Boot Hill - Wild West Role-Playing Game (Third Edition) is fifty years old counting from the first edition. It evolved from a mostly miniature based combat simulator into a full-fledged RPG with a breadth of adventures, from range wars to ballots boxes, some of which still hold up and are well worth running. The third edition of Boot Hill contains a more robust set of RPG mechanics to go with shootouts and other physical challenges.
Who Are the Player Characters?
Boot Hill does not define who characters are but what they do. Therefore, any human being from anywhere in the world present in the Wild West could be a player character. Boot Hill defines the American Wild West as running from 1848, when gold was discovered in California, to 1912 when the final territories became states and shut down the frontier.What Adventures Do the PCs Embark On?
Broadly, Boot Hill defines 57 work skills and five weapon skills. The work skills range from thief skills to wilderness skills to knowledge of Cow Handling, the Fast Draw, Medicine, Wrangling, and many more. Skills are roll under using a d20 with combat skills having a different set of in depth rules.Specifically, PCs earn experience points in order of value for: surviving a gunfight, bringing a criminal to justice, winning a brawl, coming up with a brilliant idea that saves the day or resolves an adventure, using a work skill, and simply playing the game. While combat may net the most experience points it is also the most dangerous, so many PCs may spend plenty of time thinking their way out of trouble and working using their work skills which in turn will generate further adventures.
The game covers shootouts, brawling, and explosives in detail along with horse riding and horse quality. It covers an esoteric ranges of other topics like safe cracking, bronc busting, and gambling.
GM Tools: NPCs
Multiple NPCs are detailed including 11 pages of game states in table format for both fictional NPCs and historical NPCs. NPCs have a surprising amount of detail to guide GMs. Each NPC has two optional attributes: Bravery and Greed. Each is rolled when an NPC’s reaction to fear and stress or a chance at self-interest are tested respectively. This addition takes a bit of stress off of the GM trying to make decision after decision for a variety of NPCs and can serve either as a guide or a final decision maker. NPC reactions to PCs receives quite a bit of detail, again helping guide the GM to resolving various encounters.GM Tools: The Western Campaign
Because bringing criminals to justice nets XP, the GM is provided with details on frontier justice including vigilantes, posses, loot (for robberies), and rewards for bringing in the bad guys. GMs also get rules for healing, intoxication, the cost of living including rations, and how to use a campaign map for tracking movement. A random encounter table for use with traveling is included.Two possible campaigns are discussed along with several campaign seeds. There is a brief discussion on bringing in horror elements into a campaign. A bibliography, glossary, main street map, and large town map round things out.
With details on a larger setting with a map, a town with a map, NPCs including statistics and possible reactions, and various adventure seeds and encounters a GM is well supported to run a Wild West campaign.
Boot Hill: Is It Still Worth Getting?
Boot Hill as print on demand with PDF costs $18.99. It covers an entire game system and the bare bones of setting with maps and encounters. It includes well-tested roll under skills, combat (including shooting and brawling), nearly 60 job-related skills, robust NPCs, horses, an adventure, and campaign information including maps. If you want to run the Wild West, then yes it is an outstanding value.For being decades old, Boot Hill is surprisingly well-designed. The things PCs can do to earn XP are well covered with rules. Roll under using a d20 systems are still going strong today and the combat rules are well detailed. The GM has plenty of support and a robust system for portraying and running NPCs. There are even maps included. While this RPG Archive article doesn’t have the space to cover the five available adventures, a GM would be well supported for running political shenanigans with BH3: Ballots & Bullets, a range war using BH5: Range War!, or a more D&D-esque wilderness and mine crawl in BH2: Lost Conquistador Mine. And if you can snag a copy of the actual boxed set itself, you get a poster town map and wilderness setting along with tiny punch out cardboard chits of PCs and NPCs to use on the town map along with a GM screen.
Highly recommended.
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