Zombies & Cowboys

I had no idea this was
an actual movie.

Lord Gwyd's latest post discusses a homebrew game of "Cowboys versus Zombies" his buddy is running using the Star Frontiers rules. Regardless of any of the other issues discussed in the post, Star Frontiers may be one of the ugliest systems to try to model such a game (yes, yes...in my opinion, *ahem*)...especially considering there's already a great system for zombie shooting action: BOOT HILL.

Oh, wait, what's that you say? That Boot Hill doesn't have rules for zombies? Well, sheesh...why didn't you say so earlier. Here's some quick and dirty rules for getting your gunslingers involved in the usual "zombie apocalypse." Or as I like to refer to it (in this genre) the zombie hoedown!

Adventure module BH2: Lost Conquistador Mine provides rules for "dangerous animals," and I can't think of a single more dangerous animal than a walking corpse (well, maybe a bear...). An animal has a smaller (more compact) profile than a normal BH character, and a stumbling pile of dead meat should be little different:

STR (strength): 8-20
BS (base speed): 0
BCH (base chance to hit): 65%
DM (damage modifier): -10%
WM (wound modifier): special

Strength is determined normally as per the BH rules. Base speed is found by adding "slow" speed to "foolhardy" bravery modifiers. Chance to hit is based on the chance for a D&D zombie to strike an unarmored human (converting the D20 roll to percentile); for what it's worth, this would be the same chance of striking as a ghoul in D&D.

DM for dangerous animals is added to wound severity (a bear, for example is +20%, while a mountain lion is +0%). Dangerous as zombies might be, a dead human just doesn't have the same natural weapons as your average (man-hunting) wild animal. I prefer my zombies to be of the cannibalistic variety (though not necessarily "brain eaters") rather than the "bite-and-infect" type. If you opt for the latter, then any wound will be potentially deadly, and I'd recommend the time to "turn" being based on the severity of wound (a severe wound resulting in zombification after D5+1 turns and a light wound taking 2-3 times as long). In both cases, a mortal wound results in zombification one turn following death...the corpse gets up the round following its death and starts searching for victims.

WM for animals is normally the percentage added or subtracted when determining wound severity to the animal in question but zombies, being dead already, don't care much about being gut-shot. To reflect this all wounds the zombie receives are considered light wounds, regardless of location and severity rolled. The sole exception, or course, is the mortal head wound, which kills a zombie as dead as anyone else. A zombie reduced to zero strength by light wounds is in such a state of disrepair that it's been rendered ineffective as a killing machine.

Dynamite works well for this purpose (i.e. blowing zombies into small pieces).

Zombies may ONLY walk (movement six)...being dead, they count as having "other serious wounds;" they will still shuffle along as quickly as possible in order to get a taste of your cowpokes' sweet, sweet flesh. A zombie may have its legs shot out from under it (two or more severe leg wounds, keeping in mind they still only count as "light" towards a zombie's overall health); in this case, the zombie can only crawl towards its prey (movement two). Zombies probably shouldn't ride horses (who'll tend to shy away or bolt in their presence).

In all cases, I would use the optional Sharpshooting and Stunning rules found in Boot Hill: zombies can be stunned just like anyone else (especially when shot with a buffalo rifle) and sharpshooting heads will make your most accurate gunny invaluable to the posse.

Um...and that's about it. I had been planning on running my kids through some Boot Hill scenarios...maybe Range War or Ballots & Bullets or just the Battle of Northfield (included with the BH Referee's Screen). But now I'm thinking of doing my own take on Zombies & Cowboys: how much fun would Mad Mesa be with the Kane and McCoy factions coming back from the grave? Loads, of course. Imagine having to put down Skins MacGregor or Buckshot Blume...twice!

[I happen to own a lot of BH stuff, including modules BH1 through BH5]

Besides, the kids really dig zombies. They're always finding new ways to (pretend) fight them.
; )

Hot Buttered Brandy

Some folks been sayin': "Now, why don't he write?"

Sorry, folks...just got the latest blog report and saw my total views for the week dipped down under 1000 for the first time in, like, ever. Now part of that is I haven't even been checking it lately (I'm sure I usually account for a couple hundred views myself), but even so, it's the holiday season, and I'm sure there are folks on breaks or vacation or staying home sick from work (like me) who'd like a little bit o their blog entertainment to be up and running.

My apologies.

It's about 9pm at the Baranof...I was over at the Naked City earlier, eating probably the worst meatball sandwich in Seattle. Yes, that's saying something...I mean how can you mess up a meatball sammy? Sure, soggy-bun is always a buzz-kill but that's a usual pitfall of the mbs...what makes it the worst? Some sort of goddamn whole wheat hoagie roll, that's what...it just doesn't jibe with the marinara sauce (which is pretty bad, too). And, just by the way, I should mention that I am an f'ing connoisseur of meatball sandwiches. I can tell you, for instance, that the BEST can be found at Salumi's in downtown Seattle, and that Tat's is probably #2. Naked City's meatball? It's dogshit. Subway's is better.

