Now, read on: So, in the weird, weird West of Deadlands, those who die and come back are known as the Harrowed. And in Wraith: The Oblivion, there’s this little thing called a Harrowing that will sooner or [...]]]> Well, it’s been a while, but here we are. Finally back and going on with the chain.

Now, read on:

So, in the weird, weird West of Deadlands, those who die and come back are known as the Harrowed. And in Wraith: The Oblivion, there’s this little thing called a Harrowing that will sooner or later happen to every single wraith. And in both cases, it’s down to a little voice in your head. A tiny thanatic influence that whispers endlessly in your ear about destruction – yours, and others.

It doesn’t take a whole lot to add these two settings together – they already fit very well. You’ll probably want to beef up both the numbers and the powers of the assorted Bete of Werewolf: Wild West – and you may also want to consider what an absolute terror such a creature would be if it too became one of the Harrowed. Of course, by Bete standards, the Harrowed are well and truly tainted by the Wyrm. Even the heroic ones are damned, after all, and the non-heroic ones scarcely bear thinking about. The weird West is a haunted place where the Wyrm has already won a massive victory – the ghost rock that is so easily found in it is clearly a stratagem of the Wyrm, the few surviving Uktena Banetenders are more likely Banehunters trying to put the horrors down once more, and a million other signs point to the imminent defeat of the Bete. This place may already be lost to Gaia – although it would be a terribly heretical thing to say that aloud.

For those of you interested in the more vampiric opportunities for characters, bear in mind always that the weird West is a place in time and space where the Masquerade is well and truly blown – with all the opportunities and the dangers that brings. The weird West is less refined than the drawing rooms of London, but there is opportunity aplenty and power for the taking.

Consider that Raven was ageless and apparently immortal, and utterly consumed by his need for vengeance. Is it possible that [...]]]> To anyone familiar with the setting of Deadlands, the year 1863 is instantly recognizable as the year that Raven and the Last Sons set the manitou free. Or was there more to it than that?

Consider that Raven was ageless and apparently immortal, and utterly consumed by his need for vengeance. Is it possible that Raven is one of the amnesiac Corwin’s by-blows? A bastard son of Amber, unaware of his true heritage but still deadly because of it?

Perhaps Raven’s spell would not have succeeded without the resonance it set up with his father’s actions. Specifically, I’m talking about the blood curse that Corwin pronounced when he was blinded in Nine Princes in Amber. The same curse that opened up Amber, and the multitude of Shadows between it and Chaos, to the depredations of the Black Road. We’ve already seen (in The Guns of Avalon) that the road does not always manifest the same way – and that it can be called to a shadow by the right sort of ritual.

The sort of ritual that was performed by Raven on July 3rd, 1863, say.

One of the best things about this particular crossover is its subtlety – no one need suspect that this is anything more than a standard game of Deadlands at first. But slowly, pieces of the puzzle emerge, until it becomes clear that the Deadlands are merely one theatre of a universal war, and that the stakes are unimaginably higher than anyone suspected. The Happy Hunting Grounds is revealed to be a neighbouring Shadow to Earth, albeit one that is closely linked to it.

One of the best ways to begin hinting towards this is through the character party’s Huckster. Assuming as we are a link between Amber and the Deadlands, it follows that the card-based magic of the Hucksters is in some way connected to the magical Trumps of Amber. Was Edmund Hoyle an Amberite in disguise, and if so, which one? The two possibilities that spring to mind are Brand, foremost Trump artist of his generation – and Random, the foremost gambler.

While at first glance Random might seem an unlikely choice, who else but he would think to hide sorcery in a manual for gambling? The Unicorn’s selection of him as the King of Amber suggests he has hidden depths – perhaps this is one of them. Besides, Brand would never have allowed his notes to fall into the hands of others – Random is far more trusting.

The easiest way to introduce this plot is to begin circulating rumours that Hoyle is still alive, and has been sighted nearby. If there’s a Huckster in the party, you’d have to hogtie him to keep him from searching for Hoyle. Even if not, Hoyle and his secrets would be worth a pretty penny to right buyer – not to mention posing a threat to the peace that any lawman might feel needed dealing with.