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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deadlands_20th_edition.png]]
2[floatboxright: Deadlands Games and Settings
3* ''Deadlands: The Weird West Roleplaying Game'' (Classic, D20)
4* ''The Great Rail Wars'' (War Game)
5* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsReloaded'' (Savage Worlds)
6* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsHellOnEarth'' (Classic, Reloaded, & D20)
7* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsLostColony'' (Classic & D20)
8* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsDoomtown'' (CCG) (Classic, Reloaded)
9* ''Deadlands: Noir'' (Savage Worlds)
10* ''Deadlands: Dark Ages'' (Savage Worlds)
11* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsTheWeirdWest'' (Savage Worlds Adventure Edition)
12]
13''The year is 1879, but the history is not our own...''
14
15Originally released in the 1990s by [[http://www.peginc.com Pinnacle Entertainment Group]], ''Deadlands: The Weird West Roleplaying Game'' 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'' 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) ''TabletopGame/SavageWorlds'' rules system. This began in 2006 with ''Deadlands: Reloaded.''
16
17''The Weird West'' starts out as a sort of AlternateHistory: long ago, around the time of the Renaissance, a group of Native Americans finally succeeded at closing the doors to the "next world", referred to almost ubiquitously in the game material as "[[SpiritWorld The Hunting Grounds]]." Doing so [[TheMagicGoesAway sealed the mystical gates between worlds]], which made ''all'' magic, good or ill, much, much harder to perform. That was actually the goal, as "ill" vastly outnumbered "good".
18
19All that changed on July 3, 1863. By this time, monsters and dragons were nothing more than folklore, footnotes in cultural history. Then, an enterprising (and vengeful) Susquehanna shaman named Raven re-entered the Hunting Grounds and succeeded at undoing the work of those who had come before him, opening the spiritual barriers between worlds once more. This would be Raven's Reckoning against the white man.
20
21All Hell broke loose. Things that previously belonged in nightmares became real. Mere arcanists suddenly became aware there was more to the world than they could see, and some began to barter or swindle dark spirits for power. Shamans regained powerful medicine. Demons — "[[TheLegionsOfHell manitous]]", in the sourcebooks — began to whisper secrets of technology yet-to-come in the ears of tinkerers, slowly driving them mad. The forces of good eventually began to lend aid to their appointed. And, rarely, [[BackFromTheDead the dead began to walk the Earth]].
22
23The material for ''Deadlands: The Weird West'' is extensive, covering approximately 30 or so full-length sourcebooks. [=GMs=] — "Marshals", in game parlance — were widely encouraged to research actual history and folklore to color in the details of their campaign world. Don't think the game's authors were slouches, though. July 3, 1863 was the date of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. The interference of these new malevolent forces turned that battle to the favor of the Confederacy, and perpetuated the war for about 15 years. The setting is filled with historical {{Shout Out}}s. In 2020, [[TabletopGame/DeadlandsTheWeirdWest they released a new version of the setting]] where the Confederacy fell during the battle of Washington DC in 1871, due to the [[TimeTravel time-traveling]] shenanigans of the sorceress [[Characters/ArthurianLegend Morgana le Fay]].
24
25Three 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 [[TheMenInBlack 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]].
26
27The flavor of the game is also influenced by its stakes: whether you know it or not, you're playing for the future of the entire world. This is reinforced not merely by the incredibly lethal combat system (which utilizes dice pools, playing cards, poker chips, and even paper clips for the completist), but by [[BadFuture the gruesome fate awaiting failure]]: ''Deadlands: Hell on Earth.''
28
29''The year is 2097, but the future is not our own...''
30
31Set thirteen years after "The Reckoning", ''Hell on Earth'' posits that the heroes of the Weird West [[DownerEnding failed]]. This led to 200 years of ghost rock exploitation, abominations mongering fear, and the eventual invention of the G-Bomb, a nuclear weapon utilizing irradiated ghost rock. During an epic world war between the collected allies of the United States and the Confederate States ([[DividedStatesOfAmerica which never reunited]] after the extended Civil War in ''The Weird West''), the Reckoners' plans come to fruition in 2081 as the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt world is carpeted in G-Rays]], heralding the Reckoners' return to Earth.
32
33The Reckoners rode east, passing beyond the Mississippi, and, though decimated, the sparsely populated Western U.S. and C.S.A. allows a survivor culture to sprout up, a new beginning in the "Wasted West." Sixguns and horses are replaced by [[SchizoTech automatics and motorcycles]], but the feel remains the same, as various factions arise across the Wasted West to survive in a hostile new land where you keep what you can hold on to and the very earth itself seems to want you dead.
34
35A mixture of ''Film/MadMax'', ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'', and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'''s future-war setting with now-overt supernaturalism, the best of the Wasted West manages to hold on to the rugged Western feel of its predecessor while slathering on every AfterTheEnd schtick you can imagine, and ramping up the horror and violence to levels more outre than the {{Masquerade}}-ridden Weird West. In 2012, ''Hell on Earth: Reloaded'' was released.
36
37Finally, there's the third Deadlands setting, ''Lost Colony''. Set in a star system "far, far away", where a group of [[NobleSavage sentient, but primitive]], aliens may just hold the key to defeating the {{Big Bad}}s once and for all. It's meant to provide a suitably expansive backdrop to the series' climactic [[GrandFinale final confrontation]], but was hindered by a lack of support: only two sourcebooks and one novel were written to support the setting, a far cry from the extensive treatment of previous games in the series. Like its big brothers, however, it maintains a very "Western" feel, leading to the tagline used in all three series, "The spaghetti Western... with meat!" A ''Reloaded'' edition of ''Lost Colony'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcLu_TNGZ78#t=08m42s was announced]], with an original estimated release date of mid or late 2016; a Kickstarter in 2019 has successfully relaunched the setting, with a book released in early 2020.
38
39In 2013, an {{Interquel}} line set between ''Deadlands'' and ''Hell on Earth'' was released. Titled ''Deadlands: Noir'', the line follows a timeline from the 1920s through the 1950s, focusing on the early events that led to ''Hell on Earth''.
40
41In 2014, the {{Collectible Card Game}} was rebooted as ''Doomtown Reloaded'', with cleaned up rules and a new story that begins after the destruction of the old town. Unfortunately in 2016, AEG canceled the game, but a fan community along with Pinnacle did a continuation through Kickstarter, which ran in September 2017. The game has since been supported by multiple expansions.
42
43A [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2014/04/28/microsoft-sees-the-future-of-tv-in-an-old-school-role-playing-game/ TV series based on the game]] was at one point in development, though nothing has been heard of since 2014.
44
45A remarkably comprehensive analysis of the differences between Classic and Reloaded can be found [[https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/41330/44046 here]].
46
47In late 2019, a ''Deadlands: Dark Ages'' has been announced. Nothing is known other than it will play into the backstory of The Cackler. It also carries the primary reason for the retcon of the removal of the CSA in the main continuity.
48
49In April 2020, Pinnacle hosted a crowdfunding campaign for [[TabletopGame/DeadlandsTheWeirdWest a version updated for Savage Worlds: Adventure Edition]], which hit its funding goal within the first day of the campaign. It was released in 2021 with a dramatic set of alterations.
50----
51Editions with their own page:
52
53[[index]]
54* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsDoomtown''
55* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsReloaded''
56* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsHellOnEarth''
57* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsLostColony''
58* ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsTheWeirdWest''
59[[/index]]
60
61[[foldercontrol]]
62
63[[folder:Tropes Appearing Across the Series]]
64* AlternateHistory: Not only is magic real, but tensions between the South & North during the civil war never subsided and the conflict was dragged out (through magical and monstrous machinations) for much longer than possible. The conflict continued into the post apocalyptic far future!
65** Even this alternate history is gaining its own Retcon. Seems something in the past (which will be explained in Deadlands: Dark Ages) is causing the Confederacy to fall in 1871 after the Battle of Washington. With ramifications echoing through out time (and maybe space a little bit with the Way Out West setting Lost Colony).
66* AmericaSavesTheDay: It is implied that strangeness is breaking out all over the world, but the forces of darkness and all the major events are concentrated on the North American continent.
67* {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s: Those taken from folklore, most notably the {{Big Bad}}s, [[spoiler: the Four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse]].
68* {{Anti Hero}}es: More than a few player characters, and one or two [=NPCs=].
69* AndIMustScream: One book points out that any Harrowed who gets his head cut off will experience a new kind of personal hell, as their head will continue to be conscious and immobile for the foreseeable future. Unless someone is kind enough to sew their head back on and feed them some meat to make it reattach.
70* AnimateBodyParts: Animated hands are a form of Critter. Some Harrowed player characters can also do this.
71* AttackOfTheKillerWhatever: Piranhas, sharks, big mosquitoes, beetles, swarms of tarantulas, man-sized tarantulas, giant tarantulas, carnivorous horses, giant ticks, bigfoot, and giant octopi that wear battleship hulls as armor. An abbreviated list.
72* BackFromTheDead: One of 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 guaranteed to have UnfinishedBusiness.
73* BadPowersGoodPeople: Nearly any Arcane Background that opposes the Reckoners inevitably ends up this way, as [[spoiler:the Reckoners made most of them - but it's very hard for them to take them ''back.'' Thus, all the madness Pestilence is able to inflict on Mad Scientist is worth bull if a heroic one leaves several schemes of him a ray gun-riddled crater.]]
74* BadVibrations: They're not called Rattlers because they look much like a rattlesnake. They're called Rattlers because your teeth start rattling [[OhCrap when the giant tentacled worm-monster is coming to eat you]].
75* BlackBox: Mad Science in ''Deadlands'' and Junkers in ''Hell on Earth''.
76* BodyHorror: A lot of Abominations qualify.
77** Prairie Ticks are giant ticks that, for some reason, can't penetrate external skin. So they force their way down into a victim's stomach so they can drink blood from the softer wall. If the victim doesn't die of blood loss, they typically will when [[ChestBurster the tick tears its way out of the victim's guts]].
78** Texas Tummy Twisters are parasites that can be picked up by drinking contaminated water. Picture a ghastly lump of gnarly, spiked tentacles and eyes roughly the size of a toddler living in someone's belly—and capable of reaching out through their flesh to attack others—and you've got a Tummy Twister.
79** Braincrawlers are centipede-like creatures that chew an open wound in the base of a victim's skull and the back of their neck so they can crawl inside and take over their body, leaving the victim alive but with a bloody hole that has a writhing creepy-crawly in it at the back of their neck.
80** Cankers are horrific critters with elements of spiders, crabs and octopi, which spontaneously manifest in the stomachs of people suffering depression, worry or stress. They grow bigger and bigger, eating the organs of their host until eventually they suck the eyes out from inside and replace them by extending their own eyestalks up to sit inside the hole. ''And the host is still alive through all this because the Canker grows appendages to replace the organs it eats''.
81** Flesh Jackets are the completely removed skins of human beings (sans the skin from the neck, face and head), which are capable of both slithering around under their own power and slipping onto living people, as their name suggests, to take over their bodies.
82* BodyOfBodies:
83** In the adventure ''The Unity'', players face a psychically-charged, undead mass composed of several syker corpses.
84** The sourcebook ''Rascals, Varmints & Critters'' introduces the undead 'Glom, which is literally a mass of corpses fused together and made ambulatory, as well as capable of absorbing more bodies into itself.
85* CaliforniaCollapse: California was shattered by an earthquake, causing much of the state to collapse into the ocean. The Pacific flooded into the resultant fissure, creating the Great Maze.
86* CattlePunk: WildWest setting with SteamPunk (or CyberPunk, for [=HoE=]) technology.
87* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The Reckoners literally feed on fear, and so the generic purpose of all Abominations is to literally "Terrorform" the land around them by spreading fear and suffering—people can also reverse the process by making people feel hope, joy, and bravery; this means that ''Myth/PaulBunyan and Pecos Bill'' are wandering the Weird West doing good deeds!
88* CrapolaTech: Anything made by Mad Scientists suffers from this.
89* CriticalHit: Called an "ace." If you roll the highest number on the die (4 on a d4, 6 on a d6, etc), you can roll that die again and add the results, which can continue until you stop acing. Makes probabilities interesting, since you have a better chance of beating a difficulty of 6 on a d4 than a d6 (3/16 vs 1/6). Of course, they aren't automatic successes either, so you may still fail the task.
90* CriticalFailure: Carry penalties version. If you were using arcane powers or El Cheapo gear at the time, or had a certain flaw, said penalty was steeper. And they could get pretty steep indeed. Certain unlucky ([[ThatOneDisadvantage or shortsighted]]) players could trigger multiple ones from separate sources, and some things increased the odds of these occurring. Further, carried nitroglycerin explodes automatically on critical agility failures. This game doesn't like you.
91* CursedWithAwesome: See BackFromTheDead, above. In short, becoming a Harrowed means that you receive a "Get out of Boot Hill free" card ''and'' super powers... at the cost of being undead and suffering from DemonicPossession that means you ''can'' lose control of your body to the malevolent creature inside.
92* CuriosityKilledTheCast: Oh yeah. If the players were sane, they would just stay home and tend the farm.
93* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Steampunk cybernetics reduce the character's spiritual Traits.
94** Averted in Lost Colony; the Mute class is infused with nanotbots and can fabricate equipment with no downside at all. [[spoiler: [[BlessedWithSuck Except for you know, the fact that the bots are using every bad deed you do to erode your sanity and make you a loyal pawn of the Government and will eventually make you slaughter your friends in their sleep...]]]]
95* HollywoodCyborg: 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 (except the brain) which makes stuffing them full of metal parts 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.
96* DamageReduction: Interestingly, ''Classic'' armor is MUCH more effective against melee attacks than against firearms. This is a realistic rule that most games omit.
97* DamageTyping: Temporary damage from fatigue, blood loss, spellcasting, etc. is called "Wind" in ''Classic'' and "Fatigue" in ''Reloaded'' and is tracked separately from damage caused by more permanent trauma.
98* DarkIsNotEvil: Most Arcane Backgrounds are involving themselves with some very nasty spiritual sorts, but the powers they get from them are their own.
99* DealWithTheDevil: It is actually possible for a player character to become a non-player character if he signs away his soul for power.
100** Any huckster knowingly deals with evil spirits to do "magic". Mad scientists also deal with those same spirits, but not knowingly (usually - some mad scientists, called [[PostModernMagick metal mages]], have figured out the truth and use mory mystical techniques to speed their own crafting).
101*** DidYouJustScamCthulhu: ''Skilled'' hucksters have a tendency to leave the evil spirits holding the bill.
