Mini Review - Deadlands Reloaded: Marshal's Handbook Explorer's Edition (Savage Worlds)

I first found Deadlands when it was it's own stand alone system.  For all intent and purposes, it was the precursor to the Savage Worlds system.

Now I find myself looking at it through a new lens - Deadlands Reloaded: Marshall's Handbook (Explorer's Edition) for Savage Worlds.  In a way, we've come full circle.

I still love the divergent history that is the setting of Deadlands.  American Western movies are pretty much our version of Avalon, King Arthur and the rest of the English / Celtic legends.  Deadlands starts with that Western assumption, throws in undead and magic, changes some major historical events and gives us a huge amount of awesomeness - if your players like Westerns.

Some folks don't like sci-fi, some don't like fantasy, some don't like westerns and others don't like horror.  Deadlands is a fantastical western horror setting (with some steampunkish elements), so it will either hit a lot of buttons for your group or miss a lot.  It hits all of the sweet spots for me.

The Marshal's Handbook gives us background and history, the major players, critters, new rules for the setting - pretty much everything you need to get the game moving from the GM's side of the table.

The PDF itself is well bookmarked and hyperlinked.  For a PDF coming in over 175 pages, these are pretty much necessities.  Heck, they even give permission to print the document for personal use.  You would kill your ink with the full color use layer controls to efficiently print the pages, but it's still a nice gesture.

Yep, another setting / system to add to my upcoming series of game arcs via G+ ;)

From the blurb:

*** The contents of the Deadlands Marshal's Handbook: Explorer's Edition and the Deadlands Marshal's Handbook are the same. The Explorer's Edition is formatted for 6.5"x9" while the Deadlands Marshal's Handbook is 8.5"x11". ***

There's Hell on the High Plains, amigo! The Tombstone Epitaph has always been filled with lurid tales of daring desperadoes and deadly drifters, but lately the West's most-read tabloid claims there's something more sinister stalking the frontier's lonely plains: Monsters. Fortunately, where there are monsters, there are heroes. Squint-eyed gunfighters, card-chucking hexslingers, savage braves, and righteous padres have all answered the call. And if they fight hard enough, they might just discover the identity of the mysterious Reckoners some say are behind it all.

The Marshal's Handbook is the setting book for Deadlands Reloaded. It includes expanded Setting Rules for the Marshal's eyes only, the lowdown on all the strange locales of the Weird West, more creepy critters than you can throw a tomahawk at, and everything a Marshal needs to keep the Reckoning rolling.

The Deadlands Reloaded Marshal's Handbook is not a complete game. You'll also need the Deadlands Reloaded Player's Guide and the Savage Worlds core rulebook to play.

This full-featured PDF includes a hyperlinked table of contents and index, bookmarks, and layer controls so you only print what you need.

Full-sized book (8.5"x11"). 160 full-color pages.