Judge's Guild - Deluxe Collectors Edition Volume I

 

Talk about a post lingering in a draft state, that would be this one...

I got my copy of Judge's Guild - Deluxe Collectors Edition Volume I in late spring 2018, but I didn't fully "receive it" till Christmas. And in true fashion of the delay surrounding the book, I just finally got around to blogging about it… in 2026.

That alone probably tells you something.

I’ve got some conflicted feelings here, and they didn’t start with the book itself. For years, I’ve listened to grognards go on....and on....endlessly about the supposed glory days of Judges Guild. About how their products were "the greatest thing ever!"

You know the type. Everything modern is garbage, everything old is genius, and if you don’t agree, you “just don’t get it.” Normally, I tune that kind of noise out completely. But this time? The sheer, relentless insistence got through. Not in a convincing way, but in a “fine, I’ll see it for myself” kind of way.

And that’s the key point here: I didn’t come to this book fresh. I came to it carrying years of secondhand hype, contrarian instinct, and probably a bit of irritation. That matters.

So when I finally cracked open the tome, I wasn’t looking for validation, I was looking for clarity not someone else's, my own.

First impressions: the layout is exactly what you’d expect from a “best of” compilation. Because let’s not kid ourselves, that’s what this is. It’s a curated slice of early material, framed with just enough historical context to give it weight. The opening section does a solid job walking through the early history of Judges Guild, grounding the reader in that late-70s moment when tabletop RPGs were less an industry and more a frontier.

And that’s really the lens you have to use here: frontier.

Once you move past the intro, you hit the actual content: the early modules, the raw material. And this is where things get interesting. Not because it’s polished. Not because it’s elegant. But because it isn’t.

This stuff is rough. Not “bad” rough, but unfiltered rough. You can feel that these were written at a time when nobody had figured out what a module “should” look like yet. There’s a looseness to the structure, an almost improvisational quality. Organization can be spotty. Key information isn’t always where you expect it. Some encounters feel like they were dropped in because they seemed cool at the time, not because they serve a larger design.

And yet…

There’s a kind of energy here that’s hard to ignore.

You start to see what the grognards are actually responding to: not the execution, but the possibility. These modules don’t hold your hand. They don’t try to balance every encounter or script every outcome. They assume a Dungeon Master who is willing, expected, even to fill in gaps, make rulings, and shape the experience at the table.

It’s less a finished product and more a toolkit. Or maybe more accurately, a box of parts.

That’s both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness.

If you come to this expecting modern standards: tight layout, clear encounter design, balanced progression, you’re going to bounce off hard. There’s no way around that. But if you approach it as a snapshot of the hobby in its formative years, it becomes something else entirely. Not better, necessarily, but more revealing.

And this is where I land, at least for now:

The book didn’t convert me into a Judges Guild evangelist. Not even close. But it did cut through the noise. It stripped away the myth and replaced it with something more useful: a direct look at what these products actually were.

Not sacred texts. Not forgotten masterpieces.

Just early work. Messy, ambitious, uneven…and occasionally, genuinely interesting.

And honestly? That’s probably more valuable than the hype ever was.

A end note, if you've never seen this thing in person? its a beast of a book, 18x13x1 1/2 inches. Not sure of the weight but if swung as a weapon it could certainly do some damage, maybe a footman's mace, 1d6+1 vs Small/Medium, 1d6 vs Large.

Hurled into Eternity, The Road Ahead

Where We’re At (And Where We’re Going)

It’s been a busy stretch behind the scenes for Hurled into Eternity. If you’re just tuning in, here’s a quick status update on where things stand and what’s coming next.

The core rule book is fully written and internally locked and loaded. Every major system has been reviewed and stress tests are ongoing: the Wild Card System, Luck and Hand of Fate mechanics, wounds and death, professions, and Judge guidance. It’s all there — and it works the way it’s supposed to. Brutal. Clean. No half-measures.

The Wild Card System itself has gotten its final polish. The revised 2.0 version makes card values even more distinct: Jacks always fail, Kings always succeed, Queens are a 50/50 gamble, and Aces are rare triumphs that give you Luck back. Jokers are now better tied to your reputation (Good, Bad, Ugly, or Weird), and they don’t save you — they change the story. It’s all running leaner and tighter now, with a better sense of pacing and dramatic rhythm in play.

Two major expansions are in development:

1. Weird West – Currently the most developed, this expansion brings dark folklore, ghost stories, and grim Americana into the Hurled framework. Spells are live and deadly. The Reaping & Reckoning table handles catastrophic failures. New professions like Dust Tracker and Witch Hunter are already written and integrated.

   It contains a full bestiary of unnatural threats is underway for the Weird West, starting with ghosts, revenants, scarecrows, and haunts. Each creature gets a full write up, mechanical profile, and guidance for use in dark tales of frontier horror. 

2. Gangland – Think 1920s noir with a switchblade in its teeth and a Tommy gun in its hand. Set in a fictional version of a Prohibition-era city, the game trades spells for rackets, bribes, and vice. It’s about loyalty, betrayal, and blood in the streets. You’re not a hero. You’re a name in the paper — if you’re lucky.

The game’s tagline still stands:

Hurled into Eternity isn’t about easy victories or quick glory. It doesn’t meet you halfway — it expects you to bleed for every mile. 

That philosophy continues to guide every design decision: brutal but fair, evocative but lean, and always anchored in a tone of desperation, tension, and earned survival.

Ahead are more updates, and perhaps some surprises. For now, shuffle your deck and keep your eyes on the horizon. The next card might change everything.