102** Grifters gain power from the Manitou by indulging in sacrificial vices, such as drinking and smoking. [[spoiler:The resulting addiction creates a hunger that empowers Famine itself.]]
103** It's possible to sell a piece of your soul at the crossroads for whatever you desire... if your soul is strong enough to survive the damage.
104* DemonOfHumanOrigin: Most manitou are actually the souls of evil men made even worse by their damnation.
105* [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain Destroying The Brain]]: The only way to permanently kill a Harrowed.
106** Or, indeed, almost any kind of Undead in the setting. Gloms are a particular nuisance because that vital brain can be hidden under a ''lot'' of other dead flesh. Bone Fiends are worse; a possessed skull is the focus for the demon creating it, but that doesn't even have to be on its body. Vampires' weakness is the heart, and some "liches" can hide their focus somewhere else.
107* DividedStatesOfAmerica: And how. Not only do we have the United States and Confederate States, but also Deseret (former Utah), and the Sioux Nations along with the City of Lost Angels. ''Deadlands'' also adds the Coyote Confederation and Disputed Territories before they get annexed by one faction or the other.
108* DoomMagnet: Any character with the drawback "Grim Servant o' Death". For whatever reason, innocent people die and disaster occurs wherever they are.
109* TheDragon: Each of the [[spoiler: four]] Big Bads has one. [[spoiler: War has Raven, Famine has Grimme, Pestilence has Hellstromme, Death has Stone]].
110* EldritchAbomination: The Reckoners certainly qualify; possibly also their Manitou servants, though to a much lesser degree. Also, the Mojave rattlers, in a more traditional tentacled Lovecraftian beast sense. They also [[spoiler: are Old Gods who lost most of their power through [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly lack of believers]], at least until they]] created the Wormlings to worship them.
111* EldritchLocation: The Hunting Grounds, and Lord Grimley's Manor.
112** If the Fear Level rises too high in an area, anywhere turns into this.
113* EnemyWithin: The Harrowed and their manitous.
114* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Words can't do justice to how true this is... To put it in perspective, demons can create swarms of mind-controlled animals aptly named "Murderous Hordes", one of the enemies in the corebook is a spiky, blood-sucking tumbleweed called the [[PunnyName Tumblebleed]], it has a cousin called Bloodwire (which pretends to be part of a barbed wire fence to grab its prey), and there's a very literal Saddle Burr, in the form of a spiky plant that can pierce just about anything and injects a very powerful irritating venom—it can't actually ''kill'' you, but it really leaves you sore.
115* EvilTaintedThePlace: ''Deadlands'' offers a metaphysical mechanism of this trope working. In this universe, an evil place is feared by people, and things feared by people become evil because of ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve. So, any villain who lives in a town or house long enough to give it a frightening reputation, automatically stains his real estate and makes it evil-infested.
116* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Prairie Ticks.
117* FaceHeelRevolvingDoor: Nicodemus Whateley is an {{Expy}} of [[Literature/TheDunwichHorror Wilbur Whateley]], but after the first Doomtown story arc begins leading the Gamorra Whateleys in a less overtly antagonistic fashion, with faint references to having come round to the side of good. [[spoiler: Also, he killed [[TheAntichrist the reincarnation of Knicknevin]] ]]. By the time of Doomtown Reloaded, however, he's mayor and full on evil again.
118* FearsomeCrittersOfAmericanFolklore: some of the less wacky critters made it into the list of Abominations in Deadlands Classic and Reloaded.
119* FetusTerrible: Blood Babies.
120* FightLikeACardPlayer: The ''Classic'' game is notable for using playing cards (a standard 54-card deck) as a randomizer instead of dice in many mechanics. ''Reloaded'' still uses cards for initiative, as does all of ''Savage Worlds''.
121* FossilRevival: Walking Fossils
122* GameSystem: Quite a few of them for the original trilogy:
123** ''Deadlands'': ''Classic'', ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', ''D20'', and ''Savage Worlds'' (''Reloaded''). Plus the CCG and the miniatures game.
124** ''Hell on Earth'': ''Classic'', ''D20'', and ''Savage Worlds'' (''Reloaded'').
125** ''Lost Colony'': Dual-statted in ''Classic'' and ''D20'', with a current version for ''Savage Worlds''.
126* GenreBusting: WeirdWest by way of CattlePunk, moving through FilmNoir before going on to PostApocalyptic.
127* {{GMPC}}: Some of the publish adventures include [=NPCs=] who are intended to act as additional party members.
128* GiantSpider: Yep. There are fifty-foot giant spiders, but the man-sized ones that hide under the ground and pull you into their burrows are actually scarier.
129* 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.]]
130* GoodIsNotNice: Several factions, such as the Texas Rangers and the Agency in ''Deadlands''. The cake, however goes to the Templars in ''Hell On Earth''.
131* TheGmIsACheatingBastard: In fact, the Marshal sections often explicitly state that certain antagonist powers (like Black Magic) ''are not balanced in any way.'' Since the game is supposed to be one of gritty horror and close-shave survivalism, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this can be forgiven]].
132** Also explicitly invoked with Harrowed. The Manitou animating a Harrowed will ''always'' have a higher Spirit than the Harrowed itself.
133** One of the books flat-out states that Stone is, for a lack of a better word, [[PlotArmor invulnerable]].
134* GoldFever: Ghost Rock Fever!
135* GreenRocks: Ghost rock, the miracle fuel [[spoiler: will one day destroy mankind]]!
136* GunsAndGunplayTropes: ''All of them'', either used by a canon character or written into the rules.
137* HangingJudge: Both the normal kind, and the "implacable monster of doom that repeats your every sin as it hunts you down" kind.
138* HauntedTechnology: You bet. Mad gadgets are easily infested by "gremlins" that deliberately cause malfunctions.
139** With the rise of technology in ''Noir'', everything is even ''more'' haunted. Radios whisper cryptic messages, Telephone conversations tend to drop or change key words, automobiles lock you in and try to asphyxiate you with carbon dioxide... Isn't progress wonderful?
140* HeWhoFightsMonsters: '''Raven'''.
141* HorrifyingTheHorror: Stone's manitou is afraid of ''him'' rather than the other way around.
142* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: [[spoiler:The Reckoners - it's an open question as to whether they inspired the Book of Revelations or they modeled themselves on it, but they're certainly War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death now.]]
143* HopeBringer: The player's ultimate goal and responsibility. The fate of the world hinges on the player's ability to spread hope and inspiration.
144* HoverBike: Hoverbikes are available in the Wasted West, although they are rare and expensive to operate. The most famous rider of one is Cole Ballard; Junkyard's resident badass Law Dog. He (and the bike) appear on the front cover of ''Deadlands: Hell on Earth''.
145* HumanoidAbomination: The Whateley family has several of these as inbred cousins. Some of them don't qualify as humanoid, though.
146* ImAHumanitarian: Cannibalism is a recurring theme. Any cannibal runs the risk of turning into a wendigo, and a tribe of sasquatches kills humans in time of famine just to prevent this from happening. Also the [[spoiler: Cult of Los Angeles]] is built on this.
147* ItCanThink: Frequent lament of people who face [[NotUsingTheZWord walkin' dead]]; a walkin' dead is a corpse that is being [[DemonicPossession ridden by a manitou]], to a less total degree that Harrowed and without the human soul. This deprives them of much supernatural power, but the manitou is in full control and has all of its wits about it - walkin' dead know perfectly well how to use guns and doors, and their [[FearlessUndead apparent recklessness]] is because the manitou isn't harmed by the destruction of the body - they just find another body and can keep coming.
148* KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge: Averted. The books explicitly state that even the more powerful Abominations don't really know who the Reckoners are or what they do. People often make Faustian bargains with manitous and spirits for mystical power, but even these spirits are not familiar with the greater scheme of things.
149* KillerRabbit: {{Jackalope}}s and Dusters; the former are antlered rabbits who cause bad luck in an effort to get people killed so they can eat their souls, while Dusters look like any small, harmless creature but cause water to evaporate by their very presence and can suck every last drop of water from a person they touch.
150* KillerRobot: Automatons. Designed by Hellstromme during the Great Rail wars, they've been the guards and shock troopers of his company ever since.
151* LordBritishPostulate: Why Stone [[spoiler:has no listed stats in ''Classic'']]. With the release of ''Reloaded'', [[spoiler:he does have stats, but is practically invincible; disabling him long enough to run away is extremely difficult even for a Legendary-rank posse, and he ''cannot'' be wounded or killed except through two weaknesses that are essentially impossible to exploit.]]
152* LuckManipulationMechanic: The players receive chips that can serve a variety of effects.
153* MagicPoweredPseudoScience: [[spoiler:Subverted. Mad scientists ultimately get their knowledge from manitous, and ghost rock is a magical substance, but the whispers are actually of potential future technologies; mad scientists are actually using magic to get around the fact that a lot of infrastructure for their inventions hasn't been made yet, effectively reverse-engineering technology that is literally centuries ahead of them, which still requires genuine ability as an engineer.]]
154* MadScientist: Each setting has its own "techno-mage", but in ''The Weird West'', Mad Scientists are a ''type'' of player character! [[spoiler:All of them ultimately have received power from the Reckoner Pestilence, who's no slouch in this department either.]]
155* MageSpecies: Downplayed, as there's other forms of magic, but the Whateley clan and all its branches are noted for being extremely talented ''at minimum'' for all of the morally ambiguous types, and have a unique form of BloodMagic plus the ability to [[CastFromHitPoints spill their own blood]] for power. [[spoiler:There's a good reason for this; beyond their willingness to interbreed with demons, they are all descendants of Morgan le Fay.]]
156* MagicAIsMagicA: If a character has an "Arcane Background", expect it to be functionally different from everyone else's. Blessed, for instance, are ''very'' different from Hucksters, who trick manitous for power.
157** This doesn't stop ''Classic'' characters from taking multiple Arcane Backgrounds, though. It's just very expensive. (''Reloaded'' and ''Adventure Edition'' characters aren't permitted to do this).
158* TheMagicComesBack: The whole setting revolves around the fact that a ticked-off shaman named Raven, determined to exterminate the White Man, broke the seal that was keeping magic locked away in order to have the power to achieve his plans. This is why the world got weird.
159* TheMagicGoesAway: The game's most fundamental metaplot is that the world used to have magic, but a band of well-meaning American shamans called the Old Ones chose to enter the Hunting Grounds and seal them away, removing magic from the world, around the time of the Middle Ages.
160* ManEatingPlant: The Blood Oak is perhaps the most iconic example in the setting. It resembles a giant oak-tree with "whirligig" seeds like a maple, covered in huge spikes. It can't move, but its branches lash out with lightning-fast speed to hack people down. Villainous star of a Ronan Lynch comic in "The Epitaph Volume #1", a writeup for the monster in Deadlands Classic mechanics appeared in the faqs section of the next Epitaph volume.
161* MegaCorp: Hellstromme Industries. [[spoiler:The Manitou are actually actively trying to create these in ''Noir'', focusing mad inspiration on large organizations while leaving the new Patent Scientists with only a single Muse each.]]
162* MegaManning: Harrowed can absorb the magical essence of certain monstrous creatures if they're around when they're killed. It's called "Counting Coup" in game.
163%%** In ''Hell on Earth'', EVERYBODY can do this. Thanks, ghost rock radiation!
164* {{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.
165* {{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.
166** [[spoiler:The City of Lost Angels]] probably qualifies in Deadlands.
167** 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.
168* NewOldWest: An unusual example because the time period is the same in the original game but the technology, culture, and values are much more distinctly modern. The other time periods in the setting play this straight.
169* NoSmoking: Characters are ''never'' shown smoking. You will never find a cigar or pipe in artwork and even the rules for Grifters in ''Noir'' don't mention smoking as an example vice!
170** This seems to be a company policy for Pinnacle Entertainment Group; their guidelines for third-party licensees requests that they not show smoking in their products.
171** ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsDoomtown'' does have a few pieces of character art where people are smoking a cigar (perhaps because it was created by a third-party that was unaware of PEG's guidelines)
172* NotUsingTheZWord: Walkin' Dead are almost never referred to as zombies, perhaps to distinguish them from the HollywoodVoodoo that goes on in the game.
173** Especially in Noir but also in the other books, "zombies" are definitely of the classical voodoo variety being bound to the will of their reanimator and generally unstoppable (with their few weaknesses being things like facing the sea and having their mouths stuffed with salt and [[MouthStitchedShut sewn shut]]).
174* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Many characters (PC or otherwise) can easily get involved with things that indirectly speed up the reckoning, everything from [[spoiler:maintaining TheMasquerade]], to [[spoiler:being a Grifter, ''period'']] can help the manitou in small ways, though the good the [=PCs=] manage to do will still outweigh this over time.
175** InUniverse, this is a... "polite" way to put Raven's opinion of the Old Ones. After all, when they sealed away the Hunting Grounds and stripped the world of magic, they not only left the Native Americans without its powers, they also gave Europeans the incentive to turn to technology, allowing them to become such deadly conquerors when they "discovered" America.
176* OneStatToRuleThemAll: A ''Classic'' character skilled with firearms, using a six-shooter, can get more attacks per turn than a player using a mounted gatling gun. WordOfGod states that this was done specifically to avoid players pushing a gatling gun everywhere they go. Of course, it also means that without a high firearms skill your character is probably sunk.
177* OneWordTitle: The title is also a {{Portmantitle}}, being a plural compound word. "Deadlands".
178* OrificeInvasion: Multiple Critters invade human bodies this way.
179* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The game includes multiple types of vampires to allow players to include whichever kind they prefer. These include everything from feral Nosferatu-style vampires to modern Anne Rice - style vampires. A more precise listing would include:
180** [[ChineseVampire Jiang-shi]] in the Great Maze sourcebook.
181** Film/{{Nosferatu}}[[note]]an entire species of feral vampires that LooksLikeOrlok[[/note]] in both their own adventure ("Dime Novel #3: ight Train") and in the 2nd Rascals, Varmints & Critters sourcebook.
182** Penanggalen[[note]]A Southeast Asian vampire in the form of a woman whose head and guts detach at night to search for blood[[/note]], Ustrel[[note]]a child vampire born from a child who died of neglect, which prefers to feed on animals[[/note]], Wampyr[[note]]zombie-like plague-carriers[[/note]] and Cinematic Vampires[[note]]the "Gothic" vampire popularized by film and novel[[/note]], complete with Dracula himself, in the 2nd Rascals, Varmints & Critters sourcebook.
