Western Concepts

The Weird West is chock-full of strange and interesting types, and your hero can be any kind of person you can imagine. So strap on your six-guns and saddle up, amigo—it’s time to create your salty gunslinger, mysterious huckster, or courageous scout.

Making a character for Deadlands: The Weird West is similar to creating one for any Savage Worlds game. The first step is to choose what kind of cowpoke you want to play. Pick one from the following list or devise your own concept.

WESTERN CONCEPTS

People from all walks of life across the globe find their way to the Weird West in search of fame, fortune, freedom, or a million other goals.

• Blessed: Whether a pastor, nun, rabbi, or chosen slayer, these pious folks are humanity’s most powerful weapons against the forces of darkness. And that’s because the miracles they wield are real.
• Bounty Hunter: This gun’s for hire. Some folks evade justice for an awful long time in the lawless frontier towns of the West. Bounty hunters make their grubstake by hunting these varmints down and bringing ’em in dead or alive.
• Chi Master: With the steady influx of Asian immigrants over the past decades, various martial arts have become more common in North America. Some masters hone their chi to a mystical degree, using it to invoke supernatural powers and phenomena.
• Common Folk: Not everyone is a gunslinger, war-weary soldier, or huckster. Some are ordinary men or women—craftsmen, farmers, traders, and so forth—who traveled west seeking a new life and a fresh start. But folks like these are often preyed upon by the horrors and outlaws of the Weird West, so they’re sometimes forced to pick up a weapon to survive.
• Deserter: He’s seen his fair share of death and misery, and won’t be a party to it anymore. Or maybe she’d rather just shoot the bad folks, instead of the ones who wear a particular uniform. Regardless, this character was branded a coward and traitor by the military they left Deserterbehind, and being captured likely entails a long drop and a short rope.
• Drifter: Some folks make a living on odd jobs; more often than not, these odd jobs involve a smoking gun. Drifters never put down roots in the West, but there isn’t much for them Back East either.
• Escort: Most often of the feminine persuasion, these “soiled doves” sometimes work a single saloon, and sometimes travel from town to town plying their trade. Most seem innocent enough, but they hold their own in the West’s roughest boomtowns. With the upswing in independent, prosperous women over the last decade, male escorts have begun to pop up in bigger cities.
• Explorer: These visionaries are always looking over the next horizon in search of something new. They realize the vast, virgin territories of yesteryear are gone forever, but they also know that many wonders—and horrors—of the West have yet to be uncovered.
  Most are members of the Explorer’s Society, a loose-knit club of adventurers who track, catalog, and sometimes hunt the strange new creatures of the West.
• Grifter: Con men ply their dishonest trade to make a quick buck on the frontier. Snakeoil salesmen sell worthless elixirs of flavored water and extracts from dubious roots and herbs. Others search for real “miracle cures,” financing their quest with ill-gotten gains.
• Huckster: These gamblers plumb Hoyle’s Book of Games for arcane secrets encoded therein. Some say the cryptic text hides ancient incantations and rituals of the black arts. Others believe hucksters are frauds. That’s just fine with the huckster, who’d rather avoid notice. Some hexslingers have a mystical connection to their firearms; their bullets deal out hexes just as sure as they do death."
• Immigrant: Chinese or Mexican, European or African, these people are strangers in a weird land. But they bring new and unusual customs to this land of opportunity, which sometimes leads to their persecution.
• Indian Shaman: Shamans have many roles in Indian culture, whether serving the spiritual needs of the people, healing and guarding against sickness, or leading in war. It’s rare for one shaman to fill all these roles for a single tribe. Duties are usually divided among shamans with specific expertise. Regardless, all understand the importance of protecting the tribe and fighting evil spirits.
• Indian Warrior: The long Civil War meant neither the USA nor CSA had the will or manpower to subjugate the Sioux Nations or the Coyote Confederation. Warriors are fiercely loyal to their tribes, and most spend their time hunting or patrolling tribal borders. Some adopt the white man’s ways, while others take up the Old Ways vow.
• Law Dog: The West is a wild frontier, with wilder outlaws. It’s up to the law dogs—whether town marshal, county sheriff, US Marshal, Agent, Texas or Territorial Ranger— to keep a lid on the worst of them.
• Mad Scientist: These eggheads use ghost rock to power their infernal devices and gizmos of steam and steel. Some believe them geniuses, others think them mad. Alchemists are mad scientists’ chemical cousins, synthesizing potions to bestow seemingly magical benefits.
• Muckraker: Some folks believe in reporting the truth, no matter who it offends. Yellow journalism is their stock in trade, but the muckraker hopes to do a little good by lifting the scales from America’s eyes. Unfortunately, the only rag willing to publish the wilder (and truer) stories is the Tombstone Epitaph, a notoriously sensational newspaper. The “truth” sometimes requires embellishment to appeal to the skeptical masses.
• Outlaw: Whether a ruthless bank robber, cold-blooded killer, or innocent fugitive on the run, outlaws have a price on their head and the law on their tail. Some outlaws evade pursuit and build new lives, but some crimes are so heinous that the US, Deseret, and everyone in between wants to see the varmint hanged.
• Prospector: There’s gold in them thar hills—not to mention coal, silver, ghost rock, and other valuable fundaments. Prospectors devote their lives digging for it, and spend what little they find on wine, women, and song. Only a few prospectors strike it rich. Some hunt more fantastic treasures, though they’re dismissed as dreamers or just insane.
• Soldier: These men bravely serve the United States Army. Whether they fought to preserve the Union or to aid the Confederate States’ secession, they saw horrors none can ever forget. Those who excel climb the ranks to command other soldiers.