What do you want to see: Western Champions

[zornwil]

I think you need a better initiative system than DEX at least for 1-on-1 (and preferably even small fighter groups, 2-4 per team) gunfights. It needs to be less deterinistic than just comparing DEX, there should be some drama to who fires off first. Of course factor in the mauvers into your thinking. Probably new manuevers for gunfighting, too.

 

I'd like to see a little little section (1 or even 1/2 page) on farm economics, we messed with that in my old game.

[Lamrok]

Cinematic gunfights are important, though it might get difficult to actually do them in an interesting way. In the movies, the fastest gun is the fastest gun. The suspense comes from finding out whether our hero is demonstrably faster than the villain at hand. I don't think that would play well in a game. But, adding a lot of randomization, such that a greenhorn could get a lucky and outdraw someone who is almost always much faster pretty much subverts the genre.

 

Here's a possible system:

 

- The quick draw skill is not used in most gunfights, but it is still desirable - see below.

 

- The first time a character is in a gunfight, he rolls 3d6, looking for a low number. This is now his basic gunfighting ability. If he rolls worse than this in the future (barring critical failures), he can use this number instead.

 

- If, in a future showdown, he rolls lower, the lower number is now his new basic ability. For this to happen, the fight needs to be a fairly close match - gunning down tenderfoots doesn't gain you much experience.

 

- If the duellists tie, then roll quickdraw vs quickdraw. If they tie again, both shots go off simultaneously.

 

- Basic ability cannot be less than 5, though a roll of three or four will still count for that fight. (you might want to fiddle with this number, to see what works best. The main thing is that you don't want someone setting their ability to three and always winning from then on.)

 

- Rolling an 18 means that, for this fight, you are stuck with an 18 on your first shot.

 

- You still have to hit them. You can go slower than your basic ability in exchaznge for more accuracy. Heroes can aim for villain's gun hand, if they are inclined to do so - you might give them the necessary penalty skill levels to do this for free if they agree to never shoot to kill. Hitting a villains' gun always knocks it from their hand or disables it. No roll should be necessary.

 

- First hit typically ends a cinematic gunfight (and since there weren't very many real gunfights, this should pretty much hold true.) Generally, the loser gets hit solidly in the chest and dies (unless he's a hero, but heroes surviving gunfights should still be grievously injured.)

 

So, if you win a dozen fights, you are probably pretty good. An inexperienced gunfighter could beat you, but, if he did, the process of doing this would ensure that after the smoke clears, he is at least as good as you are.

 

Lamrok

[Crimson Arrow]

JmOz has already mentioned "Justice Riders". It would definitely fit, but I found the story itself a little lacklustre. It was sort of steampunk setting.

 

"Wonder Woman" rounds up a team of extraordinary people to form a posse. The Flash is the fastest gunslinger alive (he fires so fast the guns overheat, for example), but how he is so quick wasn't explained, IIRC. Other characters didn't seem to have any powers to speak of. It's a while since I read it, but apart from being good with a lasso and being an athletic, black haried woman, I don't recall the Wonder Woman character being much like the regular Diana.

 

I like the idea that characters should fulfill certain Western archetypes. That makes sense. They might be the best with a rifle, the best with a pistol, the greatest knifeman West of the Pecos, the best brawler, the best wrangler, the best cattleman, the best gambler, the best charmer, the best singing cowboy (!), the best blacksmith, the best scout, the best railroad worker, the best martial artist ("Kung Fu"), the best lumberjack, the best tracker, the best lawman, the best reporter, the best shaman, the best soldier, etc. That will help you keep a Western feel and will also help to ensure that there aren't too many overlaps.