Reviews from R’lyeh Post-Christmas Dozen 2025

Since 2001, Reviews from R’lyeh have contributed to a series of Christmas lists at Ogrecave.com—and at RPGaction.com before that, suggesting not necessarily the best board and roleplaying games of the preceding year, but the titles from the last twelve months that you might like to receive and give. Continuing the break with tradition—in that the following is just the one list and in that for reasons beyond its control, OgreCave.com is not running its own lists—Reviews from R’lyeh would once again like present its own list. Further, as is also traditional, Reviews from R’lyeh has not devolved into the need to cast about ‘Baleful Blandishments’ to all concerned or otherwise based upon the arbitrary organisation of days. So as Reviews from R’lyeh presents its annual (Post-)Christmas Dozen, I can only hope that the following list includes one of your favourites, or even better still, includes a game that you did not have and someone was happy to hide in gaudy paper and place under that dead tree for you. If not, then this is a list of what would have been good under that tree and what you should purchase yourself to read and play in the months to come.

—oOo—

Daggerheart

Darrington Press ($59.99/£59.99)

2025 was the year of the fantasy heartbreaker seeing the release of several roleplaying games written in wake of the Wizards of the Coast’s proposed re-writing of the Open Game Licence that underpinned so many of the industry’s titles. Designed to appeal to players of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, there can be no doubt that Daggerheart was the most prominent of these. It offers similar heroic fantasy roleplaying, but with an emphasis on the narrative as much as the action with its Hope die and Fear die mechanics. Both are rolled together, and when the Hope die is higher, it generates Hope that can be used to activate various character abilities, whilst when the Fear die is higher, it generates Fear for the Game Master who can use it to power up her NPCs and make things more challenging for the Player Characters. Actual Player Character creation is made easy by the roleplaying game’s cards that detail its Ancestry and Community cards that define background and culture, and Domain cards that define abilities and spells. These come with the core rulebook in their own box and enable easy reference in play as well. Daggerheart makes heroic fantasy roleplaying easy and fun once again.

Tales of the Old West
Effekt Publishing ($60/£48)
Tales of the Old West brings capital and community—as well as faith—to the American frontier of 1873, in a treatment of classic Cowboys & Indians that is more history than Hollywood. It uses the Year Zero engine and a simple lifepath system to create interesting and fully rounded Player Characters who can do all of the things that you expect of a Wild West roleplaying game. Duels, gambling, chases, cattle rustling, bank robberies, and more. However, where it really begins to shine is in its support and capacity for long term play, because it wants the Player Characters to generate Capital and then invest it in their community. The players get to choose the type of community, where their character invest, and how it grows. The community becomes the Player Characters’ home, somewhere to protect, and somewhere for the Game Master to build stories and hooks around, whether in the community or from outside it. Tales of the Old West can do one-shot scenarios, but is really designed for long term play where the Player Characters can live and die on the American frontier, so can their communities.

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
Z-Man Games ($79.99/£69-99)

