Where I review Bozbat Games' "Grit & Bullets" wild west RPG.  NOTE: the version I reviewed was the first edition and there's now a 2nd Edition that has come out since, presumably with some improvements.
#ttrpg #osr #dnd

Why did they call it "Mind" and not "Grit"? Seems like a missed opportunity.

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Thinking about Earp's life, Gygax's intentions for the Bard appendix in AD&D makes sense as the archetype (emergent prestige class) of that adventurer by virtue of his base character features (as the attributes, race, personality, background) while living through more than one campaign.

When fantasy adventuring in AD&D, a human character can be a fighter in one campaign and then a thief in the next, but he would age one year between the downtime of those two campaigns. Some major milestone might be reached first, like a misc player decision, or a major threat is defeated, or even domain level is reached. Compared to Humans, Elves having the advantage of switching skillsets between different adventures highlights the strength of the race-class model, though AD&D separated race and class at this point. This can help smooth out the idea of what domains are really supposed to be for: downtime for that character during another campaign while you play as a different character in the same world. You can call on your own "epic level" character like an NPC for some resources, like favours or followers.

This poses some problems like HP, saves, skill chances, or spell slots gained by leveling up over time though. One way you could resolve that is by having characters start from level one at the beginning of every new campaign that character adventures in, and he can only personally rule one domain at a time whenever he reaches domain level for that class, or starts kingdom building from there by delegating other domains to other characters owned by the same player. This also assumes that the Bard example is really showing total character levels at the end of every adventure, not really class levels per se, and it also doesn't really matter what order that you get so many levels of certain classes for that character.

However, using this method would put to rest exactly how a character like Conan can come about through play with this method: he's not a multi-class character, or even a unique class whether barbarian or otherwise, he just never claimed a domain until he finally maxed out levels as a fighter; so a classless ruleset can be insufficient, since you could have two level sets on the same character by playing this way (one adventurer, one for the current-campaign class).

The biggest thing I find broken about Western RPGs is that they focus too tightly on a specific lifestyle, in a specific location, and expect people to be shooting each other all the time.  I feel if you want to have a tabletop gunfight experience, maybe a miniatures skirmish game might be better.  A more well rounded "western" RPG would be more focused on cattle drives, developing farmland, and trade negotiations.  Either you're looking at a rather bleak fight for your life where a bullet to the leg can kill you from an infection or you're doing a resource management game.

It would be better served as a part of a larger setting (as it really was) and fit into the larger happening of world at the time.  In my humble opinion.

Quote from: BadApple on June 22, 2023, 01:47:30 AM
The biggest thing I find broken about Western RPGs is that they focus too tightly on a specific lifestyle, in a specific location, and expect people to be shooting each other all the time.  I feel if you want to have a tabletop gunfight experience, maybe a miniatures skirmish game might be better.  A more well rounded "western" RPG would be more focused on cattle drives, developing farmland, and trade negotiations.  Either you're looking at a rather bleak fight for your life where a bullet to the leg can kill you from an infection or you're doing a resource management game.

It would be better served as a part of a larger setting (as it really was) and fit into the larger happening of world at the time.  In my humble opinion.

There's a lot of stuff you can do with a Wild West campaign. As I pointed out, the famous gunfighters of history also tended to have a lot of other jobs and pursuits.

Quote from: RPGPundit on June 22, 2023, 07:21:38 AM
There's a lot of stuff you can do with a Wild West campaign. As I pointed out, the famous gunfighters of history also tended to have a lot of other jobs and pursuits.

Unfortunately, most people only know of them from the gun fighting.  I was in a conversation with a friend a few years ago and he was shocked to learn that Doc Holiday was actually a Doctor of Dentistry.

I agree that the setting has a lot of untapped potential but most everyone just tries to play a John Ford movie.  Add to that, getting shot is at best a traumatic injury that takes months to heal from.  Commonly enough, gun shots were fatal.  Do it right, and half the table is rolling up new PCs almost every combat.  That makes it hard to care about a character.

A proper Western campaign would more about everything that leads up to a gunfight and then finish it all off with a hail of bullets.  This would take a skilled GM and some mature players that appreciate the more fully developed experience.  Most likely, it would be a game where combat only occurs once or twice in a year long campaign.  I would love to do it but I think it's a bit to niche for most gamers.

Don't misunderstand, I want it to work.  I love the idea of honest, tough men doing the right thing and putting their life on the line when there's no other alternative.

i think maybe the biggest problem I've seen when Western RPGs have been tried is that there's a disconnect between the aesthetic of the Old West and the culture of the Old West.  Historically, you're reputation was vital.  Maybe if there was also a reputation points system in place to codify the experience.  Walking that thin line of being a "good man" in a tough world would be more the goal rather than just being a quick draw.  You don't want to be seen as violent but you can't be a coward, you need to have a good business sense to keep alive but you can't be seen as a swindler , etc.

IDK if I'm communicating all this correctly...

Quote from: BadApple on June 22, 2023, 01:47:30 AM
The biggest thing I find broken about Western RPGs is that they focus too tightly on a specific lifestyle, in a specific location, and expect people to be shooting each other all the time.  I feel if you want to have a tabletop gunfight experience, maybe a miniatures skirmish game might be better.  A more well rounded "western" RPG would be more focused on cattle drives, developing farmland, and trade negotiations.  Either you're looking at a rather bleak fight for your life where a bullet to the leg can kill you from an infection or you're doing a resource management game.

It would be better served as a part of a larger setting (as it really was) and fit into the larger happening of world at the time.  In my humble opinion.

There is an Italian rpg called Six Bullets System, it's a generic system specifically geared towards the western genre, the idea behind it is to be grounded in reality without boggling everything down to pure simulation, it has something like 200 pages of pure setting information regarding the American frontier, from historical events to common ways of living at the time like prospecting, cattle drives and caravan communities, it is only in Italian now but it should be released in English soon, I plan on writing a review as soon as I manage to run a few sessions with it.

Greetings!

Well, I think that there certainly is a great deal of scope and rich depth for a  Western Campaign RPG. However, while John Ford films are popular, the various Western Serials and seasonal programs no doubt also have an enormous influence. Much like the newspapers and books of the day, people want action, violence, and drama. Thus, that means lots of gunfights and shoot-outs. Otherwise, a more realistic or less cinematic Western RPG would essentially be a Western version of "Papers & Paychecks. Not exactly what most people would be looking for at the end of the day.

Much of the time "Out West" was spent day-in and day-out doing lots of hard work, and struggling to just get by. Making it through the upcoming winter, or hoping desperately to get a herd of cattle to market in time--failure results in likely suffering starvation or the misery of grim poverty, even if they manage to survive. The economy was less sophisticate n developed, and focused more on raw resources--Animals, furs, timber, crops--not so much manufactured or consumer goods or luxuries, so there wasn't that many "Jobs" per se. More people were independent, and simply did everything themselves. Lots of hard work, every day, from sun-up to sun-down, but not much terribly interesting going on, as there were so much fewer people, neighbours, and so on to even interact with. Much of the time, you only had the family to socialize with on a daily basis--getting a chance to visit other people at the end of the week by going to the nearest country Church on Sunday.

Just some thoughts.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK