Music Monday - The Curse of K.K. Hamond

While on Instagram last week I came across The Curse of K.K. Hammond. Her blues is dark and her ballads are often tinged with horror. I thought some of y'all might dig her work too. It would be great tunes to listen to while getting in the mood for some Weird Frontiers, The Dead West, or Deadlands

I love the inclusion of rougarou in this one.

Going to be honest it took me a bit to realize who this song was about.

I really like this cover and the whole druid/witch funeral possession video.

Gotta love a good murder ballad.

This one makes me want to add a mystic bone collector to my next game.

The Dead West Review

Grab you six-shooter and saddle up for SURVIVE THIS!! The Dead West .This one takes the familiar SURVIVE THIS!! rules used in Dark Places & Demogorgons and Bloody Appalachia and slaps it right dab into a demon and undead filled American western setting. Ruleswise it has familiar attributes, thematic classes, and roll a d20 and add your modifiers core rule.  Everything is compatible with other ST content which allows for maximum awesomeness. The setting is based on the American southwest, but isn't the American southwest (and I'll discuss it more in a bit).

Character Creation

After rolling attributes, HP, and Saving Throws, characters can either select or roll for a profession. Much like 5e backgrounds, these give players their starting gear and bonus skills. Then you choose a class. The are:

• Cowboy - embodiment of the Western lifestyle, you can be a rodeo or range expert.
• Demon Stalker - warriors dedicated to fighting the supernatural forces of the Dead West.
• Doc - a sawbones
• Faithful - individuals attuned to the holy
• Frontiersman - individuals more at home in the wilds than civilization
• Gambler - they know when to hold them and when to fold them
• Gunslinger - these masters of the six-shooter are expert duelists and can do trick shots
• 
  The Hand - This is all all-round solid jack of all trades class. They don't have any specialties, but they are solid allies
• Knife Master - graceful warriors skilled with small blades
• Lettered - scholars and educated types, there are four paths: academic, government, lawyer, and scientist
• Marshal - you are the long arm of the law
• Outlaw - these folks don't know the meaning of honest work, and take what they need
• Pugilist - hand to hand combat experts
• Riflemen - while gunslingers focus on six-shooters, rifleman are marksman of a different sort
• Soldier - highly trained warriors 
• Telesstic - special individuals born with and trained to use unique powers, paths include Life, Arcane, and Decay

The skills section looks familiar to most ST games. You roll a d20 and add the appropriate bonus (based on skill level, class features, and attributes).  New skills include Fighting: Old World Boxing and Horsemanship. We're presented with setting appropriate weapons and equipment, as well as a list of new magic items. 

Game Rules

Again most of the information presented here is standard Survive This stuff. There are new rules for Dueling and Horsemanship (which make perfect sense with the setting). After your standard description of how to play rules, we're presented with a massive 70 pages worth of bestiary. These stat blocks are quite varied. We get stats for undead, elementals, demons, regular folk, and legendary characters in the Dead West. If you play any ST game, this section is quite useful even if you aren't running The Dead West.

The Dead West

While a lot information about the setting can be gleaned from earlier section, we're then presented with 7 pages of Dead West information. The setting is quite interesting.  The town of Raimi Mission and the surrounding areas were enveloped in an impenetrable crimson barrier. The laws of nature changed those that were killed didn't stay dead (hence the name, the Dead West). Additionally powerful elementals and demons stalked the land. Twenty years have past since that fateful event. There are small bastions of civilization that still exist and most of these are connected by a railroad system. Most of these areas are given brief descriptions. 

The book ends with random encounter charts, as well as disaster chart. There's also an index (including references) and finally a bonus urban legend stat block.