Since it was first published in 2008, there have been numerous themes and threats applied to the classic co-operative mechanics against the game itself of Pandemic. In 2025, it has to face the biggest theme and biggest threat of them all—J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In previous board games set in Middle-earth, one player has to control Sauron and the forces of Mordor’s shadow. In The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, the forces of Sauron, the nine Nazgûl and the seemingly endless armies of Orcs, as well as his baleful, lidless eye, are controlled by the game itself. Just as in the trilogy, Frodo and Sam must set for Mount Doom and there, drop the One Ring into the volcano, returning to where it was forged, but the others of the Fellowship must set out hither and thither, essentially to run interference on Sauron’s efforts to find Frodo and Sam and invade Middle-earth. While someone always has to play Frodo and Sam, the other members of the Fellowship are not set in stone and further, every player controls two members of the Fellowship, giving everyone more options and greater ability to cover the threats posed by Sauron. As with other Pandemic titles, the same threats will keep appearing again and again over the course of play, but a mix of careful play and luck on the dice rolls—yes, this is a Pandemic game that involves dice rolls—careful play can thwart them. The best bit about the dice rolls is that you get to use the dice tower shaped like Barad-dûr that looms over the board, to roll the dice. There is a lot of depth and detail to this co-operative version of Middle-earth, along with the replay value of new attempts by Sauron and playing different versions of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Mythic Bastionland – Before Into the Odd
Bastionland Press ($69.99/£49.99)
Mythic Bastionland combines brutality and folklore in an Arthurian Age when knights, each knighted by a different seer, seek Glory, explore the Realm, and confront Myths. In a world of brutal and bloody medievalism, they must prove themselves worthy of their status, but that can only be done by resolving Myths, public duelling or jousting, entering tournaments, and fighting battles that history will remember. By proving themselves worthy of their rank, they be ready to prove themselves ready for greater duties, of taking a seat in Council or at Court, ruling a Holding, and even a Seat of Power. First, they will search their realm for its greatest myths and resolve them, perhaps at the point of a sword, by negotiating, or simply doing nothing, facing other situations and perhaps, brutal, bloody combat along the way. Mythic Bastionland details some seventy-two knights, including The True Knight, The Trail Knight, The Story Knight, The Rune Knight, The Mask Knight, and The Silk Knight, and every single one of them is different and interesting and will present a different way of playing a Knight. Mythic Bastionland details seventy-two Myths for the Game Master to populate the Realm with, including The Wurm, The Tower, The Spider, The Toad, The Hole, and The Rock, and every single one of them will present the players and their Knights with a different challenge. Each includes a simple description, a set of omens that trigger as the Knights discover more signs of the Myth, a set of NPCs, and a table of random details that the Referee can use to detail parts of the Myth. This gives Mythic Bastionland plenty of replay value in an age of glorious myth and brutality.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Ace/Michael Joseph ($30/£22)

The LitRPG—or ‘Literary Role Playing Game’—comes of age in this first of this eight book series that asks the question, “What would you do if aliens had flattened everything on Earth and turned the inside of the planet into an eighteen-level dungeon, and the only way to save the planet is to fight your way all the way the down?” Fortunately, Carl the protagonist is not totally un-nerdy, so has played a few roleplaying games—both tabletop and computer—and so knows his way around the format. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as it sounds, because the dungeon-that-was-once-Earth is also a reality television series watched across the galaxy and so Carl has to play the fame game as well literally kicking dungeon denizen butt. However, although Carl is the main protagonist of the book, for the watchers of the reality television series, the real hero is Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, the prize-winning show cat belonging to Beatrice, Carl’s late girlfriend, who has been magically uplifted from a pet into a Dungeon Crawler and an ace wizard! This is definitely a novel for the roleplayer and player of Dungeons & Dragons, who will get the most out of this knowing poke at traditional roleplaying.

Land of Eem

Exalted Funeral ($150/£110)

To be blunt, Land of Eem had the best elevator pitch of 2025—“The Lord of the Rings meets The Muppets”—and if that does not get your roleplaying juices going, then the question is, what will? This is a game of light-hearted fantasy based on the graphic novel series Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo, and the book series Dungeoneer Adventures, that is both family friendly and fun enough for the experienced roleplayer to play too. It offers the brave adventurers the opportunity to explore the Mucklands, a region once under the heel of the Gloom King, but barely had time to recover before the corporations moved in and began exploiting it and so giving the name it has today. There are opportunities to delve into dungeons and strike it rich, even find Magnificent magical items of yesteryore and become filthy rich. Alternatively, being heroes, the Player Characters could keep such items safe from those that would exploit them, or indeed, put them to good use and help the people of the Mucklands from being oppressed by the tycoons and perhaps save them if the rumours are true about the return of the Gloom King. Land of Eem is illustrated with delightfully whimsical artwork, has simple mechanics, fun character types, and a richly detailed hexcrawl to explore.

