by: john goff - rpg.rem.uz - core - rascals... · deadlands, weird west, dime novel, ... to the...

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By: John Goff

Rascals Varmints & Critter II: The Book o’ Curses

Written & Designed by: John GoffEditing & Layout: Hal MangoldCover Art: H. Ed CoxInterior Art: Paul DalyCover Design: Hal Mangold & Zeke Sparkes

Logos: Zeke Sparkes, Ron Spencer & Charles RyanSpecial Thanks to:Deadlands created by Shane Lacy Hensley.

Dedicated to: George Romero and Sam Raimi for bringing the dead to unlife.

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Table o’ ContentsTable o’ ContentsIntroduction...... 4No Man’s

Land.................. 5

Chapter One:The Explorer’sPapers.................. 5

Neo-Zoology .............................................. 6TerrestrialCreatures ............................................. 7

Beneath the Waves ................... 12MissedOpportunities ................................ 15

In Closing ............................................. 17The Unquiet Dead:

A Short Treatise ........................ 18A Little Background................. 18The Dead Walk ............................ 20Vampires ............................................. 23Ghosts .................................................... 25Conclusions...................................... 25

A Letter from Dr. Jensen ......... 26Early Society ................................... 26Modern Society ............................ 27Loss of Identity ........................... 28My Request ...................................... 28

Marshal’sTerritory ....... 31

Chapter Two:Horrors of theWeird West...... 31

Special Abilities ................................... 31Neo-Zoology ........................................... 32

Carcajou................................................ 32Catamount ........................................ 33Cemetery Wolves ....................... 34Piasa ......................................................... 35Prarie Ticks & Queens........ 36Terrantulas ....................................... 37

Beneath the Waves ........................ 39Giants of the Deep .................. 39Blob ........................................................... 40Devil Ray ............................................... 41Hellfish .................................................. 42Mudsucker ........................................ 43Nibblers ................................................. 43Sand Viper ........................................ 44

Missed Opportunities .................. 44Sirens ...................................................... 45

The Unquiet Dead ........................... 45Bloats ...................................................... 46Desiccated Dead ......................... 47Feral Walk’ Dead ....................... 47Frozen Dead .................................... 48Orphaned Heads ........................ 49Colony ‘Gloms ................................ 50Skeletons .............................................. 51Mummies ............................................ 52Undead Animals ......................... 54

Vampires .................................................... 56Nosferatu ............................................ 56Nosferatu Ancient Ones ... 57Penanggalen ................................... 58

Ustrel ....................................................... 59Wampyr ................................................ 60Cinematic Vampires ................. 61

Ghosts ........................................................... 62Banshee ............................................... 64Haunts ................................................... 65Phantom .............................................. 66Poltergeists ....................................... 67Shades ................................................... 68Specters ................................................ 69Living Houses ............................... 69

Monsters of Legend ........................ 71The ThingUnder the Bed ............................. 71

Utenka ................................................... 72Gabriel Hounds ............................ 73Little People .................................... 74Demons ................................................ 76

Modern Horrors ................................... 78Automatons ...................................... 78Clockwork Tarantulas ......... 79Doom Clouds .................................... 81Patchwork Science .................. 82

Paranoia ..................................................... 84Dopplegangers .............................. 84Replicants .......................................... 85Skinwalkers ..................................... 86Gaki .......................................................... 86Were-Shark ........................................ 88

Normal Critters .................................... 88

Chapter Three:LegendaryHorrors.............. 91

Dracula ........................................................ 92El Diablo Negro ................................... 94Frankenstein ........................................ 95Hangin’ Judges .................................... 97Joaquin Murieta ............................... 103Springheel Jack ................................ 104

Chapter Four:Lycanthropy andVampirism .... 107

To Play or Not To Play ................ 107Lycanthropy ........................................... 108Vampirism ................................................ 115The Dark Side.................................... 126

6 Introduction

IntroductionHowdy, pardner! Hope you’ve got your

shootin’ irons loaded for bear—or biggerthangs—‘cause we’re about to go a-huntin’ some of the biggest and mostdangerous game in the Weird West!Lions, tigers and bear are nothingcompared to the abominations lurkingin the pages of this book!

Welcome to Rascals, Varmints, &Critters II: The Book o’ Curses. Like ourfirst abomination compendium, you’regoing to find all sorts of abominationsin here with which to haunt yourposses and your nightmares. There arealso a couple of famous faces and evena new direction in which to take yourDeadlands campaign if you’reinterested.

Using This BookUnlike most Deadlands supplements,

The Book of Curses is divided into onlytwo sections: No Man’s Land and theMarshal’s Territory. That’s right—noPosse Territory.

Why, you justifiably might be asking.Well, it’s because this book is, first andforemost a Marshal’s tool.

Sure having a book with a No Man’sLand and no Posse Territory is kindof like selling medium and large sizebeverages but no small. However, wewant to hammer home that what’s inthe first portion of the book containssecrets a Marshal might not want hisplayers to read right away. Of course, noteverything in No Man’s Land is gospeleither; the correspondents are onlyhuman after all.

So, what we’re really saying is, players,check with your Marshal before you gothumbing through here.

The No Man’s Land in The Book ofCurses is a collection of reports writtenfor the Explorer’s Society by a trio ofscientific specialists. The reports cover avariety of topics, each within thecorrespondent’s area of expertise.

Unfortunately, like the Society’s firstattempt, this work has found its wayinto the wrong hands as well.

The Marshal’s Territory provides thereal dirt on exactly what the scientistsdiscuss in their reports. A warning to allyou cowpokes and heroes out there: theydidn’t get everything right, so don’t takeit as Gospel! In the Marshal’s Territoryare the details on over fiftyabominations, additional critters, andsome big names in the terror business.

A few of the abominations in thisbook are old favorites that have alreadyappeared in another supplement, likenosferatu or automatons. There are justa few of these critters and we thoughtthey deserved a place in The Book ofCurses if for no other reason than tomake it easier for a Marshal to find theirprofiles quickly.

There’s also another surprise backbehind the Marshal’s paper curtain, aswell, but we don’t want to step onMarshal’s toes and reveal too much here.

So, if you’re ready, check yourammunition, saddle up, and be veryquiet—we’re hunting monsters!

No Man’sLand

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��I must admit here at the outset of this report that I am at a bit of a loss where to begin? Should I

address the rather curious title of my report or introduce myself? If you’ll pardon my vanity, I believea short resume of my own qualifications should lend some scientific and academic validity to thecontents of my report.

My name is Thaddeus Washington. I received my doctorate in zoological studies from ColumbiaUniversity a little over two years ago. Since that time, I have devoted myself to investigating andchronicling the veritable cornucopia of emerging species that is the American West.

This report represents nearly two years of field research and exploration. Compiling the materialwithin, I’ve traveled the large portions of both the U.S. and the Confederacy delving into reports ofemerging life forms and other anomalies related to the study of zoology. And that brings me to thetitle of my report.

I chose the term neo-zoology to describe my endeavors; loosely translated, it means “the study ofnew life”, which is what I have been doing. While completing my doctorate, I could not help butnotice a rash of previously undocumented species reported in journalistic periodicals, particularly theill-regarded Tombstone Epitaph. My colleagues scoffed at the articles and features on these unusualand heretofore unknown creatures, deriding them as the constructs of “yellow journalism” or “talltales.”

I, however, noted some of the zoological anomalies reported in one periodical were alsodocumented in other, unrelated journals. As a scientist, I felt it was my duty to delve further into thestudy of these emerging species. Unfortunately, I could garner no backing from universities oracademic societies on the East Coast.

I’d like to thank the Explorers Society for expressing interest in publishing my findings. Hopefully,through their auspices and my own humble endeavors, these findings will reach the eyes of other,like-minded researchers. From the flood of recent emergence, I believe we have the potential forscientific discovery at hand. I, for one, would hate to see it lost due to narrow vision and out-datedtradition.

� ��Before I get into the main body of my findings, allow me to digress momentarily and discuss the

methods I used when compiling data.Although I confess I was guided largely by word-of-mouth—what my colleagues referred to as “tall

tales”—I would have been remiss as a scientist had I based the entirety of my report on oralaccounts. Witness statements are notoriously inaccurate when put to scientific test. Instead, I merelyused the eyewitness testimony as a guide to begin my research.

Whenever possible, I engaged in direct observation of the subject species. Unfortunately, this wasoften impossible; I suspect one reason the scientific community refuses to accept these accounts isthe lack of verification under controlled circumstances. Such is, if you’ll pardon the pun, the natureof the beast when dealing with neo-zoology.

Lacking visual confirmation, I employed reliable field tests to determine the veracity of theeyewitness claims. I used track imprints, hair samples, wound profiles, and other circumstantialevidence to verify the presence and possible habits of the creatures in question. In no case did I relyon mere oral account as a basis for my research. I plan an museum exhibition of my findings—assoon as I can find an institution with the academic vision to sponsor it, of course.

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The carcajou has been blamed for numerous cattle massacres.

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Now that you know something of mymethodologies, let us move on to the matter athand: a survey of the strange (and sometimesdubious) creatures that I have investigated.

My travels have taken me all over the NorthAmerican continent, from the more developedareas Back East, to the desolate desert reaches ofthe West. While there are no doubt many reportsof strange creatures in more civilized areas, I havefound the less populated reaches far more fertileterritory for stories of possible neo-zoologicalspecimens.

In this first section I shall deal with thecreatures of the high plains, the mountainheights, the shadowed forests—creatures of theland, if you will. We shall start with the savagecreature called the carcajou.

%��&�Originally, the term “carcajou” appeared to refer

to the common North American wolverine—aterror in its own right, but certainly not a “new” species to modern zoologists. However, furtherresearch revealed that another creature—perhaps a heretofore unknown subspecies of wolverine—has made an appearance in the West.

The carcajou itself evaded all attempts on my part to visually verify its existence. However, I didaccumulate sufficient circumstantial evidence to convince me of the creature’s existence whencombined with witness statements.

I examined a rancher’s herd of cattle that had been butchered by some unknown predator.Examining the wounds and angles of infliction, I determined that all had been mauled by aquadruped about 3’ in height. Although all the softer organs and muscle had been eaten, from thehalf-digested remains I found scattered around the site, it was obvious that the predator hadregurgitated its stomach contents several times so it could continue gorging.

After making plaster casts of the tracks I found around the corpses, I was able to determinewithout doubt that the same creature had killed some 30 cows, including a large bull. The tracksalso revealed the carcajou to weigh several hundred pounds, of which no doubt much is musclemass.

The carcajou is also reviled among trappers for its rapine destruction of traplines, often leavingdefiled portions of game still in the traps, not unlike its apparent cousin, the wolverine. Furthermore,these trappers were in agreement that the creature tends to lair near game trails, and, while capableof bursts of incredible energy, prefers a less active hunting style.

After compiling eyewitness statements and comparing them to the evidence noted above, I amconfident in cataloguing the basic nature of this species. The carcajou does indeed appear to be anew species. Its size-to-mass ratio is currently unmatched in nature and likely has twoconsequences.

First, the carcajou must have an enormous caloric requirement to maintain its enormous musclemass; it is, in effect, an eating machine. Second, the volume of food required to feed this animal has,in all probability, resulted in the creature’s insatiable appetite, even when fed to capacity. This also islikely to explain the carcajou’s method of hunting which seems to have evolved to reduce energyexpenditure whenever possible.

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%��)��At first, I believed the stories about catamounts to be nothing more than exaggerations of a

common puma’s prowess. However, I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of one of thesecreatures myself and can attest that it is no ordinary felis concolor. While in the mountainous forestsof Western Montana, my guide at the time, a mountain man named Jethro Wilson, and I heard thesound of a woman screaming nearby.

Fearing the worst, we rushed through the trees to an empty clearing. Upon arrival, I noticed anodd track on the ground and stooped to examine it. That innocuous motion saved my life, for at thatmoment, a great cat swiped at me from a branch overhead, its forepaw missing my cranium by mereinches!

Jethro brought his rifle to bear and fired at the animal, but, to my amazement, as he was aproficient marksman, missed. I did manage to get a good look at the beast as it fled, however, andalso thoroughly examined its perch as well.

The animal itself appeared to be a large cat, not entirely unlike an Asian tiger, but withcharacteristics of a puma as well. It was an efficient climber and seemed to exhibit a certainflexibility in its paw structure not evidenced in other great cats.

Upon studying its perch, I was able to ascertain that it had not only used its hind claws to braceitself when it lunged from me, but, from the blood spattered about the limb, it was also prone todrag its prey into the tree with it. This practice is unheard of among other large predators, at least tomy knowledge.

Finally, it exhibited another unique characteristic: a near-perfect voice mimicry. The creature luredus to the site with a human voice—there was no woman, we checked thoroughly for tracks or otherevidence of such—a disturbing thought as it indicates the creature considers homo sapiens to be alower rung on the food chain.

% ) � ��!��*This creature appellation derives from a

common belief that the animal—wolf-like inappearance—derives its sustenance from the deadflesh of humans. It traces its roots to an oldercreature of legend with similar habits, the loupgarou de cimiteries.

I was unable to authenticate the existence ofthis creature through personal observation, but Idid compile a sizeable amount of secondaryevidence. There is also no shortage of sightings ofthese creatures, most often by soldiers after alarge-scale engagement.

Much of my research was conducted on humancorpses—again, usually those of soldiers of onemilitary or another.

The wounds I examined were primarily bitemarks, with what appeared to be incidentalclawing on the bodies. The creature bite marksare indicative of a canine muzzle, but with oddlyprotruding teeth, while the claws are broader thanthose of known canine species. Also, the lack oftrace hairs around the bite marks seems toindicate a hairless muzzle.

Witness accounts seem to reinforce thecommon concept of the animal. Those who haveseen it report it is a primarily nocturnal wolf- ordog-like creature that hunts in packs and seems

The track of the elusive cemetery wolf!

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Artist’s rendition of what the piasa may actually look like!

drawn to recent battlefields, likely by the overwhelming scent of blood and decaying flesh.From my studies, I’ve concluded the cemetery wolf is likely a canine scavenger, perhaps similar in

habit to the African hyena. The cemetery wolf seems to example many of Darwin’s concepts putforth in his Origin of the Species, albeit much more rapidly than even he suggests.

It appears to have adapted to its role readily, evolving protruding teeth to better reach the softorgans, stout claws for unearthing shallow burials, and even a hairless muzzle. This last feature isno doubt similar to that of the vulture’s bare head, which prevents gore from adhering to theanimal’s head while it gorges on entrails.

+��If it does in deed exist, this next creature is not, strictly speaking, terrestrial. It is a creature of the

air rather than of terra firma. The first reference to the piasa, or piasa bird, is from the diaries of aSpanish Jesuit missionary dating back to the 16th century. The priest, Father Marquette, noted andsketched petroglyphs carved into the rocks upriver from present day St. Louis, MO. Unfortunately, thepetroglyphs no longer exist—but rumors of the piasa bird persist.

Despite a month of search, I was unable to catch a glimpse of this creature. I did interview severalindividuals who professed seeing the animal and had the opportunity to examine a cow that hadfallen victim to the aerial predator. Both the animal carcass and the actual site of the attack provedquite revealing.

The creature fed at the site of the kill and left several bits of revelation. First, the animal crackedthe skull of the cow and fed only on the brain. Second, no feathers of any kind were left at the site,despite evidence of a monumental struggle. Third, the attack occurred after nightfall.

Eyewitness information is sketchy at best, as the creature appears to be nocturnal. Most depict thepiasa as “a large, bird-like creature.” This is in direct contrast to the oral tradition which holds thatthe animal “had a body like a puma, antlers like those of a stag, the broad wings of an eagle.” Sometellings of the myth include a long, snake-like tail as well.

My personal observations of the attack lead meto dismiss the legendary description out of hand.Without going into the obvious skeletal andmuscular impossibilities presented by a wingedquadruped, the creature as portrayed in myth wasnot capable of causing the wounds I noted. Theattack evidence from such a patchwork creaturewould have been remarkable indeed!

Instead, I believe the piasa is actually anancient reptile previously thought extinct—or moreprecisely a modern pterodactyl! The bony snout ofthis ancient creature is more than sufficient toproduce the skull fractures I noted and the piasa’sreported size is within the potential growth rangefor the reptile.

The absence of feathers at the attack sitesfurther reinforces my conclusion as to the natureof the piasa. A mammalian aerial predator is alsoa possibility, but the cow carcass lacked thesignature canine and incisor tooth imprintsassociated with most warm-blooded predators.

The only concern with my theory is the piasa’spreference for nocturnal hunts. While this doesexplain its ability to remain virtually unknown, itmeans the animal must have some method forregulating its internal body temperature—a featbeyond modern reptiles as science understandsthem.

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��&�� -�� I won’t delay my dissertation on rattlers by presenting evidence. Other, equally reputable

authorities have documented these creatures in no less than three areas on this continent. I myselfhave been involved in extensive observation of rattlers on the salt flats west of Salt Lake City. Thatthey exist is not in question. It only remains for the academic community recognize them as theemergent species that they undoubtedly are.

Perhaps species is an inappropriate classification. According to reports, there may exist as many asthree separate species of the rattler, making the creature a separate genus rather than ananomalous branch of itself.

These species (or sub-species) appear to be confined to certain geographic regions. The Mojavevariety of rattler seems to be the most aggressive of the group. Those in the salt flats west of theRockies are faster burrowers than those of the other regions, but also somewhat smaller. Thebranch found on the high plains of Montana and the former Dakotas seem to be slower moving andapt to employ elaborate ambush practices. There also seems to be coloration variances between thevarious regions as well.

However, as yet, I have been unable to determine the class of the creature, much yet the finerpoints of genus or species. Although rattlers lack obvious body hair and their reproductive habits areunknown, their size alone requires them to be warm-blooded—thus implying Aves or Mammalia asthe class. Neither is a perfect match, suggesting the rattler may be an as yet undiscovered class ofanimal!

The real question is how a life form as large and potentially disruptive as the rattler escapednotice by Westerners until the last decade or so. These creatures sometimes exceed 80 yards inlength, a dimension unheard of in modern terrestrial creatures! Yet, the earliest report of theirexistence was filed less than 15 years ago.

Currently, I theorize the rattlers natural ecological zone is in deep subterranean areas. Theearthquake that resulted in the devastation of the former territory of California may have beenresponsible for forcing the animals to shallow surface regions by destroying their former habitats.While that geologic event did not occur until 1868—after the first confirmed rattler reports—shifting inthe substrata had no doubt been underway for some time to precipitate a tremor of that magnitude.

No other explanation currently available to through the scientific analysis of the facts is logicallyacceptable.

The author poses with a Mojave rattler specimen gathered on the Deseret Salt Flats.

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+�� /�Prairie ticks are a new emergent species whose existence is not in question. Several hundred

cattle are lost each year to these arachnid parasites. Several reputable stockmen have documentedthe creature’s habits, and I have verified these reports through field study of my own.

For those unfamiliar with this particular species, the prairie tick is an arthropod of startling size,nearly 4” across. Unlike the smaller and more common wood tick, the prairie tick does not attach tothe skin of its host. Instead, it forces itself into the host’s digestive tract through the mouth andattaches to the stomach. This process is as dangerous as it is disconcerting, as it makes the creatureremarkably difficult to dislodge once it has begun feeding. Short of surgery, only a strong purgativesuch as castor oil is able to oust the parasite at this stage.

However, even surgery is preferable to allowing the process to run its course. A full feeding almostinvariably results in the host’s death as the tick is too bloated to pass through the esophagus.Instead, the tick burrows through the abdominal wall of the host.

After extensive field study, I have determined that these parasites seem to operate cooperativecolonies, not unlike some social insects. This is an unusual development, not only for arachnids, butfor parasitic creatures in general.

On several occasions I observed engorged ticks returning to an underground nest. Furthermore,the arachnids seem sensitive to surface movement near the nest, possibly through seismic micro-tremors, and swarm out of numerous entry holes in an attempt to overwhelm a host. Again, thissort of overt aggression is unusual in a parasite, as is the coordinated behavior practiced by thecollective in overtaking a host.

Having examined several prairie tick specimens, I found only vestigial reproductive organs. Thisindicates the potentiality of a central “queen” tick, serviced by the sexless “drones.” Such a creaturewould likely be fed by the returning, engorged drones and is likely to remain underground in acentralized area.

Furthermore, the individual drones, like some hive insects, may be capable of developingreproductive organs themselves in absence ofqueen. This allows the original hive to “spawn”other tick colonies. Of greater concern is thepossibility that drones carried from their hive by amobile host may be able to spontaneously evolveand begin a new hive themselves.

��The prairie ticks aren’t the only arachnid I’ve

encountered during my travels that has developeda form of cooperative behavior. A sub-species oftarantula common to the southwesternConfederate states also appears to “swarm” whenhunting. The spider, identified by a unique set ofmarkings resembling, oddly enough, a humanskull, has been given the rather colorful sobriquet“terrantula.” This, I assume, is a play on the words“terror” and “tarantula” typical of frontiersmen oflate.

The terrantula seems to have two growthstages: one similar to that of the commontarantula, and a second, much larger size. Notonly does the arachnid’s mass change remarkablybetween these two stages, but its behaviorpatterns vary notably as well.

I must assume the first growth period is ahatchling phase. The spider is roughly the size of

Never underestimate the danger posed by small creatures.

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a grown man’s palm during this stage. Only the unique pattern on its abdomen visibly distinguishesit from a common tarantula.

Hatchling terrantulas remain in a “swarm” during this period. As a group, the arthropods arecapable of overcoming prey much larger than themselves; in one instance, I observed a swarmoverwhelming an injured calf. Lacking the intelligence of a higher order predator, the hatchlingswarms are likely to attempt even larger prey, so researchers are advised to maintain a safe distanceduring field observations.

These hunting swarms often number several hundred or more. Presumably, this equates to asingle egg deposit by a second-stage female. Although these amounts may seem incredible for asolitary female, the size difference between hatchling and mature terrantulas is, well, ratherstartling.

Second-stage arachnids of this species reach the size of a small dog. It is possible the creaturesattain even larger mass, however, I was unable to confirm such as fact. Nonetheless, it is importantto note the percentage of variance between the two stages is on the order of more than tenthousand percent!

At this stage, these larger adults become territorial and use methods similar to that of trap-doorspiders to capture prey. Additionally, the population density of mature-stage terrantulas is muchlower than that of the hatchlings. From the lack of both hunting swarms and lower density, I mustpostulate that at some point the hatchlings engage in a cannibalistic struggle for dominance.

Also, a final caution: The potency of the terrantula’s venom also seems to increase with size.However, this may be due to the simple fact that mature-stage spiders inject a great deal more of thepoison than the hatchlings. No doubt the mature arachnid’s fangs are much better suited topenetration of the skin than are those of the hatchlings, regardless of number.

� � �� !�� In the course of my field research, I was able to take a tour of the Great Maze in addition to

lengthy riverine journeys along both the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. I am grateful for theseexperiences, as I feel current zoological study is somewhat limited to terrestrial environments.

I do understand the technological—and, indeed, biological—hurdles faced by any researcherattempting to study marine life in its natural habitat. However, I did not want to overlook theimportance of at least chronicling potential emergent species in both fresh and saltwaterenvironments.

For obvious reasons, my endeavors in observation of these aquatic lifeforms were greatly limited.The majority of those I did encounter dwelt primarily in the topmost levels of the oceanic biosphereor even along the coastal shallows.

��On the surface, it may seem this appellation is somewhat lacking in descriptive range, it is,

nonetheless, quite appropriate for the life form in question. A blob is nearly that: an amorphous massof protoplasm. My examination of this creature was sadly short and lacked access to the equipmentnecessary to fully classify it, but I shall endeavor to present my findings in a coherent and succinctfashion.

A local guide, Bernard Sullerot, exposed me to this emergent species during a brief visit to theswamps of southern Louisiana. Without his finely-honed senses for the subtleties of theenvironment, I would never have detected the creature due to its near-transparent nature.

The blob floated about 6” below the surface of a stagnant marsh. The murkiness of the watermade it nearly impossible to spot, but Mr. Sullerot quickly noted its presence. Carefully steering hispirogue, he used a long branch to disturb the water and draw the blob’s notice. The creatureattached itself to the branch and he brought it close to the small watercraft for my examination.

The blob, as I noted previously, was translucent and had the lumpy consistency of fish roe. It wasdifficult to determine the creature’s exact dimensions, as it had contracted into a mass focused onthe terminus of Mr. Sullerot’s branch. He did, however, elaborate and explain it was likely 3’ in

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diameter and 3” thick when suspended in the water´—and was only a “young ‘un,” if I remember hiswords correctly.

Furthermore, it seemed to exude a highly caustic secretion that quickly dissolved the stick Mr.Sullerot was using to hold it aloft. My studies were cut short when he tossed the stick further intothe marsh; the creature was quickly advancing up the branch toward his hand.

The creature’s consistency leads me to believe it is a colony of single-celled amoebas. It respondsto only the most basic stimuli and appears to be concerned only with feeding. From furtherconversation with Mr. Sullerot, I gather that blobs are rather difficult to dispatch, as their veryamorphous nature makes them resistant to most natural and technological defensive systems.

� ��-��I’d booked passage from Shan Fan to Lost Angels and, just prior to sunset, I sighted a small school

of large manta-ray following the ship. At least I believed them to be manta rays, but one of the sailorson the vessel informed me the creatures were “devil rays.” He further noted I would do well to confinemy activities to below the deck for the remainder of the evening.

Not being foolhardy, I did so, but I also sought a further dialogue with the gentleman. Our discussionof the devil ray and its habits proved quite revealing.

Apparently, the devil ray is a sub-species of the ray genus, but a rather voracious predator. Accordingto the sailor, who never gave me reason to mistrust his veracity, devil ray schools occasionally followships through the Maze hoping to snatch a meal or two during the course of the journey.

When I asked for further details, he added that like other members of the genus, the devil ray wascapable of reaching sufficient speed to actually break the surface of the water and become airborne.However, unlike its more mundane cousins, the devil ray was able to glide for dozens of yards abovethe water!

The creatures use this ability to swoop across ships lying low to the water and snatch unsuspectingpassengers. Apparently, the devil ray envelops the victim in its “wings” and relies on its momentum tocarry it—and its prey—the remaining distance into the water.

I never had the opportunity to witness this behavior, and while the thought of a gliding aquaticpredator seems somewhat preposterous, so does the Mojave rattler. I would further note that the crewof the vessel on deck after dark secured themselves to the ship with rope.

A view of the majestic (and quite possibly deadly) Devil Rays of the Great Maze.

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3 ��*��I had the misfortune of witnessing a hellfish

firsthand during a feeding. The creature appearsto be a Portuguese man o’ war grown totremendous size. I’m uncertain of the exactdimensions as I did not have the opportunity toexamine a carcass and the specimen Iencountered did not seem amenable to fieldmeasurements. Given the size of its bladder—over3’ across—I’d estimate its tendrils may extend wellover a hundred feet.

The hellfish I observed was in the waters nearLost Angels, not far from the Rock Island prison.It seems a detainee at that establishment hadmanaged to effect an escape and somehow avoidthe sharks for which the waters around RockIsland are notorious. Unfortunately, he ran afoul ofa hellfish.

The creature mimics the behavior of the man o’war in many respects. It uses poison lashes alongits tendrils to paralyze its prey—in this case theconvict—for easier consumption. The hellfishdeviates from the standard feeding procedure inthat it actually draws its prey into the above-waterbladder where it is then slowly digested.

After seeing the slowly disintegrating remainsof the escapee trapped in the transparent gas

bladder, I couldn’t help but wonder if he would not have been wiser to have simply served his termand returned to society a reformed and productive member.

��/ ��These fresh-water creatures are usually found in slow-moving rivers, ponds, or marshes. I caught

only a brief glimpse of one during my expeditions; it strongly resembles an extraordinarily large, oilyblack salamander over 5’ in length.

Mudsuckers, according to interviews I conducted, are bottom dwelling aquatic creatures. Theyprefer darker waters or shadowed areas of clear water, such as those found under tree roots oroverhangs.

My witnesses recounted only a few instances of a known mudsucker attack on a human, mainlyswimmers or wading fishermen. In these cases, if the victim is not rescued immediately, seldom areany remains recovered. This leads me to believe there is potential for a higher rate of incidence thantestimony indicates. Mudsuckers could well be responsible for a number of unexplaineddisappearances along or near calm or stagnant waters.

As none of the witnesses could recall viewing the remains of a mudsucker attack, I am, therefore,unable to answer even the most basic questions about the creature’s diet or feeding habits. It doesbear note that salamanders as a whole are normally herbivorous, or at their most predatory,insectivorous, which casts some doubt on my tentative classification of the mudsucker as a memberof this group.

�� In several areas, I encountered stories of small, carnivorous fish usually referred to by the

indigenous population as “nibblers,” “skin pinchers,” or “gnawers.” For the sake of brevity, I havechosen to apply the first cultural appellation to these creatures.

The revolting fate of a hellfish’s victim.

�'4�

� ��#��$��

After examining the remains—or rather, the lack thereof—from a horse and rider that entered aford containing a school of nibblers, I’ve come to the conclusion that nibblers may not be a trueemergent life form. Rather, they appear to be a transplanted species of piranha, a predatory fishfound in South America. Nibblers exhibit the same feeding patterns and schooling behavior as theirsouthern counterparts.

I am currently at a loss to explain how a freshwater fish like the piranha could so quickly adaptitself to a saltwater environment. However, accounts of nibbler attacks place the fish not only infreshwater rivers, but also along coastal areas as well. Even more perplexing, I’ve discovered evidenceof at least one attack in the Great Maze that is likely a nibbler feeding as well. The implication isthat the fish is not only capable of thriving in saltwater, but of traveling great distances as well.

��5�� To date, these coastal-fringe animals have escaped my best efforts to observe them. Witness

accounts indicate the creatures favor shallow water, between 6” and 4’ in depth. However, to date, noobserver has actually sighted one of these animals. Therefore, the application of the term “viper” inthe creature’s name is purely assumptive based on the animal’s apparently venomous bite.

A sand viper injects its prey with a paralytic poison to immobilize it. The viper’s poison does nothave any lasting debilitating effects other than a temporary loss of muscular control. Although mosthuman victims die as a result of the sand viper’s attack, this is likely due to drowning than thevenom’s potency.

From direct examination of viper victims, it appears the creature uses a stinger rather than fangsto administer its venom, adding strength to my doubts about the animal’s true nature. Beyond thatstatement, I can make no further comment on the creature’s nature. Due to the period of time thebodies had been in the water prior to my study, their decomposition was rather severe..

�� 6�� While conducting my research, I had the opportunity to examine evidence of a number of new

species. However, I heard tales of far more undiscovered creatures than I ever managed to fullyexploit. Most of these were likely either amalgams of several existing species whose characteristicshad become confused by retelling and time.

Another possibility is that some were actually the tall tales my peers suggested. However, I wish tonote that this does not invalidate my research as a whole. Those which I could not authenticate tosatisfactory levels through the methods mentioned above, I left relegated to the realm of oral legend.

A small few do bear mention hear, for reasons of popular notoriety if no other. In these cases, Iwas not able to document the creature’s existence, yet I feel I should note these for the sake ofcompletion, lest another fear I omitted the species altogether.

�)�� This creature is said to be a two-headed snake. In my travels, I attended no small number of

carnivals and freak shows in the hopes of locating an otherwise unknown species and had seenmore than a few two-headed snakes. The amphisbanea, however, is claimed to have a head at bothends, not two sprouting from one neck.

A general store owner in Colorado was kind enough to show me an incomplete “skeleton” of anamphisbanea for a mere dime. However, upon examination, I determined it to most likely be a fraud.It appears the owner had simply taken two snake skulls and a portion of a snake body and tackedthem to a board.

Ignoring the problems posed by a creature possessing a linear digestive tract and a head at bothends, the skulls were not even of the same snake species. One was most likely a common kingsnake while the other appeared to belong to a pit viper. I pointed this out to the store owner, yetwas unable to recover my dime.

I have yet to see even circumstantial proof of the existence of this creature.

�'��

� ��#��$��

�� Although the swirling (and reputedly malevolent) masses of sand and dirt know as dust devils are

common enough among the oral traditions of the Southwest, I was unable to accumulate convincingdata for their existence. I found no shortage of frontiersmen willing to point to a swirling vortex inthe distance and proclaim it a “dust devil,” but it’s my considered opinion these were meteorologicaland not neo-zoological phenomena.

3��/ According to popular myth, hoop snakes are vipers capable of biting the end of their tails and

rolling downhill. Supposedly this ability allows them to overtake prey too fleet-footed for their normalmode of travel. This poses interesting musculature questions, such as how the snake is able to liftitself into a perpendicular posture to enable the “rolling” in the first place.

A trapper in the Rockies even presented me with a specimen he’d killed himself. Closerexamination revealed the snake was not, in fact, a viper. Rather it had more in common with acommon black snake; so much, actually, that I was inclined to classify it as such lacking furtherevidence. When I asked for proof of it’s “rolling” ability, however, the individual in question becamequite agitated.

The timely arrival of a representative of the local law enforcement agency prevented the trapperfrom expressing his dissatisfaction with my doubt through more physical means.

7�/�� The jackalope is probably one of the most famous of all Western legends. I found no shortage of

“lucky jackalope’s feet” for sale out West and even a stuffed “jackalope” carcass or two. However, Iremain unconvinced of the creature’s existenceand its somewhat singular ability to affect thelaws of probability.

I found no physical or circumstantial evidenceof the creature’s existence during my travels.Apparently, a jackalope foot is no different intaxonomy than that of a normal hare, lendingitself rather readily to forgery.

As to the preserved bodies, I must confess I findthe presence of small horns on the jackalope acause for suspicion. The species lacks the mass ormuscle to make such an effective defensiveweapon, so there is little likelihood that suchwould have ever evolved. To put it plainly, anycharlatan with a spare set of antlers and someglue lying around is capable of transforming acommon desert hare into the “creature of legend.”

It’s my opinion that, pending further evidence,the jackalope must be considered a hoax withwhich to make light of immigrants from the EastCoast.

8��/ ��These legendary tentacled, ship-wrecking

creatures have been a part of the mythology ofthe sea for centuries, so it’s questionable that theybelong in a report on neo-zoology.

The hoop snake, a creature of rather dubious reality.

�'"�

� ��#��$��

However, I should mention that I have found accounts of these creatures all along the westerncoast of the continent—especially in the Great Maze. The occasional reports of “leviathans” in theMississippi and Missouri rivers also seem remarkably similar in nature as well. I never observedeither the species itself or evidence of its passing, but the widespread nature of the sightings leadsme to believe more investigation may be warranted.

Of course, mounting an expedition in search of a creature with a reputation for destroyingwatercraft and consuming sailors may be a bit problematic.

��# ��Not once during my tour of the Maze did I catch sight of the famed Maze dragons. Nonetheless,

given the widespread belief in the species’ existence by locals, I am fairly convinced that suchanimals do exist. There is reputed to be a tame specimen of the creature in the region nearby LostAngels, but the recent actions of the Reverend Ezekiah Grimme precluded me visiting there.

It’s likely that these are actually the cause of the “sea serpents” alluded to by sailors from theVikings through present day. However, as I lack any scientific basis for this assumption, I wish tomake note that this is solely my opinion.

�� The melodic song of the siren has been a part of sea lore since at least Homer’s Odyssey. Ergo, it’s

not terribly surprising that tales of these aquatic femme fatales would again resurface as other newlife forms are discovered. I cannot in good conscience accept the tales of “mermaids” enticing sailorsto their doom. The problems with an organism of this nature are many and varied.

First, such a creature would require gills to be able to live underwater. Yet, it’s legendary voice alsoimplies it possesses lungs similar to those of an oxygen-breather. No higher species, save, perhapsan African lungfish, exhibits both traits.

Furthermore, what cause would such an organism have to evolve a voice in the first place?Human voices do not carry well in a watery environment, nor are traditional lungs the best-suitedorgans for such aquatic communicative purposes. And to suggest the mermaid so closely resemblesa human woman as to be irresistible visually is nothing short of ridiculous!

I would suggest as a possible counter-explanation that poor visibility has led witnesses havemistaken existing creatures, such as sea lions or seals for humanoid figures.

