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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2009509" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Brad Mix, Staff Reviewer, d20 Magazine Rack This review is for Sidewinder: Wild West Adventure published by Citizen Games. The softbound book retails for $24.95 and is 191 pages including a character sheet. This is written by Eric A.M. Burns, W. Jason Peck, Geoff Spakes and W.B. ‘Bat’ Masterson. Since Bat Masterson is long since dead some of his writings about the Wild West are used. It is nice to see real material included. The book starts out by defining the “Code of the West.” The code was how you presented yourself and how others perceived you. A reputation as a great gunslinger could go a long way in actually avoiding a gunfight. Bushwhacking, or attacking by surprise, was actually looked down upon. A fair fight in the open street was the best way to handle a dispute. One of the first things you notice about Sidewinder is that alignment is not used at all. “At best, most deeds in the Wild West were shades of gray. Many people had a tendency to perform heroic acts one day and atrocious ones the next. Though not deemed evil, killing was a fact of every day life and was rarely given a second thought. Many hombres were outlaws on one territory and hired as lawmen in the next. Both heroes and outlaws alike tended to follow the Code of the West.” Professions are listed and are how most classes make their money. Bounty Hunter, Buffalo Hunter, Cowboy, Gambler, Hired Gun, Local Law, Outlaw, Scout, and Trapper. The Bounty Hunter hunted down outlaws for the reward. Often a dangerous line of work and a lot of travel is involved. Buffalo Hunter would ride the open plains, usually in groups, and kill the buffalo and sell them to merchants or Indians. Cowboys were the cattle drivers of the west. They spent many a week moving their herd to a big city to sell. The Gambler makes his living trying to beat the house at games of chance. Not the most stable profession around. A Hired Gun was usually hired to protect a herd of cattle of a stagecoach making its way to a new city. The Local Lawman had a tough job of keeping the peace when there were not many laws in place. The lawman would usually handle town drunks or go after cattle rustlers. The Outlaw made his money by stealing and cheating. Anything goes for the Outlaw. The Scout was a trailblazer into the West. Often times after a city was established he would go to the previous city and lead people to the next city, for a fee of course. Trappers made their way by hunting and selling the skins of animals to traders. Anyone can follow a particular profession for a while and decide to switch to something else. Most people in the west had several careers. The different classes available are: Maverick, Mountain Man, Rustler, Scout and Wrangler. The Maverick relies on quick wit and cunning to survive in the west. Tending to live on the edge by selling miracle ointment, or pick pocketing the Maverick is a skilled conman. The Mountain Man sets out to find the next gold vein or fur trapping opportunity. Rustlers often take jobs that no one else wants. They tend to be an ornery bunch and always lookout for themselves. Scouts as a class tend to be scouts as a profession as well. The Scout is adept at being outdoors and leading folks across the prairie. Wranglers are often found leading a cattle drive and have great skills in the saddle. The combination of class and profession allow for almost limitless possibilities. Some of the differences that you will notice are. Hit Dice are referred to as Grit Dice or Grit for short. The only race allowed is Human. Each class gets a Sidestep bonus. This is a bonus to AC and is not lost even if the character is flat footed. The special abilities are divided into Tier 1 and 2 abilities. These are gained every few levels and are addition to skills and feats that are also gained. Most of these are exclusive to a Wild West setting. Poker face allows for a +2 bonus to Bluff of Intimidation skill. Silver Tongue grants a +4 on all Bluff and Diplomacy skill checks. Mountain Stride allows a character to move through mountains or hilly terrain with out leaving a discernable trail to follow. Pistol Whip gives a +2 bonus to attack with the butt end of a pistol in melee combat. Chapter 2 details the prestige classes. They are Bounty Hunter, Brave, Desperado, Gunslinger, and Lawman. The Bounty Hunter devotes his skills to tracking quarry and collecting the reward. The special abilities that he gains are Hogtie, adds +8 to use rope skill check. Track Quarry gains a +2 check to all Bluff, Intimidation, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. Contacts adds the characters