MGibster
Legend
Deadlands was released in 1996 and was set in the American old west in 1876 in an alternate history where the Confederacy was still in existence and engaged in a cold war with the United States. As the Confederacy had established their own independent nation, this effectively meant they won the Civil War. I believe the folks at Pinnacle Entertainment Group wanted to provide fertile ground for spy vs. spy shenanigans which is why they had the Confederacy still around. Not only was the Confederacy around, but making characters that were Confederate officers or Texas Rangers were viable choices. PEG made this a bit more palatable by having the Confederacy abandon the institution of slavery, there's no institutional racism, and the people rejoiced. Yay! I'm sure PEG got rid of slavery and racism in the game because they just wanted to make sure everyone had a good time. But the original Deadlands setting really played into the hands of the Lost Cause narrative, and as the young people say, this was problematic.Canon and continuity have a non-zero positive value. Retcons are always a mistake, regardless of how good the intentions behind them are.*
This was becoming more of a liability for PEG's flagship game. If you look up threads here or in other forums about Deadlands, as the years pass you'll run into more and more posts from people who disliked the Confederate aspect of the game so much they would never play it. In an era where people are tearing down monuments to the Confederacy, it's just not a good look to play into the Lost Cause narrative whether intentional or not. So PEG retconned the setting. Sort of. All that Confederacy winning the war stuff still happened, but because of some time traveling shenanigans, the Confederacy ended up losing the war in 1871. So in the current incarnation of the game, now set in 1884 (I think), the Confederacy lost the war. And the game is better off for me. Despite being my favorite game from the 1990s, I never based any of my adventures off the cold war between the CSA and USA. And while I could accept undead gunslingers, mad scientist with jet packs, and gamblers turned wizards I just couldn't buy the CSA emerging victorious.
Once thing to keep in mind when talking about older D&D settings, is that younger players don't necessarily have the same attachments. Honestly, it's been so long since I've read many of the older settings that I can't remember all the little details. WotC absolutely should retcon the setting where necessarily in order to create a setting palatable to the bulk of their customers. Of course there's a delicate balance between making some minor changes and making changes that betray what made the original so great. But that's just a risk you take I guess. Someone is always going to be unhappy.