Actually, I LIKE the setting. I just thought you guys were talking about a Cthulhu game set in the Wild West. I bought some of the stuff back in, oh, 1997 or so, when it first came out. I really liked it but never got a chance to play. In the Deadlands setting, the universe is our own up to 1860-something. Then all manner of mythical beasts, spirits and powers were let loose on the world.
From elsewhere on the ENWorld Web site:
EN World Deadlands page
Deadlands: D20
The year is 1877, but the history is not our own. The Civil War drags on, stalled by some horrific occurrences neither the United States nor The Confederacy want the public to know about. The Indians have reclaimed their tribal lands, claiming spirits have granted them amazing powers.
California was shattered by a massive earthquake back in 68, leaving a "Great Maze" of labyrinthine sea-canyons and exposing an amazing new superfuel known as ghost rock! It is a boom-town like no other, with fortunes to be made for those bold enough to make their way West!
But there be something going on in the American West. Something sinister. Something Weird. The shadows are deeper, the nights longer - fear stalks the land like a hungry beast. Abominations from legends and nightmares lurk in the shadows, and strange cults flourish in isolated places on the high planes.
Some tell of mysterious and terrifying beings called the Reckoners. They say these otherworldly horrors are seeding the entire world with fear, cultivating terrors. Someday, should they create enough, they could even walk the Earth - and destroy it utterly!
Arrayed against the darkness are the heroes of the Weird West(TM). Grim gunslingers ride the trails, armed only with their six-guns and their wits. Cardslinging hucksters gamble with dark forces to cast arcane hexes. Scientists teetering on the edge of madness create infernal devices of piston-pumping steam and steel. Wise shamans call upon long-forgotten, nature spirits for powerful favors. Agents and Texas Rangers try to protect the public from the most dangerous of all things - the truth.
And death - well, death is not necessarily as final as it should be.
Welcome to the world of Deadlands: the Weird West! So, have you got what it takes partner? Are you ready to face the worst horrors the Reckoners have to throw at you? Are you ready to stare Death in the face and spit in his eye-socket?
Well, then saddle up, hombre. The Weird West awaits!
InzeladunMaster said:
Why is the setting obviously out? (I don't know anything about the setting, so what is obvious to those who know is not so obvious to me).
I have heard the title before, and it has always sounded like a cool game. What is wrong with the setting?