Final Thoughts

The book looks gorgeous. It's the first of the standard sized hardcovers from Bloat Games. The art is fantastic.  Bloat Games regular Phil Stone did the cover and Christopher Torres did the interior art. It's got a great style and definitely a great buy for weird west fans. This a complete game and setting that is fantastic on its own. However, you can make it even wilder by using other SURVIVE THIS!! games. Take the vampire as race rules from We Die Young and make a  vampire cowboy. The beasties from the Cryptid Manual all slot into the setting perfectly. I also have to point out that if you're like me and love Deadlands but don't care for the original system of Savage Worlds, you can use the rules from The Dead West and play it.

Music Monday - Hell's Comin' With Me

A bit of this song was trending on TikTok for a bit and is the reason I decided to check out the full track. I love these folk/Americana/bluegrass style songs. They are great inspiration for weird west games.

Zombicide: Undead or Alive

I love the Zombicide games and CMON make great miniatures. Combine that with my love of the weird west and you know Zombicide: Undead or Alive Kickstarter has my interest. I can't guarantee I'll back it, but I probably will (especially since I could really use some weird west minis).

Night Train Review (with bonus Six-Shooters & Wagons conent)

The Deadlands Dime Novels were an amazing idea. For five bucks you get a short novella and adventure.  Last night, I picked up one of the most infamous for a few bucks at Half Price Books.

Night Train is a 32 page short story starring harrowed (undead) gunslinger Ronan Lynch, a 28 page adventure based on that story, and a 2 page scenario for the Deadlands Great Rail Wars miniatures game.

The story itself is entertaining enough. It's not going to win any awards, but it's got some merit. The real meat is the Night Train scenario itself.

A voodoo train baron is using a train full of recently rediscovered nosferatu and ran by (classic) zombies to disrupt other rail barons and sow fear and chaos among the isolated communities of the west.

This adventure gets an A+ on concept alone!

Now Deadlands is a deadly system (Hell, dead is in the name) and from what I see (and reviews I've read) this one is a true meat grinder that will probably kill a pc or two. Then again, in Deadlands, you can come back as a harrowed, so death isn't always the end. Stat wise, we're presented with a few new named cowpokes and two new types of abominations (monsters): the nosferatu and the zombie. These zombies are undead but closer resemble classic voodoo zombies. The traditional D&D style zombies in Deadlands are referred to as the walkin' dead.

If you like Deadlands (classic or Reloaded) you should pick this one up if you haven't. Even if you don't play Deadlands, but run some other weird west game... like let's say a Six-Shooters & Wagons (which will have a weird west supplement soon), this is a cool adventure to have.

------
Six-Shooter & Wagons Monster Conversion

Nosferatu
AC 6 [13]     HD: 3   Attacks:  Slam (1d6) or Bite (1d3, see below)   Special: see below    Move: 12/12 (climb)

Nosferatu regenerate 1d6 hit points a round.  They can be rendered immobile by severing their spinal cords and a stake through the heart paralyzes them until it is removed. They take 10 damage every round they are in direct sunlight. Sunlight and decapitation are the only way to kill a nosferatu. Anyone killed by a nosferatu's bite will rise as a nosferatu in 1d6 hours.

Voodoo Zombie
AC 9 [10]     HD:2   Attacks:  Slam (1d6)  Move: 9

Voodoo zombies are strong, mindless walking dead created by houngans. Even if reduced to 0 HP the pieces of a voodoo zombie will continue to function unless completely destroyed (usually by acid or fire). Their mouths are sewn shot but if you fill one's mouth with salt and sew it back, it will be destroyed.

Succubus Sunday - The Vampiric Saloon Girls of Deadlands

Here are some "ladies of the night" from the Deadlands themed ccg, Doomtown.

Bonus Six-Shooters & Wagons Stats
------

Vampiric Dance Hall Girl
AC 5 [14]     HD: 3   Attacks:  Slam (1d6) or Bite (1d3, see below)   Special: see below    Move: 15

Anyone gazing into a vampire dance hall girl's eyes must make a saving throw or be charmed. They will treat her as a friend until betrayed. Even if reduced to 0 HP, these vampires will regain 1 HP a round unless the damage was done by fire, sunlight, blessed items, or magic. They take 10 damage every round they are in direct sunlight.

