This document details context for GASLANDS and SLAGLANDS. Gaslands is tabletop miniature game. SLAGLANDS is our homebrew local in-fiction gaslands league set in the ruins of St. Louis, Missouri. In this document is:
- The lore of Gaslands and its sponsors, taken from the Gaslands rulebook
- The lore of our local Slaglands clubs, each of which represents a sponsor in our league.
- The lore of each individual vehicle/driver in our local league.
When creating lore for a local Slaglands club, it can reference organizations, businesses, or people in St. Louis. For example the Metro Transit Co-op is based on the St. Louis Metro mass transit system, and Rebar customs is on Reevis Barracks road, a real place in the greater St. Louis area. This should be paired with and themed to the corresponding Gaslands sponsors. In this case Metro Transit Co-op is loosely similar to Gaslands Elite Tours, and Rebar Customs is the Slaglands version of Verney. This isn’t required, though — for example see the Japanese Culture Appreciation Society, a parody of obsessive anime fans.
The tone is tongue-in-cheek, but not over-the-top-absurd. For example Temple Valencia drives and orange car, and her name references oranges (the fruit). MFP Biggalo is a fan obsessed with Mad Max movie franchise. But none of the vehicles are cartoonishly absurd.
Using Puns or references as driver names is acceptable, but should be used with constraint.
Some other driver references for an idea:
- Viceroy is based on Miami vice - it’s the type of car one of the main characters drove, and the Viceroy’s driver’s name is derived from the names of the main characters on that show
- Defender is based on the Viper TV show.
- The driver of Sandstorm is a real person and the idea of a baja porsche is something he created
- Arfling is a reference to Star Fox and the Arwing, including the name of the engineer and the idea of the “G-Diffusion system.”
GASLANDS
This section contains the cannonical Gaslands setting from the Gaslands Refueled rulebook.
Gaslands Timeline
The year is 2018. Earth has been under Martian occupation for 19 years. The war left much of Earth destroyed and its population enslaved by the corporations of Mars and their relentless efficienc .
Earth is a ghetto. All money goes to Mars. While some resent those that betray their fellows to work for the Martian corporations, many simply cannot afford ideals.
The Internet is gone, but television continues under the global control of The Network: a nest of greedy and traitorous Martian collaborators. The Network’s executive producer and chief anchor man, David Logan, is responsible for its line-up of ultra-violent blood sports and gas-guzzling death games.
The jewel in The Network’s crown is Gaslands: broadcasting amateur and professional death races from across the world as teams battle for a place in the prime-time international final
This spring Logan is offering a prize unique in the ten-year history of Gaslands. A one-way ticket to Mars. Escape from the broken and crumbling Earth to make a new life in that haven of the rich and happy.
The deadliest death races! The wildest half-time extravaganzas! The craziest audience participation! Everywhere David Logan’s executive intervention can be felt. His vision is simple. This year must be the most spectacular Gaslands season yet. Gaslands. Every Tuesday and Saturday night, 21:00 Central Mars Time.
Gaslands Sponsors
RUTHERFORD
Grant Rutherford is the son of a militaristic, American, oil baron. He is aggressive, rich, and uncompromising. His beaming face, beneath his trademark cream Stetson, adorns billboard advertisements for his high-quality and high-priced Rutherford brand weaponry. Teams sponsored by Rutherford gain access to military surplus, missile launchers, tanks, helicopters, and as much ammo as they can carry. After his team won in 2016, he was only too happy to kiss the Earth goodbye and now runs his company from his, highly exclusive, Martian office.
MIYAZAKI
Yuri Miyazaki grew up in the rubble of Tokyo, fighting her way to the top of the speedway circuit with incredible feats of daring and vehicular agility. She has a small fleet of elite couriers who run jobs for the wealthiest or most desperate clients. It is whispered that she also runs guns for the Pro-Earth Resistance, but no one who spreads that rumour lives long enough to spread it far. Miyazaki’s drivers are unsurpassed in their skill and finesse.
MISHKIN
Andre Mishkin is not a natural sportsman. However, the brilliant Russian engineer and inventor proved in 2010 that technology is just as solid an answer as skill or ferocity on the track. From his research and development facility on Mars he continues to send designs for unusual and devastating weapons and sleek, hi-tech vehicles to Earth for field-testing by the teams he sponsors.
IDRIS
Yandi Idris was an addict. From the first time the hot and sweet fumes of a singing petrol engine filled his nose he could find no other joy. He said that the first time he pressed that nitro-oxide button was like touching the face of God. Mystical, irrational, and dangerous, the Cult of Speed spread like wildfire after Idris’ meteoric rise during the 2012 Gaslands season. He crossed the final finishing line in a ball of fire and his body was never found. His fanatical followers say that at 201mph you can hear his sonorous voice on the rushing head wind.
SLIME
Slime rules a wild and feral city in the Australian wastes known as Anarchy. Young people crawled out of the wreckage of the scorched earth in their thousands to rally round her ragged banner. The wild-eyed and whooping joyful gangs of Anarchy are led by Slime’s henchwomen, the Chooks, who seek fame and adoration from the global Gaslands audience.
THE WARDEN
Warden Cadeila is proud to live in São Paulo, a shining hub of humanity and relatively untouched by the war. The São Paulo People’s Penitentiary has produced three of Gaslands’ top ten teams in the past decade, and the Warden continues to grant her prisoners a chance at freedom as long as the Gaslands franchise continues to deliver the sponsorship deals. The deal isn’t great for the damned souls who are welded into the Warden’s solid steel “coffin cars”, but it’s better than the alternative.
SCARLETT
Gaslands is able to support a vast ecosystem of villainous and scurvy raiders, picking off richer teams as their rigs roll from one televised race to the next. Many of these self-styled pirate crews have gained renown, but none have rivalled the infamy or showmanship of Scarlett Annie. A dashing and flamboyant buccaneer, her cult following is likely more to do with her canny association with the long-running “Death Valley Death Run” documentary TV series than any particular skill at dust bowl piracy.
HIGHWAY PATROL
Along the Wrecked and broken highways, where law is another word for vengeance, and justice is a forgotten memory; a handful of souls still cling to a dream of order. Perhaps they do it for the glory. Maybe they even get a kick out of it. They are unsanctioned, unloved and unpaid. Their only power: a badge of bronze. Their only weapon: 600 horsepower of fuel-injected steel. The Highway Patrol are the last law in a world gone crazy.
VERNEY
Many have taken the bent deal offered by Warden Cadeila but only one has ever earned their freedom. As skilled an engineer as he is a driver, the newly-freed Verney now specialised in building unique Frankenstein’s monsters of vehicles for anyone who can afford his high-quality customs.
MAXXINE
Maxxine is the current grease-smeared face of The Black Swans. While many might assume art to have been the last thing to survive the Martian bombs, The Black Swans dance their mechanised masque for a hypnotised audience. It’s ballet, but the dancers weigh 4,000 pounds and are dripping in engine oil.
THE ORDER OF THE INFERNO
Yandi Idris is not dead. He cannot die. He rides on in the living flame. His voice can be heard in the roar of the road and the screams of superheated metal. Yandi is free, and we can be too. He has shown us the path. Only by knowing the flames can we know true freedom. Buy your copy of “Freedom in The Flames” today to find out more. Available from Order of the Inferno stalls at all major trading outposts.
BEVERLY, THE DEVIL ON THE HIGHWAY
The low growling of the starting grid was suddenly eclipsed by an ear-splitting, dizzying sound. Eyeball-shakingly loud, the shrill screeching was suffocating. A single car drifted forward into the pack, windows like onyx, bumper corroded. The sound changed timbre, dropping suddenly to a sub-audible throb that tightened chests and shattered headlamps. Despite the harsh desert sun, frost began to form on windshields. Beverly was a stupid story told to scare children. She wasn’t real.
RUSTY’S BOOTLEGGERS
Zeke Rusty and his boys been wall to wall and treetop-tall since before the world went to hell, running moonshine past Smokey back since before the big red one fell. Their stills are volatile, their delivery vehicles are ramshackle, but they still run liquor that grandpappy would be proud of… though none the boys can remember just how he liked it right now. Damn that gin.
GASLANDS ELITE TOURS
So, you want to see the action in the Gaslands Arena, but the stands just aren’t close enough? Well have we got a deal for you. For a small fee (and the signing of a few inconsequential waivers,) you can witness the spectacle for yourself, INSIDE THE ARENA. Who knows, you might even get lucky and find yourself riding in the winning vehicle. Call now to book passage.