Passing the time on the drive home I asked the boy what he would like to play if we could do anything in the world. He surprised me by suggesting the Wild West. So I think we'll go for it, at least for a session or two. I think we'll do a sandbox along the lines of Red Dead Redemption, which is where I suspect he got the inspiration. Later I plan to sit him down for some key cinema, like maybe True Grit.
So, while I'm on the road, has anyone done this lately? What worked and what didn't? Any suggestions?
Nothing lately, but I did run a sandbox Western GURPS game back in the mid 90's.
I chose 1878 as the year and started the campaign in New Mexico. The PCs got mixed up in some bounty hunting, some railroad wars, and some indian affairs. It was a fun campaign.
That was pretty much how we played Boot Hill. Ranging out from the town and seeing what happened. Pretty basic. But fun.
I'm doing an occasional Western Sandbox with 1E Boot Hill. (Actually, it's my modified version, which converts percentile rolls into d20's, but is very similar to the Boot Hill style.)
I also ran a Sandbox Firefly (very much Western but also SciFi) by blending Boot Hill with some character generation ideas from 13th Age. (Backgrounds, One Unique Thing...)
What I like about Boot Hill is that it's pretty much a combat rules set and doesn't get bogged down in the details. I can "wing it" for some of the details as I need them.
Your kid is super-cool.
In my experience there are very few people under 45 with any interest at all in straight Westerns. It's one of those two game suggestions I keep bringing up and various groups have just given me blank stares or gotten actively pissed off (The other one is "Spies in swinging 1965 London").
I can't think of any suggestions to add right now, but I'm curious how this turns out.
Quote from: mcbobbo;712482Passing the time on the drive home I asked the boy what he would like to play if we could do anything in the world. He surprised me by suggesting the Wild West. So I think we'll go for it, at least for a session or two. I think we'll do a sandbox along the lines of Red Dead Redemption, which is where I suspect he got the inspiration. Later I plan to sit him down for some key cinema, like maybe True Grit.
So, while I'm on the road, has anyone done this lately? What worked and what didn't? Any suggestions?
I've one this before. My best advice would to be have a general plan/arch/adventure goal whatever you want to call it. That and make sure its flexible enough to react to what the player/players do. The last western I ran was a Western/Horror mashup. The players were outlaws. They ended up killing a small town. Lets just say zombies you create come back to haunt you:)
I never really enjoyed our Deadlands campaign much but I'd love to play some straight up Western games... mixing old and new, light and dark... Bonanza and High Chapparal with Deadwood and Unforgiven.
Light on the historical accuracy fetish though... because that just leads to arguments IME... and that would leave me open to create an area that has a mix of all the tropes, natives, railroads, cattlemen vs. sheepmen, Mexicans and lawless towns full of anarchy.
The western is a bit like the superhero genre in that depending on your take genre expectations can vary quite radically. So you probably want to talk to the players and get everyone on the same page.
I would also say you need to discuss with the players what is it they want to do in the campaign and what is it that binds the characters together in a party. Just being characters in the Wild West doesn't tell you much and if you end up with an outlaw, a cowhand, a prospector, a saloon girl and Apache warrior you might struggle to form any sort of sensible party. In that respect agreeing a high level concept to like "friends on a quest" in the vein of the Searchers, "daring gang of outlaws" like Young Guns or a "classic feud" like Hatfields and McCoys can get be very helpful. Over time the characters might outgrow their original goals but by then they probably have enough a personal stake in the campaign to carry on.
It doesn't seem like it has to differ all that much from the list of components of a basic fantasy setup... a town to base out of, sell and buy stuff in. Some outlaying wilderness to explore and chase bad guys into/out of. A handful of factions that will rub against each other and create situations that might involve the PCs (farmers, natives, settlers, religious cults, outlaws, military). Various 'wondering monster' charts of the sort of unruly varmints that might happen through... and local troublemakers. Some interesting foreigners to add color (funny accents).
Any of those elements could swing lighter or darker...
