Deadlands 1876
Rules, Systems & Game Mechanics

This page collects various rules and mechanics for my Deadlands 1876 campaign. Most of these alterations, clarifications, and additions  assume the user is already familiar with the Savage Worlds core rules.

House Rules
General additions and revisions of the official Savage World game mechanics. I have invented numerous new rules, many of which are based on games of chance and make extensive use of coins, cards, and chips.

Injury Table
A painstakingly precise and cruelly detailed hit location/injury table based on randomly drawing a card from a full deck. What could go wrong?

Firearm Rules
Technically part of the “Deadlands Armory,” these are clarifications and alternate rules for nineteenth-century firearms.

Arcane Backgrounds
Extensive notes on manitous, magic, and science in Deadlands 1876. Includes alternate rules for gaining Powers, making Appeals, and learning Knacks. Also includes a delightful list of steampunk scientists to emulate.

New Skills, Edges, & Hindrances
A few additions to the standard Savage World rules, including the “Knack” Edge.

Harrowed Rules
These rules detail Harrowed characters, setting up a system of “Harrowed Points” and introducing new undead Edges such as Relic Weapon. It also introduces the “Lemmy Joker” and the “Born to Die” card. Ace of Spades, baby! I don’t wanna live forever!

Dehydration Rules
Many a Western wanderer has found himself abandoned in the desert; lips parched, vultures circling, and hallucinating an oasis after every lonesome hoodoo. These rules expand the Savage Worlds system dealing with “thirst,” offer a detailed description of dehydration-based “Fatigue,” and suggest a game mechanic for rationing water supplies.

Plains Indian Rules
New skills, Edges, and Knacks for Indian characters and NPCs, including Born on Horseback, Counting Coup, Frenzied Archer, and Staked-Down. Also includes rules on making medicine bundles and crafting medicine shields.

The Sun Dance
Background and game mechanics for the important Plains Indian ritual of the Sun Dance. A grueling ordeal, it may be taken as an Edge by Indian warriors and NPCs—or unlucky British tourists.

The Buffalo Hunt
Background and game mechanics for hunting buffalo, Indian-style on horseback while plunging into the midst of danger!

Train Combat
Because who doesn’t want to fight on top of a moving train? Everybody does! And now it’s easier than ever with this handy-dandy set of game mechanics.

Faro Rules
Faro was the most popular card game in the West, a fast-paced game of chance infamous for its many ways of cheating. This section offers a history of faro, details its mechanics, and offers guidelines to running a game of faro in a Deadlands campaign.