PROJECT 60: Okay, I Might Have A Problem 😱

 

Despite having already named Go Fer Yer Gun! as my favourite roleplaying game set in the Old West, and having an ever-expanding collection of Deadlands material from across the ages, I still managed to purchase two more distinctly different games in the last seven days: Tales of The Old West and Shooting Iron.

While I admire Go Fer Yer Gun! for its elegant simplicity, Shooting Iron is another d20-based system (class, level, hit points et al), with a heap of background material (although nothing on Native Americans; they were supposed to be covered in a supplement, which has yet to see print seven years after the core rules were published).

I could see this nicely written and laid out, 200-plus page, tome being a source of "houserules" and additions to a possible GFTG! campaign, with little need for much tinkering with the stats and mechanics. 

On the other end of the spectrum, Tales Of The Old West employs the Year Zero Engine, the award-winning d6 dice pool mechanics that power such Free League roleplaying games as ALIEN, Tales From The Loop, The Walking Dead etc

I'll admit the book is quite intimidating. Tales of The Old West may be too complicated for my little noggin, although one of our group mentioned to me in the past of her experience playing ALIEN, so that could help persuade me (always helps to have someone else at the table who knows the rules of the game you are playing).

Although a licenced product (it is produced by Effekt) the book has the high production and art standards consumers of Free League games have come to expect.

Of course, these "straight" West books are just the latest addition to my RPG library.

The other week I picked up a couple of "Weird West" games: Down Darker Trails (a Call of Cthulhu supplement) and We Deal In Lead (based heavily on Stephen King's Dark Tower saga).

So, now, I have six Western-themed roleplaying games: three with ghosts and monsters and three for playing pseudohistorical reality!

What does this all mean for my current superhero campaign that I'm running for the Tuesday Knights?

Maybe nothing, but maybe something. 

I guess it depends if the current game has legs (we've only managed three sessions in five months, for various reasons). 

Things Are Getting A Mite Weird Round These Parts!

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.

What's My Favourite Western Roleplaying Game? The Answer May Surprise You

Despite the many recent posts on this blog referring to Deadlands - and my long-history of fanboying over the game and its Weird West setting - I'm pretty certain my all-time favourite Western roleplaying game system is much the more modest Go Fer Yer Gun!

Written by the prolific games creator Simon Washbourne, and published by his Beyond Belief Games in 2010, Go Fer Yer Gun! (GFYG!) is a "mere" 77-page long, including a character sheet and a copy of the OGL.

Based on the ubiquitous d20 mechanics of a certain fantasy roleplaying game, GFYG! is a streamlined game with easy to grok stats and character classes, hit points, defence class (in lieu of armour class), equipment lists, weapons charts, etc.

As well as the delightfully thematic character classes with their specialised abilities, the game's novel tweaks include only rolling extra hit die for characters up to fourth level, so that guns are still dangeous - and potentially lethal - weapons, even when fired at high level characters. None of your Dungeons & Dragons superheroes here!

There's also statistics for a handful of generic folk and critters, as well as non-player characters, as well as three short scenarios.

While modern Deadlands is full of glossy and colourful art and slick layouts, GFYG! is black and white with public domain illustrations and a basic layout. However, both approaches serve the systems they are pushing.

Of course, the great thing about the minimalist approach of GFYG! is that, should tastes demand it, it's very easy to add elements to the rules. For instance, if I sought to Deadlands things up by introducing the supernatural, magic et al, I could easily lift chunks of my shelved Frankengame almost wholecloth to add into the mix.

On top of all this, a major selling point of GFYG! - should I ever try and convince the Tuesday Knights to trust me running another campaign - is that the "classic" d20 mechanics are easy for any reasonably seasoned gamer to quickly pick up. Even if they're not 100 per cent au fait with the setting, it's one less thing to have to worry about.

No Joke, The Western Library Is Really Taking Off

This week's additions to my growing Western library were a couple of left-field, niche, publications that tickled my fancy for the peculiar and outré.

Written by Michael King of the Wild West Podcast, The Antic Tales of Luke McGlue: The Dodge City Prankster recounts a number of real life practical jokes and 'comedic' deceptions attributed to the non-existent character of Luke McGlue.

