Horror western - any suggestions?

[Krug]

Contemplating doing a 2 player (main character + sidekick) Horror Western PBP, kinda similar to the Korean manga Priest or the upcoming game Darkwatch. Any suggestions on rules? Is Deadlands the best choice?

Main character is kinda like a Hunter of the Dead, while I'm flexible on the sidekick is. Humans only though.

 

[arwink]

The original Deadlands system is good, but playing it by PbP will mostly serve to eliminate the stuff that makes it truly cool - it's designed to give you the feel of being a bunch of folks sitting around a table playing poker in a saloon, and that just isn't going to carry over into a pbp. I've never played the d20 version, but I hear bad reports.

I'd probably go with something like Grim Tales, or adapting rules from d20 Cthulhu into Sidewinder: Recoiled.

 

[scourger]

I ran a great Spellslinger d20 mini-game. I found it superior to Deadlands d20. The original DL is great, but it's alittle wonky to me. Sidewinder d20 was a great read, so I imagine Sidewinder Recoiled is also good. I just don't like the d20 Modern rules as well as (D&D) d20, so I didn't pick it up.

If I did another Western game, I would just use the parts of the core books (PHB, DMG & MM) that are appropriate to the genre and make the game as simply from that as possible. Your main PC sounds like a gun-toting paladin to me.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I recently ran a Cthulhu Western Style one-shot. It worked quite well. One of the characters was a spellcaster and kept taking ability damage. But not to the point where it seriously or adversely affected him. In the end the characters found themselves having quite the hard time adjusting to what they thought was a 'normal' world.

 

[Runesong42]

Weird West might be right up your alley. I don't know if it has been converted to d20 or not, but you could probably find the d20 GURPS version and adjust accordingly.

Also, if you are a fan of d20 Modern, I would highly recommend Sidewinder: Recoiled. It is humanocentric and magic-free. In a game I plan on running, I added "Mystic" from the Urban Arcana rules to simulate magic-users/shamans; they have priest spells but no healing magic, thus necessitating doctors, surgery, and time for healing. As a Hunter of the Dead, you might consider allowing him the Shadow Slayer class from d20 modern and just change the name for flavour. And heck, why not add in the Occultist as his sidekick? You'd have a Van Helsing and priestly follower-guy type relationship: one guy beats on the monsters, the other tells him everytihng he needs to know about them and can help out here and there with an arcane item or two.

 

[Gomez]

I recently ran a Cthulhu Western Style one-shot. It worked quite well. One of the characters was a spellcaster and kept taking ability damage. But not to the point where it seriously or adversely affected him. In the end the characters found themselves having quite the hard time adjusting to what they thought was a 'normal' world.

I am working on a Western Cthulhu game at the moment. I am going to use Sidewinder Recoiled with the sanity and magic rules from COC d20. Did you use a published adventure or make it up yourself?

 

[The_Universe]

Sidewinder: Recoiled + D20 Call of Cthulhu + D20 Past would seem to fit the bill rather nicely, as long as you like either D20 CoC or D20 Modern.

It's a familiar system to most, and it's obviously fairly well suited to play by post.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I am working on a Western Cthulhu game at the moment. I am going to use Sidewinder Recoiled with the sanity and magic rules from COC d20. Did you use a published adventure or make it up yourself?

I own Sidewinder Recoiled myself. I took bits and pieces from it that I liked and integrated them into WotC Cthulhu D20 game. The adventure was completeley made in the recesses of my mind. Meaning I completely winged it.

 

[glenmac]

This summer Deadlands reloaded will be coming out. It will be Savage Worlds which is a very fast system.

 

[SWBaxter]

Contemplating doing a 2 player (main character + sidekick) Horror Western PBP, kinda similar to the Korean manga Priest or the upcoming game Darkwatch. Any suggestions on rules? Is Deadlands the best choice?

Deadlands is great. Deadlands d20, not so much. If you want to stick to d20 and plan on making it a full campaign rather than just a few sessions, Sidewinder: Recoiled is worth investing in, but you'll have to do some work to integrate any weird stuff. That's not too hard to do, but it's there. I'd go with Spellslinger if you want to just get playing, it has a decent amount of weird stuff already built in, though you'll be ignoring the various nonhumans.

If you're really ambitious, get both, and convert the Spellslinger brands into talent trees open to any basic class.