RPG Blog Carnival: Mining Genres for a Campaign (part 2)

Here's my 2nd RPG Blog Carnival post on campaign prep. This one is about mining a specific property, as I'll tackle mining a sub-genre in a subsequent post.

I've occasionally posted about inspirations for campaign ideas, but the most developed analysis that I did of a specific property to date was with the comic book The Sixth Gun.


In this series of posts, I do several things:

In Inspiration: The Sixth Gun, I post in general about the property to give some background about it, and why I want to tackle it for the purposes of changing the tone of a fantasy RPG setting or inspiration;

In Mining the Sixth Gun: Weapons of Dark Purpose, I talk about the big McGuffins of the series -- the Guns -- and how they're applicable to a fantasy setting with slightly adjustments to the existents;

In Mining the Sixth Gun: Monstrous Men, I talk about the type of opposition that PCs can expect to confront, as seen in the comic, and as might be seen in the campaign;

In Mining the Sixth Gun: The Strange and the Familiar, I talk about how the rest of the world feels, what other difficulties might arise when PCs trying to achieve their goals, and what kind of visuals and elements might reinforce the desired tone.

In Mining the Sixth Gun: Friends and Posses, I talk about how the concept of friendship and adventuring groups can be given a different spin, in the light of the weird western.

Admittedly, I could have gone on -- just as the series did -- but I felt I'd tackled enough for the purposes of giving my fantasy RPG campaign a different feel, a western feel different from the typical hack & slash.

On The Radar: Far West -- Weird and Wild

Far West is a different take on the Weird West. I've been seeing this come up for a while now, so I thought I'd put up a quick post on it.

According to the Far West site, here's the premise of the game:

Imagine: A fantasy world, but not one based on Medieval/Dark Ages European culture and myth, but rather one based on the tropes of the Spaghetti Western and Chinese Wuxia. Add steampunk elements. Mix well.

A fantasy world that’s The Gunslinger meets Storm Riders meets Deadwood meets Afro Samurai meets The Wild Wild West meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Django meets Brisco County meets House of Flying Daggers and more.

A fantasy world that’s explored through a constantly-updated website, a tabletop role-playing game, a web series, artwork, fiction, comics and much, much, more. A fantasy world that is shaped by its own fan community.

This is Far West.

The set up is interesting, not only because I like a lot of the inspirations of the game, but also because it evokes a slight feel of Firefly / Serenity with its mix of Eastern elements into the West, and because it is posited as a fantasy world -- sort of  like a small kitchen sink setting that spans many subgenres.

There are some interesting posts on several clans (The Jade Family, The Rangers, The Preachers, The Foxglove Society)  in the game setting, and more material on their website. Do take a look.

Armchair Reviews: Devil's Gulch for the BRP system

I posted a quick listing of various Western RPG books a while back, but here's another one that just recently came out for the Basic Role-Playing System.

Devil's Gulch does double-duty as both a setting book and a genre sourcebook, and given a page count of only 92 pages, that's a tall order.

It delivers both, sufficient to kick off a short Western campaign set in Devil's Gulch for a while.

On the genre sourcebook end, it provides an all important one-page listing of various aspects of the 'Code of the West' in the Old West -- measure a man by what he is today, not by his past; never try on another man's hat; give your enemy a fighting chance, etc. It's great at evoking a real sense of the times and climes of that almost mythic era.

It also gives various character professions that add on to the other more normal (time-period appropriate) professions for the era -- with a particular 'weird west' bent to them. I particularly like the snake oil hustler and the hexmaster, though the medicine man is also a welcome inclusion as well.

As a setting sourcebook, it gives a respectable number of locations in Devil's Gulch that are easily extractable to your own setting if you wish. Each location has a map, a statted-out NPC or two if appropriate, and a short but detailed description of what if found within, along with telling details that reinforce the western feel of the setting. I enjoyed little things like the lists of supplies that can be found in the general store, and how easy fires can be started in the dry, almost-entirely-made-from-wood buildings of Devil's Gulch.