And yet this is the second time I've eaten it. Why? 'Cause Thursday night I can watch a badass Fred Astaire film (in this case, Silk Stockings) on one screen while catching the Thursday night NFL game (Atlanta versus the Saints) on the other, all while drinking a tasty little IPA called Mjolnir which (need I say) kicks you in the head like the proverbial hammer of legend. They only serve it in schooners, and I had two.

Anyhoo, now I'm over at the Baranof with its Twinkie-decorated Christmas tree, and its life-sized Father Christmas doll. I was in here, what, three days ago? (Monday) and they had no X-mas decor and now it looks like the Baby Jesus exploded all over this place with Frosty and Santa and gingerbread-hung boughs of holly. Ho-ho-hell if I know how they can do such a quick turnaround AND keep the tireless drunks from dirtying the floor, but man they do a good job. AND their corn beef hash is pretty good.

I am drinking a hot-buttered brandy on the advice of my medical doctor (well, actually, he suggested a hot toddy, but that's just whiskey in water and my doc is an old geezer of a quack anyway). Seems I have bronchitis and an upper respiratory infection (again), and I figured I'd hit the bar rather than drink the codeine cough syrup I received for my visit ($1.50...my insurance company loves to come through on the prescription narcotics, but holistic medicine and massage? Bupkis).

Which is, by the way, exactly the number of people that showed for my play-test tonight: bupkis, i.e. zero.

Am I irritated by this? Eh...yes. But not for the usual reasons. I am irritated because I am going to be out-o-town most of the coming month (D.C. and Mexico) or out-o-commission (single parent duty), and the ONLY reason I bothered dragging my sick ass out to the bar is because I had this particular Thursday free AND I really wanted to do some play-testing.

Because I've got a new book.

I'll bet you folks didn't knot THAT now, did ya'? You probably thought I was off doing something exciting or family-oriented the last several weeks or that even (*shudder*) I'd reached a point of disenchantment with the whole blog-thang or OSR-thang or even RPG-thang. No, non, and nope.

[ooo-ooo...they just started karaoke-ing "Jingle Bell Rock!" It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas up in here!]

Round about my birthday (back on the 13th...I turned 39 years young and let me tell you I've got some blog-posts planned about that whole "gettin' old" thang...one o these days)...*AHEM*...back around my birthday I had a free day to myself and I started writing a new book. A compromise of a couple concepts both requested and (on my part) semi-promised. Rather than keep y'all in suspense...or guessing...I'll give you the skinny here and now: I'm writing a supplement for Dave Bezio's X-Plorers. 

Now, before folks start whining "another supplement, JB? When are you going to publish your own damn standalone game?!" allow me to first remind people that A) I DO have a standalone game ready for publishing save for the illustrations, but I'm hoping to publish it hardcover in collaboration with an actual publisher/distributor, and B) so fucking what? Here's the deal:

[and I'll elaborate on some of this in a later post, too]

If there's one thing I learned from the Indie-RPG movement, it was this: don't bother doing shit when it's already been done before. Now, yes, this doesn't apply to D&D (that's the part of the equation that requires elaboration on my part), BUT for other games, it's a good rule-of-thumb. For example:

Once upon a time, I was writing a game with a system that looked an awful lot like 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars. But then 3:16 got published. Now, what would be the point of publishing a second game...with a very similar theme and a very similar system...when one was already on the market? A point of pride? Trying to divide "market share?" Because my "fluff" was "better?"

No, those are all retarded reasons. The point of game writing is (near as I can figure) to put out good, fun games for people to play. It's not to get rich or even make much (or any) money...it's about seeing an empty hole in the game arena and plugging something in. 

Why have I not bothered to design a western game? Because no one would buy or play such a thing? NO. Someone would buy and play it (I would, and I'm not a TOTAL weirdo). But I've already got Boot Hill...and while I have picked up and purchased a couple other western RPGs (and, no, NOT just "weird west" RPGs), none of 'em are as good as BH. I'd like to snag a copy of Dust Devils because it represents a different way to "play western" (one-off, high drama, narrative premise), but for long term campaign play (such as it is in a lead-slinging universe) Boot Hill's your huckleberry.

SO... Dave Bezio's little piece of solid gold. X-Plorers is a great "base chassis" for what I've long said I was going to do: write a B/X space opera game that allowed the modeling of Star Wars-like adventures. And why do I feel the need to make a Star Wars-ish game when there've been so many different versions of SW on the market? Because they've all sucked shit. Or rather, despite beautiful presentations, or adequately stated themes, or wonderfully balanced combat systems, they've failed to provide adequate game-play that I could wholly throw my weight of approval behind.

And let me tell you...I've got some weight. I was at the doctor today and I can attest I've got more than my required extra winter poundage.

