Over the Hills and Far Away: The Essence of Hurled into Eternity

  

There’s a moment — right before you turn over the card — where everything hangs. The breath holds, the blood stills, and luck’s got its boot on your throat. Is the Grim Reaper paying a visit? Maybe Lady Luck half smiling? 

Who knows for sure?

That’s Hurled into Eternity in a nutshell. It doesn’t hand you anything. You take it. Inch by inch. Scar by scar. 

And if there’s ever been a song that understands that journey, it’s Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin.

At first listen, it’s a gentle invitation. The acoustic strumming, Plant’s voice light as a breeze. You’d almost think it’s a song of hope. But Zeppelin never does anything directly. There’s always a twist in the trail. As the track unfolds, the strings get harder, the drums dive in, and that soft beginning turns into a relentless push forward. It’s not a song about reaching a destination, well...about the open road. It’s a song about clawing toward it. 

And knowing you might never get there.

Sound familiar?

Hurled into Eternity is the same way. The game isn’t about easy victories or cinematic glory shots. It’s about survival — raw, knuckle-blooded survival. It’s about pushing past the odds, when the cards don’t favor you, when the Judge smiles that razor-thin smile, and you know the house always wins.

The line from the song that sums it all up?

"Many have I loved, and many times been bitten / Many times I've gazed along the open road."

 

That’s every character in Hurled into Eternity. Haunted by the miles behind them, battered by the ones ahead, but still walking; bloody but unbowed same as laid out in Invictus. Because there’s no other choice. You don’t get to sit on a porch and strum about the past. You’ve got to shoulder your regrets and keep going — into the dust, into the dusk, and, if the deck’s kind, maybe into a legend of your own making. You either rise to the challenge, or get ground into the grave.

The Wild Card System that fuels the game feels like that riff. It starts simple — just a deck of cards — but as the game plays on, every draw, every suit, every Joker bite ramps up the stakes. It’s quiet tension turned into roaring momentum. It builds, never knowing when Lady Luck might turn on you.

So, when you sit down at the table, the next time you reach for your deck, put on Over the Hills and Far Away. Let it ride shotgun with you, you won't be disappointed.

Because the trail is long. The deck is stacked. And there’s no one coming to save you.

But damn if it isn’t a hell of a song to walk into eternity with.

(Hurled into Eternity is set to ride the open range, Spring 2026) 

Red Dead Redemption 2 - A Retropsective

Four Years Later: Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Still One of the Greatest Video Games of All Time

What can be said about this game that hasn't already been said before. But as a fan of westerns? I approve, wholeheartedly. I'm not going to try and say more, its already been said and then some. There is a ton of sites that dissect it in detail, videos, articles; you name it. I can't hope to match all that content, nor will I try. What I'm going to do is simply note how it impacted me when I played it.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been over four years since I completed Red Dead Redemption 2. We picked it up for Willmark Jr’s PS4 during Christmas 2019, along with a brand-new large screen TV. It was a perfect setup—and I had no idea I was about to experience one of the most immersive and emotionally resonant video games ever made.

The odd part was I wasn't the first to see it in the family. My wife saw a friend of hers playing it before I did and mentioned it to me. I didnt think about it too much at the time but my interest was engaged for sure.

Before I dive in, let me clarify: this isn’t a step-by-step breakdown or an in-depth review. It’s a high-level reflection—free of spoilers—for those who haven’t played it yet (though at this point, if you haven’t… what are you waiting for?).

So why blog about a (now) older game, especially now that we’re deep into the PS5 era? Simple: Red Dead Redemption 2 is the greatest video game of all time. Yes, even better than The Legend of Zelda- A Link to the Past —and believe me, saying that feels like heresy, but here we are.

It’s Not Just a Game. It’s a Masterpiece.

When I first mentioned I was playing it, a coworker sarcastically called it “that horse riding simulator.” How wrong he was. Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t just a great Western—it redefines what a video game can be, especially one set in a genre that historically struggles to find footing in gaming. 

Western games can’t lean on the traditional “crutches” of fantasy RPGs: no orcs, no fireballs, no enchanted swords. The strength of a Western—whether on paper or on screen—lies in its characters, narrative, and atmosphere. Games like Boot Hill, Aces and Eights, and my own Hurled into Eternity live or die on these pillars.

And this is where Red Dead 2 doesn’t just succeed—it soars.