183** Nachtzeher[[note]]a fangless, ghoul-like vampire that chews on corpses to extract blood and which is marked by [[AutoCannibalism its heavily gnawed extremities]], a result of its initial hunger upon rising[[/note]], Shtriga[[note]]a female witch who feed on blood to fuel her magic and preserve her youth, characterized by her tendency of gorging herself until [[BalloonBelly her belly bloats up like a pregnant woman's]] and she messily vomits up what she can't fit near the site of her kill [[/note]], and Upir[[note]]powerful vampires who prefer to strangle their prey before feeding from their tongue[[/note]], in The Epitaph Volume #3.
184* OurZombiesAreDifferent: There are two common types of undead. Harrowed are essentially powerful, sentient zombies. The Walkin' Dead are weaker and closer to the traditional zombie tropes, but they are still smarter and faster than John Romero style zombies.
185** And that's just the basics. The two bestiaries (released for Deadlands and [=HoE=] respectively) introduce plenty more kinds of walkin' dead.
186* PersonalityPowers: If a player character has any powers, he is encouraged to pick ones that fit the character's theme.
187* PhlebotinumInducedSteampunk: The steampunk mechanisms are fueled by a miracle fuel, ghost rock, which is a supernatural mineral made by the {{Big Bad|Ensemble}}s from damned souls.
188* PlotArmor: Behind the scenes the entire series is extremely in love with this concept, arguing that "If we stat it, you will kill it". This is all to make players buy into the Metaplot, or more likely just make up their own stats and continue with THEIR story.
189** Good luck trying to kill Stone by the way. According to ''Hell On Earth'' he has max stats possible, every weapon feat, and has a +23 to hit; with [[MoreDakka four attacks every round]] but no discernible health value.
190** In ''Reloaded'', where Stone is statted, he's got enough speed backed with his Harrowed abilities to guarantee he'll get the first shot in even on high rank characters or dodge anything less than a critical. And then you add in his specific weaknesses ([[spoiler:he can only be killed either by the bullets that killed him when he was human or by his own hand]]) on top of the need to shoot him in the head. Even ''statted'', he has PlotArmor. The other servitors are no better in this regard.
191* {{Portmantitle}}: The title is also a OneWordTitle, being a plural compound word. "Deadlands".
192* PoweredByAForsakenChild: All Arcane (non-BadassNormal) powers work this way. The soul involved is [[strike:almost always]] inevitably your own (though sometimes you end up taking some other souls down with you).
193** Except for Blessed powers. You only need to be a really good and religious person in order to get these. Sometimes just a really good person. Sometimes even [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold being really good deep inside]] qualifies.
194** Shamanistic and Voodoo powers don't involve any great risk to your soul either: you're making deals for power with the "good" spirits of the hunting grounds. They don't ask for your soul, just that you jump through a bunch of hoops to make them happy. For Conjure Doctors, these hoops are usually just extended rituals to imbue something with spiritual power (mixed with a good bit of faith in the spirits you're invoking—Voodoo is a religion after all). For shaman, the hoop can take the form of anything from extended dancing, to painting complex pictures, to lopping off your own arm. Both of them have the chance for an evil spirit to get into the mix and muddle things up, but that just makes the effect go awry, you're still not at risk of losing your soul.
195** The new Arcane Backgrounds in ''Noir'' seem to avert this, at least compared to Hucksters and Mad Scientists. Grifters only need to indulge in a vice in order to gain power, and Patent Scientists only have a single derangement compared to the insanity of Mad Scientists. [[spoiler:Of course, this isn't true. A Grifter's addiction, no matter how innocent, will only serve to empower Famine. Patent Scientists ''are'' more sane, but only because they have less Manitou haunting their dreams. The manitou are much more interested in the new corporations than a single madman building flamethrowers in his basement.]]
196* PsychoPartyMember: Any Harrowed character runs the risk of being taken over by their manitou, during which time they can work evil without knowing it.
197* PublicDomainCharacter: Dracula, Frankenstein and his monsters, and a few other beasties.
198* {{Railroading}}: The published adventures encourage a certain amount of railroading, because the authors want the game to be on track with the planned {{Metaplot}}.
199* ReligionIsMagic: The Blessed, the Shamans and the Conjure Doctors are all examples of this. The Blessed are more Abrahamic-themed (specifically Christians), Shamans are Native American shamanism (obviously), and Conjure Doctors are Voodoo. ''Hell on Earth'' Templars are a surprisingly non-descript religion.
200* TheRemake: The original ''Classic'' systems were re-adapted for the TabletopGame/SavageWorlds system and given an advancement of the metaplot.
201** ''Deadlands Reloaded'' takes place ca. 18 months after the end of ''Classic'' with the Civil War coming to an end.
202** ''Hell on Earth Reloaded'' occurs after the events of ''The Unity'', which kicked off ''Lost Colony'' and [[spoiler: took the Reckoners with them]].
203** ''Lost Colony Reloaded'' in the works.
204* RulesConversions: ''Deadlands'', ''Deadlands D20'', ''GURPS'', and ''Savage Worlds.'' That's four game systems.
205%%* RuleZero: Emphasized repeatedly.
206* ScaryScarecrows: That grow new ones after they kill folk!
207%%* ScaryScorpions: Vinegaroons
208* SealedEvilInACan: The lowest levels of the Hunting Grounds, and [[spoiler:ghost rock... the miracle fuel that runs on the souls of the damned]]!
209* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Averted. WordOfGod explicitly says there are no "levels" to indicate how a monster will fare against your party, specifically because they wanted to avoid this trope.
210* SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome: There are a handful of these that can really screw up the game. Many sourcebooks have new Arcane Backgrounds, like Voodoo, Blood Magic, Aztec religious shamanism, etc. On top of this, any character can become Harrowed. Then you also have the rules for playing Werewolves and Vampires, although the sourcebook repeatedly emphasizes what a very bad idea this is.
211%%* SpiritWorld: The Hunting Grounds.
212* SplitPersonalityTakeover: this will happen to your Harrowed character when the manitou gains total Dominion.
213* TheStoryteller: after defeating a major evil, the characters can use the Persuasion skill to tell people the story of their deeds to try to reduce the level of fear among the local populace. This is important because [[spoiler:fear strengthens the monsters and physically transforms the land to their benefit, and the [[BigBad Big Bads']] ultimate plan is to spread enough fear to allow them to manifest in the human world]]. Characters can take an Edge (i.e. ability) called Tale Teller that makes them especially good at this.
214* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: Yup. Not only do they screw with little kids, but they frame children for their crimes and arrange it so that no one believes the children.
215* TotalPartyKill: Some of the published adventures explicitly authorize the Marshal to go for a TPK if the players do something really, really, stupid.
216* ToxicPhlebotinum: Ghost rock.
217* UnholyGround: There is a whole mechanic for this, called Fear Levels. Ground becomes unhallowed if local Manitou (demons) become strong, and Manitou feed of human fear. So scare the populace, and their fears become real.
218** Regarding the undead-spawning subtrope, there are places (usually in areas with high Fear Level) with properties like these. Usually they produce [[RevenantZombie Harrowed]] with a greater [[MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil Dominion of the Manitou]] than usual, but sometimes garden variety zombies.
219* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Almost all of the human villains are this, making them notoriously hard to take down.
220* WeirdScience: One of the sets of player skills. This being an explicitly Faustian setting, the knowledge to make the gadgets comes from less than heavenly sources, and every new gadget invented makes the character a little more insane.