Previous update and link to the Alpha rules can be found here (I'm trying to avoid linking to the rules multiple times in the blog) 

The Inspiration for Hurled Into Eternity

 

Illustration by Edward Borein

In any creative endeavor, there are people who inspire us—who push us to do more or lead us down paths we hadn’t even considered. That’s certainly been true in the development of my game, Hurled into Eternity.

The funny thing is, some of those influences I recognized while building the game. Others I only saw in hindsight—ghosts riding alongside me the whole way, whether I knew it or not.

Movies -  Upfront, it's easiest to say the most obvious inspirations are movies and TV. Pale Rider, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and especially Tombstone and Unforgiven absolutely deserve a spot on the short list of influences for Hurled into Eternity. They’re baked into the bones of the game, whether I meant them to be or not. There’s something about their tone: dusty, desperate, mythic—that lines up perfectly with the world I’ve been building for over two decades.

Music- Music. Music is essential. While working on the latest iterations of Hurled into Eternity, I listened to a ton of Western-inspired soundtracks. One of my go-to favorites is The Lone Ranger soundtrack, along with this absolute gem from Ennio Morricone: Guns for San Sebastian.

After a while, though, I needed something fresh—and I stumbled across this original composition by Steven Lynn. It sounds like it could be in Red Dead Redemption 2 its that good!

Terrain and Buildings - Fall and winter are usually when I hunker down at the hobby table. That’s when the brushes come out, the minis get primed, and the terrain pieces start to take shape. Right now, I’ve got the beginnings of a frontier town called Timber Ridge coming together. It’s a fictional outpost set somewhere in a mythic version of Wyoming—a place with its own legends, rival factions, and more than a few bodies buried beneath its streets.

Alongside that, I’ve also got some old model trains that once belonged to my dad, dating all the way back to the 1940s. I need to dig them out. There’s something deeply satisfying about using a piece of family history to help build a fictional world. Somehow, it all connects.

Working with something physical—terrain, paint, tools—also helps get the creative gears turning in a way that’s hard to replicate on a screen.

Why the Southwest Always Wins - If you’ve ever wondered why so many Western RPGs, films, and stories are set somewhere in the American Southwest, I think it comes down to one thing: the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

That single shootout in Tombstone has become the gravitational center of the genre. There were other towns, other legends, and other infamous clashes—but none carry the same mythic weight.

And yes, the title of my game—Hurled into Eternity—isn’t just poetic. It’s pulled directly from the next day’s edition of the Tombstone Epitaph. That headline stuck with me. It said everything the game tries to say: when you draw your last card, you're not walking away.

Cards, Dice, and the Roads Not Taken - Cards have always played second fiddle to dice in most game designs. Dice dominate as the go-to resolution mechanic, and very few systems—maybe eight to ten at most—use playing cards as a core part of their engine, either fully or partially.

Not long ago, I looked up Gunslingers and Gamblers and felt a brief gut punch when I saw it mentioned cards. Then I dug a little deeper and saw it actually uses poker dice. Relief.

To the best of my knowledge, Hurled into Eternity is the first Western RPG that uses playing cards exclusively to run the whole system. And there’s a reason you don’t see that more often: it’s tough to pull off.

Cards offer a lot—tension, unpredictability, narrative weight—but getting them to feel fast and natural at the table without bogging things down? That took years of trial, error, and rebuilding from the ground up.

What I’ve got now feels sharp. It’s dangerous, intuitive, and full of risk and momentum. The way a proper Western should feel.

RPGS- I’ve mostly steered clear of other Western RPGs—and that was intentional. I own the Savage Worlds rules and I’m familiar with how Deadlands uses cards for initiative, but I made a conscious effort to avoid diving too deep into that material. I wanted Hurled into Eternity to remain honest and original, not a remix of someone else’s work.

In fact, it wasn’t until I had the game mostly locked in—around version 7.5 Alpha—that I really started looking into what other Western RPGs were out there. I came across some excellent games, no question. But I’m glad I waited. For better or worse, I wanted Hurled into Eternity to succeed or fail on its own terms.

That said, I didn’t avoid everything. There were a few titles I did check out, mainly for reference—to make sure I wasn’t unknowingly treading the same ground. Those were:

•  Western City (By Jorg Dunne)
•  Boot Hill (1st and 3rd Edition)
•  Go for Yer Gun  (By Simon Washbourne)
• Weird West (by Stuart Robertson)

Each one offers something different, but I always came away feeling like I was still building something distinct. 

Other RPG Influences- While it might not look like it in the form it is in now, the following games had a part in influencing me over the years with Hurled into Eternity:

• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st Edition)
• FASERIP Marvel Superheroes
• Twilight 2000 (especially early on its development)
• Gangbusters (An absolutely incredible game!) 

There you have it, just where Hurled into Eternity got its nods from. 

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

---

Hurled Into Eternity Reborn! Western RPG – Version 7 Alpha Progress

 

Taking a bit of a side track with all the crazy stuff going on in my life I have picked my western RPG, Hurled Into Eternity back to the fore. It is now on version 7 Alpha and will be ready for review, comments and play testing soon.

More to come but for now a look at the FPO/Concept cover. The idea will be a pulpy dime store western novel approach.

Why Hasn’t Elfquest Been Made Into a Movie Yet?

Still no Elfquest movie? 

This one has puzzled me for a while. There’s been talk and rumors for years, yet nothing. There have been various fan trailers on YouTube, and the elves of Elfquest still enjoy solid popularity at comic conventions and cosplay events, but so far…zilch on the big screen.

If you’re like me (early 40s), you probably remember the excellent four-volume series that was Elfquest. Written by Richard and Wendy Pini, it was a seminal moment for me as a pre-teen. I read all four books multiple times. Wendy’s art was incredible throughout, and the story was well done. It also had the benefit of hitting right in the middle of AD&D’s popularity in the early 1980s. I don’t think there was anyone my age who hadn’t read it at least once.

