I've already made a video on this Deadlands tabletop RPG story, but it was an older video which didn't have any artwork, so... I think this tale deserves its own animation. Here we go This RPG story comes from when I played the western tabletop Deadlands If you're not familiar with the game, it takes place in The Weird West a setting from an alternate history of the American West History up until the mid-1800s is normal But it starts to change when settlers from America moving out start taking over putting the American Indians on the brink of catastrophe Losing the war against the settlers, they became desperate So in their desperation, they decided to perform a ritual as their last hope for survival Opening the floodgates to let in reckoners from the spirit realms into the West These things are powerful demonic creatures When the reckoners arrive, they begin preying off of fear and negative emotions and use their powers to start manifesting powerful monsters like zombies, wendigos, Tumble bleeds, trolls, dust devils and so on They can also warp the land, causing strange unnatural aberrations like causing the springs to issue blood, the sun's glow to be dimmed, the moon to turn red, or manifest eternal green fog that drives men insane With all the chaos ensuing the Confederacy starts winning the war against the Union and the fighting extends out across the weird West There's also the rise of steampunk technology with the discovery of ghost rock and the arrival of martial artists who can use ki from Eastern monasteries The pitch that I gave the players for this game was that out in Utah, A prospector had discovered a large cache of gold and had dug it up However, he left it there because he began to get paranoid that the shadows among the mountains were moving and there were things hunting him hidden in the darkness The paranoid prospector fled from the place, leaving the gold behind him Fearing that if he ever returned, it would be the last of him On his deathbed, he told everyone about the unclaimed treasure trove he had left behind Giving them some clues as to where it was hidden So together the players decided to head out west and find the money The first player with a huckster named King, who could cast magic by gambling his life with evil spirits The second player was Jimmy the Kid, a Texas Ranger, gunslinger, bounty hunter, wanderer, who hunted monsters And the last was Prospector Jenkins, who took a trait called grim servant of death That trait said that he was accident-prone and if he rolled a one on his attack, he would hit an ally with it Let me repeat He would roll a 6-sided die! And if he rolled a one! On that six-sided die! He would hit an ally! So he'd make jokes that he would have his pistol out and be talking to people like, Hmm. That's a a good idea you've got there. Well, maybe if you *gunshot* whoops Butterfingers. Anyway... He would introduce himself as "Prospector Jenkins, Grim Servant of Death" Huh? "Prospector Jenkins." As a prospector, he also wore bandoliers of dynamite! Which he would throw in a fight. Now, you're probably thinking "I know how this story is going to end" [chuckles] The answer is yes The players take a train down and arrive in Salt Lake City The platform at the station is loaded with men standing on boxes preaching to them The path of the wicked leads down to the fires of Hell! Come forward and be saved! Brother Dalton is calling all to the Lord King starts heckling one of the preachers, going: Seems like you got a lot of competition around here! You do realize your job's kind of pointless, right? We shepherd the lost! The preacher sees the deck of cards he's carrying around and says Don't you know gambling is from the devil, son? You know if you guys were any good at what you did, you wouldn't need twenty preachers out here, you'd just need one! *chuckles* He walks away chuckling to himself He doesn't see this, but Jimmy notices that the preacher Looks to the back of the crowd, and nods to a man in the shadows dressed as a Reverend But his clothes are bright red with scars all across his face The preacher gives him a nod then he looks at the back of King's head and the Reverend starts tailing him Turns out it wasn't just the station that was loaded with preachers On every corner of the city are men with Bibles in their hands praising Brother Dalton and their Lord Jesus Christ The group go to saloon to get info Which is really quiet and hardly anyone there Gathering the information they need, the trio decide to leave the city As they're walking out, there's a flood of people going the opposite direction A few tried to stop them, saying "Where are you going? Brother Dalton is going to give his sermon." And when the group ignore them, the city folk are stunned Shaking their heads as they walk away On the outskirts, the city becomes deathly quiet With everyone else at Brother Dalton's sermon, there's a thick, rolling fog blanketing the streets A creaky doorway blows open and shut in the breeze Through the mists, the group hears a *chink chink* of boots as someone approaches Appearing before them, blocking them from leaving, is a Red Reverend The one they had seen earlier with a Bible in his hand He tells them: The voice of Brother Dalton is a beacon to all those who believe in him As he's talking, two other reverends emerge out from the alleys, armed with pistols Those who run from his words must be of the Devil! A shootout starts in the street between the players and the reverends The one with the Bible holds it up and points at King and says: Isaiah 66:16 For by fire and by His sword will the LORD plead with all flesh, and the slain of the LORD shall be many! Gouts of flame pass out from his hand and travel towards King, Who pulls cards from his deck and draws a hand Making a wall of stone which blocks the fire Fire, huh? Isn't that kind of, y'know, demonic! You think? Oh yeah? Well, is- is there anything more satanic than trying to convince a man of God that he's actually... Uh, evil? Huh? That's right! He raises out his hands and says Numbers 21:6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, And they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. And as he says that snakes come out of the ground and start biting at King. Okay, first fire, then snakes You're using a lot of satanic magic. Trying to get something through to you here. King pulls out another hand and causes the snakes to turn on the Reverend, attacking him Using snakes to attack a worker of God! Just like in the garden (like, Eden?). You truly are of your father: the Devil. But I- you- you're the one who summoned the snakes! Aaagh! You people are hypocrites! *bleh* The Reverend he was fighting dies from the snake bites The other two managed to defeat the other Reverend gunslingers Jenkins chucks stick of dynamite and collapses the side of a building onto him While Jimmy the Kid unloads a full set of six bullets into the other Side note: in this game I remember Jimmy the kid kept getting the worst luck As a gunslinger he had an ability that let him get redealt a new initiative hand whenever he got a bad card and we had to redeal him like five times and he still ended up going last! As they're booking it out of town, other reverends are hot on their heels firing shots at them Haha, good luck, and so long suckers Hurling a stick of dynamite over his shoulder, taking off, and... he rolled a one So the dynamite hits a sign above his head, tumbles in front of him, and detonates Which also ignites the bandoliers of dynamite across his body Causing the entire block to be glassed by a massive explosion, Which takes out several of the nearby buildings And everyone in the party Dies. Hideously. And that was where that story ended until I decided that I wanted to keep playing and said that the explosion was *mumbles* so massive that it rent reality in two and Created two alternate timelines one in which everyone died and the other in which Jimmy was 20 feet ahead of him and got damaged by the blast but everyone else was totally okay! After leaving the town the group traveled south through the desert and fought a dust devil One fight, several days, and a few fractured realities later, They arrived at the mountains where the clues were leading them to. The huckster spoke with some animals And they found out that there was a big monster that moved around at night that hunted the largest game The group discovered a cave. Inside is a massive mound of glittering, shining gold! There for the taking! But before they can do anything, peeling itself off of the wall is a colossal figure of an undead Tyrannosaurus rex A fight breaks out. King pulls a hand summoning an earthdome, which they all hide under Haha! What now you overgrown skeleton? Can't get to us here, can you? I describe as the T rex raises a leg, Places on the dome, steps on it, Crushing it, and trapping everyone under the dirt. That, that was probably not the best decision I've ever made Prospector Jenkins lights a stick of dynamite But before he can throw it, Jimmy the kid fires six bullets Two of them ricochet off the ceiling (you know, because The bad luck) and hit the prospector, knocking him unconscious Then the t-rex stepped on the group again knocking out the gunslinger. So it's the second round of this fight We've got two players knocked out, King is the only one conscious, in a dark cave He can't see anything, the t-rex is above him, under a pile of rubble and the only light is coming from a stick of dynamite by his head, going *Ssssssss* About to explode! So King picks up the dynamite and just freaking hucks it at the t-rex Now he's chucking explosives. In a cave. With a ceiling. That could collapse at any moment I let him know. "Look you guys. I saved your butts already. This is the final fight I am NOT doing it again. So if you die here, you die here!" I rolled a d6 and kept it secret Then I let King call even or odd. He calls even. I describe how the dynamite detonates, destroying the skeleton scattering bones out and bits of rubble sprayed down from the ceiling onto them Which manages to hold up and they end that session with the two others recovering, sitting amongst their piles and piles of gold I'd like to think that they probably all died there as well and that there's two realities One where the ceiling collapsed on them killing everyone, and the other where they lived As they ride out into the sunset of the world, with their gold on their backs it makes me wonder about all these other endings for these universes that were born out from prospector, Jenkins and his reality ripping dynamite