Quote from: Simlasa;712651It doesn't seem like it has to differ all that much from the list of components of a basic fantasy setup... a town to base out of, sell and buy stuff in. Some outlaying wilderness to explore and chase bad guys into/out of. A handful of factions that will rub against each other and create situations that might involve the PCs (farmers, natives, settlers, religious cults, outlaws, military). Various 'wondering monster' charts of the sort of unruly varmints that might happen through... and local troublemakers. Some interesting foreigners to add color (funny accents).
Any of those elements could swing lighter or darker...
If you can nab a copy of it try TSRs Boot Hill.
System wise, I think it's MiniSix or similar. Maybe Savage Worlds, but probably not because I hate how it handles ranged weapons.
I've picked 1866 as the starting year. The CW is winding down, Jesse James getting up to speed robbing banks, and the Plains Indians are heating things up. If I read the map right, the railhead has only come as far as Cheyenne, so that may be the target for the 'center' of the action.
I need to try and find a Sears catalog and maybe some newspapers from that time. I also need to check with my historical shooting buddies about the available firearms.
Someone gave me some advice on building encounter tables a while back, so next up would be diving into those.
Maybe we can cook up a '50 seeds for...' western, supers, horror, sci-fi, post apoc, ancient world etc thread.
Idea for a western:
In the civil war a gold shipment was hijacked by the men who were supposed to guard it. The PCs are related to some of those innocent guards who were doing their duty and bushwhacked by their supposed colleagues. Concoct 4-6 NPCs who shared out the gold and spread far and wide. Some may have settled down, others built empires, still others might be bandits and desperados, and maybe one is a US Senator. The war was a few years ago. Can justice overcome time and the overpowering lure and reach of gold?
This'd be an ongoing sandbox/series of connected adventures where the PCs need to track down clues, talk to people who were there or knew of what happened. Maybe some are in jail and won't talk unless they are busted out? How far will the PCs go to get their man, and what will they do with all that gold (should they ever find it)?
Quote from: Simlasa;712651It doesn't seem like it has to differ all that much from the list of components of a basic fantasy setup... a town to base out of, sell and buy stuff in. Some outlaying wilderness to explore and chase bad guys into/out of. A handful of factions that will rub against each other and create situations that might involve the PCs (farmers, natives, settlers, religious cults, outlaws, military). Various 'wondering monster' charts of the sort of unruly varmints that might happen through... and local troublemakers. Some interesting foreigners to add color (funny accents).
Any of those elements could swing lighter or darker...
That's pretty much exactly how I did the sample campaign setting in Westwater (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/119688/Westwater-RPG-No-art-version). (It's a B/X clone, and free BTW). There's actually 3 suggested campaigns:
* 1840s (era of expansion)
* 1870s (era of outlaws)
* 1870 fantasy (era of outlaws...with dragons!)
Quote from: mcbobbo;712739I've picked 1866 as the starting year. The CW is winding down, Jesse James getting up to speed robbing banks, and the Plains Indians are heating things up. If I read the map right, the railhead has only come as far as Cheyenne, so that may be the target for the 'center' of the action.
Hm, if you have Netflix you may want to check out AMC's
Hell on Wheels. It's post-Civil War, but based around a railway town/camp - probably not great inspiration for a sandbox campaign, as such, but perhaps some inspiration for NPCs (or something to encounter in the characters' travels).
And hell, Cullen Bohannon - the protagonist - is basically a PC, hunting down the soldiers who killed his family in the Civil War.
Wikipedia has tons of little tidbits in it along those lines. E.g. Ft Laramie was staffed by "galvanized yankees" - Confederate conscripts. So hunting for some officer responsible for killing your family could well lead you to the area.
Ditto for the gold. Might make sense to hide it in the hills along with a cache from Montana mining activities.
I'm still planning a western game set to start in a Montana mining town in 1867, using Coyote Trail. I have the compatible Knuckleduster Firearms Shop which lists a number of weapons by year of manufacture with stats for Fudge and notes on how to convert these to other systems.
It seems the Henry and similar lever guns were pretty readily available during the time period, so I won't have much to worry about. 20 rounds a minute works out pretty well in RPG combat terms.
I played in one years ago where we used Phoenix Command for the shoot-outs. Everything else was done using shared knowledge of westerns (it helps that we were all from Texas and New Mexico and grew up on cowboy movies) or just making it up.
