This week's mail call had a very "weird west" flavour to it, with the arrival of Down Darker Trails (Chaosium's official Old West supplement for Call of Cthulhu) and We Deal In Lead (an indie game HEAVILY inspired by Stephen King's Dark Tower saga).
From an initial perusal I reckon both of these will remain in the "research and inspiration" pile, rather than actually hitting the table.
At the moment I cannot see either replacing Go Fer Yer Gun! or Deadlands as my 'go-to' system, should I ever have a chance to gamesmaster a western campaign (weird or otherwise) for the Tuesday Knights.
Down Darker Trails, like all good Call of Cthulhu supplements and adventures is highly detailed (I love having stats for a selection of Old West 'celebrities', from Billy The Kid to Wyatt Earp), but probably too intricate for my current style of gamesmastering.
I'm sure Call of Cthulhu would have a better chance if I could keep my brain focussed on the single objective of a running a great Weird West horror campaign, but I'm too easily distracted and/or overwhelmed by thick, dense rules books.
Conversely, We Deal In Lead is ultra-streamlined, meaning that - despite the game's magnificent setting - I already feel as though the rules remove too much of the potential excitement of the combat elements of the game.
Also, I fear the prospect of a "freeform" magic system would go down like a lead balloon. My players have made it clear they like a list of spells to pick and choose from.
But, as I say, these are just first impressions, I haven't given either book a fair shake yet and so am not writing them off.
Although, getting way ahead of myself, I am rolling around the idea of a Dark Tower-inspired campaign using Go Fer Yer Gun! as the engine, with some fuel borrowed from We Deal In Lead.
From an initial perusal I reckon both of these will remain in the "research and inspiration" pile, rather than actually hitting the table.
At the moment I cannot see either replacing Go Fer Yer Gun! or Deadlands as my 'go-to' system, should I ever have a chance to gamesmaster a western campaign (weird or otherwise) for the Tuesday Knights.
Down Darker Trails, like all good Call of Cthulhu supplements and adventures is highly detailed (I love having stats for a selection of Old West 'celebrities', from Billy The Kid to Wyatt Earp), but probably too intricate for my current style of gamesmastering.
I'm sure Call of Cthulhu would have a better chance if I could keep my brain focussed on the single objective of a running a great Weird West horror campaign, but I'm too easily distracted and/or overwhelmed by thick, dense rules books.
Conversely, We Deal In Lead is ultra-streamlined, meaning that - despite the game's magnificent setting - I already feel as though the rules remove too much of the potential excitement of the combat elements of the game.
Also, I fear the prospect of a "freeform" magic system would go down like a lead balloon. My players have made it clear they like a list of spells to pick and choose from.
But, as I say, these are just first impressions, I haven't given either book a fair shake yet and so am not writing them off.
Although, getting way ahead of myself, I am rolling around the idea of a Dark Tower-inspired campaign using Go Fer Yer Gun! as the engine, with some fuel borrowed from We Deal In Lead.
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