221* WeirdWest
222* {{Wendigo}}: Most wendigos are created when a human eats the flesh of another human in the appropriate parts of the country; it can happen to PlayerCharacter types, and according to WordOfGod, it can even happen if the character doesn't know what they're eating. Not that a sadistic [[GameMaster Marshal]] would [[SarcasmMode ever]] trick a PlayerCharacter like that... there's also a variant wendigo that is created not by cannibalism, but by food hoarding. If a hoarder causes others to starve to death because of his greed and selfishness, he runs the risk of being wendigofied.
223%%* TheWildWest: Oh so very much.
224%%* YouAllMeetInAnInn
225%%* YouAreWhoYouEat: Oh yeah.
226%%* YouGetWhatYouPayFor: ''Reloaded'' has rules for inferior "el cheapo" gear.
227[[/folder]]
228
229[[folder:Tropes Found in Deadlands Classic]]
230* AlternateHistory: Part of the basic premise.
231* UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln: [[spoiler: Harrowed]] after his untimely death.
232* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: Hucksters rely on this - in ''Reloaded'', low mana gain is offset by their ability to bet bits of their soul on poker hands for free mana. Getting a high hand gives you increasing amounts of mana, but losing and not being able to pay for the spell can have any number of unpleasant consequences. In ''Deadlands Classic'' poker is part of the spellcasting mechanic, in play as well as in-'verse, and the critical failure table for huckster magic is the harshest seen in a tabletop RPG.
233** In ''Classic'', magic consists of [[DealwiththeDevil challenging an evil spirit to a game]]; if you win, it will do the "magic", but you might just grab one that's bigger than you expected, or it might trick you into thinking you won...
234* AcmeProducts: Smith & Robards has everything you need, all the way to customized submarines. And for the cash-strapped, there's always [[TemptingFate El Cheapo]].
235* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: An odd variant. Did you know poker isn't even ''in'' the original ''Hoyle's Book of Games''? (It didn't exist in 1760.) Most hucksters see the game against the manitou as poker because, well, this is the Wild West and poker is king.
236** 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 matter.
237* AnachronismStew: The game involves characters and settings that did not co-exist in the actual Old West. For example, the Civil War has lasted until 1877. Both Bill Quantrill and [[spoiler:Abraham Lincoln]] died in 1865, but are still around as undead. The events of the OK Corral occur ahead of schedule. The historical hodgepodge technology is hand-waved as the result of ghost rock advancing the pace of innovation.
238* ArrogantKungFuGuy: One hindrance that a martial artist character can have is "My Kung Fu Is Superior!". Depending on its point value, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, for the character in question to decline a challenge from another martial artist (which can often be issued at the least convenient of times).
239* ArtisticLicenseHistory: One of the few ways to guarantee someone can't rise from the dead, even as Harrowed, is fatal brain trauma. Wild Bill and Abaraham Lincoln, both killed by this method in RealLife, still rise as Harrowed in Deadlands canon.
240* BadassLongcoat: A popular Western Trope; the Texas Rangers even ''issue'' dusters to their new recruits, apparently just to keep up appearances. In ''Hell on Earth'', longcoats are pretty much standard equipment and in abundant supply.
241** The Rangers' Union equivalent, the Agency, are even called the TheMenInBlack Dusters.
242* BadassNormal: The Rangers, again. Note that virtually any character could potentially become a force to be reckoned with, even if they lacked arcane power.
243* BadToTheLastDrop: One ''Classic'' spell called "Coffin Varnish" summons coffee bad enough to earn the name.
244* BattleBolas: The {{Gaucho}} archetype carries a bolas, and is depicted using one in her character illustration.
245* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: More like [[spoiler: Honest Abe becomes a zombie spirit private eye]]. Doc Holliday's dueling skills come at least partially from the fact that he's the premiere [[MagicKnight hexslinger]] of the setting, and Jefferson Davis was replaced by a [[EvilTwin doppelganger]] after the Reckoners awoke. And that's just a sampling of the list.
246* BigScrewedUpFamily, and also ItRunsInTheFamily: The [[Literature/TheDunwichHorror 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-euclidean 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.
247* BloodMagic: Blood magic is a form of dark sorcery. Shamans can also use blood sacrifice to gain favor with the spirits. Whateley hucksters can sacrifice their own blood as a means of gaining more power to cast their spells.
248* BoomTown: These are common and will spring up anywhere that [[{{Unobtainium}} ghost rock]] is discovered. Of particular note is Gomorra in the Great Maze: the setting for the ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsDoomtown'' CollectibleCardGame, and later adapted into the tabletop game in the source book ''Doomtown or Bust!''
249* BulletCatch: Some enlightened martial artists can do this.
250* TheButcher: A SerialKiller of the same title is one of the more infamous characters in-verse. [[spoiler:The truth is that "TheButcher" is actually any person who has been overwhelmed by the curse placed on a certain enchanted knife.]]
251* CanadianWestern: ''The Great Weird North'' expands the original setting into Canada.
252* CardSharp: [[DeathDealer Hucksters]] unlock the arcane secrets of [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Hoyle's]] [[SpellBook Book of Games]], and use a good [[IncrediblyLamePun deal]] of gambling-themed spells: 54 Card Pickup and Ace In the Hole just to name a few.
253** Hell, there's one spell that literally lives up to this trope by name. "Card Sharp" basically turns the caster's cards into throwing knives.
254* CastFromHitPoints: Whateley hucksters can do this. The first edition even had a special form of magic, the Whateley Blood Magic, that lived and breathed this trope.
255** Additionally, Shamans have two rituals in the original book that can be considered this: Scar and Mutilate. Mutilate is pretty much the emergency panic button of generating Favor.
256* CavalryOfTheDead: The Black Regiment is a rare evil example of this, though technically more an example of NightOfTheLivingMooks. They are a regiment of Walking Dead created from fallen soldiers, their uniforms stained a blackish color due to being soaked with half-dried gore (hence the name), who mysteriously appear on battlefields to turn the battle in favor of the losing side with their vicious tactics. Of course, they fight for the Union or the Confederates as they see fit, as their purpose is to basically keep the deadly stalemate between the countries going, and they're perfectly happy to turn on their "allies" of a given battle if they get in the way.
257* ChineseLaborer: Make up most of the workforce of the Iron Dragon railroad.
258* ChurchPolice: The Free and Holy City of Lost Angels is a theocracy ruled by the Church of Lost Angels. The local police force, known as Guardian Angels, not only enforces the city's laws but also the religious edicts of the church head Rev. Grimmes.
259* ConspiracyTheorist: Several, most noticeably Lacy O'Malley, editor of the ''Tombstone Epitaph''. The sourcebook ''The Black Circle: Unholy Alliance'' included a ConspiracyTheorist archetype suitable for use as a player character.
260* CorpseLand: A lot of Civil War battlefields along the Mason-Dixon line are like this. Especially Gettysburg.
261* DangerousDeserter: ''South o' the Border'' notes that deserters from the French Foreign Legion are considered especially dangerous, as the Legion does not tolerate desertion and will actively hunt them down and drag them back for a trial and execution. As a result, they know they are under a death sentence and have nothing to lose.
262* DeathDealer: The Huckster Arcane Background uses this often. Can range from throwing one card with a magical razor's edge (''card sharp''), to throwing them in front of projectiles to stop ranged attacks (''ace in the hole'').
