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The layout of the book is well done. Everything in the book is functional. The artwork is reprinted from other Deadlands titles. They are functional and show all sorts of stuff that a posse might see.
Chapter-by-chapter synoposis The first section is the Posse Territory (Not labeled as such, but one can assume). This are is unrestricted to the players. They can read it without spoiling the fun of discovering through game play what is actually going on in the West. This section of the book includes chapters 1-5.
Chapter 1: The Epitaph's Guide to the Weird West.
It gives an overview of the Weird West, updated to the year 1879. The book goes through the Weird West in a region-by-region manner, and it gives the important details for all the key players in the Deadlands world. It also has all the various information that a player might need to when he travels through the Weird West: the laws of the territories, the Travel times, and a military insignia chart. If you are new to Deadlands, it will be all that you need to play the game. For fans of the Classic rules, it is like reading the Cliffs Notes.
Chapter 2 Characters & Classes
All the character classes that exists in the Deadlands world translated for d20. Rather, they took the Archetypes from the Deadlands Players guide, removed the redundant ones, and ended up with nine Core Classes. For what is left, they are faithful renditions of Deadlands character classes into d20 format. One interesting thing that a fan of the Classic rules might notice is that some of the old Edges are retooled as class aspects, like the Old Hand in the Huckster description.
Chapter 3: Skills and Feats
This Chapter covers all the retooled and new skills for the weird west. Some skills have a Deadlands feel to them, like Languages includes all Indian languages, Decipher Script is a fancy way of saying Cryptology, and Knowledges gives the character access to all sorts of real world sciences, like Astronomy, Biology and Meteorology. (Might be useful for a Mad Scientists.) The rest of the chapter has descriptions for all the new skills for a Deadlands game. It has faithful translations of Faith, Gunplay, Hexslinging, Mad Science, and Rituals, which are exclusive skills and they allow certain character classes to use their class special abilities. The rest of the skills are available to everybody and help capture the game elements that are unique to the Deadlands world. Two skills that are not really necessary are Gambling and Holdout, which I think can be justified using Bluff. Other than that little detail, I have no real complaints about the other skills. Skills that are printed in the Players Handbook that are not reprinted here are used exactly the same way as their description dictates.
The New Feats in this book are the Classic systems edges dressed up this version. Some of them need Feats from the Players Handbook in order to be used, but I think that they are faithful adaptations of the Classic system edges. Some of the selections for feats are big leaps of logic in my mind. Dinero is a feat rather than a description? ("Look that tinhorn has money!") My biggest complaint is Fanning is feat rather than a skill. How much coordination does one need to hold the trigger in one hand and slam the hammer with the other?
Chapter 4: Equipment
This chapter has what every character in the Weird West needs to survive: guns, guns, and more guns. The section does have other stuff as well as, but mostly guns. All the weapons that appear in the Player's Guide are reprinted here. Those that are familiar with the classic rules will notice that the damage for the guns are the same, for the most part (I don't think that D20 players re-rolls 6's). All the Mad Science devices from the Players Guide are reprinted her for your convenience as well. It is cool that they are in the same place because it saves wear and tear on the book. I see only one one problem with having all the Mad Science devices in this section is that it puts them in the common knowledge area. All the characters in the Weird West would know about a Rocket pack, a Gatling Pistol, or a Steam Wagon, which are relatively rare in the Weird West. I feel that it tones down the potential fear associated with it.
Chapter 5; Blowing' things all to Hell
Rules for fighting, devising, and doing things in the Deadlands fashion. They are similar to the rules from the Players Handbook with specific changes to follow the Deadlands format. The main inclusions to this text are rules for firearms, artillery, vehicles, and Duels. There are some new options, like the inclusion of Fate Chips that mimic all the option from the Classic Rules except the bounty options.
The Next Section is the No Man's Land, where players are not allowed unless they have the Marshal's permission. It contains all the player information that must be earned by the players. This section covers chapters six and seven.
Chapter 6: Prestige Classes & Harrowed
The Agency Operative (Man in Black Duster) and the Texas Ranger are the two prestige classes in this book. The Harrowed are unique because they are not technically a prestige class: they are actually a subclass that the players may get through the course of the chronicle. Personally, I like the idea of having the Agent and Ranger transformed into prestige classes because they are something the character needs to earn. My one big beef with this section is there is no "Veteran of the Weird West" prestige class. That would be fun to have: a character that can handle the knowledge about the horrors a little bit more than the rest of party.
Chapter 7: Magic
This contains the rules for all the magic types native to the Weird West: the Blessed, Shaman, Huckster, and Mad Scientist. In the front of this section, there is a list of prohibited spells from the Player's Handbook. In Deadlands, those spells do not exist. There is a little section on the spells that exist in the Deadlands world. The rest of the section details each magic type that have specific rules for their class. The Shaman's Totems get the d20 treatment as well as the Mad Scientist's Creation rules. It is cool to look at.
This is the chapter that I have the most problems with. In the Classic rules, each magic type follows a different set of rules. I like that way of doing things, If a Shaman and a Huckster are different forms of magic, why should they have the same rules for casting things. It made more sense to me to have them use different rules. I do know that it was a headache for the Marshall because he or she had to keep track of different rules sets.
The last four chapters of the book is for Marshall eyes only. Aptly named the Marshal's Handbook, they contain the truth about the Weird West.
Chapter 8: the Marshall's Handbook.
This section has the plans of the evil critters that are causing the earth to become a living hell. This section has the most important rules for the marshal: what is and how to use Fear. Fear is the tool the evil critters use to fix the earth in the image they want. Other than that, this section has rules for bringing creatures from other games in this game system as well as a treasure chart that could be useful in both Classic and D20 as well.
Chapter 9: Secrets o' the Weird West
A Marshal eye view of all the special sites in the Weird West. All the information printed here appears in the Marshal's Guide. If you are new to Deadlands, this will be useful to you. If you are an old hand at in the Weird West, it is old information. Take it however you want it.
Chapter 10: Horrors of the Weird West
This section has conversions for all the critters listed in the Marshal's Handbook. It has conversions for classic favorites like the Hanging Judges, Texas Tummy Twisters, Los Diablos, and Prairie Ticks. Nothing much to report in this area.
Chapter 11: Relics
The standard relics used in the Classic Deadlands rules given the d20 treatment. In Deadlands, relics are items that have a special significance, most often because of the items most famous owner. It has all the favorites like Cortes's Sword, Bowie's Last Knife, and Dead Man's Bullets. They are okay, but do not have the feel of the originals. In fact some items have different effects than their Classic Rules descriptions. In the Classic rules, John Westley Hardin's cards act like armor and protect yourself from bullets. In d20, they add a bonus to all attack (firearms) rolls.
Overall impressions
Apart from a few gripes and complaints, there is very little wrong with this book in my mind. Some people may not like it because it is a d20 product. I would recommend that if you have an opportunity to pick up this book, then do so. There is a couple of things that could be ripped out and exploited in other games systems. The Fear rules work in almost any Horror game. In fact, these rules are a little bit more clearer than what is written in Ravenloft d20. Also, this book has a lot of guns that could be used in other d20 variant games. (Can we say Repeating Shotgun +2, or Buntline +2, Vorpal?).
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