If your group has been itching to swap dragons for six-shooters, the timing is good. Tales of the Old West has won Best Roleplaying Game at the 20th UK Games Expo, and the full game is already out in the wild for anyone who wants to saddle up.
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Find events near youTales of the Old West, by Effekt Publishing's Dave Semark and Matthew Tyler-Jones, is a gritty tabletop RPG set in the American West of the 1870s, leaning on the grim, lived-in feel of shows like Deadwood and 1883 and films such as 3:10 to Yuma. It runs on the Year Zero Engine, the dice-pool system Free League made famous with the ALIEN and Vaesen roleplaying games, reworked here for shootouts, showdowns and the slow grind of frontier life. The roughly 300-page core book is not just about gunfights. It hands you tools to build a reputation, a home, a business and a family, then drops you into a sweeping campaign framework set in New Mexico, complete with a full starting adventure.
The Year Zero Engine is a friendly choice for newer tables. You roll a handful of dice, push your luck to reroll, and accept the consequences when the dice turn on you, which suits a genre built on desperate gambles. Effekt has also put out a free "QuickDraw" starter with quick rules, pre-made characters and an adventure, so you can run a session before spending a penny.
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Set up your group for freePicking up a Best RPG nod at the UK's biggest tabletop show is a strong endorsement for a western that has flown under a lot of radars. Westerns are a brilliant change of pace for a group bored of fantasy dungeons. Need a posse to ride with? Find players on Backseat Gamer.
Sources: Effekt Publishing | Geek Native | Free League