�� Although I spent many a night at the bottom of a hill while helpful guides and local woodsmen

beat the bushes for these elusive birds, I never succeeded in catching one. According to oralaccounts, the small, flightless avians nestle at the top of hills at night and, when startled, boltquickly down hill. On several occasions, I thought I had captured one in a “snipe bag,” only to find itwas a rock, perhaps dislodged by the bird in its rush downhill.

Normally, I would discount the existence of these creatures lacking sufficient evidence. However,the fact that the snipe is reported among many widely-separated communities across the West hasconvinced me to leave it as a possible emerging species.

��%��My studies have convinced me that there are previously undiscovered or emerging species at large

in the world. I have seen physical evidence of these creatures and, in many cases, visually verifiedtheir existence myself.

However, the question remains, what has precipitated their sudden appearance or, at least,prevented discovery until recent years? I suspect the answer holds more importance than simplezoological trivia. I hope in coming years to discern more on this topic.

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19th September , 1877

Stockton Hospital for the Insane

Stockton, California

Dear Sirs,

I realize the following essay is in all probability a somewhat esoteric missive for an organization called the

“Explorers Society”. Yet, I feel my theories have value, and if by their publication even a few minds are

enlightened, I have performed at least a minor service to humanity.

My name is Dr. Alfred Jenson, and I am (or was) what others in the medical profession refer to as an

alienistalienistalienistalienistalienist. That means, in layman’s terms, I specialize in hysteria, insanity, and other disorders of the mind. I

was, until recently, a member of the staff of the Stockton Hospital for the Insane in what was once the state of

California.

The Explorers Society is, in all honesty, my last resort for publication of my brief report. The American

Journal of Insanity most recently denied it, ostensibly because it “ preaches hysteria rather than prescribes

an effective treatment or preventive.”

That summation is essentially correct. I do not propose any astounding panacea for mental disorders in my

missive. The reason for its absence is simple: Many of the so-called lunatics I have attended are, in fact, not

truly insane. I believe these tortured souls fear the dark not out of delusional fantasies, but rather because

there is something in the dark. I believe that mankind’s deepest fear are reality. Or rather are becoming

reality. In other words, I believe the childhood terrors like the “Thing Under the Bed “may really exist if

the collective subconscious wills it so.

Early SocietyEarly SocietyEarly SocietyEarly SocietyEarly SocietyPrimitive societies often depict a startling similarity in fears. By the term fears I am not referring to

amorphous concerns, such as drought or even a powerful storm. I mean rather the form of fear—the monster

that puts a face to the deepest horrors of mankind.

A couple of startling examples of coinciding supernatural creatures can be found among the Indians of our

own continent. The wendigo, a cannibal winter spirit, is found across several tribal and language barriers, with

its name nearly identical from tribe to tribe. Regardless of the exact pronunciation (windeego, windigo, widigo,

to name but a few), the creature is always a flesh-eating monster that sways others to its evil practices.

Another example is found in the uktena (also unktehi), a large, water serpent. It is referenced by not only

the northern tribes of the Great Plains, but also in the mythology of southeastern groups. These are two

groups that had no contact. The name is, once again, nearly identical in pronunciation and the creature’s

outlandish description, which includes antlers and multicolored bands on its neck, also correspond.

Before you declare this ”simple coincidence” let me address a few further examples.

European legends are well documented among anthropologists. Among them, we find references to black

dogs that cross language, cultural, and even geographic boundaries. These ill-omened creatures exist in

England (gabriel hounds), Germany (barghests), and former Saxon lands (gabbe brecht). In every case,

the beast’s appearance marked a coming catastrophe.

�,"�

The “little people” of popular myth are one of the most

widespread beliefs, next to perhaps that of dragons.

These small, malicious beings are found in nearly every

culture. The names may vary: trolls, the canotina of the

Lakota, tommyknockers, etc. But the general nature of

the being is always the same.

Each of these examples embodies a powerful fear held

by a variety of cultures. In every case, the monster

named is a corporeal expression of an incorporeal

concept. The wendigo represents the inherent evil in man,

the uktena the awesome force of a river in flood, the

gabriel hound apprehension, and the little people

capricious misfortune.

The fact that so many cultures have placed the same

form to these fears cannot be merely coincidental. I put

forth the hypothesis that the strength of these fears

somehow gives rise to the very entities that personify

them.

Perhaps there is some merit to the preaching of fire-and-brimstone ministers and their warnings of fiery

demons. The very strength of a congregation’s belief may give rise to such a monster!

ModerModerModerModerModern Societyn Societyn Societyn Societyn SocietyIt may be easy to scoff at the creatures of primitive myth as superstition. My own superiors have on several

occasions done just that. Many times my work has been decried as “questionable” or even “pure fantasy,” but

one needs only look at the world around us to see evidence of my theory being realized nearly daily.

Many workers today fear the advances of technology. One of the most prevalent fears in the collective

conscious is that the wonders of steam-power will soon make the average workman a useless appendix to

society. Strangely enough, Dr. Darius Hellstromme’s automatons seem to do just that!

What are these tireless machines if not the embodiment of common fears of mechanical replacement? Is it

coincidental that no one can learn the secret of their construction? That they conveniently destroy the secret of

their mechanical sentience when they cease to function? I think not. Rather, I believe this is just further proof

that they are creations of fear. As such, they are proof against scientific analysis. At least as we understand it

today, that is.

How long is it before we see new manifestations of horror brought on by further advances in so-called

science?

The War continues unabated after more than a decade and a half, with inventors producing more and more

horrific creations every year. Although I can’t imagine anything more frightening than the poison gases

employed during the Sixth Battle of Bull Run, I’m sure the collective subconscious will find something.

�.(�

One area of academic pursuit that seems to have prospered from continued warfare is that of medicine.

However, those very battlefield doctors that are forced to improvise new techniques to save lives produce

hundreds of hideously scarred or limbless veterans who repulse and even terrify their former loved ones. Even

the fabled Dr. Frankenstein himself would stand in awe over the work of some of these surgeons.

I have little doubt the Hippocratic arts are soon to spawn some terror any day now, thanks to the agitated

minds of humanity.

Loss of IdentityLoss of IdentityLoss of IdentityLoss of IdentityLoss of IdentityA far more subtle fear plaguing the collective subconscious is the loss of the self. As society grows daily and

urbanization spreads, the common person finds herself submerged in a faceless mass of humanity. This loss of

identity may not be merely the hysteria of a strained mind.

Patients complaining of loved ones or friends who aren’t themselves, literally, are becoming more and more

common. Even more disturbing is the feeling some patients have expressed that someone is trying to replace

them! The frequency of such symptoms leads me to the conclusion that these events are actually occurring and

are another manifestation of the collective subconscious,

My RequestMy RequestMy RequestMy RequestMy RequestAs you can see, my theory is not the “ravings of a madman” or “a fanatic’s delusion” as my former

superiors claim. Obviously, I am not only completely possessed of my senses and sane, but one of the few with

the clarity of vision to realize the danger society faces! The fools do not realize the danger that lurks under

their very noses! The people must be warned!

Unfortunately, I am no longer in a capacity by

which I can hope to bring this threat to the attention of

the general public. I have been remanded to the care

of my own hospital “until such time as I do not pose a

threat to society through my incompetence.”

I do not expect such a day to ever arrive.

This represents my last attempt for I used the last of

my influence (and wealth) to bribe an orderly to

deliver this essay for me. I only hope you see fit to

publish it. The shadows in the corner of my cell are

quite dark at night. Things move there. I have seen

them. I am beginning to fear the consequences of my

own terror. They are coming for me.

God have mercy on my soul.

-----DrDrDrDrDr. Alfr. Alfr. Alfr. Alfr. Alfred Jensoned Jensoned Jensoned Jensoned Jenson

TheMarshal’sHandbook

Okay, Marshal, here’s the real storyon the abominations that Thaddeusand the others detailed in theirmissives. Sometimes, they were right intheir analyses; other times, they were abit off-target, as you’ll find out.

In the following pages you’ll find avariety of critters to throw at yourunsuspecting heroes. A few of theseyou might recognize from otherDeadlands supplements, but we’veincluded them here for easy reference.Others are variations on the “standard”abominations from the Marshal’sHandbook or other books—but themajority are completely new.

Don’t worry if this seems like a wholelot of weirdness to drop into yourcampaign. This book is a tool for you to

enhance your games—by all means,pick and choose which monsters youwant to include and which will

never stalk the high plains of yourcampaign. We just want to provide youwith as many options as possible!

SpecialAbilities

You can find the details on commonspecial abilities, like armor, fearless, andundead, in the Marshal’s Handbook.Most other special abilities aredescribed under the individualabomination profiles. However, beforewe get down to the brass tacks of themonsters, we’ve got a new specialability—swarm—that needs a littleexplaining

SwarmCertain animals (and abominations)

have the special ability to attack enmasse. They rely on numbers to makeup for what they lack in strength andsize. Creatures with the special abilityswarm deal damage based on thenumber of them in the horde.

Chapter Two:

Horrors of theWeird West

34 Marshal

Draw one set of action cards for thewhole swarm and make one fightin’:brawlin’ roll for each person beingattacked this way. Don’t count thedefensive bonus for any weapons orfightin’ skill, nor can an opponent takean active defense against the swarm.Standard tactics are of no use against amass of tiny opponents!

The description tells the number ofcreatures required to swarm anopponent and the amount of damagedone by the critters on a successfulattack. Less than that amount does nodamage to a victim. For every multipleof the required number, add anotherdie of damage. Also, the moreattackers, the more likely they are toactually hit their victim, so add a +1 tothe swarm’s fightin’ roll for everymultiple of the swarm number after

the first. For example, rats do 1d6damage for every 5 in the horde, so 25rats get a +4 to their fightin’ roll and do5d6 damage.

Remember, those numbers areanimals per cowpoke, not total animals.

As you’ve probably guessed, thismakes critter hordes nothing to sneezeat! Although a hero can probably knockout one or two of the swarm on everyaction, he’s usually got to take out 10 ormore to drop the swarm a notch. Yourposse is probably going to show ratsand the like a little more respect fromnow on, Marshal!

Neo-ZoologyThaddeus Washington’s paper

concerning “neo-zoology” is certainly aprovocative document, and was sure tocause quite a furor among the ExplorersSociety membership—if it hadn’t beenintercepted by the Texas Rangers, that is.But just how accurate is it?

Well, it hits pretty often, butThaddeus’ reliance on pure sciencekeeps him from completelyunderstanding the nature of his“emergent species.” After all, theinfluence of otherworldly beings of pureevil is hardly regarded as scientific fact!

With that in mind, let’s take a look atthe real story on the critters thescientist has encountered.

CarcajouThaddeus nailed the carcajou pretty

dead on. The carcajou is the wolverine’smeaner (and Reckoner-inspired) cousin.The monster has the same ferocity asthe smaller animal, but a great dealmore strength—and razor-sharp clawsand teeth to back it up!

All this fury comes at a price—thecarcajou is constantly hungry. In orderto conserve its energy, the monsterhides under rocky overhangs or fallenlogs near game trails and water holes.It lunges at its prey in a whirlwind offang and fur, making short work ofany animal up to—and including—a full-grown bear. On the rare occasion thecreature bags more food than it canconsume, it regurgitates what itsalready eaten and gorges again.

Horrors 35

The carcajou also strips trap lines—and trappers, if they’re unlucky. On rareoccasions, carcajous have wiped outsmall herds of cattle that wanderednear a lair.

Profile: CarcajouCorporeal: D:2d6, N:4d12+2, Q:3d12+6,

S:4d10, V:2d12+2Climbin’ 1d12+2, dodge 3d12+2, fightin’:

brawlin’ 5d12+2, sneak 2d12+2Mental: C:2d8, K:2d6, M:3d10, Sm:1d8,

Sp:2d12Overawe 4d10, trackin’ 2d8Pace: 14Size: 4 (see below)Wind: —Terror: 7Special Abilities:

Armor: –2 (light). Thick fur.Damage: Claws (STR+1d6, AP 2), bite

(STR+1d4). The carcajou can maketwo claw attacks and one bite oneach of its Action Cards. Themonster can split these attacksamong up to three opponentswithin 10’ of each other.

Dense Body: The carcajou, althoughbarely 3’ high at the shoulder,weighs nearly 400 lbs. As a result,it takes damage as if it were Size 8instead of 4.

FearlessRage: The carcajou ignores up to 2

levels of wound penalties.Description: A carcajou is a 3’ tall,

nightmarish version of a wolverine.It’s mouth has two rows of triangular,serrated teeth and its paws aretipped by 3” claws capable of scoringstone. The monster’s fur is a darkbrown, with lighter coloring aroundits muzzle. Its eyes are large andhave oddly human-like irises andpupils.

CatamountsCatamounts are exactly as Thaddeus

described them, with one potentiallydeadly difference—they’re far moreintelligent than he believes. Theseabominations are as intelligent as theaverage cowpoke and a fair amountmore cunning. It’s well within theirabilities to locate a trap, move it to a

different location, and use it to capturethe original trapper.

The monster also uses its uncannyvoice to mimic human cries for help orscreams. Its favorite method of ambushis to hide on an overhanging branchand lure a victim underneath. Once inposition, the catamount digs its rearclaws into the limb and swings downwith its body to snatch the victim backup into the tree, where it quickly gutshim and feasts. Often the catamountleaves the remains in the branches,further confusing any hunters.

Catamounts are solitary predators.

Profile: CatamountCorporeal: D:2d6, N:3d12, Q:2d12+2,

S:4d12, V:2d10Climbin’ 5d10, fightin’: brawlin’ 4d10,

sneak 6d10, swimmin’ 1d10Mental: C:3d10, K:2d6, M:2d10, Sm:3d6,

Sp:3d8Bluff 3d6, guts 3d8, overawe 4d10,

search 4d10, trackin’ 3d10Pace: 18Size: 9Wind: 18Terror: 7Special Abilities:

Caterwaul: After dark, theabomination’s yowl has a spine-chilling effect on folks up to a mileaway. Any within earshot mustmake an Onerous (7) guts roll. Ittakes the catamount one ActionCard to yowl this way.

Chameleon Coat: The catamountcan subtly change the patternsand color of its fur to match itsbackground, giving the monster a+4 on any sneak roll to avoid beingspotted.

Damage: Claw (STR+1d6), bite(STR+1d4). When hanging from atree as described above, thecatamount can make two clawattacks and one bite.

Leaping: A catamount can spring upto 30’ on any of its Action Cards. Ifit attacks at the end of this leap, it

36 Marshal

can attack with two claws and abite at a +2 to its fightin’ roll.

Mimicry: The catamount canchange its yowl to sound like awoman’s cry for help or even afrightened scream.

Night Vision: As long as there isany light, a catamount can see asif it were daylight. It cannot see intotal darkness, but its other senses(smell, hearing) compensatesomewhat, so that it only receivesa –4 on Trait and Aptitude rolls.

Prehensile Paws: A catamount’spaws are very flexible, allowing itto carry objects a short distance.Its rear paws are also verydexterous and it can hang from abranch using only its hind legs.

Description: The catamount is a 10’long great cat—a good deal largerthan a mountain lion. Its coat isusually a mottled brown and tan, butthis changes according to itsbackground. Although its paws aremarkedly more hand—like than thoseof other cats, the true indicator that

the creature is more than a mereanimal is in the maliciousintelligence that shines in its eyes.

Cemetery WolvesThese coyote-like creatures are not,

as Thaddeus has suggested, a form ofhyena. They exhibit near-humanintelligence and dexterous forepaws,and are much more dangerouscustomers than the African caninesthey slightly resemble.

This monster is most oftenencountered around battlefields orshallow mass graves. Although it feastson corpses, the cemetery wolf alsopreys on those too wounded to defendagainst it. Many screams that echothrough the night after a battle are dueto packs of these monsters movingamong the still living casualties left onthe field. Occasionally, it may dig inestablished cemeteries, whichinvariably leads to suggestions ofghouls among those who know of suchthings.

The creature is adapted to itscarrion-eater role, much like a vulture.Its muzzle is bare of fur, so that goredoesn’t get trapped there as it burrowsinto a corpse to snatch at prize bits. Itspaws have long, hardened claws toallow it to dig up shallow gravesquickly. Finally, its mouth is filled withseveral canine teeth that jut outwardfrom its nearly lipless mouth for rippingdead flesh quickly.

These monsters usually hunt inpacks of 10-20. They are extremelycunning and able to communicate witheach other through their high pitchedbarks and howls.

Cemetery wolves are found acrossthe Weird West. However, they’re mostconcentrated along areas of frequentbattles between the U.S. and theConfederacy.

Profile: Cemetery WolfCorporeal: D:2d8, N:4d8, Q:3d6, S:4d6,

V:2d6Climbin’ 2d8, fightin’: brawlin’ 3d8,

sneak 4d8Mental: C:2d10, K:1d6, M:2d4, Sm:1d6,

Sp:2d4Search 4d10, trackin’ 6d10

Horrors 37

Pace: 8Size: 5Wind: 10Terror: 7Special Abilities:

Damage: Claws (STR+1d6), bite(STR+1d4)

Night Vision: These creatures arenocturnal hunters. As long asthere is any illumination, they cansee as if it were full daylight.

Prehensile Claws: The monster’sforepaws can be perform simplehand-like actions. For example, itcan open coffins, turn doorknobs,or even undo clothing. It cannot,however, manipulate handweapons or deal a good pokerhand.

Description: This monster lookssomething like an overgrown coyotewith a hairless nose, protrudingteeth, and odd forepaws. The frontlegs are more heavily muscled thanthe back, giving the creature astrange hump to its spine. Its fur isdark brown with a black stripe alongits back and a random spottedpattern on its sides. The monsterscommunicate through a series ofyips and barks that sound almostlike maniacal laughter or screaming.

PiasaThe piasa does exist, reborn courtesy

of the Reckoners. While the originalpiasa may very well have been a formof dinosaur as Thaddeus suggests, therecent incarnation is closer in nature toa cross between a bat and awoodpecker—with a little lizard thrownin for spice.

Piasas hunt at night, diving ontotheir prey from the dark sky andpinning them to the ground with theirenormous wing membranes. Once itsvictim is so trapped, the abominationuses its hard beak to puncture theskull, allowing it to lap out brainmatter—the monster’s only food. Thepiasa hunts any creature up to Size 10,but favors cows, horses, and, of course,humans.

Piasas are normally solitary hunters,but nested pairs are fiercely loyal andfight to the death to protect each other.

The abomination is found along thecentral Mississippi and Missouri rivers.It favors hilly and rocky terrain thatallows it to swoop onto its prey fromabove. As yet, it hasn’t spread furtherwest than the Rockies, north of theGreat Lakes or east of westernTennessee and Kentucky.

Profile: PiasaCorporeal: D:1d6, N:3d10, Q:3d12,

S:2d12+4, V:3d8Climbin’ 1d10, dodge 2d10, fightin’:

brawlin’ 4d10, sneak 3d10 (7d10 fromthe air)

Mental: C:3d10, K:1d4, M:3d4, Sm:1d6,Sp:2d6

Search 4d10Pace: 8 (ground)/24 (flying)Size: 10Wind: 14Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Armor: –4 (light). Thick hide.Damage: Claws (STR+1d6) or beak

(STR+2d8). The piasa can maketwo claw attacks if it is flying.

Envelop: If the piasa gets a raise onits fightin’ roll, it has enveloped itsopponent (up to Size 10) in its“wings”. It does its beak damageautomatically to its victim’s headon each of its subsequent ActionCards. The victim can break free bywinning an opposed test ofStrength.

Night Vision: The piasa can see inall but total darkness as if it weredaylight.

Weakness—Light: In any lightbrighter than a torch, the piasasuffers –2 to all Traits and Aptituderolls.

Description: The piasa stands 7’ tall atthe shoulder and has a nearly 35’wingspan. The monster’s wings aremodified hands, like a bat’s. Its feetend in long, gray talons and itsotherwise bat-like face has a narrow,piercing beak. Its hide is black as thedeepest night.

38 Marshal

PrairieTicks & Queens

Thaddeus is pretty much on themoney with his analysis of the prairietick as well. (We told you he did prettywell, overall.)

Prairie tick queens evolve from“drone” prairie ticks. This usually occursin two instances—if the tick is carriedfar from its nest before its hostsuccumbs, or the nest grows too largeand some members are forced out. Thismigration/evolution process makesprairie ticks very prolific.

The queen is a fat and lazy creature,seldom leaving the nest’s egg chamber.She remains underground and feedsfrom her bloated drones. She give birthto all of the tick on the nest, and herchildren protect her fiercely. Allmembers of a nest converge to protectthe queen should she be threatened.

Prairie tick warrens are usuallylabyrinths of small, 2’ diameter tunnelsthat may stretch as far as a quartermile in any direction. Rooting prarieticks out of the ground is therefore verydifficult. The queen’s egg chamber ismuch larger than other chambers—often more than 20’ in diameter—andusually located near the center of thewarrens.

Within an egg chamber are as manyas 40 eggs and 20 or more prairie tickhatchlings, depending on howsuccessful the drones have been insecuring blood. A queen’s reproductivecycle depends entirely on the amountof blood she receives.

The hatchlings often ride on thequeen’s body, massed on her thorax anddistended abdomen. When threatened,the queen directs the tiny arachnids—each the size of a good-sized tarantula—to swarm the nearest warm body. Afterall, she can always spawn more shouldthe “babies” be killed!

A hatchling can crawl down avictim’s mouth and feed, just like a full-grown tick, but each hatchling only

drains 1 Wind per hour. An individualhatchling can only drain 25 Wind beforeit is sated, so a number of the buggershave to get down a cowpoke’s craw tobleed him dry.

Once full, the hatchling is driven bythe same compulsion to return to thenest to feed the queen. However,hatchlings lack the strength to burstout of host like a full-grown tick.Instead, they must crawl back up thethroat (or in the other direction, ifyou’re feeling really sadistic, Marshal).This is an extremely painful processthat takes 2d4 rounds and does 1d6damage to the host’s guts every rounduntil the swollen bug gets free.

Castor oil treatment, as described inthe Marshal’s Handbook, is just aseffective against hatchlings.

Profile:Prairie Tick Queen

Corporeal: D:2d8, N:4d10, Q:3d8, S:2d10,V:4d12

Fightin’: brawlin’ 4d10Mental: C:3d8, K:1d6, M:2d10, Sm:1d6,

Sp:1d8Pace: 6Size: 4Wind: —Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Armor: 2Damage: Hooks (STR+1d4). With a

raise on her fightin’: brawlin’attack, the queen also bites hervictim, draining blood for (STR)brawling damage.

Hive Mind: The queen cancommunicate with all prairie ticksin the nest out to a range of 100yards. This allows here tocoordinate the nest’s defensiveefforts and ambushes of nearbyprey.

Description: The queen resembles adog-sized prairie tick, with anelongated and swollen abdomen. Anovipositor extends from the lowerrear portion of her abdomen. Hermouth parts are larger and are ableto penetrate skin, unlike those ofdrone ticks. A small horde ofhatchlings often cling to her body asshe moves around the egg chamberdepositing her pasty, grub-like eggs.

Horrors 39

Profile: Tick HatchlingsCorporeal: D:1d8, N:2d12, Q:2d10, S:1d4–2,

V:2d6Fightin’: brawlin’ 1d12, sneak 2d12Mental: C:1d6, K:1d4, M:2d4, Sm:1d4,

Sp:1d4Pace: 10Size: 1Wind: —Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Armor: –2Swarm: Prairie tick Hatchlings use

the swarm rules (see page 31)when attacking. Every 6 hatchlingsdo 1d6 damage. Every raise on theswarm’s fightin’ roll means one ofthe little buggers has scuttleddown the target’s throat, unlessthe hero took precautions againstthis sort of thing.

Description: Hatchlings are miniatureprairie ticks about the size of a lady’spalm when their legs are fullyextended. They are a paler shade ofred, almost pinkish in hue.

TerrantulasThaddeus’ assessment of these

voracious little arachnids is fairlycorrect. They do prey on anything theycan get their mandibles over. Whensmall, the monsters do use swarmtactics to overwhelm larger prey. And,as he suspected, they do prey uponeach other.

What Thaddeus didn’t know was thatthere is no upper limit to thesemonsters’ growth. Left unchecked, thestrongest in the group can reach thesize of a horse—or even much larger!Below are three different versions ofthis abomination—small, large, andgargantuan.

Profile: Small TerrantulaCorporeal: D:1d4, N:2d10, Q:2d8, S:1d4–2,

V:1d4Climbin’ 2d10, fightin’: brawlin’ 1d10Mental: C:1d4, K:1d4, M:1d4, Sm:1d4, Sp:1d4Pace: 10Size: 1Wind: 8Terror: 5 (when swarming, none

otherwise)

Special Abilities:Poison: Fair (5) TN. Success indicates

the victim shakes off the effects;failure means he’s paralyzed for1d6 hours. A small terrantula’spoison is only effective whenadministered by a swarm; a singlebite is painful, but nothing more.Only make the Vigor check if aswarm damages the hero.

Swarm: A terrantula swarm does1d4 for every 20 in the spiderhorde.

Description: Terrantulas resemblenormal tarantulas in all respectsexcept for a skull-shaped marking onthe backs of their abdomens. Theytravel in hordes of up to 500, literallyobscuring the ground with theirrustling numbers.

40 Marshal

Profile: Large TerrantulaCorporeal: D:1d4, N:2d12, Q:2d10, S:3d8,



Sp:2d6Pace: 10Size: 6Wind: 12Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Ambush: Terrantulas of this size digtrapdoor-covered holes near trails,allowing them to surprise preyeasily. An Incredible (11) Cognitionroll spots the trapdoors.

Damage: Bite (STR+Poison)Poison: Hard (9) TN. On a success,

the hero takes an additional 1d6 tothe location. If she fails the roll,she takes 2d6 to the affectedlocation and guts for a number ofrounds equal to the amount bywhich she missed the TN.

Spring: Large terrantulas can springup to 20’, gaining a +2 bonus totheir first fightin’ attack.

Description: These monsters areabout 4’ tall and 8’ across from thetip of one leg to that of the opposite.Other than that, they look exactlylike smaller terrantulas. Thesespiders hunt in groups of 5-10,although a few are solitary.

Profile: GargantuanTerrantula

Corporeal: D:1d4, N:3d12+2, Q:2d12+4,S:5d12+8, V:3d12

Fightin’: brawlin’ 5d12+2Mental: C:2d8, K:2d6, M:2d8, Sm:2d6,


Ambush: As above.Damage: Bite (STR+poison)Poison: Incredible (11) TN. On a

success, the hero takes 4d6 to theguts. Failure means death in 1d6rounds, during which time thehero lies in a twitching mass onthe ground. An Incredible (11)medicine roll prevents death, butthe hero is still incapacitated for anumber of days equal to theamount by which he missed theroll.

Description: A terrantula of this sizeis about 20’ tall and 40’ across; this isabout as big as the monstersrealistically get. It otherwise looksexactly like smaller terrantulas. Anymonster that reaches this size huntsalone. It is too large to move morethan a short distance unnoticed, so itspends most of its time in its spider-hole.

Horrors 41Beneath the

WavesSo much for Thaddeus’ dry land

explorations. Lets move on to wetterenvirons now, shall we?

You might be thinking thesecreatures are out of place in a westernroleplaying game. Not so. Just becausemost Deadlands campaigns are playedin a Western setting that doesn’t meanyour heroes won’t find themselves in aboat at one time or another. The GreatMaze, the Mississippi, the Missouri, andeven the Great Lakes or Gulf Coast arepossible spots for a posse to encountersome of the following horrors.

One look at these monsters shouldlet a knowledgeable hero know they’reundoubtedly creatures of theReckoning. However, since most folks inthe Weird West could write one, maybetwo sentences with what they knowabout marine life, a fast-talking Rangermight be able to bluff his way throughan explanation about their origins.

We’ve stuck with those abominationslikely to be found in coastal areas or ininland waters. If your campaign takesthe heroes to the high seas, you’re onyour own, Marshal, but hopefully thesemonsters will give you some ideas.

In addition to the abominationspresented in this section, there are afew others scattered throughout thebook. Bloats (page 45), were-sharks(page 88), and marine animals (pages89) are all found in or near water.

Giantsof the Deep

Before we get to the creaturesThaddeus described, let’s talk aboutsome slightly more mundane critters.Sometimes the only thing you have todo to make a creature truly terrifying ismake it BIG. That’s the case with thesenext few monsters.

Of course, regular crocodiles, octopiand sharks are bad enough already.

Although primarily saltwater animals,giant crocs can survive just fine in freshwater. These critters can survive evenfreezing temperatures and can swimvery long distances. They might be

encountered along any coastal area inthe Weird West. Crocodiles can produce aloud bellowing roar, unlike ‘gators.

Giant octopi are only encountered onthe west coast, especially in theoceanward fringes of the Great Mazeand along the western coast of Mexico.The tend to lair up in caves andmenace the local fisherman.

Giant sharks can be found whereveryou want them to be found. After all,who’s going to tell a 36’ foot sharkwhere to swim?

Profile: GiantSaltwater Crocodile

Corporeal: D:1d4, N:3d8, Q:4d8, S:4d12+4,V:3d12

Fightin’: brawlin’ 3d8, sneak 2d8Mental: C:2d6, K:1d4, M:2d8, Sm:2d6,

Sp:1d8Overawe 4d8 (roar)Pace: 8 (on land)/14 (swimming)Size: 14Wind: 20Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Armor: 2Damage: Bite (STR+2d10). Once a

croc gets a chunk of a victim, itcan lock its jaws, doing (STR)damage on each of its ActionCards. The victim can break free bywinning an opposed test ofStrength, however the croc gets anadditional +2 to that roll.

Death Roll: After it has locked itsjaws, the croc can try to “deathroll” its victim. This is an opposedtest of its Strength vs. the victim’sfightin’: brawlin’. If it succeeds, thedifference is read as Wind loss tothe victim and the victim alsotakes (STR) damage from the jawsas well. The croc can make noother attack while performing adeath roll.

Tail: Opposed STR roll. If the gatorwins, the target is knocked off herfeet and stunned. The victim mustmake a Fair (5) Vigor roll to recover.

42 Marshal

This attack can only be usedagainst victims to the critter’s rear.

Description: A REALLY big crocodile,up to 30’ long in fact, with jaws thatcan crush small water craft intomatchsticks..

Profile: Giant OctopusCorporeal: D:3d8, N:4d10, Q:3d12,

S:2d12+4, V:4d12+6Fightin’: brawlin’ 4d8Mental: C:2d6, K:1d4, M:1d8, Sm:1d6,


Damage: Tentacle (STR), brawlingdamage. A giant octopus canattack up to eight differentopponents on each Action Card.Only opponents Size 10 or greatercan be attacked by more than onetentacle at once. The octopus canalso bite with its central beak(STR+2d6), but it usually only doesso once a victim is incapacitated.

Ink Jet: If seriously threatened, theoctopus can spray a cloud of inkyfluid into the water to cover itsescape. This covers an area nearly50 yards in diameter andcompletely obscures all vision. Thistakes an Action Card to perform.

Squeeze: If the octopus gets a raiseon its fightin’ attack, it wrapsaround its victim and automaticallydoes STR brawling damage oneach of its subsequent ActionCards. The victim can break free bywinning an opposed test ofStrength or maiming the tentacle.

Swimming: Pace 12. The octopus canalso expel a jet of water, giving it aPace 30 for 1d4 rounds.

Description: Giant octopuses havelarge, bulbous heads about 10’ indiameter and eight, tentacles eachup to 20’ or more in length. They aremost often a mottled brown or gray

in color, but are capable of limitedchameleon-like color changes.

Profile: Giant SharkCorporeal: D:1d4, N:2d8, Q:4d8, S:5d12+6,

V:4d12+4Fightin’: brawlin’ 4d8, sneak 3d8Mental: C:3d6, K:1d6, M:1d10, Sm:1d6,

Sp:2d6Trackin’ 5d6 (scent of blood only)Pace: 24 (swimming)Size: 17 (up to 40’ long)Wind: 24Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Armor: 2Damage: Bite (STR+2d12)Sharkskin Hide: Any cowpoke who

brushes bare skin against a giantshark’s rough hide takes 1d4 Wind.

Description: A really big shark (35’+long) with a really big mouth (6’+across) filled with a lot of really bigteeth (6”+ long).

BlobThese formless glops of acidic

protoplasm live in both fresh andsaltwater. Because of their relativelyfragile bodies, blobs favor marshes,ponds, lagoons, and other calm waters.

Hunting for a blob consists of driftingaround its pool hoping to drift into ameal. Only rarely do these creaturesactively seek out prey. Normally, blobsfloat just below the surface in as a large,fairly flat mass about 20’ across and 2’thick. However, if prey contacts them—“prey” being anything organic, even awooden boat hull—the monster contractsquickly around it.

Blobs are virtually invisible, makingthem very difficult to detect beneath thesurface of the water. Their acidic bodiesquickly eat through just about anything,up to and including thick boat timbers.

Profile: BlobCorporeal: D:1d4, N:3d6, Q:3d10, S:2d6,


Sp:1d4Search 1d4Pace: 1

Horrors 43

Size: 6 (see below)Wind: —Terror: 7Special Abilities:

Damage: Pseudopod (2d10). Theblob’s only attack is to smack at anopponent with an acid-coveredpseudopod. If the blob hits, theacid continues to burn at thebeginning of subsequent roundsunless washed off with alcohol. Itreduces its damage by a die typeeach round until no furtherdamage is caused. The acid alsodestroys one level of armor foreach round it burns in thatlocation.

Envelop: If a blob gets a raise on afightin’ roll, it envelops its prey (upto its Size). The prey then takes1d10 to each of its hit locations atthe beginning of every roundthereafter. The acid also eatsthrough one level of armor perround of envelopment. The onlyway to escape is to kill the blob.

Growth: For every 6 levels of Sizethe creature devours, it grows onelevel of Size itself. This additionalmass remains for 1 week per leveladded.

Immunity—Normal Damage:Normal weapons and attacks passthrough the monster withoutcausing lasting damage. Magic andfire affect it fully.

Swimming: Pace 6Weakness—Fire: Fire does 3d6

damage to a blob. The creaturerecoils from flame, but isn’t reallysmart enough to run away; insteadit tries to find a way around thefire.

Description: The blob is virtuallyshapeless, although it often assumesa large pancake shape, bothunderwater and on land. It isvirtually invisible in water, somewhatresembling a mass of fish eggsfloating just beneath the surface.Occasionally, the gory remains of itsvictims may be seen within its form.

Devil RayThe tall tales are true—these large

rays can fly for short distances. Theyalso have a predilection for human

flesh (what doesn’t, anymore?).Devil rays can leave the water and

soar for up to 75’ at heights of nearly 20’.This is more than enough to let themswoop across the decks of smallervessels and snatch unsuspecting crewfrom the deck. Devil rays are nocturnal,and their dark coloration makes themnearly invisible after nightfall.

A devil ray envelops its prey in itslarge wing like fins and gnaws away atexposed flesh and easily accessibleorgans. This technique prevents a devilray from flying once it’s snatched ameal. The creature lacks the jawstrength to effectively gnaw throughbone, so the brain, eyes, lungs, andheart are left with the skeleton formore determined scavengers.

Devil rays are found only in saltwaterand travel in schools of 10-20. A largegroup of them are capable of strippinga small vessel’s crew without a trace,leaving a ghost ship.

Profile: Devil RayCorporeal: D:1d6, N:3d10, Q:2d6, S:3d10,

V:3d6Dodge 2d10, fightin’: brawlin’ 4d10,


Sp:2d4Pace: 24 (swimming)Size: 11Wind: 10Terror: 5Special Abilities:

Damage: Bite (STR+1d6). The devilray also has a tail spike (STR+1d4),but this can only be used againstopponents to its rear.

Envelop: If the devil ray gets a raiseon its fightin’ roll, it has envelopedits opponent (up to Size 8) in its“wings”. It does its bite damageautomatically on each of itssubsequent Action Cards. Thevictim can break free by winningan opposed test of her Strength orNimbleness against theabomination’s Strength.

44 Marshal

Gliding: Pace 24. The devil ray mustmove its full swimming Pace in afairly straight line for one round inorder to glide. The devil ray canonly glide for a single round at atime.

