Editing Weird Western

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The '''Weird Western''' is one of the most distinctive [[Western]] subgenres, next to the [[Space Western]], and is basically what you get when you mash up the Western with Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction or Post-Apocalypse themes, or any combination thereof. Precisely why this genre exists has been attributed to the Wild West's association with liminality, which is a fancy way of saying that being out in the boonies is a great way to contrast the "real world" with whatever genre you're mixing.

Sadly, this genre has been little explored with tabletop games; it's largely a province of literature and videogames. But that doesn't mean it's non-existent, so that's why this article exists.

But, how do you actually make a Western ''Weird''? Well, there's three major ways you can do so...

=Spaghetti Westerns... with Mystery Meat!=
Probably the most ubiquitous form of the Weird Western, to the point it's also possible to describe this as the "Classic Weird Western", this subgenre basically takes "the real West" and adds the non-Western elements subtly, so as to avoid overtly disrupting the timeline. This works great for Horror and [[Low Fantasy]] mashups, which do tend to be the go-to for a Weird Western, which is probably why it's so common.

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that the fantastical elements are rare or weak - there could be an entire [[Unknown Armies|occult underground]], but the big idea is that on the surface, this could pass for our real world Wild West.

/tg/ relevant examples of this type of Weird Western include:

[[Deadlands]]: Specifically, the Classic, Weird West and Noir gamelines. Whilst there is a definite [[Alternate History]] slant (at least outside of Weird West's controversial remakes), officially, the public are largely ignorant of the supernatural elements of their world, and so the fact that there are things like [[warlock|hucksters who gamble with devils for magic spells]] or the occasional [[zombie]] outbreak in the wilderness is covered up.

[[Call of Cthulhu]] has both a Wild West-based adventure in the form of "The Evil Gun" in the anthology "Blood Brothers 2", and a full-fledged 19th Century Western America sourcebook called ''Down Darker Trails''.

[[Dogs in the Vineyard]] is all about the party playing pseudo-[[paladin]] [[gunslinger]]s called "God's Watchdogs", who look after the physical and spiritual wellbeing of a society based on the Mormons during the founding years of Utah. Whilst how overtly magical things are is largely left up to the individual campaign, the efforts to avoid getting into trouble with the real Mormons means it has distinct "Parallel Universe" vibes to the setting.

'''Weird Frontiers''' is a setting for [[Dungeon Crawl Classics]] that can basically be described as [[Deadlands]] Classic meets [[Call of Cthulhu]], with players being mystically empowered by the Earth itself to fight back against the rising evil of the Elder Gods.

'''Werewolf: The Wild West''' is a [[Historical Fantasy]] spin-off/[[splatbook]] for [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]] that looks at what the werewolves were doing in the Wild West.

'''Shadows Of Brimstone''' is a Western-based boardgame where various stock Western characters venture down into dangerous haunted mine shafts to battle mutants, the undead, demons, alien invaders and cosmic horrors. Notably, the locals have begun using a mysterious otherworldly mineral known as darkstone that has powerful-but-mutagenic properties, including opening portals to other worlds and times such as a dino-filled jungle swamp ruled by snake people, a fire and brimstone hell, or a dying alien world in the throes of a darkstone-powered century-long WW1 analog.

The [[All Flesh Must Be Eaten]] [[splatbook]] "Fistful o' Zombies" is literally about adding a zombie apocalypse to a Western setting.

=Fantasy Americana=
The next step up from the Mystery Meat Spaghetti Western, Fantasy Americana is still set in the real world USA, but has gone full-fledged Alternate History by openly incorporating unearthly elements into the lore. [[Cattlepunk]] is often a sci-fi subgenre to this, but not always, since mad scientists wielding steampunk tech who somehow fail to change the course of history is a classic part of the Mystery Meat Spaghetti Western. Basically, if it's supposed to be the real America, but society has been changed by the introduction of magic or advanced technology, it's this. Fantasy Americana settings usually focus on fantasy (hence the name), and tend to draw heavily from American folklore and stories - Tall Tale folk heroes, Bigfoot, Mothman, cryptids, stuff like that. 

This is less common than "Classic" Weird Westerns, but still common enough - it even gets its own trope on [[TVTropes]].

