blitzing your mad musings and having an absolute ball. chur to the chur.

[@tukkek]

The original Deadlands, which I've read, struck me as a very odd and interesting balance of horror and goofiness, action and atmosphere, historical accuracy and completely ridiculous weird fantasy, etc. It was so spread across the board that you could run a Lovecraft story, with gunplay to a minimum; a wild-west Rambo-style zombie killfest; or an intricate sandbox political game between states where magic, gizmos, assassinations and blackmailing are all fair game, with a hint (or ton) of magic to boot. However, even though it opened itself up to all these interpretations, it felt like it wanted you to play it half-way across the board on everything instead of trying to find your own style. Gunfights - but deadly. Lots of cheeky monsters, but with a few very serious ones in between. Atmospheric - but never enough not to be a little bit silly. It gave Deadlands an identity which makes it so unique. Looking forward to 7th Seas - it's the first in your Mad Musings I haven't read myself. I hear the swashbuckling combat system is excellent, hope you go into details with that one! Speaking of which, I don't feel 20 minutes is long at all. Actually feels like anything less would be doing these games a disservice. Texas accent hype!

[@RiffyDevine]

Still my most loved RPG, can not recommend enough. Thinking back on it, I can't recall her name but the number two from the black jacks. I spent almost half a year of our run of deadlands trying to redeem her. Pissed the party off but in the end I did it.

[@dakel20]

I mean... Wells and evil beings at the bottom of them are just peanut butter and chocolate. In that regard though, drop as much dynamite down the well as you can. It's the only way to be sure. Super disappointed in the lack of Dr Loveless though. He was the coolest villain ever. ...Not sure how it'll react with the Colour Out Of Space though.

[@BillionSix]

Reminds me of a story I heard about Shadowrun, where they players just starting shooting the Mr. Johnson at the start of the story, because every module had the PC be betrayed by the Mr. Johnson. :)

[@butterball33]

"Our party's motto is not 'Head, Heart, Run."

[@SwordlordRoy]

One thing I'm still scratching my head about is the "Morgana Effect" retcon in the Savage Worlds version. Biggest change is that the Civil War is over, the North won. There are other changes, like the Big Four Baddies (Hellstromme, Stone, Raven, and Grimme) either being killed or neutered, but the Civil War's the one that's got me confused. It was asked when they finally got around to getting "Deadlands: Lost Colony" up to Kickstarter how the Morgana Effect was going to effect Noir, Hell on Earth, and Lost Colony, and Pinnacle said they were far enough down the timeline they could be left as is with no changes...Except that Noir is set entirely in the Confederacy (Which no longer exists), and the Ghostrock Nuclear War that lead to Hell on Earth and the Lost Colony was a renewed war between the North and the South...So how can these settings exist with no changes if Pinnacle nuked any tension in favor of Mordred the Lich looking for his Momma metaplot?

[@TheGenericavatar]

Regarding the photo of John Wayne/Rooster Cogburn holding the reins in his mouth: He LOST TEETH doing that shot when the horse jerked its head.

[@JustWelmed]

This is a decent channel partner.

[@Tulkash01]

In reloaded tu actually get to deal with all the chosen of the reckoners, old man Stone included.

[@isaacstandley730]

Thank you for updating my genre awareness, adding dynamite the well to the horror checklist.

[@SonofSethoitae]

The drawl really adds atmosphere to this video

[@tomdadada]

Congrats for putting in the Primus Plastic-Cowboys (23:52), which could have been better for Paranoia ("The Surface-Rangers... the computer says they looked like that in the olden days..")

[@browaffle1268]

Just found this and remembered I had a few of the books on my shelf, Players Guide, Book o' the Dead, Ghost Dancers and Agency:MIB. Guess its time to start reading and searching for the others. Been needing something to take care of the wild west/supernatural itch I've been suffering from.

[@SwordlordRoy]

Bright side about the switch to Savage Worlds (which itself is based on the Deadlands "Great Rail Wars" miniatures game, which makes Savage Worlds Showdown a miniatures game based on an RPG which is based on a miniatures game based on an RPG...) is that, you can add in the Weird Wars line to expand the Deadlands Playable Timeline to include Rome, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam...same with Achtung Cthulhu for WW2 I suppose...

[@madmachanicest9955]

So Bersgo County jr meets hp love craft and the stand. P.s. your right it was a secession war not a civil war. What people think thy know about that war and what real happens.