TACTA

The Op Games ($14.99/£14.99)

TACTA is a simple card game that simply looks great. Strong neon colours in dots, rectangles, squares, and triangles on jet black divided into six decks. It can be played on any flat surface and all a player has to do is place a card on the table so that one of its features, whether a triangle, square, or rectangle, covers up a feature on a card belonging to another player. Ideally this should with the dots showing and if it covers up another player’s feature with dots, then all the better, but a blank feature will still cover another player’s feature with dots and prevent them from being adding to that player’s final score. A player will also be thinking about how he can protect the features with dots on his cards from being covered over by the other players, so that there is defensive element to placement as well. There are few limits on card placement, the primary being that a card cannot cover another card when played and cannot connect to features that do not perfectly match. And that it is it to TACTA. Short, simple, and elegant, it is easy to teach and suitable for all ages.

Dolmenwood: Adventure and Peril in Fairytale Woods

Necrotic Gnome

Dolmenwood—consisting of the Dolmenwood Player’s Book, Dolmenwood Monster Book, and Dolmenwood Campaign Book—is another consequence of Wizards of the Coast’s proposed re-writing of the Open Game Licence that underpinned so many of the industry’s titles. Previously seen in the Wormskin fanzine and scenarios from the publisher, brings the setting together and presents it as a weird fairy tale adventure game, conjuring the wonder, horror, whimsy, and strangeness of British folklore in a land of standing stones, ley lines, lost shrines, fairy roads, Wood Gods, fairy nobles, and ancient history. All of this is brought together in a three volume set that presents this expansive woodlands in a style that William Morris, Aubrey Beardsley, and the ‘Arts & Crafts’ movement of the Victorian era with a shot of Lord Dunsay.

Dungeons & Kittens: Starter Set

Edge Studio ($39.99/£29.99)

Dungeons & Kittens: Starter Set is yet one more great starter set from 2025, this time perfect for introducing younger players to the hobby. Some time in the future, humans have disappeared following an apocalypse that has let nature grow back in its wake. In time, animals have evolved, including cats, rats, and dogs, who are beginning to explore the world, scavenge the technology left behind by humanity, and for the cats, command meowgic! The Player Characters are kittens exiled from the Kingdom of Cats who have set out to find their way and explore the world. The starter set includes lots of maps and dice and game accessories, as well as a total of five adventures. Three of these are learning adventures, each designed to be played in a single session or less, whilst the other two are full length adventures. The result is a light-hearted, even whimsical roleplaying game that can be run for the family or younger players, but also enjoyed by veteran players too. Plus it even came with its own colouring book!

Doomsong

Caesar Ink. ($65/£50)

The world of Painmye cries out in pain and screams for absolution as the Last Day draws near. Death has already closed the First Gate to Heall and turned the dead away, leaving the unquiet dead to wander… A crusade has been declared against the Traitor Gods and the Templars have already killed their first Traitor God. Day by day, more and more heretics give themselves up to or are thrown on the Pyre, but even those who have been given a chance for absolution for their heresies upon joining a guild by the Church of the Divine Corpse are being tempted once again by the gifts that Traitor Gods promise. Just as those who seek absolution join guilds for the safety in numbers they offer, so too do those who accept such gifts join cults for the protection they offer. This is Doomsong, an eschatological, pre-apocalyptic ‘Roleplay Macabre’ of heretical temptation and divine punishment and survival horror. It is a great looking book and like the best looking books makes the reader want to play on the art alone. The random character generation creates interesting, if desperate Player Characters that you want to find what happens to them. Doomsong does lack a scenario, so the Lord Have Mercy Upon Us campaign is a must.

DeadFellas
Chaosium, Inc. ($4.69/£3.48)
New York, winter, 1982. A black Cadillac, northbound. Four mafiosi inside. A body in the trunk. Their job? Get rid of the body and be home in time for Christmas. One wants to survive. One wants out. One wants to kill. One wants to avoid doing any crimes. One wants a victim. All have secrets. Highly atmospheric four-hander that plays out mostly within the confines of a car as something prods and pulls at the minds of the occupants and secrets and motivations are revealed and their consequences play out. A cracking one-shot scenario for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, this is best run in LARP fashion, with players sat in chairs placed in the same positions as their mafiosi are in the car to impart the claustrophobia and physical space in which they can act as the Keeper moderates the interplay and moves between them, whispering secrets and memories into their ears. Tense and unnerving, and perfect for a single evening’s worth of play, this scenario that showcases the creativity of the Miskatonic Repository community content programme.

Archeterica: The Invitation 

The Imago Cult ($45/£33)

Another late trend in 2025 was the release of starter sets, the biggest and most of which were the Dungeons & Dragons Heroes of The Borderlands Starter Set and the Stranger Things: Welcome to The Hellfire Club set, both from Wizards of the Coast, whilst elsewhere the Dungeons & Kittens Starter Set from EDGE looked the most fun and Free League Publishing’s Vaesen – Starter Set provided utility in the long term as well as a solid introduction. The starter set that outdid them all in 2025 was Archeterica: The Invitation from Ukrainian publisher, The Imago Cult. Described as The X-Files in an alternate Napoleonic era of magic and conspiracies and revolution, it comes with the means to create Player Characters, an introduction to the setting, and three scenarios, what really sets it apart are its production values. Archeterica: The Invitation is simply beautiful, an alabaster artefact that you are going to want to own for its looks alone, let alone the intriguing setting.

Year 1873

The year is 1873. Ulysses S. Grant begins his second term as President of the United States. There is no let up in the Indian Wars on the new American frontier as barbed wire, denim jeans, and the 1873 model Winchester rifle, ‘The Gun That Won the West’, are all invented. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Sioux and P.T. Barnum’s circus, The Greatest Show on Earth, debuts in New York City. The wounds of the Civil War remain and in the wake of the economic crisis that followed, an ever growing number of people have fled west into the newly American territories of Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, along with parts of New Mexico and Colorado, looking to find new lives for themselves in what were once part of Mexico. Settlers, prospectors, miners, cattlemen and herders, businessmen and women, farmers, outlaws and lawmen, all seeking their fortune one way or another in the new lands. There they bring strife and they find strife, with each other and with the peoples already there, which includes the Native Americans and the Hispanics. Greed and prejudice still drive some men. Others want to avoid such concerns and to live a good life, to make a good life for their families and for others, and to protect themselves and their homes.

The American frontier of 1873 is the setting for Tales of the Old West. Funded via a Kickstarter campaign and published by Effekt, this is a roleplaying game which returns to old genre, that of ‘Cowboys & Indians’, combining a mature approach to both the subject matter and the history with the application of the Year Zero engine. This means that it uses the same mechanics first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days, the Alien: The Roleplaying Game, and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, all roleplaying games published by Free League Publishing. It also means that it has a familiar mechanical structure and design. It uses six-sided dice—here of two colours, one for Trouble dice and the other for standard dice—with the aim being to roll a single six as a success. Each Player Character has an Archetype, an Age which determines the points to be assigned to the four Attributes and Abilities, which is what Tales of the Old West calls skills (a younger Player Character have higher Attributes and lower Abilities, older have lower Attributes and higher Abilities), one or more Talents derived from the Archetype (there are other generic Talents available when a Player Character gains experience), a Faith or belief that sums up their outlook on life, a Dream which will drive the Player Character to act, and together with other Player Characters, a town or settlement where they live and which they try to improve. Each Player Character will also have Relationships with his fellow Player Characters, one of whom he will regard as his Pardner. Talents, Relationships, and Faiths are all suggested by the Archetypes. Then, Tales of the Old West has a set of community rules which first see the Player Characters invest in a business and then in the long term, are used track the growth and prosperity of the town or settlement where the Player Characters live. As the seasons pass, the town provides hooks and opportunities for adventure and roleplaying and can be used to drive the ongoing campaign forward.

