The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Overview

The Knuckleduster Cowtown Creator is the second in a line of "generic" Western sourcebooks from Knuckleduster Publications (www.knuckleduster.com). This volume's focus is, unsurprisingly, the cowtown. These frontier towns like Abilene, Fort Worth, and Dodge City were the stops along the cattle drives across Texas and into Kansas, and as such were hubs of commerce and vice. In short, the perfect milieu for Western roleplaying games.

The book itself is 288 pages, with a black and white interior, perfect bound with a color cover in the style of a cowhide-covered book. It's illustrated with a combination of period photos and illustrations, and newer line art, which does a good job of depicting the things being discussed and evoking a proper Western mood. The type is a little on the large side (looks to me like 12-13pt), but there is not much wasted space. The overall result is very attractive.

What You'll Find Inside

The Cowtown Creator is divided roughly into three sections. The first (60 pages or so) is an overview of the cattle business and cattle drives, different types of cowtowns one might encounter, and the "creators" of the title. These creators are, in fact, forms that the GM fills out as he goes about defining a town, saloon, passenger train, cattle outfit, etc. None of these forms are particularly necessary to the process, but may prove helpful to those who find it hard to organize their thoughts, or for whom a more structured process is welcome.

The second section, and the bulk of the book at around 150 pages, is comprised of details about the various features one might find in a cowtown. Each feature, including saloons, barbershops, dance halls, restaurants, fancy houses, and more, is broken down into several sections. Each feature a look at what function that feature performed, general attributes, NPCs, adventure hooks, price lists (where applicable) and more.

Finally, there are a number of appendices (about 60 pages). Lists of typical names and random encounter tables (reprinted from TSR's Boot Hill RPG) are complemented by conversion notes to Deadlands, Deadlands d20, and FUDGE. A bibliography, index, some ads, and three or four blank pages round out the book.

The Bad

My biggest complaints about the Cowtown Creator aren't that serious. The first is the typography. Aside from any arguments about space wastage, I found the larger type almost too large to read comfortably. I'm not going to argue for the textbook style of, say, the D&D core rulebooks, but a more conventional body text would have been welcome. This is really just a quibble from a type junkie, though.

A slightly bigger complaint is the "creators." In reading through the book, and looking at the forms (16 pages, plus another 3 of instructions), I didn't really see much need for them. It seems to me that there's little need of a form for listing NPCs, or that there's much on these "creators" that wouldn't end up in the GM's notes anyway. But this may be a style issue. I imagine that there are likely to be GMs out there who will find these forms very useful as a concrete planning aid. It's just that, personally, I would rather have had these pages devoted to more of the good stuff in the book.

I suppose I should also mention that this book is really aimed at people who know the Old West mostly through movies and paperbacks. That isn't a bad thing per se, but anyone who is coming to this volume already an expert will probably find little of value here. (Since I find myself squarely in the target audience, I'm perfectly okay with that.)

The Good

It is clear to me from reading this book that the author, Forrest Harris, not only knows his stuff, but also loves his subject matter. The research and the affection both shine through in his descriptions of Western life. Mr. Harris is also careful to point out a number of likely gaffes and anachronisms that modern players may fall into when gaming in the time period under discussion (late 1860s to mid-1880s).

This book does an excellent job of starting from scratch, and presenting the cattle business and the cowtowns that serve it from the ground up. For almost every building described within (especially those as variable as the saloon), maps are provided, and one or more variations are described. The lists of NPCs include a number of more movie-inspired archetypes, but also the sort of living, breathing people that really populated these towns. Some of the adventure ideas included are fictitious, but many of them are drawn from historical accounts, and often seem even less likely!

Another welcome inclusion for the more mercantile features is price lists. While perhaps not all that fascinating on their own, a lot of this information won't be found in so neatly compiled form in less game-oriented historical sources. Lists of example names are likewise welcome inclusions.

As for the game stats included, I'm not familiar with the Deadlands system, so I can't really evaluate them for correctness. The FUDGE and d20 versions are straight conversions of the Deadlands versions (written by "Dr. Rob" Lusk; FUDGE conversions by Phill Webb). However, the stats do cover pretty much every NPC type mentioned in the body of the book, so whatever features you choose to include in your cowtown, you'll be well on your way to populating it.

Summary

For anyone interested in running a game set in the era of the cattle-drives, this book should be on your shelf. While those who know the Old West like a second home already may not find much new information here, the rest of us will discover all sorts of new things, and likely correct a number of misapprehensions. Whatever quibbles I may have with the layout, and the utility of the "creators" themselves, the Cowtown Creator is a solid and attractive reference, and earns a 4 for style and a 4 for substance.

The Knuckleduster Cowtown Creator
The Knuckleduster Cowtown Creator Capsule Review by Sixten Otto on 03/09/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) An excellent introduction and reference to the cattle towns of the Old West, and their inhabitants. Product: The Knuckleduster Cowtown Creator Author: Forrest Harris Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Knuckleduster Publications Line: Cost: 24.95 Page count: 288 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 0-9667046-3-0 SKU: KDP 3-0 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Sixten Otto on 03/09/02 Genre tags: Historical Old West Generic	Overview The Knuckleduster Cowtown Creator is the second in a line of "generic" Western sourcebooks from Knuckleduster Publications (www.knuckleduster.com). This volume's focus is, unsurprisingly, the cowtown. These frontier towns like Abilene, Fort Worth, and Dodge City were the stops along the cattle drives across Texas and into Kansas, and as such were hubs of commerce and vice. In short, the perfect milieu for Western roleplaying games. The book itself is 288 pages, with a black and white interior, perfect bound with a color cover in the style of a cowhide-covered book. It's illustrated with a combination of period photos and illustrations, and newer line art, which does a good job of depicting the things being discussed and evoking a proper Western mood. The type is a little on the large side (looks to me like 12-13pt), but there is not much wasted space. The overall result is very attractive. What You'll Find Inside The Cowtown Creator is divided roughly into three sections. The first (60 pages or so) is an overview of the cattle business and cattle drives, different types of cowtowns one might encounter, and the "creators" of the title. These creators are, in fact, forms that the GM fills out as he goes about defining a town, saloon, passenger train, cattle outfit, etc. None of these forms are particularly necessary to the process, but may prove helpful to those who find it hard to organize their thoughts, or for whom a more structured process is welcome. The second section, and the bulk of the book at around 150 pages, is comprised of details about the various features one might find in a cowtown. Each feature, including saloons, barbershops, dance halls, restaurants, fancy houses, and more, is broken down into several sections. Each feature a look at what function that feature performed, general attributes, NPCs, adventure hooks, price lists (where applicable) and more. Finally, there are a number of appendices (about 60 pages). Lists of typical names and random encounter tables (reprinted from TSR's Boot Hill RPG) are complemented by conversion notes to Deadlands, Deadlands d20, and FUDGE. A bibliography, index, some ads, and three or four blank pages round out the book. The Bad My biggest complaints about the Cowtown Creator aren't that serious. The first is the typography. Aside from any arguments about space wastage, I found the larger type almost too large to read comfortably. I'm not going to argue for the textbook style of, say, the D&D core rulebooks, but a more conventional body text would have been welcome. This is really just a quibble from a type junkie, though. A slightly bigger complaint is the "creators." In reading through the book, and looking at the forms (16 pages, plus another 3 of instructions), I didn't really see much need for them. It seems to me that there's little need of a form for listing NPCs, or that there's much on these "creators" that wouldn't end up in the GM's notes anyway. But this may be a style issue. I imagine that there are likely to be GMs out there who will find these forms very useful as a concrete planning aid. It's just that, personally, I would rather have had these pages devoted to more of the good stuff in the book. I suppose I should also mention that this book is really aimed at people who know the Old West mostly through movies and paperbacks. That isn't a bad thing per se, but anyone who is coming to this volume already an expert will probably find little of value here. (Since I find myself squarely in the target audience, I'm perfectly okay with that.) The Good It is clear to me from reading this book that the author, Forrest Harris, not only knows his stuff, but also loves his subject matter. The research and the affection both shine through in his descriptions of Western life. Mr. Harris is also careful to point out a number of likely gaffes and anachronisms that modern players may fall into when gaming in the time period under discussion (late 1860s to mid-1880s). This book does an excellent job of starting from scratch, and presenting the cattle business and the cowtowns that serve it from the ground up. For almost every building described within (especially those as variable as the saloon), maps are provided, and one or more variations are described. The lists of NPCs include a number of more movie-inspired archetypes, but also the sort of living, breathing people that really populated these towns. Some of the adventure ideas included are fictitious, but many of them are drawn from historical accounts, and often seem even less likely! Another welcome inclusion for the more mercantile features is price lists. While perhaps not all that fascinating on their own, a lot of this information won't be found in so neatly compiled form in less game-oriented historical sources. Lists of example names are likewise welcome inclusions. As for the game stats included, I'm not familiar with the Deadlands system, so I can't really evaluate them for correctness. The FUDGE and d20 versions are straight conversions of the Deadlands versions (written by "Dr. Rob" Lusk; FUDGE conversions by Phill Webb). However, the stats do cover pretty much every NPC type mentioned in the body of the book, so whatever features you choose to include in your cowtown, you'll be well on your way to populating it. Summary For anyone interested in running a game set in the era of the cattle-drives, this book should be on your shelf. While those who know the Old West like a second home already may not find much new information here, the rest of us will discover all sorts of new things, and likely correct a number of misapprehensions. Whatever quibbles I may have with the layout, and the utility of the "creators" themselves, the Cowtown Creator is a solid and attractive reference, and earns a 4 for style and a 4 for substance.