Deadlands is a roleplaying game which combines the Western and horror genres along with a good mix of Steampunk. Written by Shane Lacy Hensley and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group in 1996, the game system has won eight Origin Awards, and the setting has been converted to many other systems, including GURPS and d20.  Everything on this page is from the Classic version of Deadlands.  Other versions hopefully will someday follow.

The setting is in an alternate version of the American Old West where the Civil War ran to a stalemate because of a mysterious event known as the Reckoning. On July 3, 1863, even as the battle of Gettysburg was raging, a group of Native American Indians, led by an enigmatic warrior/shaman named Raven, unleashed long imprisoned supernatural forces upon the world in an effort to seek revenge for the atrocities carried out on the various Indian Tribes by the white man.  The result was immediate.

On July 4, 1863, on the battlefield of Gettysburg, the slain soldiers of the Union and Confederacy stood and began to wreak havoc on their former comrades and foes alike.  From that point on weird happenings began to be reported all over the world.  Creatures once thought to be mere folklore began to reemerge.  Vampires and Werewolves, Wendigos and Zombies, once more plagued the world.  Worse yet, new horrors began to appear: Mojave Rattlers, Night Haunts, and Prairie Ticks.

Then, as things began to return to a semblance of normalcy, the Great Quake struck.  The year was 1868, and the place was California.  So great was the earthquake, that the coastline of California fractured and slid into the sea, forming a vast, flooded, series of maze-like canyons and ravines.  Once more, people were forced to pick up the pieces of their ruined lives.

It was in the immediate aftermath of the Great Quake that another discovery was made, that would impact the world forever.  As survivors began to look for fuel to keep their meager fires going, one group stumbled upon a vein of Coal-like rock that had been exposed by the upheaval.  Desperate to keep their fire lit, they tossed a handful of the rocks onto the flames, hoping it was coal.  The unknown mineral caused the fire to burn hotter than coal ever could.  As it burned it, it emitted a white, ghost-like vapor and produced an other-worldly wail.  Experts said this was because of the chemical reaction that took place inside the mineral when heat was applied.  Superstitious laymen knew only one thing; the spectral vapor and the unearthly moan made it seem as if it were the souls of the dead escaping as the rock was burned.  They dubbed the new mineral Ghost Rock.