Bounty Hunter level to all Gather Information checks. Subdual Strike does not suffer the usual –4 penalty to attack rolls when trying to subdue an opponent. Weapon Shot does not let the target add his Sidestep bonus to AC. The Brave gains Feral Senses that allow for a +2 bonus to Listen, Spot, Search, and Wilderness Lore checks. Woodland Stride allows for normal movement through thorns, overgrown areas and briars without suffering damage. Trackless Step lets the Brave pass without leaving a trail. Tribal Chants add bonuses to morale, strength, and dexterity or cause Fear in an opponent depending which chant is used. The Desperado gains the special ability of being fearsome. His reputation has proceeded him and gains pluses to Bluff and intimidate checks. These pluses go up as the character goes up in level. The Ornery special ability allows for high tolerance for pain and damage reduction from all forms of attack. This ability cannot reduce the damage below 1 though. Clear Line allows the Desperado to ignore some cover if the target is hiding. The target is considered to have one less category of concealment. The Gunslinger gets Steel-Eyed and gains increasing bonuses to Intimidation checks as he goes up in level. Firearm Focus and Fire Arm Specialization allow for increased chances to hit an opponent when using a certain type of weapon. Lawman carry a badge an when showing it gain bonuses to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Intimidation checks. The coolest part of being a Lawman is the ability to form a posse. The number and levels of the posse members goes up with each level. The Shifty ability adds to the Sidestep bonus. Skills and feats that do not work the same as existing d20 games are detailed. Since there are no spells most of the spellcasting skills and feats are eliminated. Ones like Concentration have been adapted to fit the setting. New skills like, Demolition, Drive, Fast Draw and Gunplay are added. Chapter 4 explains what items are available and how much they cost. Everything is listed in US dollars for easy reference. Chapter 5 explains combat in the Wild West. Combat in Sidewinder is much deadlier than in most other games. This is due to the extreme damage of firearms. Characters that are caught flat-footed automatically suffer from a critical hit when hit. Normal damage is 2d6 for a critical. Some weapons allow this to be doubled for 4d6 damage from one shot. In addition to the damage suffered temporary Constitution can also be suffered. If the DC is failed 1-4 temporary Con damage is also inflicted. Anytime the Con becomes 0 the character dies no matter how many Grit points he has left. Recovery of the lost Con points, are at a rate of 1 per day. On the last day, when the last Con point would be regained, a new Fortitude check DC15 has to be made. If the save is failed the last point of Con damage becomes permanent reflecting a crippling or permanent injury. Attack roll modifiers are also listed. The one thing I would have liked to see in combat is where the bullet actually strikes. Say if it his the hand it would then cause a penalty to further attacks with that hand. The same with getting hit in the leg could cause a penalty to the Sidestep bonus. Chapter 6 deals with horses, mules and wagons and how the character gets around. A few critters are detailed as well. The mountain lion, wolf, wolverine, and viper are flushed out in detail. Chapter 7, Dodge City, is a city that is detailed that can be the start of a campaign. It includes all of the businesses and personalities of the town. Chapter 8 is an adventure set in Dodge City and is designed for 4-6 low level characters (2nd to 4th level). The party has a chance to settle a feud between rival families. The adventure requires a lot of roleplaying as the whole Sidewinder game does. The rest of the book details some NPC’s and includes a glossary for authentic western dialect. Words and phrases like Sam Hill (nickname for the devil) and Strong enough to float a Colt (Very strong coffee) are described. Using this glossary will add to the flavor of an adventure. Overall this is a well put together book with a lot of historical information that adds to the realism of the setting. Only 2 things are not open content, the text by Bat Masterson and the NPC character names. While this is original in terms of the gaming world, there are not a lot is western settings out there, there is not really anything new that cannot be found in a good history book or novel about that time period. A lot of roleplaying is required and actual combat is very limited. If this is the style that you like then you will like Sidewinder.To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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