By the way, it's pointless trying to create a sandbox for the Old West since the Old West IS your sandbox. I suppose you could run a mini-campaign around a particular spot and still have more material to work with than you'll ever need. The late, great Elmore Leonard wrote three classics centered on the desert scrub between Bisbee and Contention, Arizona: The Tall T, 3:10 to Yuma (the original, not that Russell Crowe bullshit!) and Hombre.
Just pick several westerns you like and start cribbing from them!
Quote from: mcbobbo;712482Passing the time on the drive home I asked the boy what he would like to play if we could do anything in the world. He surprised me by suggesting the Wild West. So I think we'll go for it, at least for a session or two. I think we'll do a sandbox along the lines of Red Dead Redemption, which is where I suspect he got the inspiration. Later I plan to sit him down for some key cinema, like maybe True Grit.
So, while I'm on the road, has anyone done this lately? What worked and what didn't? Any suggestions?
Ride Lonesome. The best western ever filmed and so manly it makes John Wayne look like Zach Braff.
As for the game, my suggestions are:
Give the horses distinct personalities
Snake encounters-rattlesnakes, cotton mouths, etc.
Riverboat casinos
The soundtrack to Deadman
Quote from: Elfdart;712840I played in one years ago where we used Phoenix Command for the shoot-outs.
(http://memecrunch.com/meme/753V/not-sure-if-joking/image.png)
Ooh, I should add a 'horse personally table' to my list...
I was definitely already planning to do an animal encounter one, but hadn't thought of snakes yet.
As for the 'make it up as you go', yeah sure I will wind up doing that, but I like to deceive myself through over-preparing. Plus I can recycle my own stuff so long as I keep good notes.
Quote from: Sacrosanct;712746That's pretty much exactly how I did the sample campaign setting in Westwater (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/119688/Westwater-RPG-No-art-version). (It's a B/X clone, and free BTW). There's actually 3 suggested campaigns:
* 1840s (era of expansion)
* 1870s (era of outlaws)
* 1870 fantasy (era of outlaws...with dragons!)
Nice work, sir. Your price list strikes me as a bit on the high side, but I am having trouble nailing that down myself. I did find a source listing the Henry at $42, which is a fair bit lower than $65, back in that day anyway.
Quote from: mcbobbo;712990Nice work, sir. Your price list strikes me as a bit on the high side, but I am having trouble nailing that down myself. I did find a source listing the Henry at $42, which is a fair bit lower than $65, back in that day anyway.
Took me a while to figure out what you meant by price list. I was like, "Huh? It's a free download if you want it."
Then I realized you were talking about in game prices lol. I don't have the links handy, but I do know I looked into a lot of different sites that had prices listed. Problem is that it varied widely even from 1850 to 1875, and especially by area (boom towns were much more expensive for example). But I went with numbers that are overall pretty good, I think.
Yeah, sorry. In-game. I hope to work up a decent-sized list that I suppose I'll just post here.
Found a solid-looking resource here - http://d_little.tripod.com/Games/Western/wildwest.htm
Quote from: TristramEvans;712928...
I'm serious. Phoenix Command had a Wild West expansion set that covered pretty much every weapon used in the 19th Century. (http://www.waynesbooks.com/PhoenixCommand.html) Another expansion includes animals (bears, horses, etc). With the super slow-motion way the game handles combat (each turn is a half-second) it's like acting out your very own Sam Peckinpah movie!
Good call on
Ride Lonesome, but then you can't go wrong with Randolph Scott.
Quote from: mcbobbo;713100Found a solid-looking resource here - http://d_little.tripod.com/Games/Western/wildwest.htm
Lots of info, but from another RPG source. When I was doing mine, I would go to sites like this (http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpioneer.html#provisionprices), or this site (http://content.lib.washington.edu/curriculumpackets/homesteaders/Catalog1870.html)
In fact, I wish I would have found the latter when I was doing the game, because it looks very detailed.
I ran Sixguns & Sorcery (D&D / Boothill mashup) in the 90s at various conventions year after year, aka Shadowrun: the Western and the players really enjoyed it. Never could get a home crew to do it unfortunately.
One thing I notice is that in many of the best western, the escalation of violence is very gradual. It might start with a warning, followed by a beating. Then someone sets a barn on fire in response, accidentally kills someone which triggers a retaliation kill and it just snowballs from there.