Elfquest tells the story of the elves known as the Wolfriders and their fight for survival against humans on the World of Two Moons. Very quickly the tribe is forced to flee their woodland homeland, setting them on a path to find the legendary Palace of the High Ones — the progenitors of all elves.

What makes Elfquest great is the believability of the Wolfriders. Compared to the other, near-perfect tribes of elves, the Wolfriders are the only ones who truly adapt to the World of Two Moons and thrive. Their passions are believable, they’re mortal, and they’ve mingled with wolves to survive.

One would think that with the massive success of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia movies, studios would be hungry for more fantasy material. I think it would be quite easy to turn Elfquest into a trilogy. Cutter’s quest for the Palace of the High Ones has a natural beginning, middle, and end. To me, Elfquest (or Dragonlance) makes the most sense as the “next” big fantasy trilogy. Elfquest could be done very easily, in my estimation.

As I almost always do, the question becomes: how does this apply to gaming?

• Back in the day there was the Elfquest RPG from Chaosium that went through at least two revisions I’m aware of. I never played the system, so I can’t comment on the mechanics, but the setting itself was compelling. 
• The Quest for the Palace of the High Ones functions much like the War of the Lance in Dragonlance — a clear dividing line in the story. To some this might not matter, but for me it makes the world feel like it has two distinct eras: games set before the quest, and games set after.
• In my 2nd Edition campaign world I borrowed the idea of the High Ones arriving via silver ships. This eliminates the standard “oldest and wisest firstborn race” trope. They may be old and wise, but they are fundamentally alien to the world. By doing this, I’ve positioned them as at best neutral toward humans — and at times they have warred with each other. Since they were the last race “on the scene,” there’s also no need for the traditional animosity toward dwarves. It gives the elves a very different flavor in my opinion.

I’m not necessarily looking at this as a gamer with 30+ years of experience expecting it to appeal directly to me. I’m looking at it as a gamer who has kids. I haven’t read the series in years, but it always felt like part of the broader scene. There were write-ups of the main characters in Dragon magazine before the dedicated RPG came out, then more support afterward. Minis were produced, and it made it to a second edition. It never reached D&D levels of popularity, but what did?

To close, without getting stereotypical, I could easily see my daughter enjoying the read — and my son as well. One would think that with some of the craptastic movies that get made these days, Elfquest would be a no-brainer.

 What do you think? Shouldn't Elfquest be on the big screen? 

The Thing RPG Ideas – Paranoia, Survival, and No-Win Scenarios

 

Since it's sub zero Fahrenheit here in western NY, (it's about -2 with wind chill -22) I figured this would be a great time for this post given the location of the movie!

Continuing my musings on campaign worlds on the blog as of late, here's a thought: How about a game (and it could work in almost any game system) based on The Thing? Obviously, the horror genre games would work, but in a way it could be derivative of zombie genre as I covered here or perhaps using Twilight 2000? These are just a few thoughts that come to mind.

The Thing is based on the work Who Goes There? (1) (which I'm still reading despite reading two other books currently). It was first made into the movie, The Thing from Another World in 1951; smack dab in the middle of the UFO craze of the 1940s and 50s. Later it would be remade by John Carpenter in 1982 as The Thing with a prequel in 2011. All three are different with the 1982 and 2011 versions obviously having the same story line. While I like all three, the 1982 version is clearly superior.

That the 1982 Thing is a very good movie is an understatement... it's exceptional; and at times very underrated. Underrated in the sense that there are tons of clues scattered throughout and it is very much a mystery movie wrapped in the horror genre. Reading the novella that it is drawn from this is readily apparent. Add to the fact that Carpenter and his team had a long period of time to work on the story (and it shows) there is lots of subtle clues throughout. One such place to browse these clues is the forum at Outpost 31.

For the sake of brevity here, for those not in the know The Thing had an unusually long time before they actually started shooting (something like seventeen months as far as I can recall) and Carpenter admitted they had plenty of time to plan out the plot, which camera shots they would use, etc to far greater detail than he might otherwise have done.

So as an role playing game? Imagine it starts out at a research station isolated in the arctic or antarctic (doesn't have to be the same Outpost 31 although it could be) and the players are confronted with the events as they unfold in the beginning of the movie. Where it goes from there is almost endless but at the same time a nice tidy sandbox. Perhaps a better ploy is to just get into the action as they will most likely already know the story. Add a different cast of characters (the players' PCs) and keep the weaponry minimal. Then again even having high-powered military rifles, the PCs are screwed as they aren't very good against Things (2).

Barring that, how about a Thing has made it to the mainland and Blair's prediction starts playing itself out. It's going to take lots of flamethrowers or nukes once it's too far gone.

In such a post apocalyptic scenario(s), movies like 28 Days Later or World War Z are going to seem like a walk in the park! If Things start reproducing in vast quantities in large human population centers, it's largely game over. Such a game would quickly shift to extreme paranoia and one of ultra-extreme survival. Come to think of it with no recourse but to wipe out 7 billion or so Things it might be an exercise in futility.

That brings up another chilling part of the movie when Blair runs the simulation and after suspecting the intruder organism and asks a simple query:

Probability that one or more team members is infected may be infected by intruder organism? 75% is the response. 

His next query is the truly chilling one. 

Projection: If intruder organization reaches civilized areas... entire world population infected 27,000 hours from first contact.

That's slightly more than three years... 

If a GM uses Twilight 2000 it could add a good twist on the horrors of World War III; dropping some Things into that already horrific scenario? Hell, even just one is enough. That could really mess things up. Of course it could also muddy stuff too much. Perhaps a better solution is to simply use the rules for Twilight 2000 and place it in modern day with the scenario outlined above. The only issue is that there is no really rules for monsters per se in Twilight 2000, so the GM would need to do some work, not insurmountable, but doable. Another thought is use the Savage Worlds system which would definitely keep things moving quickly, but I think with minimal fuss All Flesh Must Be Eaten might be best.

In closing, I think such a game is better for a one-off/short campaign, or rather a series of short episodes as opposed to a multi-year/session campaign. There probably isn't going to be much "winning" if the Thing(s) make it out of Antarctica. It could be a fun/blow 'em up/ go out in a blaze of glory type of deal, but if there was ever a "no win scenario" this is it. Think of the end of the 1982 movie, not much (read: none) hope at the end and lots of question marks instead...

And of course I would be remiss if I didn't point out one of the best lines in the history of cinema:

"No F'ing kidding indeed."

 

(1) Who Goes There? can be found on such online places as the iTunes book.

(2) The Norwegian with the sweet gun was using a Heckler & Koch HK33. Details to the weapon at IMDB is here or the full details on a wiki for weaponry used in movies.

The Zaniness of "Classic" Roleplaying Games Threads

General

Some of you may have been wondering why I haven't been blogging about Warhammer (or that much in general) as much lately. This is for a number of reasons. One, as I've pointed out on various Warhammer forums my interest in the game is rather low right now. Two, I truly believe that Games Workshop is circling the drain and while it sucks for the people that work there that are going to bear the brunt of it, the company itself I cannot help but blame. The antics of GW now seem to rival TSR in its death throes, should be interesting to watch. (Edit: as of 7-7-26, looks like I wasn't accurate on that one!)

5 RPG Threads of note

I don't normally like to post about the goings on at various RPGs sites, but since it came up in a thread at Dragonsfoot a while back, I thought I'd list my Top 5 favorite RPG threads from around the web. I''m posting them here rather then potentially ruffle feathers elsewhere, hopefully the coast will be clear later? Whats that you say? It never is? Damn.

Here they are in no particular order. 

1. Progressive types getting their man panties in a knot over the political correctness of artwork in nerd...err D&D books. I still shake my head at that one.
2. THE worst D&D module of all time: The Forest Oracle "These men are not acrobats..."
3. Hissy fits about poopy diapers at conventions. (You have to read this start to finish, classic!)
4. Some who threatened to get his lawyer for hurt feelings over his made up, Übermensch class ? Wow, I mean, just wow!
5. Unreasoning Zeb Cook hate * (later the excellent podcast When We were Wizards pretty much dismantles most of this.)

Note * I'm surprised the thread still exists. I thought it had been deleted to protect the guilty. It's amusing on several levels, but the best is the posturing by a certain person who claimed he knew more then the people who were actually there at the time, classic! 

Mike Berualt (aka Zotster) dispelling notions that grognard chapter and verse is built on for decades is impressive.

I should point out, I frequent a number of sites but only post on a few. There are probably even crazier threads out there but these one strike me as comedy gold.

Enjoy?

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.

Boot Hill BH4 Burned Brush Wells – Classic TSR Old West Module

Cover art for BH4- Burned Brush Wells

BH4- Burned Bush Wells
The 4th module of the Boot Hill series certainly has a weird name, at least to me that is. It really, really does not roll of the tongue either.

Much like the other Boot Hill modules I did not play Boot Hill back in the day as we were not into Westerns at that time (a shame) and most of our time was spent playing Warhammer Fantasy Role-play and AD&D. For my own part I used to watch a lot of westerns with my father, but drifted away at the time. A few years back I started watching them again and got hooked on Boot Hill. In any event BH4 - Burned Bush Wells is a module produced by Jeff Grubb with some input from Allen Hammock and Brian Blume.  

BH4- Burned Bush Wells is one of the later Boot Hill modules. I say "later" because the graphic design had changed noticeably from the earlier releases, reflecting TSR's increasing focus on Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as the company's primary breadwinners.

The power struggles within TSR during the mid-1980s may also have played a role. It's possible there simply were not enough people interested in developing the Boot Hill line. Donald Kaye's untimely death certainly could not have helped the game's long-term prospects, though that is only speculation on my part.

In any event, Burned Bush Wells would become the second-to-last Boot Hill module, following the same general format as its predecessors. It is strange to think that it was released in 1983, with only Range War following in 1984. From BH1- Mad Mesa in 1981 to Range War in 1984, the entire line of Boot Hill modules spanned just four years.

Art by Larry Elmore for Burned Brush Wells

The cover and interior art
Elmore seems to be a polarizing figure for some in terms of TSR era art. In the realm of Boot Hill (and others) I think his stuff is very good and it certain captures the feel well, certainly for a western RPG. Another thing to ponder the American West isn't usually depicted in the winter, whether its a movie or art; usually its baking, scorching hot deserts and cactus. I also like to point out the crop with the snow on the bottom right corner outside the frame. In short, I like it. One thing that detracts is some of his art in the interior. Not that its not done well, but a lot of his characters tend to look alike, a certain feel to them if you will. Perhaps this is where people object?

Content

Like BH2, the Game Master is presented with an outline of events rather than a rigid sequence of encounters. Much like a movie, certain scenes occur at the appropriate place and time. As I've discussed with like-minded folks over at the OD&D Pro Boards, it is not so much a "sandbox" as a "jungle gym." The module provides a framework for the players without becoming overly railroaded.

This is an area where all of the Boot Hill modules struggle to some degree. A Western is built around a series of largely self-contained scenes that collectively tell the story and inevitably lead to the final showdown. That structure works well when the adventure is treated more like the script of a Western film than a fantasy sword and sorcery adventure with six-guns and Winchesters.

