History TabletopGame / Deadlands

* AlternateHistory

* AnimateBodyParts: Animated hands are a form of Critter. Some player characters can also do this.

* BodyHorror: Prairie Ticks, Cankers, and Texas Tummy Twisters qualify.

* TheButcher

* CattlePunk

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve

* CursedWithAwesome: See BackFromTheDead, above.

* Cyborg: Cybernetic limbs are available in all settings, but cyborgs are only a class in ''Hell On Earth''. The kicker here is that all cyborgs in HoE are based on Harrowed, since they don't really need their organs which makes stuffing them full of metal parts is far easier, and there's room for much more. As an added bonus, cyborgs can run their implants on spiritual energy from their manitou, and don't need external power sources.

* DoomMagnet: any character with the drawback "Grim Servant o' Death". For whatever reason, innocent people die and disaster occurs wherever they are.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Even the ''tumbleweeds'' are out to get you.
** Beware the saddle burrs!

* GenreBusting: Horror meets WildWest.

* GodIsGood: [[spoiler: True, believe it or not in this setting, but only for Weird West. He's actively involved trying to pull our bacon out of the fire. He gets ripshit ''pissed'' in ''Hell on Earth'', since humans were the ones who screwed up, and so goes hardcore LawfulNeutral with only a side of Good, trying to enforce harsh justice as the only thing that'll work in the wasteland humanity has created for itself.]]

* KillerRabbit: Jackalopes and Dusters

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Like the MadScientist, this is a type of player character (the shaman).

* MagicKnight: Spellslingers, who enchant their firearms. They are intended to be the mix of a Huckster and a gunslinger.
* The {{Masquerade}}

* MegaManning: Harrowed can absorb the magical essence of killed creatures. It's called "Counting Coup" in game.

* Orifice Invasion: Multiple Critters invade human bodies this way.

* ReligionIsMagic: The Blessed.

* BackFromTheDead: One the signature elements of the setting is the fact that your player characters can return from the grave as undead gunslingers. After a character dies, they may attract an evil spirit. Following a PsychologicalTormentZone nightmare, you can RiseFromYourGrave and be CursedWithAwesome. It is also completely possible for a character to [[CameBackWrong Come Back Wrong]] or discover they were DeadAllAlong. Almost guaranted to have UnfinishedBusiness.

The forthcoming {{Midquel}} Deadlands:Noir will be set in the 1930s New Orleans. Expect zombies.

* BackFromTheDead: One the signature elements of the setting is the fact that your player characters can return from the grave as undead gunslingers. After a character dies, they may attract an evil spirit. Following a PsychologicalTormentZone nightmare, you can RiseFromYourGrave and be CursedWithAwesome. It is also completely possible for a character to [[CameBackWrong Come Back Wrong]] or discover they were DeadAllAlong. Almost guaranted to have UnfinishedBusiness.

Originally released in the 1990's by [[http://www.peginc.com Pinnacle Entertainment Group]], ''Deadlands: The Weird West'' was the first setting in what would become a trilogy. The brainchild of Shane Lacy Hensley, ''Deadlands'' was, at the time, praised as a breath of fresh air amidst the various ''TabletopGame/[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' and ''TabletopGame/{{OldWorldOfDarkness}}'' clones and derivative works. The rules were very detailed (to the point of being cumbersome, at times), and the setting was more so (to the point of being awesome, most generally). Since then, Pinnacle (and its affiliate, Great White Games) has begun re-releasing the settings with the much lighter (but less detailed) ''SavageWorlds'' rules system. This began quite recently with ''Deadlands: Reloaded.''

Three things really defined the flavor of the original game world, though. First was its historical setting: though there was enough material to run entire campaigns "Back East", most of the game's attention went to the American West. Second was the prevalence of the {{Masquerade}}, with both the United States and the Confederate States employing [[{{MIB}} agents]] to ensure that no word of paranormal activity ever leaked into the public at large. Finally, the ''Deadlands'' universe is implicitly and explicitly stated to be Faustian: [[DealWithTheDevil if you want power]] from the Hunting Grounds, expect to have to pay a price. It might be as simple as living a pious life or respecting the Nature Spirits. It might be as complex--and angsty--as [[BlessedWithSuck time-sharing your rotting corpse with a malevolent specter]].

* {{MIB}}s: In the USA, they were called "Agents". In the CSA, it was the responsibility of the Texas Rangers. Both maintained the Masquerade.

** This extends even further with a few meta considerations; the rulebooks only really use poker, but mentions that the game can take many forms (being a mental shortcut to begin with). The book on hucksters (magicians) make explicit note of this, saying, in essence, that the game played with the manitous to power a spell can take any form (chess is mentioned by name). The game mechanics only allow poker, however, likely because [[GameplayAndStorySegregation how well you do matters]], and the probabilities matters.

* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: In 1877, the British invade from Canada and capture Detroit in retaliation for American military adventurism along the Canadian border

* RailroadBaron: Many of them, and most are evil. Only the owners of [[spoiler: the state-sponsored rail companies]] are decent.

* HollywoodVoodoo: Baron LaCroix has turned basically all of Louisiana into a pit of stereotypical voodoo madness.

* Cyborg: Cybernetic limbs are available in all settings, but cyborgs are only a class in ''Hell On Earth''. The kicker here is that all cyborgs in HoE are based on Harrowed, since they don't really need their organs which makes stuffing them full of metal parts is far easier, and there's room for much more. As an added bonus, cyborgs can run their implants on spiritual energy from their maitou, and don't need external power sources.

** And thats just the basics. The two bestiaries (Released for Deadlands and HoE respectively) introduce plenty more kinds of walkin' dead

* {{Metaplot}}: Oh good Lord. The Metaplot is extensive and revealed in published adventures such as ''Fortress O' Fear'' and ''Dead Presidents''. Later versions of the game publish summaries on the assumption that these stories played out exactly as planned. ''Deadlands: Hell On Earth'' and ''Lost Colony'' form a lengthy and related trilogy. This is part of the reason all of the major villains have PlotArmor.

* {{Mordor}}: In HoE, the Eastern Seaboard. In Lost Colony, the continent of Two. And any little piece of land in any of the three settings can become Mordor if the Fear Level hits 6.

** In HOE, Many recognizable cities or areas are essentially a large track of Mordor. The majority of the californian coast can be easily mistaken for hell.

* {{Metaplot}}: Oh good Lord. The Metaplot is extensive and revealed in published adventures such as ''Fortress O' Fear'' and '"Dead Presidents.'' Later versions of the game publish summaries on the assumption that these stories played out exactly as planned. ''Deadlands, Hell On Earth,'' and ''Lost Colony'' form a lengthy and related trilogy. This is part of the reason all of the major villains have PlotArmor.

* BigBoosHaunt: the Eastern Seaboard in HoE.

* BigScrewedUpFamily, and also ItRunsInTheFamily: the [[HPLovecraft Whateleys]]. "How screwed up?" ,you ask? You have to make a ''guts'' check to be able to ''[[GoMadFromTheRevelation look]]'' at the Whateley family [[strike: tree]] [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow gnarled non-euclidian shrub]]. They are wicked, incestuous, inbred, crazy and extremely powerful sorcerers. [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch You can play a good Whateley]], but if you do, the rulebook suggests they be fairly far removed from the main family branch (cousins at the very least). This is a very reasonable suggestion.

* AfterTheEnd

* BadassLongcoat: A popular Western Trope; the Texas Rangers even ''issue'' dusters to their new recruits, apparently just to keep up appearances. In Hell on Eath, longcoats are pretty much standard equipment and in abundant supply.

*** [[YourMileageMayVary Which may be]] an {{inversion}}; they are powered by keeping your soul clean versus sacrificing or corrupting it.

Originally released in the 1990's by [[http://www.peginc.com Pinnacle Entertainment Group]], ''Deadlands: The Weird West'' was the first setting in what would become a trilogy. The brainchild of Shane Lacy Hensley, ''Deadlands'' was, at the time, praised as a breath of fresh air amidst the various ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' and ''{{World of Darkness}}'' clones and derivative works. The rules were very detailed (to the point of being cumbersome, at times), and the setting was more so (to the point of being awesome, most generally). Since then, Pinnacle (and its affiliate, Great White Games) has begun re-releasing the settings with the much lighter (but less detailed) ''SavageWorlds'' rules system. This began quite recently with ''Deadlands: Reloaded.''

* TheAragorn: Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Alan Pinkerton, and Ulysses S. Grant are all important figures that command the forces of good and dole out missions to the player characters.

Originally released in the 1990's by [[http://www.peginc.com Pinnacle Entertainment Group]], ''Deadlands: The Weird West'' was the first setting in what would become a trilogy. The brainchild of Shane Lacy Hensley, ''Deadlands'' was, at the time, praised as a breath of fresh air amidst the various ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' and ''{{World of Darkness}}'' clones and derivative works. The rules were very detailed (to the point of being cumbersome, at times), and the setting was moreso (to the point of being awesome, most generally). Since then, Pinnacle (and its affiliate, Great White Games) has begun re-releasing the settings with the much lighter (but less detailed) ''SavageWorlds'' rules system. This began quite recently with ''Deadlands: Reloaded.''