The NPCs are also memorable, worthy of stealing from when looking for a random NPC walking the streets to liven up the session.

That interior art is consistent and distinctive. It's not really a photorealistic approach, but a moody, evocative, slightly cartoony feel -- kind of like the art in the Weird Western comic book The Sixth Gun and the art in Alan Moore's League of Extra-Ordinary Gentlemen -- that captures and evokes the weird western feel quite well.

If you're looking for something to expand your Weird West collection of materials, or have been hankering to run a Weird West campaign using the BRP system, this would be a fine addition to your sourcebooks.

I really wish there could be more, but in a market that may not have that much call for too many Weird Western books, this is a strong entry to test the waters with. Hopefully folks will buy it -- especially at the current less than $10 price.

If you want to look at a series of posts I did on the comic book I mentioned above (The Sixth Gun) and what things can be mined from its pages, here are the links:

Inspiration: The Sixth Gun
Mining the Sixth Gun: Weapons of Dark Purpose
Mining the Sixth Gun: Monstrous Men
Mining the Sixth Gun: The Strange and the Familiar
Mining the Sixth Gun: Friends and Posses

Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part IV -- Cowboys and Victorians

So, here we are just about to hit the modern era of the Hero Universe. The past three installments can be found here...

Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part I -- Pre-Cataclysm
Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part II -- Post-Cataclysm to the Medieval Era
Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part III -- Musketeers, Pirates, and Revolutions

... and we still have quite a ways to go. No time to dawdle then! On to Leagues of Extraordinary Gentlepersons and Blazing Saddles!

Victorian Hero (1837 to 1910)

A page from Bernie Wrightson's awe-inspiring masterwork: Frankenstein.
His linework and visual interpretation of the novel goes a long way to
evoking the feel of the era and the story. The resoluteness of Frankenstein
and the power and savage strength of his monster are so vivid here.

A fine time for adventures, beginning with Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne and the invention of the cartridge. Encompasses great explorations, gold rushes, frontiers, the American Civil War, lost lands, darkest Africa, strange forbidden magics, Frankenstein, the Mummy, Dracula, Fu Manchu, Sherlock Holmes, Captain Nemo, and more. Hudson City is a hustling, bustling center of commerce and culture, second only to New York City in the Americas.

As yet, no “superheroes” exist, but there are “masked adventurers” from time to time, and many more who are not masked. Toward the end of this period some people begin to verge, albeit slightly, toward true “superpowers”; this is best seen in Hawley Griffith, the so-called “Invisible Man,” and Dr. Jekyll. The presence of “steampunk” weird science is also possible.

For influence and ideas, see the works of Haggard, Doyle, Verne, Stoker, and Wells.


Note: This era has blossomed into many different types of genre variants and pastiches for gaming. In addition to Steampunk and Faeriepunk (Castle Falkenstein, I'm looking at you), Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels really opened the eyes of many people to the wonders of adventuring in a world where elements of fiction set in the era are/were true. Of course, fans of the work of Jules Verne were sold on the idea long before.

Western Hero (1866 to 1890)

The Wild West, an era of gunfighters, Indians, lawmen, outlaws, gamblers, saloon gals, and trains. Some magical or strange elements — shamanic magic, steampunk science, vampires — could also exist.

I was never able to collect all the graphic novels of Lucky Luke, unlike my Tintin and Asterix collections.
But the man who shoots faster than his own shadow has a certain charm that I wish I'd been able to complete.

Note: well, heck. This is a genre that also has tons of source material for it in various media. My fascination for it on this blog has tackled Western RPGs, an ongoing weird west comic known as The Sixth Gun, and my strangely popular post on a seminal Filipino Western movie. Like many of the eras in the timeline, this era deserves a sourcebook on its own -- and this is the strength of the Hero Universe: the ability to provide a broad canvas for nearly of all the heroic eras in a single timeline.

Western RPGs (Weird and Otherwise)

First up is Roberson Games' Weird West which, at the time of this writing, seems to be battling with Cthonian Stars as RPGNow's top-selling product. Which could be because it's priced at $1, in addition to the somewhat niche genre positioning -- not just a Western RPG, but a Weird Western RPG. Hopefully good for games involving strangeness and horror in the Wild West.