Swoop: If the devil ray makes agliding attack on its victim, on asuccessful fightin’ roll, it does(STR) brawling damage in additionto its bite.

Description: Devil rays are 15’ widemanta rays with a bony tail spike.The creatures have pitch-black skin,small black eyes on their leadingedge, and a mouth on theirunderside. Two small, knobbyprojections jut from above their eyes,giving the impression of horns.

HellfishThis abomination is a huge jellyfish,

similar to a Portuguese man o’ war. Thehellfish, however, is far larger, withtentacles that often extend up to 100’,and has more control over them than a

simple jellyfish. A hellfish can actuallymanipulate its tentacles to a limiteddegree above water.

One of the most horrifying sights asea-going hero can see is a hellfishthat has recently caught a humanvictim. The body is pulled into themonster’s semi-transparent upper bodywhere it slowly dissolves in thecreature’s digestive fluids. Unfortunately,the details of the process are all tooevident to an outside observer; add a –2modifier to any guts rolls for sighting ahellfish feeding in this manner.

Hellfish are also much smarter thana normal man o’ war—although that’sprobably not saying a lot. Thesemonsters are found only in saltwater.

Profile: HellfishCorporeal: D:2d6, N:1d8, Q:2d8, S:2d6,

V:2d6Fightin’: brawlin’ 3d10Mental: C:1d4, K:2d4, M:2d4, Sm:1d6,

Sp:2d4Pace: 6 (swimming only)Size: 6Wind: —Terror: 7Special Abilities:

Damage: Tentacle lash(STR+1d4+poison). The hellfish canonly make one tentacle attack perAction card, but it can strike atopponents up to 100’ away.Weapons provide no defensivebonus versus this lash.

Immunity—Normal Damage:Because of the hellfish’s oddbiology, no normal attack cancause more than a single woundat a time, regardless of thedamage it inflicts.

Poison: Hard (9) TN. Success meansthe victim takes 2d6 Wind andsuffers a –2 to all Trait andAptitude checks for 1d6 days.Failure results in death in 1d6minutes! Short of a magical cure,there is no known antidote for ahellfish’s poison.

Weakness—Heat: All heat-basedattacks do an extra 2d6 damageand can cause the hellfish multiplewounds.

Description: These creatures look likereddish man o’ wars nearly 5’ tall.

Horrors 45

They have a bulbous, nearlytransparent upper body with acrested ridge, and translucenttentacles over 100’ long that danglebeneath them in the water. Dead fishand other sealife are often trapped inthese tentacles waiting to be pulledinto the upper body for digestion.

MudsuckersThese dark brown or black bottom

dwellers are sometimes mistaken forgargantuan salamanders or hellbenders.Actually, mudsuckers are 6’ or largerleeches that lurk underneath outcrops,submerged trees, or buried in bottommud.

Mudsuckers grab large fish, dogs,small deer, and even humans that cometoo close to the waters they frequent.Although the initial attack does causesome damage to the victim, themudsucker most often drags the bodyto an underwater lair. This chamberserves as the monster’s larder and,while damp and muddy, is filled withair—often connected to the surfacethrough a tiny tunnel or snorkel.

The creature slowly feeds on itscaptives, continually restocking itssupply as others die from blood loss.

Mudsuckers are only found infreshwater. They prefer swamps andmarshes, but may lair in a slow movingriver or pond. They are fairly territorialcreatures, but a mated pair may share ahunting area.

Profile: MudsuckersCorporeal: D:1d4, N:2d8, Q:3d6, S:3d10,


Sp:2d4Pace: 2 (on land)Size: 7Wind: 12Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Damage: Bite (STR+1d6+poison).Once the mudsucker bites avictim, it holds on and does 1d6Wind each round. It continues todrain blood until the victim breaksfree by winning an opposedStrength roll, or it drains 30 Wind.

Poison: Onerous (7) TN. A victimfailing the Vigor roll is paralyzedfor 1d6 minutes.

Swimming: Pace 10Description: A mudsucker looks like

a 6’ long, 3’ wide slug without theantennae. A closer look reveals faintstriations on its body and a circular,fang-filled mouth. The creature’s eyesare on its underside, just above itsmouth.

NibblersNibblers are indeed a form of

piranha, as Thaddeus suspects. Due tothe influence of the Reckoning, theseferocious little biters can live in eitherfresh or salt water, and freely travelbetween the two.

They normally travel in schools of300 or more, and waters infested withthem may contain literally thousands ofthe creatures. Any creature enteringsuch waters is likely to survive only afew moments before being strippedbare! In sufficient numbers, these tinyabominations are even capable ofgnawing through boat hulls, to get tothe “tasty filling” inside.

Profile: NibblersCorporeal: D:1d4, N:2d8, Q:2d10, S:1d4–2,

V:2d4Fightin’: brawlin’ 2d6Mental: C:1d6, K:1d4, M:1d4, Sm:1d4, Sp:1d4Pace: 18 (swimming)Size: 1Wind: 8Terror: 5Special Abilities:

Swarm: Every group of 10 nibblers ina feeding school does 1d6 damage.

Description: These fish resemble theirlarger, South American cousins, thepiranha. They are about 3” to 4” inlength and fairly narrow. Their scalesare a blood red color and theirmouths have large, jutting, lowerjaws filled with needle-like fangs.

46 Marshal

Sand ViperThe sand viper is really a large,

saltwater mollusk that buries itself insand just offshore. It has a 3’ long,spear-like appendage that it uses toinject a powerful paralytic toxin into avictim. Once paralyzed, the sand viperuses the same organ to drain thevictim’s vital fluids, leaving a nearlycompletely desiccated corpse.

Sand vipers are usually found inlarge colonies of 20 or more. Once anarea becomes alerted to the colony’s

presence, it moves to another siteelsewhere along the coast.

Sand viper victims may be mistakenfor those of vampires or other, blood-drinking abominations. Due to thenature of the sand viper’s attack,witnesses may not even be able to tellwhat killed a victim.

Profile: Sand ViperCorporeal: D:1d4, N:2d6, Q:2d10, S:4d6,



Armor: 2Burrowing: Sand viper can move

through sand at their normal Paceof 2.

Damage: Sting (STR+1d6+Poison)Drain Fluids: A sand viper can

drain 1d6 Wind per Action Cardfrom a paralyzed victim.

Poison: Hard (9) TN. Failure meansthe victim is paralyzed for anumber of minutes equal to theamount by which she missed theroll.

Swimming: Pace 6Description: A sand viper looks like a

3’ long greenish-black conch. A long,spike projects from the narrow endof the shell when it’s attacking, andsmall tentacles emerge from thecrown to pull the abominationthrough the sand.

MissedOpportunities

Thaddeus was made the mostmistakes in this section. The scientifictemperament doesn’t exactly deal wellwith folklore, one might suspect.

The dust devil, jackalope, and Mazedragon are all detailed in the Marshal’sHandbook. See below for the real storybehind sirens and feel free to use thegiant octopus in this book (page 43) orthe river leviathan from the first

Horrors 47

Rascals, Varmints, & Critters for thekraken. As to the rest, they’re nothingbut tall tales told to take advantage ofThaddeus’ obvious enthusiasm.

SirensThere is a far more terrifying

explanation behind the sirens thanThaddeus suspects. Witnesses haveseen only a small part of an actualsiren. In reality, it is an enormous,carnivorous fish that has a unique“lure” that it uses to attract humans toit. Similar to an angler fish, the sirendangles its lure—in this case another“human”—near its mouth to draw itsprey close enough to capture.

The lure itself is a human corpsethat the abomination controls by way ofa long appendage inserted into thebase of the skull. The siren’sattachment prevents the corpse fromdecaying and allows it some simplemuscular control. This appendage, a 4”thick tendril, is usually only visiblefrom behind the lure. The creature can’tproduce intelligible sounds through thecorpse’s vocal cords and is limited toscreams, wordless shouts or tonalsongs.

The monsters use their lures toambush unsuspecting swimmers, drawboats into dangerous waters, or evencoax a lone longshoreman near theedge of a pier.

Sirens are only found in saltwaterbodies and are becoming more commonin the Great Maze.

Profile: SirensCorporeal: D:2d6, N:3d8, Q:4d8, S:4d10,


Sp:2d6Performin’: lure 4d6Pace: 20 (swimming)Size: 17Wind: 16Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Damage: Bite (STR+2d8).Lure: In addition to bait, the siren

can use the lure for limitedcombat. Treat the lure as a walkin’dead with focus—appendage, but

no Aptitudes other than thosepossessed by the siren. The lurehas no Mental Traits, instead usingthe siren’s values for these as well.Sirens seldom use lures for thispurpose, for fear of damaging avaluable tool.

Description: The siren is a large, dullgreen fish, nearly 25’ long, with awide body and oversized, fang-filledmouth. The lure normally danglesabout 5’ in front of the monster’smouth, but the appendage canextend up to 15’ when in use.

The UnquietDead

Next in our bestiary we come to dealwith the writings of Dr. Sutherland andhis monograph on the undead. Thegood doctor assesses the mechanics ofundeath pretty well. But as withThaddeus, his lack of occult knowledgeworks against him.

In any case, his paper in no wayhints about the particulars of thereanimants in the following pages.These are the types of undead that canliterally reach out and touch theirvictims. Fortunately, for posses ofmonster-hunting cowpokes, they’re alsothe kind of undead you can plug withyour trusty six-shooter.

Well, most of the time, anyway.Zombies are a staple for most

Deadlands campaigns, and why not?Everybody likes zombies after all.

However, after a while, your possemight get a little tired of the same oldwalkin’ dead. With that in mind, we’vethrown together a funeral wagon fullof different sorts of zombies to keepthem jumping.

In the interests of fairness to othersorts of reanimated corpses, we’ve alsoincluded a few non-zombie undead inhere as well, like skeletons andmummies. After all, what’s a little deadflesh between friends— more or less?

48 Marshal

BloatsA cowpoke isn’t even safe from the

walkin’ dead out on the water. Bloats arewaterlogged walkin’ dead, perfect formenacing those heroes with a nauticalbent.

To become a bloat, a zombie has tohave been submerged at the time it wasreanimated and remained submerged forat least a few months. As a result, theseabominations are usually onlyencountered near large bodies of water,such as the Great Maze or a major river.

Over time, the water reacts with thecorpse’s tissues, turning most of it into awaxy substance that has a nearlyoverpowering stench to it. The fleshbecomes pale and distended, hence thename ‘bloat’.

The gooey nature of the bloat’s bodymakes it resistant to punctures andpiercing weapons, allowing them topass through with little damage. Otherweapons or types of damage affect itnormally. Alcohol of any sort affects thecreature’s flesh like acid, however.

Profile: BloatsCorporeal: D:1d4, N:2d8, S:3d8, Q:2d10,

V:2d8Fightin’: brawlin’ 4d6, swimmin’ 4d6Mental: C:2d8, K:1d6, M:1d6, Sm:1d6,


Damage: Bite (STR); a bloat’s handsare too swollen to use as claws,although it may use them to batteran opponent for brawlin’ damage.

FearlessImmunity: Most guns and piercing

weapons only do half damage;shotguns do full damage. Alcoholdoes 2d10 to any location hit by theliquid. The damage continues atthe beginning of each round, but isreduced by a die type each time.Once the damage is reduced toless than 2d4, it ends.

Stench: Any human within 10 feet ofa bloat must make an Onerous (7)Vigor check to avoid beingsickened by the odor. Those whofail loose 1d6 Wind and are at –2 toall rolls for the encounter.Characters only have to make thisroll once per encounter.

Undead: Focus—Head.Weapons: A bloat’s fingers are

usually too swollen to manipulatea trigger, but they may have othersimpler weapons if available.

Description: The corpse is grosslyswollen and distended. Its flesh is ofa consistency similar to soap-sludgeand has a glistening, pale whitesheen. The eyes appear as tiny blackmarbles in its bloated face.

DesiccatedDead

Usually manitous try to pick corpsesthat are fairly fresh. They pack a betterpunch and tend to hold up a littlebetter in a fight. However, evil spiritsfrom another dimension can’t alwaysbe choosers, so sometimes they have tomake due with bodies that have beenout in the sun a while.

Horrors 49

Desiccated dead are created frombodies that have dried up anddecomposed to the point there is littleleft to them but a leathery skin over askeleton. Cowpokes who’ve beenbleaching in the desert and bodies fromIndian above ground burial sites all fallinto this category when reanimated bya manitou.

These walkin’ dead are a littleflimsier than the standard variety. Theirdried-out bodies are also moresusceptible to fire damage. One well-placed torch can start up a zombiebarbecue quite easily.

However, there are some advantagesto these lightweight zombies. The skin-and-bones bodies are quicker and morenimble than the usual dead, which maygive zombie hunters a nasty surprise.And, although their original ownersmay not have been familiar withmodern weaponry, the new residents ofthe corpses are quite capable of usingfirearms.

Feel free to use this type of walkin’dead for mummies from Southwesternor Mexican Indian tombs. Thedesiccated dead are also representativelesser mummies from Egyptian tombs,Marshal—servants buried with the headhoncho. If you’ve found a way to usethose in an adventure, desiccated deadcan be handy. See page 53 for a morepowerful form of mummy to throw atyour heroes.

Profile:Desiccated Dead


Climbin’ 1d10, dodge 2d10, fightin’:brawlin’ 3d10, shootin’: rifle, pistol,shotgun 2d6, sneak 3d10, swimmin’1d10



Damage: Bony claws (STR+1d4), bite(STR).

FearlessGear: Some desiccated dead may

carry weapons, either those they

were buried with or those takenfrom their victims. If one of thesezombies has a primitive weapon(perhaps a spear it was buriedwith), assume it has theappropriate fightin’ concentrationto use it as well.

Undead: Focus—Head.Weakness—Fire: Desiccated dead

are flammable; any fire-attack thatdoes even one wound level tothem causes them to catch fireand burn for an additional 1d6damage per round in the affectedlocations. However, the firebughero now has to fight a flamingzombie, at least until it crumblesto ashes; the creature does anadditional 1d6 damage onsuccessful hand-to-hand attacks—which may set the victim on fireas well!

Description: The skin of thesezombies is dried and brown,stretched tightly over their skeletons.Tiny, blackened eyes sit loosely intheir sockets and their lips havedrawn back revealing a mouth oftenbereft of teeth.

FeralWalkin’ Dead

Feral walkin’ dead are created by aweak or watered-down version ofBaron LaCroix’s reanimation fluid.These are similar to the abominationsspawned in Nagodoches, Texas, afterone of LaCroix’s trains derailed nearby.

Feral dead are faster than the morecommonly encountered walkin’ dead.Their hunger for human brains isnearly all-consuming and, oncearoused, becomes the zombies’ soleconcern.

Although not as intelligent as otherforms of walkin’ dead, feral dead arefrightfully cunning in laying ambushes.However, unlike regular walkin’ dead,feral dead are unable to use firearms orother weapons.

50 Marshal

Profile: Feral DeadCorporeal: D:2d6, N:2d8, Q:3d10, S:2d10,

V:2d8Fightin’: brawlin’ 4d8, sneak 5d8,

swimmin’ 2d8Mental: C:2d10, K:1d6, M:1d6, Sm:1d4,


Damage: Bite (STR), claws (STR+1d4)Bushwhack: These zombies are

cunning, hiding in places wherethey’re least expected—like a barrelfull of rainwater. Regardless oftheir victims’ preparations, the TNfor the Cognition roll to avoidsurprise by one of these monstersis at –4.

Hunger: Once one of these zombiesdowns a victim, it must make anOnerous (7) Smarts roll to keepfrom stopping whatever else it wasdoing and chowing down on theunfortunate sap.

Undead. Focus—Head.Description: Feral walkin’ dead

appear much the same as the moregarden-variety walkin’ dead. Theirbodies may exhibit moredecomposition or damage than thoseof their more intelligent cousins.

Frozen DeadSometimes the temperature in the

northern plains or high mountainpasses drops low enough to freeze abody solid. When a manitou decides towreak a little havoc with a corpsethat’s been out in freezing weather likethat, the end result is a walkin’ deadwith ice in its veins—literally.

The frozen dead are reanimatedcorpsicles—bodies frozen solid byincredible cold. They’re only createdwhen the air temperature is below –30°Fahrenheit. While their chilled bodiesare a little slower and clumsier than

those of room-temperature zombies,they make up for that in other ways.

Note that it’s not necessary for theoriginal body to have actually frozen todeath to make one of these icyrevenants. Any sort of corpse canbecome a frozen dead under the rightcircumstances. That’s enough to makea fellow think twice about storingdeparted loved ones in the tool sheduntil spring!

On last thing; the high water contentof the frozen dead keeps them fromsinking more than a few inches belowthe surface of water. They don’t swimas such. It’s more of a controlled float.A common tactic for theseabominations is to float along a half-frozen river like so many undeadicebergs and snatch unsuspectingvictims from the river banks.

Profile: Frozen DeadCorporeal: D:2d6, N:2d6, Q:2d6, S:3d10,

V:2d10Climbin’ 1d6, dodge 2d6, fightin’:

brawlin’ 3d6, shootin’: pistol, rifle,shotgun 2d6, sneak 3d6


Overawe 5d6Pace: 6Size: 6Wind: 14Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Armor: Light armor –4. The zombie’sfrozen flesh is hard and resilient.

Damage: Icy claw (STR+1d6) or bite(STR). Note that a frozen dead canuse only one of these attacks onan action—not both.

FearlessGear: Like regular walkin’ dead,

frozen dead may carry weaponsthey’ve taken from their victims:firearms, clubs, axes, and so forth.

Immunity—Fire: Frozen dead takehalf damage from fire and fire-based attacks due to their iced-upbodies.

Undead: Focus—Head.Description: Frozen dead have a pale

or even bluish cast to their flesh.Although their eyes move freely, thezombie’s faces are locked into asingle expression—that of their death

Horrors 51

mask. A palpable air of cold followsthe frozen dead, and icicles,sometimes “blood-cicles,” may hangfrom their bodies.

Orphaned HeadsOccasionally, a manitou gets a

stubborn streak and refuses to let go ofa ruined walkin’ dead. As long as theoriginal head remains intact, the spiritcontinues to keep house in it—evenwhen it’s nothing but a severed head.

Manitous can tap a great deal ofenergy from the Hunting Grounds—more than enough, in fact, to graft ahead to another body. All the spiritneeds is a corpse, preferably onewithout a head, but the manitou ismore than willing to make exceptions.

When attached to a body, anorphaned head has a profile identical tothat of a veteran walkin’ dead (see theMarshal’s Handbook), but substitute thehead’s Mental Traits and Aptitudes.Simultaneously, it also can animate andcontrol any corpse to which it hadpreviously been grafted. If you hadn’tguessed, Marshal, these other corpsesare now headless, but that doesn’tseem to cause them much difficulty ingetting around.

Orphaned heads concentrate theirefforts on obtaining more corpses towhich to graft themselves—thus alsoincreasing the number of headlesscorpses they control. A communityplagued by an orphaned head usuallyfinds a number of severed heads leftover from the abomination’s activities.A head that’s had a good deal of timeto operate can amass a large numberof headless “drones” and become arather formidable opponent.

An orphaned head with no body is indire straits. It’s relatively easy pickingsfor any cowpoke that happens upon itin the open.

Orphaned heads don’t have theeasiest time of it when it comes togetting around. Most of the time, thehead is forced to roll along the ground—a dizzying experience for anythingother than the undead. However, thisrough and tumble method of traveldoesn’t cause the head any harm andthey can build up a good deal of speedon a downhill.

The abominations do haveextraordinarily long tongues, though—3’long or more! They can use these toopen door knobs, drag themselvesstealthily along the floor, or evenstrangle a victim. This tongue is whatgives the orphaned head a DeftnessTrait by the way.

Strangulation is the head’s bestmethod for obtaining its first body. Itcreeps up on a sleeping or unconsciousvictim, strangles them, and then beginsthe gory process of gnawing throughthe neck to make room for itself.

Profile: Orphaned HeadCorporeal: D:1d6, N:2d6, Q:3d10, S:2d10,


brawlin’ 4d6, sneak 3d6Mental: C:2d10, K:2d6, M:2d8, Sm:2d8,

Sp:2d10Overawe 5d8, ridicule 3d8, search 3d10Pace: 6 (rolling)/2 (tongue drag-sneak)Size: 2Wind: 18

52 Marshal

Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Damage: Bite (STR). Unless theorphaned head is on a platform orits opponent is prone, its bite islimited to the legs.

FearlessStrangle: If the head gets a raise on

a fightin’: brawlin’ roll, its tonguehas wrapped around the victim’sthroat. On each of its Action Cards,the victim must roll an opposedtest of her Vigor vs. the head’sStrength. If she fails, she takes thedifference as Wind. On each of herAction Cards, she can try to breakfree by winning an opposed test ofStrength. The orphaned head canonly use this against a pronevictim (or if it has another way ofplacing itself at its victim’s headlevel).

Toughness: The head, although Size2, takes wounds as though it wereSize 6.

Undead: Focus—head (duh!).Description: A severed head that has

the bad manners to still be movingaround. Once grafted, the head looksmuch like any walkin’ dead, althoughits own skin and that of its new bodymay be mismatched. While anorphaned head can ad does graft toa body of the opposite sex, it usuallyonly does so for long enough to gaincontrol of it.

Profile:Headless Dead


Shootin’: pistol, rifle, shotgun 2d6,climbin’ 1d8, dodge 2d8, fightin’: axe,brawlin’, knife 3d8, sneak 3d8,swimmin’ 1d8


Search 3d10Pace: 8Size: 6Wind: 18

Terror: 11Special Abilities:

FearlessGear: Headless dead carry weapons

they’ve scrounged from theirvictims or own homes. Firearmsare common, but due to the head’slust for more bodies, each one alsocarries an axe, knife, or otherbladed weapon—for obviousreasons.

Unnatural Senses: Although theyhave no sensory organs, they arestill able to detect and react totheir environment as if they did.However, they are immune to allsensory-based attacks (bedazzle,voice o’ the damned, illusions, etc.).

Undead: Focus—the orphaned head.As long as the orphaned headremains functional, the headlessdead cannot be permanently putdown.

Description: A walkin’ deadwithout anything north of theshoulders. Usually, the dead’snoggin was removed by an edgedweapon, but a rare few are chewedloose by the head itself.

Colony ‘GlomsColony ‘gloms share many

characteristics with normal ‘gloms.They are a mass of corpses joined intoa single entity and can add other deadbodies to their mass to grow morepowerful. These bodies must have beendead for at least 10 minutes to undergothe grafting process, but ‘gloms arepatient when it comes to “recruitment.”

While regular ‘gloms are inhabited bya single, very powerful manitou, colony‘gloms are host to a horde of lesser, butclosely allied, manitous—a groupsometimes called a “Legion.” Thisallows the colony ‘glom to separate intoindividual zombies and rejoin later intoa large mass, or to simply sprout off awalkin’ dead scout to enter places thelarger abomination can’t squeeze into.This dual nature makes can give themost experienced trackers conniptionfits! If it spawns an “offspring” walkin’dead, the independent zombieresembles a normal walkin’ dead in allrespects.

Horrors 53

The dispersed nature of the colony‘glom’s animating manitous makesthem difficult to put down. Everyzombie in the mass must be “killed” bydestroying its brain. If not, the Legionsoon begins “recruiting” other freshbodies into its mass. Obviously, this cancause problems if the colony spawnedan offspring before its demise.

Note that a colony ‘glom cannotreproduce itself—a spawned zombiecannot start a new colony unless theoriginal core is destroyed. Mercifully forthe heroes of the Weird West, thecohesiveness of the manitou Legionusually prevents that from occurring.

Like regular ‘gloms, colony ‘gloms areusually only found in areas where alarge number of fresh corpses areavailable and the Fear Level is fairlyhigh. A bad train wreck could spawnone if it occurred in an area with aFear Level 5 or greater.

Fortunately, these monsters are veryrare indeed in the Weird West. Theconditions necessary for their creationjust aren’t that common.

Profile: Colony ‘GlomsCorporeal: D:2d6, N:2d6, Q:3d8, S:2d8*,

V:2d8*Fightin’: brawlin’ 6d6, shootin’: pistol,

rifle, shotgun 3d6Mental: C:2d10, K:1d6, M:1d4, Sm:1d6,

Sp:1d4Overawe 5d4Pace: 6Size: 9+ (see below)Wind: 24+ (see below)Terror: 9+ (see below)Special Abilities:

Damage Resistance: The statsabove assume the colony ‘glom hasat least two bodies; ‘gloms withless than two are treated asnormal walkin’ dead. For everybody past the original two,increase the Size of theabomination by +3.

FearlessGear: ‘Gloms can wield guns or

other weapons if available.Increased Abilities: For every body

in the ‘glom above the original two,increase the monster’s Strengthand Vigor by a one step, to amaximum of d12+8. The creature

also gains +10 Wind for every bodypast the original two added.

Increased Terror Score: As ‘glomsincrease in mass they becomemore frightening as well. ‘Glomswith two to five component bodieshave a Terror 9, while those of sixor more have Terror 11.

Multiple Attacks: A ‘glom canmake one fightin’ or shootin’attack each action for every twobodies in its mass.

Offspring: Component bodies of acolony ‘glom can slough off andfunction as normal walkin’ dead inall respect. However, while thebody is detached, the ‘glom’s Size,Terror score, Traits, Wind andnumber of attacks are reducedappropriately.

Undead: Focus—Head. Unlike anormal ‘glom, each corpse in acolony glom is controlled by itsown manitou; each body’s headmust suffer a Maiming wound tokill it. As each component body iskilled, it sloughs off and the‘glom’s size and abilities arereduced as noted above. However,only when the last head isdestroyed is the monster down forgood. As long as one core bodyremains, it can regrow itself byadding more corpses.

Description: A colony ‘glom looksmuch like a regular glom: a mass ofbodies, some horribly disfigured,melded together. Arms, legs andother parts protrude from the massat random.

SkeletonsOn very rare occasions, manitous

may choose to reanimate bodies so oldthat nothing remains of them exceptbones. Evil black magicians alsosometimes create these abominationsas special servants.

Skeletons are a little less “aware” oftheir surroundings than other undead.The life has been gone from the bodies

54 Marshal

for so long, it hinders the animatingforce to a degree. On the other hand,skeletons are remarkably resistant tomodern firearms—bullets passharmlessly through their frameworkmost of the time.

Profile: SkeletonsCorporeal: D:3d6, N:2d8, Q:2d10, S:3d6,

V:4d6Climbin’ 3d8, fightin’: brawlin’, hand

weapon 2d8, sneak 2d8Mental: C:1d8, K:1d6, M:1d6, Sm:2d6,

Sp:1d4Overawe 4d6Pace: 8Size: 5Wind: 12Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Damage: Claw (STR+1d4), bite (STR)FearlessGear: Skeletons may employ hand-

to-hand weapons like swords,knives or spears—assume theabominations have the appropriatefightin’ concentration to use theweapon. For some reason,skeletons don’t use firearms.

Immunity: Bullets and otherpiercing weapons (spears, etc.). Thenature of the skeleton’s bodycauses these weapons to passharmless through most of its hitlocations. However, hits to thenoggin do normal damage.Skeletons never suffer bonusdamage for hits to the noggin orgizzards regardless of the weaponused.

Undead: Focus—Head.Description: Skeletons are, well,

skeletons. Their eye sockets areunnaturally dark, but beyond that—and the fact that they’re walkingaround—there’s little to distinguishthem from normal skeletons.Occasionally, they may have tatters ofancient clothing still clinging to theirbones.

MummiesMany cultures treated their dead

with great respect and prepared theirbodies so that they would better servetheir owners in the afterworld.Unfortunately, upon the Reckoners’escape, some of these began to serveagain in the world of the living.

Although mummification can resultfrom climatic conditions, reanimation ofthose corpses only produces desiccateddead. Also, lesser mummies—those ofservants and the like—are treated asdesiccated dead as well. Only a rare fewpowerful individuals arise as truemummies.

Aztec MummiesThe Aztec culture relied on two

methods to prepare their dead for theafterworld. The first, cremation, leftlittle to later reanimate and plagueancestors. However, during certainperiods of their history, the Aztecspracticed a form of mummification,particularly for those who wereconsider specially blessed or important.

Occasionally, one of thesemummies—usually that of a mightyking or priest—returns to the world ofthe living. These revenants usuallyinhabit ruins or other areas tied totheir past, and surround themselveswith items appropriate to their history.Abominations of this sort often attracttheir own cult of human followers aswell.

Aztec culture placed a great value onthe sacrifice of human hearts to theirgods. Mummies rely on the power ofthose sacrifices to continue theirexistence among the living. Everytwenty days, an Aztec mummy mustremove the heart from a living victim—which, of course, kills the victim. Itthen places the organ in its own chestcavity. The still beating heart thenpreserves the mummy’s undead statefor another twenty days. At the end ofthe period, the sacrifice must berepeated.

Some mummies of this sortpossess a small jade stone that protectsthem from nearly all forms of attack.These mummies carry the stoneunderneath their tongues.

Horrors 55

Unlike Egyptian mummies, those ofthe Aztec variety tend to be fairlynimble and quick.

Profile: Aztec MummyCorporeal: D:2d6, N:2d8, Q:3d8, S:3d12,

V:4d10Fightin’: brawlin’, macahuitl 4d8, sneak

3d6Mental: C:2d8, K:3d6, M:3d8, Sm:3d6,

Sp:3d10Academia: occult, Aztec culture and lore

3d6, faith 4d10, overawe 4d8Pace: 8Size: 6Wind: 20Terror: 11Special Abilities:

Black Magic: Aztec mummies haveaccess to the following blackmagic spells: animal mastery 1, pact5, stun 3, and zombie 3.

Damage: Macahuitl, an obsidian-bladed sword (STR+2d8)

FearlessImmunity: As long as a mummy has

its jade stone, it is immune to allwounds and Wind from damage-causing attacks, including those onits focus.

Undead: Focus—heart.Description: The appearance of an

Aztec mummy varies according tothe freshness of their hearts. With anew heart, the mummy is similar toa Harrowed—only detectable asundead with effort. As the heartweakens, the mummy’s skin beginsto dry and tighten until, on the lastday, it becomes little more than adried—up bag of walking bones.

Egyptian MummiesThis undead horror only arises from

the embalmed corpse of an ancientEgyptian high priest or sorcerer. Suchpersons were usually buried in well—appointed tombs—tombs that are justnow beginning to draw the interest ofarchaeologists and fortune hunters.After such a long rest, few Egyptianmummies take kindly to being disturbed.

These undead are normally buriedwith great riches and other, lessermummies for servants in theafterworld. A mummy hunts down any

who desecrate—or worse, rob!—Its tomb.Often the abomination is aided by itsformer servants; these take the form ofdesiccated dead zombies (see page 46).

Mummies are have had centuries toperfect their patience and alwayscarefully plot their revenge. Themastery of black magic (particularly

56 Marshal

illusion) allows them options notavailable to most undead.

A posse’s not too likely to run acrossone of these things roaming the desertoutside Tombstone, so an Egyptianmummy should be a truly rareencounter. However, enough individualsand organizations have an activeinterest in the occult (or just ancienttreasures) that somebody’s sure to drawthe ire of one at some point.

Profile: Egyptian MummyCorporeal: D:2d6, N:1d6, Q:2d6, S:2d12+4,

V:3d12+2Fightin’: brawlin’, wrasslin’ 4d6, sneak


Sp:2d12Academia: occult, history (Egypt) 4d6,

faith 4d12, overawe 5d10Pace: 4Size: 6Wind: 26Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Black Magic: Curse 2 (wastingdisease), illusion 4 (only to changeappearance to a normal person),stormcall 2 (driving sandstorm)

Choke: An Egyptian mummy canuse its enormous strength tothrottle an opponent. It must get araise on a fightin’: brawlin’ attack.If successful, the mummy makesan Opposed Strength roll againsthis victim’s Vigor. The victim losesWind equal to the difference if sheloses. When she reaches 0 Wind,the mummy begins to inflict STRdamage directly to her noggin!

Damage: A mummy uses itsenormous Strength to club itsopponents. Treat as brawlingdamage.

FearlessImmunity: An Egyptian mummy

takes only half damage from allattacks. Should a posse succeed indoing enough damage to actuallykill the creature, it rises again the

next night to pursue its victim.Even burning the corpse to asheswon’t prevent its return.

Undead: Focus—burial scroll. If amummy’s burial scroll is destroyed,the monster crumbles to dust. Forthat reason, this scroll is alwayswell hidden and protected.

Description: In their natural form,Egyptian mummies look very muchlike desiccated corpses wrapped inancient cloth bandages. Their skin istightly drawn across their featuresand tanned by the passage ofcenturies. However, a mummy usuallyrelies on its illusion spell to appearas a normal Arabic person.

Undead AnimalsAs undead go, reanimated animals are

fairly rare in the Weird West. On thesurface, this may seem odd, but bringingunlife to a dead body representssomething of an investment on the partof a manitou and there are severalreasons why an animal corpse just isn’tthe best choice.

First, there are plenty of humanbodies just waiting to rent out somespace. With the Civil War still grindingon, there’s seldom a shortage of primewalkin’ dead candidates. Why settle for apoodle—granted a creepy, decomposingpoodle, but a poodle nonetheless—whenyou can get a perfectly good dead man?

Second, the main reason manitousinhabit walkin’ dead in the first place isto increase fear in the populace. Anundead mountain lion is frightening forcertain, but not that much morefrightening than a live one. A visit froma dear relative who lacks the commondecency to stay in her grave is anothermatter altogether.

Finally, human zombies are able toperform a wide variety of tasks. Anundead wolf might be unsettling, butyou really don’t need any specialprotection from it. A doorknob is prettymuch proof against it.

Sure, a simple walkin’ dead isn’t thesame kind of commitment that aHarrowed represents; a manitou’simmortality isn’t at risk with a regularzombie. But when all’s said and done,it’s really just not worth a manitou’stime to reanimate an animal.

Horrors 57

But…Okay, now that we’ve gone to all the

trouble to tell you why animal zombiesdon’t happen that often, we do have togrudgingly admit there are times whenthey do. In these instances, the corpseis almost never spontaneouslyanimated; nearly always an outsideinfluence does so.

What kind of twisted creature bringsgood ol’ Spot back from the petcemetery to hound his beloved master?Some abominations may reanimateanimal corpse, particularly ones closelyassociated with the wilderness ornature. Occasionally a human cultistmay do so as well, just to unnerve aninterloper or snoop. This sort of tacticis perfect for Appalachian witches (seeBack East: The South).

Making Animal ZombiesAs a rule of thumb, it’s safe to

assume a cultist or abomination thathas both the animal mastery andzombie spells can create animalzombies. The type of animal is limitedto the kinds he could affect withanimal mastery. A black magician cananimate twice as many animal zombieswith the zombie spell as he couldhuman corpses.

There are just too many kinds ofanimals for us to list all the possible

types of zombies available. Instead,we’ve provided a template for you toapply to the basic animal’s profile toshow the effects of undeath on thecreature.

Using the TemplateIncrease or reduce the animal’s

appropriate Trait die type by the stepsshown on the template. If a reductiontakes the die type below a d4, reducethe coordination of the Trait instead.The critter’s die type cannot drop below1d4, regardless of the modifications.

The animal zombie knows only theAptitudes listed, at the level listed,regardless of its living abilities.

Finally, all animal zombies gain thelisted Special Abilities on the template.Those they may have had in life are alittle trickier. Certain ones, like poison,are lost, but others, like burrowing orswimming aren’t. Marshal, it’s prettymuch your call whether an undeadcrow has lost too many feathers to flyor not.

Template: Undead AnimalsCorporeal: D:+0, N:+1 die type, Q:+1 die

type, S:+1 die type, V:+2 die typesDodge 2, fightin’: brawlin’ 3, sneak 3Mental: C:+1 die type, K:-1 die type, M:—1

die type, Sm:—1 die type, Sp:—2 dietypes

58 Marshal

Pace: As original animalSize: As original animalWind: As original animalTerror: 7Special Abilities:

Damage: As original animal, plusbite (STR) if it did not alreadypossess this attack.

FearlessUndead: Focus—Head.

Description: Undead animals look likedead critters that don’t have the goodsense to lay down.