I may be wrong, but I don't think slow escalation of violence is something roleplayers do.
Quote from: Soylent Green;713156One thing I notice is that in many of the best western, the escalation of violence is very gradual. It might start with a warning, followed by a beating. Then someone sets a barn on fire in response, accidentally kills someone which triggers a retaliation kill and it just snowballs from there.
I may be wrong, but I don't think slow escalation of violence is something roleplayers do.
One of the best summaries of the genre compared frontier justice with the knights of old. Basically the white hats were proto-Jedi. I think it can be made to work, but it might make sense to write down the 'code of the West' and make sure everyone knows that's how we intend to play.
For my purposes, I can file the serial numbers off the light side/dark side system from WEG.
But what to call it? Honor / ???
Edit: Just thought of it - 'Outlaw' was the negative word. 'Desperado'. But those are nouns... still thinking.
Holy crap. It's a real thing - //www.cowboyethics.org
That's almost creepy...
Building on Opaopajr's fine example (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=25113), here is what I have so far...
1) Basic Setting Context - American West in 1866, centered on the Great Plains area near the Powder River. *Southern Montana, Eastern Wyoming and Colorado, Western South Dakota Nebraska.
Locations of note -
i. Trails/Bozeman/Oregon - (Need some detail)
ii. Union Pacific Railhead -*Fremont, Nebraska at the start of the campaign, and will follow the timeline*http://utahrails.net/up/up-timeline-1864-1880.php*unless modified by the players
iii. Forts/Kearney/Laramie*- (Need some detail)
iv. Cow Towns*- (Need some detail)
v. Native territory - (Need some detail)
Activities of note -
a. Wagon trains
b. Railroad building
c. Native conflicts (Note upcoming Red Cloud's War)
d. Boom towns (Note upcoming Cheyenne's rapid deployment)
e. Ranching/Homesteading
f. Prospecting (Colorado, Montana, and eventually the Black Hills)
2) Campaign Premise - You are a participant in one of the most unique periods in American history. *to what extent is totally up to you...
Shared Goal (your party gathers to one of these choices):
i. Someone who would claim one of the party as kin (blood relative or otherwise) inhabits the area and has sent for him or her to come help. *Other party members can be related or merely neighbors. *Deal with the immediate problem and work on establishing your own lives on the frontier.
ii. Your characters are all connected to the US Army and have been assigned to serve one of the forts in the area. *Goals here include maintaining the fort and keeping the surrounding lands in relative peace.
iii. As with 'iii' above, except the railroad. *This campaign would likely end with the driving of the golden spike in 1869.
Quote from: mcbobbo;713178Holy crap. It's a real thing - //www.cowboyethics.org
That's almost creepy...
Lolwhut? That site made me laugh so hard. Apparently they don't realize that the cowboy as a heroic figure is purely an invention of Hollywood.
Ah well, no different than a King Arthur fan club I guess.
mcbobbo, what I did when I was building my game was not only look at a long of online sources, but took advantage of the numerous shows out there. On Netflix (if you have it), there is a series called "The Real West", which was a great source of inspiration.
Of course, I have a bit of an advantage because I grew up on a ranch in a very stereotypical "cowboy" area, so I already had the mindset of that era ingrained. ;)
Wards had a catalog that's closer to my time:
https://archive.org/details/catalogueno13spr00mont
Quote from: Sacrosanct;713566mcbobbo, what I did when I was building my game was not only look at a long of online sources, but took advantage of the numerous shows out there. On Netflix (if you have it), there is a series called "The Real West", which was a great source of inspiration.
Of course, I have a bit of an advantage because I grew up on a ranch in a very stereotypical "cowboy" area, so I already had the mindset of that era ingrained. ;)
I had a similar upbringing until the divorce. I was about 9 at the time, so it's pretty fuzzy. But I'm catching up fast...
Quote from: TristramEvans;713565Lolwhut? That site made me laugh so hard. Apparently they don't realize that the cowboy as a heroic figure is purely an invention of Hollywood.
Ah well, no different than a King Arthur fan club I guess.
I've never heard of these guys either, but I disagree with your assertion here.