So it's been a project I've been working on for a few years now, generally in the form of copious notes and spreadsheets attempting to adequately balance playability (lack of crunch) with a modeling of the space opera cinema and some good ol' fashion weirdness thrown in for good measure. BUT it had never reached a point of real playability...too many parts didn't jibe with others, too many things didn't fit or make sense from a design POV...and here's the thing about taking the arrogant attitude I've taken on the issue: if you're going to bitch about other peoples' game designs, then you better DAMN WELL do it right and not have any bitches or gripes about your own work.

I kept running up against that. It's why I moved away from B/X entirely for my space opera system.

SO...X-Plorers. As I wrote in my earlier post, this game reminds me of a (better) "light" version of Star Frontiers...minus the standard six-pack (five-pack?) of alien races from TSR's space opera opus. And much of it is remarkably similar to what I, myself, was trying to do when I was still working with B/X (B/X itself derived from OD&D which, along with S&W is the basis for Bezio's game). Accept Bezio did me two better:

1) He finished parts that I'd struggled with, including starship combat and advancement. He did this in a way that I find inadequate (especially regarding "XP for missions;" hey, how 'bout some guidelines? anything?), but he still DID something. 
2) He typed it all up.

So, since he was kind enough to include an OGL and give tacit approval for supplements based on his game, I took all those notes I've had from the last couple-three years and started typing them up as a setting-specific space opera supplement for X-Plorers. You want B/X Star Wars? I'm gonna' give you an add-on for your easy-to-use, streamlined X-Plorers game that will allow you to swing a laser sword and flourish your cape while waging galactic war against an evil star system-spanning empire.

Sound good? 

I sure hope it does, 'cause I'm nearly finished. X-Plorers is under 40 pages long and I'm trying to keep my supplement to the same length or so, if possible. Last page count was 38 pages (as I said, this is what I've been doing with my time since November 13th)...but that's unformatted and without illustrations. I'll be scaling down the font and adding columns and such to get the page count down. I'll let you know how that goes.

Okay. It's 10pm...time to head for home. I am sick, after all.

: )

Thursday Night Gunfight

Welp, Heron (the Iron Goat) was back last night for our Thursday night Baranof game, but Randy and Matt were both gone (along with Luke and Dave...still) so we only had four players at the table. This time, I gave 'em a choice between FOUR games:

D&D (Goblin War or one-off)

Top Secret

Star Frontiers (my own space opera game not being ready for play-testing)

Boot Hill

They opted (unanimously, I might add) for Boot Hill.

Vince actually showed up late to the party, so the other three had already decided on Boot Hill before he got there. His reaction? "Awesome! That game rocks!"

Having put together an adventure idea over dinner with my wife that evening (well, really, I had her design the scenario), I was actually more-or-less prepared for the session, using the NPC stats from "Promise City" in the basic game. Fortunately it wasn't long before lead was flying (knives, too), and while Vince's crazy Mexican, Machete, was killed everyone else made out like (figurative) bandits...including Vince's 2nd character (and you thought B/X D&D was quick to roll up a character...chargen in Boot Hill takes half the time or less!).

At the end of the session, we decided that the characters would be kept and saved for future sessions when we were "light" on players. Love it.

Asking AB (who was much more sober this evening than last Thursday) what he found appealing about BH: "Well, besides being fun, it is very simple and yet realistic...if you get shot with a bullet you're hurting and if you get shot twice, you're probably dead." This latter was seen as a feature of the game, though the quick and simple character generation is necessary to achieve that feeling (who would find it fun to be blown away in a game when chargen takes an hour plus? Sorry, Deadlands...).

Heron pointed out that as kids, his friend had used the Boot Hill "system" (!!) to run a variety of different genre games, including post-apocalyptic Road Warrior scenarios. When you consider what it is, you can see that BH is actually an excellent vehicle (pardon the pun) for such settings, provided you don't mind modeling car chases with stagecoach rules. A stream-lined, deadly combat game it is decidedly "old school" in the amount of extra richness that needs to be negotiated between GM and players...but that's part of the fun.

AND the "challenge;" Boot Hill is decidedly a "challenge the player, not the stat-line" game. Last week Matthew's "Deadeye" character (with the maximum possible accuracy) was gunned down in a fight with guys well below his stature. This week his much-less-than-optimal character managed to survive (and line his pockets) against a group of much better shoot-fighters. How'd they manage that? By setting up an ambush/turkey shoot and blowing the bad hombres all to hell...and then later negotiating with the last bandito to surrender without a single shot being fired. Afterwards, Matthew remarked that he felt a real sense of accomplishment from having survived a session where practically the whole point can appear to be "how fast will my character get wasted?"

Pretty good for a "one-off" game.

It's fairly obvious I haven't seen the last of Boot Hill...I sure am glad I've kept it all these years. Maybe we'll run the Ballots and Bullets campaign (from module BH4) when the rest of the guys get back...I know they're itching to plug each other, too...and what better reason does one need than political differences? I can already see some players are going to gravitate towards different factions in the election...that will be a hoot!

All right...back to bed.

: )