VampiresNo list of undead would be complete

without a few of everyone’s favoritebloodsucking freaks. Below, you’ll findravenous nosferatu, disgustingpenanggalen, creepy little ustrel and acouple of other varieties to allow you tochoose the style of chupasangre bestsuited to your campaign.

Of course, we’re not saying you’vegot to choose just one either. Nothing is

more disappointing than finding outwhat worked on the last vampiredoesn’t work on the one that’s trying tognaw off your head this time!

Vampires of all sorts are a form ofundead pestilence. After all, vampirismitself is a contagious, fatal disease thatspreads even after death!

However, a vampire’s food supply ishard to sustain in the sparselypopulated West. The smarterbloodsuckers take this into accountwhen planning their lairs and huntingtrips. Others, like nosferatu andwampyr, are likely to exhaust the localpopulation quickly—or draw theattention of the Rangers or Agency.

Harrowedand Vampirism

The Harrowed are immune to theeffects of a vampire’s contagion. To behonest, the bloodsuckers usually ignorethese graveyard rejects unless theyattack them first. No self-respectingvampire wants to get a mouthful ofthat sludge that passes for a Harrowed’sblood anyway.

The Harrowed (and any otherundead) can’t contract any form ofvampirism. Plain and simple, they’realready dead and can’t double-dip onthe unlife pool. Any Harrowed somehowkilled by a vampire’s bite is just dead.

NosferatuPossibly the most voracious of any

variety of bloodsucker, the nosferatuare certainly the least attractive. Only abald, albino weasel could love one ofthese monsters—and then only if it wasnearly blind.

Driven solely by their bloodlust, theseabominations seldom think beyondtheir next meal. Although possessed ofan animal cunning at times, the mostcommon tactic for the monsters is anoverwhelming ambush. Any time spentplanning beyond that cuts into valuablefeeding time.

Nosferatu can speak in a lisping,sibilant voice, but most use theirmouths only for feasting on theirvictims.

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This variety of vampire is probablythe most commonly encountered in theWeird West, thanks to Baron LaCroix’s“Night Trains.” Originally found only in afew isolated areas of the AmericanSouthwest, trainloads of thesemonsters were released onto thenetwork of railroads in the DisputedTerritories.

Although efforts by the TexasRangers and Agency have been fairlysuccessful in eliminating the resultantnests, smaller packs still exist scatteredthroughout both countries.

Profile: NosferatuCorporeal: D:2d6, N:3d10, Q:4d12,

S:3d12+2, V:2d10Dodge 2d10, climbin’ 4d10, fightin’:


Sp:1d4Overawe 4d8Pace: 10Size: 6Wind: 14Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Damage: Claws (STR+1d4), bite (STR;once a nosferatu successfully bitesa victim, it holds on an does STRdamage every round to the samelocation. The only way to breakfree is to win an opposed test ofStrength. On the up side, thenosferatu has to use its hands tohold its victim and can’t clawthem).

Immunity: Physical damage.Noseferatu don’t suffer woundsfrom weapons or even damage-causing spells and hexes. However,even though they don’t sufferactual wounds, it is possible forheroes to stun them—unlike mostundead.

Infection: Any person slain by anosferatu’s bite rises as anosferatu in 1d6 hours.

Undead: Focus—Head/Neck. Theonly way to permanently put downa nosferatu is to decapitate it orexpose it to sunlight.

Weakness—Sunlight: Nosferatutake 3d6 damage per round fromthe light of the sun. This ismassive damage.

Weakness—Wooden Stakes: Awooden stake through the hearttotally paralyzes a nosferatu untilthe stake is removed.

Description: Nosferatu are bald andemaciated humanoids. Their eyes aresolid black, with only a tiny spark ofred visible in the center. Coarse,brown claws tip their fingers andtoes, while chisel-like incisorsprotrude from their mouths.

NosferatuAncient Ones

“Ancient Ones” are those fewnosferatu who were powerful enoughto survive the defeat of the manitousduring the Great Spirit War. Notsurprisingly, only a few Ancient Oneslasted through that long dry spell,hiding in caves or ruins for centuries.

Only a few Ancient Ones remain.One hides in deep caverns near Devil’sCanyon in Deseret, leading anenormous brood of weaker nosferatu. Asmall group of Ancient Ones escapedBaron LaCroix’s raid on their lair inNew Mexico back in 1876; they lurksomewhere in the Sangre de ChristoMountains to the north.

Profile: Ancient OnesCorporeal: D:2d8, N:3d12, Q:4d12,

S:3d12+6, V:2d12Dodge 3d12, climbin’ 4d12, fightin’:


Sp:2d6Leadership 3d10, overawe 4d10Pace: 12Size: 8Wind: 18Terror: 11Special Abilities:

Armor: 2Damage: Claws (STR+1d4), bite (STR;

once an Ancient one successfullybites a victim, it holds on an doesSTR damage every round to the

60 Marshal

same location. The only way tobreak free is to win an opposedtest of Strength. On the up side,the creature has to use its handsto hold its victim and can’t clawthem).

Immunity: As nosferatu, above.Infection: As nosferatu, above.Odor: Ancient Ones smell so bad

that all in a 3-yard radius of thecreature must make a Fair (5) gutscheck or lose their first ActionCard of that round. Nosferatu areimmune to this effect.

Undead: Focus—Head/Neck. Asnosferatu, above.

Weakness—Sunlight: As nosferatu,above.

Weakness—Wooden Stakes: Asnosferatu, above.

Description: Ancient Ones look likeparticularly fat and bloated membersof their kind and seldom wear morethan a simple loincloth. The creaturesmove with frightening speed andagility, and exude a sickeningcharnel odor.

PenanggalenA penanggalen is a particularly

dangerous and revolting breed ofvampire that has its origins in thejungles of Southeast Asia. Thisabomination actually separates its headand vital organs (lungs, heart, liver,intestines, etc.) from the rest of it’s bodyand flies through the night skies insearch of fresh blood.

The profile below details theabomination in its hunting (head andentrails) form. In that form, the monsteris virtually unkillable. The best a possecan hope to do is chase the monsteraway. However, when encounteredduring the daytime, it has no specialabilities whatsoever. Smart heroes trackthese monsters back to their bodies anddispose of them during the daytime.

Any hero catching sight of thepenanggalen pulling its head free of itsbody must make an immediate guts rollagainst an Target Number of 13!

Obviously, the creature prefers tohunt in isolated areas; not many folksare going to overlook a flying headdragging a pile of guts!

While the head is separated, thepenanggalen must keep its bodyimmersed in vinegar to preserve it fromdecay. The penanggalen must return tothe body by daybreak. Once whole, itcan move about freely in daytime, butits hunting form is destroyedimmediately by sunlight. The creature’sbody can be destroyed normally, butnote that this does not immediately killthe penanggalan. (But it does tick thething off mightily!). A penanggalan cansense when its body is being disturbed,no matter the distance between headand body.

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Almost all penanggalan are female.Kephn, the male form of this monster,are much rarer than the penanggalen.

Since this disgusting form ofbloodsucker is normally found in thejungles of the South Pacific, you’reprobably wondering why we’re tellingyou about it. Well, a few have made it toports on the North American continentthanks to trading vessels, particularlythose of the warlord Kang. Sincepenanggalen can move about freely indaylight, those few have traveled farand wide across the West.

Besides, they’re just to cool to ignore.

Profile: PenanggalenCorporeal: D:2d6, N:3d8, Q:4d8, S:4d8,

V:4d12Dodge 4d8, fightin’: brawlin’ 5d8, sneak


Sp:3d8Overawe 4d6, search 2d10Pace: 16 (flying, unfed)/6 (flying, after

feeding)Size: 4Wind: 20Terror: 11Special Abilities:

Damage: Bite (STR+1d4); this istreated as brawling damage. Oncethe monster has successfullybitten a victim, it automaticallydoes this damage on each lateraction as it drains the person’sblood. Anyone brought to 0 orlower Wind by this attack is killedby the blood loss. The victim candislodge the sucker by winning anopposed test of Strength.

Immunity: A penanggalen is verytough in its hunting form. Althoughit’s really only Size 4, it takesdamage as though it were Size 6.Also, all damage is halved beforedetermining wounds. Even if herosucceeds in dealing a Maimingwound it, it isn’t destroyed. Insteadit flees to its body.

Diseased Entrails: Anyonecontacting the foul bile on themonster’s dangling entrails mustmake a Hard (9) Vigor roll. Failuremeans the cowpoke’s contacted itand loses a die type in his Vigor.He must make the roll again every

day until he succeeds or his Vigordie drops below a d4. If hesucceeds, he regains one die typea week until he reaches hisoriginal score. Anyone who dropsbelow d4 in Vigor due to thisdisease dies a slow, wasting death.

Undead: Focus—special (seeWeaknesses, below).

Weakness—Thorns: A penanggalentakes no special damage fromthorns, but will not cross even thesmallest branch of thorns. Shouldits dangling entrails becomeentangled in the prickly bush, it istrapped until daylight—and deathunder the sun’s rays.

Weakness—Sunlight: Apenanggalen in hunting formtakes 3d6 damage each round it’sexposed to direct sunlight. This ismassive damage.

Description: A nasty-looking headwith intestines and such stillattached floating a few feet abovethe ground—do you really need anymore description?

UstrelThese foul little monsters do exist in

the Weird West, mainly because its notnearly as hard to make one as legendssuggest. Ustrels rise from the corpsesof very young children (two years oryounger) that have died due toabandonment or neglect. Unfortunately,this sad even happens more often thandecent folk would like to believe.

Ustrel normally feed on cattle orother livestock, and their depredationsare often mistaken for prairie ticks orsome sort of disease. Theseabominations are voracious eaters,often causing the death of seven oreight steers in a single night.

Luckily for ranchers, ustrels areusually solitary in nature. Only rareinstances occur that cause more thanone to form in the same are at thesame time—say, an unusually cruelorphanage or the like.

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Once the livestock have been totallydrained, an ustrel seldom moves on tofeed on the human populace. Mostvampires of this sort simply becomedormant, awaiting the replenishment ofthe local herds.

Profile: UstrelCorporeal: D:2d6, N:2d8, Q:3d10, S:4d6,



Sp:1d6Pace: 8Size: 3Wind: 14Terror: 7 (once visible)Special Abilities:

Damage: Bite (STR); this is treatedas brawling damage. If the ustrelsuccessfully bites a victim, itautomatically does this damage oneach later action as it drains blood.The victim can dislodge the suckerby winning an opposed test ofStrength.

Invisibility: Ustrels are normallyinvisible. If a cowpoke somehowdetects one, he can attack it a –6modifier to all rolls.

Numbing Saliva: Thanks to a sideeffect of the ustrel’s spit, mostvictims don’t even know they’vebeen bitten. The victim must makea Hard (9) Cognition roll to evennotice the wound as its beingdrained.

Undead: Focus—Heart.Weakness—Fire: Exposure to a

source of fire equal to a smallbonfire or greater renders themonster visible.

Description: A pale, human child orinfant. Its eyes are vertically slit, likea cat’s, and its hands and feet havelong, curved nails for hanging ontohost animals. Four large canine teethprotrude from its mouth; it has noother teeth.

WampyrA wampyr is typical of the type of

vampire found in the folklore of theBalkan region of Eastern Europe. Thisfoul creature is also known as avyrkolakas, upir, vampir and a host ofother names.

Wampyrs are actually little more thanundead plague carriers, spreading thedisease of their form of vampirismamong their former loved ones. Unlikesome other vampires, wampyrs aren’tterribly strong and the decay of deathis obvious on their bodies. Thoseunfamiliar with this sort ofbloodsucker often mistake it for asimple walkin’ dead.

Possessed of a crude, animalcunning, these vampires prefer to preyon weaker individuals, and usuallyattack by ambush. Another commontactic is for the monsters to return tothe homes of their former families andfeast on their bereaved kin. Due to thehighly infectious nature of thewampyr’s bite, this sort of vampirismoften spreads very quickly through acommunity.

Corpses infected by wampyr retainsome of their color, do not stiffen andoften have spots of blood around theirlips and fingernails. A recently fedwampyr may have a pool of blood in itscoffin—these monsters are notoriousgluttons. Others may have gnawed ontheir own appendages while trapped intheir coffins.

Exposing a resting wampyr’s corpseto sunlight does not harm it. On theother hand, if it’s caught by the sun’srays before it reaches its coffin, itbegins to burn rapidly.

Profile: WampyrCorporeal: D:2d6, N:3d6, Q:3d8, S:2d8,



Sp:1d4Performin’ 2d6, persuasion 2d6, search

3d6Pace: 6Size: 6Wind: 14Terror: 7

Horrors 63

Special Abilities:Damage: In addition to normal

brawling damage, a wampyr canbite its victim for (STR) brawlingdamage.

Infection: Anyone who has lost Windto a wampyr’s bite must make aVigor roll against a Foolproof (3) TN,+1 for every point of Wind lost to thebite. Failure indicates the victim hascontracted the wampyr’s diseaseand loses a die type in Vigor. Thevictim must roll against the sameTN each night until either shemakes the roll (in which case she’scured) or her Vigor die type dropsbelow d4. Once that happens, shedies and rises as a wampyr herselfin 1d4 days. Lost Vigor die typesreturn at a rate of one level per dayuntil fully recovered.

Immunity: A wampyr suffers onlyhalf damage from all physicalattacks.

Undead: Focus—Heart.Weaknesses: Garlic, roses, sunlight,

beheading. Garlic and roses causea wampyr 2d6 damage if theycontact them—and the monstersfind the plants abhorrent. Sunlightcauses 3d6 massive damage eachround to a risen wampyr; restingwampyr are immune to this. Awampyr can be destroyed bydigging it up, beheading it andplacing garlic in its mouth.

Description: A wampyr resembles awalkin’ dead in many respects, savethat its flesh is full and bloated. Itseyes may have a vacant or glassystare and its fingernails are oftensplintered and dirt-encrusted from itsescape from the grave.

Cinematic VampiresWe’ve provided this last type of

vampire in case you want a more“modern” form of bloodsucker to throwat your posse than the others we’velisted. The abilities and weaknesses ofthis abomination are more in line withthose seen in literature and moviesthan in folklore, and it’s much moreformidable in a stand-up fight thanthose of legend.

Vampires of this sort are best usedas recurring villains than one-shot

encounters. These undead are moreconcerned with the “long view” of theirunlife than those of folklore, whoseentire existence usually revolves aroundthe next drink. As such, they makegood long-term opponents for a posse—especially since they can generatehordes of lesser vampires to throw atthe heroes nearly at will!

Finally, the profile below is for afairly “new” vampire; as these monstersget older, they become vastly morepowerful. In addition to simplyimproving their Traits and Aptitudes,the monsters may acquire other arcaneabilities, such as shapechanging,animal control or weathermanipulation.

See the profile on Dracula (page 92)for an example of just how dangerousthese monsters can become.

64 Marshal

Profile: VampiresCorporeal: D:4d12, N:4d12, Q:4d12+2,

S:4d12+2, V:4d12+2Climbin’ 5d12, dodge 4d12, fightin’:

brawlin’ 4d12, shootin’: pistol, rifle,shotgun 4d12, sneak 6d12


Overawe 4d12, scrutinize 3d10, search4d10

Pace: 12Size: 6Wind: 22Terror: 9 (when true nature is known)Special Abilities:

Damage: Claws (STR+1d6). A hit witha raise in hand-to-hand combatlets a vampire bite its victim for(STR+1d4) brawling damage.

Infection: Anyone slain by avampire’s bite rises in 1d6 nights asa lesser vampire (use the profilefor a nosferatu). Often, the lesservampire is controlled by its creator.

Regeneration: Each six points ofWind drained by a vampire’s biteheals one wound level it hassuffered.

Speed: Vampires are incredibly fast.They can move up to four timestheir Pace on each action.

Undead: Focus—heart.Weaknesses: Wood, holy water,

beheading, and sunlight.Beheading or a wooden stakethrough the heart kills thevampire. A pint of holy waterthrown at it does 2d6 damage. Avampire takes 3d6 massivedamage each round it has anyflesh exposed to sunlight.

Description: Vampires appear muchlike normal humans until theyattack. Then, their eyes turn black,sometimes with a faint red gleam,and their fangs and nails lengthen.However, much of the terrorgenerated by this sort of bloodsuckercomes from the aura of sheermalevolence than shrouds it oncerevealed.

GhostsHaunts, specters, phantasms — all of

these are disembodied souls that haven’tmoved on to the afterlife and remain toplague the folks of the Weird West. All ofthese restless spirits fall under theheading of that Dr. Sutherland correctlyidentified as ghosts.

Below, we’ve listed several types ofspirits to populate the old cemeteriesand lonely roads of your campaign.These are by no means the only kindsof wraiths out there, but they should getyour evil mind turning on haunts ofyour own.

Some of the more powerful ghostsmay grant Coup to a Harrowed whendefeated. If so, the character gains theghost power (or voice o’ the damned forbanshees) at level 1.

Common WeaknessesGhosts can usually be driven away or

destroyed by means of the blessedmiracle exorcise. Consecrate armamentallows a weapon to affect ghosts andconsecrate item creates an aura that isrepellent to the spirit on the itemaffected. Other miracles that affect themnormally are expose, falter, hinder,protection, safekeepin’, and sanctify.Ghosts are considered “evil” for thepurposes of these miracles even if theyare not malign.

The shamanic favor bind ghostcompels the ghost to perform a servicefor the shaman if successful, anddestroy spirit vanquishes one from theEarth.

Most miracles hexes, favors andvoodoo spells that affect Mental Traitswork normally on apparitions as well,subject to specific exceptions chosen bythe Marshal—bedazzling one may havelittle effect, for example. On the otherhand, spirit coils can trap an ghost, andsoul blast and argent agony both candamage ghosts.

On the other hand, Marshal, you maynot want some big-britches hex-slingergunning down your favorite ghost withhis hopped-up six-guns. That’sabsolutely fine—it does kind of spoil theeffect of a good haunting if the heroescan just walk up and blast the spirits!

Horrors 65

If you choose to make them immuneto normal magical damage methods,we’ve got you covered. There’s anotherway for heroes to cleanse a haunting,one that requires them to do a little leg—and mind—work. It’s called an anchor.

AnchorsAll ghosts have an anchor to the

world of the living. This may take theform of an item, a place, or even aperson. Some ghosts are even anchoredto a particular action, such as avengingan act of violence or treachery.

Regardless of its nature, the anchor issomething that was of great importanceto the apparition during life; a bit ofdiligent research should point a posse ofghost hunters toward a spirit’s anchor.

While the anchor keeps the ghost onEarth, it is also the spirit’s Achilles heel.A clever group of heroes can use theanchor to draw the ghost to them, oreven, in some cases, vanquish the spiritfrom the Earth.

Each type of spirit is anchored in adifferent way; some, like haunts, varyfrom individual spirit to individual spirit.In the descriptions for each sort ofghost on the following pages, we’vedetailed what sorts of things anchorthem and how the posse might usethat to their benefit.

Regardless of the type of apparitionor what it’s tied to, no spirit may evertravel or manifest more than 1 milefrom its anchor.

Using GhostsGhosts are great for building a sense

of tension and fear in your game.Apparitions have an air of mystery thatmost encounters with corporeal undeadcan’t achieve. However, drawing out thissort of atmosphere does take a littlemore work on the Marshal’s part thanhaving a horde of zombies batter downthe door to the posse’s hideout.

The less seen of the spirit, the moresuspenseful the session is likely to be.But, you’re probably asking, if the ghost’sthe main threat in the adventure, howare you supposed to do that?

Well, there are a couple of ways toaccomplish this little bit of spirituallegerdemain.

ManifestationIn each ghost’s description, we’ve

detailed how the spirit appears when itallows itself to be seen by the living (orun-living). This is called its manifestation.

However, this description is for whenthe spirit makes itself fully visible.Ghosts have a great deal of freedom inhow much of themselves they reveal. Awraith may choose to appear as a faint,diffuse light, a wispy outline, or evenjust the sensation of a presence. A goodidea is to save the full manifestation fora high point in the session, or maybeeven the climax.

The only limitation on a spirit’sappearance is that it cannot appear assomeone (or something) else. Ghosts arenot masters of disguise!

InvestigationEncounters centering on a haunting

often tend to be investigative in nature.Often the posse spends much of its

66 Marshal

time trying to discover the history ofthe ghost rather than planning anambush for it.

A good ghost-based scenario shouldbe as much a mystery as a horror story.Developed characters, sinister plots, anddeadly secrets related to the ghost keepthe posse involved in the world of theliving. That doesn’t mean there can’t bea nice big fight, of course. After all, It’spossible the greatest threat to theheroes in a haunting may come from ahuman opponent who’s actions createdthe ghost rather than the spirit itself!

Out of Sight—Not MindMost hauntings are subtle affairs. An

odd and eerie light in the old cemetery,a strange dream or a cryptic messageare all good effects to keep a ghoststory rolling. Unexplained noises, lowwhispers in a dark room, or amovement caught in the corner of theeye are good ways to let the heroesknow something’s around withoutflaunting the ghost.

Ghostly PropsSometimes, you may want to use a

ghost as a set-up for another, morehorrifying abomination. Death at thehands of some supernatural terror iscertainly enough to spawn a ghost orphantasm now and then.

In this case, the ghost isn’t the mainthreat to the community. Instead, itspresence is more “background music”for the real encounter. It can make anice prelude for your next symphony ofterror.

BansheeBanshees are the restless spirits of

folks who died as a result of non-requited love. Often, they committedsuicide after realizing their heart’sdesire was denied them. Occasionally,the banshee was actually murdered bythe object of its affection. In either case,the banshee’s death occurred in aremote spot and the body was unburied.

Legend depicts banshees asexclusively female, but there’s nothingto prevent the ghost of a jilted manfrom becoming one in the Weird West.

As a result of their failed love lives,banshees have a very distorted view onthe world of the living. Bansheesperceive beings of the opposite sex astheir former—and now hated—love,while those of the same sex are rivalsfor affection. These spirits pretty muchdespise anybody!

A banshee’s anchor is its formerbody. Providing the body with a properburial, according to its religious beliefs,severs the link and destroys thebanshee. Exorcism or destroy spirit areeffective when cast on either thebanshee itself or its body.

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On a subconscious level, the ghost isaware of the importance of its bodyand takes steps to prevent its discovery.Although the body remains near thesite of its death, the body is usuallyhidden or camouflaged in some way. Abanshee always manifests to protect itsbody from those who disturb it—even indaylight.

Profile: BansheesCorporeal: D:2d6, N:2d6, Q:3d8, S:2d6,

V:3d8As in lifeMental: C:2d8, K:3d6, M:2d10, Sm:2d6,

Sp:3d10As in lifePace: 6Size: 6Wind: NATerror: 11Special Abilities:

Doom: A banshee can pronouncedoom upon a single hero at a time.While under a banshee’s doom, thepoor sap suffers as if he had theHindrance bad luck any time he’sin a potentially life-threateningsituation. Even worse, he can’tspend Fate Chips to avoid wounds!Luckily, the banshee can onlydoom one hero at a time.Pronouncing doom on a hero takesa single Action Card for thebanshee if the apparition invokesit during combat.

Ghostly Form: Banshees, like allghosts, are intangible, and able topass through corporeal objects atwill.

Immunity: Wind or physical damage.Hexes and enchanted (orconsecrated) weapons can hurtthem. Under no circumstances dobanshees suffer Wind loss.

Shriek: A banshee can inflict Winddamage by the blood-curdlingsound of its voice. All cowpokeswithin 10 yards of the bansheemust make an Opposed Test ofSpirit against the ghost when itshrieks. Those who fail suffer thedifference in Wind. This takes twoactions to perform, and thebanshee can shriek as often as itdesires.

Vulnerability—Sunlight: Bansheessuffer 3d6 damage each round ifthey, or their anchor (i.e., theircorpse) is exposed to directsunlight. This is massive damage.

Wail: Once per night, a banshee cancut loose with an truly unearthlywail that chills most folks to thebone. Any cowpokes unluckyenough to be within 10 yards ofher when she does must make anOpposed Test of Spirit with thebanshee, adding their Grit and +2if they’re brave. Success meansthey shake off the effects of thewail. If an unlucky stiff fails thisroll, he suffers a heart attack asdetailed on the Scart Table.

Description: Banshees appear asspectral forms that float a foot or soabove the ground. Their lowerextremities are nothing but tatters offabric and most banshees are clothedin a gray or greenish-gray robe. Abanshee’s decayed face is contortedas if in horrible agony.

HauntsHaunts are the most common form

of ghost. They are created when aperson died while experiencing anextreme—usually unpleasant—emotionand is doomed to relive it or inflict it onothers. The most common motivator fora haunt is revenge for a violent ortreacherous death.

Unfortunately, although many hauntsare not evil in intent, their undead stateskews their perceptions, causing themto terrorize or even attack otherwiseinnocent folks.

Usually, a haunt is anchored to aspecific place (most often that of theirdeath); exorcising the area or castingdestroy spirit cleanses such spirits. In afew rare instances, a haunt may beanchored to a vehicle, like a train orship, where its death occurred; these“mobile” haunts can be cleansed in thesame fashion as noted above.

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Individual haunts vary greatlyaccording to the circumstances andcause of their death, so feel free toadjust the profile below as you see fit.

Profile: HauntsCorporeal: D:3d8, N:2d6, Q:3d6, S:3d8,

V:3d10As in life, fightin’: brawlin’ 4d6Mental: C:2d6, K:3d6, M:2d8, Sm:2d6,

Sp:2d10As in lifePace: 6Size: 6Wind: NATerror: 5-11 (sometimes greater,

depending on haunt’s appearanceand demeanor)

Special Abilities:Chill Touch: Haunts can “touch”

corporeal beings and inflict Winddamage by chilling them. Asuccessful fightin’: brawlin’ attackdoes 2d6 Wind to the target. If thevictim is reduced to 0 Wind in thismanner, he passes out for 1d6minutes as well as suffering theusual effects of having no Wind.

Fear Attack: A haunt can inflictfear upon any human within 10feet. This requires an OpposedSpirit roll against the target. If thetarget loses, he must roll 3d6 onthe Scart Table (or, at the Marshal’soption, flee at top speed for 1d8minutes). For each raise the hauntgets on the Opposed roll, add anadditional die to the roll on theScart Table.

Ghostly Form: Haunts areintangible, able to pass throughwalls, sink into the ground, andmove their ghostly hands throughan hombre’s chest.

Immunity: Wind or physical damage.Haunts cannot be harmed byphysical weapons, unless theweapons are made of silver. Hexesand enchanted/consecratedweapons can also hurt them.Haunts never suffer Wind loss.

Description: Varies. Some haunts areclearly ephemeral beings—you cansee right through their ghostly forms.Others appear to be made of trueflesh and blood, but bear horriblewounds or ghastly pale skin thatreveals their true state. A chill alwaysaccompanies a haunt.

PhantomsThese are the least powerful (and,

therefore least dangerous) of all theghosts haunting the lonely places ofthe Weird West. Phantoms—also calledspooks, wraiths and phantasms—aremerely spirits who’ve yet to realizetheir time has come. They remain tiedto the site of their death until someonereleases them from the limbo ofundeath they are trapped in.

Phantoms are little more thansupernatural “recordings” of the lastmoments of their former lives. Theapparitions nearly always appear asvirtually transparent images of theirformer selves prior to death. They oftenreact to other unseen people or thingsas they play out their death scenesagain and again.

A phantom’s anchor is the site of itsdeath. Exorcise or destroy spirit castsuccessfully on the location will dispelthe spirit. Another method is for a heroto convince the phantom it’s dead andshould move on. That’s no easy task—he must get a raise on an Incredible (11)persuasion roll. Other forms of attack,magical or physical, do not affectphantoms.

These apparitions do not pose athreat to living beings other than agood scare. Anyone seeing a phantom“reliving” its death must make a Hard(9) guts check. Other than that,phantoms do not interact with thecorporeal world.

Phantoms are more an event thanan abomination, an afterimage of aperson’s life rather than a free-willedundead. For that reason, we haven’tprovided any game statistics for them.

They are usually found in areas witha Fear Level of 4 or higher, and may beconnected (often by death) withanother, far more dangerous,abomination.

Horrors 69Poltergeists

Poltergeists are often thought of aspesky, if somewhat spooky, pranksters.Like simple phantasms, poltergeistsresult from a soul’s refusal to acceptthe death of its corporeal body.However, poltergeists are fully awarethey’re undead—they’re just mean-spirited about it!

A poltergeist invariably chooses avictim for its supernatural tempertantrums, usually a child or adolescent.These apparitions are apparently jealousof the young one’s life and vitality, andseek to make the target as miserable aspossible.

These spirits are able to interactwith physical objects and use thisability to confound their victim. Theymay perform acts of vandalism or theftso that their target takes the blame, orthey may rely on more straightforwardscare tactics. Usually, the apparitionsemploy a mix of these, escalating fromsimple pranks to outright ghostlyterrorism.

The poltergeist’s chosen victim is thespirit’s anchor. There’s seldom any readilyapparent rhyme or reason as to theapparition’s choice of target, but a littleinvestigation usually reveals a tenuouslink of some sort.

Exorcism and destroy spirit have noeffect on the poltergeist if cast on itsanchor. They do work if the caster usesthem against the spirit itself.

A hero who gets two raises in asingle Test of Wills against thepoltergeist using either bluff, overawe,persuasion or ridicule can force thespirit to abandon its anchor (thusdestroying it). A hero can make onlyone such attempt—ever. The poltergeistalways uses its Spirit to resist theseAptitudes.

Profile: PoltergeistsCorporeal: D:2d10, N:3d6, Q:3d6, S:2d10,

V:2d8As in life, plus filchin’ 4d10, lockpickin’

3d10, throwin’: balanced, unbalanced3d10


As in lifePace: 6

Size: 6Wind: NATerror: 7 (Although they seldom

visually manifest, their actions areoften obviously supernatural.)

Special Abilities:Ghostly Form: Poltergeists are

intangible, able to move freelythrough corporeal objects.

Immunity: Wind or physical damage.Poltergeists are immune tophysical weapons, including thosemade of silver. Hexes andenchanted or consecrated weaponscan hurt them.

Mischief: Poltergeists can readilymanipulate physical objects.They’re fond of moving furniture,stealing valuables, locking/unlocking doors, and the like,often making their victim appearresponsible. More maliciouspoltergeists even make subtleattacks this way, “knocking”poisons into foods, tripping victimson stairs, or even smothering themwith pillows.

Projectile Attack: A poltergeist canfling small loose objects—books,glasses, rocks, etc.—with relativeease. It can hurl one of theseobjects per action for STR damageand a Range Increment of 5. Ofcourse, if no such items areavailable, it can’t throw them!Some truly powerful poltergeistscan even manipulate weapons wellenough to attack normally withthem. These spirits have fightin’:brawlin’ 3 in addition to their otherAptitudes.

Projectile Storm: Once per day, apoltergeist can cause a storm ofsmall objects or weapons to flyabout, injuring and terrifying itstargets. For three rounds, thepoltergeist can make up to fiveprojectile attacks per action.Anyone taking a wound fromthese attacks immediately has tomake a guts check against thepoltergeist’s Terror score.

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Description: Poltergeists seldommanifest visually, even wheninteracting with the physical world.When they do appear, they usuallychoose forms that are only vaguelyhumanoid in appearance—the moreridiculously monstrous the form, thebetter (up the Terror score by 2 inthis case). They often choose to chillthe air noticeably when present.

ShadesShades are apparitions that maintain

some tie to a living person—or group ofpeople—responsible for the shade’sdeath. Of all the types of apparitions,shades are most able to interact withthe physical world, yet the spirit isprevented from acting on the one thingit most desires.

As a part of the spirit’s curse, it isunable to directly affect the personresponsible for its condition; it canmanifest to its target—and even attackother humans—but it can never takedirect action for or against its target.Shades can manipulate inanimateobjects to hinder or even harm theirtargets or influence others to do so forthem. They can even aid those opposedto there target (if the spirit isbenevolent).

The apparition’s anchor is the personor group to whom the shade is linked.The shade always manifests within onemile of the anchor (or one of theanchors, in the case of a group), nomatter how far or fast the person hastraveled since the spirit’s lastappearance.

Unlike most apparitions, exorcise anddestroy spirit have no effect when usedagainst the shade’s anchor. Bringing theguilty party (or parties) to justicereleases a malevolent shade from itsrevenge. This isn’t necessarily as easyas it sounds; the villain must bepublicly proven guilty of the shade’sdeath, not merely gunned down like aback-shooting bushwhacker!

Profile: ShadesCorporeal: D:3d8, N:2d6, Q:3d6, S:3d8,

V:3d10As in life, plus fightin’: freezing touch

4d6, throwin’: balanced, unbalanced3d8


As in life, plus overawe 3d8Pace: 6Size: 6Wind: NATerror: 7-11 (Terror score increases as

the shade’s form begins to depictcorruption and decay.)

Special Abilities:Bad Dreams: Although it can’t

directly affect its anchor, a shadedoes plague the person, turningher life into a living Hell. A shadeinflicts either the Hindrance badluck or night terrors on its anchoruntil it is dispelled or satisfied.

Freezing Touch: Similar to someghosts, shades can “touch”corporeal beings and inflictdamage. However, the shade’stouch is much more potent. Treatthe attack as a normal fightin’attack, except the target gets nobenefit from weapons, normalarmor or even her own fightin’Aptitude. A successful attack does2d6 damage to the target. Magicalprotections work are effectiveagainst this attack.

Ghostly Form: Shades, like allapparitions are intangible, andinteract with the physical worldonly when they choose to do so.

Immunity: Wind or physical damage.Shades cannot be harmed byphysical weapons, even silver ones.Hexes and enchanted/consecratedweapons can hurt them.

Immunity: The same curse thatprevents the shade from harmingits anchor also prevents thatperson (or persons) from affectingit in any way. Even hexes, miracles,and the like are ineffective whenwielded by the spirit’s target.

Description: A shade’s visualmanifestation appears much like itsmurdered corporeal body, completewith wounds. The shade’sappearance shows the effect of

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gradual decay, appearing to slowly rotas time advances. A noticeable coldaccompanies any manifestation, andsome spirits of this sort areaccompanied by a faint odor ofdecomposition.

SpectersMost apparitions are linked to the

material world by the nature or causeof their death—not so specters. Theseabominations are the black hats of theghostly dimension. Specters are thespirits of particularly evil people who’vebeen cursed to continue their existencein a state of undeath. The Reckonersaren’t about to let a little thing likedeath cut short a good (if unwitting)servant’s service.

Unlike most ghosts, specters aredriven by their hatred of all livinghumans and actively seek to causeharm to them. To that end, spectershave a limited ability to inflict physicaldamage on their victims—whileremaining untouchable themselves!

Specters are anchored to their formerbodies. In addition to the weaknessesshared by all apparitions, specters canalso be defeated by exhuming theiroriginal bodies and burning them toashes. Using the miracle exorcise or thefavors destroy spirit on the corpse hasthe same effect.

Profile: SpectersCorporeal: D:3d6, N:2d8, Q:3d10, S:2d8,

V:3d10As in life, plus fightin’: brawlin’ 4d8Mental: C:2d6, K:3d6, M:2d8, Sm:2d6,

Sp:2d10As in life, plus overawe 3d8Pace: 8Size: 6Wind: NATerror: 11Special Abilities:

Fear Attack: A specter can inflictfear on any human within 10 feet.This requires an Opposed Spirit rollagainst the target. A successfulattack causes the target to roll 4d6on the Scart Table, plus anadditional d6 for every raise thespecter got.

Ghostly Form: Specters areintangible, able to pass throughsolid objects—including cowpokes—at will.

Immunity: Wind or physical damage.Specters are immune to physicalweapons or attacks, unless theweapons are enchanted,consecrated or silver. Damaginghexes, spells, favors, and miraclescan hurt them. Specters neversuffer Wind loss from any effects.

Incorporeal Attack: A specter canlash a victim with its claws,inflicting physical damage bydamaging the victim’s spirit! Onceper action, the specter can roll anOpposed Spirit roll against itstarget; if it succeeds, it causes 1d8damage for each success to itsvictim’s guts. Regular armor doesnot protect against this, althoughcertain magical protections, likearmor o’ righteousness, bodyguard,ogu’s aura, and turtle’s shell worknormally.

