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Aces High is one of the new Monographs published by Chaosium for their unified roleplaying system (Basic Role Playing, or BRP for short). For those who don’t know, BRP is the system that has been ‘under the hood’ of many well received and popular RPGs, including Runequest, Call of Cthulhu and Elric. It uses a percentile based ‘roll under’ mechanic at its heart which has proved flexible enough to model the majority of genres. The monographs are not stand alone products – you need the main BRP book to use them.
This review covers the print version of the Aces High monograph (it is also available as a PDF), which concerns itself with the ‘weird wild west’. Physically, it’s a soft cover book, perfect bound, 112 pages. It’s black and white, and has some great evocative art scattered throughout. The type is clear and easy to read, and I have not found any typos (although I don’t generally look for them). It has both a contents and an index, and navigating it is simple. It also includes page references when it refers to the main BRP rulebook, which I found very handy.
Aces High presents western-genre specific rules to plug into the BRP engine. It is split into two sections, for players and masters.
Players Section
The first part of the players section covers character generation. This provides setting-specific backgrounds, skills, occupations, extraordinary abilities and dependencies (addictions to opium, alcohol and the like). This stuff is generally pretty good, offering a slew of options for players to consider.
The occupations are broken up into groups (cowboys, outlaws, redskins, ladies, Negroes and Chinese) but they are weighted heavily toward the first two categories. I was pleased to see that the ‘classic’ western options were covered, although I was surprised there was no specific trader occupation listed.
The skills chapter includes a few new options, including fanning, pistol whipping, quick reloading and shooting from the hip. The skills all seem to be well thought out, and don’t appear to be overly unbalancing.
There are three pages of western-era gear and a serviceable black and white map as well as brief discussions of religion, attitudes (towards minority groups) and the law, including mechanics for calculating bounties and how hangings work. This material is all reasonably useful, although I would have liked some expanded discussion of other minority groups like the Irish.
The section is rounded out with a composite history of the Americas (basically a timeline) and a list of presidents from 1789 to 1901. This material is useful as background, although there are some errors (including the Civil War being listed as ending in 1870) which means that it should be used with caution.
Masters Section
The Masters section contains a variety of useful information for GMs putting a western campaign together. It includes a short discussion of towns and settlements (including what amenities and businesses based on size and locale) and a map of mystic sites. This map is of limited value, as it only notes a scattering of places and provides little detail on what may be found at each location. This could have been usefully expanded but as it stands a prospective GM would better advised to do some independent research.
This section also includes chapters on the animal kingdom and the ‘not-so’ animal kingdom. This is basically a bestiary that covers mundane and supernatural creatures, listing each with a short description and stat block. The supernatural creatures are interesting, being predominantly derived from Native American lore; I hadn’t seen most of them in an RPG context before. This section could have been usefully expanded with discussion of how the creatures could be used; some of them are so powerful they qualify as existential threats to anyone they encounter (such as the Wendigo).
There are also rules and discussion of various arcane traditions, including magicians, Satanists as well as practitioners of Voodoo and Wicca. It also includes rules on the powers that they can use, as well as their rituals, beliefs and outlooks. I am not an expert on any of these traditions, but I would hazard a guess that their depiction is not closely related to how they exist in the real world (even leaving magic aside). They do, however, provide a basis for their employment in an RPG context. There is also the inclusion of the ‘drifter’ a sort of back from the dead option for characters that is a bit like the harrowed from Deadlands and owes a great deal to classic Clint Eastwood characters like the preacher in Pale Rider and the stranger in High Plains Drifter.
There are also extensive rules that deal with the Native American traditions, including totems, tribes, rituals, language groups and lifestyle. Its depiction of Native American magic is flavourful and accessible, and provides interesting options for playing Native American characters.
The section is completed by a sample scenario, set in Colorado.
What’s Good?
The book contains lots of useful information for playing western themed games, both of the mundane and weird variety. One of its great strengths is that none of the material is presented as mandatory, instead offering choices that allow a group to tailor their game to their own tastes. In terms of the level of weirdness, it doesn’t go as far as Deadlands (see below) in that it lacks the flashier magic and steampunk elements.
The information is clearly presented and easy to use, and I did not find any areas of ambiguity in the rules additions that it offers, or any instances of overwhelming powers that could break a campaign.
What’s Bad?
Not much. The sample adventure is pretty ordinary, and could have been left out; I would have preferred some adventure seeds or more discussion about different campaign styles and settings.
It also refers throughout the text to ‘Redskins’ rather than Native Americans, which is an interesting choice. On the one hand it is a reasonable descriptor for the setting, but the author did not choose to use similarly offensive terms for other ethnicities. It was also odd in that the flavour of the text is generally respectful of the Native Americans, rather than reducing them to a stereotyped ‘other’ (although it does touch on this at times). I don’t live in the U.S., so I’m not sure whether this would be a big deal for people. On balance, I don’t have a problem with this sort of usage in material where it is being expressed in fiction or in NPC attitudes, but I’m not sure it has a place in general text. The depiction of real world religious traditions might also give offence, but this isn’t a significant enough portion of the monograph to spoil the otherwise excellent whole.
Why would I buy this if I already have Deadlands?
Aces High is generally a more ‘gritty’ and ‘realistic’ portrayal of the Western genre. This is in part due to the lethal rules of BRP as well as its attempt to make the supernatural less overbearing. I find the combat of BRP more predictable than that of Savage Worlds, but that can be argued is a feature of SW rather than a flaw. It also lacks the big magic powers and steampunk aesthetic of Deadlands as well as eschewing a comprehensive alternative timeline. I have both titles, and there are some Deadlands elements that I will certainly import, including a bootleg version of the poker hand for duels and some of the less crazy creatures, but in general Aces High is a better fit for my group. I also like the inclusion of sanity mechanics, but that’s a personal taste.
If you already have Deadlands, and it works well for your group, there is not much reason to pick this up. If you like Westerns, and you find Deadlands a little over the top, this might make a good alternative. It might also be worthwhile purchasing as a starting point if you intend to covert Deadlands to BRP.
Conclusion
Overall I would argue that this is a highly commendable product, very reasonable in price and a great starting point for a BRP western.
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