263* DoomMagnet: The Grim Harbinger o' Death disadvantage effectively turns your character into one of these. Bad things happen wherever you go, and even if you come out unscathed, other people are not so lucky.
264* Main/{{Dracula}}: Does show up, but notably does NOT inspire fear in the hearts of men throughout the Weird West. ''Deadlands'' takes place years before Bram Stoker's book was published, few people in the West know the vampire legends, and Dracula himself has no reason whatsoever to aid the Reckoners. Dracula is treated as an eccentric Eastern European nobleman by nearly all, and very few people have any reason to believe otherwise.
265* EndlessWinter: Canada has this problem in ''Classic'', caused by ice manitou demons. The solution is a titanic "Fence" build along the Canadian Pacific railroad. The rulebook does not specify whether this Fence is patrolled by [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire celibate Mounties in black uniforms]] or not.
266* EyePatchOfPower: Texas Ranger Hank "One-Eye" Ketchum.
267* GatlingGood: Every single vehicle in the Smith & Robard's catalog has multiple gatling gun mounts. Players can also acquire rifle and pistol-size gatling guns, the latter of which are actually standard-issue for the Union's monster-hunting Agency.
268* GreatWhiteHunter: The Explorer's Society.
269* GreekFire: Greek Fire is one of the elixirs available to alchemists (although, like all elixirs, it is actually the product of Mad Science).
270* HandCannon: While the Agency (see below) issues their men [[MoreDakka Gatling pistols]], the Texas Rangers prefer to go with scaled-up [=LeMat=] revolvers loaded with magnum rounds.
271* HeadlessHorseman: One of the monsters.
272* TheHermit: ''Fire & Brimstone'' included a Hermit archetype for Blessed characters.
273* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Almost every memorable western character makes an appearance. Wild Bill, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysess S. Grant, Curly Bill Brocious, Santa Anna... the list goes on and on.
274* HollywoodVoodoo: Baron [=LaCroix=] has turned basically all of Louisiana into a pit of stereotypical voodoo madness. However, it is made abundantly clear that [=LaCroix=]'s people aren't using actual voodoo, but rather black magic which they have dressed up with a few Hollywood-style trappings.
275** Zig-zagged in the case of player-character and good NPC voodooists. Some of the Hollywood imagery is still used for the rituals and the spells include the venerable "voodoo doll", but a decent background on the actual religion and its rituals (and not just the magical ones) is given in the rules.
276* HunterTrapper: A couple of hunter/trapper archetypes appear in ''The Great Weird North''.
277* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: In 1877, the British invade from Canada and capture Detroit in retaliation for American military adventurism along the Canadian border.
278* KlatchianCoffee: The ''Classic'' Huckster spell "Coffin Varnish" will turn any drinkable liquid into this, essentially becoming a minor healing potion. As a side-effect, it makes whatever the spell was cast on taste horrible.
279* LawEnforcementInc: Before the formation of 'the Agency', the US government used the Pinkerton Detective Agency to enforce TheMasquerade. See also WhoYouGonnaCall.
280* LegionOfLostSouls: Units of the French foreign Legion are stationed in Mexico to support Emperor Maximilian's rule. The ''South O' the Border'' sourcebook includes a Legion Deserter archetype as a possible player character.
281* LifeOrLimbDecision: "Hogleg" Dunstan, the sheriff of Lost Angels, was handcuffed to the bed inside his own jail cell and the office set on fire around him. He escaped by cutting off his right hand.
282* MagicalNativeAmerican: Like the MadScientist, this is a type of player character (the Shaman Arcane Background).
283* MagiciansAreWizards: Hucksters.
284* MagicKnight: Hexslingers, who enchant their firearms to pull off GunFu tricks. They are intended to be the mix of a Huckster and TheGunslinger.
285** Because of how dangerous it is to rely solely on magic in the Classic system, a lot of "mage" type characters will need to learn how to handle themselves with guns, knives, fists or any other sort of weapon to stand a chance of surviving.
286* The {{Masquerade}}: The Texas Rangers and the Pinkerton Agency both try to enforce it, having realised that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve fear literally makes the Reckoners stronger]]. Unfortunately, especially for the Pinkertons, their efforts often end up making people just as scared, or even more so, than the original monsters did.
287* MeatMoss: The ''Canyon O' Doom'' supplement includes a form of moss with writhing tentacles that dig into your feet.
288* MechanicalHorse: In the Weird West, the Smith & Robards company sells mechanical pack mules.
289* TheMenInBlack: In the USA, they were called "Agents". In the CSA, it was the responsibility of the Texas Rangers. Both maintained the Masquerade.
290* MoreDakka: It's a combination between this and GatlingGood that serves as the basis for the MadScience equivalent of automatic weapons. All of them have multiple rotating barrels attached to a single trigger & and body. Gatling Pistols actually look like scaled down chaingun nozzles on pistol grips- and let's not get into the Gatling Rifles and Gatling ''Shotguns''...
291* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours: An actual Hindrance for martial artists, which, depending on level, makes it difficult, very difficult or impossible to turn down a challenge from another martial artist.
292* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Mina Devlin, Ronan Lynch, Hank Ketchum... and let's not forget Stone.
293** All four Servitors have such names. [[spoiler: Raven, Grimme, Hellstromme...]] You see the trend?
294** The spinoff cardgame takes place in the town of Gomorra, and has a sister town of Soddum. [[DoomMagnet Guess how the Reckoners feel about them.]]
295* NoSuchAgency: The Agency, formerly the Pinkertons, represent a Union government agency that dislikes public scrutiny.
296* OccultDetective: Both the Agency and the Rangers have squads of supernatural investigators.
297* PathOfInspiration: Several, the largest being [[spoiler:Reverend Grimme's "Church of Lost Angels"]].
298* APirate400YearsTooLate: ''Back East: The North'' has the Vikings of Duluth; a group of Scandanavian descendants who adopt Viking trappings to fight the British Navy on the Great Lakes.
299* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: In this version of the Old West, the South freed its slaves and the Civil War's drain on manpower allowed females to gain greater social status. The rulebook stipulates that only villains be racist. An attempted justification was made with regards to slavery. Historically, Major General Patrick Cleburne proposed emancipating slaves in return for enlistment in the Confederate Army, but his plan was not implemented. With the ''Deadlands'' Civil War going on for years longer with heavier losses, the plan was enacted to give the South the manpower they desperately needed. Combined with the UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution making the slavery economy unfeasible and the British (who had already outlawed slavery historically) making abolition a condition for their support, the South outlawed slavery and societal norms grew to match. This proved very controversial with Civil War history knowledgeable fans and became a BrokenBase that resulted in a {{Retgone}} regarding the Confederacy.
300* QuestGiver: The Prospector. He's a strange old man who hangs out in the Dakota territories, and seems to know everything there is to know about the Reckoning. His plan is to [[spoiler: amass an army of "good" Harrowed to attack the Reckoners directly.]]
301* RailroadBaron: Many of them, and most are evil. Only the owners of [[spoiler: the state-sponsored rail companies]] are decent [[spoiler: though Fitzhugh Lee is being duped by a demon]]. Mina Devlin and Kang are evil, but they're human kind of evil.