Description: These apparitions nearlyalways choose a frightening form inwhich to manifest. A black-hoodedfigure with skeletal hands or a pale-skinned corpse with glowing redeyes, long claws and pointed teethare good examples of specters’ forms.

Living HousesNot all haunted houses are home to

ghosts. Well, that’s not entirely true—notall haunted houses are haunted…wait,let’s try that again. Not all hauntedhouses are even houses!

There exists a strange type ofabomination currently unknown toeven the Rangers or Agency we like tocall a “living house.” This abominationis actually a living entity that resemblesa house in all respects—it even hasfurniture, carpet, books, you name it.But the truth is, it’s actually anenormous servant of the Reckoners.

Living houses—and yes, there aremore than one of them—resemble old

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American Gothic mansions. They are adingy gray color, both on the walls andshingles, and furnished with the finestaccoutrements. Once a family takes upresidence within, the house begins toproduce effects that resemble those ofa haunting.

The result is the same as that of ahaunted house: the local Fear Levelraises by one. Worse, the usual methodsto cleanse a haunted house have noeffect. The living house often givesinvestigators false clues and redherrings to distract them from itsnature. It even secrets bodies away inhidden rooms, leading ghost hunters tobelieve the corpse is a spiritual anchor.

The house has near complete controlof its internal areas, able to modifyhumidity and temperature by as muchas 20 degrees. It can move furnishingsabout at and even alter its innerstructure at will, creating dead-endrooms, false doors, and so on to foilinvestigators—or even trap them tostarve.

There are a couple of clues that all isnot as it seems with a living house.First, while the house has a limitedpsychic ability to alter nearby folks’

memories, no official records exist of itsbuilding or purchase. Furthermore, allliving houses look exactly alike on theexterior—a posse even recall havingseen an identical “haunted house”elsewhere. Finally, the house has verylittle ability to alter the surroundinglandscape, so yards, walkways and thelike don’t exist unless later occupantsbuild them.

Because of these limitations, livinghouses are most often found on thedistant outskirts of cities. There,enough folks are around to affect withfalse memories, yet record keeping isspotty at best. Since the houses literallyspring up overnight, they also choosesites somewhat off the beaten path toavoid attracting attention.

Profile: Living HousesCorporeal: D:2d10, N:4d8, Q:3d6, S:3d12,

V:4d12+10Fightin’: brawlin’ 4d8, throwin’: balanced,

unbalanced 4d10Mental: C:3d10, K:4d8, M:3d12, Sm:3d8,

Sp:3d12Performin’: haunting 6d12, scrutinize

4d10Pace: 0Size: 25Wind: —Terror: 9 (once revealed)Special Abilities:

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Armor: 1. This only applies to thehouse itself, not the furnishingsand such inside it.

Climate Control: In addition tocontrolling temperature andhumidity, the house can alter airflows. It can combine theseabilities to create wavering heatwaves that a cowpoke maymistake for a ghost unless hemakes Onerous (7) Cognition roll. Italso uses this control to create“cold spots” to further misleadinvestigators.

Damage: The house can throw itsown furnishings at heroes.Furniture does (STR) brawlingdamage, while knives, brokenglass, and other edged missiles do(STR+1d4). The house can make upto five such attacks on a singleaction.

Foggy Memories: This poweraffects the minds of neighbors.Every one within 5 miles of thehouse has vague “memories” ofthe house “always being there.”These memories may even go sofar as to recall former occupants,etc.

Lord of its Domain: The house hascomplete control over doors,windows, furniture, and even thebooks that are a part of its interior.Nothing happens to these itemsthat the house does not allow.However, only attacks against thestructure of the house itselfactually damage the thing. Breakingup the furniture and bric-a-bracsimply makes the house mad.

Night Terrors: The house can inflictnight terrors on anyone sleepingwithin its walls. It usually picks asingle target for this and presentsthem with misleading visions.

Description: Living houses are large,three-story American Gothic houses.A large turret occupies the rightcorner of the front of the house, anda covered porch runs from the turretaround the left. The paint is always adreary gray and the shingles match itnearly exactly. A sense of broodingmalevolence oozes from the edifice,and its windows almost seem likeeyes.

Fear and MythAhhh, poor Dr. Jensen. He’s as nutty

as a Christmas fruitcake, of course.Years of working in an asylum whilethe Reckoning gives fear new life sentthe poor man over the edge. He’s in astraightjacket in a quiet cell inStockton. But that doesn’t mean he stillisn’t pretty much right on the money!

Jensen’s manuscript was far lessspecific than that of ThaddeusWashington or Dr. Sutherland, so we’llsimply talk about the creatures thatfulfill the concepts he talked about:superstition, rampant technology andalienation.

Monsters ofLegend

First of all, lets talk about thecreatures of legend. These are theshadowy terrors of myths and firesidestories—but in the Weird West, suchstories are often true.

The ThingUnder the Bed

Kids aren’t being childish when theyrun in and jump on their bed at night—there really is a monster under there!And it’s just waiting to snatch at thefeet of a careless little one.

The Thing preys on the fears of acommunity’s children, allowing kids toget a glimpse of it shifting under thebed or hiding in the back of a darkcloset. It keeps them on edge bysnatching a child every month or so.These little ones are taken to theabomination’s lair—usuallysubterranean—and never seen again.The monster may gobble them up or,possibly more disturbing, turn theminto Things themselves.

The Thing isn’t just limited to beds,either. It can lurk in a dark closet, a

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musty attic corner, or behind the stairsto the basement. The monster takesgreat pains to keep its presence hiddenfrom the older population. Adultsseldom believe it exists, even after it’staken a child or two, which onlyheightens the kids’ feelings ofhelplessness. Any disappearances areusually explained as runaways or other,more mundane occurrences.

The monster further weakens thebond between adults and children bycommitting acts of theft or vandalism.It then frames the most outspokenchildren.

Profile: The ThingCorporeal: D:1d10, N:2d10, Q:3d8, S:3d8,


filchin’ 3d10, lockpickin’ 4d10, sneak6d10


Overawe 3d6, search 2d8Pace: 10

Size: 6Wind: 10Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Contortionist: Although the Thing isroughly adult-sized, it can wedge itsbody into areas normally accessibleonly to much smaller (Size 3)creatures.

Damage: Claws (STR+1d4)Immunity—Normal Attacks: Normal

weapons can’t hurt a Thing. Magicalattacks and weapons can.

Shadow Transport: The Thing canteleport from one shadow toanother within 100 yards as long asit is not being directly observed. Forexample, it can blink fromunderneath the bed to the closet orany other darkened area. It musteither see its destination or knowthat it is there and the shadowmust conceal it (but remember itscontortionist ability). However, ifanyone is watching it, the Thingcan’t use this ability.

Weakness—Light: Direct exposure tolight equal to that of a torch orgreater does 3d6 massive damageto it each round.

Description: Things seldom exist inlight long enough for folks to get agood look at them. Most people onlysee a clawed hand coming up the sideof the bed or a hunched humanoidfigure in the shadows behind hangingclothes. Exact descriptions vary fromThing to Thing, some seem skeletalwhile others are gray-skinned, warty,troll-like monsters.

UktenaThe uktena is a large water serpent,

but there the similarity between it andthe Maze dragon ends. Thisabomination, although smaller, is muchtougher to kill.

A small, diamond-like crystal, aboutthe size of a rifle cartridge, is imbeddedin the uktena’s skull. It serves as aconduit to the Hunting Grounds,constantly feeding the monstersupernatural energies. Not only doesthis make the creature nearly immuneto injury, but it also has a hypnotic effecton any human.

Horrors 75

After the uktena is slain, the crystalcan be pried from its skull, giving itsowner easier access to the HuntingGrounds. The crystal provides anadditional Appeasement to a shamanwhenever he successfully completes aritual. If the shaman combines a numberof rituals into a single ordeal, he stillonly gains a single extra point. Madscientists and hucksters who possessone of these crystals gain a +2 to eitherthe mad science or hexslingin’ Aptitude,respectively.

Every seven days, the crystal must besoaked in the blood of a small gameanimal. If not, it not only loses its power,but also saddles its owner with the badluck Hindrance. A cowpoke mustpossess the crystal for a week to beconsidered its owner.

The resemblance of this creature tothe horned serpent described in Rascals,Varmints & Critters is strictly superficial.They are not related.

Profile: UktenaCorporeal: D:1d4, N:3d10, Q:4d10,

S:4d12+2, V:2d12+2Fightin’: brawlin’ 5d10, sneak 4d10,

swimmin’ 4d10Mental: C:2d10, K:1d6, M:2d12, Sm:2d6,

Sp:2d10Overawe 5d12Pace: 24Size: 16 (30’+ long)Wind: —Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Damage: Horns (STR+2d10), bite(STR+2d8)

Hypnotism: Any hero looking at theuktena must roll a contest of Spiritat the beginning of each round.Failure means she’s hypnotizedand walks slowly toward themonster, completely helpless. Shecan attempt to break free of thespell each round by rolling anothercontest of Spirit.

Immunity—All: The only way toharm the uktena is to pierce thecreature’s heart, which liesunderneath seventh band on itsneck. This is a called shot at –6,assuming the hero knows themonster’s weakness.

Description: The uktena is a 30’ longsnake as thick as a good-sized treetrunk. It strongly resembles a smallMaze dragon with a few minordifferences. It has a pair of horns onits head, between which rests abrilliant crystal. Its neck has sevenfaint bands of color, one for each inthe spectrum. The heart lies underthe violet band.

Gabriel HoundsGabriel hounds, also called gabbe

brecht or barghests, are sometimesassociated with witches, werewolves, orother shape-changing humans.However, these large, black dogs aremost often encountered as theforerunner of a more powerful evil.

The appearance of a Gabriel houndbodes ill for the person to whom itappears. Although others may see it,the first person to catch a glimpse of it(i.e., the highest Cognition roll) is cursedby its power (see below).

Gabriel hounds seldom attackoutright—although it’s not unheard of,by any means. Instead, theabominations make a brief,foreshadowing appearance, usually inafter dark and in a lonely area.

Profile: Gabriel HoundsCorporeal: D:1d4, N:4d8, Q:2d10, S:3d8,



Sp:2d12Overawe 4d10, search 3d10, trackin’ 5d10Pace: 10Size: 6Wind: —Terror: 7Special Abilities:

Curse: The hound has the ability tocurse the first person to catchsight of it. The hero picks up acase of double bad luck—anytimehe goes bust on a roll, the result is

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somehow life threatening. Thecurse lasts until the hero defeats afear-monger. Even killing thehound does not remove this curse.

Damage: Bite (STR+1d6), claw (STR)Howl: A hound can inflict fear upon

any human within 25 yards whocan hear its howl. All affectedcharacters must roll a contest oftheir Spirit against the hound’sMien. Those who lose must roll3d6 on the Scart Table.

Immunity—Normal Damage: Thehound only suffers half damagefrom normal attacks.

Weaknesses: The hound takes fulldamage from silver weapons. Holywater does 2d6 damage.

Description: Gabriel hounds are large(4’ at the shoulder) black dogs,resembling either mastiffs orwolfhounds. Their hair is coal-blackand unkempt. A red spark glimmersbehind their pupils and a low growlconstantly rolls from their throats.

Little PeopleThe Little People aren’t just an

imaginary figment spawned in thebottom of a jug of liquor. Nor are theynothing more than mischievous spritesout playing a prank or two on foolishhumans. What these abominations lackin size, they make up for in cruelty.

There are nearly endless variationsof these monsters in literature, butwe’re only going to cover two here.

TommyknockersTommyknockers lurk in mine tunnels

and shafts, slowly weakening supportsand otherwise threatening miners.Because the Reckoners want ghostrock successfully mined, thesemonsters don’t interfere with thosemines until they’re tapped out. Gold andsilver mines are their usual haunts.

These carnivorous abominations lurkdeep in the mines and damagesupports, mine-car tracks, and other

important structures during the night.Miners and watchmen sometimes hearthe creature tapping away down in thedepths after the work force has left forthe evening. Should the creaturesucceed in causing a cave-in, it beginsto systematically hunt down and feedon any trapped miners, picking themoff one by one as lack of food andoxygen weakens them.

A mine known (or even justrumored!) to be plagued by atommyknocker may have a Fear Levelone point higher than the surroundingarea. Seldom does more than one ofthese monsters infest a single mine.

Profile: TommyknockersCorporeal: D:4d8, N:3d6, Q:2d6, S:4d8,



Sp:2d6Search 4d6, trackin’ 5d6, trade: minin’

4d6Pace: 6Size: 4Wind: 16Terror: 7Special Abilities:

Burrowing: Pace 8. A tommyknockerleaves no tunnel or evidence of itspassing when burrowing; it literallypasses through the earth. It canuse this to sneak up on prey.

Damage: Claws (STR+1d8)Disorient: A tommyknocker can

cause limited confusion in a victimby winning an opposed roll of itsSpirit versus the target’s Vigor. If itwins, the victim loses her sense ofdirection and may become lost inthe mine tunnels. This takes themonster an Action and lasts anumber of hours equal to theamount by which the victim lostthe contest.

Night Vision: The monster can seein total darkness as if it were fulldaylight.

Sabotage: The creature can damagemine equipment, supplies, andeven structure. Exactly how muchis up to the Marshal, but the largerthe destruction, the longer it takes.A cave-in, for example, usually

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requires a week or more of workon the monster’s part.

Weakness—Light: In any lightbrighter than a torch, thetommyknocker is –2 to all Traitand Aptitude rolls.

Description: Tommyknockers are 3’ tallhumanoids, with disproportionatelylarge heads. They walk perpetuallyhunched-over, perhaps due to theirsubterranean nature, perhaps due tothe weight of their enormous heads.Their skin is a mottled blackish-grayand their solid black eyes are as largeas saucers. Their hands have onlythree fingers each and these end inthick, claw-nails.

TrollsTrolls inhabit dark woods, hidden

mountain vales, or lair underneath old,forgotten bridges. They prey on lone orlost travelers, seeking to lead themeven further into trackless wildernessor to steal vital supplies, like water,food, or maps.

Trolls don’t attack humans until theyare bewildered and nearly exhausted.Better yet, the malevolent dwarves waituntil their intended victim passes outin exhaustion or even just beds downfor the night and take him unawares.And once a person falls into a troll’sclutches, he’s never heard from again.

These abominations are careful toremain hidden from their prey, stalkingtheir victims from the shadows of thewoods. They are responsible for manyso-called “haunted woods” and onlyvery few folks have ever seen one—orat least lived to tell about it. Because ofthis, a troll’s haunt often has a FearLevel one or two points higher than thesurrounding area.

Profile: TrollsCorporeal: D:3d10, N:4d8, Q:2d6, S:1d6,


brawlin’, knife 4d8, filchin’ 6d8, sneak7d8


Bluff 4d8, search 3d8, trackin’ 5d8Pace: 8Size: 4

Wind: 16Terror: 5Special Abilities:

Damage: Claw (STR+1d4). Trolls maketwo claw attacks each Action Card.

Illusion: Trolls can create simpleillusions. They’re limited to minoralterations of reality, like making arickety old bridge appear sound, orcreating a false trail into thewilderness.

Mimic: Trolls are able to mimic thesounds of nearly any creature froma specific human voice to a wolf’showl. A sharp cowpoke noticessomething “odd” about the sound ifhe makes an Incredible (11)Cognition roll.

Description: Trolls look like 4’ highhumans, but are very broad for theirheight. Their skin is a ruddy tan.Their faces appear almost stretched,drawing their eyes into narrow slitsand their mouths into a constantleer. Although their clawed fingersand toes look short and stubby,they’re very dexterous.

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DemonsFire-and-brimstone spouting circuit

preachers have regaled theircongregations with tales of terribledemons waiting to torment theirimmortal souls for decades now. Withthe rise of cults practicing real blackmagic, it’s not really a surprise that someof these “devil-worshippers” actuallysucceeded in summoning up a demon ortwo.

What most folks don’t know, ofcourse, is that these so-called demonsare really just another type of servant forthe Reckoners. Not wanting to let aprime source of fear go to waste, they’veincarnated some of the stereotypicalideas of Hell’s denizens into corporealform.

These beings are never released toroam the land at will. That’s totally outof character for a demon. Instead, thesemonsters answer the calls of unwittingcultists for power, and egg them on togreater and more horrific deeds in thename of the “Dark Master.” Seldom dothe cultists have an inkling that they arenothing but cogs in the Reckoners plans.

Summoning RitualsThere are more ways to “summon”

one of these abominations than there toskin a cat. The real thing that matters isthat the cultists or magician involvedtruly desire to call forth a being of Helland be willing to perform some terribledeed to do so. Often this takes the formof blood or even human sacrifice, but itvaries from cult to cult. These ritualsnearly always leave some evidence, andanyone examining a summoning site candetermine the magician’s intent on anOnerous (7) academia: occult roll.

Once summoned, the abomination isbound to the corporeal world, but not tothe whims of the magician or cult. Itmay pretend to be, but the creatureplaces ever-increasing demands on thecult, hoping to elevate the local area’sFear Level. When the chips are down,the monster cares nothing for its humanallies.

Using Demons inDeadlands

Demons draw much of their formfrom the concepts of the summoningcult or magician. As a result, they varygreatly in appearance, size, and power.Most conform very closely to thestandard depictions of demonic beingscommon to the more lurid religiousillustrations of the time.

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Virtually any sort of power isavailable to these monsters. However,due to the influence of commonbeliefs, they tend to stick close to thoseabilities most often associated withHellish inhabitants: strength, toughness,flame, poison, and the like. Fortunately,they also possess a number ofweaknesses as a result of their quasi-religious nature.

For obvious reasons, theseabominations are most frighteningwhen tied to an blatantly “Satanic” orotherwise religiously-oriented cult.Often the greater terror comes fromrealizing the depths of corruption towhich other humans have sunkthrough dealing with theseabominations.

Otherwise, they’re just big, toughmonsters. Below, we’ve presented acouple of demons, but these are by nomeans the only possible types. You canuse them as written or design yourown for your campaign.

Demons are seldom encountered ingroups; by virtue of their creation theyare almost always solitary entities.

If you’ve read the adventure Heart o’Darkness (part two of the Devils Towertrilogy) you’ve probably noticed theseare a bit different than the demons theReverend Grimme summoned up there.That’s because Grimme’s plan requiredweaker minions that his forces couldreadily defeat.

Profile: Typical DemonCorporeal: D:3d6, N:4d8, Q:3d8, S:5d12,



Sp:2d8Academia: occult 2d6, overawe 5d10,

ridicule 4d8, scrutinize 3d6Pace: 8Size: 10Wind: —Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Armor: 1Damage: Bite (STR+poison), claws

(STR+1d8)FearlessImmunity—Fire/Heat: Fire and

heat-based attacks do no damage

to demons. Dynamite and similarexplosions do half damage.

Immunity—Normal Attacks: Thedemon takes only half damagefrom all normal weapons.

Poison: Hard (9) TN. Success meansthe victim suffers an additional 1d6damage to the affected location.On a failure he takes 2d8 damageto the affected location and 2d8damage to the guts on thebeginning of the next round as theacidic poison moves through thevictim’s system.

Weaknesses: Silver weapons donormal damage to demons. Holywater splashed on them does 2d6damage to the affected location.Contact with any consecrated itemdoes 2d6 damage per round.Demons suffer –4 to all Trait andAptitude rolls on holy (sanctified)ground. Exorcism destroys them.

Description: These abominationsstand about 9 1/2’ tall and are verybroad shouldered. Their skin isusually a deep, almost blackish, redand their eyes are orange pools offlame. They have gaping maws filledwith shark-like teeth that drip anacidic venom. Their arms reach totheir knees and end in three-fingered claws, each the size of achild’s forearm. Their legs may have ascaly or coarse-haired covering, whiletheir feet may end in three-toed feetor bird-like claws.

Profile: Arch-DemonsCorporeal: D:2d8, N:3d10, Q:3d12,

S:5d12+4, V:4d12+2Fightin’: brawlin’ 6d10Mental: C:3d8, K:2d8, M:3d12+2, Sm:2d10,

Sp:3d12Academia: occult 5d8, overawe 6d12+2,

persuasion 4d12+2, ridicule 4d10,scrutinize 4d8

Pace: 10Size: 12Wind: —Terror: 11

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Special Abilities:Armor: 2Damage: Bite (STR+1d4), Claw

(STR+2d8), Hoof (STR)FearlessFiery Breath: Every other round,

the arch-demon can belch a goutof flame instead of making a biteattack on one of its actions. Thishas the same area of effect as aflamethrower and does 3d10damage.

Flaming Aura: The air around thearch-demon’s skin crackles withnearly invisible black flames. Anycowpoke in fightin’ combat with itmust roll a Hard (9) Vigor roll eachround. If she fails, she suffers thedifference in Wind.

Flight: Pace 20Immunity—Fire/Heat: Fire and

heat-based attacks (even magicalones) do no damage to arch-demons. Dynamite and similarexplosions do half damage.

Immunity—Normal Attacks: Thearch-demon takes no damage fromnormal attacks and weapons.Silvered weapons do half-damageto the monster. Magic and magicalweapons do affect the arch-demon.

Weaknesses: The arch-demon takes2d6 damage from holy watersplashed on it. Exorcism destroysthe monster and it suffers –4 to allTrait and Aptitude rolls on holy(sanctified) ground.

Coup: The Harrowed suffers onlyhalf damage from flame and heat-based attacks.

Description: These monsters standnearly 12’ high. Arch-demons haveenormous horns, bat-like wings,cloven hooves, and fang-filledmouths. Their voices rumble fromdeep within their chests like animpending volcanic eruption. Anarch-demon is the real deal-it shouldonly be found with the largest andmost powerful cults. This is the sortof horror that Mina Devlin or herWichita Witches might conjure up.

ModernHorrors

Legend aren’t the only source ofhorror in the Weird West. Whiletechnology has greatly improved thequality of life for many, mad sciencehas provided a dark flipside to all ofthat. Here are a few abominations ofsteam and steel teach your posse theprice progress.

AutomatonsAutomatons are one of the most

fearsome constructs to lumber from thelaboratories of Dr. Darius Hellstromme.These enormous, iron-platedmechanical men have seen muchaction battling gangs of other railbarons or guarding Hellstromme’sfacilities. They are usually encounteredin small groups of three to five,although lone automatons have beenencountered (on some sinister missionfor their amoral master, no doubt).

Currently, most automatons arecrafted individually, giving each of themetal monsters a unique appearance.All conform to roughly the same designspecifications, but there is sometimesvariation in their operation capabilities.Gear or piston-driven limbs areattached to a well-armored torsosection, housing ghost-rock boiler. Atopthe body, a metallic cylinder rests,housing the real secret of theautomatons’ design.

Many theories have been offered forthe automatons’ intelligence, rangingfrom complex clockwork to midgets inbattlesuits. The truth is far moresinister. Using a concoction stolen fromBaron LaCroix, Hellstromme has founda way to reanimate and implant undeadbrains into his steam-poweredmonstrosities. The undead mindprovides the automaton with the abilityto react to changing conditions thatwould completely befuddle a simpleclockwork mechanism. The wholenasty process is detailed in the City o’Gloom, if you don’t already have thatfine publication.

For obvious reasons, Hellstrommehas no desire to see the inner

Horrors 81

workings of his creations exposed. Tothat end, each automaton is wired witha powerful explosive that destroys thebrain and most of the device’s internalparts should the automaton be disabledin combat; these metal monsters neversurrender.

As an added bonus, the explosion ispowerful enough to injure — or evenkill — any opponents nearby.

Profile: AutomatonsCorporeal: D:2d6, N:2d4, Q:2d6, S:3d12,

V:2d12Fightin’: brawlin’ 5d4, shootin’:

automatics 5d6Mental: C:2d6, K:1d4, M:2d6, Sm:2d4,

Sp:1d4Overawe 4d6, search 4d6Pace: 4Size: 7Wind: 16Terror: 7Special Abilities:

Armor: 2Damage: Pincer claw (STR+1d6)FearlessGun Hands: Automatons have a

grasping claw in one hand and afull-sized Gatling gun in the other.If fully loaded, the automaton has60 rounds for the Gatling.

Immunity: Automatons areunaffected by Wind loss, physicalor emotional stress.

Self-Destruct: If an automatonreceives a Maiming wound to theguts or noggin, the thingimmediately explodes with theforce of a single stick of dynamite(3d20 damage, Burst Radius 10).The only way to stop thedetonation is to render the zombiebrain “unconscious.” Walkin’ deadusually don’t take Wind, so this isnearly impossible. However, certainmagical or mad science effectsmight short-circuit the brain.

Vulnerability: Only spells, hexes,miracles and the like that affectinanimate objects can target theautomaton’s frame. Soul blast onlyworks on animate objects, but thehex does affect an automaton ifthe caster targets the nogginspecifically at the appropriate

penalty. In that case, the hexignores the automaton’s armor.

Description: Automatons are roughlyhumanoid in shape, consisting of alarge torso (housing the ghost-rockboiler), piston-driven limbs and abrassy, cylindrical head. One armends in a pincer-like claw while theother terminates in a Gatling gunattached at the elbow.

ClockworkTarantulas

These are another of Hellstromme’sdevices designed to give his rail gangsan edge in a fight. Driven by a complexclockwork mechanism, the tarantulasare larger than the average dog andscuttle about on 8 gear-driven legs.

82 Marshal

The mechanical arachnids areterrifying opponents, made more so bythe potent acid that they can inject orspray at targets. Their metal platingmakes them somewhat resistant tonormal firearms and, just likeautomatons, these devices areabsolutely fearless.

Like automatons, the duplication ofthese machines is beyond the ken ofmost inventors, because Hellstrommehas combined black necromancy withmad science. However, clockworktarantulas don’t rate human brains;instead, they’re guided by reanimatedanimal brains.

Hellstromme guards the secret of thetarantulas’ control just a closely as thatof the automatons. However, instead ofimplanting an explosive, he uses themechanism’s own acid to dissolve itsbrain case should it ever beincapacitated.

Profile:Clockwork Tarantulas


Climbin’ 5d8, fightin’: brawlin’ 4d8,shootin’: acid 3d8, sneak 3d8


Search 3d6, trackin’ 3d6Pace: 8Size: 5Wind: 10Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Acidic Bite: STR. If the tarantulagets a raise against its opponent inhand-to-hand combat, it haspunctured his body with a pair ofmetal “fangs” and injects acid. Theacid does 4d8 damage to the rolledlocation on the round the hit tookplace. The acid continues to dodamage at the beginning ofsubsequent rounds as it spreadsthrough the victim’s system.Reduce the number of dice doneby one each round after the initial

hit (i.e., 3d8 on the first round, 2d8on the second, etc.). All damagedone after the initial bite is in theguts.

Acid Spray: The tarantula can useits “fangs” to spray acid a shortdistance. Spraying acid requires ashootin’: acid roll. When sprayed,the acid has a Range Increment 2,ROF 1, and does 4d8 damage. Usethe massive damage rules todistribute any wounds caused. Acidfired in this fashion does notcontinue to cause damage. Atarantula has enough acid for 12sprays or bites in its reservoir.

Armor: 1FearlessImmunity: Clockwork tarantulas are

unaffected by Wind loss, physicalor emotional stress.

Self-Destruct: If a tarantula’smechanism ever stops, it ventsacid from its reservoir into itsbrain case, destroying the secret ofits construction. The reservoiractually holds 13 shots, so thatthere’s always enough left for thisact. Anyone within 2 yards of thegizmo when this happens issplashed for 1d8 damage perremaining shot.

Vulnerability: Only spells, hexes,miracles and the like that affectinanimate objects can target thetarantula’s frame. Soul blast onlyworks on animate objects, but thehex does affect a tarantula if thecaster targets the nogginspecifically at the appropriatepenalty. In that case, the hexignores the mechanical creature’sarmor.

Wall-Crawling: Tarantulas canmove at their normal Pace up anysurface soft enough for them tosink their barbed legs into, i.e.most wood, trees, people, etc. Theycan even hang upside down from aceiling.

Description: Clockwork tarantulasstand about 3’ high and resembleenormous, mechanical versions oftheir namesakes. Eight gear-drivenlegs, each over a yard long, emergefrom the bulbous, armor-plated bodyhousing the clockwork gears thatdrive the machine. The head contains

Horrors 83

a set of sharpened, hollow tubes thatfunction as the mechanism’s primaryweapons, or “fangs.”

Doom CloudsThese strange abominations are only

formed when a large number of folksdie due to mad science’s latest weaponof mass destruction, poison gas. Eventhen—fortunately for the inhabitants ofthe Weird West—it’s a rare occurrence.These sentient, poison clouds are trulyone of the most efficient killingmachines spawned by the Reckoners.To date, only a few have been spawned,and most of those on the battlefieldsBack East.

Their gaseous nature makes doomclouds nearly impervious to attacks. Italso makes their own attack insidiouslyeffective—and deadly.

Strong winds can be devastating tothese creatures if they’re caught in theopen. To avoid being dissipated byweather phenomena, doom clouds stickto low ground, valleys, caves, and evenbuildings.

As these monsters are more productsof science than legend, academia: occultreveals nothing about doom clouds.However, since the cloud is based onchlorine gas, each success and raise ona Fair (5) science: chemistry roll exposesone of a doom cloud’s weaknesses.

Profile: Doom CloudsCorporeal: D:1d4, N:3d6, Q:2d6, S:1d4,

V:2d6Sneak 5d6Mental: C:2d6, K:1d6, M:1d4, Sm:2d8,

Sp:2d10Search 4d6Pace: 10Size: 10 (10’ in diameter)Wind: —Terror: 9 (once revealed)Special Abilities:

Gaseous Form: Doom clouds arenearly intangible, able to passthrough nearly any portal orwindow. Only an airtight seal stopsthese abominations.

FearlessFlying: Pace 10Immunity—Normal Damage: Due

to their gaseous nature, doomclouds are immune to all forms ofnormal damage. Non-area effectmagical attacks (soul blast, magicalor consecrated weapons) only dohalf damage.

Poisoned Air: A doom cloud attackssimply by moving itself on top of a

84 Marshal

victim; since it can alter its shape, itcan cover a good-sized area. Anycreature or hero caught inside mustmake a Hard (9) Vigor roll eachround she remains inside it. Successmeans the hero has managed tohold her breath and not catch alungful of the monster. Failuremeans her Vigor die is reduced astep. Once it reaches d4, shereduces the Coordination instead.As soon as the Vigor drops below1d4, the victim dies. Lost Vigorreturns at the rate of 1 die type orCoordination per minute after sheescapes the monster. An airtightgas mask completely negates thisattack.

Weaknesses: Weapons made ofpure iron (not steel) do normaldamage. Strong winds, natural orcreated with magics such assirocco, call weather, or deluge, do5d6 damage to a doom cloud eachround. Electrical-based attacks, likeblack lightnin’, lightning strike dodouble damage. An electro-staticgun does 1d6 real damage for eachcharge instead of Wind.

Description: In its natural form, adoom cloud is a 10’ diameter sphereof blood-red mist. However, it mayalter its form into nearly any othershape of equal or lesser volume bycompacting itself. A faint set ofmenacing, putrid green eyes can bespotted high in the cloud on a Fair(5) Cognition roll. The eyes are nearly1’ across each.

Patchwork ScienceNot all threats of the new science

come wrapped in steel and powered bysteam. It didn’t take long for madscientists to start experimenting withreanimation and grafting processes.But, for years, no one was able to bringget the parts to function as a whole-oreven by themselves. Then, along cameDr. Wilma Meister.

Meister figured out that by putting aportion of a single brain in each of theattached parts, reanimation was possible.What she didn’t know was that she wascreating a type of walkin’ dead that hasbrains everywhere in its body—not justthe head! Now, a small group of madscientists experiment with Meister’sfindings, creating amalgams of humanand animal parts.

Patchwork surgery is a branch ofmad science that, thankfully, isn’t toopopular in the current thought. That’sprobably because the idea of stitchingan assortment of parts and pieces to acorpse just strikes most folks thewrong way. Yeah, right—like there’s aright way for that to strike someone!

The whole story on patchworkscience is covered in the Lost Angelssourcebook, but here are a couple ofmonsters to get you twisted mindschurning, Marshal.

Dr. Meister wasn’t actually the first topioneer patchwork science, of course.Check out page 95 for the true modernPrometheus.

Patchwork MenMost mad scientists drawn to this

unsavory practice focus their endeavorson the human body. Patchwork men arelargely human in design and function,with a few “extras” thrown in everynow and then to make theminteresting.

Profile: Patchwork MenCorporeal: D:2d6, N:2d8, Q:3d8, S:2d10,

V:4d8Climbin’: 1d8, dodge 2d8, fightin’:

brawlin’ 3d8, shootin’: pistol, rifle,shotgun 2d6, sneak 3d8, swimmin’1d8



Damage: Bite (STR). Claws, extra-sharp teeth, horns, and the likeare added to some patchwork men,giving them a STR+2 damageattack.

Horrors 85

Enhanced Senses: Some patchworkhumans have animal sensoryorgans (ears, eyes, noses, etc.)attached to give them a +2 orhigher bonus to all related rolls—oreven entirely new senses (radar,sonar, etc.).

FearlessInfection: Sometimes a patchwork

scientist isn’t careful about wherehe “harvests” his materials. A fewpatchwork creations may carry anynumber of diseases in one or moreof their parts. If infected, thepatchwork can pass on the diseaseby winning an opposed test of itsSpirit vs. the victim’s Vigor.

Muscle Augments: Extra musclecan be added to patchwork men,boosting their Strength tosupernatural levels.

Undead: Focus—patchwork. Thecreature can only be killed if eachof its parts are maimed.

Description: Patchwork men areobviously artificial creations. Largesewing and grafting scars crisscrosstheir bodies and the abominationsoften have very non-human partsattached. They seldom display thedecay or other signs of death thatwalkin’ dead do.

Patchwork WaspIf patchwork men are the norm for

patchwork scientists, then this critter isprobably the far end of the patchworkscience spectrum. It’s design is sounusual—and disgusting—that mostmad scientists steer clear of it.However, it does serve as a goodexample of just how extreme apatchwork creation can get.

Although it uses mostly human partsfor its construction, this little horror isabout as alien as you can get. The coreof the body is a human head and torso.Attached to the torso like an insect’slegs are six arms, complete with hands.A small, hollowed-out cow’s horn onthe backside is the stinger, with extra,external human stomachs serving aspoison sacs. The wings are a disgustingmarvel of bio-construction, made fromhollow human forearm bones andthinly stretched human skin.

Profile: Patchwork WaspCorporeal: D:2d6, N:3d8, Q:2d10, S:2d6,



Sp:1d4Search 2d6Pace: 8Size: 4Wind: 8Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Bug Eyes: The wasp has a mass ofhuman eyes grafted into eachsocket, giving it a +4 bonus toavoid surprise.

Damage: Sting (STR+1d4+Poison).Flying: Pace 12.Poison: A cowpoke must make a

Hard (9) Vigor roll or be overcomeby the poison. Cowpokessuccumbing to the poison suffer2d6 Wind from the searing painand are paralyzed for 3d6 minutes.

Description: See above

86 Marshal

ParanoiaThere’s a good reason some folks in

1877 feel like their friends are beingreplaced—they are!

Distrust weakens a community,making it more susceptible to fear. Asense of conspiracy builds that distrust,especially if it involves figures ofauthority, or worse, loved ones. Theresulting isolation leaves everyone onhis own to face the unseen menace.The important thing to remember withthese abominations is that theReckoners don’t want them to replaceall the humans, just enough so thatpeople begin to suspect even theirclosest friends and loved ones.

Below, we’ve given you a fewcreatures specifically designed todestroy trust and confidence in acommunity—and even among themembers of a posse.

DoppelgangersA doppelganger is a malevolent

supernatural being that studies andthen impersonates a particular humanbeing. After a period of observation,lasting up to a month or more, thedoppelganger is able to nearly perfectlyduplicate the person’s actions andmannerisms.

However, the doppelganger seeks tospread discord and distrust. To that end,it twists its victim’s normal traits intocruel and evil actions. The abominationhas an uncanny sense of its victim’slocation at all times. It either precedesor follows its target and performs fouldeeds that are likely to get theunsuspecting cowpoke strung up whenhe arrives.