You do have descendants, or just upright country folk who hold to those types of values today. They exist. I can respect where these guys are coming from. So many are content to crap on any values associated with white America.
There's no reason not to think some cowboys felt that way - just like the associations of the Great Generation. Not all of that generation held the same values, but some did.
During the expansion of the West, there were many locations that were effectively their own ecosystems because of remoteness.
For example, there are some towns (and remnants of old towns) along the Columbia River. The trade that would extend up to Ft Vancouver and early PDX area / Willamette Valley came across land AND by water. Many of those small towns were linked together, not so much by roads but by boat - on both sides of the river.
Reposting from PM with permission...
Quote from: OpaopajrQuote from: mcbobboI'm working on a Western sandbox campaign for my oldest son, and thought you might help me design a random encounter table for it.
I didn't know whether to use a series of subtables, or just one big one.
Categories would be...
Human - Pioneer - living/burnt out, Wagon Train active/resting/raided, Cattle Drive, Railroad crew, Bandits, Native - friendly/neutral/hostile, Prospector
Animal - wolves, bear, cougar, snake - nuisance/poisonous, buffalo herd, range cattle, lost horse w tack
Weather - (will probably steal from someplace and tweak)
Stuff like that. Ideally I would love to see a 'roll twice' option as well.
Any ideas?
I generally use a separate table for general weather. However, dangerous weather phenomena is just as much of an encounter as anything else, and those I like to include into encounter tables. My preference is to keep "encounter weather" sub-categorized into related general weather or general terrain.
I prefer to prioritize encounter tables to Terrain, put in slot alternates for civilizing influences, and then run Season and Weather side tables for further alternates. In a way this covers your "roll again" preference.
e.g. traditional 1d8+1d12 bell curve rarity table. Slots: 5 Common, 4 Uncommon, 4-6 Rare, 4-6 Very Rare. vr, vr, vr/r, r, r, u, u, c, c, c, c, c, u, u, r, r, vr/r, vr, vr.
Terrain: Southern Dry Plains (Texas, Oklahoma, etc.)
R - Dangerous Weather x2, War Party x2, Big Monster x2
U - Alarming Weather x2, Anomaly/Clue, Scary Animal/Traveler
By the way, the slashed slots (i.e. Scary Animal/Traveler) are an example of accounting for wilds/civilized depending on party location.
The weather can be left vague, as you can then let season (as per your time chronicle) or weather table affect the result. Then draft results within those slots:
R - Tornado, Hurricane, Blizzard, Prairie Fire, Flash Flood, Thunderclouds, Dust Storm, Large Hail, etc.
U - Dust Devil, Sleet, Small Hail, Sudden Gale (60+ mph wind), Cloud Burst/Sun Shower (surprise rain), Heat Wave (persisting encounter), Cold Snap (persisting also), Gully Washer (heavy rain, roll again for Danger Weather), Cyclone/Sudden Storm system (roll again for Danger Weather), etc.
Then logically apply season and weather contexts to the results. Hurricanes or Blizzards don't usually happen out of season. Water is needed for certain weather, so droughts or nice sunny days preclude other results.
This way you can embed more than one result into an encounter slot, and let other campaign tools shape your contextualization of those results. This frees up design time as you have a handy delegation tool when you want randomized answers.
If you want, you can start a topic and repost this message and see more community advice. I give you permission. :)
So question on the type of curve above - how do you determine which 'R' happens? Pick? Roll?
Thanks for including me in the conversation!
To select which R when the Danger Weather slot comes up you first take already extant context in account -- the season and weather. And then with what's left you can use either GM prerogative or traditional dX randomization.
So if it was Summer on the Coastal Texas Plains, and on Weather you rolled hot 'n humid (or rainy) you'll have these logical R options:
R - Tornado, Hurricane, Flash Floods, Thunderclouds.
Here you can choose directly, or roll a d4.
Further you can apply finer location detail to help you choose. Like if the party was on lowland (or god forbid walking next to a currently low flowing creek bed), the threat of a sudden flash flood might make more sense.
Even more, you can utilize finer chronological detail to help you choose. Like if the party endured "Cloud Burst" or "Gully Washer" Alarming Weather rather recently, again flash flood might make more sense.