The final 30 minutes of the game? Neither my so who was watching me play it nor I uttered a single word. And then the emotional impact of losing his horse? In my case I had been using the same one since Chapter 2.It was like losing a beloved dog.

Arthur Morgan: A Character for the Ages

One unexpected benefit of my play-through was going in blind—I hadn’t played the original Red Dead Redemption, so I didn’t know that John Marston was the protagonist of that game. My first exposure to the world came through Arthur Morgan, and what an introduction.

Arthur is easily one of the most compelling characters ever written for a video game. His story arc is deep, layered, and emotionally devastating in the best way possible. The pacing—from the opening hours to the final act—is nothing short of masterful. His ending likewise meomryable, perhaps one of the greatest heroic death scenes in any video game.

And the supporting cast? Equally remarkable. Whether it’s gang members, townsfolk, or total strangers you encounter, the game builds a rich, living world that doesn’t feel like a sandbox—it feels like a place.

A World That Lives and Breathes

The sheer scope of Red Dead 2 is staggering. You’ve got political intrigue, racial tension, industrialization, and even the occasional meteor crash. The world feels alive, not because of gimmicks or spectacle, but because of its people. Despite the people seeming blending into each other there are so many who stand out, to say nothing of the Ven der Linde gang itself,

The game doesn't ask you to save the world—it just asks you to survive in it, and in doing so, you become a part of something greater than a main quest. You exist in this world. And that’s rare. I can't help but draw the parallels to my own game of Hurled into Eternity.

The (Minor) Quibble: Online Play

If there’s one consistent knock against the game, it’s the online component. I’ve only dabbled in it, but Willmark Jr has spent more time there and describes it as “fairly weak.” But that doesn’t detract from the single-player experience at all. If anything, it underscores how complete the main campaign is—an online mode just isn’t necessary.

Final Thoughts

Call it 10/10. Five stars. Game of the Decade. Whatever scale you use, Red Dead Redemption 2 is at the top of it. Not just for its game-play, or visuals, or soundtrack—but for its heart.

Rockstar Games, take a bow. You didn’t just make a great game—you made something that will be remembered for decades to come.

And I can’t imagine anything changing my mind.

Hurled into Eternity: Two Decades in the Saddle

Back In the Saddle Again...

“Some games are written. Others are survived.”

Hurled into Eternity wasn’t born overnight. It wasn’t forged in a corporate boardroom or churned out to
ride a trend. This game has been riding shotgun in my mind for over two decades—long before terms like “narrative-forward” or “OSR” became popular buzzwords. In truth, it was born as a game I never released called Quest in late 1996

It began with fragments. Scrawled notes in the margins of notebooks. Faded maps of ghost towns that never existed. Mechanics scribbled out, rewritten, then scribbled out again. The feel was always clear though—gritty, grim, and unapologetically unforgiving. A Wild West where death ain’t just possible; it’s likely. But if you go out, you’ll go out legendary.

And now, after twenty years of iteration, evolution, and hard-earned grit, Hurled into Eternity is finally approaching the printing press.

Aiming for 2026: The Release

We’re looking at a tentative launch in Q2 or Q3 of 2026—a full-color, hardcover edition worthy of the legends it’ll carry. This won’t be a flimsy pamphlet or a bare bones beta. This is the real deal. A full core rule book steeped in sweat, smoke, and blood.

Expect more announcements leading into a proper crowdfunding campaign. I won’t rush it—but I will finish it.

In the meantime,  the rules for play-testing can be found here:  Hurled into Eternity Alpha Rules

What Hurled into Eternity Feels Like

This ain’t a game about balance. It's a game about reckoning.

You don’t play heroes—you play drifters, gunfighters, soiled doves, and outlaws. Folks clawing for survival, redemption, or one last score. The tone is dark, mythic, and soaked in the kind of hard choices frontier life demanded.

The world has a pulse. Every town has its own laws, its own secrets, and its own hangman. Every trail hides both gold and ghosts. You’ll meet legends—some living, some not. And if you last long enough, maybe you’ll become one.

Mechanics on the Edge

At its core, the game runs on the Wild Card System—a playing card–based mechanic that trades in tension, randomness, and fate. Combat is resolved through card draws, where suits determine severity and Jokers can spell miracles or doom.

Forget initiative—gunfights run on High Noon rules, where the first to flinch might be the first to fall. Skills are grouped into thematic callings (Military, Urban, Rural, Wilderness), with Talents drawn from the deck itself—fate choosing your gifts as much as you do.

Your drifter doesn’t level up like a power fantasy—they claw their way through scars, legends and fortune earned by blood.

There are critical wounds, misfires, brawls and balloon fights, and plunges into the Weird—a realm of spiritual horror and ghost story made real.

A World Rebuilt

Set in a quasi-legendary Wyoming Territory, the world of Hurled into Eternity takes real frontier history and folds it through myth, folklore, and tragedy. Towns like Redstone, Whiskey Gulch, and Crow Ridge exist between fading maps and whispered tales. The railroad doesn’t just bring progress—it brings change, and not always the kind folks want.

There are factions, bounty boards, twisted cults, and fallen lands. If you’re looking for a cinematic frontier where grit matters more than gear, you’ve found your table.

More soon.

Keep one eye on the blog and the others on the horizon. The saddle’s been empty a long time, but not much longer.

—Mark Harter, Creator of Hurled into Eternity

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Building Timber Ridge – Northern Old West Town Progress Report

The Old West town of Timber Ridge continues to expand

Work continues apace on my Western town of Timber Ridge. As noted, it’s been a busy week (or weeks), so I didn’t get as much progress as I would have liked, but I did get some solid work in with the Marshal’s office and a corral rounding into form.

In addition to the various forms/places of inspiration that have already been mentioned (Tombstone, Pale Rider, etc.), I came up with another one: from 1951–1999 in North Hudson, NY, there existed a great little amusement park called Frontiertown.

My own memories of it are vague, as I went there as a little kid around maybe 4–5 years old, so somewhere around the late 1970s. Perhaps a future blog post. It’s a sad testament in a way — the decline of Frontiertown mirrors America’s shifting views and movement away from Westerns, but I digress.

The Marshal’s office is close to completion at about 60% complete in terms of painting, and the corral is up next.

It looks like the minis will be the last thing I get for the gangs/posses, as I’m still looking over the miniature lines. Right now Black Scorpion minis are leading the pack, but I still have time to decide. I want them to be a bit larger, so they will be at least 28mm.

I’ve looked at the classic lines from Wargames Foundry and a few others, but will still be mulling it over.

I’m also considering what I want to do for wagons and various sundry items. Obviously scale model railroad terrain makes the most sense. Various miniature manufacturers make wagons and carts, but like the minis, I have time to decide.

Vintage 1983 Boot Hill Minis Haul – Perfect for Hurled into Eternity Testing

That's minis that is...

On a whim I ran across a "VultureBay" (aka eBay) auction for some vintage minis, vintage as in 1983 Boot Hill miniatures. For $3.50 I figured what the Hell and I ponied up and snagged them. A few days later they arrive.

Minis in Boot Hill makes perfect sense when one considers that Boot Hill 1st and 2nd edition are what I call "a miniatures battle game with a skeletal RPG system attached". That's no knock against Boot Hill, I like it immensely as a system. So much so in fact Boot Hill led me to create my own western RPG, Hurled into Eternity. Of course the fact that it is a skeletal RPG is the reason I created my own from whole cloth, rather than retrofit to Boot Hill.

Time to let the boys out..

I can't really recall seeing these guys on the shelf back in the day in gaming stores, but then again I wasn't really looking for them either, I was looking for Warhammer minis by the time I really became interested in the miniature aspect of the hobby.

I figured it was finally time to let the boys out.

Anyways, here is what I got in the haul: all in all very nice and in the blister too. Think about it, much like

Anyways, here is what I got in the haul: all in all very nice and in the blister too. Think about it, much like Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2 these guys have been in the box for quite some time, in their case for 31 years... So what did I do when I got them? Cut them out of the blister of course. An interesting thing about these minis is the fact that they came out in 1983. By this time (although we didn't know it) Boot Hill was in or near its hibernation phase. Sure BH4 and BH5 would come out, and later 3rd edition Boot Hill, but it was closer to its run than the beginning.

A few period appropriate minis for scale.

In terms of scale they seem to be about 22mm. They are not as small as 20mm, but certainly not 28mm "heroic scale". Note: Warhammer minis will look absolutely huge next to these guys. They are in line with the scale of Ral Partha minis which were the big player back in the early 80s (most of our early D&D games when we used minis utilized Ral Partha minis unpainted or "somewhat" painted).