A doppelganger exactly duplicate’s itsvictim’s Traits and Aptitudes. If thehuman target has an arcanebackground, it instead uses black magicto replicate, in its own twisted way, theeffects the hero might produce. Forexample, a blessed’s doppelganger maycall down burning holy light (bolts o’doom) to consume a minor criminal—oreven an innocent!

After committing its crime, themonster usually flees the scene,leaving the unsuspecting hero to takethe blame. Only the doppelganger’starget can wound the creature; it mayfeign injuries from other attacks, but noone else can truly harm it—not evenwith magical means.

These abominations always choosewell-known or even famous people(renown 3 or higher), because thoseindividuals provide the greatest impacton society.

Note that the doppelganger thatreplaced Jefferson Davis is a unique and

Horrors 87

very powerful servant of the Reckoners.The abominations we’re talking abouther are far weaker and less concernedwith the “big picture.”

ReplicantsReplicants are a more dispassionate

and inhuman sower of discord. Theseabominations are actually a form ofintelligent plant life.

They begin as bulbous seed podsnearly 6’ in length. The pod forms apsychic connection with the nearesthuman mind and a replicant begins togrow within the pod. Initially, it is afeatureless humanoid, but when theprocess is complete, the replicant is aperfect physical copy of the victim. Theone difference is that replicants do notbleed—instead a whitish liquid leaksfrom deep wounds for a short period oftime.

Once the copy is complete, thereplicant must make physical contactwith its victim to gain access to hismemories and personality. To do so, ithas to touch its victim for 5 minutesand then win an opposed test of Spirit.The monster usually waits until thevictim is asleep to attempt this. Thecreature then kills its victim and placesthe body in its seed pod, which releasesa powerful acid destroying both thecadaver and itself.

This transfer must happen within 24hours or the abomination perishes,rapidly melting into a puddle ofgreenish goo.

Replicants are capable of mimickingtheir victims almost perfectly oncethey’ve siphoned their memories. Closefriends or relatives do notice a fewinconsistencies in the replicantsbehavior, however. Perhaps theabomination doesn’t hold its fork theright way or smiles just a little offkilter. Whatever the cues, they’re noteasy to notice even for loved ones, anda Hard (9) Cognition check is allowedonly once every day.

Fortunately, replicants reproduceslowly. Each abomination can produce anew seedpod each month. Thesemonsters are usually discovered longbefore they have the chance to overruna settlement—which is exactly what theReckoners want.

Profile: ReplicantsCorporeal: D:*, N:*, Q:*, S:*, V:3d10Prior to memory drain: Fightin’: brawlin’

4, sneak 4After drain, as original victimMental: C:3d/8, K:*, M:*, Sm:2d8, Sp:3d8After drain, as original victimPace: *Size: *Wind: —Terror: 7 (once revealed as replicant)Special Abilities:

Edges and Hindrances: Replicantsposses all physical Edges andHindrances of their victims. Theyalso possess knowledge of anymental or social Edges andHindrances. Note that some (outlaw,law man, and renown) remain ineffect, since the replicant becomesthe victim. Under no circumstancescan a replicant make use of anarcane background.

Emotionless: Although they canfake emotional responses,replicants have no true emotions.They are immune to all Aptitudes(ridicule, bluff, overawe, etc.) ormagic that influence emotions inanyway.

Fearless: Yeah, this is probablyobvious, but we just wanted to beclear about it.

Immunity: Replicants are immuneto Wind loss from any source. Theyhave no blood or other vital fluidsand do not experience mentalstress of any sort.

No Pain: Replicants do not feel pain.They ignore the first 2 levels ofwound modifiers. The remainingwound modifiers are actually dueto physical impairment fromdamage rather than pain.

*As original victim.Description: Replicants look and act

exactly like their victims. Closeacquaintances may be uncomfortablearound them after extended periods,but average observers can findnothing out of the ordinary.

88 Marshal

SkinwalkersBaron LaCroix, owner of the Bayou

Vermillion railroad, has formed astrange alliance with a number ofthese creatures and uses them for avariety of tasks, from spying toterrorism.

Skinwalkers are seldom seen in theirnatural form. They prefer to wear theskins of humans and hide amongmankind. Their skeleton is made of amutable cartilage-like substance andallows them to freely mimic any humanfrom the size of a twelve-year-old childto the largest of adults.

Since few people intentionally removetheir own outer flesh, skinwalkersusually have to take it from unwillingvictims. They are very talented at this,able to accomplish the complete andflawless skinning of an adult in lessthan five minutes. Their claws arenaturally suited for this task, and theyuse their coarse tongues to draw offthe blood from their victims as theyremove the skin. Being particularlymalicious creatures, they often try tokeep their victims alive for as long aspossible during this process.

Finally, the tongue possesses aproboscis-like cartilage tube that theyinsert through the base of the skulland use to devour the brain of thesubject. They are able to glean some ofthe subject’s memories by this process.Needless to say, this final step of theprocedure is invariably fatal.

A skinwalker can wear a skin forabout a month before decay makes itunusable. The hide can be usedindefinitely if the creature maintains itwith vinegar or formaldehyde. They canalso store skins for up to three monthsin solutions of either substance.

This preservative process gives theskin an odor, noticeable by anyone nearthe creature on an Onerous (7)Cognition roll. Also, anyone closelyexamining a skinwalker from behindmay notice a faint line or “seam” up theback on a Hard (9) Cognition roll.

Profile: SkinwalkersCorporeal: D:3d12, N:3d10, S:1d10, Q:3d8,

V:2d8Fightin’ brawlin’ 4d10, skinnin’ 6d12,


Sp:3d6Bluff 5d8, disguise 6d8, persuasion 3d8Pace: 10Size: 6Wind: —Terror: 9 (only without ‘skin’)·Special Abilities

Armor: 1 (only once ‘skin’ has beendestroyed).

Damage: Claws (STR+2d6), bite(STR+1d4).

Disguise: A skinwalker in“disguise” gives all scrutinize teststo detect it a –2.

Immunity: As long as a skinwalkerwears another’s skin, it isimpervious to physical harm. Oncea total of 30 points of damage hasbeen dealt to it, however, it sloughsoff the destroyed skin. This is ahorrifying site in itself, and anywitnesses must make anImpossible (11) guts check. Once itstrue form is exposed, it can beharmed by normal weapons.

Description: A skinwalker’s “skin-less” appearance is very similar to askinless human body. Long,retractable claws extend from theindex and middle fingers of eachhand and their tongues are roughand rasp-like.

GakiA gaki is a powerful abomination,

not a form of undead as legendsuggests. It does, however, have theability to turn itself into a tiger-likemonster or impersonate others. Thesemonsters are sometimes found nearisolated graveyards, as they aren’t abovegraverobbing to sate their hunger.

In its normal form, a gaki appearslike a decaying, emaciated corpse.However, it uses this form only tostartle its victims before attacking; dueto its shapechange abilities, it usuallychooses a normal human appearance.

The creature may hunt in animalform or use its disguise ability to lure

Horrors 89

in unsuspecting victims by appearingas an attractive member of theopposite sex. After it has feasted on avictim, it may use their appearance asa lure to capture others, but it has noknowledge of the person’s memories orpersonality. It can only mimic thephysical form.

A gaki is most likely to be foundeither in the Great Maze—especiallynear Shan Fan or Kwan Province—orplaguing Kang’s Iron Dragon railworkers. While most Westerners wouldno doubt be terrified by a shape-changing flesh-eater, legends of thiscreature are well-known only amongimmigrants from the other side of thePacific.

Profile: Gaki (Humanoid)Corporeal: D:2d6, N:2d8, Q:3d6, S:4d6,



Sp:2d10Bluff 3d6, performin’: actin’ 4d6, trackin’

3d10Pace: 8Size: 6Wind: —Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Damage: Claw (STR+1d4), bite (STR)Immunity—Normal Damage: The

gaki takes half damage fromnormal attacks.

FearlessRapid Healing: A gaki heals one

wound level in each hit locationevery hour. However, a maimingresult in the noggin or guts kills itand can not be regenerated in thisfashion.

Shapechange: The gaki can mimicanother human’s appearanceperfectly. It also can become amonstrous cat as detailed below.This takes an entire round toperform.

Weaknesses: A gaki takes fulldamage from a sword blessed by aShinto or Buddhist priest. A gakicannot enter sanctified ground,regardless of the religion.

Description: See above.

Profile: Gaki (Cat-Form)Corporeal: D:1d4, N:2d10, Q:2d12, S:3d12,


sneak 3d10, swimmin’ 1d10Mental: C:2d10, K:2d6, M:2d6, Sm:3d6,

Sp:2d10Overawe 4d6, trackin’ 2d6Pace: 18Size: 9Wind: —Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Damage: Bite (STR+1d6), claws(STR+1d8)

Immunity—Normal DamageFearlessRapid Healing: As above.Shapechange: As above.Weaknesses: As above. Also, gaki in

cat-form are vulnerable to sunlight,taking 4d6 massive damage eachround. They can avoid this byshapechanging to humanoid form.

Description: The cat-form resembles alarge, black-furred tiger.

90 Marshal

Were-SharksThe term “were-sharks” isn’t really

accurate, as these monsters have norelation to true sharks. However, sincethe abominations can freely changebetween a human form and a form ofcarnivorous marine life, we’ll overlookthe finer details.

In their humanoid form, were-sharksare, for all intents, normal humans. Ifyou use these monsters in yourcampaign, Marshal, you can either use ageneric profile for the human form orcreate more detailed write-ups of thealter-egos.

In their beast form, these creaturesstand almost 7’ tall and are covered witha gray, scaly hide. Thick webbingstretches between their clawed fingers

and toes, and a small dorsal ridgehunches out of their backs. Their eyesbecome solid black and their lips hardenover an abnormally wide mouth filledwith shark-like teeth. Rows of gillsappear on their throats, below theirreceded chins.

These abominations lurk in port cities,particularly in the Maze, and join shipcrews. Once the vessel is at sea (or deepwithin the Maze channels), they beginpreying on the crew. At least one shipplying the waters between Shan Fan andLost Angels (the Edward Fitzhugh) iscrewed entirely by were-sharks.

The profile below is for theabominations’ predatory form; otherwise,use a normal human profile.

Profile: Were-SharksCorporeal: D:2d4, N:3d10, Q:2d10, S:4d8,



Sp:2d6Guts 3d6, overawe 4d6, search 2d6,

trackin’ (in water) 5d6Pace: 10Size: 7Wind: 14Terror: 9Special Abilities:

Armor: -4 (light)Damage: Claw (STR+1d4), bite

(STR+1d6)Swimming: Pace 20


Normal CrittersHere are a few more normal varmints

to throw at your heroes. Combined withthe ones from the Marshal’s Handbookand Rascals, Varmints, & Critters, youshould be able to produce just aboutany common animal you need.

While many of the animals we’vepresented are horror or western cliches,you’ll notice pretty quick that a few ofthem are fairly exotic. Lions andgorillas aren’t exactly native to theAmerican West, but might show up asescapees from a zoo or circus. EdgarAllan Poe even used a orangutan in hisclassic Murders in the Rue Morgue!

Normal CrittersNormal CrittersNormal CrittersNormal CrittersNormal Critters

Critter D N Q S V C K M Sm Sp Pace Size WindBats 1d6 4d10 4d8 1d4 2d6 2d8 1d4 2d4 1d4 2d4 2/20* 2-3 10Special Abilities: *Flying: Pace 20 Night Vision: Through echolocation (sonar) bats can

navigate through even total darkness with no penalties. Swarm: Agitated bats may attack in aswarm. Every 10 bats does 1d6 damage. Terror: 3

Badger 1d6 3d8 3d8 1d6 2d8 1d4 1d4 2d6 1d4 2d8 8 3 16Special Abilities: Damage: Bite (STR), claws (STR+1d4) Stink: Badgers possess stink glands not

unlike a skunk, although a good deal weaker. If provoked, they may spray an attacker insteadof fighting, but this is rare. While the odor remains, all social-related skills are at –3. Thispenalty drops by –1 every 2 days.

Cat 1d4 2d10 2d10 2d4 2d6 2d6 1d4 2d4 2d4 1d6 10 2 16Note: Cats aren’t likely to attack a human. However, it’s a horror movie staple to have one of

these animals jump out during a tense moment.Gators 1d4 3d8 3d8 3d10 2d10 1d4 2d4 2d6 1d4 1d6 8/12* 8 16Fightin’: brawlin’3d8, sneak 2d8, overawe 3d6Special Abilities: Armor: –4 (light) Damage: Bite (STR+1d6). Once a gator gets a hold on a

victim, it doesn’t tend to let go. The victim can break free by winning a contest of Strength withthe gator. Otherwise, the gator automatically does bite damage on each of its actions.*Swimmin’: Pace 12. Tail: Opposed STR roll. If the gator wins, the target is knocked off her feetand stunned. The victim must make a Fair (5) Vigor roll to recover. This attack can only be usedagainst victims to the critter’s rear. Terror 5. Thick-skinned: Gators ignore 1 level of woundmodifiers.

Note: Normally found only in the Gulf Coast states of the Confederacy.Gorilla 2d6 3d8 2d8 3d12+2 4d8 2d6 1d6 1d8 1d6 2d8 8 7-8 16Climbin’ 2d8, fightin’: brawlin’ 3d8Note: Gorillas are virtually unknown in the Weird West. Only a very few know that such creatures

are animals and not some legendary creature. They are only found in truly exotic circuses orzoos and are likely to be mistaken for some new abomination.

Jaguars 1d4 3d10 2d12 4d6 2d8 2d8 1d4 1d8 1d4 2d4 20 6 14Climbin’ 4d10, fightin’: brawlin’ 4d10, sneak 5d10, overawe 2d8Special Abilities: Damage: Bite (STR), claw (STR+1d4)Note: Jaguars are found mainly in central Mexico and below, so posses south of the border might

run into them. They are either spotted or solid black. Solid black jaguars receive a +2 to sneakrolls after dark.

Lion 1d4 3d8 2d10 3d12 3d8 2d6 1d4 1d8 1d4 2d6 18 8 16Climbin’ 3d8, fightin’: brawlin’ 4d8, sneak 2d8, overawe 4d8, trackin’ 2d6Special Abilities: Damage: Bite (STR+1d6), claw (STR+1d8).Note: Lions are found in America only in circuses and zoos.Sharks 1d4 2d8 4d8 3d12 3d10 2d6 1d4 2d4 2d4 3d6 20 10 16Fightin’: brawlin’ 4d8Special Abilities: Armor: 1. Damage: Bite (STR+1d8). Terror: 5Note: Sharks are primarily saltwater fish, however, instances of shark attacks have occurred as

far as 15 miles upriver from the ocean.Rats 2d6 2d6 3d8 1d4 2d6 2d8 1d6 1d4 1d6 2d4 6 1-2 10Climbin’ 4d6, dodge 2d6, fightin’: brawlin’ 1d6, filchin’ 4d6, sneak 5d6, swimmin’ 1d6, search 3d6Special Abilities: Chisel Teeth: Given time, a rat can gnaw through just about anything—wood,

lead piping, and even concrete! Rat Horde: Rats can attack as a swarm (see page 31). Thehorde does 1d6 damage for every 5 rats in it.

Vulture 1d6 2d6 3d6 1d6 2d6 2d8 1d4 1d4 1d4 2d4 4/20* 3 10Fightin’: brawlin’ 1d6, search 3d8Special Abilities: Damage: Beak (STR), Flight: Pace 20

Well, that last chapter should havegiven you plenty to play with, Marshal.The monsters back there should beenough to keep any posse busy.

But maybe you’ve got a really toughbunch of trail pounders to deal with.They wade through devil bats,skinwalkers, vampires, werewolves,walkin’ dead like they were children ina school yard at recess, and you’reworried about what you can throw atthem to give them a real fight.

Fear not. We gotcha covered.Detailed on the next few pages are

some of the “big guns” of the WeirdWest. Many of these characters are goingto be familiar to you from works offiction. Others are found in the legendsof the Old West. Finally, there are five

special friends of ours that you’vealready met, but we’d like you to getto know just a little better.Virtually every one of these

characters and abominationspredates the Reckoning. Their curses

were bad enough to sustain them eventhroughout the long “dry spell o’ evil”before the Reckoning. Now, with theriver of fear flowing strong and deepagain, they’re even stronger!

Any one of these is going to be anextremely tough opponent for even anexperienced posse to defeat. Most ofthem have very specific weaknessesthat may—or may not—be apparent to agroup of players.

Although there certainly are braggingrights associated with being thegunslinger that took out Dracula, wecaution you to be careful when usingthese characters in your campaignMarshal. Many of them can makemincemeat of a company of TexasRangers!

Thaddeus and company saidnothing about the members of this

rogues’ gallery. That’s because mostfolks who run afoul of them don’t livelong enough to scream, much less

tell the tale!

Chapter Three:

LegendaryHorrors

94 Marshal

DraculaDracula’s history is pretty much the

stuff of legend nowadays—aTranslyvanian nobleman cursed to feedon the blood of the living. However, inthe Weird West Bram Stoker’s famousnovel won’t be written for anothercouple of decades. Only a few outsideof his home territory even suspect hemight be more than he seems—a rich,eccentric noble. The name CountDracula doesn’t strike fear into thehearts of all mortals in Deadlands. Atleast not yet.

Dracula, the most powerful vampirein existence, was once known as VladDracul, ruler of a small country inwhat is now Romania. Vlad, while amilitary genius, had a few unsavorypractices—among them a habit forsticking folks on huge sharpened posts,which gained him the nickname “theImpaler.” So brutal was he that hisactions resulted in his curse ofvampirism back in the 15th century—

when the manitous were still chainedin the Hunting Grounds. That’s apowerful lot of evil!

Now that the Reckoning has begun,Dracula is far more powerful than ever.Although his home is in the CarpathianMountains of eastern Europe, he doestravel from time to time. On suchjourneys, he takes several coffins, asmany as three “wives” (treat these ascinematic vampires, described earlier)and a loyal retainer or two who knowshis true nature. Dracula is old-bloodnobility and usually surrounds himselfwith accoutrements of his wealth.While encountering him on the highplains isn’t all that likely, his nibs couldeasily show up in any of the largercities of the Weird West, or Back East ifyour posse has headed there.

Dracula is not tied in any way to theReckoners (although his actionscertainly work well with their plans).The Count has his own agenda andplans.

It’s important to remember thatDracula has been around for over fourcenturies. In life, he was a plotter andschemer to do Machiavelli proud; inundeath, he’s much, much worse. Hehas wealth and social connections inaddition to his vampiric abilities. He’slikely to always be a step-or three-ahead of any hunters. Dracula is apowerful foe for any posse and shouldbe nearly undefeatable.

Profile: Count DraculaCorporeal: D:3d10, N:3d12+2, Q:3d12+6,

S:5d12+4, V:5d12+6Dodge 5d12+2, climbin’ 7d12+2, fightin’:

brawlin’, sword 8d12+2, sneak 8d12+2,teamster 3d12+2

Mental: C:4d12, K:3d12, M:3d12+4,Sm:3d10, Sp:4d12+4

Academia: history (Europe), occult 4d12,area knowledge (Europe) 4d12,disguise 3d12, language: English 2d12,language: Hungarian, Romanian 5d12,persuasion 5d12+4, professional:military 6d12, professional: politics:4d12, overawe 6d12+4, scrutinize 5d12,search 3d12

Pace: 14Size: 6Wind: 36Terror: 9 (once revealed)

Legendary Horrors 95

Special Abilities:Damage: Claws (STR+1d6). A raise

on a fightin’: brawlin’ attack allowsDracula to bite his victim for(STR+1d4) brawling damage.

Fog: Dracula can create a thick fogover an area roughly three miles indiameter. He, and anyone hechooses, can see normally withinit. All others can only see 5 yardsand suffer a –4 to ranged attacks.The fog takes about 5 minutes torise and lasts for an hour and ahalf.

Hypnotic Gaze: Dracula cancommand a victim to do hisbidding by winning an opposedcontest of Spirit. If he gets a raiseon the roll, he can order them tocommit even obviously harmfulacts. This takes an Action Card toactivate and Dracula mustmaintain concentration to exert hiswill on the victim. Dracula gains a+4 on his Spirit roll whenattempting control other vampires.

Infection: Anyone who has taken atleast one wound from Dracula’sbite can sense his general location,no matter the distance betweenthem. Anyone slain by Dracula’sbite arises in 3 nights as either anosferatu or cinematic vampire. Hehas full control of these lesservampires—although you may wantto allow player characters a chanceto resist, Marshal. See Chapter Fourfor some very special rules on howto handle this.

Mist Form: Dracula can changehimself to or from a mist in asingle Action. While in mist form,only area-effect attacks (explosions,large fires, sunlight) can harm him.He cannot fly in this form, but cancreep into anything not airtight.

Regeneration: Every six points ofWind Dracula drains completelyheals one wounded location he’ssuffered.

Shapechange: Dracula can assumethe form of a massive bat (Size 3)or wolf. Use the appropriate animalprofile, but increase the CorporealTraits by 2 die types, while Draculamaintains his own Mental Traits.Either change requires 1 ActionCard to perform.

Summon Swarm: Dracula cansummon an enormous horde oflesser creatures (bats, rats, etc.) tofight on his behalf by spending 2Action Cards. Afterwards, thecreatures attack his opponents aslong as he concentrates.

Weaknesses: Wood, garlic, holywater, roses, sunlight. Garlic androses repel Dracula—he must makean Incredible (11) Spirit roll tobypass them. Driving a stakethrough his heart paralyzesDracula until it’s removed. Holywater does 2d6 damage whensplashed on him. Sunlight does 3d6massive damage to him.

Undead: Focus—heart (special). Theonly way to truly kill Dracula is todrive a stake through his heart,behead him, stuff his mouth fullof garlic and expose his remains tothe noonday sun. Anything lessmerely temporarily defeats him.

Coup: The Harrowed gains theability to hypnotize living humanswith his gaze. He must make eyecontact and win an opposed testof Spirit with his victim for it to beeffective. If successful, the victimstares blankly into the hero’s eyes,unaware of his surroundings. Shemay attempt to break the gaze bywinning another opposed Spirittest, but she can only do so at thebeginning of each subsequentround. The hero may maintain thepower and still take simple actionsthat don’t cause him to break eyecontact with the victim.

Description: Dracula normally appearsas a tall, dark-haired man withstrong facial features, a highforehead, and thick eyebrows. Hishands are broad, with thick fingers.The nails are cut to a sharp pointand he has hair on his palms. Hisskin is always pale and he prefersrefined, black clothing. Like manyvampires, he casts no reflection inmirrors and despises garlic.

96 Marshal

El DiabloNegro

According to legend, El Diablo Negrois a huge, coal-black, carnivorous horse.His territory is said to run from theSioux Nations deep into Mexico, buthe’s usually reported in the westernConfederacy or northern Mexico.

El Diablo Negro isn’t truly a horse,any more than los diablos are Texaslonghorns. He’s one of the morepowerful servants of the Reckoners, amonster wearing the shape of a horse.

The legends are true about onething—El Diablo Negro is a carnivore.Anything that moves is fair game forthis abomination, but he favors horsemeat and human flesh to all others. Heoften attacks outlying homes or smallranches, killing and devouringeverything he can sink his teeth into.

El Diablo Negro occasionally huntsdown heroes who’ve been toosuccessful in battling the minions ofthe Reckoners. When he does so, he isalways accompanied by El Diablo Rojo.

Profile: El Diablo NegroCorporeal: D:1d4, N:3d12+2, Q:3d12,

S:4d12+8, V:3d12+2Dodge 2d12+2, fightin’: brawlin’ 4d12+2,

sneak 3d12+2, swimmin’ 4d12+2Mental: C:3d10, K:2d6, M:2d10, Sm:3d8,

Sp:2d8Overawe 4d10, search 4d10, trackin’ 3d10Pace: 28Size: 11Wind: 16Terror: 11Special Abilities:

Armor: 2. A combination of thickhide and the supernatural protectEl Diablo Negro.

Damage: Hoof (STR+2d8, AP 1), bite(STR+1d4).

Keen Senses: El Diablo Negro’sCognition roll to avoid surprise isalways Fair (5) or better. He gains a+2 to all search and trackin’ rolls to

find humans. He can equally wellin full daylight or pitch darkness.

Whinny: When El Diablo Negro letsloose his shrieking whinny, allnormal animals automatically failthe guts check against his Terrorscore. For most, this means thecreatures flee at maximum pace inthe opposite direction. However, hecan paralyze horses with fear. Ittakes El Diablo Negroone ActionCard to whinny, and the creaturecan do it once per round

Coup: Any horse ridden by theHarrowed gains a Pace 28. However,it also picks up a taste for meat—fresh or otherwise!

Description: El Diablo Negro appears asa large, black horse the size of thelargest Clydesdale. His eyes gleamwith a faint red light in twilight ordarker. His mouth is more like that ofa wolf, stretching the length of hisjaw and filled with large canine fangs.His hooves are as hard as iron and assharp as axe blades.

El Diablo RojoEl Diablo Rojo was once a powerful

Apache shaman in northern Mexico.After his entire tribe was hunted downand killed by Mexican soldiers, heforswore his humanity and sought thepower for vengeance. The Reckonerswere all too glad to oblige.

El Diablo Rojo is now a powerfulblack magician who stalks themountains of northern Mexico and thewestern Confederacy. Recently, hesomehow forged a bond with themonster El Diablo Negro and the twoare now among the favorite“troubleshooters” of the Reckoners.

The Apache sorcerer wears onlyknee-high moccasins, a tan loincloth,headband and a set of laced-bone chestarmor. He is always armed with anumber of weapons and often keeps astring of scalps on his belt.

Through his sorceries, El Diablo Rojois able to communicate with the devilhorse. The abomination even allows theApache to ride him when necessary.This comes in handy when the two areovermatched. Both are more thanwilling to flee and strike again laterfrom ambush


Although El Diablo Rojo despisesMexicans and kills them on sight, nohuman is safe from attack. Worse yet,he’s picked up some of his monstrouscompanion’s bad habits, taking upcannibalism in addition to his otherpractices.

Fortunately for normal folks in thearea, the two are so tied to theReckoners’ whim that they have littletime anymore for simple slaughter anddepradation.

Profile: El Diablo RojoCorporeal: D:2d10, N:1d8, Q:4d10, S:3d6,

V:3d8Bow 4d10, climbin’ 4d8, fightin’: brawlin’,

knife, tomahawk 5d8, filchin’ 3d8,horse ridin’ 4d8 shootin’: rifle 4d10,sneak 7d10, swimmin’ 2d8, throwin’:balanced 4d10


Academia: occult 4d6, area knowledge:northern Mexico, westernConfederacy 6d6, faith: black magic5d10, overawe 4d8, scrutinize 3d8,search 4d8, survival: desert, mountain6d8, trackin’ 5d8

Pace: 8Size: 6Wind: 18Edges: Keen 2, level-headed 5, sand 2,

thick-skinned 3Hindrances: Bloodthirsty –2, enemy

(Mexicans) –3, mean as a rattler –2,vengeful –3

Special Abilities:Armor: –2 (bone ceremonial chest

armor). This may be increased byblack magic, however—see below.

Black Magic: Cloak o’ evil 3 (blurredheat waves or shadow), darkprotection 2 (bone chest plate),forewarnin’ 2 (human entrails, sandpictures), scrye 3 (eyeballs and aclear puddle), stormcall 2(sandstorm), stun 2 (poisoned knife)

Pact: El Diablo Rojo can communicatewith El Diablo Negro on a telepathiclevel. The two always know whatthe other is doing.

Gear: Ceremonial chest armor, bigknife (STR+1d6), stone tomahawk(STR+2d6), Winchester ’76, 25bullets, various ceremonialtrappings.

Description: El Diablo Rojo is a darkly-tanned and aging Apache with longwhite hair. His contempt for allhumanity is obvious in thepermanent scowl on his wrinkledface.

VictorFrankenstein

Frankenstein and his experimentspredate the Weird West by nearly acentury. However, since we’ve alreadyrewritten a fair portion of history,there’s no reason to not move him andhis ghoulish creation forward so youcan use them in your campaign,Marshal.

Victor Frankenstein is a Swiss-bornmad scientist specializing in the studyof life and death. He’s one of the fewresearchers to successfully bring acorpse back to life, although, as mosteveryone nowadays knows, not withthe results he’d hoped for.

Using parts purloined from localgraveyards, Victor fulfilled his scientificdream. He created a man and gave hiscreation life.

But something went wrong. Ratherthan the perfect specimen he hadaimed for, his creation was twisted andfreakish, a parody of humanity. WhenVictor refused to create a companionfor the monster to share its existencewith, it killed his bride, Elizabeth, ontheir wedding night. Since that time,the two—man and monster—havehunted each other across severalcontinents—including North America.

Victor’s desire to destroy the monsteroverrides any other consideration forhim. Other people are merely tools inthis pursuit. The monster, in turn, won’thesitate to kill anyone who it thinks isallied with its despised creator.

Although Victor is a mad scientist,his creations are limited to experimenton the nature of life and death.

98 Marshal

Profile: VictorFrankenstein


Fightin’: sword 2d6, ridin’: horse 4d6,shootin’: pistol, rifle 3d8


Academia: history 3d12, academia: occult2d12, language: French, German 4d12,language: English, Latin 2d12, madscience 6d12, medicine: surgery 6d12,persuasion: 4d8, science: alchemy,chemistry 4d12, science: anthropology2d12, science: biology 5d12, scroungin’3d10

Pace: 6Size: 6Wind: 18Edges: Arcane background: mad science

3, brave 2, nerves o’ steel 1Hindrances: Big britches –2, enemy

(Adam) –4, yearnin’ (destroy hismonster) –4

Description: Victor is a brown-hairedman in early middle age. He ishandsome, but not extraordinarily so,and he dresses in the most currentfashions. However, when consumed byhis quest (which is nearly always), hishair may be unkempt and his eyesshow an almost irrational andfanatical gleam.

Frankenstein’sMonster

The monster itself is an odd amalgamof mad science and undeath. AlthoughVictor’s experiments brought thecreature to life, it is sustained by anunholy tie to its maker.

Victor’s monster has suffered theprejudices of all humans because of itshorrific appearance. Because of that, itholds humanity in general in contempt.However, the creature holds an all-consuming hatred for its creator—theone who saddled its unwanted secondlife upon it.

The creature is not an unthinking evilbrute contrary to some depictions, andcan both read and write. After readingMilton’s Paradise Lost, the monster hasbegun to liken itself to a modern-dayAdam with Frankenstein as its unlovingcreator.

Profile: Frankenstein’sMonster (Adam)

Corporeal: D:2d4, N:3d6, Q:3d6, S:6d12+6,V:4d12+8

Climbin’ 4d6, fightin’: brawlin’ 5d6, sneak6d6



Survival: mountains, arctic 5d6, trackin’5d6


Berserk: If Adam is wounded in afight he automatically goes berserk.He gets two fightin’: brawlin’attacks each round, but nodefensive bonus for his own fightin’levels. He also gains a bonus of +1d4to his damage rolls equal to hishighest current wound level.

Creator Bond: Adam has asupernatural homing sense forVictor, no matter how great adistance separates the two.

Strangle: The monster’s incrediblestrength allow it to crush itsvictims’ throats. With a raise on afightin’: brawlin’ attack, the monstergrabs its opponent’s neck andbegins to strangle. Roll an opposedtest of the creature’s Strength vs. itsopponent’s Vigor; the victim suffersthe difference in Wind. Should thevictim go bust on this roll, her neckis broken and she dies instantly.Only a successful opposed test ofStrength allows a victim to breakfree from the monster.

Undead: Focus—Victor Frankenstein.In a doubly ironic twist of fate, aslong as Frankenstein lives, Adamwill return to hunt him. ShouldAdam succeed in killing Victor, hedies as well.

Weakness—Fire: Fire does no extradamage to him, but Adam isterrified of it and seeks to escapeopen flame at any cost. If there isno route open for him, he goesberserk as above.

Coup: Ending the monster’s existenceraises the Harrowed’s Strength bytwo die types. However, it lowers hisKnowledge by one.

Description: Frankenstein chose the“best” parts for his creation, hoping tobuild a beautiful artificial specimen.Unfortunately, the sum of the partsturned out to be greater than thewhole. Stitching scars mar much ofthe creature’s body. Its eyes are glazed

and yellowish, while its skin has apasty pallor. Once beautiful featuresare contorted into a rictus of death byfaulty facial muscles.

Hangin’ JudgesMarshal, you probably remember the

hangin’ judges we presented in theMarshal’s Handbook—at least we hopeso, because they’re one of our favoriteabominations. In that book, we gaveyou a standard profile to use for allhangin’ judges because space preventedus from giving each of one of theabominations his own write-up.

Well, now we’ve got the space, sohere they are. With the added detail, thejudges form a cabal of powerful foesworthy of a campaign to defeat!

As you no doubt remember, thehangin’ judges started out as fivecorrupt Confederate judges whohatched a scheme to make a land graband ruin their enemies along theChisolm Trail back in the 1860s. Thejudges schemes were uncovered andthey were each hunted down andlynched by angry mobs of Texans. Theyrose as horrific abominations, and stalkthe Chisolm to this day. That’s the gistof how things went, but if you read theindividual judge’s descriptions carefully,you can get a little more insight intoexactly how they hatched their scheme.

You’ll notice the judges below areeven tougher than the ones detailed inthe Marshal’s Handbook. Additionally,although the only way to destroy ahangin’ judge is still a good oldlynching, each one has his own specialweakness, so a posse that discoversone judge’s Achilles’ heel doesn’t havethe inside track on wiping out all ofthem. A diligent posse that does a lotof research into the judges’ historyshould discover clues pointing them atthe particular weaknesses of eachabomination (the finer points of eachone’s hanging requirements, forexample).

100 Marshal

We’ve also given each one individualpowers more in line with the originalcircuit judge’s personalities to furtherconfound posses. Each judge nowconveys its own coup power. That way, aHarrowed who takes it on himself tocleanse the Chisolm Trail of thesemonsters doesn’t end up with five pairsof the judges’ signature weapon. Theweapons of those with new couppowers fade away within hours of theirdefeat. Or, if you’ve got a trophy-huntingparty, Marshal, you might want to letthem decay into corroded, useless lumpsof metal so the heroes have a souvenir.

Without further ado, here are thefive chief justices of Hell on earth, thehangin’ judges.

Lower Court JudgesIf you want to continue to use the

judges as described in the Marshal’sHandbook, by all means do so, butwe’ve provided you with an alternativeso those sets of statistics aren’t wasted.The ringleader of the original judge’sscheme, Hiram Jackson has the ability tocreate lesser judges. So those nastyrascals still can come in handy. Read onto find out more about that.

Hiram JacksonJackson was the ringleader for the

whole scheme. He was the first to seethe potential represented by theChisolm Trail and lust for a way to gethis hands around it. Unfortunately, helacked the charisma and legalknowledge to accomplish it.

However, what talents he lacked, hemade up for with his keen sense ofhuman nature and organizational skills.He simply kept an eye out for readilycorruptible peers with the abilities heneeded. Jackson soon found just theright mix to pull off his scheme: CyrusCall for popular support, Luther Kirbyfor legal know-how, Moses Moore forrespectability, and Marcus Lafayette forbrute force.

Jackson was the true power behindthe original plan, although no onerealized it until the very end. As ahangin’ judge, he is the most cautiousand scheming—in many ways the mostdangerous, even though he lacks someof the formidable powers available tothe other abominations.

Jackson holds law-abiding folk inparticular contempt. Being an honestlawmen (Marshal’s call on this one) isalways a hanging offense in his “court.”

Profile: Hiram JacksonCorporeal: D:2d10, N:2d8, Q:2d12, S:3d12,

V:2d8Shootin’: pistol 5d10, fightin’: scythe 5d8,

horse ridin’ 3d8, sneak 3d8Mental: C:4d12+2, K:3d6, M:4d12,

Sm:3d10, Sp:2d10Area knowledge: Chisolm Trail 3d6,

overawe 5d12, scrutinize 4d12+2,search 6d12+2, trackin’ 5d12+2

Pace: 8Size: 6Wind: —Terror: 11Special Abilities:

Damage: Two Single-Action ArmyRevolvers (3d6). These reloadthemselves 1 round after they’reempty. Scythes extend from theend of the pistols, which thejudges can use in fightin’ combatfor (STR+2d6) damage.

