Hello! I've decided to dust off my copies of one of my favorite roleplaying systems,Deadlands, for a new pbp, I've run a few campaigns with the system and am likely more familiar with it than any other. While I enjoy the Reloaded savage Worlds version, theres a beauty to the vicious combat and flavor to the classic 1999 system. I'm currently investigating ways to use "card decks" for combat and character creation for a play by post game. I also have a few homerules to use for combat and magic(if applicable) that should make gameplay smoother.
I have three ideas for settings and campaigns that accompany each.
The Untamed West
The year is 1803 and President Jefferson has commissioned the exploration of the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase and beyond. But this is not the history we know. Legends come from somewhere and the lands of untamed proto-America are filled with flora and fauna seemingly out of myth. Reports of strange beasts ripped from the deepest nightmares of men, stalk the wilds. Mysteries and horror abound in the heart of the literal wild west and the party is to establish routes, open trade with friendly natives, but ultimayely catalog and "civilize" the new world. Worst yet, the party is the second expedition to be sent out, as the last one has failed to return...
The Classic West
This setting more closely follows the one from the source material woth some adjustsmnts. The west is weird and full of spookiness. It takes place in the late 1870s and the civil war still persists far past the rime history tells us. Adventures would range from the mundane, like bank robberies(starting or stopping them) to the supernatural, like hunting a gang of gunslinging werewolves. Party could choose to be criminals running from the law or ranch hands investigating the eeire noises and dissapearences at the local mine, or even go full Magnificent Seven a town against zombie confederates. I have an idea for a cmpaign and it's flexible enough to accommodate the ideas mentioned. Either way this option would let players become legends of the Old Weird West.
The Dying West
The year is irrelavant. The end has come and gone. Climate change. Nukes. Judgement day. Schwarzeneggers. Whatever it was, it stopped the world and most everyone is gone. What remains is a ravaged wasteland of survivors, eeking out an existence in the ruins of the old world. However the beginnings of a new civilization has emerged, with towns and territory being carved out as a new currency starts to breathe new life into the pocket towns throughout the southwest. The party here would be survivors banded together to fight raiders, radioactive horrors, robots, existential dread or even angels in the new world, as well carve out a life for themselves in the fallout. If we play this one we'll use the the Deadlands: Hell on Earth rules. Brainstorming as to the type of apocalypse would be a lot of fun but I will say I am partial to a Post Judgment Day/Ragnarok where the remnants of humanity, angels, demons have to get a long...or not.
Cast your votes for general interest or anything specific and we'll see where this takes us!