"How the West was Redone"

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Caed Aldwych delivered a talk on the redevelopment of the Deadwood 1876 sim.

After a brief introduction by the Deadwood Librarian, Mr. Blitzer Renfold, Mr. Aldwych described the origins of the original Deadwood 1876 sim, or "Deadwood 1.0" as it has become known. He based much of the look of Deadwood 1.0 on the HBO series about the town, and from a few period photographs. Subsequent research showed that this was not entirely historically acurate - Television people taking liberties with the past? Shocking! - and so, when the time came this past March to close this chapter of Deadwood's history with the conflagration that burned most of the town, Mr. Aldwych set about building Deadwood 2.0 with a greater eye toward accuracy.



He and others researched the town's history, particularly the photographic record. In his words:

It wasn’t until a few months prior to our great fire that I discovered a hand drawn map of the entire town of Deadwood. This map was created by White Eye Charlie, a friend of Wild Bill Hickok during the latter part of his life in the 1940s. He drew this map by memory and it included some of the more prominent buildings and occasioned several stories as well, written right onto the map. I located this gem of information in the book “Wild Bill Hickok Gunfighter” by Joseph G. Rosa. For those interested, Joseph G. Rosa is an excellent author old west history. This map was a rare find, never seeing it on any previous web searches it finally closed up many of the gaps in the town I had been lost on before. Not only did it pinpoint where Preacher Smith’s body was found - murdered in the hills above Deadwood. It also described the Senate Saloon where Wild Bill sometimes played poker and where Calamity Jane threatened a miner to pay a whore 5 dollars which he owed her. Now with the pictures in one hand and this map in the other, I was finally able to identify the locations and orientation of all the photographs.

Mr. Aldwych now believes that Deadwood 2.0 is as close as possible to being historically accurate, given the constraints of Second Life builds and the available record. He added that he feels this accuracy is important. "We opened Deadwood wanting to have an immersive historical roleplay environment. We wanted the players to feel like they stepped right into the past when they entered Deadwood. Without having a historical cornerstone to ground the roleplay, we were doing our players a disservice."



The lecture was aided by a series of slides, such as the one below, contrasting the "real" Deadwood of the 1870s with the Second Life recreation of the town.

Deadwood Burns

(I received this dispatch via courier from a friend in the New World. - RJ)

I was en route from the small town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin to the West Coast - Portland, Oregon, to be precise. The stagecoach had made its way into the Black Hills of South Dakota and was planning to stop in the town of Deadwood for the evening.

When we reached the town, however, we discovered tragedy had struck: the town had suffered a fierce fire, and the entire central area was destroyed!

As I stood, surveying the damage, a rugged frontiersman by the name of Mr. Caed Aldwych appeared. I comiserated with him for some minutes, and asked him how the fire had started. "They say it may have started in the California, ma'am," but no one really knew. Reports were that a number of residents had perished. May God have mercy on their souls. Mr. Aldwych then left to recover his tools; he planned to salvage what he could of his property and start rebuilding that very evening. "You are a brave and determined man to do so in this hostile environment," I said. True to the image of the stoic frontiersman, he merely shrugged and set upon his chosen task.

I wandered the now-deserted streets, sketching the scene. Here are some of my efforts:

I was told that lone, sad-looking gentleman was a Mr. Clay Kungler, an important man in town. I dared not approach him in his grief.

We shall rest as well as we can in the coaches and set out again for Portland at first light.

(M. Sand Rau has made a 10-minute film of the incident, available here. - RJ)

A Visit to Deadwood

If I weren't so damn lazy, I would have (a) visited Deadwood long ago and (b) written this up in the form of a little tale. Well, I can't do anything about the first, but I might eventually get to the second. In the meantime,...

After starting in Yankton, a "neighboring" town to Deadwood (and home to the Deadwood Memorial Library), where one obtains information about Deadwood, background on the RP, a role-playing meter, and period clothing and merchandise (including a certain leather hat one might see below), a stagecoach takes one to the town proper.

I started in the telegraph office, which also had slots for telegraphs that came for town residents. The office was unstaffed when I arrived, so I moved down the main street.

A liquor store? Hmm, how intriguing.

Inside the Deadwood Free Press offices, with another edition of the newspaper running on the press at that moment.

The infamous Number Ten saloon. Is it too early in the day for a snort? Hmm, perhaps this town does not care for women to imbibe in saloons.

The Grand Central Hotel looks like a respectable place to lay my head for the night.

I sat for a late meal at the hotel.

The town hall was smaller than I expected.

Sadly, the town boasted a large cemetery, with many well-tended graves.

I lost track of the number of saloons - I like that in a town. The school house was small but clean. Very few residents were in town with me. One polite gentleman greeted me, and I saw a few more whispering conspiratorally across the street. Other buildings, off the main streets, were more run down and basic - working-men's houses. I looked at the mine works, but lacked the equipment to explore it.

The quiet of the town belied its violent reputation. Perhaps on my next visit there will be more action. For that possibility, I purchased a fine rifle. One wonders if it will be needed...