These latter context aids help the feel of veracity, so it is an advance technique worth keeping in mind. However don't feel bound by it; reality is known for curveballs. For if you or your players find this repeated refined context turning predictable you always have randomization (i.e. d4 above) to fall back on.
Quote from: mcbobbo;712938Ooh, I should add a 'horse personally table' to my list...
;) IIRC, Wilderness Survival Guide has a horse personality table. It also has multiple inclement weather tables. It also will likely be more granular than you may want in your campaign.
But like I said before, there's some surprisingly usable tools in that maligned WSG book!
(I'll get around to reprinting that horsey table. Bear with me.)
I should have gotten to this earlier.
Quote from: mcbobbo;7135601) Basic Setting Context - American West in 1866, centered on the Great Plains area near the Powder River. *Southern Montana, Eastern Wyoming and Colorado, Western South Dakota Nebraska.
This is great! Not just Great Plains, or Northern Great Plains, but down to a sizable land feature.
Quote from: mcbobbo;7135602) Campaign Premise - You are a participant in one of the most unique periods in American history. *to what extent is totally up to you...
Feels a bit broad and vague. There's nothing wrong with a bit of repetition to cement in people's heads. Here's a quick way to focus:
Six words: time, place, sphere, event, why, how.
Scenario Setting = time & place. American West, 1866, near Powder River.
Campaign Premise = sphere & event. Settlers. Gov't Building of Three Forts along Bozeman Trail, lead up to Red Cloud's War with Oglala Sioux & Cheyenne.
Shared Goal/Start = why together, how you operate. See your cool options Below.
Quote from: mcbobbo;713560Shared Goal (your party gathers to one of these choices):
i. Someone who would claim one of the party as kin (blood relative or otherwise) inhabits the area and has sent for him or her to come help. *Other party members can be related or merely neighbors. *Deal with the immediate problem and work on establishing your own lives on the frontier.
ii. Your characters are all connected to the US Army and have been assigned to serve one of the forts in the area. *Goals here include maintaining the fort and keeping the surrounding lands in relative peace.
iii. As with 'iii' above, except the railroad. *This campaign would likely end with the driving of the golden spike in 1869.
... so "why together, how party operates" is:
i. Why? Settler's claim. How? Woodcutters, Hay farmers, Ranchers, etc.
ii. Why? US Army troops. How? Defend 1 of 3 forts.
iii. Why? Railroad building. How? Laborers, or supervising rail reps.
Condensing helps clarify, which in turn helps save processing power. Clearer vision aids design direction; you know what to focus on for your players.
Quote from: Opaopajr;713955;) IIRC, Wilderness Survival Guide has a horse personality table. It also has multiple inclement weather tables. It also will likely be more granular than you may want in your campaign.
But like I said before, there's some surprisingly usable tools in that maligned WSG book!
(I'll get around to reprinting that horsey table. Bear with me.)
It's cool. dndclassics has it - http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17007/Wilderness-Survival-Guide-%281e%29?it=1
Aces & Eights is made for sandbox play, though I wish the full rules were just slightly less complex, or the basic rules just slightly more complex.
Even so, its full of very awesome sub-systems to handle all kinds of "Wild West" activities (prospecting, cattle driving, western courtroom drama, gambling, etc).
Quote from: RPGPundit;715062Aces & Eights is made for sandbox play, though I wish the full rules were just slightly less complex, or the basic rules just slightly more complex.
Even so, its full of very awesome sub-systems to handle all kinds of "Wild West" activities (prospecting, cattle driving, western courtroom drama, gambling, etc).
One thing I miss in A&E systems is a hunting minigame.
The review for the A&E gm guide was promising, so I scooped the two core books up. More than I typically want to pay for pdf, but I am confident I will enjoy reading them, at least.
Quote from: Erstwhile;712750Hm, if you have Netflix you may want to check out AMC's Hell on Wheels. It's post-Civil War, but based around a railway town/camp - probably not great inspiration for a sandbox campaign, as such, but perhaps some inspiration for NPCs (or something to encounter in the characters' travels).
And hell, Cullen Bohannon - the protagonist - is basically a PC, hunting down the soldiers who killed his family in the Civil War.
