Hell Train is a 1st level adventure for Weird Frontiers, published by Ruby-Melee Games. I played this adventure at Lone Star Game Expo back in 2019. John Watson, the author of this adventure and numerous Torg Eternity products, was playtesting this adventure and also helping playtest the classes for what would become Weird Frontiers. It was an amazing game. Stood out in my memory for years. When in-person conventions started being a thing again, I’d keep an eye out for John just so I could bug him about when Hell Train was getting published. In 2023, it finally came out.
TL;DR: It’s a really great (though linear) adventure with a few layout issues.
The Premise
Folks in Jefferson, Texas aren’t staying dead and there’s a reward of $600 (accounting for inflation, that’s about 14k in today’s dollars) for anyone who can solve the problem. Every night, the dead rise, some even coming in from further away. Nights are dangerous and full of the moaning of the dead. However, only the recently deceased have been coming back from the dead. The PCs can get information and rumors from folks around town, likely discovering that this all began shortly after the Sheriff was killed a few weeks ago (similar to the premise of the movie High Plains Drifter). The church, jail, saloon, and train station are given detail. The overall page count is 16-pages. There’s also a “Skin-Walker” PC class that was a stretch goal created as a Kickstarter stretch goal.
The Adventure - Spoilers Ahead
The PCs can try to kill a bunch of zombies in town, but they’ll come back every single night even if you destroy the bodies. They can easily suss out more about the issue if the PCs either have a Sin-Eater or a Calavera in the party, as they have abilities to see into “the Near” and notice many restless spirits waiting at the train station. There’s also a Native-American “medicine woman” named Usti who can help the PCs understand what they need to do in order to right the situation. Essentially, the train that would take these spirits into the afterlife is not stopping. Thus, the spirits become restless and their bodies rise each night. The PCs need to travel into the Near and help these spirits pass on. As you may have guessed from a “train” themed adventure, it’s something of a railroad. That said, it’s a really fun ride that myself and the other players thoroughly enjoyed.
Once in the Near, the PCs can ask some questions of the spirits. Important questions and answers are provided for the judge, as well as a list of a few notable spirits. There’s a dead Native American man with a trade stall. The PCs can trade a point of Personality (as temp damage) for items from his stall. And there’s also a snake oil salesman with whom you can similarly trade Luck points. The PCs are essentially directed to go wrangle some wild spirit horses and then jump aboard the train when it next comes through. Now, they don’t have to jump from their horses, but all other options are very difficult.
Once aboard the train, the PCs need to travel through four train cars before reaching the train conductor. There’s no information given for attempting to climb on top of the train cars, but you should run the game much the same as if they walked through the cars like normal. When the PCs enter a train car, transition them into a dream-like darkness before appearing in an entirely different atmosphere. If run as written, there’s a bar fight (unavoidable), a card game where you must bet a piece of your soul, a spooky monster (unavoidable fight), and a puzzle encounter where the PCs served a possibly poisoned meal. For Kickstarter backers, there were some stretch goals in the form of exclusive extra encounters that you can swap in here. If desired, a judge could also swap in encounters from any number of other adventures, such as some of the random ones from Death Crawls West. This is also a prime spot to lengthen or shorten the adventure if needed.
After that segment, the PCs reach the Engineer’s cart. The PCs find that the dead sheriff is in control of the train, but not truly in control of himself. The moment of his death is conjured up and the PCs need to slay the Cotton Mouth Gang before they kill Sheriff Jackson. Though none of the townsfolk or his deputies never helped the sheriff in real life, the PCs helping him now will allow him to forgive the town. The real engineer is able to retake control of the ghost train, and the many spirits can board and move onto the afterlife. As a reward, the PCs get that $600 and the sheriff’s essence infuses itself into one of the PC’s guns to provide a +1 bonus to attack rolls. However, the real Cotton Mouth Gang is still at large and the PC who welds this gun feels compelled to hunt them down…
Summary
Hell Train handles the otherworldliness of the Near with some real excellence. It makes it feel almost tangible while still feeling dreamlike. As someone who played this adventure and then read it years later, I think it’s one of those adventures that plays better at the table than it reads. I felt genuine surprise at several moments, and the adventure’s climax brought a real feeling of closure to the adventure.
I really enjoyed the encounters on the train, but wish there was a little more in the way of interacting with the environment in the combat-focused areas. However, a quick-thinking judge can likely “yes and” any suggestions by the players, perhaps asking for them to spend a point of Personality to manifest their wishes in the Near. I also find it odd that the adventure doesn’t have a map. It runs fine without one and doesn’t really need one, but I’m accustomed to just about every adventure having a map.
Overall, this adventure is a hearty recommend. It’s a great size to fit into a 4-hour convention game or a quick way to introduce new players to Weird Frontiers in a single game night.
Have you played Hell Train and did your party hunt down the Cotton Mouth Gang? What adventure do you wish existed for Weird Frontiers: hollow earth expeditions, crazy zeppelin nonsense, Yellowstone explodes, or something else?
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