A Player Character in Tales of the Old West has four attributes—Grit, Quick, Cunning, and Docity. Of these, Docity is the ability of a character to learn. He has an Archetype, of which there are ten. These are Gentlefolk, Grifter, Homesteader, Labourer, Lawman, Outlaw, Prospector, Ranch Hand, Tracker, and Trader. Some of these are quite broad. So, Gentlefolk includes artists, journalists, teacher, entertainers, politicians, and so on, whilst Grifter covers swindlers, cardsharps, thieves, and the like. The Archetype sets the base value for attributes and skills, and provides options in terms of Talents, Dream, and Faith. For example, the Prospector suggests the Talents of Brawler, Engineer, Guard Dog, and Herbalist, whilst his Dream might be ‘“There’s gold to be found in them thar hills” and it’s all going to be yours’ or ‘The railroad will build a new civilisation in the west, and you will be the architect’, and his Faith, ‘God’s design is all around me, and he has a design for my fate too’ or ‘The Strength of the land itself keeps me on my feet.’ Faith need not be religious faith—although religious, Christian faith, prevailed during this period and often drove the expansion west, but can instead be a firmly held belief.

Tales of the Old West provides two means to create a Player Character. In the quick method, a player selects an Archetype and modifies it according to the age—Greenhorn, Tested, and Old-Timer—of the Player Character. He then selects one or more Talents, according to age, and then a Faith and a Dream, chooses some equipment. Lastly, he decides on the Relationships his Player Character has with the others.

Name: Virgil Bruce

Archetype: Trader

Age: Greenhorn

Grit: 04 Labour 1 Presence 1 Fightin’ 0 Resilience 0

Quick: 03 Move 0 Operate 0 Shootin’ 0 Light-Fingered 0

Cunning: 04 Hawkeye 0 Nature 0 Insight 2 Animal Handlin’ 0

Docity: 04 Performin’ 2 Makin’ 2 Doctorin’ 0 Booklearnin’ 2

Talents

Lawyer

Big Dream

‘Where there is opportunity, so comes law, and by the Lord this town needs a judge in good standing—that will be you.’

Faith (4)

‘Money talks. Always has, always will.’

Gear

$45

Ounce of gold

Roper repeating shotgun and D6 rounds

The other method is to use the Lifepath system included in Tales of the Old West. This provides a more detailed Player Character, determining where he comes from and what his family is like, and then what he has done. This is how he has made his Living, up to three times, depending upon his age. This provides far more flavour and detail.

Name: Deborah Leung

Archetype: Trader

Age: Tested

Place of Birth: China

Upbringing: “You come from an old sea-faring family. It is said your forefathers traded across the Pacific long before the Europeans discovered that coast. If it’s true, it made them rich. Gain +1 point of Capital.”

What Of The Family You Left Behind?: “Your family was big until the curse. Death, madness, and foolishness reduced them all to ruins, and you had no choice to leave those who still survived behind.”

Livings: Frontier Folk (‘You used to come into town just to sell your furs. But it’s warmer to sit and sell those furs. So now you sell clothes for the discerning outdoorsman. Make your next Living roll on the Trader Living Outcome Table.’)

Trader (‘You make the most of the influx of single men coming to the town by advertising “employment opportunities for young women” back east. Your successful bordello earns you the respect of a town elder. Make your next Living Roll on the Gentlefolk Living Outcome Table.’)

Grit: 04 Labour 0 Presence 4 Fightin’ 2 Resilience 1

Quick: 02 Move 0 Operate 0 Shootin’ 0 Light-Fingered 0

Cunning: 04 Hawkeye 2 Nature 0 Insight 3 Animal Handlin’ 0

Docity: 04 Performin’ 4 Makin’ 3 Doctorin’ 0 Booklearnin’ 1

Talents

Knife Fighter

Charming

Big Dream

‘Where there is opportunity, there is a woman. I will make my way to respectability in this town and beyond.’

Faith (4)

‘Money talks. Always has, always will.’

