Dealt in Lead

""Heed the call: bind your life to the Lich-Emperor Lincoln, pledge your services to General Lee's mech-cavalry, or forge your own destiny entirely? Whichever path you choose you can be sure: in this land, justice and vengeance both are...Dealt In Lead"."

Dealt In Lead is a browser-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It entered beta phase on the 10th of January 2010.


 * Abraham Lincoln: So.. ah.. See Alternate History below.
 * Alternate History: And how. Things aren't very detailed yet, but from what that is known: The American Civil War has been going on for more than a decade, there's alchemists presumably manufacturing gunpowder, war balloons aren't used for mere observation, the Confederacy has become heavily mechanized, outlawed slavery shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation and has become somewhat of a very religious totalitarian regime, Lincoln was resurrected after his death and declared himself Lich-Emperor, Gen. Lee is in control of mech-cavalry.. It's an odd world, that's for sure.
 * The American Civil War: A little bit different. See alternate history.
 * Arbitrary Gun Power: Would be very unbalanced otherwise, given what kind of game it is.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: A feature which allows members of either faction to purchase titles, most likely military-styled, using faction points. How are those points gained? Killing players from the other faction. Thus, Asskicking Equals Authority.
 * A-Team Firing: In games like this? Miss, miss, miss, hit that does low damage, miss, miss..
 * An Axe to Grind: Hatchets can be used as weapons. Oh, and there's tomahawks.
 * Bank Robbery: There will be plenty of these when banks are implemented.
 * Bar Brawl: Saloons are where people mostly gather, and is thus where much of the fighting occurs.
 * The Bartender: "Barkeep" is actually an available character background. Plus, you can own saloons.
 * BFG: Muzzle-loader rifles tend to be pretty big.
 * Boom Town: A lot of them.
 * Bounty Hunter: Of course. A 3rd party modification for bounty hunting was recently incorporated into the game.
 * Breakable Weapons: There has been a lot of complaining about this, due to somewhat unfair breakage probabilities. Sometimes, tools and weapons lasts almost forever. Mostly, though, they break within a couple of uses. A system for this is on the way.
 * Cattle Punk / Steampunk: Mixed with a little bit of fantasy. Probably a bit of Clock Punk too somwhere.
 * The Cavalry: Not only do we have the Civil War going on in all its horrible glory, "cavalry" is also one of the character backgrounds. Also, see Instant Awesome Just Add Mecha for a little bit of awesome.
 * Character Level: For each new level you gain in a specific skill, your character's total level goes up by one.
 * Church Militant: The Crusade-Happy Society of Light.
 * Cosmetic Award: There will be a lot of titles in the future. Pretty useless titles.
 * Counterfeit Cash: Silver ore and nuggets can be made into, apparently, perfectly legal dollars.
 * Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Society of Light, the in-game Cult Religion.
 * Cunning Linguist: The title acquired after reaching level five in the conversation skill? Linguist. Most likely cunning, too.
 * Death Is a Slap on The Wrist: Averted. Not only are there some other serious drawbacks, but a 100% drop rate will eventually be implemented.
 * Deep South: The game doesn't take place there, but.. You know, the Confederacy..
 * Determined Homesteader: Well.. Many players are quite determined, and "homesteader" is one of the character backgrounds.
 * Did Not Do the Research: It's debatable, but.. Among other things, the materials used to make pencils? A piece of lead ore and a stick.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: It is, of course, possible to kill the game developer.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Take a look at the list of bounties. Yes, Disproportionate Retribution indeed.
 * Dodge the Bullet: The defence skill makes you better at this.
 * Drugs Are Bad: Averted. A lot. Opium and morphine are the only viable healing items so far. No side effects.
 * The Emperor: Lincoln is a undead version of this, possibly with a little bit of God-Emperor / Emperor Scientist mixed in.
 * An Entrepreneur Is You: You can own and run saloons, and general stores are to be added eventually. Also - A Politician Is You.
 * Foo Fu: The title earned by maxing your level in the Hand-To-Hand skill? Pencil-Fu.
 * Forever War: The Civil War has been going on for more than a decade and there's no end in sight. Over what? Uhm.. I think it was something involving taxes..