Or even Science Fiction and comedy ala Brisco County, Jr. and the original Wild Wild West TV show.

I'm not really sure about the quality, so will have to do a bit of review reading and scouring the web for any reviews or website previews on the content.

The cover art is of interest, but not enough to make me jump yet. Game mechanisms seem to be on the light side, if the game description is to be believed.

Western City is of interest to me primarily because it's published by RedBrick, who has taken on RPG properties like Fading Suns, Earthdawn, and Blue Planet; all of which have my interest as well. Hoping that their taste in quality settings is sustained here.

Wild West Cinema caught my attention because it's quite obviously an RPG focused on a non-historical western setting, and one geared towards replicating the setting and feel of the spaghetti western. This is of particular interest as well, because -- in my youth -- I was quite taken not only by American Westerns and these spaghetti westerns, but also by local Philippine westerns -- hats, guns, and horses in places that seem to include both jungle scenery and deserts for their backdrops. One of my first published short stories, "Gunsaddled", was essentially a weird western set in a Philippine-inspired setting.

I'd be remiss in my duties if didn't mention the ultra-mega-mega-weird-western RPG in the industry: Deadlands. I've never picked it up before for a somewhat superficial reason: I didn't feel the art matched my view of a western, no matter how weird. It always seemed a bit stylized, and not gritty enough. Perhaps this is because of my personal tastes and views on western art (that until I began writing this paragraph, I didn't know I had).

Or perhaps because it felt like it might be too weird for my tastes?

Now, however, it's time to take a look at the the offering squarely to see what it has to offer.

The RPG Gunslingers and Gamblers is one that I did purchase, and it's chock full of western historical and genre source material, lots of excellent (and I think public domain) western art that all seem to be paintings.

As an aside, this is my preferred aesthetic for western art, in addition to the semi-realistic art for the comic the 6th Gun, and the Tim Bradstreet approach to some characters in Shadowrun -- so this may color my appreciation quite a bit.
It also reminded me of another RPG whose name escapes me now -- and I'm not sure why. It had a fantastic gunslinging mechanic: to-hit + hit location + initiative all in one roll. Name escapes me now, alas -- it was back in high school that I played it, so it was probably lost in the mess of RPGs that came out in the 80s. I think it was called Desperados.

From Gold Rush Games, who made one of the definitive feudal Japan RPGs (the award-winning Sengoku), came Gunslingers: Wild West Action. As a fan of Sengoku and the City of San Angelo, I'm eager to see the rich source material and playable setting that I've come to expect from them.

From Mongoose, OGL Wild West has piqued my curiosity, but the price point is holding me back.

Last but not least, Simon Washbourne's Go Fer Yer Gun! is also on the potential reading list. At $2.50 and inspired by the SIEGE engine of Castles & Crusades, it's a steal!

I'm sure there a plenty of other books out there -- but all these ones appear to have electronic versions on RPGnow. Given my preference now for ebooks and online purchase (and instant gratification), they're the priority.

Mining the 6th Gun: Friends and Posses

I suppose one of the strongest reasons to adopt the elements of the Weird Western setting is the way it deals with friends and parties of adventurers.

Posses

A sheriff can call together a group of people to aid in law enforcement. Presumably, this little legal (and cultural) practice -- along with the concept of closeness to the people you ride with -- doesn't strain credulity when a party needs to be formed for various expeditions.

On the frontier, it's not like there loads of people. Sometimes you gotta settle for that shifty, but surefooted guy who's Billy's friend or Sally's brother -- because there ain't no other people skilled enough to bring. And sometimes you build up a professional closeness to people you don't like, because you ride with them.

And it's not just the PCs either. Other groups of people -- perhaps people who all served under a leader during a war -- would ultimately gravitate together to carve out their own lives in the shadow of the growing power of the 'nation' along the frontier.

