The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The Quick and the Dead is the main worldbook for Deadlands. It's a hardcover book, 144 pages in length, with a few color plates near the front including a crude map of the Weird West, more archetypes, and a random piece of art featuring famous muckraker Lacy O'Malley.

The book has three sections, like most of PEG's Deadlands line. The first section is the posse section. This starts with additional edges and hindrances such as "Grim Servant o' Death" and "Veteran o' the Weird West". Cut from the mainbook for space considerations, these in and of themselves help make the book great. VotWW, for example, is a good caveat for experienced players making a new character. The character would have an excuse for advanced knowledge, and gains a number of additional points for character creation. He (or she) also gets an unknown hindrance, decided by a card draw or by Marshal's fiat. This advantage can be potentially unbalancing, but in the hands of a good Marshall most PCs will be afraid to take it.

After that section - which also includes new rules for showdowns, traveling, and additional equipment - there are a number of color plates. The first is a fold-out two page map of the Weird West, not very useful for precise measurement but close to what a character may receive. On the back it includes a full chart for character generation, which will probably be one of the most accessed pages in the book when making characters. A few more archetypes are included - from the interesting (the gaucho and the Pony Express rider) to the not so good (the prospector).

The next section is "The Tombstone Epitaph's Guide to the Weird West". It is written in the form of a guide for tinhorns towards the Weird West from the most famous paper in it. The pages are even formatted to look like an old-time newspaper. This is good - however, it also makes the pages rather dark. It would be difficult to photocopy the pages to give them to a player, for example. Needless to say, this part of the book is useful for everybody, as it contains the information that the random person may know about the Weird West, from the Great Rail Wars (including a description of the major railroads) to a concentration on the "Heart of the West" - Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City. Sections also describe what has happened in the Civil War, the developments in the Indian Territories, and mentions of legendary monsters that are still around.

Sections that have more information in the Marshal's section are marked with a badge and page number. That tends to be a good thing, as like the main book The Quick and the Dead does not include an index or anything more then a one page table of contents.

Following the Posse section is No Man's Land. This is information restricted to more advanced players. It includes a section on relics, including how to balance them and a number of sample relics. It also includes "knacks" - a special form of edge related to the day the character was born, and requiring the use of fate chips to activate.

Finally, there is the Marshal's section, which is off-limits to the PCs. This includes the real stories behind some of the stories in the newspaper sections, and clarifications, bad guys, etc. It includes stats for some NPCs and abominations as well as a section of black magic for major bad guys. It ends with a "Marshal's companion", giving rules for travel, telegraph messages, and charts for various events (such as VotWW).

The setup in a book like this is very advantagous for the Marshal. It keeps the players informed yet not knowing the whole story, while providing the Marshal with all the rules and information he needs. Certain NPCs that PEG is reserving for future storylines are not provided with stats - providing stats, according to them, would encourage the PCs to try to take them out. If the PCs try to kill Hellstromme or the such, they should find themselves continually stymied.

The initial price might prove to be a turn-off to some potential buyers. At $25 - and $30 for the main rulebook - that makes an initial investment somewhat formidable. However, the quality of information in them makes it more then worth it. The writing is laid-back and informal, making the book easy to sit down and read for sheer enjoyment. The Epitaph section, for example, includes no references to rules whatsoever.

All in all, if you're playing or running a game of Deadlands, The Quick and the Dead is a valuable investment. Heck, even if you're not running a Deadlands game but you're interested in the West it might be worth at least looking through.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

The Quick and the Dead (#1002)
Author: Shane Lacy Hensley and John Hopler Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc. Cost: $25.00 Page count: 144 ISBN: 1-889546-02-X Capsule Review by SeanMike Whipkey on 03/08/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Horror Old_West	The Quick and the Dead is the main worldbook for Deadlands. It's a hardcover book, 144 pages in length, with a few color plates near the front including a crude map of the Weird West, more archetypes, and a random piece of art featuring famous muckraker Lacy O'Malley. The book has three sections, like most of PEG's Deadlands line. The first section is the posse section. This starts with additional edges and hindrances such as "Grim Servant o' Death" and "Veteran o' the Weird West". Cut from the mainbook for space considerations, these in and of themselves help make the book great. VotWW, for example, is a good caveat for experienced players making a new character. The character would have an excuse for advanced knowledge, and gains a number of additional points for character creation. He (or she) also gets an unknown hindrance, decided by a card draw or by Marshal's fiat. This advantage can be potentially unbalancing, but in the hands of a good Marshall most PCs will be afraid to take it. After that section - which also includes new rules for showdowns, traveling, and additional equipment - there are a number of color plates. The first is a fold-out two page map of the Weird West, not very useful for precise measurement but close to what a character may receive. On the back it includes a full chart for character generation, which will probably be one of the most accessed pages in the book when making characters. A few more archetypes are included - from the interesting (the gaucho and the Pony Express rider) to the not so good (the prospector). The next section is "The Tombstone Epitaph's Guide to the Weird West". It is written in the form of a guide for tinhorns towards the Weird West from the most famous paper in it. The pages are even formatted to look like an old-time newspaper. This is good - however, it also makes the pages rather dark. It would be difficult to photocopy the pages to give them to a player, for example. Needless to say, this part of the book is useful for everybody, as it contains the information that the random person may know about the Weird West, from the Great Rail Wars (including a description of the major railroads) to a concentration on the "Heart of the West" - Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City. Sections also describe what has happened in the Civil War, the developments in the Indian Territories, and mentions of legendary monsters that are still around. Sections that have more information in the Marshal's section are marked with a badge and page number. That tends to be a good thing, as like the main book The Quick and the Dead does not include an index or anything more then a one page table of contents. Following the Posse section is No Man's Land. This is information restricted to more advanced players. It includes a section on relics, including how to balance them and a number of sample relics. It also includes "knacks" - a special form of edge related to the day the character was born, and requiring the use of fate chips to activate. Finally, there is the Marshal's section, which is off-limits to the PCs. This includes the real stories behind some of the stories in the newspaper sections, and clarifications, bad guys, etc. It includes stats for some NPCs and abominations as well as a section of black magic for major bad guys. It ends with a "Marshal's companion", giving rules for travel, telegraph messages, and charts for various events (such as VotWW). The setup in a book like this is very advantagous for the Marshal. It keeps the players informed yet not knowing the whole story, while providing the Marshal with all the rules and information he needs. Certain NPCs that PEG is reserving for future storylines are not provided with stats - providing stats, according to them, would encourage the PCs to try to take them out. If the PCs try to kill Hellstromme or the such, they should find themselves continually stymied. The initial price might prove to be a turn-off to some potential buyers. At $25 - and $30 for the main rulebook - that makes an initial investment somewhat formidable. However, the quality of information in them makes it more then worth it. The writing is laid-back and informal, making the book easy to sit down and read for sheer enjoyment. The Epitaph section, for example, includes no references to rules whatsoever. All in all, if you're playing or running a game of Deadlands, The Quick and the Dead is a valuable investment. Heck, even if you're not running a Deadlands game but you're interested in the West it might be worth at least looking through. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

The Quick and the Dead (#1002)