Gear

Knife

Outfit: Store with 1 Capital

Outfit: Salon with 1D3 Capital

Capital: 1

Harford Coach Gun & 2D6 Cartridges

$28

Mechanically, Tales of the Old West uses the Year Zero engine. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to a combination of Attribute and Ability. The pool of dice consists of ‘Trouble’ dice and standard dice. There will always be ‘Trouble’ dice in the dice pool, up to five. A single roll of a six on either die type indicates a success. Multiple successes improve the outcome and allow the Player Character to perform stunts. In combat, these might be to inflict extra damage or inflict a critical injury, but for other Abilities, Stunts include giving a bonus on subsequent rolls, completing a task quicker, impressing someone, and so on. If no sixes are rolled, the action fails. If ones are rolled on the ‘Trouble’ dice, these have no effect unless the player decides to ‘push’ the roll. This enables him to reroll any dice that did not roll a one or a six. However, if there are any ones remaining after the roll has been pushed, even if the Player Character has succeeded, they trigger a check on the ‘Trouble Outcome Table’. There is a ‘Trouble Outcome Table’ for conflict and physical situations and for social and mental situations. The effects vary depending how many ones have been rolled.

For example, if a Player Character has generated three ones in a conflict, the outcome might be “You’re shaken and shocked. For the rest of the scene, you suffer -2 to all rolls using the ability that suffered the Trouble” or “Your gun explodes, your weapon breaks and slices into you, or your blow catches something sharp. You suffer a 6 dice attack, either with Damage and Critical rating of your weapon or Damage 1, Crit 1.” The roll can have a straightforward outcome, but it can also escalate from one column to the next if a player rolls high enough.

Pushing a roll costs a Player Character a point of Faith, of which he has four at the start of every scenario, and ideally, the reason for Pushing a roll should tie in with the Player Character’s Faith statement. Faith can also be spent to buy off Trouble dice showing a one. It is better to do this before a roll is pushed as it still allows the dice to be rolled as part of the Push attempt, but negates the dice if done after the Pushed roll. Faith can be recovered for making good rolls without Pushing, or for undertaking actions such as a Player Character saving his Pardner, praying, or taking revenge, and for performing rituals like cleaning a weapon, grooming a horse, going to church, and so on. Faith can be lost, though this is a roleplaying choice rather than a mechanical one.

Conflict in Tales of the Old West uses the same core mechanics. Initiative is determined by drawing cards from a deck of ordinary playing cards, whilst in combat, a Player Character can act twice per round. This is either a fast action and a slow action, or two fast actions. A Slow Action might be ‘Shoot’, ‘Melee Attack’, and ‘Mount’, whilst a ‘Fast Action might be ‘Quick Shot’, ‘Aim’, and ‘Draw Weapon’. The rules cover brawling, the use of the lasso, as well as gunfights, including, of course, duels. As expected, duels are a step-by-step process, beginning with the face-off and then going through the draw and the shoot-off to see who is left standing. Other combat rules cover fanning, overwatch, cover, and ammunition. All weapons inflict a minimum amount of damage, applied directly to the defender’s Attributes. Damage done to Grit is called Hurts, if to Quick it is Shakes, to Cunning it is Vexes, and to Docity, it is Doubts. If reduced to zero, an Attribute is Broken. However, if the number of Successes rolled on an attack equal the Crit Rating of the weapon used, then a critical attack has been made. Critical hits are inflicted if either Grit or Quick is Broken. Overall, combat is fairly quick and brutal. Weapons are quite detailed and include a variety of historical models, noting in particular the difference between single action and double action pistols, the former being slower, but lighter and more accurate, the latter being heavier, but faster.

