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Mention the classic TSR roleplaying game BOOT HILL, and one’s liable to evoke blank stares. For some reason, western roleplaying has never been more than a niche of niche hobby. Despite being fertile ground for all sorts of adventures, and despite the reams of inspirational material lining the shelves of used bookstores, the old west has never been able to equal the popularity of quasi-medieval fantasy settings. Luckily for fans of the genre, publishers keep trying to bring the American 1800s alive again. SHADY GULCH, from Politically Incorrect Games’ Brett Bernstein, is a worthy heir to BOOT HILL, the very first game of this type.
At 49 pages in PDF form, plus a one-page add-on that brings playable Native Americans into the mix (an oversight in the original release), it should be made clear that SHADY GULCH is not an encyclopedic examination of the historical and geographic elements of the period like GURPS OLD WEST, nor is it an experiment in revisionism such as DUST DEVILS. SHADY GULCH, like many of PIG’s games, is a return to the sensibilities of roleplaying’s heyday in the 1980s, but with a contemporary polish. SHADY GULCH tells players what they need to know to play the game and doesn’t waste time with a lot of hoo-hah.
SHADY GULCH uses a simple, point-based system for character generation and marries it to a gaming mechanic that uses a few six-sided dice and provides all the detail one truly needs to play in the western genre. The rules underlying SHADY GULCH are so straightforward and well-organized that it’s hard to imagine anyone, even a neophyte, having a difficult time understanding them, and only the most crunch-centric killjoy would take issue with the depth of a system that goes so far as to describe the effects of opium on a character.
SHADY GULCH also comes with a basic setting for those who wish to get started quickly. Called Shady Gulch (natch), this little town serves as a sort of generic model of all western movie towns, with a blacksmith, a saloon and, of course, the railroad coming through. As was explained in RUSTLER’S RHAPSODY, all western towns have the railroad coming through.
Will some players want more? Probably, but advanced players are perfectly capable of making up things for themselves, and there’s a whole bushel of material already in place for those who don’t have creative confidence yet. Besides the sketch of Shady Gulch, the game features an extensive GMing section with plot hooks, genre-appropriate subplot ideas, and even a handful of ready-made NPCs. This is more good stuff than even BOOT HILL included in its box, though players will have to provide their own dice.
As is usual for a PIG release, SHADY GULCH looks great. Unadorned black-and-white art is featured throughout, and the layout is very clean. Bernstein and PIG have a reputation for polished and fun products, and SHADY GULCH is no exception. At the price – only $5.00 as of this writing – the game is embarrassingly inexpensive, and represents prime value for the money.
What are you waiting for? Saddle up!
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