One thing that stands out in this, and every other Boot Hill module, is the sheer number of NPCs. In most cases, I cannot see this level of detail ever becoming terribly important. The local saloon keeper? Yes, we need to know his name. The names of all of his children? Probably not.

The main action takes place in the eponymous town of Burned Bush Wells during the dead of winter. As the module explains, winter is a lean season in the West, and the wolves are hungry. Since Burned Bush Wells is surrounded by cattle ranches, predators are naturally a problem that must be dealt with. Rules are provided for hunting and trapping wolves, along with the animal rules that seem to make an appearance in nearly every Boot Hill module.

The principal mover and shaker is Lyle Underhay, the wealthiest man in town and the businessman with the widest range of interests. He fills the role of the thoroughly unlikable, power-hungry entrepreneur. Underhay is squeezing smaller businesses and ranchers in an effort to force them out. In response, they unite to form the BBBC, the Burned Bush Business Council, and fight back over the ownership of the Waterhouse deed, specifically the deed to the Old Stage building.

Underhay wants the deed, the player characters will most likely end up with it, and from there the central conflict unfolds. It is a classic Western premise that translates well into an RPG. The challenge lies in locating the former owner of the Waterhouse deed so the transfer can be made legally, thereby foiling Underhay's plans. Naturally, a man as powerful as Underhay is not willing to let matters end there, especially since he effectively has the town's lawmen in his pocket.

The BBBC is a particularly well-conceived idea that echoes real historical events such as theJohnson County War in Wyoming, which eventually drew in the U.S. Cavalry. There, the powerful Wyoming Stock Growers Association found itself opposed by the smaller Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Growers' Association. Another obvious parallel is the Lincoln County War, the conflict that famously involved Billy the Kid.

The adventure's most likely course sends the player characters toward Gordon, where the next phase of the story unfolds. The overland journey feels authentic, thanks in part to the random encounter table. Having recently watched Will Penny, I especially appreciated the inclusion of a line rider as a possible encounter. It is a minor detail, but it demonstrates that the author had a solid grasp of the setting.

Another aspect I enjoyed is the inclusion of a ghost town. Gordon, an abandoned mining town, provides an atmospheric backdrop for several of the adventure's key scenes. Ghost towns are common throughout the American West, but we tend to view them through the lens of nearly 150 years of history. In the context of the game, a town that has only recently been abandoned makes the campaign world feel lived in and believable. By comparison, many Western RPGs published over the past two decades have leaned heavily into supernatural horror, largely following the influence of Deadlands.

Finally, a brief word about the maps. They are consistently clear, easy to read, and well executed. Their style matches the cartography found in many TSR products of the era and would have looked perfectly at home alongside the maps that later appeared in Dragon magazine.

Conclusion

Much like the modules that came before it, BH4 plays out more like a script than a traditional adventure. It presents a series of events rather than the dungeon crawls most gamers were accustomed to. I know I sound like a broken record in these Boot Hill reviews, but it is an issue the line never fully solved.

By this point in TSR's history, the company's focus was clearly on Dungeons & Dragons. Add in the growing power struggle between the Blume brothers and Gary Gygax, and it is no surprise that TSR's secondary games, such as Gamma World, Top Secret, Gangbusters, and Boot Hill, gradually took a back seat. Boot Hill was a solid game, and its roots as a miniatures-based skirmish game are evident throughout the rules. It was not until 3rd Edition that it fully embraced role-playing, but by then the ship had largely sailed.

The "cut scenes," labeled I through IX, are well executed and help establish the town and its inhabitants. My favorite section, however, is Waterhouse's Deed. The scene where the player characters are summoned upstairs to meet Underhay, under the guise of legal business, sets the entire conflict in motion. I can easily picture this sequence playing out in countless Westerns. The corrupt land baron confronts the heroes, demands they either leave town or surrender what he wants, they refuse, and from that moment on everyone knows the final confrontation is only a matter of time.

As an aside, by the time 3rd Edition Boot Hill arrived in 1990, my high school gaming group was barely playing AD&D anymore, let alone TSR's other games. We still occasionally broke out Marvel Super Heroes of Twilight 2000, but that was about it.

In a sense, Boot Hill never really entered my gaming orbit. I cannot remember anyone in my high school group owning it, much less suggesting that we actually play it.

Next up
In my queue to review in the not too distant future is review of the elusive BH5- Range War!

I say elusive as it has been eluding me on eBay (its not worth $75 dollars folks) I should take comfort some wags on Amazon think people are going to pay $400 for it...

Lastly, in order, to date here are my reviews of Boot Hill materials
Boot Hill itself
BH1- Mad Mesa
BH2- The Lost Conquistador Mine
BH3- Bullets and Balllots

On a completely personal note I bid a fond farewell to Eli Wallach who starred in incredible westerns like "The Good, The Bad, the Ugly" and "The Magnificent Seven" to name but a few.

First Physical Printout of Hurled into Eternity Rules

EDIT: Since 2025 this has been superseded by the most current version of the rules.

This post explains why I have not updated the blog in a few weeks: the first true print out of the rules for Hurled into Eternity, at least in this format. Years ago (as in 15+) when the progenitor to these rules were in its d12 configuration and a traditional fantasy RPG called Quest, I printed sections of it, but never the entire rules themselves.

This is a prototype of the rules. I say prototype loosely here because I am not sure I am going to use this styling when it gets ready for a potential Kickstarter. None-the-less, I printed out two copies at the local Office Max as you can see in color for the covers and the interiors are double sided black and white. Total cost for printing out two copies was under $20 including the color covers.