302* RedRightHand: The Whateley family is so inbred and magically empowered that they all have a number of tell-tale marks of abnormality: jet black hair, pale skin, a sallow complexion, abnormally long fingernails. ''All'' Whateleys have vivid green eyes. Male Whateley [=PCs=] always have an unnerving presence, which in ''Reloaded'' means that they have a -2 modifier to their Charisma. Female Whateley [=PCs=] can choose whether or not their tells are considered unnerving (-2) or exotic (+2).
303* TheRemnant: The San Patrico Battalion from ''South o' the Border''.
304* {{Room 101}}: Lost Angels' offshore prison, where [[spoiler: prisoners are chopped up and shipped to the city as meat product.]]
305* SchrodingersSuggestionBox: The entire premise of the Mad Scientists.
306* ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder: Mad Scientists, again.
307* TheSecretOfLongPorkPies: [[spoiler:Grimme's church.]]
308* SinisterMinister: Zig-zagged. Grimme has all the hallmarks of this, and [[spoiler: the leader of the Church of Lost Angels who instructs his followers to eat each other definitely fits the bill, but the leader of the Church of Lost Angels is not actually Ezekiah Grimme. The current leader of Lost Angels is an Abomination who took the place and form of the real Ezekiah Grimme shortly after the real Grimme was killed and eaten by his hunger-maddened followers in the aftermath of the Great Quake. The real Grimme was a whisky priest of the highest order and a morally weak man, but he did his level (though admittedly rather unimpressive) best to care for his people and was ''very'' far from capital-E evil.]]
309* StagesOfMonsterGrief: Interestingly, the Book O' The Dead gives guidance on playing your Harrowed through this process.
310* SupernaturalMartialArts: Special training that can allow a character to become an Enlightened Martial Artist, which basically lets you tap into your chi to power various techniques, allowing you to pull off {{Wuxia}} style manuevers and even KiManipulation.
311* SupportingLeader: 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.
312* SurgeonsCanDoAutopsiesIfTheyWant: Specifically addressed in ''The Agency: Men in Black Dusters''. Trained pathologists are few and far between in the WeirdWest and the Posse might have to rely on whatever the local FrontierDoctor can tell them about cause of death.
313* TangledFamilyTree: The Whateleys, again. This particular family tree is so twisted that examining it can [[BrownNote drive you crazy]].
314* TheBoardGame: ''Deadlands: Battle for Slaughter Gulch.''
315** Also The Card Game: ''Deadlands: Doomtown'' (and its remake, ''Deadlands: Doomtown Reloaded'')
316* TragicVillain: The final fate of William "Bloody Bill" Quantrill. Quantrill came back as a Harrowed after his death, and the demon inside him promptly raised a horde of undead bushwhackers and went on a spree. Quantrill is too weak to keep the demon down for more than maybe an hour at a time, and even worse, has no understanding of what happened to him. As far as he knows, in his lucid moments, he is dead, and the undead who follow him are not under his command, but pursuing him to drag him to hell.
317* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Hydes.
318** Inverted in certain cases with Harrowed. If the person is Blessed, a Shaman, or a Voodooist, they actually ''lose'' their powers when the evil side takes over. Not that Harrowed are lacking in powers of their own...
319* UndeadBarefooter: The Black Regiment features as an enforced version of this trope. It is comprised of soldiers from both sides of the Civil War who have been slain in combat and reanimated by [[EldritchAbomination The Reckoners]], their coats stained black from the blood and gore of the battlefield. They appear only when a battle is in progress and only when one side is losing. They will aid that side, not out of any concern or sympathy for them but purely to prolong the suffering and increase the number of casualties on both sides. Traditionally the comrades of a fallen soldier would take his boots after a battle, which is why every member of the Black Regiment is barefoot. The only way to prevent a dead soldier from reanimating and joining them is to leave him wearing his boots.
320* UnholyMatrimony: Miles and Mina Devlin. Ruthless railroad barons, dark sorcerers, devoted spouses and loving parents.
321* UnusualEuphemism: The Texas Rangers' supernaturally empowered auxiliaries are officially listed as "musicians". The Rangers figured they needed something to put under "MOS", and "musician" was as decent a cover as any for why weird, distinctly un-military people were getting paid by the Rangers to go off in ones and twos to strange places. It's also a convenient code phrase; no-one outside the regiment will understand why a Ranger on the Mexican border will ask about "getting the band down here".
322* UpdatedRerelease: ''Classic'' had the "Revised and Expanded" edition.
323* USMarshal: one of the professions available.
324%%* TheVamp: Mina Devlin.
325* VanHelsingHateCrimes: Shoot it or recruit it.
326** The above is one of the official stances of the Agency, at least in-house, though they're much more inclined to shoot it if there's any doubt. The Texas Rangers were marginally likelier to work with someone instead of killing them.
327* VictorStealsInsignia: Stone, the BigBad servitor of Death, wears a [[BadassLongcoat duster]] covered in the badges he's taken from the chests of the dead lawmen he's killed.
328* WeirdHistoricalWar: The setting showcases an UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar that got weird (much to the detriment of both sides).
329* WhipOfDominance:
330** [[TheBaroness Mina Devlin]] is the ruthless and sadistic [[TheQueenpin rail baron of Black River]] who subjugates her region with a mixture of [[TheVamp seduction]], [[DarkActionGirl violence]], and [[TheDreaded intimidation]]. As such, while she's proficient with many weapons, her IconicItem is her trademark bullwhip, which she's noted to be carrying at all times, and not only for its symbology, as she's also a LadyOfBlackMagic which means her whip ''is'' actually magical and a deadly weapon on par with a firearm.
331** The most elite of Mina Devlin's rail gangs are the Witchita Witches, an [[AmazonBrigade all-female gang]] of whip-wielding {{Hot Witch}}es who are often DressedLikeADominatrix, with their [[HellbentForLeather black leather gear]] and {{Domino Mask}}s. In particular, their leader Violet Esperanza always carries a bullwhip as her primary weapon and is often accompanied by her two {{Hellhound}}s which she keeps in check with the whip. She's infamous for her sadistic streak and domineering personality, to the point that her bullwhip eventually became a Relic that is capable of doing more damage than most rifles... but only when Violet ''wants'' it to.
332%%* WhiteSheep: Any PC Whateley.
333%%* YellowPeril: Warlord Kang
334[[/folder]]
335
336[[folder:Tropes Found in Noir]]
337* AddictionPowered: Grifters. They can even overindulge to boost their power.
338* CrisisOfFaith: By 1935, the combined ravages of the Great War, the Flu Pandemic, and the Great Depression have caused the vast majority of people to lose faith. As a result, Blessed are almost completely absent.
339* FemmeFatale: A character archetype.
340* TheGreatDepression: The setting of ''Noir''.
341* HardboiledDetective: It wouldn't be ''Noir'' without them.
342* HollywoodVoodoo: Unlike in ''Deadlands'', Voodoo is now the most common form of "good" magic around, supplanting Blessed and Shaman. As long as you're willing to spend an hour each day at a shrine, the loa are genuinely good guys.
343* TheMafia: The Black Hand, a branch of the Sicilian mafia that controls most of UsefulNotes/NewOrleans.
344* MonsterClown: Let's just say that Mardi Gras isn't the most pleasant time to be in New Orleans...
345* OccultDetective: Extremely common, even if the Detective wasn't occult to begin with...
346* WeirdHistoricalWar: The core book provides some information about how UsefulNotes/WorldWarI develops (-ed) in this setting.
347[[/folder]]
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