So far, so good. Tales of the Old West can do all of the things that you expect of a Wild West roleplaying game. Duels, gambling, chases, cattle rustling, bank robberies, and more. However, where it really begins to shine is in its support and capacity for long term play. This can start during Player Character creation with the players deciding upon a group concept. Suggestions include lawmen and bounty hunters, outlaws, ranchers, farmers, business owners, vaqueros & cowboys, and mountain folk. Selecting a concept suggests the type of campaign that the players want to roleplay as well as granting their players bonuses in terms of equipment and money. Whatever the campaign concept, what Tales of the Old West really encourages the players and their characters to do is to earn sufficient dollars to make enough Capital, which can then be invested in a business. This can then generate further monies to make more Capital and so on. This gives both the players and their characters a personal attachment to the town. Alongside this, with the Turn of the Season, as well as potentially, from scenarios, the players earn Settlement Points, which can also be invested in the town. The progress and growth of the town itself is tracked in six ratings—Farming, Mercantile, Natural Riches, Law, Civic, and Welfare. The Settlement Points are spent on amenities that will adjust the various ratings. For example, holding a Season Fair will increase Farming and Mercantile both by one, Civic by two, but reduce Law by one. The combination of town prosperity, the Player Characters’ business outcome, a personal fortune roll, and the amenities added with the expenditure of Settlement Points, and what the Game Master has is a set of prompts around which she can design adventures, roleplaying opportunities, and themes. However, whilst a town can grow and prosper, it can also decline and fail, as can a Player Character’s business, the latter especially if the Player Character gets into debt, whether through gambling or other causes.

This is supported by a discussion of possible themes for a campaign and fifteen detailed story seeds. In terms of setting, Tales of the Old West provides an overview of the Wild West and its frontier, but focuses very much on the New Mexico territory, presenting a description and a history as well as a campaign framework set in the southwest of the territory. This is ‘The King of Santa Fe’. Set across three fictional towns, it focuses on the machinations and corruption in the Santa Fe Ring, the cadre of politicians and businessmen which dominate the corrupt politics of the territory and circle the governor, Marsh Giddings. All three towns are described, including the mining and lumber town of  Steaming Rock, the hunting town of Carson’s Folly, and ranching and mining town of Jornada Springs. All three towns include descriptions of its most notable citizens, and come with several campaign adventure outlines, two of which are the campaign starters and the campaign finishers. This is in addition to the descriptions of the territory’s major towns of cities of Albuquerque, Lincoln, Silver City, and even Las Vegas. Rounding out the support is a starting scenario, ‘Patience is a Virtue’.

In terms of tone, Tales of the Old West advises player and Game Master alike that the American West of the period is challenging in terms of both history and roleplaying, given the social attitudes of the period. It addresses in turn the status of women, Native Americans, the Hispanics, Chinese, and African Americans, clearly stating that participants should be respectful of the history and the diversity of the various peoples living in the setting it depicts, acknowledging the prejudices of the period, rather than embracing or revelling in them.

Physically, Tales of the Old West is a buff-coloured hardback with spots of muted colour that echoes classic depictions of the Old West. It is well written, easy to read, and a good looking book.

Respectful of the history, Tales of the Old West gives players and Game Masters alike the means to run and play more than a black and white, Cowboys & Indians game, a detailed, roleplaying campaign where the Player Characters are part of a community and building a better place. Modern, accessible, and playable, without being overly complex, Tales of the Old West is a thoroughly engaging and earnest treatment of the Old West.

Quick-Start Saturday: Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure

Quick-starts are a means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps two. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she can still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

—oOo—

What is it?

Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is an introduction to Tales of the Old West, a historical roleplaying game set on the American frontier using the Year Zero mechanics.

It is a sixty-four page, primarily black and white book with colour maps.

The quick-start is nicely illustrated with some decent maps.

How long will it take to play?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure can be played through in a single session, or two sessions at most.

What else do you need to play?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure requires multiple six-sided dice. These should be divided between two different colours.

Where is it set?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is set in and around the town of Carson’s Folly, a hunting and trapping town in Colfax County, New Mexico.

Who do you play?
There are five ready-to-play Player Characters given in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure. They consist of an African American fur trader, a Caucasian grifter, a Native American Ranch Hand, an Irish Settler Homesteader, and a Mexican Cibolero Tracker.