It weighs in at 78 pages, double sided when printed with two more for the covers. All told the entire rule set in terms of page count is 154. Maybe these will be collectors items someday (hah!)

The main purpose of the print out is to help facilitate testing and get a physical copy to make it seem more real. After years of only looking at it in its electronic form it is good to finally see a physical manifestation of it. So far it has been very useful as I can reference as I work in the My Man Cave testing the rules. So far it has helped me tweak the rules for the Wild Card System, a bit for the better I hope.

Of course since printing stuff out I have noticed issues with it and changed the Wild Card System to flow better. I think I fixed the obvious problems regarding it. So far gun-fighting is looking very deadly with shotguns being perhaps too much. I would really like to hear about feedback on the combat sections with the revisions.

Death on the Reik: Review and Memories of One of the Best WFRP Modules

The long and winding River Reik has many places to adventure, but none so fearsome as Castle Wittgenstein. Just look at the Ian Miller cover — it is all kinds of awesome. Death on the Reik is a great module and I was fortunate enough to play it just as it was reaching America. We started playing the seminal, masterful series Enemy Within right after (or thereabouts) after THE CAMPAIGN. I do recall us playing a proto-Warhammer campaign where I was playing a bounty hunter with a Strength (S) score of 2! Not much came of that.

As I noted here my second character in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was a rat catcher who got killed by a bird-winged mutant. Alas poor Wilhelm! I can still remember his corpse being draped across some branches, ahhh good RPG times! Thinking back on it I'm pretty sure when we started the Enemy Within campaign, the ratcatcher was not my original character. I started with the elf from Shadows over Bogehaufen, the minstrel Malmir Giluviel. Whether he died or not I can't recall, but by the time we reached Bogenhaufen I was playing my rat catcher. He is the character I think of when I look back at this module, but he was one of many I played. Funny aside, when we reached the castle many of the original characters had perished, not just mine.

The PCs "ticket to ride."

Since we did participate in Shadows over Bogenhaufen and Dave's character was a Boatman we quickly saw the value of the boat early in the module. Aside from the fatality of my rat catcher we secured the boat and made our way. We didn't really need much prodding as we were quickly discovering that traveling by water was much safer than by road, recent fatalities notwithstanding. Since we were very, very poor we quickly grasped the principles of trading and did a bit to get us better weapons and armor. I think at this point I was playing (temporarily) Johann "Rowlocks" Dassbit a boatman from Shadows over Bogenhaufen (he may have been Pete's character who was showing up less and less) whom we had along as an NPC. Unlike the previous AD&D games my luck was none-too-good in WFRP. On the death of my rat catcher I played a bunch of the NPCs until I got assigned an outlaw (see below). Not sure why I wasn't allowed to roll a new character so I bounced from NPC to NPC.

We made it through all of the early encounters without too much trouble: the Cult of the Purple Hand (I don't recall who looked like Kastor Lieberung), Weissbruck, the signal tower, Kemperbad and the Barren Hills. The signal tower was great fun and it felt very spooky and old as we poked around it. The fight with the skeletons and the skaven in the Barren Hills went too well for us: it made us overconfident going into Castle Wittgenstein proper.

The GM did a great job utilizing the numerous NPCs in the series especially when character deaths happened which was often. As noted above my character was dead for several weeks of real time and I wanted a more combat oriented character. We were discovering that some character classes were better than others in WFRP. So the GM gave me Hild Eysenck, an Outlaw (renamed and gender flipped to male) version of Hilda Eysenck to run from the module. It was a smart move as we needed more warrior types. He was a bit of a wildcard, but helped us get through the brutal exploration of Castle Wittgenstein. Even the lower dungeons were a grind from my recollection and looking over the module. Again, we were not that high in terms of powered up characters and very few of us were actual warrior classes which are a must in WFRP.

The town of Wittgendorf was fun, well at least looking back on it. Fortunately I wasn't the one that looked at the foul spider baby to gain Insanity Points. I think we did start a fight at the Pale Lady encounter and slew some of the guards as Lady Margritte rode off. Additionally, we did find the warp blade in the ruined Temple of Sigmar. I don't recall who carried it, but it did help immensely in the fight(s) in the castle later on. We rummaged around the town only briefly after fighting the guards and did not encounter Jean Rouaeaux or his brew house and horror filled basement.

Playing the part of my new character I led the party to Sigrid the outlaw chief. In short order we agreed to explore the secret way in (Under the castle/ areas #1-11). We did assault the guards at area 8 and secure our boat again. Why we didn't pilot it out and leave I'll never know ;) as it were we took the stairs that ended up in the ruins of the Outer Bailey among the mutated beggars. Since we were fairly stealthy and had not fought any guards other than the ones by the river gate the alarm had not been raised. Carefully picking our way we made it all the way to inner areas where we encountered the chaos warrior Ulfhednar the Destroyer (Jeff also used the mini for his BBEG in THE CAMPAIGN) who put a hurting on us. (he was not in his guest room so we encountered him much closer to the entrance). My memory is hazy, but after fighting him we hightailed it back to the outlaw camp. Somehow we encouraged them enough to assault the castle with us heading back through the secret entrance and creating diversions.

I don't recall us adventuring much after this. I'm not entirely sure we made it to the end to confront Lady Margritte and her monster. Reading through the module many years later as a GM I felt let down by the Frankenstein rip-off of the ending. If I ran it again I'd change the ending to something less clichéd. As it was the only time I GMed it the party never got close to area 61-62.

We did not play much more of The Enemy Within proper as around this time we started to play more Warhammer Fantasy Battle as it took less time, plus we were all starting to drive and serious girlfriends beckoned. I don't recall us playing much of Power Behind the Throne. I know for a fact we did not play Something Rotten in Kislev or the lukewarm at best Empire in Flames (I have it but don't think I'd ever use it as is*). In the end it was fun and I have fond memories of Death on the Reik. Years later I ran my current gaming group through it and had fun but they were much, much more wary than my original group.