It appears that 19th Century Dodge City, the notorious Wild West town, had a reputation as a hotbed of  mischievous jokers and perpetrators of shenanigans, who would, in turn, blame their antics on the mythical Luke McGlue "the master of mischief".

The other publication I picked up was the first issue of Strange West Magazine, a 70+ page digest-sized booklet of articles relating to unusual occurrences in, and mysteries from, the Old West, including reports of cryptids, ghost stories, lost treasures, UFO encounters etc

All of which sounds right up my alley, as well as being perfect inspirational material for roleplaying game scenarios in the style of Deadlands and similar Weird West games.

Published by Bicep Books (based, appropriately enough in Roswell, New Mexico), there only appear to have been four issues of this delightful-looking pulp/Fortean zine, so I'm going to have to pace myself.

However, author John LeMay appears to have also written a ton of other non-fiction books in the same field (and published through his Bicep Books).

Django and Cullen Bohannon Have Moseyed On Up To My Door

Okay, so I treated myself to this swanky blu-ray release of the original Django this week.

According to one of my older review posts I first saw Django when I was at university, but I have absolutely zero recollection of that.

However, I guess, if you squint you can see some traces of influence in the Western movie script I wrote for my degree course.

I watched Django again, for the first time, the other week and was entranced by the violence and mud so prevalent in this once-banned spaghetti Western classic.

At the time, on Facebook, I wrote: "Oh, this was so good! [It] took a couple of unexpected turns along the way".

I'll probably write a full review of the legendary 1966 film when I see it next, now courtesy of this new blu-ray rather than Prime Video streaming. 

What I particularly love about this release is the inclusion of a Quentin Tarantino documentary - almost as long as the main attraction - in which the director sings the praises of Sergio Corbucci and explains elements and inspirations he drew from this work for his own.

On the gaming front, Django (complete with coffin) is available from Wargames Illustrated as one of its 28mm Giants In Miniature figures. Mine is off with Matt the painter at present, but I look forward to sharing him with you in due course.

Django - A Giant In Miniature figure

The blu-ray box set of the first season of Hell on Wheels arrived the other day.

My plan is, once I’ve finished my latest rewatch of Deadwood, to follow that up with Brisco County Jnr then start Hell on Wheels - which I haven’t seen since it first aired on TV.

I'm nearly at the end of Deadwood's second season - taking a break to watch other things when I finish each disc of the collection - so then it'll be the final season followed by the movie.

When it comes to 1993's The Adventures of Brisco County Jnr, the Bruce Campbell-fronted steampunky comedy-western, I'm not even sure I've actually seen the whole 27-episode season of that show before.

I'm looking forward to that as I seem to remember that while it lacks the horror elements there's a distinct Deadlands-style liberty taken with history (kinda giving it a Xena-like feel, but in the Old West).

Deadlands Reincarnated!

Thanks to the combination of Deadlands and eBay the whole "no impulse buys in April" deal isn't going too well.

For a very reasonable price, I just picked up a brand new - still sealed - copy of Deadlands: Night Train, a glorious 25th anniversary box set, celebrating the original Night Train "dime novel" adventure for the first (pre-Savage Worlds) iteration of Deadlands.

It also came with Wendigo Tales, a hardback collection of short stories set in the Deadlands universe, these were the text part of the old "dime novel" series of adventures that Pinnacle published for Classic Deadlands back in the day (when I discovered and fell in love with the setting).

These digest-sized booklets were half-fiction and half-adventure module; Night Train by John Goff was number three in the series.

There were 10 published back in the late 90's, of which I still have four or five, including Night Train.

Me with my original copy of Night Train

The 25th anniversary box set, released a year or so ago, is a treasure trove of gamesmaster/player aids, as well as including a rewrite of the old adventure for use with Savage Worlds (and a couple of new, related, adventures).

We have battle mats, cardboard pawns (complete with stands; an economic alternative/addition to 28mm figures), prop toe tags to mark player-character deaths, a themed 'Wild die', cards, and wanted posters.

I haven't even gotten round to opening up these items, but am already excited that as well as the solid card pawns of monsters and non-player characters there's also tiles for the interior of the central locomotive and its cars. That's definitely something that can find a bonus use in Dead Man's Hand skirmish scenarios.