Friends

Of course, friendship is key to a lot of westerns. It's hard to force into the natural flow of a typical adventure, but true friendship is often tested in all the westerns -- sometimes against trials, sometimes against principles -- and it's a solid reason to build ties between characters AND to perhaps bring them back from the dead.

It's not just in the 6th Gun. It was a key motif in the movie Tombstone between Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) and Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell).

Friendship is a reason to risk your life, to question what you believe in, and -- yes -- it's definitely a reason for revenge.

And while we're on the subject: here's to true friends everywhere.

Mining the 6th Gun: The Strange and the Familiar

Because we're looking at the weird western as an inspiration, it may help us reformulate our views of the traditional fantasy setting in comparison to it.

Humanoid Tribes

Most generic campaigns have hordes of goblins, orcs, and kobolds running around in clans making some folks wonder why they don't just overrun the nearby civilizations. Westerns in general give us an answer: Native American tribes and rival gangs of outlaws (organized or not). Sure, some of them worked together -- but often times they did not, and even fought against one another, allowing some (but not all) towns and villages to survive and even thrive as the various military and civilian bastions of civilization eventually extended their influence.

It even allows us to showcase these non-human races in a sympathetic light, while retaining that "otherness" essential to a weird western. They can even drop hints about some dangers that strangers to their lands are unaware of.

Of course, this has been done before in a number of supplements. But it may help to keep in mind the historical roots and genre tropes for a good grasp of what to do in unusual situations.

Creatures Fierce and Fantastic 

Some of these dangers are traditional fantasy creatures, twisted to fit the western setting. The 6th Gun has animated skeletons, earth golems, gryphons, werewolves, and loa but tweaked to fit western sensibilities.

The skeletons are resurrected from the graves of dead soldiers and fortune seekers, the earth golems are animated by the souls of those killed by one of the gun artifacts, werewolves are mentioned in passing, while loa (and the bokors that serve them) are given more significance.

Of course, my favorite treatment was of the Lightning Gryphon as a dangerous hazard along a deadly path -- and hinted at as an inspiration for the Native American myth of the Thunderbirds. Much like the meme earlier this year about a fresh take on old monsters, mashing up D&D monsters with the old West can surprise and reinvigorate well-worn monster tropes.

Mining the 6th Gun: Monstrous Men

It's actually quite easy to handle the classic trope of encountering 'opponents of increasing toughness' in this genre, though you don't have to be ultra-predictable.

With the assumption that you and your adventuring party have come into possession of one of more of these cursedly powerful weapons, there is one binding core motivation of your human (and near-human) opponents: they want the guns (or whatever form these weapons have taken in your campaign).

Hired Goons

These are the hired help, who are tasked with killing the current keepers of the weapons. They're capable of wielding weaponry, but aren't necessarily that skilled, cunning, or courageous. And they tend to get mowed down quite a bit by the PCs.

Hired Guns

These are professionals who serve the big boss (or one of his lieutenants). They are considered exceptional in some way, and perhaps have some renown in one particular skill or in a particular area.

However these guys -- while capable and reliable -- can still get killed. They're also nowhere near as dangerous as the higher-ups in the food chain. They're most dangerous as canny and cautious, and very skilled at finding out information that is passed on to their masters.

Wildcards

You can consider these jokers to play in the range of power level between the Hired Guns and the Lieutenants. Normally loners, but possessed of a unique set of skills, they are placed in the adventure to act as foils to the PCs. They can help or hinder them, and may in fact do both because they are after the guns not because they want them for themselves, but because they wish to profit from the acquisition (either by selling the guns or trading them with others for favors).

Needless to say, they tend to meet their just rewards if they ultimately choose the less virtuous path.


Lieutenants

These are the right-hand men (and women) of the big boss. They have special abilities that set them apart from most mortals, such as being tougher and capable of dealing greater damage to opponents.

They may still have some character flaws, but are seldom struck by outright cowardice -- and even if they are, they are tempted to stay or hide and double-back when fortunes favor them due to a streak of pure malice.

