by Matt Lau

Created on: January 08, 2009

Early in the days of role-playing games, TSR (original publisher of Dungeons & Dragons) brought to market a number of other games for different genres: Gangbusters, Top Secret, Gamma World, and Boot Hill. Most of these games had very little difference from Dungeons & Dragons. Gamma World was essentially D&D but with plasma rifles instead of lightning bolts. Top Secret was D&D but with kevlar and exploding pens. Boot Hill was basically D&D but with horses and rifles. At least for the 1st and 2nd editions, then the 3rd edition of the Boot Hill game brought new innovations to the cowboys and Indians genre.

Character creation is simple in this rules version. There are only five stats (Strength, Coordination, Observation, Stature and Luck). Strength is how burly you are (great for fisticuffs, not that important when the shooting starts). Coordination is how steady your hand is and how accurate you shoot (obviously, very important). Observation is how keen your eye is (great for avoiding being shot in the back). Stature is the strength of your reputation and can fluctuate based on your deeds (don't mess with a gunfighter that has a stature score of 18). Luck is used for miscellaneous things like avoiding misfires, being in the right place at the right time, and for surviving mortal wounds (more on this later).

One innovation that I thought was very cool was that after rolling your stats, you gain skill points based on your stat total (there are systems like Rolemaster that give you extra skill points for having high stats), except that here, if you have high stats you get less skill points (wait, what?). I thought that didn't make sense at first, but after thinking about it, it makes perfect sense. From a strict mechanics standpoint it helps balance out the characters who roll really well for their stats. From a story perspective, the ones with the natural talent (high stats) are the "young guns," full of exuberance and natural talent, while the feebler gents (low stats) are the grizzled veterans with experience and mad skills. My only problem with this breakdown is that they could have pushed the differences a little bit more. As it stands, you need to roll VERY poorly in order to get extra skill points and VERY well to get penalized on skills, but it is still a good idea.

Skills are broken down into Weapon skills (pistol, rifle, brawling, knife/sword, and archery for those who like to play Indians) and a list of about 40 "work skills" which cover

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>