[DL] Alternate History and Slavery

[Nyarlathothep132@aol.com]

If I remember correctly, part of the reason for having free slaves, from a game-design standpoint, is that Deadlands was not supposed to really deal with the realities of the whole thing. At least, that's the impression I get from Back East: The South's introduction bit. It's a touchy subject, and the Powers That Be thought it might be more entertaining to just slide it under the table.

In all but the most serious games, I'd have to agree- Deadlands isn't really a serious historical game. It's a spaghetti western, semi-fantasy, horror game with a dash of comedy thrown in.

In a much darker Deadlands, it's entirely possible the Reckoners make a huge effort to keep Slavery maintained in some way down South. They'd probably still need them to fight as soldiers- but perhaps instead of promising freedom they promise to not kill their families, or such. Realistically, the situation might swiftly break down- but might the Reckoners not want a large, brutal, violent slave revolt? Reconstruction might be much, much worse than in Our Time Line. Such a game might be interesting.