[@azmendozafamily]

Huh, never noticed that they never did anything with Texas...

[@bluetoad6138]

This game looks pretty interesting. I'm gonna show my friend who's a wild west fan this video and maybe try and get a game together. I recently found your channel because of the d&d module reviews and I'm enjoying all your videos so far.

[@BX-advocate]

This video really drawled me in... I'll let myself out.

[@gameoutcast2]

Just found your channel. Now I'm wondering what you think about Savage Worlds in general. It's my rule set of choice.

[@MagicalMaster]

My gaming table has a law for DMPC's. They have to be legit stated, meaning the basic array or rolled in front of everyone, and they get no vote in what the party does. They're just walking plot reminders and an extra hand in fights when the group is too small.

[@harmonlanager2670]

My policy is build them exclusively for support or neglected aspects of the party

[@MagicalMaster]

@@harmonlanager2670 That's a good one. Someone with insane armour but shit attack is also someone the party won't mind as a DMPC.

[@drjohndee4322]

It was fun.....I would play the huckster, mad scientist or a shaman. And once a mountain man.

[@gigachud666]

Could you PLEASE do what you did for Cyberpunk to Deadlands?

[@timedraven117]

I hate the initiative system. We had a discussion "What if you pull a joker three times in a row?" "That will never happen." *Proceeds to happen...to me... in our first combat encounter* "Okay we're officially abandoning the card draw mechanic." We also ended up completely rewriting the background for the game, the inciting incident of the confederates getting magic would never have helped them to the point of them winning the civil war (Ie surviving) and found it much more interesting to just have California explode and have emperor Maximillian and the Canadians be really really angry at the US for the cross border raids and the Fenian excursions while everyone is nervously looking at the Rockies and pointing guns slowly at them. The weekly premise of the US army having to fight whatever the fuck comes out of the rockies was honestly pretty rad.

[@carriekube7357]

Thanks for the advice on how to run the game and it's metaplot. Say, what do you think of the new books and adventures?

[@Mr_Welch]

Haven't had any chance to look at them

[@carriekube7357]

@@Mr_Welch If you do, I'd love to see your opinion.

[@SerpenThrope]

Btw, as a Georgian I'm curious: What book was Georgia in, and what was it like?

[@Mr_Welch]

Georgia was in back East the South. And it was a war zone still dealing with Sherman's march

[@SerpenThrope]

@@Mr_Welch Thanks! Did they get specific enough to cover cities other than Atlanta? Would be cool to read about places I've been in a roleplay supplement. I'm not far from Augusta.

[@Mr_Welch]

@@SerpenThrope they cover just about any City that had a major battle in the book. But I don't remember enough of the specifics of the books to be that precise

[@SerpenThrope]

@@Mr_Welch Thanks!

[@dennisthompson7921]

I lost my shit when you switched to your real voice... you have serious voice control, no idea you speak Texan normally

[@jackleg2007]

You see how Savage Worlds evolved from this game system.

[@lordbang3r]

When I first played Savage Worlds, I thought that combat had more of a "wargame" feel to it. It wasn't until later that I learned the mechanics evolved out of the Deadlands spinoff wargame Great Rail Wars.

[@Zane-It]

What about deadlands hell on earth.

[@RobCrowley85]

Why didn't your GM let you hit Stone with the stone cold stunner?

[@Mr_Welch]

He didn't realize it was even an option. He thought it was the dumbest thing he ever saw

[@RobCrowley85]

@@Mr_Welch he has no taste 🤣

[@Myurridthaekish]

what language is this?

[@gaspainsify]

Texan

[@ianshaliczer]

How do you feel about the less supernatural, more historical “Aces & Eights.”

[@Mr_Welch]

Never got a chance to look at it it wasn't a popular game around here

[@ianshaliczer]

@@Mr_Welch it never caught on in my circles either. Either because people I knew who’d be interested in a historical game weren’t interested in westerns and people that would be interested in westerns wanted “weird west.” I remember the core book being absolutely gorgeous, like something my grandfather might have had out on the coffee table…

[@cristopherjeffery6737]

you wanna play poker and make some money... roll the dice

[@cristopherjeffery6737]

thanks for sharing this was great to listen to and think about buying it all out to dive back in

[@TheAussieBlue]

I don't know wether this accent was put on or real.

[@bobskywalker2707]

You need to use this accent more often.