The Big Boss

Driven, Fearless, Powerful, Cunning, and Charismatic. That's the big boss. Capable of holding and commanding the loyalty of a small band of villains and cutthroats of consummate skill in his thrall, and possessed of big plans for the guns and the rewards that they promise.

Taking him down is never easy -- and he never seems to stay down forever.

Worse than that, if any of his lieutenants escape, they tend to have ways of bringing this nasty piece of work back from the dead! And if that isn't an option, sometimes the dark patrons who granted him is powers aren't happy with the incomplete nature of his work -- and send him back more or less the same personality-wise, but usually a whole lot more dangerous and with a lot more power and resources at his beck and call.

Mining The 6th Gun: Weapons of Dark Purpose

One nasty set of guns being handed out to one nasty set of gunslingers.

The Western

When you're talkin' westerns and cowboys, you think: cowboy hat, horse, and guns. And since the guns are a key element of this genre, it makes sense to talk about the titular 6th Gun -- or rather the set that the 6th gun belongs to.

The Weird


Of course, since this is a weird western this set of six guns are weird too. Apocalyptically weird.

[SPOILER WARNING]

Some may argue that much of this is backstory to the main plot, it's not really spoiler-y. But others may take issue with that, hence the spoiler warning.

The guns act like artifacts in the fantasy genre. It's strongly suggested that they are immune to damage, and give their bearers special powers -- and it's strongly suggested that it warps the minds of their bearers. Then again, it's also shown that most people after the guns are already pretty warped.

All gunbearers become tougher to kill, and the guns themselves have unlimited ammo and do more damage than regular guns. Of course, each gun is unique provides different abilities:

• one gun inflicts the damage of a howitzer;
• another gun burns its targets with hellfire;
• a third gun kills its opponents with a fast-spreading and ultimately fatal pestilence;
• a fourth gun can bring back all its victims as strange earth golems in the thrall of the gunbearer;
• a fifth gun grants regenerative immortality and eternal youth -- as long as you're holding the gun;

The titular 6th gun grants visions of the future -- sometimes immediate, sometimes distant.

Are they powerful? Yes. Game-breakingly so? No, not really -- just enough to grant artifact status, but it is possible through sufficient cunning and / or combat skill to kill the current bearer. Of course, if you touch the weapon, it then becomes bonded to you in the manner of D&D cursed weapons. Heck, it burns those it doesn't belong to, necessitating the whole 'kill the current bearer' action.

It a straight fantasy setting, you can turn these weapons into swords -- perhaps even identical looking ones, much like the guns -- so that when they're encountered, one can never be too sure which one it is. Or you can make them mauls or spears or any other weapon you choose: in the comic it's suggested they change their forms to match the time period.

Like any plot device, these guns have another purpose. Originally, they were reputedly the key to untold wealth in a vault. Of course, given their power and sinister nature, smart money says that reward will be something far less mundane...

Inspiration: The 6th Gun

I follow a variety of comic book series, but not all of them are in the superhero genre. One of them is a weird western series by Oni Press called The 6th Gun.

What's the series about? Well, here's the series premise from the site:

During the darkest days of the Civil War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six pistols of otherworldly power. In time, the Sixth Gun, the most dangerous of the weapons, vanished. When the gun surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the gun and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way.

So, why exactly do I bring this up? I do have a fascination with westerns, primarily due to their influence on my during my childhood here in the Philippines (another topic for another day) -- but that's not why I bring it up. I bring it up because weird westerns are a fantastic inspiration source for fantasy campaigns. Look at the series premise again, with certain words changed:

During the darkest days of the Spellsword War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six blades of otherworldly power. In time, the Sixth Blade, the most dangerous of the weapons, vanished. When the blade surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the blade and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a swordfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way.

As you can see, it's a premise and setting that can be mined for many things useful in your fantasy campaigns -- lawless areas, many skilled fighters and mages looking for work after a war, and new frontiers. I'll be mining the series and the genre further in a blog post series I'll title Mining The 6th Gun.

Still unconvinced? Let me leave you with a panel from issue #5: