Wild, Wild West? Sidewinder vs spellslinger vs deadlandsd20?

[QuaziquestGM]

Hi,
I'm considering running a Western stlye game and have been obtaining rulesets for doing so.
Thus far I have found Sidewinder Recoiled, Deadlands d20, and Spellslinger by horizon. I have also seen the BroncoSarus Rex book, but have not read it.

I haven't decided on the proper mix of "Realism" and "Fantasy" to use for the campaign. My toughts vary from low magic "CoC Wildwest" to mid magic "DnD Wildwest". What ever the case, I do want a gnome playing the piano during the bar brawl.

I'm also not sure if I will be starting the game from scratch "in period" or keeping the campaige as "plan B" for the next time the PC's in a Dnd game do something stupid like forgetting to not put their Portable Hole into their Bag of Holding, or exploring unlabled Teleportation Portals, or deliberatly underpaying their Vistanti Guide on a trip through the Mists.....

What I am looking for is a comparison of the various "Western" suppliments with an eye to what part of each can safely be mixed, and advice for creating cocktails for various gamestyles.

My resources for building the campaign include the above mentioned books, as well as most D&D 3.5 books, CoC D20, d20 Modern, Unearthed Arcana, Arcana Unearthed, Oriental Adventures....and if I want to go really wierd...Hackmaster, EverQuest d20, Soverign Stone setting and Monster Manual, Codex of Erde, Metamorphasis Alpha, Sundered Reaches, and the original Gamma World. (though keeping track of ammo in the 6 gun, Sanity, taint, mana, spell slots, spell DCs, radiation damage, mutations, and poker chips seems a tad much for the bookkeeping)

Of these, the only one that I am really looking for feedback on mixing with a Western game is the Soverign Stone stuff, mostly for the Pecwae and perhaps the Magic system. I don't imagin the Mage winning the quick draw, put I do imagin his gunfighter friends trying to keep him alive long enough to get off his spell.

Anyway, thoughts? (tangets appreciated)

 

[Angel Tarragon]

If you are looking to run Wild, Wild West as per the show, I'd reccomend Recoiled.

If you are looking to run Wild, Wild West as per the movie, I'd reccomend D20 Modern + Past + Cyberscape. Use some ideas from cyberscape and steamtech 'em.

 

[Herobizkit]

I've read (but not used) Sidewinder: Recoiled. It can be used stand-alone, meaning you don't have to have any other book to run the setting, and is a decent recreation of the hard "facts" of the Wild West. Using the rules therein can help you recreate a realistic Wild West using the d20 Modern engine. Its magic level is virtually non-existant, so you might consider altering some Urban Arcana folks to fit in, or check out d20 Past for the d20 Modern version of the Druid (called the Shaman in that text).

 

[Committed Hero]

If you don't mind widening the search of potential books, I would say OGL Steampunk is the best fit. Rules for gadgets, psychic powers, and it is within the timeframe of the period. You can always get historical information from a library.

 

[Stormborn]

I think Spellslinger is an excelent product for a lower magic fantasy wild west game. I don't know if I would use the setting exactly as is, however, but I like it over all for style and flavor.

On the other hand, if you were going for a little more gritty fantasy I would suggest a d20 Modern based game with possibly CoC d20 magic. Or just go Grim Tales.

 

[QuaziquestGM]

I'm not falmiure with Grim. I've played mostly 3.5. I've played CoC d20 for a short campaign and d20 modern once for a campaign where the GM suddenly moved to N Orleans after the first game...(wonder what happened to him?)...and the action points never really came up. I've played Eberron, and the action points were mostly used for attempted and countering PC vs PC assasinations (the Worlock and the OA Shaman did not get along and the Worlock had a bad habit of blasting away at Animal Companions and killing the NPCs that the more diplomatic Vacara had just talked into surrendeing..during a priate game...Goule Touch, Spash!!!) I've played in a StarWars game where the Force points were used to good effect by the players, when they remembered that they had them. (which reminds me, Kushibon would make a great race for a Western game...Ricoche Rabbit anyone?)

Any warnings on adjusting to action points in a westen setting game for a GM/player not really used to them?

As you can probably guess, I like a mix of Grit and Slapstick in my games. In this case I'm not too worried about matching Hollywood Cienmatic Western as most of my players haven't watched many westerns, so most of the references would be lost on them.

Also, I was just using Wild Wild West in the generic sence, not in reference to the series or movie.

 

[Flynn]

Second Vote For Grim Tales...

Personally, I would have to second the suggestion to use Grim Tales by Bad Axe Games. Using it, you could easily accomplish what you are looking for, as stated above, and I think you'd find it a very enjoyable system for a low-magic campaign.

http://www.badaxegames.com/html/products/grim_tales/index.html

Hope this helps,
Flynn

 

[yojimbouk]

If you want D&D Wild West I suggest Spellslinger which is exactly that. It's based on the SRD rather than the Modern SRD. However, conversion to Modern should be pretty easy.

Otherwise, I'd suggest Sidewinder Recoiled which is the best plain Wild West d20 treatment and is based on d20 Modern.

Grim Tales is a good for low magic d20 games. However, there is very little explicit support for the Western genre in the rulebook. It's become a knee-jerk reaction on this forum to recommend Grim Tales for anything.

Jim.

 

[Henry]

Grim Tales is a good for low magic d20 games. However, there is very little explicit support for the Western genre in the rulebook. It's become a knee-jerk reaction on this forum to recommend Grim Tales for anything.

<jerk><jerk> Darn it Old One, quit with that scapula!

Ironically, I was toying with the very idea of a Western game based on Grim Tales only a week ago. If you're willing to kitbash, Grim Tales is a good base to start from, but IMO it's rules even on the most lenient level (one skull as opposed to all three) are lightly cinematic, more Tom Clancy than John Woo.

I've even debated using Spycraft 2 for an over the top Wild West, but after a week of toying, I figured I'd have to rewrite the classes too much (ESPECIALLY the Wheelman) to keep them from losing too much in the conversion. A Soldier would lose none of his, whereas a Snoop would be positively gutted, a Wheelman would be underpowered, and a Hacker would be nonexistant, so I scrubbed that. I've considered taking some of the coolest Spycraft 2 feats and incorporating them into GT, but the very thing that makes them cool makes them too over the top for Grim Tales.

If you want more "wild & wahoo" western action, then another rules set might be appropriate - again, Sidewinder: Recoiled is the only one I've heard of myself, but what I've heard makes me think you could use it whole cloth.

 

[Pbartender]

I've even debated using Spycraft 2 for an over the top Wild West, but after a week of toying, I figured I'd have to rewrite the classes too much (ESPECIALLY the Wheelman) to keep them from losing too much in the conversion. A Soldier would lose none of his, whereas a Snoop would be positively gutted, a Wheelman would be underpowered, and a Hacker would be nonexistant, so I scrubbed that. I've considered taking some of the coolest Spycraft 2 feats and incorporating them into GT, but the very thing that makes them cool makes them too over the top for Grim Tales.

I ran a Wild Wild West adventure using Spycraft 2.0 during the last Chicago Gameday.

It worked well enough, but you're right... I had to pick classes and gear very, very carefully (or re-explain them very, very carefully... Three doses of anti-fatigue pills? -- that's now a jug of moonshine!) for the pre-generated characters.

The Advocate, Explorer, Faceman, Intruder, Pointman, Scientist, Scout and Soldier could all be played as-is. The others would all have to be modified to one degree or another, since they rely so heavily on advanced technology.