Western Campaign Notes
Starting Date: October 13, 1869
The broad sketch
This adventure is to be of the standard heroic epic of great heros who travel and discover things about themselfs that will enable them to defeat the final obstical and obtain the target of their quest. In this case, the target of the quest are the Legs of Beourn. He does not know why he is driven to the west, but he will say "I feel that I must find that which I sense if I am to be made whole. My life is devoted to this. All who seek with me will gain that which they most value.





The Deadlands book is very valuable as it has details for a number of game releated activities, but it doesn't really suit me and the kind of campaign I wanted to run in the Wild West (not the Weird West!).
This will cover some of the differences between my campaign and the Deadlands book.

I don't want to start from scratch and build a new history up. I don't want to spend that much time writing something that intentionaly a very temporary campaign. Also, much of the material in Deadlands is very usable and can be made to better fit with what I had in mind for the historical backround. To make it less oriented to the Ghost Rock technology stuff, the year for the adventure will be 1869. This is only a couple of years since the spirits returned.

Basic differences between the Deadlands campaign and mine
The United States and the Confederate States are the same as they were in the time of the Civil War.

There are two factions of indians. Both factions want to turn back the whites and keep their culture and way of life as it is. The "Good" indians are willing to share the land with the whites while the "Bad" indians want to drive the whites from America. These two groups do not wage war against each other although they may activly fight when partys of the factions meet each other. The old laws of "coup" are scrupoulouly observed in these conflicts.

The bad indians are the Sioux. They are now really a collection of different tribes combined into the the one nation. This nation was formed by active conquest and was swolen by like minded indians who travelled from far away because they want to drive the white man away. Even though they are called the "Sioux Nation" they have absorbed many tribes into their numbers. Most of the tribes represented in large numbers are the ones from the east coast and north east. These are the Delawares, Mohawks, Choctaws, Camanches, Dacotahs, Shoshonies and Blackfeet. They say they hold the "Old Ways" but the Ravens will will use white man weapons against white men. They have an injunction against using them against other indians however.
Their territory runs from the Dakota territory in the NE, south to Wyoming and West to include the E of Idaho and W of Montana.

The good indians are the called Keo'otuk Manitu (those who respect Manitu the Great Spirit). They are mostly populated by the Pawnees, Omahas, Mandans, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Hurons and Ojibways and smaller tribes further west. The nation is called Keo'otuk which has been shortened by the white man to "Kotuk". They adhere to the "Old Ways" and will not use the weapons of the whites.
It runs from Washington in the West, south to Arizona and East to Idaho and Montana including California.

The Apache have resumed their old way of living in highly defended cliff dwellings and raiding everyone for their food. They will attack anyone anytime they think they have something valuabe they can safely steal. This include the Chiricahua, Jicarillas, Mescaleros and Pueblo tribes. They live mostly in New Mexico, but raid as far north as Montana.

Remember,  the information in the Deadlands manual comes from 1877 while this adventure is taking place in 1869! This means the most recient events detailed there have not happened and may not ever happen. The party will undoubtedly leave their mark on the land for good or ill.

Status of the Basic Deadlands Concepts
Manitous - In Deadlands they are all evil. In this campaign they may be of any alignment. They are just spirits, not necessarily demons.

There was a horrible earthquake in '68, but it only destroyed the southern part of california from just north of Los Angles south, completely destroying Baha California. The Maze exists only in the area of the Los Angles basin which is now covered with sea water.

Ghost rock has been discovered, but is still being analized by scientists and it's potential is still mostly unknown. The Confederates are far ahead of the Union in utilizing it's power, but are hampered by a lack of inventive minds to carry out the work of design necessary.

Railwars haven't started yet, but the companys are all represented by short stretches of rail that the party will probably never see (except in relativly urban areas).

Linclon has just been assassinated and the VP is in charge of the war (and doing badly).
Davis has been re-elected by the Confederacy.

The Agency is just getting started
The Rangers are powerful in the west but don't get to the indian territories much. They hate the US Marshals
The US Marshals are very powerful in all US states and territories and in the areas bordering on the US. They hunt the Rangers everywhere.

