Aces and 8's is pretty darn slick!

[Henry]

I feel like I missed something because I sat in on a demo of Aces and Eights at Gencon 2007 and it just didn't appeal to me; in fact, it seemed quite SLOW compared to other RPGs I'm familiar with. "Realistic", yes; but definitely a bit slow-moving in the combat. The system didn't grab me like I thought it would based on forum conversations of the time.

I'll have to watch those videos, because they're news to me.

 

[Henry]

I feel like I missed something because I sat in on a demo of Aces and Eights at Gencon 2007 and it just didn't appeal to me; in fact, it seemed quite SLOW compared to other RPGs I'm familiar with. "Realistic", yes; but definitely a bit slow-moving in the combat. The system didn't grab me like I thought it would based on forum conversations of the time.

I'll have to watch those videos, because they're news to me.

 

[Treebore]

I feel like I missed something because I sat in on a demo of Aces and Eights at Gencon 2007 and it just didn't appeal to me; in fact, it seemed quite SLOW compared to other RPGs I'm familiar with. "Realistic", yes; but definitely a bit slow-moving in the combat. The system didn't grab me like I thought it would based on forum conversations of the time.

I'll have to watch those videos, because they're news to me.

We've played one session so far. No combat yet, but I am having fun with the good players and the good story. We'll likely get into a gun fight next session, but we only play this every other week, so it'll be a while yet before I find out.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

I feel like I missed something because I sat in on a demo of Aces and Eights at Gencon 2007 and it just didn't appeal to me; in fact, it seemed quite SLOW compared to other RPGs I'm familiar with. "Realistic", yes; but definitely a bit slow-moving in the combat. The system didn't grab me like I thought it would based on forum conversations of the time.

That was probably because you got all the Advanced rules thrown at you simultaneously. The Basic game is only about 8 pages long - the other 392 pages are the Advanced game, where the rules are modular and you can introduce new rules as you learn them, or ignore them altogether.

I like to do demos that start with the Basic rules and work up slowly into the Advanced rules, but it means that the demo takes a lot longer to get started and it's more of a lesson than an activity. Most of our demo guys just jump into Advanced with both feet so as to get things moving quickly. Either approach works, but they work differently with different people.

 

[Heavy_Cavalry_Sgt]

in fact, it seemed quite SLOW compared to other RPGs I'm familiar with. "Realistic", yes; but definitely a bit slow-moving in the combat. The system didn't grab me like I thought it would based on forum conversations of the time.

Hi Henry -

Yeah, the first time I played it was a little rough, especially because everyone was new at it. There is definitely a learning curve, and some complexity, but as Mark said you can learn the basics first and gradually add the other stuff as you get the hang of it.

One thing that I like is that gun fights often come down to putting lead in the bad guy (or the good guy...) first and the game does a good job of modeling that down to the 1/10th of a second.

Aside from the combat, the game's world is pretty impressive. There is tremendous flexibility in how the players and GM can interact. If you want an early Clint Eastwood-eque Old West, you can do that. If you'd prefer something more like Open Range or Broken Trail, that is well within the scope of the game too.

My players (hopefully not reading the board) have been targeted by some local NPCs to take the blame for cattle rustling and murder. It should be interesting to see if they try to get even, or if they just go with it and become outlaws.

In short, the fun I've had with the game was more than worth the learning curve!

 

[theemrys]

I haven't run more than a few sessions myself so far, but what I found really interesting is that the players really "shapped" the game for me, as GM. Now, I'm sure a big part of it is how I ran it, but given that there are so many things that can be done, I left it somewhat to the players what they wanted to do... and adventure just seemd to fall out of it. I didn't find I really needed to prepare a whole lot as GM other than knowing the rules and having the NPCs in the town ready. Because I just played out how eveyone else reacted, it felt very believable and interesting.

Also, there are some great ideas for adventures/scenarios in the book which are easy to setup on the fly... It's a lot of fun.

 

[Bagpuss]

The Morrow Project is the first game i recall with a silhouette / template system for combat... that is early 80's geekdom speaking

Millennium's End was the first game I came across it.

 

[mxyzplk]

I haven't gotten to play it yet, but really want to. The book is just beautiful, and I like the detailed rules for prospecting, cattle drives, juries, etc - there's a lot more to a Western game than 'shooting rules,' and that's where A&8 really delivers for me.

 

[JediSoth]

/thread necromancy! *oooba jooga rum-bum blooba!*

My group may be switching to this system after the slow, lingering death of my 4E campaign. I'll definitely be starting a story hour as we learn to play cowboys & indians all over again!

 

[Treebore]

The campaign was a blast, managed to stay alive and only get wounded a few times, one of which laid me up for nearly 2 weeks.

I also got to play at Gen Con using the chase rules and then got into a bar brawl, lots of fun!