We're almost done with the series, and if nothing else, NICE TIP!
We had the chance to play a short session this weekend. We rolled up characters as best we could with my being completely unprepared. ("No, you can't take astrophysics as a skill. Derringer? That does the same as a hold out blaster, let me find the stats...") Some ruffians attempted to rob the train, but the ex-soldier and the fair haired maiden of the west put the hurt on them from afar.
I need to find the rules for aiming in D6, and I need to shore up my rules for reloading.
For the latter, I ruled a single-shot cartridge weapon could be reloaded with a single MAP, but six rounds in a revolver and/or reloading a cap-and-ball pistol took an entire turn.
Quote from: mcbobbo;713178Holy crap. It's a real thing - //www.cowboyethics.org
That's almost creepy...
Initially, it seems refreshing, marketed to people as a contrast to the "$ Uber Alles" that is America these days, but then you get to the webstore, the speaking engagements, the books and it looks exactly like any other quasi-philosophy site designed to be the next big thing the Corpbabblers will be spouting as management theory for the next decade.
Quote from: RPGPundit;715062Aces & Eights is made for sandbox play, though I wish the full rules were just slightly less complex, or the basic rules just slightly more complex.
Yeah I know what you mean.
Quote from: RPGPundit;715062Even so, its full of very awesome sub-systems to handle all kinds of "Wild West" activities (prospecting, cattle driving, western courtroom drama, gambling, etc).
The cool thing is, those subsystems can be plugged into other games as well.
A&8 is near indispensable as a resource for any western rpg.
Yes, definitely!
Tell me more about Aces and Eights. The DnD campaign I'm in is going to wrap up soon and we're looking for something to do. I especially don't want to play more DnD. This thread got me to thinking and I pitched running a western campaign. Everyone seems to like the idea so now I need a system.
Is it more a simulation of actual history or is it more Hollywood? Somewhere in between? How do people handle printing the "shot clock"?
From my limited reading of it, I find it... um... eclectic. As Pundit said above the basic game is pretty basic. And as you have gathered there are different charts and whatnot to roll against. These all seem to use different resolution methods, which probably isn't a big deal once you get used to it.
The advanced game seems pretty crazy to me. It not only considers things like the facing of minis but silhouettes. Very little abstraction there...
Quote from: mcbobbo;712482Any suggestions?
Kung Fu - biggest Western sandbox there ever was.
Quote from: Thanos;719792Tell me more about Aces and Eights. The DnD campaign I'm in is going to wrap up soon and we're looking for something to do. I especially don't want to play more DnD. This thread got me to thinking and I pitched running a western campaign. Everyone seems to like the idea so now I need a system.
Is it more a simulation of actual history or is it more Hollywood? Somewhere in between? How do people handle printing the "shot clock"?
For shot clock printing, go to any decent xerox point and they should have transparent paper - it's nothing expensive, I've got all the prints and they worked like a charm.
There's an alternative history setting in the book, but I (and I suspect most of people) tossed it away, since nothing in the ruleset really is tailored to that particular thing anyway. Maybe except gun lists, but I'm not a gun nut, so I've assumed cinematic technology myself when running a game in 1866 - all guns are available.
It draws a fine line between simulation of history and emulation of genre, so to speak - fights are pretty deadly, the price list is good, life of a cowboy's nothing glamorous, but at the same time, guns are still cool (rather than overheating like hell ;)), desperados are assumed to roam the countryside, and your reputation means everything.
I have mixed Western and fantasy, by adding the guns to D&D, I've played sidewinder d20, it was a good system, boot hill was good also, read westerns take fate core and build a Western that way.
Quote from: lacercorvex;962414I have mixed Western and fantasy, by adding the guns to D&D, I've played sidewinder d20, it was a good system, boot hill was good also, read westerns take fate core and build a Western that way.
Wow, that's quite the revival of an old thread!
I agree, Sidewinder was pretty good.
As far as guns and D&D, I almost always have guns in my D&D games. Dark Albion has rules on very early gunpowder weapons, for example. At the start of the campaign period, they're incredibly rare. By the end of it, they're quite common for purchase in the bigger cities in Albion and the price has gone down considerably.