The diversity of the ready-to-play Player Characters reflects the efforts of the authors to make the setting as accessible as possible, without resorting to stereotypes. This is balanced against the need to make the game fun. There is no general advice and certainly mention of the X-card that might be appropriate given the genre.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has four attributes—Grit, Quick, Cunning, and Docity—and a single stat, Faith, plus several skills. Faith need not be religious faith, but can instead be a firmly held belief. Examples include ‘I want to make my father proud’ or ‘I will find myself a family on the frontier’ or ‘the Lord is my shepherd’. He also has two Talents, a big dream, some gear, and some background. Of the four stats, Docity is the ability of a character to learn.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure and thus Tales of the Old West, uses the Year Zero engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. To have a Player Character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to a combination of attribute and skill. The pool of dice consists of ‘Trouble’ dice and standard dice. There will always be ‘Trouble’ dice in the dice pool, up to five. A single roll of a six on either die type indicates a success. Multiple successes improve the outcome and allow the Player Character to perform stunts. In combat, these might be to inflict extra damage or inflict a critical injury, but the players are free to create other effects as well.

If no sixes are rolled, the action fails. If ones are rolled on the ‘Trouble’ dice, these have no effect unless the player decides to ‘push’ the roll. This enables him to reroll any dice that did not roll a one or a six. However, if there are any ones remaining after the roll has been pushed, they trigger a check on the ‘Trouble Outcome Table’. There is a ‘Trouble Outcome Table’ for conflict and physical situations and for social and mental situations. The effects vary depending how many ones have been rolled.

For example, if a Player Character has generated two ones in a conflict, the outcome might be “You stumble, slip or trip. Lose your next slow action.” or “Your attack is underpowered, or your action is weak. Lose a 6 from your pool of successes.” This is a pleasingly random set of effects, and it is a pity that there is not a corresponding set of tables that can be used when a player rolls multiple successes, if only as inspiration.

However, it costs a point of Faith to trigger a Pushed roll and in roleplaying terms, it should ideally tie into the Player Character’s Faith statement as this is a way of gaining Experience Points, but it need not do. Faith can also be spent to negate the effects of ‘Trouble’ dice, on a one-for-one basis. In Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure, a Player Character starts play with four points of Faith, but they can go up to ten. It is possible for a Player Character to lose his Faith and be Shaken.

How does combat work?
Conflict in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure uses the same core mechanics and allows a Player Character to act twice per round. This is either a fast action and a slow action, or two fast actions. A Slow Action might be ‘Shoot’, ‘Melee Attack’, and ‘Mount’, whilst a ‘Fast Action might be ‘Quick Shot’, ‘Aim’, and ‘Draw Weapon’. The conflict rules cover social situations as well as fist fights, shootouts, and of course, duels. The latter covers the face-off at the start of the duel followed by the duellists going for their guns. Along with a ‘Critical Injury Table’, the rules are fairly compressive and cover most situations in the accompanying situation.

What do you play?
The adventure in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is ‘The Last Cibolero’. A ‘Cibolero’ is a Mexican buffalo hunter and the scenario is all about buffalo hunting. The Player Characters are involved in the fur and trapping trade, but like the rest of the townsfolk, do not hunt the herds of buffalo indiscriminately and this is the issue at the heart of the scenario. When the New Mexico Mercantile Cooperative, a well-backed outfit working out of Santa Fe, moves into the town to take as many hides as it can, it sets up a tension between the locals and the outsiders. As first one Cibolero and then another is found dead, this tension ratchets up and civility breaks down until the town is on the verge of open conflict...

The scenario includes four maps and floorplans. These are all well done. Besides the scenario, there is background information upon the local area and the town of Carson’s Folly and its inhabitants. The Game Master can develop more stories based on some of the secrets and wishes of the inhabitants with some effort.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure are easy to prepare, especially if the Game Master has any experience with the Year Zero engine. The scenario itself is quite straightforward and overall, it requires relatively little in the way of preparation.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure are a solid introduction to both its setting and its concepts, which are very easy to grasp as everyone is familiar with the Wild West, although the included scenario, ‘The Last Cibolero’, will be unfamiliar and unlike almost any tale of the Wild West seen on screen.

Where can you get it?
The Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is available for purchase here.

The Kickstarter campaign for Tales of the Old West can be found here.