Deadlands Resurrected!

Reminiscing about Deadlands earlier this year reignited my love for this game-changing setting. While I still have a number of my original books (from the pre-Savage Worlds era), I had none of the later Savage Worlds material... until today!

Although April is supposed to be my month of "no impulse purchases" (just a few pre-orders, like yesterday's Al Swearingen book), I couldn't resist this box set when it popped up in one of my eBay saved searches.

Although I've looked at Savage Worlds bits and bobs over the years, I've never really had a handle on the system or even considered presenting it to the Tuesday Knights as an option.

Rather "fortuitously" one of my last 'impulse' purchases, on the final day of March, had been the hardbacked core rule book for the latest iteration of Savage Worlds.

As my superhero campaign with the Tuesday Knights is just taking off, I have no immediate plans to switch horses midstream (let's see how the gang get on fighting villains on the streets of Knight City for a few more 'issues' first), but I'm glad to know I have this hefty Deadlands box set in my collection now.

Fit to bursting with cards, bennies (poker chips that act as "fate tokens"), a new set of dice, a map of the Weird West, ammo counter dials, a hardback setting supplement, and a solid gamesmaster's screen (with an adventure booklet), the Bay trader I purchased this off of hadn't opened any of the contents, so everything was still sealed in plastic.

I love games that go that extra mile and Savage Worlds has always seemed to thrive on its useful, additional widgets (cards, tokens, counters etc) to help gamesmasters and players (gotta love an "ammo counter dial"!).

Honestly, I'm not so into the steampunk of it all at the moment, but Deadlands remains one of the most influential creations in my roleplaying development - even if I've never actually played in the setting or run it - that I'm sure, if nothing else, it can help inform my Dead Man's Hand skirmish gaming plans.

PROJECT 60: PIVOT!!!

My parents' copy of A Pictorial History of The Wild West, which I treasure to this day

Honestly, it should come as no great surprise to anyone that in the last few weeks I've dramatically pivoted on my choices for my PROJECT 60 (geeky things I want to have up and running by the time I turn 60 in late 2026).

If you've been paying attention you'll already be aware that my much-talked fantasy heartbreaker/Frankengame is dead and my RPG focus is wholly upon my recently launched Villains & Vigilantes campaign for the Tuesday Knights: Knight City.

While superhero RPGs - primarily V&V - weren't the first I played as a youngling, they were the first where I felt we had the makings of a long-running campaign, thanks to the sterling work of my old chum, Steve (elder brother of fellow Tuesday Knight founding member, Pete).

I've ensured that there are traces of those original games evident in our current setting, Knight City, and some of the rules tweaks I've employed are based upon changes that Steve created four decades ago.

However, it's not just the roleplaying side of PROJECT 60 that has been flipped. While I'm still intrigued by the 16th Century Border Reivers of Scotland and am very happy with the painted figures I have, and large library of reference material, there was always something niggling at the back of my mind.

One of things that had drawn me to gaming the lawless shenanigans of the Border Reivers had been my perception that this was the closest we had gotten to the American Wild West on our island.

But then, if I was so inspired by the Wild West... why wasn't I gaming the Wild West?

One of my techniques for corralling my spiralling thoughts has always been the principle of returning to square one, remembering what first caught my attention.

And this reminded me that, when I was about six or seven, armed with a bag of plastic cowboy and Indian 'army men' figures, and some cool, clip-together Old West buildings and fences, the very first "wargame" I wrote for myself centred on lawless, Frontier gunfighters.

Years before I even heard of roleplaying games, this was a skirmish game where each figure represented a single gunfighter, and they all had access to certain skills, with "tests" being resolved with a combination of normal six-sided dice and "average" dice (my first exposure to 'non-standard' dice... I was hooked from an early age, thanks to the vintage wargames shop on The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells). 

My interest in the Old West can be traced to my parents' copy of The Pictorial History of the Wild West, a battered, well-read, hypnotically-illustrated, "true account of the bad men, desperadoes, rustlers and outlaws of the Old West - and the men who fought them to establish law and order."

Young me could frequently be found pawing through this tome, marvelling at the period photographs and losing myself in the stories of Billy The Kid, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday et al. 

