Getting Into the Wild, Weird West!

It might come as a shock to you that in Oklahoma, in the center of the United States, it's almost impossible to find a Western game.  We went a long way to find a game that fit the genre and our needs, and it traveled across the ocean to get to us.  It seems as if the entire countryside full of gamers has absolutely no interest in this genre.  Well, except us here at the Wargate.

It really should be natural for us to get into this genre, but although enthusiasm is built up pretty high there's very little actual historical knowledge about this period with most gamers, especially those here.  Let me clarify we had everything we need as far as roleplaying games go - what we started looking for was a way to bring the action to our miniature battles!

Since we started the World of Darkness Wild West game a few years ago, we've been looking at how to bring it to the table.  There's a lot of different game systems out there, but it was difficult to find a new-ish game to help bring the enthusiasm level up.  As I said before, our game stuff had to travel a long way to get to Oklahoma.

It took a little searching around, but Wargames Illustrated has some coverage of all eras.  In that esteemed magazine, we saw a little about a game called Dead Man's Hand.  We searched for it high and low, but were only able to get a copy in from the United Kingdom.  This, for a wild west game.  We live in OKLAHOMA.

Great Escape Games has done a great job - Dead Man's Hand seems to fill all the criteria we were looking for in a skirmish game.  We had a few Wild West miniatures lingering around from various purchases previously, but most were Reaper...and a few of them I've been unable to identify.  Not even really sure where some of these came from, but there were at least four different manufacturers in our Wild West case before we started this project.

After looking through several manufacturer's catalogues, we settled on what we were going to use to populate our Weird West.  In addition to the Dead Man's Hand range (which is nice and has great sculpts, it's rather limited) we will be using Black Scorpion Miniatures' Tombstone range.  There's a wealth of cool miniatures in there, and they are FANTASTIC sculpts.  The resin Black Scorpion casts in is also one of the finest materials on the market and I suggest you check some of their work out.  With Great Escape, Black Scorpion and Reaper's model ranges leading our charge into the West, we'll have more than enough stuff to keep us busy for this season and the next.

"Badges?  We don't need no stinking badges!!"

Yet as any wargamer knows, you can't just have the miniatures without building terrain for the milieu.  Lucky for us, 4Ground's American Legends range has the makings of our dusty Territory township.  Those are great terrain pieces, and since we intend to build the town square of our main settlement we can expect to see several of these constructions building in Smokefall Ridge very soon.  Not only that, but the Blackwater Gulch range has EVEN MORE great kits we're going to grab up to help populate the Settlements.

"Get a rope."

It's not hard to imagine the entire place.  Dusty roads, a dirty well and a few facade buildings.  Livestock will be kept, and fences.  It's almost a model railroad project but for the fact that this is all centered around gaming.  There's all sorts of variety.

Whatever the case in Smokefall Ridge that would necessitate the construction of a gallows, one thing remains certain:  you're probably going to need one, eventually.  And for me that's good enough reason to build one - notwithstanding how cheap it is!  Going forward into this project with our group is going to be a blast.

We don't need a HUGE amount of new items, and can afford to focus on the whole thing as a collective.  As we build up our model collection and terrain set, the Settlements will become a more solidified place in our hearts and minds.  Welcome to Smokefall Ridge partner - in miniature.

Hell Bend (Session 2)

(Session Recorded 10.11.15)

From the Journal of Josephine Maxwell
October 17, 1875

6:17
We were awoken in the early hours of the morning by a shrieking scream.  It seemed to have come from many voices.  We rushed across the town to find a horrible crime has taken place in the home of one of the homestead couples.



I was able to deduce that the man murdered his wife by stabbing her and then almost cut off her head with a butcher knife.  Then he took the kife and stabbed himself in the neck with it.  He has scrawled the word "TESTIFY" on the wall in his wife's blood.

As far as the towspeople knew, this man could not write.