Some random thoughts:

• Much like Q1- Queen of the Demonweb Pits at the end of the GDQ series for AD&D, Teh Enemy Within feels stilted by the end, as in not part of the overall flow of the modules. Q1 needed a much better ending and in my opinion was done better and more in character here. So fans banded together and produced Empire at War (I've not read through the whole thing yet so I can't vouch for its quality). But by all accounts it s better ending to the campaign arc than Empire in Flames.
• Death on the Reik is regarded as one of the best RPG modules of any system and I'm not going to disagree. It was fantastic to adventure in and I loved every minute of it, PC death and all, well aside from the in my opinion tepid ending.
• Another thing that I always remember is the spooky weirdness of Castle Von Wittgenstein. The maps were uber-cool and the atmosphere dark and grim with mutants living in the courtyard! The graphic/design cartography was always top notch in WFRP products but Death on the Reik was perhaps at the pinnacle.
• When I've GMed Warhammer the players were curiously reluctant to explore more of the castle or were much more cautious...I wonder why that is????
• The River Life of the Empire section is fantastic. It really is full of very useful information for a campaign set in the Empire. Couple this with pages 4-38 of Shadows over Bogenhaufen and you have more than enough material for an Empire-based campaign.

In closing I give Death on the Reik a 9 out of 10, it's just that good. It's also certainly the best out of the Power Behind the Throne modules with the last two, Something Rotten in Kislev and the lukewarm Empire in Flames were mediocre at best... If you are lucky enough to play it you won't be disappointed.

Hurled into Eternity- Latest Revision

(Quick Note: No I have not forgot my series of "Playing 1st edition AD&D", next post is almost ready to go but still needs a bit more work). 

As promised version 11 of the 2nd generation of the Hurled into Eternity rules (link to download is below). Improvements include clarifications in the following areas:

•  Clarifications to the Wild Card System.
• Modes of gunfire have been streamlined to eliminate the need for 1/2 or 1/3 configurations for gun fighting scores.
• Modifiers condensed and streamlined for bonuses and penalties to hit.
• Condensing and changing healing rates for Wounds (W) along elimination of differing healing rates for damage.
• Early write up of a intro adventure (still not complete).

As always, spell checking  and proofing is still on the radar, but not quite there yet as I'm continuing to focus on the rules. The feeling that I have now is I'm inching closer to a finished product. The rules are getting some, good constructive feedback and fixing areas that don't make sense. I saty that every post but two recent rounds of feedback have led to a even tighter game.

As a quick aside every once and a while I get the feedback: "Hurled into Eternity"? That doesn't make sense for a western, it sounds Sci-Fi. Sorry folks, you don't get much more Western then the name of this game! I'll leave it up to you to figure it out...

Lastly feedback is always welcome.

Back in the Saddle with Hurled into Eternity

 

Well, after a fairly busy and interesting fall I'm now finally ready to *ahem* "climb back in the saddle" with Hurled into Eternity.  Whats that you ask? Well my on-again off again western RPG game is now undergoing internal play testing to see how it works. My main focus of the play testing is to make sure I have the mechanics specifically nailed down. Lets face it the heart of any RP is the combat engine if that is not good then the RPG it's likely that the game is not so good.

My gut instinct tells me that the mechanics for the game work well, the conversion to an all card based mechanic is complete, now its simply a matter of making sure all of the parts line up with any gaps in a many they actually do, rather then what I think they do.

The next order of business is to take the combat chapter and pull it into a quick play doc to make sure that it flows. The parts that have been tested thus far are High Noon, (the imitative phase) in which the Judge and the players engage in 5-card draw. While its optional to deal it each round I prefer once per combat as it makes it battles go faster. Next up the hit determination. Some feedback I received was that it was bit to heavy with the modifiers so I scaled it back. Now the mods are reasonable and are fairly easy to calculate. Damage is likewise fairly straight forward. 

One nagging thing has been the inclusion of poker chips. Now I feel it adds a nice western feel but at the same time I am mindful of the implication that it has been used in Savage Worlds. While my game is sufficiently different I don't want it to appear that it is lifting the idea. Currently they serve as a visual reminder of Luck (L) in the game and nothing more; they are not required for play.

The rest of the rules have been tightened up here and there and look to have missed almost all loopholes and areas that could be broken. 

In the end game is fast, exciting and deadly. Cant wait to fully try it out.

Marvel Superheroes RPG – Why FASERIP Remains the Best

Some like Champions with its crunch. Some like Villains and Vigilantes. For me it is neither. If I am going for a superhero system it has to be Marvel Superheroes. In my mind nothing else even comes close. The Marvel system does a great job of recreating the comic books. Henceforth I will refer to it as MSH.

One huge advantage the system currently enjoys is the wealth of information available for the game, most notably at Classic Marvel Forever. To put it bluntly there is no shortage of material for the Judge to pick from. TSR then Wizards of the Coast apparently let the copyright expire and it went into the public domain. Woot!

The Marvel system is a breeze. Many fans know it as Marvel FASERIP. FASERIP stands for the attributes in the game: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche. The first four are combined to create the character’s Health score and the latter three are combined to determine the character’s Karma. Health is analogous to Hit Points while Karma is akin to Luck Points in other systems. Characteristics range from Feeble (2) to Beyond (unlimited) with most being somewhere between Typical (6) and Monstrous (75). Once you start getting above Unearthly (100) it starts to get a bit dodgy, but I think a skilled Judge can pull it off. In Marvel there is always someone tougher than yourself or your group.

