Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Erpegis]

So I’ve been thinking what the Weird West would be like if the Reckoners were not embodiments of Four Riders of Apocalypse, but embodiments of Seven Mortal Sins.

Now, I know that Death is not really the angel of death, but basically if they modelled themselves on human beliefs, then the Apocalypse was not that important to an average Christian through most of the time, while Seven Sins were constantly being reminded by priests and preachers.

The four existing ones can be mapped under an existing sin.

Famine is Gluttony. Seems kinda contratian but her creations and servitors eat people, and their apetite is never satiated. Grimme’s personality is unchanged in this one. No real major changes maybe except the design of some of her monsters – some might resemble bloated corpses instead of emaciated ones.

Pestilence is Greed. Hellstromme instead of spreading metaphorical diseases of new technologies, spreads the desire to want more new deadly engines and more ghost rock. You need some more monsters tied to concept of greed, like vengeful ghosts or evil mine spirits, but most pestilence monsters will still fit – you still will have to pay the doctors or pharmacists.

War is Wrath obviously, it fits the Raven like a glove. No changes to monsters, though some zombies might have the Berserk Edge or similar abilities.

Death is Pride. It might not be the best thematic feel for some of his creatures, but it’s the best fit for his servitor. Rather than undead and similar creatures, his beasties now include mind controllers, creatures that copy people (like doppelgangers), demons that tempt people and so on.

The three remaining ones can be a bit tricky.

Lust is a fairly easy one. His (or hers) servitor could be beautiful Mina Devlin, and there’s plenty of monsters that might fit the bill (like tarnished phantasy). Her goal on the Weird West is spreading decadence and fear of the dark aspects of human… nature.

Envy is fairly hard to imagine, but on the frontier where everyone lives by their own wits, there could be plenty of jealous folk. Quite possibly, together with Wrath, she sponsors the Civil War, so might have a lot of undead (maybe some sentient ones that wish to be alive again) serving her. Her servitor might be Ernst Biren, jealous and bitter about Hoyle’s powers.

Sloth is difficult to describe, because basically his servitors and servants could be very passive. Monsters could be simply waiting for the next victim, like the desert thing. No idea for the servitor, though.

Any ideas? How it would change the metaplot? (Possibly some of them might get killed in HoE storyline like Famine's horse has died)

[Edgeworth]

I'm not unfamiliar with changing some key players in Deadlandsverse (I once ran a campaign where Reckoners were tied in more to the Horsemen from the Bible as opposed to the Horsemen from the pop culture and they were just pawns for the Fifth Horseman) and boy, do I like this idea! All my players know their Deadlands lore pretty well, except one, so running "alternative" campaigns based on ideas like this are sometimes really fun; Not too detached from the official lore but still enough to get the players guessing which is and which isn't valid information. Of course, if you really need them to know something, enter the Prospector. Or Stone.

I like your ideas for new servitors. For Sloth, how about... err... Canada? Or someone from Back East who doesn't really do anything, but just by doing that (that means, nothing) he supports the Civil War, Rail Wars or something else?

There is one reason why I'm glad that the official line includes only the Four Horsemen. Think how many pages would the Lost Colony be if there had to be stats for three Big Bads more!

[steelbrok]

I really like this idea

[Erpegis]

[Clint]

[ogbendog]

one could even include the 7 sins as sub-servators of the big 4.

l

[Erpegis]

[Thunderforge]

I had the same idea once with also tying each of the Seven Deadly Sins to one of the seven countries in the Weird West (USA, CSA, Deseret, Coyote Confederation, Sioux Nations, Disputed Territories, and California). It gets pretty messy though when you're trying to equate sins like Lust with a single area of the Weird West.
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[robert4818]

Envy

Envy is a unique spirit. Sort of a prostitute to the others. Her domain is the entirety of the US. Envy, like Pride, is a gateway sin. Through her, the other sins find easier pathways into human souls. After all, greed is easier to stoke in one man, when he thinks he has to catch up with another. Of course, in payment, Envy always gets a share of the fear sent to the other reckoners.

Envy's servitor is unknown. Its possible that there isn't a single servitor for Envy. Envy has plenty servants though. Vagabonds, Snake oil salesmen, drifter's, and even Seasonal Workers. They all have two things in common. They constantly move from place to place, and every place they go, they tell tales of how the previous place has something the current place doesn't. They find ways of always painting greener grass.

Sloth

Sloth is also unique. He is universally dispised by the other Sins. His actions universally stop the other sins. When people don't feel like doing anything, they don't feel like fixing envy, chasing after greed, lust, don't take care of their pride. They simply don't care. As such, if word of Sloth's servitor reaches another Sin's servants, they will do almost anything to stop him.

Sloth's servitor is what appears to be an old man named Jeb. Jeb is, like grimme, an entity given form instead of a human. His very presence leaches the will from people around him. Its a slow process. Jeb must be in an area making contact with people for at least 2 months. After that he can move on. The process will continue for another 10 months. After that period of time people in the town lose the will to do much of anything. But by that time, crops will have been left untended, work undone, the town will be pretty much dead.

[Billybuck Dancer]

Another option for Sloth: ramp up the despair element that was popular during the Middle Ages. The true sin (and some say the greatest) is to believe oneself unfit for salvation. It's a kind of arrogance, really, to say "Not even God can save me! I'm not worthy!"

Naturally, this leads to the more familiar sort of sloth as ennui and nihilism dig in. Why try if your eternal soul's already earmarked for ghost rock or the metaphysical trash heap?

Under this interpretation, I see Sloth's servitor being a preacher of some sort. If Grimme wasn't already taken, I'd go with him. Naturally, everyone who isn't one of the elite is doomed to perdition. They should be wailing and rending their garments at their sore luck. Even life in the inner circles can be... cutthroat. You'll never be good enough. Never devout enough. What could scourge away the sins? Surely, the good reverend wouldn't excommunicate you for heresy if your sins were for the greater good...