Music To Roleplay To: Deadlands

Today on Music To Roleplay To we saddle up, hit the ol' dusty trail, and see if our grit is true against the horrors that make the West weird in Deadlands!

First off, Deadlands publisher, Pinnacle Entertainment, has released not one but several soundtracks dedicated to their weird west line:

1. Deadlands Weird Wailin's by Michael Urich
2. Deadlands: Aces & Eights by Medwyn Goodall
3. Deadlands: Toxic Tunes by Gary Everett and Enoch Hain (a post-apocalyptic vibe)
4. Deadlands Noir Original Soundtrack by Harry Mack (a 30's noir vibe.) 

As of this posting, a couple of these soundtracks are on sale for cheap: $2.50 to $5.00 from $15.00. Get em while they're hot!

That said, I'm not going to beat around the bush here and come right out an' say it: I think, hands down in my opinion, some of the best music to play whilst rolling the bones in this RPG is the horrorpunk/gothabilly (hellbilly?) band Ghoultown. They sound awesome and the yarns they sing sound like they're right out of the Deadlands itself! I highly suggest you check them out.

But, if Ghoultown's not your shot of whiskey, I've still got plenty other suggestions:

Artists & Composers

• Ennio Morricone (His Spaghetti Western scores like A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly; etc.)
• Johnny Cash (Select tracks such as Desperado, Ghost Riders in the Sky, God's Gonna Cut You Down, Ring of Fire.)
• Motörhead (Select tracks such as Ace of Spades, Bite The Bullet, Lawman, Shoot You In The Back.)
• Scott Joplin (Ragtime makes great saloon music)

Original Soundtracks

• 3:10 to Yuma by Marco Beltrami
• The Assassinaion of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
• Cowboys & Aliens by Harry Gregson-Williams
• Darkwatch by Mike Reagan
• Dead Man by Neil Young
• Deadwood (series) by various artists
• Django Unchained by various artists
• Fallout: New Vegas by various artists
• Ghostrider by Christopher Young
• Jonah Hex - Revenge Gets Ugly by Mastodon
• The Mask of Zorro, and The Legend of Zorro by James Horner
• Outlaws by Clint Bajakian
• Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare by Bill Elm & Woody Jackson
• True Grit (2010) by Carter Burwell

Other RPGs these tunes could work well in: This collection is pretty specific to Deadlands, though it should work well in Weird West or Werewolf: The Wild West. Drop the 'Weird' selections from the list and you have the makings of a decent Western playlist for Aces & Eights, or Boot Hill.

Leave a comment if you have any suggestions for additional listening!