/tg/ relevant examples of this type of Weird Western include:

[[Deadlands]]: Hell on Earth is set in the post-apocalyptic future of Deadlands Classic/Weird West, so the masquerade is gone and everybody knows that the world is full of mutants and monsters. Then there's the Lost Colony spin-off, which is Deadlands meets [[Space Western]].

'''Dracula's America''' is a skirmish minatures game set in America after Dracula migrated here and openly took over Washington DC.

'''Ghost Mountain''' is a setting for the [[Index Card RPG]] that consists of playing the inhabitants of Western mountain communities whose mountain was sucked out of reality and is now stuck hovering over Purgatory.

[[RIFTS]] has [[splatbook]]s for the American West, Mexico and Canada, and since RIFTS is literally about piling Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Post-Apocalyptica onto "real" Earth, it naturally fits here. In the Wasted West, you got cyborg prospectors, dinosaurs, lowlife banditos, cactus men, red skinned desert spirits... Then there's the [[vampire]] empire down in Mexico... And up in Canda, you got such problems as the Xiticix hivelands, the Calgary Rift and Monster Kingdom, and of course, Wendigo.

'''Colonial Gothic''' involves the dark and dreary weirdness that roams the woods of Colonial America and threatens (in many ways) to influence The American Revolution for the worse. One of the expansion booklets for the game is even rules in how to add the Headless Horseman and Sleepy Hollow into a campaign.

Kenneth Hite's Suppressed Transmission column in Pyramid magazine had a recurring bit where he'd describe an aspect of American folklore — usually a Folk Hero — in game terms, and also as a counterpart to something in Classical Mythology. These included "American Hercules: John Henry", "American Phaëthon: Casey Jones", "American Dionysus: Johnny Appleseed" and "American Arcadia: The Big Rock-Candy Mountain". He also wrote columns on Fantasy Americana that didn't tie into this theme, including Paul Bunyan and John the Conqueror.

[[Shadowrun]] is literally supposed to be a [[Cyberpunk]] America after magic came back and restored monsters and [[demihuman]]s to the world. America has plenty of folklore critters running around, as well as several breakaway nations of Native Americans they used sorcery to acquire and defend.

[[Castle Falkenstein]] is set in a world shaped by the sudden arrival of the [[fey]] and [[dragon]]s into mainstream society, introducing [[steampunk]] and [[magic]] to further change the mix. America, thusly, has been ''really'' shaken up, to the point that the official map of the place goes thus: the United States of America (from the east coast to the Mississippi), the Republic of Texas, the Bear Flag Empire of California (ruled by Emperor Norton!), the Twenty Nations Confederation, and the Unorganized Territories.

=Hucksters & Hexes=
Finally, there's the least common subgenre; taking a purely fictional world and setting your story in the Wild West analogue to it. Basically, the other subgenres are about adding fantasy or sci-fi elements to a Western; this is about adding Western elements to a fantasy or sci-fi... usually a fantasy, since "science fiction plus Western" is literally the definition of [[Space Western]].

The reason why you don't see this type of Weird Western much is probably for the same reason you rarely see a [[Gaslamp Fantasy]] that doesn't use a "Real World" basis; it's a lot more work on the creator's part.

Whilst this subgenre of Weird Western will often draw from American myths and folklore, like the Fantasy Americana, it's here where you are more likely to find more "classic" fantasy elements drawn in - wizards, elves, dwarves and orcs.

[[Spellslinger]] is perhaps the purest example of "[[Dungeons & Dragons]] does the Wild West" you'll ever see without homebrewing it.

[[Anchorome]] is a region of the [[Forgotten Realms]] based on North America... but it's Pre-Columbian North America, so it doesn't really count.

[[Golarion]] has a little-detailed continent called Arcadia that is clearly supposed to be its North American analogue. But even in the known world, the Shoanti tribes have a "Magical Native American" flavor to them, the River Kingdoms have a regional flavor of the Great Lakes, the nation of Andoren is basically an idealized post-British Revolution America, and plenty of critters from Native American mythology and American settler folklore show up in the [[Pathfinder]] bestiaries.

[[Labyrinth Lord]] has a [[splatbook]] called [[d20 to Yuma]] that is all about adding Western trappings and elements to your OSR games, and even features some b-movie shoutouts like the Giant Gila Monster (from the cheesey monster movie of the same name) as a monster.

=TVTropes Links=
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeirdWest
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FantasyAmericana

[[Category: Gamer Slang]]
[[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]