Dust Devils: Old West RPG

[Matt Snyder]

This industry's not big enough for the lot of us, but I've saddled up my latest game design attempt anyway. This one'll be cheaper than a penny ante, but hopefully folks like it just the same.

Inspired by the sheer boredom of a recent "real life" business trip and a re-watching of one of my favorite flicks, Unforgiven, I've been tinkering away at an honest to god Western game. Not surprisingly, I'm working on some mechanics with playing cards.

Just as a preface, yes, I know it's been done before. I don't know a whole heckuva lot about Deadlands or other similar games or mechanics. Don't care. If I'm duplicatin' something, chalk it up to ignorance or horse thievin'. They'll hang a man for either one, but what the hell. Also, this is  a rough draft, written up just tonight! That's my way of saying it ain't complete, but I thought I'd bounce it off everyone to see if I'm on the right path.

DUST DEVILS: A Truly Gritty Old West RPG

Characters (Hombres to ya'll down Texas way)

Characters have four attributes: Hand, Eye, Guts and Heart. Average attributes rank around 2 or 3, with 4 or 5 being quite good.

Hand represents physical action, i.e. anything a character does with his hands or body.  Hand covers everything from the brawn needed to knock a fella into next week to the finesse required to rope an outlaw. (Hand is associated with the playing card suit of Spades.)

Eye measures a character's senses, perception and intellect. Eye might test a character's ability to sense a canyon ambush or challenge his knowledge of Apache traditions. (Eye is associated with the suit of Diamonds.)

Guts reflects a characters vigor and health as well as his courage and cool. It take Guts to take on the whole Bolivian army, and it might take a lot of Guts to keep your shootin' hand steady with a .45 round in your thigh. (Guts is associated with the suit of Clubs.)

Finally, Heart gauges a character's social competence as well as his heroic -- or perhaps villainous -- nature. Heart makes the ladies swoon, and it sure comes in handy when you're trying to convince the town to fight the railroad's thugs. (Naturally, Heart is associated with the suit of Hearts.)

Descriptors

In addition to the four attributes above, all player characters have two figurative descriptive to highlight their most obvious qualities. In true Western style, these are written as similes. "Touch as Nails" or "Dumb as a Post" and so on. When a character tries to overcome a conflict, he earns an extra card in the Deal if he does so in a way that emphasizes one of his two descriptors.

An example: Dylan "Bang" McCreedy is strong as an ox and crazier 'n a shithouse rat. Should McCreedy need to free himself from underneath his fallen horse, he'd get an extra card because using brute strength in this way matches his "Strong as an Ox" descriptor perfectly. Similary, if ol' Bang McCreedy decide to waltz into the bank to rob the place with a lit stick of dynamite in each hand, he'd get a card for his next obviously crazy action (and perhaps his last!).

Knacks

Players also select a half dozen knacks  -- skills at which their characters are proficient. Knacks have a rating from 1 to 4, with 1 being a novice and 4 being a expert. Knacks can be any suitably narrow skill. Examples include: Shootin', Ropin', Readin' 'n Writin', 'Rithmatic, Trappin', Ambushin', Politickin', Safe Crackin', Ridin', Blacksmithin', Dancin' ... You get the idea.

Devil

Finally, every character's got a Devil. This is that ugly side you don't want the preacher to know about. Devil is that element you're trying to fight, good or bad.

A good example of a Devil is something that stays with a character, no matter how often he tries to solve the problem. It could be that drinkin' leads him to ruin, and he just can't seem to turn it down. Or it might be that he's a wanted man. Whether the character committed the crime or not, the law's after him, and he's always looking over his shoulder.

A poor example of a Devil is something the player might be able to "solve" neatly in one or two sessions of play. For example, it might be just too easy to say a characters Devil is "Get revenge on the sonnuvabitch that killed his wife." Should he do just that, well, he might just as well settle down and see what all this mail-order bride hub-bub is all about.

A character's Devil may come into play as part of a conflict. When it does, the Devil may result in a modified number of cards for the Deal. For example, if a character whose Devil is that he's a mean drunk, he might lose cards whenever conflict involving liquor comes along. Say he's trying to impress Sally at the saloon. Thanks to fifth of whiskey he just downed, Sally's not as like to go upstairs with him, 'least not without a couple dollars. The game master might decide to deal two fewer cards in that case. Conversely, our boy might earn a couple more cards in the Deal should he need to walk across the same saloon during a firefight. A little liquid courage never hurt the ol' Guts attribute.

[Matt Snyder]

RULES

The Deal

Whenever players encounter conflict during play, the Dealer (a.k.a. the game master) deals a number of cards (from a traditional Poker deck, including Jokers) to each character involved, possibly including his own non-player characters or "situation hands." Success hinges on beatin' the Dealer at his game, The highest Poker hand in a conflict is the "winner," and progressively better hands indicate increasingly extraordinary success.

The number of cards dealt depends on the conflict. The Dealer determines which two of his players' four attributes best applies in every situation, and he deals a number of cards equal to the sum of those two attributes.

The Draw

Players can improve their character's hands with Knacks. For each dealt hand, players can draw back up to a number of cards equal to the character's relevant skill rating, but at least one card from the original dealt hand must remain.

Call

When all players, including the Dealer, settle their hands, the Dealer calls and everyone shows his hand.

For situations pitting character against character -- like a shoot out -- highest hand between two sides (i.e. two combatants) wins. Keep in mind that the dealer plays non-player characters' hands.

In situations pitting a player character against some challenge -- like scaling a cliff face, for example -- the dealer sets a difficultly number for the encounter and draws that number of cards. The dealer might also elect to make situations more challenging with a "draw" difficulty, so the situation can draw back cards just like a skilled character does. In these situations, the character must beat the situation hand to overcome the conflict. So, in the case of climbing a cliff, the player need a better poker hand that the situation's dealt hand to scale the rock face.

Note: Just as in Poker, without a pair or better hand, high card wins. Also note that Jokers act as Wild Cards.

Fastest Tongue in the West

It wouldn't be the Old West without some tall tales to spice things up. In every conflict situation, description of the event falls on the single player with the highest single card in his hand. In many cases, this will be the player with the highest winning hand. However, even the lowest poker hand may yield the Ace of Spades, for example.

The player who describes the hand takes into account not only who "wins" and "loses" the conflict, but also what poker hands they won or lost with. This should color his description. Extraordinary hands -- like a Full House (Three of a Kind coupled with Two of a Kind) -- indicate dramatic and exceptional events, while winning a hand with just a single high card indicates a relatively mundane or routine success for the character.

Hazards and Damage

Characters who lose combat conflicts or other hazardous challenges lose attribute points. Compare the "hand" that beat the character in the round. Subtract a number of attribute points equal to the number of cards in the winning hand. The player subtract the points as desired from the attributes related to the suits played .

An example: "Lucky" Luke Cavanagh isn't living up to his name. A rival gunslinger shoots at him, playing three of a kind in the hand to do it: the Five of Hearts, the Five of Clubs, and the Five of Diamonds. Lucky loses three points from his Heart (Hearts suit), Guts (Clubs suit) and/or Eye (Diamonds suit). Lucky's player subtracts the three points of damage as he sees fit. He can subtract 3  from a single attribute, or subtract 1 point from all three attributes if he chooses.

When Jokers constitute part of a hand, subtract damage only from the suits played in other cards. In the above example, if one of the gunslinger's cards had been a Joker, "Lucky" Luke would have subtracted 3 points from his Heart (Hearts suit) and/or Guts (Clubs suit).

It's All Right, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

It's important to remember that while player lose attributes, the "damage" inflicted may not be grievous. It's up to the describing character to give his account of the injury or reason for attribute loss. For example, if Lucky's player decided to subtract one point from each attribute "hit" in the example above, the describing character might say the gunslinger's wild shot grazed Lucky's forehead. The blood trickling into his eyes explains him losing a point of Eye. Getting shot at explains his reluctance to carry on, which explains the loss of Guts, and the ugly wound makes him a gruesome sight to everyone, hence the loss of Heart. He may look a bit worse for the wear, but maybe Luke is lucky after all -- the wound could be worse.

Alternatively, the same hand could be described a bit more comically. Say the describing player says the gunslinger's wild shot knocks down a chandelier that falls on poor Lucky's head. The loss of a point in his three attributes is a reflection of his being a bit dazed by the event (loss of Eye and Guts), not to mention more than a little embarrassed (loss of Heart).

Here lies Lester More ...

When a character reaches zero in all attributes, he's finally cashed in his chips and gone to the great open range in the sky, or down into the fires of Hell should his Devil get the best of him after all.

[Bailywolf]

That there is a right fine core ma'friend...

Check out this old idea of mine; I accessed some of the same concepts you use (especialy the poker hand), but threw in a betting mechanic.

A hand of cards can represent any number of differtent things... an entire combat for example.  


Anyway, here is the beans thread from a while back.  Feel free to rip it clean of goodies.

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1286&highlight=beans

[Tim Denee]

I like the tall-tale bit. You know the cowboy narrator in 'The Big Lebowski'? I have an image of four people like that sitting around a camp fire, spinning yarns.
It'd be an interesting modern-day game. You create modern characters, but pretend you're a bunch of hardened old cowboys narrating these folks' tale.

[Matt Snyder]

See, Nomad, you're right on there, but then I'd have to change the name of the game to "Branded!" ;)

Actually, I thought about the Dude, Walter and the cowboy narrator a couple of times making this. Strange that The Big Lebowski would be an influence, however strange! Fuck it. I'd have to make some bowling mechanics to make that really work!

Other movie influences: Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, Tombstone, Unforgiven (as I mentioned), Pale Rider, High Plains Drifter, Outlaw Josey Wales, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, ....

[Matt Gwinn]

You need to make a rule tht indicates someone has to die if anyone plays a "dead man's hand" (full house - aces over eights I believe).

,Matt

[Matt Snyder]

I considered that actually.

Actually, a dead man's hand is not a full house, aces over eights, but two pair of aces over eights. You were quite close!

I guess I figured the likelihood of someone getting such a hand was too small to warrant the rule, but I may still include it.

[unodiablo]

This looks mighty fine, hombre! Maybe now I can resurrect my mercy-killed sorta-Deadlands campaign... I shudder every time I think about those rules. :)

Have you playtested this yet? I just printed myself a copy, going to work up a character sheet and maybe try it out this weekend with my brother.

Thank ya kind stranger,
Sean

[Matt Snyder]

This looks mighty fine, hombre! Maybe now I can resurrect my mercy-killed sorta-Deadlands campaign... I shudder every time I think about those rules. :)

I've heard it can get crazier 'n a barbed wire fence in a Texas twister. Truth is, I know relatively litte about the game. If it works ot for you in that respect, GREAT!

One thing I'd suggest -- try alloting either 11 or 13 points among the four attributes. I haven't tested this much just yet, but that should give you some idea of the scope I intended.

Have you playtested this yet? I just printed myself a copy, going to work up a character sheet and maybe try it out this weekend with my brother.

Nope. Like I said, I ain't tested it yet, sorry to say. That's part of why i posted it here. I'm eager to see what folks have to suggest.

I'd be thrilled to have you give it a whirl any time! Definitely let me know how it works out for you!

As for print-outs and characters sheets, I'm working on a PDF download for both as we speak. May take a bit of time, but I'll mail you a version or direct you to my web page, if you like.

Thanks again!

--Matt

[Bailywolf]

I would love to see a playtest/semi-finalized version of this... throw in some good eample characters, a solid set of thematic references, some sample premises (I for one believe a game can support many of these... I actully consider thematic flexibility a sign of good design), and perhaps a cool barbed-wire page border.

Hell, I'd love to work up a creeping supernatural horror campaign based on this.  Deadlands was too... goofy for my tastes, but something like Call of Cuthulu meets The Good the Bad and The Ugly.  Hell yes.

Or a Steampunk/Wild Wild West thing...


Or an idea that's haunted me for a while... A Town called Camalot... a sherrif named Author Pen, his golden-hired deputy Lance Lot, his buddy G.W. Wayne... An old mystic half-breed named Mad Bear Den...

and a pearl handled revolver enscribed with the name Cali Burn  .

[Matt Snyder]

Now, see, Bailywolf, I'd call you a no good sonnuvabitch cheat if I didn't know better. You just gave me the creeps, reading my mind.

First off, I wrestled with what to "mix" with the otherwise straight western approach. The two ideas I had were:

1) Ghost Town, in which characters play Cowboy ghosts trapped in Purgatory.

2) X-Caliber .45 -- which recreates the Knights of the Round in the old west, complete with sheriff Rex Arthur and Deputy Lance DuLac.

3) Unamed -- Steampunk old west, as inspired by a recent computer game favorite of mine, Arcanum.

I would love to see a playtest/semi-finalized version of this... throw in some good eample characters, a solid set of thematic references, some sample premises

I'm a step ahead of you ... well, a half step anyway. It'll be availble soon, complete with sample characters / archetypes (Man with No Name, Saloon Madam, "English Bob", etc.)

Hell, I'd love to work up a creeping supernatural horror campaign based on this.  Deadlands was too... goofy for my tastes, but something like Call of Cuthulu meets The Good the Bad and The Ugly.  Hell yes.

Or a Steampunk/Wild Wild West thing...

Or an idea that's haunted me for a while... A Town called Camalot... a sherrif named Author Pen, his golden-hired deputy Lance Lot, his buddy G.W. Wayne... An old mystic half-breed named Mad Bear Den...

God DAMN, that's creepy. No shit, this is PRECISELY what I had considered as "modules" for the concept later on -- Steampunk, Horror, and Arthurian. Either we're separated at birth, drink the same booze or we're on to some collective urge here. Weird.

[Bailywolf]

Likely comes from loving the same great things.  Your references hit the bull's eye with me every time.  I think High Planes Drifter is one of the best subtle ghostly revenge stories ever told- relentless, brutal, and subtly creepy.  While Outlaw Jose Wales is one of the best character driven movies ever made... it sits near the top of my all time favorite list.

I've been fishing for the Man with No Name series on DVD...

I can also recomend a bunch of other movies (harder to find, but they turn up occasionlay on the classic movie channels).  The Two Zapata films with Lee Van Cleef ("The Man With The Gunsight Eyes!")
are over the top fun as hell Wild Wild West meets Fist Full of Dollars.  

And what a theme song!  

Zaaaaapaaaaataaaaa!
Niiiiiiine finered man
Foooooooour bar'rel darrenger
He's the fastest man in the west
He's the fastest man in the west

Love those spagetti westerns.

The first Django film is a revenge driven classic (with a friggin Machine gun hidden in a coffin!)... it spawned over twenty unofficial sequels.

Unforgiven is an amazing (and amazingly acurate) film; the West was really a damned dirty dangerous place... very little actual Myth.  


I think a fairly low-key supernatural horror western game could kick major ass...

Try this on pardner-

A group of haunted riders, scarred, hard, and dangerous... enforcing the ideals of the Shadow Constitution- a secret document signed at the same time as the United States of America's famous social contract, but which acts as a binding agreement between the forces of The Shadow World and the Colonial splinter groups of ancient magical caballs (of which most of the founding fathers were members).

Magic is a dangerous buisness- without the proper discipline and ritualization, it eats the mind and the soul- and even a tiny bit of lore can spell doom for an isolated Western town...  The ritual of magic isn't there to make it work, focus the mind, or apease otherworldly creatures, but to keep human perception of the true nature of reality from driving occultists mad.  

And some shadowy agency keeps 'seeding' the untamed west with fragments of dangerous lore... Letters containing rough translations, pages torn from journals, diagrams...

Little Susie gets a letter from Charlston... no return, but the handwriting is her grandmother's... but the strange little ryming poem it contains doesn't seem to make any sense... but sure is catchy... and when the rest of the town begins treating Little Susie as if she were their queen and godess... what does an 8 year old girl do with absolute power over a townfull of adults?

When Reverand Jakes recieved a parcel from his brother, he was pleased to find an antique bible- in Greek no less!  A bit of a damned nice gift... shame he don't speak no Greek... but actualy... after looking the book over, the Greek wasn't that much harder than Latin...hell, after a time he took to it as easy as English.  Some of the verses were phrased a bit different, some of the comandments strangly distorted... and when he preaches them... they town starts acting them out.

There are rumors of a Ghost Bull; a half steer, half buffalo all dead white.  It jumps barbwire fenses as easy as a deer, and studs every cow it can find.  When the heffers birth, the calves are horrors, hungry not for milk, but for tears, or the last breath of children, or for the sight of a man degrading man.

[Ron Edwards]

Movie reference: Django.

Book reference: Riders of the Purple Sage.

Comics reference: Jonah Hex (the original series from the 70s).

Best,
Ron

[Bailywolf]

Gawd damn, but that .pdf looks mighty fine!

Quite playable.  Makes me feel like a lazy schlub.  But damn fine.

Why no betting mechanic?



Also, had an idea for an occult tinged game...

Your standard pack of cards is related to the tarot deck- it lacks all the Mojor Arcana except for the joker (knave or fool in the tarot)...

What if the players and the major NPC's instead selected one of the major arcana, then the relationships between a particular suit and that arcana figure could figure into scene setting and dramatic resolution.  

So basicly, the characters take the place of the Major Arcana while the cards represent not just a random generator, but also a casting of tarot cards... in each action a key thematic relationship could be drawn which could complicate the plot further...

A bit obscure, and would certainly require some more solidification, but perhaps intresting... each play of cards would then act as both story seed generators as well as fortune mechanics...



a bit of a lark...


But I'm itchin' to play it!

[Matt Snyder]

Gawd damn, but that .pdf looks mighty fine!

Quite playable.  Makes me feel like a lazy schlub.  But damn fine.

Why no betting mechanic?

Thanks! You ain't lazy -- I just got bored and inspired. A wicked combination.

I haven't yet decided whether to include or yet figured out just how to handle a betting mechanic. I'm mulling some ideas that let players place wagers for chips, which they could then use to expand or improve character abilities, knacks, etc.

But I'm itchin' to play it!

Go for it, pardner! I'd love to have folks give Dust Devils a whirl (puns and all!).