Talents are likewise well thought out and easy to use. Equipment is straightforward and does not bog the game down. In a way the entire rule set is an early version of Savage Worlds when one thinks about it: keep it Fast, Furious and Fun. MSH does just that.

While there are powers listed in the rule book the best route to go is to use the Ultimate Powers Handbook (do not forget the errata from Dragon Magazine issues 134 and 151). Powers are always something of a weak spot in MSH. The main problem is you pick a grouping (say Defensive) and then roll to see what you get. I think it works because otherwise everyone would be picking the same powers (can you say every character with Danger Sense, Cosmic Awareness, True Flight, Regeneration and Invulnerability?). That said in my groups we just picked powers after rolling for the number of them and it always seemed to work out.

"Don't leave super hero HQ without me."

The box set is a great entry into the game and has everything that fledgling players and the Judge need to get rolling. I recommend actually getting the base game and going for Advanced rather than the Basic rules (the picture above is from the Advanced game box set).

Most of my experience with the game was in high school where we played it irregularly, which is a shame as it is a fine system. Most of my characters were mutants as I liked characters who actually had powers. This is probably because I also disliked DC comics whose heroes were typically non powered as typified by Batman. One of my gaming crew from back in the day was a big fan of the rule set but paradoxically a big fan of DC and created his own version of Batman he tried to foist on me. I had none of that and preferred to play my own characters.

Task resolution is handled via a well thought out system of green, yellow and red intensities. The task becomes harder as it goes from green to red and requires a higher percentile dice roll. Speaking of which, being based on a d100 makes it easy to use and visualize for players where their scores lie. It also works perfectly with the ranking system from Feeble (2) up to Unearthly (100) in the attributes. One would guess they did this on purpose.

As noted above the Judge is spoiled for choice. He has a vast amount of material to draw on in the Marvel Universe before even writing his own stuff. The Basic line and the Advanced line cover all of the main material from the Bronze Age of comics in the 80s to the early 90s.

If I were to play today I think a hi-tech wonder character ala Ironman would hold the most interest for me. There is just something about being able to tinker with one’s battle suit and adding more gizmos than R2-D2 that is appealing.

No matter what your inkling you really cannot go wrong with Marvel Super Heroes as it is a great system.

What is your favorite super hero RPG?

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.

Weird West Roleplaying Game Review – The Ultra-Light $1 Western RPG

At 8 pages and $1.00 for the PDF, Stuart Robertson’s Weird West Roplepalying Game Basic Rulebook doesn’t get more spartan — or cheap. But for some reason the price and style feel just right.

Starting off, the cover is cool, though it does mirror the art for A Fistful of Dollars — which, as a fan of the trilogy, I appreciate. The whole PDF is in black and white, and for some reason this works fine. It gives the game a stark, gritty feel. The font used for the title “Weird West” is just right, and of course the tentacle in the logo is a nice touch. It does have a watermark on it for your purchase. I would hope, however, that people don’t feel the need to pirate a $1.00 PDF…

If you are looking for an ultra-light ruleset for your Weird West games, this is it. I can’t say that enough — it takes “rules light” to a whole new level. A PDF with 8 pages (one being the cover and one the opposed fighting chart in the back) means the actual game is only about 6 pages. That has to be some sort of record.

With all this said, for an experienced role-player the ruleset is probably right up their alley. Certainly with years of judging, a GM can easily wing the areas that need filling in. A beginner, however, would likely be lost, as it’s not developed enough for newcomers.

Characters have four attributes and a “path” to guide one’s character — it can probably fit on a 3x5 index card. The game is d20-based and utilizes the d4, d6, and d12. Levels and hit points make an appearance in the form of Stamina Points.

For one’s character, magic and weird west abilities are all lumped together, which in the interest of spartan rules and space probably makes the most sense. There are spells like Electromancy, and then skills which are treated as magic, like “Fastest Gun in the West.” Later still is Shaolin Monk (which to me should be a skill, but it’s not my game). The player has 4 points to split amongst the attributes (Fighting, Grit, Magic, and Skill), but must place at least one into Grit. Leveling is fairly simple — the group decides when to do so (usually between game sessions).

Initiative is handled with a simple mechanic: higher-level characters go first. Combat is fairly straightforward, using the familiar mechanic of rounds and an opposed roll vs. the defense. Modifiers are simple to understand, with firearms ignoring armor — which is a bit puzzling in a Western setting… The Man with No Name in A Fistful of Dollars notwithstanding.

Weapons are broken down by dice, with rifles doing the most damage at d10, the ever-trusty pistol at d8, and the lowest being unarmed attacks at d2. Further, a character’s path (aka class) determines what type of dice they have for unarmed combat: magicians utilizing the lowest and fighters the highest. Once reduced to zero Stamina Points in combat, death is a possibility on a roll of a d6.

Skill checks are easy to resolve, with examples of typical tests appearing on page 6. Also on the final page of text are some pieces of advice for the GM and ideas on how to play.

The main criticism I have is that it is not clear whether or not there is a traditional GM in the game. Only on page 6 does the word “referee” appear. The text seems to assume there is one earlier, but it’s not until later that it becomes clear.

If I go too much further it will reveal the whole game, as it’s so short. Suffice to say I like the system. All in all, it looks like an interesting game. I have no major plans to run it, as I’m well into the creation of my own Western game, but as a source of inspiration it was worth the price. It does have the honor of being one of only three Western-style RPGs I read while creating my own (the other two being Boot Hill and Western City).

Lastly, for my game Hurled into Eternity it will probably become a supplement down the road. (NOTE: As an update — my game is under a number of revisions right now and the version that is up has some new changes coming, making the game even better. Stay tuned.)