Unless decapitated, anyone killed by a vampire's bite will rise as a vampire the next night.

Deadlands Unisystem

I love Deadlands. The setting is fantastic. I own the original version of the rules and the Savage Worlds version. Unfortunately I'm not the biggest fan of either of them. However, I do like All Flesh Must Be Eaten and after recently picking up the Fistful O' Dead supplement I realized it would be a great system to play Deadlands with. You can use Inspired to make shamans and blessed. The rules you need are in the core book and the gear and archetypes are in Fistful.

Want to add some ghost rock-fueled mad science tech? Pulp Zombies has you covered.

Mystic martial arts to help you fight off Maze dragons more your thing? Enter the Zombie has your back. This book also has zombie creation rules, which could be used to make Harrowed characters.

Need to expand your monster list? You should check out Atlas of the Walking Dead.

Honestly, my biggest issue is trying to come up with a way to do Hucksters that makes them different mechanically than Inspired.

It should be noted that Fistful o' Zombies is written by Shane Hensley, the creator of Deadlands, and includes a short classic unisystem/Deadlands conversion section.

The Sixth Gun

My physical rewards for The Sixth Gun rpg kickstarter. I snagged the limited edition hardcover, which is beautiful. I bought one custom  wild die.  The other things you see are the stretch goals. In addition, I have a pdfs of the books shown and figure flats for the game. I'm still not sold on the Savage Worlds system, but I'm glad I backed this. I love The Sixth Gun.

Deadlands Minis

If you don't mind painting your minis, Pinnacle has some great minis that are appropriate for Deadlands. They also have some great looking minis that you can grab with their The Sixth Gun kickstarter. They also sell Figure Flats, if you don't mind printing your minis.

I like the figure flats and I think Pinnacle's Deadlands line of miniatures look great. However, I want something solid and I suck at painting. Fortunately for me there are several Heroclix, Horroclix, and Mage Knight figures that would make great Deadlands minis. This is by no means a comprehensive list of all appropriate minis, but these are the ones that came to my mind.

The Bioshock Infinite Heroclix set has a great selection of minis that look great for Deadlands.

They have a nice mix of late 19th century/early 20th century garb with steampunk looking tech. You can buy the starter which has six of these figures for less that thirty dollars or pic up the blind single boosters. The Motorized Patriot gives me some great adventure ideas.

Need some tech? How about a tank mini to represent a secret USA or CSA project. The Mage Knight Dwarven Steam Behemoth Tank from 2001 would be a great miniature to use. You can get them relatively cheap on Ebay. I just snagged one for 11 dollars after shipping.

Need abominations, Horrorclix has you covered, especially the Freak Show Set. Boosters and singles are relatively cheap. 

But you're asking, what about more cowpokes? Well Freak Show has a few that are appropriate, but The Jonah Hex quick force gives you three more. 

There have been a few Jonah Hex clix. The newest is a tournament exclusive, and will probably cost more than you want to drop but the original Hex mini from Collateral Damage looks cool and can be found for less than six.

If you want a lady with little modesty, Deadpool's Outlaw is a good common clix.

If you have any suggestions link them in the comments.

The Sixth Gun

Looks like I'm going to need to learn to love Savage Worlds. I've tried the system in the past and haven't been the biggest fan. It's not that I think it's bad, I just prefer certain other systems that work similarly. However, Pinnacle has launched a kickstarter for one of my favorite comics The Sixth Gun. If you aren't familiar with the comic, it's a fantastic weird west tale. The story revolves around questionable heroes seeking to keep six powerful guns out of the hands of evil cults and an obsessive undead confederate general. It would make a great crossover with Deadlands.

A hanging judge with any of the guns... *shudder*

You can find the link to the Kickstarter here.

Also here's a song and video I love to get you in the weird west mood.