A long time ago I wanted to make a Wild West themed D&D. This week I was stuck on a farm with no internet so I finally put the bare bones together.

Wild West DnD General Rules

* All weapons do d6~ damage but w/ unique properties. Ex: daggers attack 2x, guns cause failed death saves.
* Every PC has 6~ hp.
* No armor, ponchos only.
* No magic.
* Short Rests take 8 hours.
* Long Rests take a week.
* Everyone rides horses.
* Weapons: pistols, rifles, shotguns
* Gold rush: strike it rich
* Gold = experience
* Gun duels also grant experience
* Get shot = 1 failed Death Save
* Long Rest turns failed saves to exhaustion
* Classes include: Lawman, Outlaw, Lone Ranger, Churchman, Frontiersman
* Threats: Injuns, Mexicans, bandits, snakes, hyenas, sandstorms, desert heat, no water

How does it look? Any thoughts?

Too sketchy for me to have an opinion. Are you going for cliché Western?

D&D is a western.  There are just no guns or hats.

Quote from: Dumarest;963513Too sketchy for me to have an opinion. Are you going for cliché Western?

Yeah. Like Clint Eastwood type stuff.

Quote from: Headless;963524D&D is a western.  There are just no guns or hats.

There are hats.  Often have feathers in them, or somewhat conical, but there are hats...

Being serious for a moment, I don't like the idea of weapons only doing a d6.

In Westerns, especially American ones, where the Gun is considered the ultimate weapon, they're often the tools that do the most damage.

That's reflected in causing an instant failed Death Save. Basically any 3 gun shots = instant death, on top of any hit point damage you take.

Is that not enough?

The benefit here is it's all nice and simple.

I think if you're shooting for spaghetti westerns in the Leone style D&D's system will be a rough fit. In that setting people are often killed by one gun shot, not three. That's an influence from the samurai films that Leone was adapting to some degree. D&D's HP system is too much of a damage sponge. The death save is a good idea but then why even have a conventional HP system?

Quote from: Voros;963556I think if you're shooting for spaghetti westerns in the Leone style D&D's system will be a rough fit. In that setting people are often killed by one gun shot, not three. That's an influence from the samurai films that Leone was adapting to some degree. D&D's HP system is too much of a damage sponge. The death save is a good idea but then why even have a conventional HP system?

Agreed.

You may as well turn HP into your Con Score.

You could make gunshots an automatic failed death save (I like this and may photocopy your newsletter for something I'm working on) and then have, say, a short blade (pocket knife) force a death save with advantage, a 'medium melee' (bowie/tomahawk etc) force a death save, and big melee weapons like a cavalry sabre or gunstock club force a check with disadvantage. Maybe dynamite causes automatic failed death saves with the number based on how close you are to the explosion. Or just roll 1d3...

Quote from: Voros;963556I think if you're shooting for spaghetti westerns in the Leone style D&D's system will be a rough fit. In that setting people are often killed by one gun shot, not three. That's an influence from the samurai films that Leone was adapting to some degree. D&D's HP system is too much of a damage sponge. The death save is a good idea but then why even have a conventional HP system?

I figured non-gun weapons could be for hit points, like a knife. Then that gives guns an advantage because they also induce death saves.

Different guns could do different amounts of saves. Like, a shotgun could force 2 failed saves, for instance.

I would just make all enemies 4e style minions that die in 1 hit. The 3 shots would be for PCs, unless you think it's better PCs always die from 1 shot too.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;963561I figured non-gun weapons could be for hit points, like a knife. Then that gives guns an advantage because they also induce death saves.

Different guns could do different amounts of saves. Like, a shotgun could force 2 failed saves, for instance.

I would just make all enemies 4e style minions that die in 1 hit. The 3 shots would be for PCs, unless you think it's better PCs always die from 1 shot too.

Were it my game, PCs would abide by the same rules and one shot could do it. It gives the players good reason to be cautious about starting a gunfight. But if you want superhero Western heroes who can shoot up the whole town with minimal risk to themselves, I'd go the other way.

Quote from: Voros;963556I think if you're shooting for spaghetti westerns in the Leone style D&D's system will be a rough fit. In that setting people are often killed by one gun shot, not three. That's an influence from the samurai films that Leone was adapting to some degree. D&D's HP system is too much of a damage sponge. The death save is a good idea but then why even have a conventional HP system?

D&D is terrible at the one on one showdown, but it works perfectly everywhere else. Just take the abstract nature of HP to its extreme. The heroes in westerns usually manage to somehow survive protracted shootouts without taking a scratch. Assume most damage is a loss of morale or confidence, or being put at a disadvantage by suppressing fire, or just a grazing hit if it's a decent amount of damage. Use western cinema tropes, like getting your hat shot off, or getting taken out but surviving because it got deflected by . Death saves are just your luck running out.

Honestly hit points don't work for lances or battleaxes either.  A critical hit with a great axe that does 20+ damage is ofter narrated axe "the orc swings with his axe striking deep into your thigh." That doesn't make since if you still have 30 hitpoints left or so. If you take any axe into your thigh your are down.  That should be narrated closer to "The Orc swings a massive blow with his axe that you barely manage go block in time, your shield is smashed against your body, knocking the wind out of you and numbing your arm."

Any way.  Tose HP all together.  An if you need them for a bar brawl con=hp.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;963561I would just make all enemies 4e style minions that die in 1 hit. The 3 shots would be for PCs, unless you think it's better PCs always die from 1 shot too.

Good idea. Except I guess for boss villains.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;963533In Westerns, especially American ones, where the Gun is considered the ultimate weapon, they're often the tools that do the most damage.

Depends on the western. In some it takes a few shots to off someone. And in some death isnt instant and they may linger long enough to shoot back or try to. Or even linger days.

Dont base your RPG on movie physics.

I'd go with a system like the original Albedo's where its a factor of accuracy and where you got hit, plus the caliber of the shot. Without Albedo's modern body armour to mitigate it this makes gun battles really deadly. Especially if using a standard Colt. I looked up the factors for that very purpose.

I did a quick run with my diplomat character vs a gunslinger and it wasn't pretty. Diplomat was untrained but faster. We end up firing on the same phase and against all odds the diplomat scores a head hit AND a catastrophic one at that so a goodly portion of the gunslingers brains go for a walk. Meanwhile the diplomat takes it to the chest and takes a massive wound+knocked out. So the diplomat is laying there bleeding out fast and will be shuffling off the mortal coil in about 6 rounds (half a minute) if someone doesn't do something ASAP. (seems a bit fast? But I'll assume it was something really important got perforated. And why does my poor diplomat keep getting blasted in the chest??? )