Adventure squares?

The pack has three gun fighters; one is clearly a gunslinger getting ready to draw, the second wields a rifle up level firing and the last is what looks to be a cowhand firing; also looks like he's wearing a sombrero. It also looks like he has a confederate style shirt with buttons down either side rather than the middle.

Another look at scale: the three gunslingers, a 2nd edition samurai warrior from Games Workshop and a 3rd edition samurai, likewise from GW. The gunslingers are close to their contemporary the 2nd edition samurai but a bit smaller than the 3rd edition one.

Lastly, the back of the package had "adventure squares?" They are the right scale for the miniatures so cut it out and BAMM! Indoor dueling range!

In any event, I like them and will probably be painting them up to use for testing for Hurled into Eternity.

Hurled into Eternity RPG – Domain Name Secured

 

http://www.hurledintoeternity.com/

As you  an see its not much at the moment, but I have taken the steps to make sure that I have my preferred URL reserved. In the future the plan is to house my online endeavors there with links to my Facebook Page as well as back to this blog.

As it stands right now Hurled into Eternity is being edited as we speak. My next goal is to get it to play testing then onto production for print. Right now a fiend of mine and I are contenplating some custom playing cards to go with the game. That is at the planning stages.

While Im waiting for the editing to be complete I'm hard at work on the first two supplements for the game as well as Let it Beagle Media. Right now its a lot of ideas, but not in a cohesive form.

Stay tuned for more.

My Top 10 Favorite Westerns of All Time

 

NOTE: because of a tie at #1 there is no number #2 movie on the list.

Fueled by my growing re interest in the Old West in general, I have been either watching for the first time or re-watching many Westerns. My dad is a big fan of them and I watched quite a few in my youth and teens with him before I drifted away to other pursuits. As I noted in my post about Boot Hill, I never played it since we were so focused on AD&D. With my reawakening to Westerns, my thoughts have turned to western themed RPGs and my favorite westerns of all time.

My list is not going to be to everyone’s taste. Since I was born in a decade where Westerns were decidedly on the decline (the 70s), my list will reflect my age. If I were to ask my dad I am sure his would be different, with some overlap. Some films are timeless. So without further delay, here is my top 10 favorite Westerns of all time.

#1A Unforgiven (1992) Of all of Clint Eastwood’s westerns, which are considerable, this one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Forget for a moment that it won Academy Awards (earning Eastwood Best Director). Think of the script itself. Eastwood sat on it for 25 years so he would be just the right age to play William Munny. Normally I do not like anti heroes who are anti heroes for the sake of it, but Munny is cut from a different cloth: a man who was a drunken, stone cold killer whose acts include dynamiting the Rock and Island in '69, killing women and children. Let that sink in for a minute. So when he comes out of retirement for one more job, he is doing it for the sake of his kids. Of course he's really is coming out of retirement to kill two men who cut up a prostitute.

The cast is epic: Eastwood, Gene Hackman, and Morgan Freeman. Those three alone make it great. The interplay between William (Eastwood) and Ned (Freeman) carries the movie, then it shifts for the final scene where Munny takes it to Little Bill.

From the story side the best part is that the main characters are contrasted by W.W. Beauchamp’s writings throughout the movie with the mythological West and its events. In other words the hows and whats of what really happened versus how they were reported or perceived. Hackman’s Little Bill is menacing without being over the top, a hard man who utterly ruthless when need be.

The final scene is perhaps the finest scene of cinema related to a Western. They do not get better than the shootout, if one could call it that.

Best lines in Unforgiven:

• “Hell, I even thought I was dead, turned out I was just in Nebraska.” - Little Bill
• "That's right I've killed women and children. Killed just about everything that's walked or crawled at one time or another, and I'm here to kill you Little Bill. For what you did to Ned." - William Munny
• "It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have." - William Munny
• "You better bury Ned right...or I'll come back here and kill every single one of you sons of bitches." - William Munny

#1B Tombstone (1993) It is very tough not to list this movie as number 1, so1B it is. This movie is perhaps the finest retelling of the legendary gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, on October 26th, 1881. The previous standard was Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the 1950s that left a lot to be desired.

The gunfight and the Earp Vendetta ride was THE event of the West, even with the myth that surrounds it, so it is fitting that this movie is at the top of the heap. Tombstone features an ensemble cast including Kurt Russell, Powers Boothe, Val Kilmer, Michael Biehn, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Stephen Lang, Jason Priestley, and Charlton Heston amongst others. But it is the acting of Kilmer as Doc Holliday that steals the show. Doc, as Wyatt would later recollect, “was the deadliest, fastest, nerviest man I ever saw.” The whole movie touches on almost every part of the Earp/Cowboy war and where it takes liberties it does a good job making them plausible and seamless.

The telling also does well in presenting a fairly balanced view of the Earps. The Earps were canonically the “good guys” but their dealings in town say otherwise. The Earps were not necessarily the good guys and the Cowboys were not necessarily the bad guys. The fact is that in the events of 1881 people on both sides were split in their loyalties.

The actors, particularly Russell, do a great job with the dialogue, making it seem that you are actually in 1881. With all this in mind Kilmer as a menacing, Latin quoting, stone cold killer with a southern drawl did the best acting as Doc Holliday. Closely behind him is Biehn’s portrayal of Johnny Ringo. Going hand in hand with this is the cinematography since it was actually shot in Arizona.

Best lines in Tombstone:

•  "I'm your huckleberry." - Doc Holliday
• “You tell um' I'm coming for um' And Hell's coming with me. You hear? HELL'S COMIN' WITH ME!" - Wyatt Earp."
• "No me, I'm in my prime." - Doc Holliday 

#3 The Good,The Bad, The Ugly (1966) Out of the three in the Dollars Trilogy, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is by far the best. That is not to say that the others (A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More) are bad. It is that The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is that good.

The twists and turns of the movie leave you at the edge of your seat as the movie traces Tuco (the Ugly) and Angel Eyes (the Bad) pursuit of $200,000 dollars in Confederate gold. The Mexican standoff at the end with the soaring score is likewise impressive as is the ending.

Best lines in The Good, The Bad, The Ugly:

•  "When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk." - Tuco
• “You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns… and those who dig." - Blondie
• "Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We're gonna have to earn it." - Blondie  

#4 The Searchers (1956) This is widely regarded as the greatest western of all time and was registered as culturally significant by the Library of Congress in 1989. That alone says something. Additionally the American Film Institute named it the greatest Western of all time in 2008. Directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood, The Searchers is THE Western for the older demographic. My own memories of it are hazy as I think I may have watched it one time only. It is already at the top of my list to rewatch. Because my recollections are dim I am looking forward to this one, as it will be like watching it for the first time.

Best lines in The Searchers:

•  "That’ll be the day." - Ethan
• “I don't stand talkin' in the wind." - Ethan

#5 High Plains Drifter (1973) A Clint Eastwood western with a touch of the supernatural? Yes please. High Plains Drifter is a great story because the real villains in the movie are the townspeople themselves that the Drifter is there to defend. They are villains because the townsfolk murdered the sheriff. Time goes by and the mysterious Drifter appears in town. It is alluded to (but never said definitively) that the mysterious Drifter is the sheriff having returned from the grave. Drifter is one of those movies that makes you think, especially at the very end when the Drifter rides away from Lago and the midget is working on a tombstone that you cannot see what is inscribed on it. The midget says he does not know the Stranger, to which the Stranger replies, and as he rides away it shows the tombstone of Joe Morgan, the murdered sheriff.

Best lines in High Plains Drifter:

• “The only problem you've got Sheriff is a short supply of guts." - The Stranger
• "Yes, you do." - The Stranger 

#6 Dances with Wolves (1990) Costner makes the list again, but this movie is impossible to ignore in the Western genre. It is telling that it is a great story that has nothing really in common with other westerns, mainly focusing on Indians and Lt. John Dunbar’s interactions with them. In other words it is a story that happens to take place in the west.

Dances with Wolves is a visual and auditory masterpiece with sweeping vistas and scenery and a magnificent soundtrack to accompany it. The majesty of Dunbar’s first ride through the plains cinematic gold with the swell of Journey to Fort Sedgewick/Shooting Star from the soundtrack swelling.

The movie and its characters span the range of human emotion: despair, loneliness, hope, friendship, love, hate, madness, pragmatism, and laughter.

