Draw, Pard!

I like Wild West things, especially skirmish games, and have written my share of stuff on the subject. That's why I jumped to get SHOWDOWN, by Kenzer and Co., when I saw it in the store last night (for fifteen bucks, it's a bargain!). Kenzer and Co. have a new RPG out, apparently, called "Aces and Eights", which apparently presents a larger world than just gunfighting-- kind of a BOOT HILL with teeth, if you will. Personally, I've always found the subject of the Old West a bit of a yawner for actual roleplaying; if the people who design these things have a good grounding in what REALLY happened in the day to day existence out on the frontier, they probably aren't telling. In reality, the West was pretty tedious for just about everyone-- days and days of boredom punctuated by a few seconds of stark terror now and then. Why do you think there were so many drunks back then? No TV! I think the designers realize this and that might have been the reason why they included a gigantic alternative-history treatment of the Wild West in the back of the book.. I like this, but only in a Victorian Science Fiction context. It does not add or detract from gameplay. The alt-history sfuff reminds me strongly of my own TEXAS PRUSSIAN WAR campaign for GASLIGHT, with the French playing the bad guys. Our alternative history/VSF map is almost identical to the one in the book!

That's why I like distilling my Western games down to the sublime and the ridiculous... give me a Western MOVIE any day of the week-- they concentrate on what we all come to see: the gunfights.

Natch, I was happy to see Kenzer publishing SHOWDOWN separate from the rest of their RPG (heck, I'll be gettin' that too.. you KNOW I'm a sucker). Most of us older types like concentrating on the basics; shooting, moving, wounding, stampedes, dynamite, Mexican banditos, Injuns, Jailbreaks, you know the drill. SHOWDOWN is very, very basic in its approach. It gives you just enough to be able to move and fight in the "game-verse" that Kenzer is building here. Meaning: rules for setting up characters, gunfighting, movement, cover, combat, and some scenarios.

Character Generation

SHOWDOWN gives you the bare bones to make a new character-- Two primary traits, speed and accuracy, plust how to make hit points, some generic weapon types, and a little background generator. The book hints at more specific stuff being available in the main rulebook (I'd rather fire a "colt Bulldog" than a "Pistol d6+1" any day of the week). The genericness of this part was a tad disappointing, but I can see that they probably want to reserve more detail for the core book.

Movement and Initiative:

I like this idea a lot, but dunno (yet) if it's too cumbersome with large groups. We'll see. Basically, all players roll 1D10 for initiative, then add in some modifiers (plus and minus) for your speed (generated during character building). You then take the extreme Micro approach to gunfighting; declare your actions, one after the other, until you fire your gun. Each "micro-action" has a number of counts that take up microseconds. (example: Bringing a gun to bear takes four counts, cocking and firing a pointed wepaon costs 3 counts). Players continue with their actions until all actions are completed.

I assume that "Complete" means "you fired your gun" but it's a little vague and I will need to get clarification. What happens when you want to fire twice? Do you keep going?

Hits and damage

This part is nothing short of genius. the game comes with a clear plastic overlay that is placed upon a silhouette of the target, in the area you are trying to hit.



You roll a 20 sider to see if you hit. Modifiers are added. If your roll over the threshold of 24, you hit what you aim at. Anything under that, and you draw a card to see where it deviates from off of the aiming point. If the shot doesn't hit the silhouette at all, it misses.

That's the most accurate depiction of Western gunfighting (well, cinematic style) I've ever seen.

Damage

Damage is very, very intricate and quite severe, in keeping with reality. There are several hit and critical hit tables that translate a hit in a body region into practical outcomes (can't move, can't run, aim at a penalty, etc.). Some of them are pretty amusing-- for instance, this is the only gunfighting game where you can be impacted by breaking a heel! I mean it!

Conclusion:

Looks pretty interesting, but I need to see how that simultaneous move execution works in a real game before I pass judgement on it. So far, I'm very impressed with what I see. There are a lot of stuff missing that I would include; fistfights, barfights, stampedes, dynamite, gatling guns, etc., but I suspect they will be included in future releases.