Republic of the Desert
This is only a very small town of devout Mormons at this time. They are regarded as holy by the Kotuk who leave them alone. The Sioux have raided them several times but only with small war bands. It is not the City of Gloom as the Ghost Rock is not used there as yet.

Lost Angles
The city exists along the new shore of the Los Angles Bay (formed by the quake of '67). Reverend Grimme is only begining to gather his followers and is not much known outside of California.

The Harrowed
I am not going to use this except as monsters/villians. The PC and NPCs of the party will never become Harrowed.

Fear
The rules for fear will be used. The fear levels of particular areas will be used in a more concentrated area than described in the Deadlands.

Jefferson Davis is not an evil doppleganger.

Lincoln is not a Harrowed. He is still dead.

Ghost Rock has was discovered only a year or so ago and is not used at this time except as a curiosity. There is no Mad Scientist class or Weird Science yet.

A manitou may be bound (either good or evil), but only a dozen indian shamen in the land can do it. No white man has yet gained the knowledge of how this may be done.

The Reckoning and the Reckoners
Never happened. Don't exist. Here is what happened instead.

The Ishkoodah
In 1863, the indians received a vision that would change everything for them in the years to come. At the winter solstice, in the northern sky they saw a comet looking like a waterfall among the stars. It was something that only they could see; the white man never could. Even the least aware shaman could tell this was an omen of a holy event that was to come.  The eyes of the shamen were ever looking northward for a revelation.

The Calumet
On the spring solstice (what is this really called?), a huge line of smoke could be seen in the north. It was supernatural in that it could be seen even by the most southernly tribes. The whites living in the north could see it, but it was to faint to be seen by them in the southern territories. The shamen who were aware of the spirit world could see this was a summons from Manitou. They chose members of their tribe to travel with them to go to the source of the smoke and see was Manitou demanded of them. They stopped at every friendly tribe on the way to spread the summons to those with a less than in tune shaman.
The rest of the story is as in the Song of Hiawatha.
However, when Manitu departed into the sky, the men of the tribes had many talks of how to return the land to the old ways. Despite the commands of Manitu, they devided into the two main divisions and in the fall of '64 they began the great migration where the two indian nations were formed.

That winter was very hard and many died of cold and starvation. The lack of assistance from the white man (who had problems of their own with the Civil War) only intensified their resolve against coming of the whites.

With the Calumet, the religion of the Indians surged and the power of the spirits was much increased. It was Raven who brought the Changes. As usual, they were a mixed blessing. While the horror of the dead rising from the ground in Gettysburg horrified the whites and prolonged the Civil War, the Changes also brought much pain and death to the indians as well.
The Changes are simply manifestations of the good and evil spirits power on the Americas.  From this have come the undead, the monsters and the benevolent spirits that are only now being recognized for what they are. Even the sleeping whites are wondering what is happeneing and how these things are coming to pass.




The indian gods have risen with the Reckoning and are being worshiped by both Indian Nations.
Kitcki Manitou - The Great Spirit
Shakuru - The Sun God
Pah - The Moon Goddess
Nakomis - The Earth Goddess
Mudjekeewis-west wind, Wabun -East Wind, Shawondasee-South wind,  Kabibonokka-North
Hastsezini - Fire God
Heng - Thunder God

Animal Spirits (Demi-Gods)
Raven - God of Mischef
Coyote - God of Cunning and Wisdom
Snake - God of the Underworld
Hiawatha - God of the Overworld

Ancestral Heros
Stoneribs - The stong warrior - Mostly revered by the Sioux
Qagwaaz - The hunter - Mostly revered by the Kotuk
Yirnnuluhn - The shaman - Mostly revered by the Kotuk

Monsters of special importance
Big Heads - Flying heads that seek out and eat the friendless and those sent away from a tribe
Gnhongn - Dimunitive illtempered spirit creatures of the water and rock
Ohdowa - Evil subterrainian Lizard men