Since then, I've always had a penchant for Westerns, and - at the climax of my three-year Scriptwriting for Film and TV course at Bournemouth University - I even wrote a Western film script, inspired by true events, for my final assignment.

During my great roleplaying interregnum - the extensive period of reading, but never playing, RPGs between the end of our old superhero play-by-post game and then the launch of the Tuesday Knights - one of the games that I was really hooked on was Shane Hensley's first stab at Deadlands, the pre-Savage Worlds iteration of his Weird West setting.

I didn't fully grok the overly-complex rules system but I absolutely loved the backstory and the writing of the atmospheric 'fluff' of the setting. 

While, I guess, these might appear quite 'old school' to modern sensibilities, the rules books, supplements and box sets of that original Deadlands remain, in my eyes, some of the greatest RPG material ever produced.

What all this reminiscing has led to - after doing my due diligence and watching a lot of YouTube reviews and 'actual play' videos - is my investment in Great Escape Games' highly lauded Dead Man's Hand Redux.

This is a well-supported game, from a popular company, that most definitely has legs and scratches my itch for a skirmish game even better than the Border Reivers.

Like I said, the Border Reivers project remains ongoing, but it's on the backburner for the moment, while I dig into Dead Man's Hand Redux, turn my hand to painting the plastic buildings (boy, this takes me back to my childhood), and get the miniatures professionally painted.

With the plastic miniatures you get in the starter box, you're able to design your own gang and I already have ideas to base mine on Timmy The Flea and The Hole-In-The-Head gang, if my primitive modelling skills are up the task!

3.10 To Yuma (2007)

Yee-haw, I sure loves me some Western action!

It was the Deadlands roleplaying game (the original, pre-Savage Worlds, pre-d20 detour, version) that rekindled my childhood passion for the Wild West.

However, it really blew up when I was at university and researching my major, final third year project - a film script based on the life of Elfego Baca, the wannabe lawman who held off a veritable army of riled cowboys from within an adobe hut. The hut (a jacal) took about 4,000 bullets during the 36-hour gun battle but Baca was unharmed!

During that time at university, I watched wall-to-wall Westerns, from the true classics (such as Shane and Hombre) to the cult favourites (like Django and The Magnificent Seven), and read whatever text books I could lay my hands on, to immerse myself in the culture and language of those wild, frontier times.

Sadly, after University, my love of the genre kinda cooled. I'd probably rather overdosed and none of my old gaming buddies shared my interest in the genre (we are British, after all, so I guess it's not even our history!) so except for a few shoot-outs with a homebrew miniatures system I knocked up and the odd DVD purchase, the West rode out of my life and into the sunset.

However, as the 2000s dragged on, I noticed it sneaking back in on the coat tails of my 'discovery' of the whole 'pulp' thing (that is, putting a name and classification for a style of entertainment I already enjoyed), helped by Deadwood and several mainstream cinematic releases, such as Seraphim Falls and this one.

Turns out that as a cinema genre, Westerns weren't dead - they'd just raised their standards.

In 3.10 To Yuma, Christian Bale is crippled, ex-Union sharpshooter-turned-struggling-farmer Dan Evans, who volunteers to escort charming, stone cold killer and outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the train station to catch the 3.10 to Yuma prison.

Evans' 14-year-old son, William (Logan Lerman), who sees his father as a coward and rather idolises Wade, tags along in the small posse - which includes a grizzled bounty hunter (Peter Fonda) and the town's doctor (Alan 'Firefly' Tudyk).

The film starts in Unforgiven territory, but becomes increasingly Young Guns as the escort party's troubles escalate and numbers are whittled down by Wade's pursuing gang, renegade Apaches, troublesome railworkers and in-fighting.

It all builds to a dynamic, heroic and rather far-fetched climax as - having turned into a reluctant buddy flick - Evans and Wade make a final dash for the train, facing up to Wade's merciless gang and vigilante townsfolk.

The ultimate conclusion is suitably powerful and emotional, undermined only by a rather silly final scene.

Crowe is perfect as the supremely confident and calm killer, while Bale is, simply, superb as always; both of these actors are at the top of their game and guarantee a solid performance with every role they take.