Which game do you like most for running a campaign set in the Wild West?

I've not played Chaosium's new game but have played the similarly named game that is built on Dungeon Crawl classic and that was a lot of fun (it's in Beta). I played original Deadlands many years ago and Great Rail Wars but nothing in the last 15 years or so.

Boot Hill 1st and 2nd: By TSR. Though primarily presented as wargames by 2nd ed you could see the shift. Still some of the best western combat rules for ease of play.

Weird Weird West: A supplement for TSRs Marvel Superheroes for playing in a western setting. Fairly good set too and gives stats for alot of classic western comics Marvel used to put out.

Far West (Juego de Rol): By a game company in Madrid. Not bad rules really. But never translated to english it seems?

Legends of the Untamed West: A TFT inspired western from Dark city Games. Only one adventure out for it so far. Base rules are free.

Western Hero: Using the Hero system.

Gunslinger: from Avalon Hill. Its a board game. But its western combat rules are fairly solid.

Boot Hill for me all the way, with the mapboards taken from AH's Gunslinger. I have a few home-brew tweaks to the rules but overall it's the one I like the best because it's easy to play and easy to adapt to new situations. I also have the "Sixguns and Sorcery" rules from the old Dragon magazine when I get the urge for Weird West.

Over the years I've picked up several Western style RPGs and miniatures rules sets, and none have the feel that Boot Hill has for me. Probably a nostalgia thing...

Aces & Eights is the great Western RPG ever produced from both a rules and production values on the actual book. There is so much to actually do in the game and it really captures the feel of the Western genre. I also didn't hate the alternative history for the setting. I'm not a big fan of "weird" alternative history like Deadlands..

What is Aces & Eights alternative west setting?

Quote from: RPGPundit;1017340Best Western?

Four Seasons!



Doubletree?

Quote from: Omega;1017360Western Hero: Using the Hero system.

I used GURPS 3e for a western campaign once. By the time they had things like the player's compendium (companion? whatever) out, there were all sorts of rules for quickdraw, fanning, single vs. double action, etc.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1017396I used GURPS 3e for a western campaign once. By the time they had things like the player's compendium (companion? whatever) out, there were all sorts of rules for quickdraw, fanning, single vs. double action, etc.

Those rules were from GURPS Wild West, which is a great source book.
(The 3e Compendium books were compendiums of all the rules from all the scores of other source books up to that point.)

For wild west gun combat there is also GURPS High Tech (for more realistic details of running gun combat and other technology), and Tactical Shooting (for even more tactical gun geekery), or for more fantasy/cinematic gun stuff, there's GURPS Gun Fu...

I don't know 'best' but I'd probably go with Aces High for BRP because it's what I own and am familiar with.

Aces and Eights gets mentioned a lot though. What specific mechanics set it apart?

Quote from: Omega;1017393What is Aces & Eights alternative west setting?

Civil War ends with a draw so you have the CSA, Union, Republic of Texas, etc. It's more "realistic" which makes it easy for me to ignore it and the fluff doesn't impact the rules. Our group ran A&8's for years and it was fantastic. I love that setting.

Quote from: Omega;1017393What is Aces & Eights alternative west setting?

Civil War stalemate,  Mormons have a country,  Mexico owns half of California, Indians  get Oklahoma, and other things like that. Seems rather pointless to me as real history is much more interesting.

The shot clock is really cool but otherwise it's way too heavy on rules for me. I prefer Boot Hill plus judicious rulings.

Quote from: Dumarest;1017410Civil War stalemate,  Mormons have a country,  Mexico owns half of California, Indians  get Oklahoma, and other things like that. Seems rather pointless to me as real history is much more interesting.

The shot clock is really cool but otherwise it's way too heavy on rules for me. I prefer Boot Hill plus judicious rulings.

Do you run the full rules system? It's completely modular. The quick start rules are just a few pages and you can add more as you go along.

Quote from: Ulairi;1017412Do you run the full rules system? It's completely modular. The quick start rules are just a few pages and you can add more as you go along.

Unfortunately I sold my book a couple of years ago. I just remember a lot of details. I'd give it another shot if I still had it. I'm hoping to acquire the new version when/if it comes on the market and when/if I have any money. I'm always looking for my perfect Western RPG.

I feel like I should have a better answer to this, because I know my choice is a dusty old game. But 2E BootHill is just a lot of fun and has a very low activation energy to play. To me, western rpg's are sort of little appetizers you have between longer campaigns of other games, so I prefer things that are well suited to a one-shot or a few sessions.

I have both 2nd and 3rd editions of Boot Hill but these days I go with 2nd and just use material from 3rd for background information.

The GURPS Old West book is pretty good but covers something like 1802 to 1902 so has a lot of material that predates or postdates my preferred period, which is generally just after the Civil War through the 1880s.