FearlessImmunity—Normal Weapons:

Stringing Jackson up sends him toBoot Hill, but a legitimate judgemust preside over the hanging.Bullets fired from a real lawman’sgun can put him down—but onlyfor a single night.

Recruit: Once a month, Jackson cancreate a lesser hangin’ judge if hegets his hands on a dishonest(Marshal’s call) attorney, judge orlawman. This takes a night—and ahanging—to accomplish, but notconsent.

Ringleader: Jackson can summonany of the other hangin’ judges(lesser or superior) to his side.Regardless of the distance, itarrives the next night. However, hecan only summon one at a time.


Coup: The Harrowed gains thepower to command walkin’ dead—to an extent. He must win anopposed contest of Spirit with theabomination and maintainconcentration (i.e., only take simpleactions) while doing so. He canonly control one walkin’ dead at atime and must be able to see andcommunicate with the zombie atall times.

Description: Jackson dresses in acompletely black outfit, including thehood shrouding his features.

Cyrus CallCyrus Call’s claim to fame was as a

demagogue. He was the glue that heldthe group of crooked judges together inlife and Jackson’s first accomplice.

Call had a knack for stirring upotherwise decent folk into an angrylynch mob. He used his rabble-rousingabilities to remove landowners that thejudges knew would never be convictedin a court. His persuasive nature hasfollowed him to the Netherworld,allowing him to call forth his own mobof undead to back his plays.

Whenever possible, Call preferred tosee cases “settled” before trial. In hisopinion, if a man wasn’t guilty, hewouldn’t have been arrested in the firstplace. Any cowpoke with the outlaw

Hindrance, no matter how low the level,gets himself a sentence of “hangeduntil dead” from Call.

Profile: Cyrus CallCorporeal: D:2d10, N:2d8, Q:3d10, S:2d12,

V:2d8Shootin’: shotgun 5d10, horse ridin’ 3d8,

sneak 3d8Mental: C:2d10, K:3d6, M:4d12+2, Sm:3d6,

Sp:2d8Area knowledge: Chisolm Trail 3d6,

overawe 7d12+2, persuasion 6d12+2,ridicule 5d6, scrutinize 2d10, search6d10, trackin’ 5d10


Damage: Scattergun (1-6d6). Thissawed-off double barrel reloadsitself in a single Action Card.

FearlessImmunity—Normal Weapons: If a

group of heroes outnumbers Calland his “lynch mob” (see below) byat least two-to-one, the cowpokewith the highest Mien die type canaffect him with normal weapons—even to the extent of killing him fora single night. The next night,though, he’s gunning for the“opposition leader.” The only way to

102 Marshal

put Call for good is to hang ‘im highwith at least four folks present.

Mob Justice: Call never goes into afight outnumbered. He is alwaysaccompanied by twice as manyveteran walkin’ dead (see theMarshal’s Handbook) as there areheroes. He can also raise thosekilled by himself or his “mob” aswalkin’ dead, although this takesan Action Card per zombie raised.

Coup: The Harrowed gains theunholy host ability at level 1. If thehero already has that power, raiseit a level. If the power is already atlevel 5, raise the Harrowed’s Miendie type by one level instead.

Description: Call wears an impressiveblack cloak over his features. Hisvoice is deep and rumbling—even fora hangin’ judge

Luther KirbyLuther Kirby was the judge

responsible for the legal shenanigansthe group undertook. He spent monthspouring over Texas legal code lookingfor a loophole that would allow thejudges to seize the valuable land alongthe Chisolm Trail.

He discovered that the judges hadreasonable precedent to seize the landsof executed criminals under a statereceivership until they could be offeredfor public sale. “Public sale” meantpurchase by the judges themselves forless than a penny an acre.

His letter-of-the-law approachhinders him in his incarnation as anabomination. He doesn’t pursue victimsover what his twisted mind perceivesas “jurisdictional boundaries” in thecourse of a single evening. A hero canshake his pursuit by crossing a countyline or running water (a commonproperty line marker in the Weird West),but only for that night. The nextevening, he appears within the same“jurisdiction” as his victim.

Being an attorney or judge is alwaysa hanging offense in Kirby’s court.

Profile: Luther KirbyCorporeal: D:2d10, N:2d8, Q:2d12, S:3d12,

V:2d8Shootin’: pistol 5d10, fightin’: scythe 4d8,

horse ridin’ 2d8, sneak 2d8Mental: C:2d8, K:2d12+2, M:2d12, Sm:3d10,

Sp:2d8Area knowledge: Chisolm Trail 4d12+2,

overawe 3d12, professional: law6d12+2, scrutinize 2d8, search 3d8,trackin’ 4d8


Damage: Two Single-Action ArmyRevolvers (3d6). These reloadthemselves 1 round after they’reempty. Scythes extend from theend of the pistols, which thejudges can use in fightin’ combatfor (STR+2d6) damage.

FearlessRestraining Order: Kirby can

impose a “restraining order” by


winning an opposed contest ofSpirit against a victim within 10yards. If the victim loses, he can’tmove from that spot until he winsanother test of Spirit, which hecan attempt on each of his ActionCards.

Immunity—Normal Weapons:Hanging destroys Kirby for good,but only if a hero makes a Hard (9)professional: law roll prior to theevent. Other than that onlycrossing “jurisdictions” or beatinghim in an opposed contest ofprofessional: law can shake himfrom a victim’s trail for a night.The next sundown he’s back onhis victim’s trail, however.

Coup: The Harrowed gains theability to open handcuffs, jail cells,and the like, as long as they areused to restrain him. He can’tsimply open a cell and free acompanion unless he’s locked upas well. This takes the Harrowedan Action Card to perform. Honestlawmen and attorneys react to theHarrowed at –2, however, becausehe seems “slippery.”

Description: Kirby is the shortest ofthe judges and wears a dark brown,shoulder-length cowl to cover hishead.

Moses MooreMoses Moore was a snake-in-the-

grass Confederate guerrilla up inMissouri and Kansas for the early yearsof the war, but after he made a nameas a “war-hero,” he headed down toTexas to cash in on his fame. Hequickly secured a judgeship and setabout finagling that into as muchpower and money as possible.

When Hiram Jackson approached himwith the scheme, he immediatelyrealized the potential. After all, he’dspent enough time in Kansas to realizethe money to be made moving cattleinto the Disputed Lands for resale toNortherners. Jackson, on the otherhand, wanted the “respectability”Moore’s name would bring to his group.

An expert cavalryman before evertaking up a judge’s gavel, Moore is themost dangerous gunfighter of the five.

Moore always considers allNortherners, even deserters, capitalcriminals. Southerners consorting withNortherners are just as bad to Moore.

Profile: Moses MooreCorporeal: D:2d12+2, N:2d8, Q:3d12+2,

S:3d12, V:2d8Quick draw 5d12+2, shootin’: pistol

6d12+2, fightin’: scythe 5d8, horseridin’ 6d8, sneak 3d8


Area knowledge: Chisolm Trail 3d6,overawe 5d12. scrutinize 2d10, search6d10, trackin’ 5d10

Pace: 8Size: 6Wind: —Terror: 11

104 Marshal

Special Abilities:Damage: Two Single-Action Army

Revolvers (3d6). These reloadthemselves 1 round after they’reempty. Scythes extend from theend of the pistols, which thejudges can use in fightin’ combatfor (STR+2d6) damage.

FearlessHorseman: Moore’s mount, a night-

black stallion, cannot be harmedwhile he’s on it. It has a Pace 28while he’s riding and he suffers nomovement penalties to his attackson horseback.

Immunity—Normal Weapons: Theonly way to destroy Moore for goodis to hang him by pulling a horseout from under him. Bullets from afirearm manufactured in the Union(including the ammunition)wielded by a U.S. (not Confederate)citizen can wound and even “kill”Moore—for a single night. Hereturns the next evening to huntdown his “killer.”

Coup: The Harrowed gains Moore’stwin, auto-loading pistols. Theyvanish in the hands of the living,however.

Description: Moore wears an old,dusty Confederate uniform. A hooddrapes over his head, hat and all,hiding his features in shadow. Herides a dark gray stallion.

Marcus LafayetteMarcus Lafayette got his start as a

bad-tempered rancher in central Texas.Lafayette fenced any land he laid claimto—legal or not—and dared trespassersto set foot on it. He had a reputation forrapacious land-greed and a rage like aprairie thunderstorm when balked bysmaller landowners. The rancher oncebeat a cow to death in a fit of anger.

His influence and power in that regionwas so great that the other four judgesdecided not to risk a fight with thecattleman. Instead, they conspired tobring him into their fold. With Jackson’s

influence and Kirby’s legal fancy-footwork, Lafayette was appointed acircuit judge in a matter of weeks.

Lafayette’s legal knowledge wassadly lacking, but he served the groupprimarily as an enforcer. Word had it noman had ever stood up to Lafayette in afair fight—or at least not for long—andmost folks didn’t think to question hisdecisions for fear of his anger.

He always considers any rancher orcowboy a rustler or horse thief—ahanging offense, of course.

Profile: Marcus LafayetteCorporeal: D:2d8, N:2d12, Q:2d10,

S:4d12+2, V:2d20Shootin’: pistol 5d8, fightin’: brawlin’

5d12, horse ridin’ 3d8, sneak 3d8Mental: C:2d8, K:2d6, M:4d12, Sm:2d6,

Sp:2d8Area knowledge: Chisolm Trail 3d6,

overawe 5d12. scrutinize 2d8, search4d8, trackin’ 5d8


Berserk: As soon as anyone takes ashot at Lafayette, or even justquestions his “authority” he goesinsane with rage, raising hisCorporeal Traits by a level andreducing his Mental ones exceptMien and Spirit, by the sameamount. He makes two fightin’attacks each action if an opponentis in range and charges them ifnot. He can fire his pistols whilecharging.

Damage: Two Single-Action ArmyRevolvers (3d6). These reloadthemselves 1 round after they’reempty. Lafayette’s six-shootersdon’t have the standard scythes onthem. Instead, this burlyabomination carries an axe-handlewrapped with unnaturally bigbarbed wire (STR+2d8, DB +1).

FearlessImmunity—Normal Weapons:

Stretching his neck with a noose ofbarbed wire ends Lafayette’s reignof terror for good. Shooting orotherwise attacking him directlyfrom behind does normal damage

Legendary Horrors105

and can put him down—for a singlenight. It’s the Marshal’s call as towhat is “directly behind” him or not.The judge comes back the nextnight gunning for his “murderer.”

Coup: The Harrowed gains theberserk power at level 1, or, if shealready has the power, raises it bya level. If she’s at level 5, raise herStrength by a die type instead.

Description: Lafayette is the largest ofthe judges, standing nearly 7’ tall,and carries his wire-covered club inone hand.

Joaquin MurietaAccording to legend, Joaquin Murieta

came to California with his young wifeRosalita hoping to strike it rich in thegold rush of the late 1840s. Theterritory was ceded to the U.S. in 1848and the U.S. government passed a lawin less than two years that made itvirtually illegal for Mexicans to minegold in the region. Joaquin, however,filed for all the legal paperwork heneeded to stake a claim and he andRosalita set up a small homestead.

That wasn’t good enough for otherminers in the region who felt he wassomehow “stealing” their rightful bounty.They beat him into unconsciousness,raped and killed his wife, and later, afterwhipping Joaquin to death’s door, hunghis brother in front of him. Needless tosay, this got Joaquin riled.

He rounded up a band of other angryMexicans and a few bandits from theU.S. and started a reign of bloody terrorin southern California. Many of thepoorer workers saw Joaquin and hisband as a modern day Robin Hood, butthe California government had adifferent opinion. Especially sinceJoaquin and his band were rumored tohave murdered over 300 men.

Captain Harry Love led a band ofCalifornia lawmen against Joaquin andhis band. They surprised the banditleader away from camp one day withonly a few men and quickly dispatchedthe group. To prove he’d baggedJoaquin—and to claim the $1000 rewardoffered by the California governor—Lovechopped off the bandit’s head andreturned it to the governor.

Unfortunately for folks in the Mazeand the rest of the Southwest, Joaquin’scome back looking for his missinghead. He appears near mining camps,asking for his head. If no one producesit (which hasn’t happened yet), he“liberates” the heads of U.S. orConfederate miners and tries them onfor size. Joaquin never harms folks ofMexican descent or women of anynationality.

Joaquin’s head soaks in formaldehydein a jar in a Shan Fan bar called theIvory Palace, owned by one of HarryLove’s descendants.

Profile: Joaquin MurietaCorporeal: D:2d12+2, N:3d12, Q:4d12+4,

S:3d10, V:3d10Climbin’ 1d8, fightin’: brawlin’ 5d8,

horse ridin’ 4d8 shootin’: pistol 7d12+2Mental: C:2d8, K:2d6, M:2d10, Sm:2d8,

Sp:3d12Overawe 6d10, scrutinize 3d8Pace: 8Size: 6

106 Marshal

Wind: —Special Abilities:

Damage: Twin Single-Action ColtDragoon revolvers (3d6). Theseweapons completely reloadthemselves one round after they’reemptied. They crumble to rustafter Joaquin is destroyed.

FearlessHead Hunter: Joaquin has a unique

and terrible ability—he can literallytear a man’s head off with hisbare hands! To do so, he must geta raise on a fightin’: brawlin’ roll.Once he does so, he’s gotten a gripon the head and rolls a contest ofhis Strength vs. his victim’s Vigoron each subsequent Action Card.Each success and raise he getsinflicts one wound level on thevictim’s noggin. When the victimreaches maimed in his noggin, thehead tears free with a sickeningsquelch—requiring a Hard (9) gutsrolls from onlookers. The victimcan break free by winning acontest of Strength with Joaquin.

Undead: Focus—Head. This mightcause the heroes some problemsince the abomination’s head isseveral hundred miles away!

Weakness—Alcohol: Pouring liquorof any sort down Joaquin’s neckstump causes the abomination tostop attacking and leave peacefully.This requires two raises on afightin’: brawlin’ roll to accomplish.

Coup: Destroying Joaquin nets theHarrowed the ability—or curse—toonce again get drunk. It might notsound like much, but if you were amoldering corpse, you’d want to tieone on now and again!

Description: Joaquin is a headlesscorpse dressed in black clothing. Hisshirt is stained with blood from hisdecapitation and he’s sometimesseen riding a black stallion as well.His head has long hair, a faint beard,and is pale and pickled in a large,screw-top jar.

SpringheelJack

Springheel Jack is an old terror frommerry old England, but it would beright at home in a Back East campaign.The first sightings on this creatureoccurred in the late 1830s and persistthrough the time of the Weird West.

Jack is actually a nature spirithorribly corrupted by an addiction toancient blood sacrifices. It ran amok onthe English countryside for years priorto Roman conquest, but was eventuallytrapped in warded tor (hill) by a band ofdruids. In the mid-1830s, the tor wasaccidentally excavated and Jack wasfreed on the populace of thatotherwise green and pleasant land.

Prior to the Reckoning, mostSpringheel Jack’s activities, whilehorrifying, were more mischievous thandeadly. Jack’s first attacks were limitedto a belch of bluish flames to stun itsvictims. Then, it fumbled and tore at itsvictim’s clothes before springing awayinto the darkness.

Now, all of that has changed. Sincethe Reckoning, Jack’s true evil hasrisen to the surface. Instead of merelytearing at clothing, Jack attempts to gutits victims after it has stunned them. Ifsuccessful, it strings their entrailsabout the murder site like a grotesquecat’s cradle.

Springheel Jack is generally humanin appearance. His body isextraordinarily thin and tall—nearly 7’—and his flesh is a ghastly greenishwhite. His hands end in slender, extra-jointed fingers tipped with talon likeclaws. His face is stretched into a long,devil-like appearance, locked into anevil, predatory grin. He has a pointedbeard on his chin, but is otherwise bald.His eyes protrude from their socketsalmost as if they are going to pop outat any moment. Finally, his body iscovered with ancient clothingsomewhat resembling an oilskin suit,complete with tattered tails.

Marshal, if you want to useSpringheel Jack in the Weird West,there are a couple of ways totransplant it. First, you could simplychange the abomination’s history so


that it was actually plaguing theIndians prior to the founding of thethirteen colonies. This method mightprovide the posse with a chance tofigure out Jack’s weakness.

Or given Jack’s weakness for woodenobjects, it may have fled to a sailingship in a panic and been trapped onboard. The vessel, unaware of its cargo,departed London and arrived onAmerica’s shores that way. Of course,the ship would be a floating abattoirwhen it arrived, adding to the horrorand suspense when Jack’s reign ofterror begins.

Jack prefers to attack solitary victimsand tries to run from any encounterwhere it’s outnumbered.

Profile: Springheel JackCorporeal: D:4d8, N:5d12+4, Q:4d12+4,

S:4d8, V:3d12Climbin’ 4d12+4. dodge 6d12+4, fightin’:

brawlin’ 5d12+4, sneak 7d12+4Mental: C:3d8, K:2d6, M:4d10, Sm:2d10,

Sp:3d12Academia: occult 4d6, overawe 4d10,

ridicule 5d10, search 4d8Pace: 16Size: 6Wind: 12Terror: 11Special Abilities:

Blue Flame: Instead of attacking,Jack can belch a blue flame intothe face of an opponent within 5’.The flame does 2d10 Wind. Avictim reduced to 0 Wind by thisattack falls stunned and helplessto the ground.

Damage: Claw (STR+1d8)Immunity—Normal Damage: Jack

takes no damage from normalweapons or attacks. Magic attacksand weapons do only half damageto him.

Springheel: Jack can leap its fullPace or up to 20’ straight up oneach Action Card.

Shadow Transport: Jack canteleport from one shadow toanother shadow within 200 yardsas long as it is not being directlyobserved. It must be able to seethe destination shadow and bothshadows must be of sufficient sizeto conceal it completely. If

someone is directly watching Jack’sactions, it can’t use this ability

Weaknesses: Springheel Jack takesfull damage from weapons madefrom oak and half damage fromweapons made from other woods.He cannot open wooden doors orshadow transport from an spaceenclosed completely by wood.Weapons enchanted by the spiritweapon favor do full damage tohim.

Coup: The Harrowed puttingSpringheel Jack down gains theability to leap his full Pace in asingle bound. This gives theHarrowed a +2 to any fightin’attack that he can leap into.However, this can only beperformed once per round.


If you’re throwing abominations atyour posse, it’s inevitable that someoneis going to get bitten, scratched ormauled by something nasty (at least wehope it is). A few abominations in theWeird West have the ability to pass on acontagion or infection to their victims,namely your heroes. These monsterscan give a cowpoke a gift that keepson taking—a disease or other form ofsupernatural malady.

Often this is some form of wastingdisease that you wouldn’t wish on yourworst enemy. An example of this sortof nastiness is the bite of a faminite ora bout with tummy twisters. It’srelatively easy to deal with—a hero whocatches it either gets better or buys along-term lease with the undertaker.

But not all infections, particularlythose fostered by the minions of theReckoners, are that easy to handle.

Some take hold of a cowpoke andnever let go.

The two most common maladies ofthis sort are lycanthropy and vampirism.We’re going to spend a little timedelving into what exactly either ofthose diseases means to a character.Bet you already guessed that from thetitle of the chapter, didn’t you?

To Play or NotTo Play

The first decision you’ve got to makewhen a hero contracts one of theseinfections isn’t an easy one, Marshal.That’s why we stuck this chapter backhere away from the prying eyes ofplayers. We don’t even want them toknow this is an option unless youchoose to use it in your campaigns.This entire chapter is optional. Youhave to decide whether or not youwant to allow players to run

Chapter Four:

Lycanthropy andVampirism

110 Marshal

werewolves or vampires in yourcampaign. Including either or both canseriously affect the flavor—and power-level—of things.

You might think that with Harrowedheroes already running around theWeird West were wolves and vampiresmight not be that big a stretch. ButHarrowed are really nothing more thanzombies with delusions of grandeur.The Harrowed somehow aren’t quite asmonstrous as a werewolf or vampire.On a good day, the average citizen can’tpick a Harrowed out of a crowd. Avampire can’t even come out on a goodday!

On the other hand, you may notwant to arbitrarily take control of ahero that’s had the misfortune tocontract one of these afflictions. Maybe,just maybe, the hero can hold the lineand avoid becoming a tool of theReckoners herself.

In all honesty, she probably won’t—but what the Hell, if you want to givethem the chance to try, read on.

LycanthropyFirst lets talk about lycanthropy, shall

we? It’s far and away the easiestinfection to manage. Most of the time,the hero isn’t a slavering, fur-coveredmonster. Instead, the lycanthropiccowpoke can live a mostly normal lifeand only worry about his disease—if he’seven aware of it—on the nights of thefull moon.

In this section, we’ll give you the low-down on letting your players run a full-on wolfman. Again, we don’t recommendyou allow characters to start with one ofthese monsters, but instead that thecondition come about as a result of goodold fashioned mauling at the hands ofanother werewolf.

Werewolves &Harrowed

Before we get on with ourdiscussion, let’s take just a minute andtalk about the effects of lycanthropy onthe Harrowed.

A Harrowed bitten by a werewolf isimmune to the effects of lycanthropy.The disease simply can’t find apurchase in the zombie’s dead flesh.That doesn’t mean a werewolf won’tgleefully use a Harrowed as a chew-toy,just that he doesn’t have to worryabout sprouting hair under the light ofthe next full moon.

In the odd chance that a characterafflicted with lycanthropy shouldbecome Harrowed, she retains all theadvantages and disadvantages of both.Nothing spells fear like an undeadwerewolf!

Now that we’ve said that, feel free tomake exceptions for your ownabominations, Marshal. Theserestrictions only apply to playercharacters. The Reckoners can prettymuch bend the rules on these thingswhenever they want.

The Lifeof a Werewolf

As in most things, there are twoways to approach the player characterlycanthropy issue. The first is fairly

Lycanthropy 111

straightforward and puts the burdensolely on you, Marshal. The secondmethod gives the player more of a rolein the process and makes lycanthropyeven something of an advantage, but italso puts the hero in the spot ofbalancing power against self-destruction.

Marshal ControlThis method allows the player to

continue to play his character, prettymuch as before. However, on nights ofthe full moon, the curse of thewerewolf takes over and you, theMarshal, handle the effects andconsequences. In fact, you might noteven want the player to know his herois even a werewolf in the first place—letthe poor guy figure it out for himself!

Most of the time you can handle thetransformations “off-screen” and simplylet the players discover what occurredon their own. Sometimes you can evenuse these events as story hooks forother adventures. Most of the time, feelfree to employ them as backgroundeffects and plot devices to keep theposse on edge.

That’s it. Pretty simple, right? Thecharacter goes on as before, but is nowan unwilling servant of the Reckoners.If that works for your style ofcampaign, your problems are solved.

However, if you like to give a hero arope and see how quickly she can tie ahangman’s knot, slip the noose aroundher neck and spur the horse out fromunder herself, you should look atallowing her to have a more active rolein handling the beast within.

LycanthropicHeroes

The majority of her life, alycanthrope is nearly indistinguishablefrom normal folks. She doesn’t have thefaint aura of death surrounding nordoes sunlight cause blistering woundsto erupt on her skin. Her unnaturalsecond nature does a pretty good job ofhiding itself for her.

A sharp observer might notice a fewthings about her that could raise aneyebrow, however.

Predatory NatureThe hero prefers red meat to other

foods—the rarer the better. Unlike aHarrowed, she doesn’t suffer any effectsif she can’t get it. She’s probably goingto complain a bit about the sparse fare,though.

Animals can sense the predatorlurking just beneath her skin. Since awerewolf is pretty much top of the foodchain, she makes critters real nervouseven when in human form. Dogs growl,cows roll their eyes in fear, and horsesmight shy from her if they’reunfamiliar. Because of this, she gets a–2 to all animal-related Trait andAptitude rolls.

Silver and the MoonEven in human form, silver causes a

lycanthrope a good amount of pain.Whenever a silver weapon doesdamage to her, the lycanthrope takesan additional +2 points of damage perdie (for example, a silver bullet from aPeacemaker would do 3d6+6 damage).

Even simply holding silver isuncomfortable for her. If she toucheseven a silver coin for more than around, she takes 1 Wind from thecontact for every round after the first.This loss stops should she reach 0Wind. Most lycanthropes learn veryquickly to be careful about their jewelryand coinage because of this.

The TransformationThere are two types of transformation

a lycanthrope character can undergo.Both have the same end result—awerewolf—but one occurs under the fullmoon (whether the hero wants it or not)and the second is a willful act on thepart of the lycanthrope.

Needless to say, eithertransformation is tough on a cowpoke’swardrobe. It’s a pretty safe bet that anyclothes worn during the change are

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going to be little more than tatterswhen the process is completed—including boots! Smart (or modest)lycanthropes should plan accordingly.

Involuntary ChangesDuring times of the full moon, the

power of the beast is simply too strongfor the hero to deny. Under a full moon,the werewolf becomes a tool of theReckoners. The animal impulsescompletely submerge the hero’s attemptsto reign it in—the werewolf is arampaging abomination. The hero hasno memory of what she’s done comemorning.

On nights of the full moon, you takecontrol of the werewolf, Marshal. Sincethe hero has no idea what she’s donewhile a werewolf during these periods,the best way to handle these events is“off-screen” from actual game play.

Each night of the full moon, thesechanges last for a period of time equalto the hero’s Vigor die type in hours. Thetransformation begins with the rise ofthe full moon and may continue past itssetting, depending on the hero’s Vigor. Ifthe posse doesn’t restrain the werewolfsomehow, feel free to wreak all sorts ofhavoc during this period, Marshal.

Voluntary ChangesTimes arise when it’s handy to be

able to turn into a 6’ tall, hairball offangs and fury—especially when you’rea hero facing the minions of theReckoning. Lycanthropic characters caninitiate a voluntary change to thewerewolf form, but it’s not easy

First, the cowpoke must spend a FateChip and make a Spirit roll. The TN forthe roll is based on the color of FateChip spent, as shown on the tablebelow. If she’s successful, she becomesa werewolf; if she fails, her Fate Chippile is just one chip smaller.

Going bust on this Spirit roll meansthe transformation still occurs, but thebeast is under the Marshal’s control!

Changing TChanging TChanging TChanging TChanging Tableableableableable

Fate Chip Change TNWhite 9Red 7Blue 5

Legend Automatic

To Beastand Back Again

The transformation to werewolf isrelatively fast, but since it involves aserious amount of body restructuring itdoes take some time to accomplish.From start to finish, the process requires5 rounds. During this time, the werewolfcan take no action but let her bones andmuscles reshape themselves. Thetransformation is rather painful, and thewerewolf suffers 1d6 Wind as a result.

Once the transformation is complete,the character can remain in werewolfform for a number of hours equal toher Vigor die type. At the end of thistime—or should she be renderedunconscious somehow—the hero revertsto her human form. She can alsovoluntarily end the transformation bymaking an Onerous (7) Spirit roll.

Changing back to human form alsorequires 5 rounds. However, thereversion does not cause the cowpokeany Wind loss.

StrengthsBecoming a monster has certain

advantages. The werewolf isconsiderably more fearsome in combatthan its human counterpart. It also hasnatural weaponry in the form of fangsand claws, with which to rend its foes.

TraitsThe werewolf form is virtually

bursting with primal energy. The herogains 1 die type in Deftness, 2 die typesin Vigor, 3 die types in Strength, and 5die types in Nimbleness and Quickness.The werewolf’s Cognition die is raisedto d12 and its Mien is raised to d10 ifthose were below that level prior to thechange.

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Releasing the beast somewhatdampens the hero’s own personality,however. She loses 1 die type in Smartsand Spirit and 2 die types inKnowledge. While she knows who herfriends and enemies are, she’s notlikely to do much higher math as longas she’s a werewolf.

The werewolf has a Pace of 24.

AptitudesThe transformed lycanthrope gets a

few Aptitudes for free as well. When inwerewolf form, the hero has dodge 4,fightin’: brawlin’ 6, and overawe 2.These are a part of the monster’snature and replace similar Aptitudespossessed by the hero. The werewolfretains most of the hero’s otherCorporeal Aptitudes, although some,like ridin’, are of questionable value tothe monster.

Mental Aptitudes, on the other hand,are generally temporarily forgottenwhile in werewolf form. Search andtrackin’ are examples of Aptitudes thatmight be retained, but knowledgesaren’t to important to a ravening wolf-thing. The Marshal is the final authorityto what Aptitudes the monster doesand does not have access.

Special AbilitiesWhile in the werewolf form, the hero

automatically gains certain abilities.These special advantages are onlyeffective while the character is inwerewolf form.

Anyone getting a look at a werewolfmust make a guts check against themonster’s Terror score of 9. Fellowposse members may be exempt fromthis roll if they’ve seen the hero inwerewolf form before, at the Marshal’sdiscretion.

The werewolf can make two fightin’:brawlin’ attacks per action. One ofthese is a bite that does STR damageand the other a claw for STR+1d6damage. Both of these deal actual—notbrawling—damage. Additionally, anycharacter bitten by the werewolf maycontract lycanthropy himself. See theMarshal’s Guide for details on this.

Normal (non-magical) attacks do onlyhalf damage to the werewolf.

WeaknessesAlong with all those cool perks come

a few disadvantages. First of all, silverweapons (bullets, daggers, etc.) causefull damage to them.

Also, the werewolf is considered evilfor the purposes of any miracles, spells,hexes or other arcane powers. This is thecase regardless of the character’s trueintent. She’s still drawing power fromthe dark side, after all. This is true onlywhile the lycanthrope is in werewolfform; in her human form, she has noparticular vulnerabilities to such magic.

Additionally—as mentioned on theprevious page—once a month the herois under the Marshal’s control. Unlike aHarrowed, who gets to fight themanitou for control of the body, thewerewolf has no chance to resist thefull-moon change.

The Beast WithinBut aside from those problems, the

most disadvantage to being a werewolfis the danger of losing your soul!

The best thing about being awerewolf is, well, becoming a werewolf.However, the more a lycanthrope letsthe beast out to play, the stronger thehold the monster gets on her.Eventually, if the hero explores hersecond nature too deeply, she’s going towind up a pawn of the Reckoners.

Every time a hero voluntarilybecomes a werewolf, she puts anotherlittle black mark on her soul. After all,she is willingly becoming a monster. Itdoesn’t matter if she’s doing it for allthe right reasons, either. Remember,the road to Hell is paved with goodintentions?

Whenever a hero voluntarily becomesa werewolf, she gains a singleCorruption point. Note this is only forvoluntary changes—those that occurunder the full moon don’t give the heroany Corruption points. It’s one thing tohave the transformation thrust uponyou; it’s another entirely to embrace it.

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Corruption points can be reduced—atthe cost of one Legend Chip each.Removing the taint of the Reckonersfrom a soul doesn’t come cheap!

Marshal, since you might be allowingplayers to read this section, we’ve movedthe result of too many Corruption pointsto the end of the chapter. That section isoff-limits to players—so, if you’re playinga lycanthrope, no peeking! Just knowthat once your Corruption points equalor exceed you Spirit die type, it’s a BADthing.

Werewolves and FearOh, there is one other thing. A

werewolf has a habit of making folksnervous, even if they aren’t sure one’saround. After someone other than aposse member (or Ranger or Agencyoperative) gets a good luck at awerewolf or a full-moon period passeswhere the werewolf was roaming free,the Fear Level in the surroundingcountryside, usually a ten-mile radius,raises by one. This can be kind of aproblem for a heroic posse; one of theirown members may be maintaining theFear Level they are striving to reduce!

There are only two ways to reducethis increase. The first is to kill thewerewolf—usually not the posse’s firstchoice once they figure out who’sbehind the fur and fangs.

The second is for two full moons topass without any werewolf-relatedincidents. The heroes can accomplishthis by staying on the move or simplyfinding a secure and isolated place tolock up the friendly neighborhoodwolfman.

There’s another reason to avoidstirring up the locals as well—vigilantemobs. A werewolf that ravages acountryside is eventually going to havea whole posse of riled-up ranchers andother folks gunning for his hide.

And you can imagine theembarrassment when the “horriblemonster” turns out to be one of the so-called heroes defending the town!

AdditionalWerewolf Powers

A lycanthrope can gain powersbeyond that of simply becoming awerewolf when the chips are down.Most of these are related to thecharacter either tapping into her bestialsecond nature while still human or hermastery of the transformation process.

Gaining & Improving PowersBuying a new power at level 1 costs 5

Bounty Points. However, the processtakes no game time; the hero is merelyassumed to have slowly beendeveloping the power over time. Thehero can only purchase new powersbetween game sessions.

Improving a power costs double thenew level, but, likewise, requires no timeto accomplish. A power can only beraised 1 level between game sessions.

PowerDescriptions

Below we’ve listed the powersavailable to lycanthropic heroes. Unlessotherwise noted, powers are always ineffect and require no roll to activate.

Alpha MaleContrary to the name of this power,

both male and female lycanthropes cantake this power. Alpha male lets a littleof the beast within slip out from timeto time. These slips are subtle—perhapsa narrowing of the eyes or baring ofthe teeth—and few folks notice themoutright.

However, they have a profoundsubconscious effect in socialconfrontations. The lycanthrope gets +1to any overawe, hostile bluff, ridicule, orpersuasion roll.

Since it only affects hostile rolls, it’sprobably not too useful to a gambler’sbluff in a friendly card game or talkingthat miserly storeowner into a betterprice. It does come in handy for gettingan unruly cowhand to back down froma fight though.

These bonuses apply in human orwerewolf form.

Lycanthropy 115

Bestial NatureThe lycanthrope’s furry alter ego

gives it some insight into how tohandle other normal animals. A herowith this power does not suffer thenormal –2 that lycanthropes usually getto all animal related Trait and Aptituderolls.

The hero actually gets a +1 to thosesame rolls for each level she has inbestial nature. This bonus is due to thelycanthrope’s ability to manipulate thefear the animals normally fear in herpresence—not any sense of love orloyalty—so the exact gameconsequences of this are left to theMarshal.

On a Hard (9) Cognition roll, the herocan even get a sense for the generalemotional state of the animal—notcounting the fear she is causingherself, of course. She gets a +1 bonusto the Cognition roll for every level shehas in the power as well.

Bestial nature is only effective againstnormal animals. Abominations of anyform are completely immune to it. Thispower is only effective in human form.Once a werewolf, all bets are off in theanimal kingdom.

Leader of the PackThis power summons a small group

of wolves to the werewolf. One wolfjoins the werewolf’s “pack” for everylevel the hero has in this power. Usethe profile in the Marshal’s Guide forthe wolves.

The werewolf can communicate withhis pack of wolves about as well as acowpoke can with a smart dog. Thewolves obey fairly simple commands,but are likely to get confused bycomplex requests. They are onlyanimals, after all.

The animals are loyal to the hero andfight to protect her. However, acharacter should think twice aboutleading a pack of wolves into a saloon—or even a town. Many localities have abounty on wolf hides and folks areliable to see the hero’s pack as fastmoney.

The wolves are unfazed by the hero’shuman or werewolf form and hunt withher in either shape.

Lupine FuryIn toe-to-toe combat, werewolves are

already pretty tough customers. Butonce combat is under way, a werewolfwith this power becomes an evendeadlier opponent. Her senses andmuscles operate at a much higher levelthan a mere human’s, allowing her anenormous edge in a fight.

For each level she has in the lupinefury power, the werewolf can discardone Action Card and draw another inits place. Unfortunately, Black Jokerscan’t be discarded in this fashion—sometimes even a finely-tuned killingmachine slips up—but any other cardmay be.

This power is only effective when inwerewolf form.

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MendingThe hero with this power’s body has

the power to heal itself when changingfrom his werewolf form back to human.For every level in the power, thelycanthrope can heal one wound levelin a single location. A hero with 3levels in mending and a heavy woundin her guts and a light wound in herarm could heal all her wounds, forexample.

This healing takes place only whenchanging from werewolf back tohuman, not vice-versa. It does healwounds inflicted before and during thetime the hero was in werewolf form,though, so a hero can use it to mendold injuries as well as new ones. Ofcourse, that can rack up a whole lot ofCorruption points real fast!

Predatory SensesThis lycanthrope’s combination of

animal senses and human reasoninglets her catch things most folks miss.She begins to notice sounds and smellsbeyond the range of normal humanexperience.

