Dead West of normal

a deadlands playset for fiasco

by Silverskorpious
The year is 1879 and the history is not our own...
After almost two decades of bitter fighting, the American Civil War has
ground to a standstill. The Confederate States are still free. California has
fallen into the Pacific Ocean. Rail Barons fight bloody battles to decide who
the victor will be in the race for a transcontinental railroad, while a superfuel
called ghost rock advances technology by leaps and sometimes dangerous
bounds. The Sioux have retaken the Dakotas and the Coyote Confederation
dances the Ghost Dance on the High Plains. Some even say the dead walk
among us.

5 Friendship
Relationships...
1 Family
...In the deadlands
In-Laws
Siblings or Cousins
Distant relatives through obscure heritage
We think we're related, but we aren't
Unrelated, but close as blood
Bad Family Blood
Ranch Hands
2 Work
Bartender and Painted Lady
Professional/Client (Pastor, Doctor, Lawyer, Banker)
Salesperson/Customer (Snake Oil, Mine Gear, Bibles)
Muckraker and Photographer
Hunters/Trappers
3 community
Society (Temperance League, Brass Band)
Church Folk
Notorious Local Ne'er-do-wells
Sheriff and Deputy
Posse/Vigilantes
Agent/Texas Ranger and Informant (In Secret or Open?)
4 Crime
Gamblers
Con-person and Victim
Thieves (Robbers, Horse Thieves)
Outlaws (Bad Men, Pistoleros, Roughnecks)
Opium Buddies
Blackmailer and Victim
Bartender and Regular Patron
Grew up together back east
Cheerful Competitors
Brothers/Sisters in Arms
We've seen something horrible and no-one believes us
Ruthless Social Rivals
6 The past
Reformed Criminals
Former Overseer and Slave
Both Married to Same Spouse (Sequential or Tandem?)
Former Soldiers on Opposite Sides of the War
You killed my ______! (Justified or no?)
Share a secret shame

5 To get rich...
Needs...
1 To Get free...
...In the deadlands
...Of the fear strangling our hometown
...of the gloom that hangs over Deseret
...Of the demon that grants me my magical powers
...Of this mortal coil
...Of painful war memories
...Of the bounty placed on my head
...With a rival
2 To Get even...
...With the North/South for causing the war
...With a Rail Baron for destroying my family's farm
...With Jasper Stone for killing my loved one
...With the Indians
...With Quantrill's Raiders for killing everyone in a town
3 To Get respect...
...For being the fastest gun in the West
...For saving the world
...By being published in The Tombstone Epitaph
...For creating the greatest invention
...By healing the sick with my faith
...By saving a town from fear
4 To find proof...
...Of the horrors we've seen
...Of a government's lie
...That a dead man can sometimes come back to life
...That Demons walk among us
...That the government has been infiltrated by conspirators
...That ghost rock is made of damned souls
...Through gambling
...No matter who tries to stop us
...By selling amazing inventions
...Off mining Ghost Rock
...By selling snake oil to unsuspecting shills
...By selling my stories to the Tombstone Epitaph
6 To find the truth...
...About what caused the Reckoning
...About the Harrowed
...about the unbelievable thing we saw
...About the Old Ones
...About the Agency/Texas Rangers
...About why Ghost Rock screams

5 Back East
Locations...
1 Deadwood, The Sioux Nations
...In the deadlands
Nutall & Mann's Saloon no. 10
Chinatown
A small settlement camp outside of town
The Office of Indian Affairs
The White Tiger, brothel and opium den
The Black Hills mines
Adobe Walls
2 The Wild Southwest
Tombstone
Headquarters of The Tombstone Epitaph
Apache Territory
Bayou Vermillion Rail Station
The Ghost Trail
3 Commonwealth of California
Outside the City of Lost Angels
A Union/Confederate Outpost in The Maze
The Mojave Desert
Fort 51
On a ship
Shan Fan
4 Disputed Territories
Dodge City
Bloody Kansas
Meat Market outside of Dodge
Denver, Colorado
Buffalo hunting grounds
A rail depot
Too close to the Mason/Dixon Line
Washington, DC
A sharecropper's farm
Richmond, Virginia
A town safely located far from any fighting
In a town still far from recovery after the war
6 Nowhere in particular
A deserted ghost town
Hermit shack
A town torn apart by divided loyalties
An eerily idyllic town
A deadland
A quiet forest spot the emanates spiritual peace

5 weapon
Objects...
1 unsavory
...In the deadlands
Government mail bag
The skull of an Sioux Shaman
Something mind-altering
Pictograph of something dead
Unlucky horseshoe
Brothel token with a name scratched onto it
First edition copy of Hoyle's Book of Games
2 information
Faded wanted poster
A secret
Strangely accurate almanac
Inside information on planned enemy troop movements
An overheard conversation
3 valuable
Pound of Ghost Rock
Deed for land too dangerous to live on
An outstanding trained horse
Hexed playing cards that always win
An important/well-placed ally
Minted coin of mysterious origin
4 sentimental
Old wedding ring
Small pictograph of a handsome soldier
Family bible
Letter from home
Locket with a lock of hair inside
Old Shep, faithful companion and loyal friend
Tomahawk
Bowie Knife
Derringer
Winchester Lever-Action
Whip
Colt Dragoon
6 Miscellaneous
A dead child's doll
Poker chip stained with blood
Texas Ranger's Badge
Union Officer's Medal of Honor
Martial Arts Forms Pamphlet
Smith and Robards Catalog