Game News 3
Picked up Paul Kidd's latest offering,"D20 to Yuma" (a spoof on "3.10 to Yuma"). It's inspired from when his gaming group picked up "Boot Hill" waaaay back in the 70s but were busy playing "D&D". Well the players found a portal into the Wild West and "Orc McGraw" became the worst bandit west of the Pecos.
This game follows on from that concept. Adventurers from a high fantasy world find a way to the wild west and report back. Mages manage to open portals to this new world and soon a tidy trade in firearms and dynamite in exchange for gold and gems was going on. The inevitable subsequent war between the newly equipped nations leads to mages attempting to sabotage the opposition's portals and something goes badly wrong, with denizens from both worlds suddenly ending up on a third with no way of going home (if home even still exists). A few generations later there is now a thriving civilisation (with various competing factions naturally), modelled on the old west but with elves, dwarves and halflings joining the population. Even Lizardfolk, Dark Elves and Orcs have joined the crowd, old emnities being forgotten in the fight for survival following the arrival. Coyote and Puma folk are present too, but nobody knows where they came from.
So there you are, Paladin gunslingers, half-elven native indians, travelling lizardman preachers with spells of cure disease for those fallen women in the local brothel, sultry Puma girls in said brothel, dwarven blacksmiths in the local army fort, Orc banditos, Mexican hobbits with sombreros, etc., etc. There's also the remnants of an ancient civilisation scattered around the place, huge blank-faced automota that seem to be a a distinct shout-out to Nausicaa.
It's fun. I don't know of many Fantasy Western style RPGs out there, "Owl Hoot Trail" is one, there's "Deadlands" and the Wild West supplement for "Werewolf", but they're more supernatural western than high fantasy, but nothing really to compare with this new entry into the "Sixguns and Sourcery" market. The system is basically the ol' Open Games License D20 one and the book is helped by both Mr. Kidd's inimitable writing style and the artist he commissioned to illustrate it, one Freddy Andersson, who's deranged but sexy art has been a favourite of mine for some time now. There's also one supplement already available "Trouble at Mission Wells" which gives you a local small town setting with its personalities, factions and troubles to start your players in.
I can already see possibilities for a larger setting, you could easily steal from Paul's "Castles and Crusades" supplement "The Town of Kalas", tweaking the town to a more Western theme. Most of the races are the same, those that aren't are easily replaced by the additional ones available to you in Yuma, with perhaps the odd business minded Faun (female Satyr), civilised centaurette or highly confused, but cute, alignment reversed Harpy girl thrown in for good measure.
Actually Harpies, Satyrs and Centaurs are a staple of Paul's first game, the most wonderful "Lace and Steel", which is a prized gem in my RPG collection, be good to work them in as player characters here.
The mixture of settings might not be to some people's taste but I do like the possibilities inherent where if you can't kill a Cactus Dragon with a couple of firebolts then a whole heap 'o dynamite will do the trick right neatly!
The game is up on the DrivethruRPG/RPGNow site (although Paul really needs to get the PDF version and PDF previews available). He's not had many sales alas (perhaps the timing is bad, so soon after Christmas when money is a tad scarce), but I can vouch for it being a good fun game, and perhaps a refreshing departure from what your players are used to.
Freddy's art can be seen here- https://derangedmeowmeow.deviantart.com/ although raaaather a lot of it is of an "adult" nature, so you might need to sign in.
Worth it though...
PS- I tell a lie, there are other games, "Mystic West" by Atlantic Pen and Paper Games for one of the "Sixguns and Sourcery" type and, on the more supernatural side, "The Sixth Gun" from Pinnacle.
No doubt there are others, still think Paul's stuff looks more fun.
This game follows on from that concept. Adventurers from a high fantasy world find a way to the wild west and report back. Mages manage to open portals to this new world and soon a tidy trade in firearms and dynamite in exchange for gold and gems was going on. The inevitable subsequent war between the newly equipped nations leads to mages attempting to sabotage the opposition's portals and something goes badly wrong, with denizens from both worlds suddenly ending up on a third with no way of going home (if home even still exists). A few generations later there is now a thriving civilisation (with various competing factions naturally), modelled on the old west but with elves, dwarves and halflings joining the population. Even Lizardfolk, Dark Elves and Orcs have joined the crowd, old emnities being forgotten in the fight for survival following the arrival. Coyote and Puma folk are present too, but nobody knows where they came from.
So there you are, Paladin gunslingers, half-elven native indians, travelling lizardman preachers with spells of cure disease for those fallen women in the local brothel, sultry Puma girls in said brothel, dwarven blacksmiths in the local army fort, Orc banditos, Mexican hobbits with sombreros, etc., etc. There's also the remnants of an ancient civilisation scattered around the place, huge blank-faced automota that seem to be a a distinct shout-out to Nausicaa.
It's fun. I don't know of many Fantasy Western style RPGs out there, "Owl Hoot Trail" is one, there's "Deadlands" and the Wild West supplement for "Werewolf", but they're more supernatural western than high fantasy, but nothing really to compare with this new entry into the "Sixguns and Sourcery" market. The system is basically the ol' Open Games License D20 one and the book is helped by both Mr. Kidd's inimitable writing style and the artist he commissioned to illustrate it, one Freddy Andersson, who's deranged but sexy art has been a favourite of mine for some time now. There's also one supplement already available "Trouble at Mission Wells" which gives you a local small town setting with its personalities, factions and troubles to start your players in.
I can already see possibilities for a larger setting, you could easily steal from Paul's "Castles and Crusades" supplement "The Town of Kalas", tweaking the town to a more Western theme. Most of the races are the same, those that aren't are easily replaced by the additional ones available to you in Yuma, with perhaps the odd business minded Faun (female Satyr), civilised centaurette or highly confused, but cute, alignment reversed Harpy girl thrown in for good measure.
Actually Harpies, Satyrs and Centaurs are a staple of Paul's first game, the most wonderful "Lace and Steel", which is a prized gem in my RPG collection, be good to work them in as player characters here.
The mixture of settings might not be to some people's taste but I do like the possibilities inherent where if you can't kill a Cactus Dragon with a couple of firebolts then a whole heap 'o dynamite will do the trick right neatly!
The game is up on the DrivethruRPG/RPGNow site (although Paul really needs to get the PDF version and PDF previews available). He's not had many sales alas (perhaps the timing is bad, so soon after Christmas when money is a tad scarce), but I can vouch for it being a good fun game, and perhaps a refreshing departure from what your players are used to.
Freddy's art can be seen here- https://derangedmeowmeow.deviantart.com/ although raaaather a lot of it is of an "adult" nature, so you might need to sign in.
Worth it though...
PS- I tell a lie, there are other games, "Mystic West" by Atlantic Pen and Paper Games for one of the "Sixguns and Sourcery" type and, on the more supernatural side, "The Sixth Gun" from Pinnacle.
No doubt there are others, still think Paul's stuff looks more fun.