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The Quick and The Dead is a hardcover supplement for the Deadlands RPG, and expands on the material presented in the original rulebook. The book is 148 pages and six chapters, without an index. The presentation is fairly straight forward, so the lack of an index didn't prove too terrible. I'm going to review the book, chapter by chapter, and summarize my feelings at the end.

The first chapter deals with expanding the existing Deadland rules. The new hindrances and edges are welcome, and are very much in the spirit of the Wild West. Instead of 'Cannot Tell a Lie', we have 'Lyin' Eyes'. You're not a snob, you're 'High Falutin'. These definitely add flavor to a character description.

Rules for traveling the Old West are provided for those who like that kind of number keeping (I usually just wing travel times and such). There are also rules for improving your character with experience ... I mean Bounty Points. Why these weren't tucked into the main rule book, I don't know. The rule for Dueling are quite good at capturing the mythic 'draw or die' showdown. I couldn't help but think of the movie of the same name.

New weapons are statted up, and are another item that it would have been nice to see in the main rulebook. The Le Mat and Colt Buntline are likely of most interest to players, but all the weapons are good for flavor.

The meat of this section, however, has to be the new archetypes. The Gambler and Gaucho got the most attention from my group, but the cowpoke, Pony Express Rider, and Spy are also quite good. For folks who don't like to take the time to make a character up, these are going to be very handy. As will the 'All in One' fold out sheet that lists all the things you need to know to make a character.

The second, and largest part of the book, is the Tombstone Epitaph. Supposedly the equivalent to a modern tabloid, the Epitaph reports on the Weird West. It is also one of the problems I have with the Deadlands setting. More on that later.

There isn't much to argue with in the described history and setting information. Assuming the Civil War continued, that magic worked, and that evil is loose on the land, the alternate history of Deadlands is pretty reasonable. The situation in the USA is fleshed out quite a bit, with a number of hooks for adventures sprinkled through the text. There are also a couple famous settings given a once over (Tombstone, Dodge City) and a few famous names dropped.

It definitely gets across the flavor of the Deadlands milieu. However, I have to wonder how, if all the strange stuff is going on, their can be the conceit that folks don't know about it. Given how many prairie ticks, demonic cattle, steam-stagecoaches, ghosts and Harrowed there seem to be running around (according to the Epitaph, anyway) it seems unbelievable that the Texas Rangers and Pinkertons can keep it quiet. I suppose if you accept that the Epitaph is exaggerating, then it is more reasonable. Still, one of my complaints with this book was that it removed a lot of the mysterious and replaced it with the humorous.

Chapter Three presents the Knacks. These things turned out to be both fun and a bit of a bother. Knacks are semi-supernatural benefits for characters (armor, healing, etc). The fun part was how they would suck up Fate chips, and the uniqueness they brought a PC. The bother was how everyone soon wanted one. I'd suggest making these a very rare thing in your game ... or the focus of the PCs being together (imagine a party of Bastich's or all Born on Christmas).

The Relics chapter reminded me a bit of the kind of loot you could find in the back of a old-favorite fantasy RPG. Didn't get a chance to use them, but they looked like the typical collection of the cool, not so cool, and powerful. I particularly enjoyed the line under 'Wild Bill's Shooters' ... "Oh yeah, Wild Bill is back from the grave, and wants his shooters back."

The book ends up with three chapters for the Marshall. These detail the 'real' Weird West, including stats for a number of the famous names (Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill, Bat Masterson, etc.) and some of the infamous creatures that roam the Weird West. There is a lot here for a Marshall to work with, and taken with the hooks in the Epitaph, this makes TQ&TD pretty handy for scenario brainstorming.

The rules for Black Magic seem a bit more detailed than I'd need to run an evil villain (my own fear is that if you detail the evil magic, the PCs will eventually want to use it). Still, it does explain the workings of the dark side of magic in the Deadlands. Its not unbalanced against Hucksterism or even the Blessed, and can give a few starts to the PCs.

The last chapter in the book is a hodgepodge of things that didn't really fit. The Telegraph table is fun, but certain to frustrate you players. The Wandering Monster (oops), I mean Travellin' Encounter chart could be helpful for a GM is desperate need of something to distract bored players. I wouldn't suggest using them on a regular basis, since they suffer from all the problems of any random encounter chart.