We look around and find a journal in the house.  In the journal there doesn't seem to be any English writing.  It is covered in pentagrams and seems to be written in some Indian language, with the word "Silence" repeating over and over.

Out side we found all the mans' dogs still in their pens, except for one.  It barks at us and then stares until it runs into the darkness.

We investigated thoroughly and then debated what we should do with the bodies.

I took a black male dog with me.

8:09
In the morning light we collect the bodies and apparently the Doctor cut the head off the man.  He claimed it was so the devil could not use the body as a puppet.  The sheriff and Jakey Wales became enraged and punched the Doctor in the face.

8:30
I was awoken by the sound of a woman singing in the middle of the town.  I stayed in my bed.  After an ear-splitting shriek, the singing stopped.

I went to the saloon, and there were several other people there.  They decided with me after a story from Rusty Shackleford that it must have been a "banshee".

Kyle Barton has asked if some of the townsfolk would ride out to a place that he has been told about.  When we get out to the middle of no place, he told us that he is looking for the encampment of his friend Simon Drake.  At that point we hear a lot of livestock nearby.

We go to see what the sound is, and we see five to six men with a mixed herd of animals.

Rulebook Ruminations: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Player's Handbook

I kept up with the development of 5th Edition from the very beginning.  Dungeons & Dragons is close to my heart, and I was very eager to see what solidified on this.  Veterans and refugees from the Edition Wars will know what I mean.  I wanted to wait until I had a chance to play with it to make any rash decisions, and the Wargate just finished a two-season (six month) campaign using the launch materials in the new Basic boxed set, together with the Player's Handbook.  Now after all that, and despite all the forebodings and ill omens, I can say without reserve that I very much like the new game.

The physical book is beautiful, as is to be expected.  Matte and gloss hardcover, full color interior.  Very nice, as all Wizards of the Coast publications always are.  The price point is $49.99 MSRP, though that might be stretching it for an item like this - especially if WotC intends to pop a new edition if five or so years.  If you are fixed on this, Wizards, see to it that fifty bucks remains the standard for some time to come, and that quality does not diminish.  Remember, you are competing with yourselves and the 2000 launch of 3rd Edition.

Anyways, the meat of it.  Not a whole lot has changed really.  The basic mechanics of the D20 system haven't changed, and really if you break it down it's all it how the information is presented.  A lot of rules have been streamlined, and combat isn't nearly as complex.  However, a lot of the material we're used to using has been changed or shuffled away.  This streamlining limits the system's ability to adjudicate things on its' own and a lot more is left to DM interpretation.  I know there are sets of gamers who like this sort of thing but by and large Gatekeepers don't care for it - but this didn't diminish our enjoyment of the ruleset by much, if at all.

Classes always change between the editions.  In this volume, there is a single principle that binds all the class mechanics and choices.  Each class is well balanced against one another, even as we might rail against spellcasters slinging 1d10 damage at will - but as gameplay progresses you will see that's not really any different from the other classes.  As the player classes create the basic game experience for the players, it's important not to downplay this balance - this is a key concept.  Under certain situations, something can seem very overpowered, but give gameplay a chance to show you how limited you really are.  A lot of things folks would normally scoff at isn't really an issue, as the dice roll.

Gone are the lists and lists of Feats (good luck on those) and most options are built into the class choices instead.  There are several variations of each class, and it gives a good spread of the flavors of previous editions, with warlocks making pacts and sorcerers with mystical bloodlines.  In addition, there is a big change in the philosophy of how the game should play seems to have changed.  The actual gameplay in combat is not a clone of some boring MMO, as 4th Edition was prone to feeling at times.

For six months, we played using only the Player's Handbook and the Basic set.  We had one TPK, and the DM did change the scenario for the second party.  I'd say that was a pretty good run for the entry level materials, and we're firm believers in 5th Edition now.  I can say I'm eager to complete the collection and explore the new adventure tomes.

We might need a few more of these Handbooks for the table.