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Note: this is a review of Gunslingers and Gamblers, not Gunslingers and Gamblers Streamline Edition, which uses the percentile dice game mechanic that FJGaming devised for its Privateers and Pirates.
So what’re the ingredients of this here bowl of chili?
G&G is a ninety page PDF (not counting character sheet or front and back cover). All artwork is noted as being public domain, many of the color prints by iconic artists of the Old West, Frederick Remington, Charles Russell, and others. A few pieces of black and white line art (weapons, a covered wagon, and so on) are scattered throughout as well. The artwork is functional, and the color pieces print well even in draft mode on a Canon MP50 without using an entire tank of ink.Chapter One of G&G is the Introduction, one page which provides a glossary of game terms and the credits. This chapter includes a statement that the designers looked at the Old West as seen in the movies of Hollywood and Spanish and Italian directors of the 60s and 70s.
Chapter Two covers Game Mechanics, the meat-and-beans of the game system. G&G uses six-sided poker dice rather than the traditional d6 (although the d6 can be used if poker dice are not available)—the faces showing 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace. The basic game mechanic is to roll five dice and beat a Difficulty established by the GM or to make a contested roll against another character. Characters have a list of Traits, such as Fighting, Shooting, Riding, Tinkering, and so on, and each Trait has a rank, running from 0 representing no mastery of a skill to 5/5, indicating a legendary mastery of a skill. What those numbers represent is re-rolls of the poker dice, so a Shooting 1 allows the player to re-roll 1 die after the initial five dice are rolled. A Shooting 5/2, however, allows the player to re-roll all five dice then roll any two more dice to achieve a final hand, which are based on poker—pair, two pair, three of a kind, and so on. Flush and straight flush aren’t used because poker dice don’t have suits. Any hand which doesn’t qualify for even a lowly pair is called a High Card and typically means the character botched whatever Trait was being rolled. In combat, for example, a botched Shooting roll might indicate shooting an ally or a cheap pistol falling apart.
Chapter Three shows step by step Character Creation. Each character begins the game with a number of ranked Traits, such as one Trait with 3 ranks, two Traits with 2 ranks, and three Traits with 1 rank (for example, a character could begin the game with Fighting 3; Shooting 2 and Riding 2; Grit 1, Tinkering 1, and Learning 1). The player also decides the character’s Description: gender, race, nationality, quirks, and so on. The chapter breaks most of the choices into random tables, enabling the GM to make named NPCs on the fly with a few quick rolls (all using poker dice).
The final part of the chapter covers Chips—gained through playing out Quirks or if your character has more than a 0 in his Luck Trait—and Quirks, which provide the character with an edge, allowing a hand to be increased for a Trait roll or allowing a character to perform an extra action during combat. Quirks are details such as Varmint—you receive Chips when you steal something you want rather than obtaining it legally. Now, those Chips are used to increase your final hand after rolling—and re-rolling—your dice.
Chapter Four details Combat. During combat rounds, each character may take two actions, such as move and shoot, aim and shoot, shoot twice (but only if armed with two weapons). Basic combat follows the pattern of attacker rolls against his Shooting skill (or Fighting in melee) while the defender rolls against his Reflexes (or Fighting in melee); high roll wins the contest. Tied rolls indicate the defender is suppressed (i.e., narrowly missed) and must spend his next action recovering (i.e., crossing himself if religious, checking to make sure all body parts are intact, and so on). Each step by which an attack succeeds is a raise (Two Pairs beats a Pair by one step) and this is how much damage the opponent takes. Once a character is damaged, he must beat his current damage total with a Grit roll or fall unconscious (or die, depending on how badly the roll was failed). For example, a character who has taken 3 wounds in a combat must roll Three of a Kind or better or fall unconscious. A botched roll means the character dies on the spot.
Chapter Five covers Environment: hazards, poisons, diseases, and so on. This chapter also looks at game mechanics not covered in the previous chapters, still following the basic rule of roll higher than the target hand.
Chapter Six looks at The Wild West, giving an overview of historical events, setting ideas, travel, and also provides a Quick Settlement Creator and Quick Adventure Seed Generator for the GM.
Chapter Seven details Belongings. Information here is standard for a game; however, the one problem I noted was no range scale is listed for weapons (just Short or Long) so any groups which play sessions on the tabletop are out of luck. I solved this by looking up numbered ranges in the Streamlined Edition and moving them over.
Chapter Eight covers Folks and Critters, the bestiary for G&G. Folks (NPCs) are divided into Regular Folks (called minions or unnamed NPCs in other games, they have all Traits at 0, meaning they get no re-rolls of dice); Named Folks, which are treated as starting player characters; and Characters, which are typically better and more experienced than the player characters, having higher ranks in Traits and possibly Chips of their own.
The final chapter details Harris County, Wyoming, a setting for a G&G campaign, and includes an introductory adventure.
Mmmmmm, chili
Set up for the GM is simple. The tables in chapter 6 make it possible to cook up adventures pretty much on the fly while those in the Character Creation chapter allow the GM to quickly roll up Named Folk and Characters. Since Regular Folks have rank 0 in all Traits, they are easily dealt with in-game.In our first session, my gaming group—five of us, including my six-year-old son—rolled up characters, received a quick overview of the game mechanics, and got started in under an hour. The most difficult part of the session was for those who don’t play poker . . . recalling what faces make what poker hand, but this problem can be overcome through additional play. Also, the re-rolling dice mechanic feels a little cumbersome at first, but by our second session, even this aspect smoothed considerably. Everyone in the group thought it was a fun system with easy-to-learn mechanics which fit the genre. They’re interested in a third session sometime soon.
Gunslingers and Gamblers by FJGaming is a quick-to-pick-up-and-play western RPG relying more on Hollywood and off-the-cuff style rather than dense but realistic rules. This might not work for everyone, but for my group it fits just fine. The $10 PDF is available from RPGNow and DrivethruRPG or can be purchased from Lulu as print on demand for around $35. In addition, the former sites also carry a GM Screen and several PDF adventure scenarios.
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