Perhaps my favorite scene of the movie is the one where the old Indian chief pulls forth a Spanish conquistador helmet when he and Dunbar are talking about the coming of the white man. The chief says this was from the time of his grandfather’s grandfather, implying that the Indians would survive this too. The viewer gets a great sense of sadness knowing that the Chief does not know the tidal wave of settlers that is coming. Costner (the director too) side steps this by having the Indians leave their winter camp before the Army arrives. He then wisely ends the movie then and there, but sadly tells the story of the end of the Indian way of life as the end credits roll.

In short Dances with Wolves is nothing short of breathtaking.

Best lines in Dances With Wolves:

• “Somebody back east is sayin' "Why don't he write?" - Timmons
•  "The strangeness of this life cannot be measured: in trying to produce my own death, I was elevated to the status of a living hero." -John Dunbar

#7 True Grit (1969) If I had to pick just one John Wayne film it would be this one. His portrayal of Rooster is great! Some might not like it because it is John Wayne playing John Wayne, but I liked it well enough.

Best lines in True Grit:

• “Fill your hands you son of a bitch!" - Rooster Cogburn
•  "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man." - Ned Pepper

#8 A Fist Full of Dollars (1964) Ride into town on a donkey, tell the undertaker you need three coffins momentarily and then shoot the hell out of some desperadoes? Oh Hell yeah.

Best lines in A Fist Full of Dollars:

• “My mule don’t like people laughing at him, gets the funny feeling they are laughing at him. ” - The Man with No Name
• “My mistake…. four coffins.”  - The Man with No Name

#9 Silverado (1985) This is my guilty pleasure movie as far as Westerns, but you cannot go wrong with the cast. It is damn impressive: Kevin Kline, Brian Dennehy, Jeff Goldblum, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese and many more. It seems that ensemble casts work well in westerns and Silverado certainly has the right actors.

Silverado is a throwback to the traditional western tales after the revisionist westerns of the late 60s and 70s. The tale is fun. You care about the good guys and actually want them to win. The fact that the movie is well shot, directed, and done well in terms of cinematography just adds to it. The final gun battle at the end has so many great scenes it is hard not to like this movie.

Best lines in Silverado (so many its hard to choose!):

• “I don't want to kill you and you don't want to be dead." - Mal
• "Now we're going to give you a fair trial, followed by a first-class hangin'" - Cobb
• "Where's the dog" (running gag) 

#10 Open Range (2003) This will surprise many people I think, but it is actually quite a good movie. Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall are great in this movie as is Annette Benning. In a few places the movie wanders off script in terms of logic and consistency, but for the most part it tells a very good story of the end of the open range and the rise of the cattle barons. In fact the end of the open range was one of the defining moments of the Old West.

Costner’s character Charlie is not an anti hero per se, but a man troubled by his past. When it comes to gun fighting however Charlie is more akin to an Old West version of Liam Neeson’s character in Taken. He just goes to town and obliterates everything in sight.

While some might see it as contrived the budding romance between Costner and Bening’s characters is a good representation of how people approached courtship in the 1800s: stilted, awkward but well meaning.

Best lines in Open Range:

• “I ain't got no problem with Killin' Boss, never have." - Charlie
• "Now he asked you twice, ain't gonna ask you again." - Charlie
• "You won't find it so funny when you're shot to hell and dying." - Baxter 

Honorable Mentions Pale Rider, Hang em High, Little Big Man, Outlaw Josey Wales, Once Upon a time in the West, and Two Mules for Sister Sarah. There are plenty of great westerns and it is a shame that the current regimes in Hollywood have rendered them as “already been done”. The remake of True Grit and the movie Appaloosa are worthy westerns as well.

How about your Top 10? There are so many to choose from its near impossible!

Boot Hill RPG – Fast, Deadly, and Perfect for Old West Campaigns

 

 

There are some great role-playing games out there that I’ve known about for years but never played, and this is about one of them. Boot Hill written by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume was one of TSR's first games released.

Anyone remember those “Gateway to Adventure” advertisements that came in the D&D boxed sets? In my case, mine came via one of my Christmas gifts in 1982 from an aunt: the Moldvay boxed set of Dungeons and Dragons Basic. The box and the advertisement are long since gone (I still have the rules), but the memory of looking through them still lingers on, sort of like looking through Sears and JC Penney catalogs as a kid to look at the toys.

I would pour over it, looking at all the cool ads for games from TSR in addition to D&D, the blurbs Gangbusters, Gamma World, Boot Hill and Top Secret. Out of them, I only played Gamma World a bit, as we mainly focused on D&D and AD&D as kids.

A few weeks ago I was thinking of that old ad and I started thinking about Boot Hil. Out of all of those old games, the only one I never read through was Boot Hill. So I got a set of rules and was surprised by two main things as I read them: 1) the combat system (rightly) is deadly, and 2) the system is rules-lite and more spartan than OD&D.

As I get older, crunchier systems fall by the wayside as gaming time is a finite commodity at this stage of my life. While Aces & Eights (see below) and Deadlands are interesting (and I like the Savage Worlds rules), I’m less inclined to invest in them, mainly from a time perspective.

Boot Hill, on the other hand, is fast and furious and has a lot of possibilities. (Yes, I know that’s what

"One bad-ass movie."

Savage Worlds says, but I’m not talking about that rule set right now!) The other interesting aspect is that because the rules are only 34 pages, the possibilities are wide open. 

The rules themselves are deadly, be warned. Characters are no where near as robust as they might be in other RPG systems. Firearms deal some impressive damage relative to the durability of the characters.

While there are modules for Boot Hill which I'll cover in future posts the might not be needed. For source material there is more than a person could ever hope to read or watch in their lifetime when it comes to Westerns.

For my own part, I’m slowly collecting the Time-Life Book series from the 70s/80s, The Old West. There are 26 volumes, so I have a long way to go, but there are many more sources. For further inspiration there are movies, movies, and more movies.

Owing to the fact that I was born in the early 1970s, I’m not as big a fan of the serial westerns or 30s–50s stuff. I’ll probably get there, but I’m more in the mold of Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter, A Few Dollars More, Fist Full of Dollars, Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Ride and of course Unforgiven. I’m also partial to Dances with Wolves, Tombstone and Open Range. I’m also partial to Dances with Wolves, Tombstone, and Open Range. For classics, John Wayne is okay (True Grit), but the likes of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in westerns appeal to me more.

On the subject of great Westerns, Tombstone that has way too many great scenes to count but this one in particular is epic:

So in reality, what more could you ask for from a Western RPG? Boot Hill is a fast and light system for gunfights and a very open rule set that you can combine with AD&D as needed. Some people dislike the 1st/2nd Edition rules, saying that there isn’t much for campaign play. They’re right, there isn’t, and that’s the beauty of it. The way I look at it, the more open the better, and it’s not like there is no material on the American Old West, as I mentioned above.

For me, if I run a game of Boot Hill I’d modify the skills from 3rd Edition for use in 1st/2nd, after that the sky is the limit. Think of the great Western films: most of the action is against factions, against people and their interactions. So it takes a different mindset to play because it’s not “open door, kill monster, take treasure.” Sure, you could do that and it’s probably not a bad idea for training wheels at the start. But after a while it gets more episodic.

Where I differ is that the times I’ve seen or read about people mixing the two genres it’s usually AD&D with some Boot Hill. Imagine a campaign of Boot Hill with a minimal amount of AD&D, or none at all. If I ran a game of Boot Hill, that’s what I’d aim for.

I also read about a great house rule for Boot Hill on a forum (forget which one, might be the ODD Boards): if your character dies you have to go to the kitchen and roll up a new one. If you get him completed before the action is over, you can reenter the same gunfight! Sounds like FPS players will like this as a “respawn.”

In closing, Boot Hill looks like a great system. It’s also cool to see that TSR’s advertisement worked on me, 30 years after the fact!

As a side note, there are places to discuss Boot Hill on the web, like the ODD Boards.

As noted above, for those who don’t know (or must be aware of), Aces & Eights has a hidden meaning for the title of their game. When Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876, he was playing five-card draw poker. In his hand were the two black aces and the two black eights, forever known from that point on as a “Dead Man’s Hand.”

There are differing opinions on whether or not this is true, along with what the exact cards he had in his hand when he was shot and killed in Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota Territory, on August 2, 1876.

To close, Boot Hill is a fine game. The word I've used over the years is "skeletal" in terms of the rules being very bare bones.

 

What are your thoughts on the Boot Hill? 

 

NOTE: and excellent resource can be found here for nearly all of the Boot Hill products from TSR.