So that's Quick and the Dead. A lot of it should have been in the main rulebook, I think. After reading and having it around, I don't think it is an absolute necessity for a GM, if they're doing fine already with just the main rulebook. However, if you are feeling abit short of ideas, like the idea of PCs having special powers, or have pretty much used up everything presented in the rulebook, then The Quick and the Dead is for you. With this and the rulebook, you'll likely not need much more to run a long Deadlands campaign.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Quick & the Dead
Author: Shane Lacey Hensley & John Hopler Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Cost: $25.00 Page count: 148 ISBN: 1-889546-02-X Playtest Review by Jason Langlois on 09/11/97. Genre tags: none	The Quick and The Dead is a hardcover supplement for the Deadlands RPG, and expands on the material presented in the original rulebook. The book is 148 pages and six chapters, without an index. The presentation is fairly straight forward, so the lack of an index didn't prove too terrible. I'm going to review the book, chapter by chapter, and summarize my feelings at the end. The first chapter deals with expanding the existing Deadland rules. The new hindrances and edges are welcome, and are very much in the spirit of the Wild West. Instead of 'Cannot Tell a Lie', we have 'Lyin' Eyes'. You're not a snob, you're 'High Falutin'. These definitely add flavor to a character description. Rules for traveling the Old West are provided for those who like that kind of number keeping (I usually just wing travel times and such). There are also rules for improving your character with experience ... I mean Bounty Points. Why these weren't tucked into the main rule book, I don't know. The rule for Dueling are quite good at capturing the mythic 'draw or die' showdown. I couldn't help but think of the movie of the same name. New weapons are statted up, and are another item that it would have been nice to see in the main rulebook. The Le Mat and Colt Buntline are likely of most interest to players, but all the weapons are good for flavor. The meat of this section, however, has to be the new archetypes. The Gambler and Gaucho got the most attention from my group, but the cowpoke, Pony Express Rider, and Spy are also quite good. For folks who don't like to take the time to make a character up, these are going to be very handy. As will the 'All in One' fold out sheet that lists all the things you need to know to make a character. The second, and largest part of the book, is the Tombstone Epitaph. Supposedly the equivalent to a modern tabloid, the Epitaph reports on the Weird West. It is also one of the problems I have with the Deadlands setting. More on that later. There isn't much to argue with in the described history and setting information. Assuming the Civil War continued, that magic worked, and that evil is loose on the land, the alternate history of Deadlands is pretty reasonable. The situation in the USA is fleshed out quite a bit, with a number of hooks for adventures sprinkled through the text. There are also a couple famous settings given a once over (Tombstone, Dodge City) and a few famous names dropped. It definitely gets across the flavor of the Deadlands milieu. However, I have to wonder how, if all the strange stuff is going on, their can be the conceit that folks don't know about it. Given how many prairie ticks, demonic cattle, steam-stagecoaches, ghosts and Harrowed there seem to be running around (according to the Epitaph, anyway) it seems unbelievable that the Texas Rangers and Pinkertons can keep it quiet. I suppose if you accept that the Epitaph is exaggerating, then it is more reasonable. Still, one of my complaints with this book was that it removed a lot of the mysterious and replaced it with the humorous. Chapter Three presents the Knacks. These things turned out to be both fun and a bit of a bother. Knacks are semi-supernatural benefits for characters (armor, healing, etc). The fun part was how they would suck up Fate chips, and the uniqueness they brought a PC. The bother was how everyone soon wanted one. I'd suggest making these a very rare thing in your game ... or the focus of the PCs being together (imagine a party of Bastich's or all Born on Christmas). The Relics chapter reminded me a bit of the kind of loot you could find in the back of a old-favorite fantasy RPG. Didn't get a chance to use them, but they looked like the typical collection of the cool, not so cool, and powerful. I particularly enjoyed the line under 'Wild Bill's Shooters' ... "Oh yeah, Wild Bill is back from the grave, and wants his shooters back." The book ends up with three chapters for the Marshall. These detail the 'real' Weird West, including stats for a number of the famous names (Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill, Bat Masterson, etc.) and some of the infamous creatures that roam the Weird West. There is a lot here for a Marshall to work with, and taken with the hooks in the Epitaph, this makes TQ&TD pretty handy for scenario brainstorming. The rules for Black Magic seem a bit more detailed than I'd need to run an evil villain (my own fear is that if you detail the evil magic, the PCs will eventually want to use it). Still, it does explain the workings of the dark side of magic in the Deadlands. Its not unbalanced against Hucksterism or even the Blessed, and can give a few starts to the PCs. The last chapter in the book is a hodgepodge of things that didn't really fit. The Telegraph table is fun, but certain to frustrate you players. The Wandering Monster (oops), I mean Travellin' Encounter chart could be helpful for a GM is desperate need of something to distract bored players. I wouldn't suggest using them on a regular basis, since they suffer from all the problems of any random encounter chart. So that's Quick and the Dead. A lot of it should have been in the main rulebook, I think. After reading and having it around, I don't think it is an absolute necessity for a GM, if they're doing fine already with just the main rulebook. However, if you are feeling abit short of ideas, like the idea of PCs having special powers, or have pretty much used up everything presented in the rulebook, then The Quick and the Dead is for you. With this and the rulebook, you'll likely not need much more to run a long Deadlands campaign. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Quick & the Dead