The hero gains a +1 bonus per level inpredatory senses to several Cognition-related Aptitudes and rolls. She alwaysreceives this bonus to trackin’ andscrutinize rolls (she’s sensitive to subtleodors and changes in posture othersmiss). She also gains this bonus toCognition rolls to avoid surprise.

Finally, whenever making a search rollto detect a hidden enemy or any sneakymovement, she also gains the predatorysenses bonus. She does not gain thisbonus when searching a room for clues,unless the Marshal deems otherwise.

This bonus applies whether thelycanthrope is in human or werewolfform.

Quick ChangeA lycanthrope with this power has

mastered the transformation betweenwerewolf and human. She’s able toshift between the two forms muchmore quickly than most werewolves.

The speed with which she can dothis is dependent on her level in thepower, as shown on the table below.

Quick ChangeQuick ChangeQuick ChangeQuick ChangeQuick Change

Level Time Required1 4 rounds2 3 rounds3 2 rounds4 1 round5 1 action

Razor ClawsNothing’s more frustrating to a

raging werewolf than to have a goodrending foiled by a simple bulletproofvest. Razor claws makes the monster’sclaws effectively armor piercing. Thetable below shows the power’seffectiveness at each level.

Obviously, this power only functionswhen in werewolf form.

Lycanthropy 117Razor ClawsRazor ClawsRazor ClawsRazor ClawsRazor Claws

Level Armor Pierced1 All Light2 AP 13 AP 24 AP 35 AP 4

Werewolf’s HowlThe appearance of a werewolf is

usually enough to send a cowpokescampering for the hills. Sometimes,though, it’s good to be able to stir thefear pot a little. A werewolf with thispower can let loose a blood-curdlinghowl guaranteed to chill the bones ofall who hear it.

The werewolf must take an action tohowl, but it requires no roll on her partto perform. Any characters—or animals—within range of the howl must makethe guts check, even if they’ve madeone for seeing the werewolf already.

The range of the power is 50 yardsper level. The TN for the guts check isbased on the level of the power, shownon the table below.

This power is only effective when inwerewolf form. A human can howl, butit just sounds kind of silly.

WWWWWerewolf’s Howlerewolf’s Howlerewolf’s Howlerewolf’s Howlerewolf’s Howl

Level Guts TN1 32 53 74 95 11

StartingCharacters

Marshal, if you want to allowcharacters to start as lycanthropes, theymust purchase the Edge lycanthrope 3.This Edge grants them the ability totransform into a werewolf and all thepowers listed as common in the

preceding sections. Of course, it alsosticks them with all the drawbacks ofbeing a lycanthrope, like involuntarychanges and a weakness for silver.

During character creation, alycanthropic hero may also purchase atotal of 5 levels in additional powers,divided as she sees fit among any twopowers, at a cost of 1 character pointper level. For example, a hero couldselect mending 3 and quick change 2,or even just alpha male 5. Either choicecosts a total of 5 character points. Thehero is not required to purchase all 5—or even any— levels in additional powersif she doesn’t want them.

You may also wish to require suchcharacters to be veterans o’ the WeirdWest to reflect some experience with theReckoning. Obviously, the lycanthropehas had a run-in with at least oneabomination in the past, after all.

VampirismVampirism is more difficult to handle

than lycanthropy. A lycanthrope is onlya monster part of the time; a vampire isa blood-sucker from the time it crawlsfrom its resting place in the evening tothe first light of the morning sun.

Not surprisingly, this makes vampiresconsiderably more powerful thanwerewolves. It also gives them a wholepassel of drawbacks though.

Coming Downwith Vampirism

In Deadlands, the only way tocontract vampirism is to catch it fromanother vampire. No character—orplayer character, at least—suddenlyclaws his way out of the grave lookingfor a vein to tap. He has to have died asa result of a vampire’s bite. Simplygetting ripped apart by a vampire isn’tgoing to do the trick either—it has to bethe bite that puts the hero in theground.

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But, wait, you’re probably saying,some vampires can infect their victimsafter only a single bite! That’s a verygood point.

Only certain bloodsuckers inflict thetype of vampirism suitable for playercharacter vampires. Penanggalen andustrel aren’t even infective; it takes aspecific set of circumstances to breedone of these horrors that no characteris likely to experience. Wampyr arehighly infective, but who really wants toplay one of these poor cousins?

That leaves only nosferatu andcinematic vampires to pass on thestigma of vampirism to heroes.

Cinematic vampires are the bestchoice for this sort of conversion; thosecreated by nosferatu are usually nearlymindless feeding machines. But if youlike, Marshal, you can allow nosferatuto create vampires of the sort we detailbelow when a player character is thevictim. Normal nosferatu victims remainnosferatu—maybe it’s something to dowith being a hero and all that makesthe character different.

Caveat NosferatumBefore we go any further, one last

warning—vampires may be more of apain in your game than they’re worth.Their powers exceed those of even theHarrowed in many cases and this maylead other players to becomedissatisfied with their characters. Evenworse, you could end up with a wholeposse of vampires as everyone jumpson the bloodsucker bandwagon.

In addition to their powers, vampirespossess weaknesses that far outstripthose of the Harrowed or evenlycanthropes. Vampiric characters, whilevery powerful, may find themselvesvery limited in their ability toparticipate in an adventure. Theirvulnerability to the simple light of thesun alone has tremendous impact. Itlimits their ability to interact with othercharacters, participate in the plot, andeven travel from town to town. Imagine

a vampire caught in the wastes of theMojave just before sunup!

Weaknesses aside, vampires aremonsters and prey on humanity. Alycanthrope can rein in her moremurderous impulses by taking a fewprecautions. A vampire, on the otherhand, must drink blood or cease toexist. This may cause the campaign toshift drastically away from the heroicnature we’re aiming for in Deadlands.

Okay, that’s it for the doomsaying,Marshal. It’s your game and your choice.If, after reading all our warnings, you’restill ready to allow heroes to becomevampires in you campaign, read on.

The Care& Feedingof Vampires

Exactly how a hero becomes avampire is determined by the campaign.The type of vampire that afflicted thehero with the malady determines thefiner points of the return from the graveOut of all the vampir types, only two arereally viable conduits for making aplayable vampire character: nosferatuand cinematic vampires.

NosferatuIf a hero killed by a nosferatu’s bite

is eligible to become a vampiriccharacter in your campaign, the processis pretty straightforward. Thesemonsters carry a particularly fast-actingtype of vampirism.

A hero bitten by a nosferatu risesagain within 1d6 hours of his death.Rigor mortis sets in within a few hoursof death, causing the hero all mannerof difficulties. Until his first feeding, thehero is at –2 to all Trait and Aptituderolls. After he’s got a belly full of blood,this modifier goes away.

When the character rises, he’s alsovery low on blood supply— it was thevampire’s bite that killed him, after all.He only has 1d6 Wind, so he’s going toneed to feed pretty darn fast. Vampiresdon’t regain Wind like normal folks—seebelow for more on this.

That’s pretty much it. The fledglingbloodsucker is ready to go.

Vampirism 119

Cinematic VampiresOf the two types, these bloodsuckers

are far more likely have their victimscrawl back out of the earth as playablevampires. Normally, when one of theseundead drains a victim of blood, alesser vampire (nosferatu) is created.However, cinematic vampires maychoose to make a character into a full-fledged member of their number.

This process takes an entire nightand involves a lot of disgusting stuffwe’re not going to go into here.However, at the end of the night, thecharacter is a vampire with 1 Wind, butno effects of rigor mortis like thosesuffered by nosferatu victims.

It’s also not unheard of for these sortsof vampires to provide a newly-createdvampire with an incapacitated victimfrom whom to feed the first time.

Common PowersAll vampiric characters have certain

powers from the time they rise for theirfirst munchie run. Others can bepurchased with Bounty Points overtime. We’ll get into those a little later.

Unlike Harrowed characters, vampirescannot gain Coup powers.

Deader, Stronger, FasterVampires, by virtue of the fact they’re

two-legged undead ticks, gain a fewadvantages in the physical abilitiesdepartment. All of a vampire’s CorporealTraits are raised one die type–d6becomes d8, d10 becomes d12, d12becomes d12+2, and so on.

The bloodsucker also gains a dietype in Mien and Cognition as well.

The attribute vampires are bestknown for is their bite. Even fledglingundead of this sort can leave a nastymark on a victim with his fangs. Anytime a vampire gets a raise on afightin’: brawlin’ roll, he can nip hisopponent with his teeth as well. This istreated as brawling damage, but anyWind inflicted is actually drained by thevampire’s fangs!

This attack is particularly frighteningfor other vampires, because the Windlost to this attack can’t be recoverednormally. More on that in a bit.

Alcohol, Drugs, & FoodVampires aren’t capable of digesting

any food or liquid except for fresh blood.They can swallow it, but anything they“eat” in this way just sits heavily ontheir stomachs until regurgitated. As aresult, most vampires steer clear ofrestaurants.

Alcohol and other drugs have noeffect on a vampire if taken internally.Conversely, a bloodsucker taking a sipfrom a drunken or drugged victim has achance of catching the effects of thedrug himself. Any vampire in thissituation must make an Onerous (7)Vigor roll or suffer the same level ofintoxication or other effect as his victim.

It’s important to note that while avampire with a hankerin’ can’texperience the effect of drugs oralcohol, that doesn’t mean the heroloses the mental dependency on thesubstance. The poor sod might have tofind creative ways to get his “fix” oncehe’s become undead!

DecayUnlike many undead, vampires do

not show signs of decay. They mayappear a little paler than a livingcowpoke and gradually lose color thelonger they go without feeding (seebelow). However, they don’t carry theodor of death that a Harrowed does,nor do they keep their “death wounds.”

However, animals have finer sensesfor the unnatural than most people doand can readily pick out one of the“children of the night.” All animal-related Trait or Aptitude checks are ata –2. Critters just don’t like two-leggedleeches.

Fear and LoathingSince he can pass rather easily as a

normal human, a vampire doesn’tautomatically cause folks to make aguts check. Once revealed as abloodsucking corpse, however, he has a

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Terror score of 9. The Marshal mayadjust this for compadres if she thinksit’s appropriate to give them a break.

If a vampire starts blatantly feedingin an area, he causes the Fear Level toincrease by one until a month passeswithout a reported case of feeding—orhe’s killed.

GritIt takes a certain amount of will to do

the things a vampire has to do tomaintain its existence. After some of thestuff one of these 6’ mosquitoes does onan average night, a zombie just isn’t asterrifying as it once was. Vampires get abonus of +2 to their Grit—although theystill can’t have more 5 levels of it.

HealingVampires, thanks to their unnatural

existence, heal much quicker thanregular folks. They get to make healingrolls once a day—or night, to be moreprecise—instead of once a week.

Vampires can also speed theirhealing process even more. By spending6 Wind, they can heal one wound levelin any one location, instantly. However,before all those would-be bloodsuckersget exited about this—there is a catch tothis that we’re going to tell you aboutin just a minute.

A vampire can heal wounds of anylevel to any part of its body (except theheart, which we’ll get to in a moment). Itcan even regrow severed limbs—but not ahead—beheading ends a vampire’sexistence. Should a vampire’s limb be cutoff, the limb decays and disintegratesover the course of a single day, whilethe creature quickly regenerates anotheras soon as the wound level becomesCritical instead of Maimed.

However, magical healing of anysort—even that which works onHarrowed or other undead—is totallyineffective on a vampire. Only themonster’s own abilities can repairdamage to itself.

VisionVampires can see fairly well after

dark, which only makes sense for anocturnal predator. As long as there isany light at all, however faint, thebloodsucker can see as if it were fulldaylight (i.e., no penalties). In totaldarkness, they’re just as blind asnormal folks, though.

Conversely, sunlight burns their light-sensitive eyes—in addition to the otherbad effects it has on them. All Trait andAptitude checks made in daylight are ata –2 if they require vision. Of course,the vampire can close his eyes to avoidthis—but then he can’t see at all. Thismight work for some tasks, butcertainly not trick-shooting.

UndeathBeing undead has its perks. Vampires

can ignore bleeding and Wind causedby physical damage, drowning, poisonor other indirect damage that affectsthe body’s organs. Nor do they continueto bleed from wounds—these guys areblood misers after all.

Magical effects and mental strain,like a failed guts check or backlash,can cause them Wind loss. Likewisemagical damage affects them normally,including Wind loss.

They suffer wounds normally, butvampires can’t be killed except by oneof the means noted in the sectionbelow. Keep in mind, one of thosemethods is a Maiming wound to theheart, but we’ll get into the specifics ofthat in a minute.

Vampiric WeaknessesTo balance out their tremendous

powers, vampires have more than theirshare of drawbacks. If they didn’t, theseparasites would likely rule the world bynow!

A few of these are mere annoyances.For example, garlic makes a vampireuncomfortable—the odor is downrightrepugnant to the creatures. It doesn’tcause any damage, but mostbloodsuckers shun the herbnonetheless. Touching a bulb of garlictakes a Fair (5) Spirit roll on the part ofthe vampire.

Vampirism 121

Vampires don’t cause a reflection inmirrors or mirrored surfaces. In asimilar fashion, they don’t show up onphotographic plates. Since this sort ofthing is likely to raise eyebrows amongnormal, God-fearing folks, the creaturesusually go out of their way to avoideither.

Legends and old wive’s tales listsother weaknesses for vampires as well.Fortunately for the undead leechesthese are merely superstition. Forexample, a vampire doesn’t have tosleep in the soil of his homeland nor ishe prevented from crossing runningwater. These guys have enoughproblems without those!

The Need to FeedAs irritating as all that is, here’s the

real kicker. Each day, the vampire losesa point of Wind as his undead bodyconsumes the vital fluid. Wind lost inthis fashion is not recovered in thenormal manner. Neither does thecreature recover Wind it expends toinstantly heal wounds or to use certainspecial powers we’ll tell you about in aminute.

The vampiric hero recovers Wind lostto other means, such as mental strainor magical damage normally. Only Windlost to his vampiric existence, powers(which includes accelerated healing), oranother vampire’s bite must bereplenished by blood. It’s a good idea touse two different-colored paper clips totrack this—one for temporary Wind lossand one for longer term losses.

A vampire whose Wind is reduced to0 or below by the daily drain, use ofvampiric powers, or anotherbloodsucker’s bite, is in big trouble. Hedrops into a catatonic state until somefool actually feeds the monster somehuman blood. Dropping to 0 or lowerWind through other means has no longterm effects on the character.

A vampire can stem the daily Windloss by sinking its fangs into a normalliving animal (not abomination) andsucking down at least 6 Wind. Thispractice doesn’t regain any Wind for themonster—it only prevents it from losingthe 1 Wind for that day. The animal’sblood does not prevent the loss of Windfor special powers or instant healing.

FeedingThe only way for a vampire to recover

Wind lost as a consequence of hisundead existence or another vampire’sbite is by feeding from a living (notdead or undead) human. A vampireregains Wind on a 1 for 1 basis whenfeeding from a human. He can do so incombat, as detailed above, or from awilling victim. A bloodsucker can drain3 Wind per action from a willing victimper Action Card, should timing ever beimportant.

Now, a vampire’s companions may bewilling to let the parasite freely tap avein. After all, it’s just Wind, right?However, every 6 points of Wind lost inthis fashion causes a wound level to

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the guts. So, draining a victim of 30points of Wind will kill her!

This is a little different than thenormal blood loss rules, but that’sbecause normal Wind loss incorporatesa number of factors besides simplebleeding. Stress, shock, and otherfactors simply aren’t present when avampire is drinking a character’s

lifeblood. This Wind loss is pure,concentrated blood drain.

Finally, willfully drinking the blood ofa human—even a “bad” guy—has someserious effects on the vampire’s soul,which we’ll get into in more detail in amoment.

Blood GluttonsA vampire is normally limited to his

maximum Wind for feeding. However,for short periods, vampires can gorgethemselves on excessive amounts ofblood, consuming up to twice theirnormal Wind.

They can retain this excess blood(Wind) for a number of minutes equalto their Vigor die type; after that itbreaks down and is useless to thecharacter. During that time any Windused for instant healing or to activateadditional powers comes from theexcess Wind first. Many bloodsuckersbinge just before, during, or aftercombat to give them an extra boost.

InfectionDon’t forget, the hero carries the

curse of vampirism in his own bite. Anyhuman killed by his bite does become avampire as well. If the hero isn’tcareful, he can cause an epidemic ofvampirism himself!

Holy StuffHoly water does 2d6 damage if

splashed on a vampire. Miracles, favors,and other spells always affect vampiresas if they were “evil.” It doesn’t matterif the hero is trying his best to fly right,he’s still considered evil for thispurpose.

RestVampires “sleep” during the day. The

creatures don’t have to bed down atmorning, but it is safer for them to holeup until sundown. Even a straysunbeam through a curtain can bedisastrous for a vampire.

Remaining awake is also stressful onthe creature’s existence. The charactermust spend an extra point of Windanytime it doesn’t get a full day’s rest.

Vampirism 123

Feeding from an animal doesn’t preventthe loss of this extra Wind.

Vampires don’t have to sleep incoffins, although a few do so. Some dobecause coffins are pretty safe againstthe sun’s rays, other bloodsuckers havea strange fascination with death.

Once a vampire does bed down forthe day, he slips into a near-coma untilsundown. Bloodsuckers in thiscondition are pretty darn easy to sneakup on. A vampire needs an Incredible(11) Cognition roll to avoid surprise whenresting. This makes them easy prey forbushwhacking vampire-hunters, sovampires usually pick their restingplaces carefully!

ThrallThe vampire responsible for turning

the hero into one of the undead alwayshas a great deal of influence over thecharacter. Taking direct action of anysort against the “parent” vampirerequires the hero to make a Hard (9)Spirit roll.

Also, the parent vampire can attemptto force the hero to obey simplecommands. The parent vampire mustwin an opposed test of Spirit with thehero, but the hero gets a –2 modifier tohis roll. With a single success, thevampire can force the hero to stop anaction or stand by as the monsterfeasts on his friends. With a raise, thevampire can even force the hero toattack his companions!

Dying…AgainVampires are pretty darn tough. You

can do just about any sort of damage tothem, even magical, but if you don’t doit right, they’ll be back tomorrow night.Here are the ways that a vampire canbe put down for good.

Off With His Head!The first way to end a vampire’s

existence is beheading. That doesn’tmean a Maiming wound to the noggin.A sufficiently massive wound to thehead might do it at the Marshal’sdiscretion, but it’s not likely. Usually,though, only deliberately cutting thehead from the neck counts.

Fatal SunburnSunlight is a vampire’s bane. Each

round the bloodsucker is exposed tosunlight, he takes 3d6 massive damage.If his noggin or guts receives a Maimedresult because of sunlight, he’s gone forgood—expired, deceased (again), an ex-vampire.

Vampires suffer damage even if thesun is shrouded by heavy clouds or fog,although this may reduce it to 2d6. Aslong as any part of the sun is above thehorizon, a vampire had better becareful!

Heart of the MatterA Maiming wound to the heart from

any weapon also puts a vampire downfor good, but this is a tough shot (–10!).Any attack that strikes the gizzards hasa small chance (a 1 or 2 on d6) ofhitting the heart.

A wooden stake driven into theheart kills the undead if even a singlewound level is inflicted, however.

CorruptionAs with lycanthropes, the very state

of being a vampir endangers a hero’ssoul. Vampires have a tougher timewith Corruption points thanlycanthropes do as well—the slope is alot more slippery. Any time a vampirefeeds from another human—willingvictim or not—he acquires a Corruptionpoint. It doesn’t matter how much hedrinks—1 Wind or 30 Wind—even a sipgets him a point. A vampiric hero canbuy off Corruption at the cost ofLegend Chip per point cancelled.

As with lycanthropes, as soon as hisCorruption exceeds his Spirit die, he’sonly a hop skip and a jump fromdamnation! The details on whathappens are at the end of this chapter,but they’re for Marshal’s eyes only. Allplayers need to know is that it this isthe beginning of a very fast downwardspiral!

124 Marshal

We know this means a vampire islikely to descend into the depths muchquicker than a lycanthrope. That’sexactly what we intended. While alycanthrope never has to voluntarilyembrace her monstrous malady, avampire does so simply to maintain hisundead existence.

AdditionalVampire Powers

You’ve probably noticed that playercharacter vampires are noticeablyweaker than other cinematicbloodsuckers or even nosferatu. That’sbecause the hero is resisting his owninherent evil to a great degree. If hegave himself over fully to thetransformation he’d gain the fullpowers of a vampire, but he’d also losehis soul. In game terms, that meanshe’d become a monster under theMarshal’s control by the way.

A hero can, over time, gain additionalpowers, possibly even becoming greaterthan the vampire that created them.However, pulling that off withoutdamning themselves is not an easytask.

Gaining PowersGaining a new vampiric power costs

10 Bounty Points. It’s pretty simple—thehero spends the points and gets theselected power at level 1.

This doesn’t take any time in gameterms. Simply assume the powermanifests over a period time betweengame sessions, during rest periods, andso forth.

Increasing an already existing powercosts a number of Bounty Points equalto twice the level the hero is raising itto. For example, it costs 4 Bounty pointsto raise a power from level 1 to level 2.Like Traits and Aptitudes, a vampirecan’t raise a power more than one levelat a time and then only between gamesessions.

Vampire PowerDescriptions

Vampiric powers are more involvedthan those of lycanthropes. Each powerlists three elements in addition to itsdescription: Speed, Cost, and Duration.

Speed is the number of actions ittakes to activate the power. Somepowers, such as day walkin’, are “alwayson” and don’t require activation.

Cost is how much Wind the vampiremust expend to activate the power. Onlythe more potent powers require this; anypower that’s “always on” has no cost.Like we said before, this Wind loss canonly be renewed by drinking humanblood. Eghh!

Duration is how long the power lastsonce activated. Concentration means thevampire must maintain hisconcentration on the power. While doingso, he can only perform simple actionslike moving or resisting tests of will. “Asdesired” means the power lasts until thevampire decides to end it and requiresno concentration to maintain. However,once ended the time and Wind mustagain be spent to reactivate the effect.

Cry WolfSpeed: SpecialCost: 1 WindDuration: 1 hour/Vigor die type

This power allows the vampire totransform into a good-sized (Size 6) wolf.Use the wolf profile from the Marshal’sHandbook. However, increase all theCorporeal Traits by one die type. Thevampire retains his Mental Traits and allAptitudes as well—even if a wolf can’tmake use of them (like drivin’, etc.).

Vampires in wolf form can use allthe common vampiric powers (healing,invulnerability, etc.), but no additionalpowers (claws, speed, weather control,etc.) except those that are “always on”(day walkin’, supernatural trait, etc.).The critter form can’t cast hexes, usemiracles or favors, or any other arcanepowers, either.

Vampires using cry wolf can bite fornormal damage as a wolf (STR+2d4) oruse their fangs for brawling damage(STR only) to drain blood from anopponent.

Vampirism 125

The change to and from wolf formisn’t instantaneous. The number ofAction Cards required to make thechange is indicated on the table below.The vampire can end cry wolf at anytime.

Cry WCry WCry WCry WCry Wolfolfolfolfolf

Level Action Cards Required1 52 43 34 25 1

ClawsSpeed: 1Cost: 0Duration: As desired

Werewolves aren’t the only ones thatcan do a little carving in hand-to-handcombat This power works exactly thesame as the Harrowed power of thesame name, described in the Weird WestPlayer’s Guide.

Day Walkin’Speed: Always onCost: 0Duration: Permanent

Sunburn can be fatal for a vampire.Fortunately, day walkin’ gives thehuman mosquito a little supernaturalsunblock. Each level in this power givesthe bloodsucker –1 light armor versusdamage from sunlight or similar effectsconcocted by magic or mad science. So,at level 4, a vampire has light armor –4against the cursed rays of the sun.

Note that normal sunlight damage isapplied as massive damage to thevampire. See the Weird West Player’sGuide to see how light armor affectsmassive damage.

Fog BankSpeed: SpecialCost: 1 WindDuration: Concentration or 10

minutes/Spirit die typeThis power creates a dense bank of

fog surrounding the vampire. The

vampire must spend a single ActionCard to activate fog bank, but thesupernatural fog doesn’t appearinstantly. Instead, it slowly coalescesover the course of five minutes,seeming to gradually creep up from theground.

When fully formed the fog covers aroughly circular area 100 yards indiameter for every level the vampirehas in the power. Within the confinesof fog bank, the vampire himself cansee normally, but all others are limitedto 5 yards of visibility. All rangedattacks—other than by the vampire—areat –4 as well.

At the end of the power’s duration,the fog quickly begins to disperse andis completed dissipated within lessthan a minute.

Man-BatSpeed: SpecialCost: 1 WindDuration: 1 hour/Vigor die type

Wolves aren’t the only “children ofthe night” that vampires share a specialkinship with. This power allows thevampire to transform into an enormous(Size 3) bat. Use the Bat profile on page89, but increase all the Corporeal Traitsby one die type. The vampire retains hisMental Traits and all Aptitudes(although most of them won’t be toouseful to a bat!) as well.

While in bat form, the vampire canuse all the common powers (bite,healing, invulnerability, etc.), but noadditional powers (claws, speed,weather control, etc.) except those thatare “always on” (day walkin’,supernatural trait, etc.). Nor can the batcast hexes, use miracles or favors, orany other arcane powers.

The transformation to and from batform isn’t instantaneous. The numberof Action Cards required to make thechange is indicated on the table below.The vampire can end man-bat at anytime.

126 Marshal

Man-BatMan-BatMan-BatMan-BatMan-Bat


MesmerismSpeed: 1Cost: 1 WindDuration: Concentration

Some vampires have a hypnoticpower over their victims. Pretty handy,huh? Especially when they can havethe poor saps remove garlic or otheritems that might be difficult for thevampire to otherwise handle.

Mesmerism lets the bloodsuckermake nearly irresistible suggestions tonormal humans (not other undead orabominations of any sort). The vampire

must win an opposed test of Spiritagainst the target, but he gets a +1bonus to his roll for every level he hasin this power.

If he’s successful, the subject carriesout his instructions for as long as hemaintains concentration. This powerdoesn’t grant any specialcommunication with the victim, so thevampire has to speak the rightlanguage and be close enough for thevictim to hear him for mesmerism towork.

If the vampire tries to force thevictim to take an obviously dangerousaction, the victim immediately gets toroll the test of Spirit again—this timewith a +4 bonus! If she’s successful,she breaks the vampire’s spell and isfree to act for her self.

Mist FormSpeed: SpecialCost: 2 WindDuration: 1 minute/Vigor die type

This power lets a vampire move likethe wind—literally. It transforms thebloodsucker into a cloud of mist, ableto pass into or out of nearly anythingnot airtight.

A vampire in mist form cannotattack, use any powers (includingcommon ones), cast hexes, or otherwiseinteract with others. However, he doesretain all his Mental Traits and iscompletely aware of the world aroundhim.

The mist form moves at a Pace equalto the vampire’s Spirit die type, andcan’t “run.” Nor can it truly fly, and,instead, merely sinks to the groundlevel—or lower if possible.

While in this form, the vampire canonly be injured by a large fire (bonfireor larger), explosions, or other effects(magical or not) that affect an area.Even these attacks do only halfdamage to the hero. Sunlight still burnsa vampire in mist form, but its damageis also halved.

Targeted spells—even soul blast—simply fail when used against avampire in mist form. For obviousreasons, this is a favorite method ofescape for powerful vampires.

The time required for the vampire tochange to or from mist form is

Vampirism 127

dependent on the character’s level inthe power, as shown on the tablebelow. The hero can choose to end thepower before the duration expires.

Mist FormMist FormMist FormMist FormMist Form


No See’umSpeed: 1Cost: 1 WindDuration: Concentration

No, we don’t mean those pesky littlebugs that swarm up at dusk—althoughthey do share a number of traits withvampires if you think about it. No see’umallows the vampire to cloud the minds ofothers to his very presence. It’s notinvisibility, but it’s almost as good.

Once this power is activated, anyonenot specifically looking for the vampirehas no chance of spotting him.Someone actually looking for thevampire—or any intruder, for thatmatter—must win an opposed test ofher Cognition vs. the vampire’s Spirit.The vampire gets a +1 to this roll forevery level he has in no see’um. Oncethe vampire has been spotted, he can’tinvoke no see’um again until he is outof sight of viewers.

While the power protects the vampireagainst casual detection, loud noises orother obvious disturbances still alertothers to his presence.

SpeedSpeed: 1Cost: 1 WindDuration: 1 round/Vigor die type

Speed lets a vampire move fast—scaryfast. For every level the bloodsuckerhas in this power, he can move his fullPace on every Action Card once thepower is activated. So, a vampire with 3levels in speed can move three timeshis Pace on each and every Action hehas in a round if he so chooses!

SwarmSpeed: 2Cost: 1 WindDuration: Concentration

This power summons a horde or ratsor bats to do the vampire’s bidding. Thevampire decides the type of animal hedesires each time he activates the power.The animals begin arriving as soon asthe power is activated.

The size of the horde depends on thevampire’s level in swarm. The creaturesfills the a radius of 5 yards per level inthe power area around the vampire.

For every level in the power, thevampire can cause the animals to attack,dealing 1d6 damage to a victim withinthe swarm’s area each round. If he hasmore than two dice with which to dealdamage, he can divide these dice amongmultiple targets before rolling. However,each target must get at least one die—nofractional dice are allowed!

For example, a vampire with 5 levelsin swarm can deal 5d6 damage tovictims within the area of effect. He cando 3d6 to one victim and 2d6 to another,1d6 to five different targets, or even 5d6to a single, unlucky sod. Each round, thevampire can change the division of diceamong eligible targets.

Damage is dealt on the vampire’s firstAction Card each round.

The swarm begins to disperse as soonas the vampire’s concentration lapses.Damage stops immediately when thevampire releases his control, but theanimals linger for a number of roundsequal to his level in swarm. Somevampires use this with man-bat as away to cover their escape.

SwarmSwarmSwarmSwarmSwarm

Level Damage1 1d62 2d63 34 25 1

128 Marshal

Supernatural TraitSpeed: Always onCost: 0Duration: Permanent

In addition to the “freebie” boost avampire gets to some statistics just forcrawling back out of the grave, somehave even more enhanced Traits. Thispower works the same as the Harrowedpower of the same name described inthe Weird West Player’s Guide. However, avampire can raise only Mien, Cognition,and all Corporeal Traits with this power.The hero cannot raise the other MentalTraits with this power.

Wall CrawlSpeed: Always onCost: 0Duration: Permanent

This power allows a vampire toscamper up any surface and even upsidedown! A vampiric hero with wall crawlhas no chance of failing a climbin’Aptitude roll to ascend or descend awall, cliff, or whatever. The charactermust have at least two limbs in contactwith the surface to maintain the eeriesticking effect, but he can effectivelystand on the ceiling.

Each level in the power increases thevampire’s climbin’ Pace by 1. This bonusallows the character to exceed thenormal limit of Pace 5 for climbin’.

Starting Vampires?After reading all about these

bloodsuckers, you may want to allowplayers to create starting vampire heroesin your campaign. Well, we’ll warn youonce more to consider that choicecarefully—but if you are determined,here’s how to go about it.

Starting vampire characters mustpurchase the 5-point Edge vampire. Thisgives them all the common powers (bite,healing, undeath, etc.) and weaknesses(sunlight, holy water, feeding, etc.). Weadvise that you also don’t let them

purchase any arcane backgrounds. Astarting vampire huckster, for example,is going to steal most of the dramaticthunder in any posse.

You don’t have to allow beginningvampiric characters to purchaseadditional powers even should youdecide to allow the characters in thecampaign. If you do, heroes maypurchase levels in additional powers at acost of 2 character points per level. Theycan spend a maximum of 10 characterpoints, divided among any two powers,in this manner.

The Dark SideThat’s it for the posse-types. This last

section is for the Marshal’s eyes only. Ifyou’re a player and your Marshal hasbeen generous to let you peek backinto this chapter to take a look at therules on lycanthropy and vampirism,read no further!

Other ArcanaLycanthropy and vampirism are

unlikely to impede most of the arcanebackgrounds. Certain magics may haveunique effects when applied to awerewolf or vampire—for example, noneof the healing spells, hexes, or favorsare going to help a vampire.

You can really make a case eitherway for limiting the arcana if you want,however. After all, the spirits might notwant to speak to a shaman who turnsinto a ravening wolf-thing from time totime, and the Heavenly Powers may bea little reluctant to help out abloodsucking blessed.

Since so many possible combinationsexist, we’re going to leave thosedecisions in your capable hands,Marshal—with one exception. Theblessed need a little extended discussion.

Sinnin’At first glance, it might seem to put

a hero’s soul in jeopardy with thePowers That Be to be running aroundsprouting fur or drinking blood.Surprisingly, The mere condition oflycanthropy or vampirism isn’t, in itself,considered a sin by most religions.

The Dark Side 129

However, what the hero does while inthat condition might very well constitutea major or even mortal transgression ifthe cowpoke is religious.

If the lycanthrope or vampire is ablessed, or otherwise subject to thesinnin’ rules, you’re going to have tomake the calls on this one, Marshal.Drinking a human’s blood is always aserious offense; sometimes even ananimal qualifies depending on thereligion. Whether or not you want tomake the lycanthrope suffer penaltiesfor what he does during the periods ofthe full moon is up to you—but a reallypious individual would probably takeprecautions to protect the innocent.

Of course, sinnin’ may be least of ablessed’s problems if he becomes avampire. It can be danged inconvenientto not be able to touch your ownconsecrated weapon or walk on holyground that you sanctified.

CorruptionRevisited

Now, just so you don’t think therearen’t any teeth to back up the vaguenotions we’ve been referring to aboutthe price of lycanthropic or vampiricpower, lets talk about Corruption.

When vampire and werewolf heroesinvoke their special powers, they pickup Corruption points, as detailed before.Here’s the lowdown on what thosepoints do.

Lycanthropic CorruptionOnce a lycanthrope hero accumulates

as many Corruption points as her Spiritdie type, she’s on the verge of becominga real monster. She gains the Hindranceugly as sin. Hair begins to grow on herpalms, her eyebrows gradually growtogether, her teeth lengthen, and so onas she becomes almost bestial inappearance.

For every Corruption point over herSpirit die type, she gains a Hindrancefrom the following list: big britches,bloodthirsty, grim servant o’ death,impulsive, mean as a rattler, and nightterrors. If she’s already got one of these,tough luck—she can’t choose it asecond time.

These don’t appear overnight. Ratherthey begin to manifest slowly as soonas the hero gains that crucialCorruption point. For example, alycanthropic hero might begin togradually grow hair on her palms, hereyebrows slowly meld into one, her eye-teeth lengthen, and so on when shepicks up ugly as sin.

These Hindrances can be bought offnormally (at double cost), though doingthis often is going to be a serious drainon Bounty Points. However, ugly as sincannot be bought off in this manner;only by reducing Corruption pointsbelow her Spirit die allows thelycanthrope to regain her looks.

Once the hero has accumulated allof the Hindrances listed above, she’swillingly made herself a servant of theReckoners. Take the character sheetand explain to the player that the herojust became the villain. By her ownhand, no less. Don’t worry abouttracking Corruption after this—she’s afull-blown abomination.

Vampiric CorruptionVampires have a tougher row to hoe

as far as Corruption goes. It’s only fair—they’re full-time, blood-suckingmonsters!

Once a vampire garners Corruptionpoints exceed his Spirit die type, he’s onthe verge of becoming an inhumanabomination. Each Corruption pointabove his Spirit die type means oneless Fate Chip at the beginning of asession. For example, at one above hisSpirit, he only draws two Fate Chips(unless he has luck o’ the Irish or asimilar ability to gain extra Fate Chips).

Once the vampire’s Corruptionreaches four points above his Spirit die,he has reached the point of no return.As with the lycanthrope, he’s become amonster and you should take thecharacter sheet. You’ve got anothervillain to throw at the posse—one thatprobably knows most of the otherheroes’ secrets and weaknesses!

“You saw nothing.”

“You HeardNothing.”

“We were neverhere.”

� �� who says good guyswear white hats?

SPRING 2000

by: john goff - rpg.rem.uz - core - rascals... · deadlands, weird west, dime novel, ... to the...

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