 * Frontier Doctor: Players can heal each others, and themselves, with for example morphine. A medicine skill will be implemented in time.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: Happens a lot. For example, where are all the mechanical steeds, alchemists and war balloons that allegedly are commonplace? Why are there no cannons in the Black Hills, despite the fact that it's supposed to be practically raining cannon balls? And why, for goodness sake, are almost all battles short hit-and-run raids targeting saloons when there is supposed to be a large scale war going on?
 * This is because the game's still in development.
 * Griefer: In the eyes of some, various more violent groups are seen as this in warring with other groups or people.
 * The Gunslinger: Revolvers + The Civil War era + The frontier = Plenty of gunslingers. Also, it's a title given to characters who have maxed their level in the Pistol skill.
 * Historical Villain Upgrade: Lincoln is this for the Confederacy. If you ask the Union, he got a really neat Historical Hero Upgrade.
 * Hit and Run Tactics: Da shit. See Gameplay And Story Segregation above.
 * Hit Points: It's that kind of game.
 * Improvised Weapon: Hatchets, pickaxes, pencils..
 * Injun Country: Almost. The game takes place in the Dakota Territory and there's tomahawks. No natives to be found, though..
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: How can you make The Cavalry even more awesome than it already is? Two words, one hyphen: Mech-cavalry.
 * Invulnerable Knuckles: Your fists don't break, unlike most other things.
 * Local Hangout: The saloons. Not only are they cool in general, they provide - For a small payment, of course - a bonus to fatigue regeneration for a few hours.
 * Officer and a Gentleman: More than a few of the Confederate players are roleplaying this. If that's not enough, then there's always the mention of General Lee on the game's main page.
 * Our Liches Are Different: All hail Abraham Lincoln, Lich-Emperor of the Union!
 * Our Presidents Are Different: *Cough*
 * Outlaw: It comes with the setting package, so to speak.
 * Locked Door: Doors - Check. Locks - Check.
 * The Musketeer: Your muzzle-loader is out of minié balls? Then, it's saber time.
 * The Pen Is Mightier: Before we do this, I should warn you: I know Pencil-Fu.
 * Physical God / A God Am I / God in Human Form: The game developer's forum title? Deity.
 * Player Versus Player / Player Killing: No NPCs, plenty of combat.
 * Posse: Will be added eventually as a group mechanic.
 * Privately-Owned Society: Some towns tend to be this, for obvious reasons.
 * Propaganda Machine: The Confederate players are somewhat fond of this.
 * Prospector: It's a character background. Plus, there's pan handling and mining.
 * Random Number God: Don't expect him to play nice.
 * Recycled in Space: Urban Dead IN THE DAKOTAS! With STEAMPUNK!
 * Revolvers Are Just Better: More specifically: Single Action Revolvers Are Just Better.
 * Saloon Owner: You can build, run and own these. They're quite profitable.
 * Saintly Church: The Society of Light is founded on the principals of helping everyone, regardless of faction or record.
 * Scoring Points: When a Confederate player kills a member of the Union points are gained, when a Unionist kills another member of the Union points are lost, and vice versa.
 * Shout-Out: Guess what - The game developer's in-game character has a pretty high level. 9001, to be specific.
 * Southern Gentleman / Southern Belle / Good Ol' Boy: Plenty of these.
 * Telepathy: A player with level four or more in the conversation skill can, as the description puts it, "place thoughts into the heads of others over great distances". In other words, telepathically send messages.
 * Trigger Happy: The frontier. And outlaws. And the American Civil War. Obviously, examples of this trope are abundant.
 * Truce Zone: Quie a few neutral towns proclaiming to be such. Often, it doesn't work out too well.
 * Wanted Poster: See Bounty Hunter.
 * The Wild West: Obviously.
 * Worthless Yellow Rocks: In a way. Gold flakes are, at the moment, only used to make blueprints (!?) and are found rather easily.
 * On the other hand, gold nuggets serve to reset skill levels, something that's usually only available by donation in other games.
 * You Fail Pharmacology Forever: So.. Opium, morphine, cactus milk and beignets are great for healing any kind of wound, no matter how serious? Right.
 * Zeppelins from Another World: Well.. Not zeppelins - Yet. However.. war balloons. Horribly powerful war balloons, apparently.