![]() The Ouroboros System that is presented in this rulebook is a d100 based system. While there are events presented that explain the presence of the weird (both the magical and science fiction), those historical elements are modular, and not directly connected to the alternate version of Reconstruction. Similarly, you can add the weird elements into either a historical or alternate history version of the setting. While the book presents rules for “weird” west gaming, and presents an alternate reality, it does discuss using the system for more grounded western games either in our history or the alternate reconstruction presented. If you are intimidated by a game with that many pages, however, much of the book is detailing history, alternate history, historical figures, the game system, an example campaign framework, and an adventure. Reconstruction (Information on how Reconstruction unfolded in the alternate timeline of the game)Īt 800 pages, you may think there is a lot going on in this book, and you would be right.Balladeer (Information especially for the game facilitator, or Balladeer).Mechanics (Alternate rules or examples of where rules apply).Weird (Suggestions on how to add weird elements to the setting).History (Calling out historical details related to nearby text).Voices (Highlighting people or small groups).Most of the book is set up with a two-column layout, and there are six different styles of sidebars, dealing with the following: There is a mixture of color and black and white art, as well as various historic photographs. This includes one page of credits, a page of legal information, a table of contents, a five page bibliography loaded with sources, two pages of acknowledgements, a three page blank character sheet, twelve pages of pregenerated characters (four example characters), a four page index, and a two page map of the alternate United States presented in the game. The PDF is 806 pages, with both full color and black and white artwork. This review is based on the PDF version of the game. If you would like to hear more about this topic, I’ve also had the privilege to interview Chris Spivey on the Gnomecast as well. I have not had an opportunity to play the game yet. For all of these reasons, I was very quick to back Haunted West, a weird west RPG by Chris Spivey and Darker Hue Studios, the same team that brought you Harlem Unbound.īefore we get going, I wanted to point out that I did receive this from backing the Kickstarter, and was not provided a review copy of the product. I don’t want to see Indigenous people exoticized as “magical,” and I don’t want to see the Confederacy and Reconstruction shoved off into the phantom zone. There is a tendency in weird west games where the “solution” to this is to ignore the historical without ever addressing it, focusing on the “weird” almost exclusively. ![]() It shouldn’t be a secret that the western genre has erased many people of color and other marginalized people over the years. The problem with this preference is that there are a lot of weird west narratives that ignore aspects of history that I wasn’t comfortable ignoring. I gravitated towards the “weird west” subgenre, especially since I’ve always had a love of monster-hunting stories. It wasn’t until I was older, and I started watching grittier, somewhat more cynical westerns, that I started to appreciate the genre.īeing a gamer, once I started to appreciate the genre, I wanted to find a way to experience the story through roleplaying games. Part of why that property appealed to me was its overlap with superhero narratives. I was never a fan of westerns when I was young, except for The Lone Ranger.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |