Far West

A Glimpse of Combat

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:41:17 +0000

Our preview of the rules of the Far West Adventure Game continues, this time with a look at the combat system. When you’re doing a game of furious kung fu and blazing sixguns, combat is a critical component of the system, and it was the one part of the rules where we felt it most important to bring across the “feel” of wuxia action.

To talk about combat, though, we need to give you a brief rundown of the core system: a d20 roll, plus modifiers, versus a Difficulty (either static or an opposed roll). The most commonly-encountered die rolls in Far West are Stunts, Saves, and Bouts.

Modifiers

The usual modifier affecting a die roll is the character’s ability bonus. There are also situational modifiers based on the particular circumstances (determined by the Narrator). A character’s rank also bestows a bonus (+2 for Novice, +4 Initiate, +6 for Master and +8 for Legend). In addition, a character can add their rank bonus multiple times, if they have an appropriate Area of Knowledge, or have tagged an appropriate Aspect.

Example: An Initiate hero riding a horse would make a die roll based on their Dexterity ability bonus, +4 for their rank. If the same character had “riding” as an AOK, they’d add another +4. If the same character also had an Aspect called “born in the saddle”, they’d get another +4 if they brought it into play. You can see that somebody so specialized is starting from a position of great advantage just from the bonuses, even before a die is rolled.

Stunts

In Far West, virtually everything you do is a stunt. You must roll a stunt check whenever the outcome for the action you’re taking is uncertain. Routine actions do not require a roll.

Stunt checks are rolled with the appropriate ability bonus, as well as any situational modifiers, and can be modified by Stunt Dice connected with that ability. Stunt Dice are bonus dice gained through Edges (for example “Catlike Reflexes” gives stunt dice to Dexterity stunts) and range from d4 to d12. You can attempt stunts for which you have no stunt die; you just don’t get any additional bonus for them.

A stunt check takes into account your training (stunt die bonus, AOK bonus, applicable Aspect bonus), natural aptitude (ability modifier, applicable Aspect bonus), and luck (the die roll). In most circumstances, you’re either trying to match or exceed a Difficulty Class (DC) determined by the Narrator, or looking to beat all opposing stunt check results (called an “opposed roll”). Opposed stunt checks are best used for “one-shot” circumstances, where the end result is simple. If the situation is one where there will be a great deal of back-and-forth between the participants (a debate, for example, or a race, or a drinking contest, etc.), it is better to use a Bout (see below).

Saves

Saves are, essentially, reactive stunts — rolls made to avoid when something is happening to you, or being directed at you. Any attribute can have a save associated with it: for example, leaping clear of an explosion would be a Dex save; resisting the effects of poison would be a Con save, etc. As with stunts, if the situation is one where there will be a drawn-out exchange between participants, it is better to use a Bout.

Bouts

Combat in Far West is handled through a set of die rolls collectively referred to as a Bout. Bouts come in two varieties, contested and uncontested.

Contested Bouts
Contested bouts can only be undertaken by ranked characters with available Spirit. The only exception to this is a special circumstance when multiple unranked characters act together in unison (referred to as a Gang), in which case they are treated as if they were a ranked character (this allows contested bouts between a single hero and large group of attackers, for example).

In a contested bout, two (or more) characters will vie back and forth, performing one outrageous action after another in attempt to best the opponent. These scenes feature a great deal of action and reaction: the flurry of strikes and blocks until a telling blow gets through, for example.

The object of a contested bout is to reduce your opponent’s key ability pool to zero, in order to deliver the result you seek. You provide a context and a goal for the bout, and the Narrator decides the key ability (and thus the ability pool and related stunt) used — for example a shootout would be Dex-based, a drinking contest Con-based, a debate would be Cha-based, etc.

Both parties alternate rolling a stunt check on their respective turn in a sequence, with the contest’s initiator having the first roll. Anyone can choose not to roll stunt die for himself if wishes, perhaps saving the option for something else if suspecting trickery. The DC for the stunt is the opponent’s key ability pool.

The “damage” on a successful stunt check is equal to your key ability bonus + stunt bonus, with a minimum 1 point of damage. The target subtracts the amount from their key ability pool. Yes, you’re essentially “attacking” the opponent’s ability pool, though such “bout damage” is neither permanent nor temporary, but just a means to keep track of how closely one is to winning or losing. It does not actually affect anything or reduce the stunt DC “to hit.” The ability pool refreshes when the bout is over (although some particularly nasty kung fu styles can change that — making your targets ability pool refresh at a slower rate).

If the ability pool drops it to zero, a character is unable to continue and loses the contest. Otherwise, repeat the process (representing the back-and-forth between the participants) until there’s a winner.

With the Narrator’s consent, you can use another key ability in place of the original at any point of a contest. This reflects adopting a clever ploy or improvising on the fly. For example, if you’re obviously the lightweight in a drinking contest, you might want to use deception to just pretend you’re drinking–which turns your roll into a Charisma stunt instead of Constitution stunt, which can tilt the odds to your favor (providing you have a better stunt die in Charisma). Or, you might want to slip a little something into the opponent’s cup to expedite his passing out, in which case you’ll be rolling a Dexterity stunt. A shootout using Dex might not be to your advantage, so you choose to rush into close combat with your kung fu, if you have better stunt die in Strength.

You can also choose to roll your stunt versus multiple opponents, the same opponent more than once, or any combination thereof. There are limits to how many stunts you can perform per turn, based on your rank (and modified by some Edges), and this choice also makes success more difficult – but makes the results of that success potentially devastating.

The winner of the contest determines how the contest ends: Direct delivery of real damage, knocking the target unconscious, humiliation of the target, gaining some benefit for yourself, or other effects. The Narrator should use the accrued stunt bonuses as a general guideline as to what the winner can and cannot do. In general, the higher the final bonus the more likely the desired result is achieved — the accrued stunt bonuses also modify damage delivered, making long bouts particularly dangerous.

Much more detail on contested bouts can be found in Chapter IX: Furious Action.

Uncontested Bouts
An uncontested bout is any bout that involves an unranked character, or a ranked character who is unable (or chooses not ) to participate in a contested bout. It is simply a direct stunt versus a target, as an opposed roll, with the result applied directly. Most often, this is used to represent straightforward combat: an attacker rolls a Dexterity stunt to shoot a target (for example), who rolls a Dexterity stunt to avoid being shot, and if the attack succeeds, damage is delivered.

Damage

Far West uses a series of damage conditions, running from fairly minor to serious and life threatening. The damage conditions (in increasing order of severity) are: bruised, hurt, dazed, wounded, staggered, disabled, unconscious, and dying.

Damage is determined by a Constitution save: a roll of the die plus the hero’s Constitution bonus and appropriate modifiers against a Difficulty of 15, modified by the source of the damage: with more damaging attacks more difficult to save against.

The result of the roll determines the damage condition: a successful save means no damage, a failure is a bruised or hurt result, failure by 5 or more a dazed or wounded result, failure by 10 or more a staggered or disabled result, and failure by 15 or more an unconscious or dying result. Variation in failure results depend on whether the attack was non-lethal or lethal in nature.

Example: Two characters have been fighting in a rickety barn, destroying it as they do so. Each hold up a section of the building while fending off blows and simultaneously trying to bring down the structure on their opponent (making it a Strength bout). When the bout resolves, the winner decides to inflict damage on the loser by having the collapsing building fall on top of him. The winner’s martial arts damage is 2D8 and his final total stunt bonus was +14. He rolls a 7, so the loser rolls a Constitution save against a DC of 21. The loser rolls a 16 — failing by 5. The loser is caught in the collapsed barn, wounded.

So there’s a quick overview of how combat works in Far West, via bouts. In play, we found that this system really brought across the rapid-fire strike-block-strike-block-grab-flip-strike-block-WHAM! as found in wuxia films, and traditional Spaghetti Western shootouts were emulated perfectly by a Wits bout (staredown), leading to a single gunshot, loaded up with a massive amount of accrued stunt bonus, from the winner of the bout. We’re quite happy with the results.

Next time, we’ll take a look at some more setting material, with sample entries from the Far West Lexicon.

If you like what you’re seeing here, and you missed the Kickstarter for the game, the general-release Retail Edition of the Far West Adventure Game up for pre-order here at our store. The game ships in August.

A Glimpse of Character Creation

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:00:07 +0000

Now that we’re in the final stretch, getting ready to the pull the trigger on sending the Far West Adventure Game to press, we’ll be posting more preview material about the game here on the website. Our first glimpse is an overview of Character Creation.

Heroes in Far West are the protagonists of their own adventure series. Players create heroes following the guidelines in the rulebook, with the assistance and guidance of the Narrator. Heroes are defined by several components arrived at in steps, which are outlined here.

Abilities

Every hero has certain basic abilities that define what they are capable of doing. These abilities are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wits, and Charisma. Abilities have two components: the ability pool, which represents the available reserve of that ability for use in contests (which we’ll explain later), and the ability bonus, which is a numeric score, ranging from -5 to +5 or higher, averaging 0 for a normally capable person. Depending on the option chosen by the Narrator, players can either randomly determine how strong, smart, and tough the hero is via die rolls, or can choose the appropriate ability scores via the non-random option. See Hero Creation in Chapter III: Heroes Wrought From Iron, Villains Borne of Fire, for more information.

Backgrounds & Occupations

Heroes do not spring into existence fully formed. They all come from somewhere, and did something before choosing to follow the heroic path. By choosing (or randomly rolling) a Background and an Occupation, players can determine the conditions under which the hero was raised, and what training they received. Backgrounds and Occupations bestow additional bonuses to certain abilities, as well as a range of Areas of Knowledge (q.v.) to choose from.

Areas of Knowledge

Areas of Knowledge represent training in a particular sort of task or knowledge, everything from horseback riding to the mysteries of Cog Science. Someone trained in climbing, for example, is able to climb faster and with more confidence than someone who has never been trained. Areas of Knowledge (abbreviated as AOKs) offer a bonus to any roll where that AOK comes into play.

Spirit

Spirit is the inner power of a hero, that quality that keeps them going when a lesser person would give up, as well as the fuel which powers their amazing feats of Kung Fu prowess. It is a reservoir determined by combining all of a hero’s ability pools, and modified by a hero’s Rank (q.v.) and certain Edges (q.v.).

Aspects

Heroes have a set of descriptors called Aspects. Aspects cover a wide range of elements and should collectively paint a picture of who the character is, what they’re connected to, and what’s important to them. Aspects can be relationships, beliefs, catchphrases, descriptors, items or pretty much anything else that paints a picture of the character. The player can spend Spirit to tag an aspect for a bonus to a roll, or the Narrator can award the player Spirit in return for compelling a character’s aspect for a penalty. For more detail, see Chapter IX: Furious Action.

Rank

Heroes stand above everyday people in terms of ability, power and inner Spirit—yet there are differences in power between heroes as well. The Narrator will determine the Rank that the heroes will occupy within the game. A hero’s Rank determines their total Spirit, the types of Kung Fu that they have access to, and more. The available Ranks are: Novice, Initiate, Master and Legend. Non-heroic individuals are considered to be unranked. See Hero Creation in Chapter III: Heroes Wrought From Iron, Villains Borne of Fire, for more information.

Edges

Heroes are customized via their choice of Edges. Edges are a hero’s talents – the special things that they can do. All of a hero’s special abilities, the things which separate them from normal everyday people, are contained within Edges – some of which have prerequisites, some of which do not. A hero’s Kung Fu styles, for example, are acquired through the “Martial Training” Edge. See Chapter IV: Legendary Deeds And Mighty Exploits for more detail.

Clans

Heroes in Far West often owe allegiance to one of the many Clans – sects organized along philosophical, political, or vocational lines. Some of the Clans are secret, some are open – all have obligations of loyalty, and benefits of membership (teaching members secret forms of Kung Fu, for example). Some characters may have no Clan allegiance, or serve the interests of the Empire. For more information, see four part look at the Clans, here on the website, or Chapter V: Pilgrims On The Dust Road in the rulebook.

At the end that process, you’ll have a hero ready for the Far West.

In the next preview, we’ll take a closer look at combat.

…and if you missed our Kickstarter, we’ve now put the general-release Retail Edition of the Far West Adventure Game up for pre-order here at our store. The game ships in August.

Art Preview

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:44:34 +0000

As we finish up the final arrangements to get the Limited Edition of the FAR WEST Adventure Game out to the printer, I realize that we’ve been terribly remiss about posting updates here on the site. We’ve been present on the official forums, but haven’t posted material to the actual site for far too long. That changes as of today — we’ll be making a concerted effort to feature more content here.

To kick things off, I realized that we’d previewed the cover image for the game on the forum, and via Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, but not here! Curse me for an addle-pated galoot! Realizing my misdeed, the subject of this post became obvious — not only will be give you a look at the cover, but at some of the other art that’s been flying from the talented hands of Mr. Rick Hershey. So without further ado:

FAR WEST LIMITED EDITION COVER

FAR WEST INTERIOR ART

A grizzled Ranger, boldly wearing his forbidden star.

Some brave souls can actually manage to ride a Thunderbird… if they can train one.

A notorious air-pirate and outlaw.

BACKER PORTRAITS

A short selection of some of the portraiture which will be appearing in the Limited Edition:

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this glimpse of the art of FAR WEST. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get a game finished! Stay tuned for more material coming soon — more vignettes, more development articles, and announcement of our follow-up Kickstarter project, kicking of the FAR WEST fiction line!

Far West Music

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:01:57 +0000

Adamant Entertainment is pleased to announce the release of our first album of music for FAR WEST, Once Upon a Time in The Far West.

The five-track EP was composed and recorded by Lawrence, KS musician Sam Billen, and is available for sale at the Far West webstore, on Adamant Entertainment’s Bandcamp page, DriveThru, RPGNow and within the next couple of weeks will be available on Amazon, all iTunes Stores worldwide, MOG, Tesco, iMesh, Pasito|Tunes, eMusic, Zune, Rhapsody, Nokia, VerveLife and Google Play.

Individual Tracks can be streamed here:

About the Artist: Sam Billen is a busy man. Between raising his baby daughter with his wife, working full time at the University of Kansas, teaching ESL at Washburn University, and running his business that creates music for film, advertising, video games and other mixed media, FourBigWatts, he somehow finds plenty of time to dedicate to his passion – making music that moves.

After years of playing in a band called the Billions, Sam has journeyed off into a solo music career and is currently releasing his music through The Record Machine. Over the past couple of years, he has released a good amount of music: a digital EP entitled Tokyo Sessions, a full-length album called Headphones and Cellphones, a Christmas compilation (including songs by friends Half-Handed Cloud, The Paper Route, and Andrew Conner from Ghosty), a solo piano album called Death of a Saint, a constantly growing collection of his remixes and covers of the music that influences him in a project called Removers, and his most recent project, a Christmas album with his good friend Josh Atkinson.

TALES OF THE FAR WEST Preview: Excerpt by Scott Lynch

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:07:40 +0000

The short story anthology Tales of the Far West is now available, in print and digital format from the official FAR WEST webstore, as well as Amazon.com (paperback and Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), and other sites. Featuring a dozen tales from critically-acclaimed and award-winning authors from the fantasy, science-fiction, horror and adventure genres, Tales of the Far West kicks off Adamant Entertainment’s line of Far West fiction, which will include novels, further anthologies and more. Far West Kickstarter backers have already been sent email detailing how they can download the book in the digital format of their choosing (If you haven’t received this email, please drop me a line.

To give you a taste of what’s in the book, we present the following excerpt, from “He Built The Wall To Knock It Down”, by Scott Lynch (author of the Gentlemen Bastards Sequence fantasy novels).

He Built The Wall To Knock It Down
by Scott Lynch

1

He called himself False Note. It wasn’t his real name. Hell, it wasn’t even his real fake name.

He was old but unbent and his sins hung on him like bark on a tree. That was my impression the first time I ever saw him, keeping his own company in the darkest corner of Tychus Sload’s Lucky Sky Diamond Diversion Parlor. He looked like a man waiting for a funeral to break out, or a man who’d make one if it didn’t get there in good time.

I knew the dust on his boots wasn’t working-day dust or wasting-time dust like mine. That dust he trailed was old bad news stretching back across leagues, years, and lives.

At a glance, my eyes saw clear. Trouble was, I was twenty-two, and those eyes weren’t fastened to anything worth writing home about. If I’d had brains enough to fill a rattlesnakes’s ball-sack I’d have spun on my heel and gone anywhere else that night, anywhere a man like that wasn’t waiting for something.

But I was twenty-two, invincible in my own stupidity, and I was at the frayed end of a bad employment situation in a nowhere-town that had never seen any good ones. Ain’t That Something, they called it, because the gods need places to point at and laugh.

Ain’t That Something had been hitched to a silver mine but the vein was thinner than a whore’s rouge, and when it ran dry the crowds and money waiting past the eastern horizon elected to stay over the horizon. Ten days’ ride north of the Bloodiron, up into the shadow of the Eagles’ Claws, Ain’t That Something was a dry misfire of a town and I got a hell of big surprise when I showed up aiming to make my fortune.

Sload’s Lucky Sky Diamond had the same problem. Lavishly built in expectation of great things, what it got instead was us, night after night, the dregs too damned stubborn to give it up or too short-sighted to save our gambling money for the long haul back to anywhere.

We crept from sober to drunk under the yellow light of oil lamps hanging from brass sculptures of tigers and dragons. Their haunches were spread to receive copper wire that would never be laid; their mouths gaped for glass bulbs that would never be shipped within a hundred leagues of that place. We drank Sload’s worst until the images on the cards swam like hot desert air, then we went to our beds on all fours. You could have gathered up the sum total of our wit and good fellowship in a thimble.

There were six of us worth mentioning that night. Tychus Sload was a given, a snuffed candle of a man, a Seccesh war veteran who’d saved thirty years to build his dream then sunk it by building where he did. At the table with me was Jozan Shung, swollen like a toad, who carried a sawed-down coach gun and called himself Scattergun. When he got tight he acted like the rest of us did, too.

Hot Molly had what you might call a rugged natural geography and a limited acquaintance with bathing. Her temper named her. There was no place in the civilized east for a blacksmith, even a skilled one, who’d put a client’s head between hammer and anvil for late payment. Now she hunted work town by town on the frontier, where murder was less disqualifying in most trades.

Next to Molly was Timepiece, formerly the discount sort of bad man who’d thumped indentured workers for one Chartered House or another until he’d been aged and beaten out of the game. His left arm was ten years gone. He had a colorful story about some admirably-endowed bandit queen with a hatchet, but when Timepiece moved just right I could spot the scars of grep fangs on his shoulder and collarbone. His replacement arm was rusty steam-cobbler piecework, hacked up from old farm tools and busted Drudges. He loved the name Timepiece, and thought it was because he set the pace for the sad circle of bummers around him. Actually it was because his godsdamned arm made more noise than a box full of wind-up clocks.

So there was Jozan, Hot Molly, Timepiece, and your dutiful scrivener, all sitting at a table just past midnight, while Tychus Sload listlessly polished glasses that had never been used and that stranger, that waiting stranger, drank his tea in an island of shadow between the jaundice-colored lights.
“Heavens,” said Timepiece, his voice as grit-clogged as the gears of his arm. “Why heavens, just look at this hand. I swear if these cards had tits I’d marry ‘em.”

He set his cards down paint up, and the rest of us were done in. As he’d promised, it was a marriageable spread. His fourth or fifth in an hour. Still, he laughed like he’d done something clever and his arm went whirr-click, whirr-screee, whirr-click as it swept the little pile of clipped silvers toward him.

So went the game, most nights. Timepiece had two nested machines bolted into that godsdamned arm, and one was a pointlessly complex channel-fed card-sorting mechanism that was noisier than the rest of the affair put together. He was hellfire proud of it, even spent hours fussing over it with oil and jeweler’s tongs. If he’d loved the rest of his arm half as much it would have been a museum piece.

Anyhow, it was no secret that when he used that thing to deal a hand it tended to miraculously come out in his favor. We pretended not to notice. He’d cheat us, we’d cheat back in turn, and when stumbling-off time came we’d all be back to equilibrium, losers together, less the price of our drinks.

That was most nights. The night I met False Note, I got wound up and sent the game right off a cliff.
I’d love to blame it on that quiet stranger, waiting for whatever wind he thought was going to blow, but that’s not even a near-truth. I was drunk in the deadliest way, deep enough to be prickly but not deep enough to be numb and slow. I was in a bad humor, too, dwelling on the idiocy of my situation, grudging Timepiece those precious silver bits he scraped up even though I knew I’d probably chisel them back just as soon as he quit dealing.

“Hell, Timepiece, you’re already married to the secret of your success.” I took a long slow swallow of whatever Sload was passing off on us that night (lead sugar, vinegar, grep piss— gods knew) and it didn’t make me any smarter. “After all, ain’t like that arm of yours can get up and walk away whenever it wants to.”

That opened a hole in the conversation. Timepiece had gathered the cards and now he slotted them into his arm mechanism in groups of five or six, slowly and deliberately like a man feeding shells to a carbine. The ominous silence stretched and his bloodshot eyes were on me all the while.

“You got any inclination to clarify that remark?” he said at last, too softly.

“If you’re gonna keep that thing rigged up to four-flush us, don’t you think you ought to have the courtesy to vary the miracle every now and then? Maiden’s Tits, it’s more regular than the sun and the moons!”

With that, I broke the magic for good. When you’re sitting at a table like that, you can call one another scoundrels, murderers, grep thieves, ingrates, and fancy dancers of the cheapest persuasion. You can joke about being crooked as a general and constant state of affairs. But what you can’t do, what you can’t ever do, is accuse someone of cheating right then and there. Not unless you’re ready to play for blood.

Click. Timepiece shoved the last bunch of cards into his dealing mechanism. Sha-chock. The arm primed itself for the next deal. Timepiece still hadn’t taken his eyes off me. Hot Molly and Jozan Shung were giving me the stink-eye, too. They weren’t real tight with Timepiece, but they were sure tighter with him than with me. Somewhere behind the booze and bitterness my better judgment was waking up. Too late.

“Why, I do believe that touches on my honor, you skinny little serpent-tongued son of a bitch,” said Timepiece. Now he sounded downright jovial, but there was no mistaking what burned behind his eyes.
He reached out with his metal arm and took my just-emptied glass in its misshapen hand. Gears ground, pistons popped, and tinkling fragments rained on the table.

“How’s that for a new trick?” He got up slowly, like some range beast rearing up to make a show in front of its den, which I suppose is exactly what he was. His smile was wide and full of piss-yellow teeth. “You wanna see some fresh miracles out of this arm, you just step right outside and I’ll accommodate your godsdamned curiosity.”

“Well, uh, maybe I was a little hasty, Timepiece.” A little! Maybe water was a little wet and the sun was a little in the sky. My bad weeks in Ain’t That Something had made me careless. I’d fancied myself hard and ready for the world, but I had no arts for hurting folks, not even to stack up against cast-offs like Timepiece, Molly, and Jozan, and that realization was coming on awfully fast.

“Yeah, take it easy, Timepiece,” said Sload. I don’t know if it was the threat to my tender young self or the busted glass that got his attention. Probably the glass.

“He called me a cheat!” said Timepiece.

“He did not,” said the stranger.

It was like the shadows had decided to talk, or one of the sculptures. I mean, I’d guessed the stranger must have a voice of some sort. Hard to explain the tea otherwise. But he’d been wordless for so long, watching us, that he’d faded into the background for me. Timepiece seemed equally surprised at the man’s decision to quit making like wallpaper.

“Now that’s a novel interpretation of recent events.” Timepiece turned his back on me to address the mystery man. I should’ve been insulted, but it was a pretty fair assessment of the threat I posed.

“Cheating’s a marginal sin,” said the stranger, rising casually to his feet. All my first impressions of him came rushing back as he stepped into the light. That brown face had seen some weather, all right. That long hair was the color of a raven that had flown through falling ash. “He accused you of being artless. And that’s. . . much worse.”

“Mister, this ain’t your game, but you just dealt yourself in.” Timepiece lost his feigned joviality. Now his voice and his body matched what I’d seen in his eyes.

I mentioned that Timepiece had a second device nested in his arm, beside the card-game-ruining mechanism. This was a spring-loaded compartment clutch for a short-barreled revolver with cracked ivory grips. A whore’s gun, basically, but nothing bigger could hide in his forearm. Automata squealed and spat that gun into Timepiece’s flesh-and-blood hand. He held it up to catch the sickly yellow light.

“Oh, come on now, Timepiece,” said Sload. “There’s no need for that!”

“Shut it.” Timepiece twirled his sad little shooter languorously and didn’t take his eyes off the stranger. “See, someone makes noise about my honor, I’ll make noise of my own. But I’ll go all the way. All the way, get it?”

“If you had any notion of honor,” said the stranger, his voice cold, “you’d carry a good piece, and you wouldn’t keep it in a metal purse, and you wouldn’t pull it just to make yourself forget how small you are.”

Almighty gods. I thought I’d had everyone’s attention when I mouthed off to Timepiece. Jozan and Molly were clutching the table, they were so excited. Tychus Sload had a look on his face like he was about to shit twenty pounds of hot bricks.

“Show us your iron, you clown!” shouted Timepiece.

The stranger flicked the lapels of his wind-worn duster open just enough to show what he was carrying— a plain leather belt above his slim-hipped jeans. Not a holster in sight.

“I think you’re gonna be awfully surprised if you figure you can hide behind that fact that you ain’t running heeled,” said Timepiece.

“I think your opinions are as worthless as your honor,” said the stranger.

Timepiece’s gun came up. It was dead center on the stranger’s chest from six feet away.

“Mister, you ain’t drunk and you’re provoking me awful fierce. So I tell you now, I swear to the gods, you find a gun or you borrow one, or I’ll put you down like a dog right here on Sload’s floor!”

“You are provoked,” said the stranger. “I invite you to do something about it.”

What happens next? Well, that would be telling. Scott’s tale is barely 15% told here — there’s a great deal more, and another 11 stories besides! Tales of the Far West is now available from our webstore and other vendors worldwide.

Forum and Far West Society Now Live!

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:30:51 +0000

We’re pleased to announce that the official Far West Forum is now live! Head on over, register and take part in the palaver, using either the previous link, or the main menu button over there at left.

The forum will be your central discussion site for all things FAR WEST — questions, comments, conversations and more. We just opened the place, so I expect that there will be some dust here and there, and things may change as we open new categories up as sub-forums, but for now, come on in, put yer feet up and enjoy yourself.

You’re free to talk about anything related to Far West here — the game, the books, the site, even related “inspirography” materials. If it applies, go ahead! Try to keep off-topic discussions to a minimum — that stuff is probably more suited to off-forum discussion.

A quick note about our forum rules: We ask that all members try to adhere to the Confucian values of Jen and Li:

Jen, translated as “humanity” or “humaneness”, is the highest Confucian value, and is cultivated by exhibiting benevolence and care toward others. In other words, be nice.

Li, translated as “propriety” “ritual” or “etiquette”, is respect for traditional practices and conventional mores, in order to restore and maintain an order in society. In other words, observe etiquette and be polite to each other.

That’s it — nothing too onerous.

The forum also features a private subform for members of The Far West Society, our official fan membership community, available by subscription. Information on the Far West Society can be found by clicking the appropriate menu button as well. If you were a Kickstarter backer who received a Society membership as part of your backer package, be sure to fill in the field when you sign up for the forum that refers to your name as registered. I’ll be checking that field against our Backers list to confirm membership and grant you access to the private subforum. (To clarify, that’s your real name that you paid under, not the name you chose.)

If you’re not already a Society member, subscriptions are available over on the Far West Society page, for only $10.00 US for a six-month membership.

Thank you, and we look forward to talking with you!

Inspirography: Netflix Streaming

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:38:25 +0000

We’re hard at work on getting two FAR WEST products out the door — the short story anthology, TALES OF THE FAR WEST, which will be available before Christmas, and the Limited Edition version of the FAR WEST ADVENTURE GAME, which will be sent to Kickstarter backers in January.

What to do while you wait, and you also have some free time due to the December holidays? Well, if you’ve got Netflix streaming, fire it up and have your very own FAR WEST film festival. A bunch of films have been recently added which make for fine inspirational viewing:

Swordsman 2: Jet Li stars in what I consider to be one of the best films of the early-90s wuxia revival. Nominally a sequel, but with an entirely new cast and a stand-alone story from the first film.

New Legend of Shaolin: Take Jet Li, a plot that borrows a bit from the Japanese Shogun Executioner / Lone Wolf and Cub series, over-the-top wuxia badassery and a child wushu prodigy. Yeah, there’s not much to dislike there.

Silverado: One of my top 3 favorite Westerns — a tribute to the classic Hollywood westerns written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Return of the Jedi. I consider this film massively under-rated. If you’ve never seen it, remedy that now.

Death Rides a Horse: One of the less-well-known Spaghetti Westerns, starring Lee Van Cleef (of The Good The Bad and The Ugly and John Phillip Law, in a revenge plot against a gang of bandits.

Ashes of Time Redux: Wong Kar Wai’s “art house” wuxia film. Far more stylized and abstract than a straightforward wuxia, the film is more a character-driven drama that also has martial arts.

Master of the World: Steampunk airships, Jules Verne, and Vincent Price. You’re welcome.

13 Assassins: Yes, it’s Japanese, not Chinese, and therefore not really part of our genre mix — but director Takashi Miike’s homage to classic chanbara films is just too damned cool to ignore.

There are also films that I’ve previously mentioned in earlier Inspirography articles available for streaming — but you’ve already watched those, right?

Enjoy. As for me… Back to work!

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FAR WEST Cartography Notes

admin — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:55:12 +0000

On November 14th 2011, after several months of preparation and hard work, the first Far West map was completed and approved. It was a long, arduous process, but the final results made it all worthwhile.

My name is Andrew Law, and I have the honor of being the cartographer for Far West. If you want to know a little more about me, go check the Bios page.

I can’t fully express my excitement at being involved with this project. For me, it’s the very definition of cool. Western, Wuxia, and a sprinkling of Steampunk, Far West is a sublime merging that emerges with a fresh, new whole that’s really exciting. T.S. and Gareth may be surprised that the Kickstarter broke records and scored an impressive 986% of its initial target, but I’m not. Really, what’s not to like about kung-fu cowboys with clockwork legs? On airships? Fighting dragons? Nothing, of course.

So, when I was tentatively contacted in July ’11 by T.S. Luikart, he didn’t need to do much persuading to sign me up for cartography work. I immediately fell in love with the setting, and couldn’t agree to join the project fast enough. However, I found creating the first map of the Far West wasn’t going to be quite as easy as I’d originally expected.
Put simply, maps exist to provide information about an area in pictorial form. Obviously, this requires details to be depicted. However, the Far West setting is, at the time of writing, mostly uncharted — later, its players and contributors will be expanding as the setting matures. This means that only a few, very important locations are currently known, with the rest of the huge area an empty expanse, pregnant with possibility, but mostly unrevealed.

How the hell was I going to map a big empty space in a fashion that did justice to the awesome setting?

Fortunately, T.S. and Gareth came to the rescue with an answer. They presented me with Amble, a Wandering Star artist with a fierce love for the untamed Far West, keen to record the majesty and beauty he had encountered during his long wanderings through those troubled lands. They suggested the first map could be presented as one of his works. Yes, by necessity it would be devoid of many geographical details, but this could be justified by the artist’s ignorance (he can’t have travelled everywhere—the Far West is huge!), and would leave lots of space for artistic flourishes and ‘Here Be Dragons’-style icons. So, they wanted a map with few important locations, but lots of arty bits in between, all drawn by an itinerant inhabitant of the Far West.

I liked it. I liked it a lot. It was time to start drawing.

Initially, I planned a watercolor and ink style map, drawing heavily upon Chinese art for inspiration. Unsurprisingly, it looked very Chinese as I drew it, which wasn’t what I wanted. Far West is a mash-up, after all. So, I then tried something more akin to a Wild Bill Hickok poster, but with some Chinese elements. That was pretty cool, but far too stylized and sensational, and not how I imagined Amble drawing. So, I chucked both sketches out the window and started again. This time, I drew upon some of the colors and stylings of Rick Hershey’s art, but influenced by both Chinese and American maps from the appropriate eras. As I drew some hills, this seemed to work better, so I ran with it. Soon, I’d drawn all the mountains of the Eagles’ Claws, the trees of the Sea of Spears, the flat tops of the Thousand Mesas, the undulating hills of the Rolling Steppes, the watery expanse of the Shining Mirror, and all the rest, and everything was slowly beginning to fall into place. Sure, it didn’t really look Chinese, and it didn’t really look American, but, it did look right. So, I labeled that all up with some hand-drawn text, then pressed on.

Next, it was time to get a little more arty. First came the animals. I wanted to show off some of the fauna the Far West had to offer, and was particularly looking forward to drawing a dragon and a Thunderbird, as these were unique to the setting. I had to ask T.S. for references for these, and I was sent the most awesome reference sketch I have received, ever (it was for the dragon). You should all persuade T.S. to post it online for your delectation. It is pure gold.

Anyway, once the animals were mostly finished, it was time to fill up the remaining blank areas with the sights Amble the Cartographer has witnessed on his travels across the Far West. This was the fun bit. Traction Engines, giant clockwork robots, camel-riding cowboys, dragon-trains, steam mills, paddle steamer/junks, airships, and more. These were an absolute joy to add, and greatly added to the character of the map.

Once the map was mostly full, it was time to add the finishing sections: the title plate, compass, and scale. This was all progressing wonderfully, but then my Wacom tablet (the digital art pad I draw with) broke. I still had two weeks until my deadline, so I was hardly panicking, but it wasn’t ideal! Amazon came to the (£360!) rescue and a tablet arrived a week later. Half-panicked that I only had a week left, I finished the map quickly and mailed T.S. and Gareth to inform them we were all done. They, meanwhile, were in the depths of creating new, exciting Far West material, so it was agreed that it was worthwhile waiting for that to be finished before finalizing the map, granting me some extra time to add some more details. Given I’d lost a week of work, I couldn’t have been happier.

I used the time to good effect, and drew a new title plate in the corner. The original was all text with a pretty patterned border. I’d originally planned something more ambitious, but ran out of time because of my broken tablet. With that impediment removed, I redrew the whole thing, this time drawing a log surrounded by Far West goodies (a cog, fan, pistol, flowers, trail cat, etc.). I also drew three butterflies into the image. Butterflies are a symbol of the Wandering Stars, and Amble, in particular, uses three butterflies as his personal stamp (which can be seen in the title plate between the chrysanthemums and the trail cat), so it was good to reinforce that imagery. I was far happier with this, and feel it really brings the whole map together as a piece of art.

That done, I then added a border, which helped pull the whole image together. I particularly enjoyed drawing the corner images, primarily as it was fun drawing a dragon and thunderbird in a different style to their more realistic partners on the map, and it was good to include the two moons on the map (something I’d intended to do from the beginning, but, again, had to drop because of the last week).

As I finished this, T.S. contacted me with all the new material he had written, so I added a few more extras drawn from this, including the robotic deputy of Whiskey Baddow, the Spiderweb of Sedoa, and the opal mines of Drywater, and then took a moment to review what I had.

The map looked good. But, the more I looked at it, the more I felt it didn’t look quite good enough. So, I tinkered a little more—tidying some details, and fading the edges a little to give it the appearance of use— but something still wasn’t quite right. So, I went to bed to think on it.

The next afternoon, after picking up my daughters from school, the answer came to me. My eldest handed me a sponsor form for a charity event at the school. She’d folded it up to fit in her pocket. I unfolded it and smiled at what I saw. Fold lines! That’s what the map needed! That evening, I set to work drawing fold lines on to the map. It worked perfectly; it made the image look more real, more used. I also tried adding a bullet hole or two, and some blood splatters, but that was too messy, and detracted from the map itself, so I discarded them. After taking a moment to survey the work, I concluded I was happy.

So, I sent the finished map to Gareth and T.S. for approval. Fortunately, they loved it. I spent a few days after that twiddling with a few details (river names, the sword beside the compass, updating the Chinese (thanks to Tom McGrenery for proofreading!) and similar), and finally we all agreed the map was finished.

Phew! Time to relax.

But, I was still super-enthused, so I carried on a little further, and drew a quick self-portrait of myself as if I were Amble (with three butterflies added to support that, and his stamp used in the corner). I drew upon Rick’s styling again, and it was surprisingly fun to draw, and helped bring the whole project to a nice conclusion. Amble and I had finished our map. The self-portrait accompanies this article.

So, where can you, the marvelous fans of Far West, find this map?

Besides the wallpaper presented below and on the downloads page here at the Far West website, it will be used as a double-page spread on the inside leaves of the Far West RPG book, and printed as a limited edition poster for all you Kickstarter backers that pledged $65 or more. In addition, a hi-res digital copy suitable for multi-page printing is available for purchase at RPGNow, for $1.99 (All Kickstarter backers receive a complimentary copy of this digital version, as promised).

I hope you all enjoy owning it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Beyond all that, if you have any questions, post them in the comments below and I’ll endeavor to answer them where I can.

Looking forward to chatting to you all,

Andy Law
Edinburgh, Scotland
15th November 2011

Download the Official Far West Map Wallpaper here:

The Moons

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:21:46 +0000

By T.S. Luikart

One of the revelations of the Far West chat was that FAR WEST does not take place on our world, but rather an alternate world, massively huge and with two moons in the sky. Here’s a bit more about those moons, and the beliefs that surround them in the Far West.

Night falls swiftly in the Far West, electrical lights are a rarity beyond the Last Horizon, though a few places do have them, to the absolute wonder of travelers who see them for the first time. They are not always necessary, though. In addition to a sky filled with stars, two moons sail across the firmament. Imperial dogma states they are the Celestial Wolf and the Celestial Rabbit. The folk of the Far West usually call them Night Wolf and Rushing Rabbit. Both sides generally agree that Lord Sun is chasing one of them, though opinions (and the myths) differ on whether he is hunting the wolf, who is hunting the rabbit, or hunting the rabbit, assisted by, or in competition with, the wolf.

Night Wolf is a large dark orb that sails serenely over the horizon on a monthly cycle. Mostly visible only at night, the Celestial Wolf’s face slowly changes over the course of the month, but always remains somewhat dark; however, flashes of his blazing claws and fangs are occasionally visible on his surface. When Night Wolf rages, folk take it as an omen big changes (frequently war) are coming. Astrologers and other learned folk say that such displays are “volcanic activity at work” which isn’t nearly as good a story.

Rushing Rabbit is far brighter and smaller, a somewhat misshapen (and vaguely rabbitish) lump that shoots across the sky two and sometimes three times in a night, as well as once or twice during the day, though its far less noticeable then. The Rabbit lights up the landscape as it hurtles past at night, making night raids and other such activities require precise timing in order to pull off successfully. Most folk think of Night Wolf as a “he” and Rushing Rabbit as a “she” though some reverse the genders and the scientifically minded ignore them altogether.

FAR WEST Chat Transcript

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:25:16 +0000

On Sunday October 30th, FAR WEST developers Gareth-Michael Skarka (GMSkarka on Twitter) and T.S. Luikart (TSLuikart on Twitter) did a live chat with backers and fans. What follows is the edited transcript of that evening’s event:

QUESTION (@Lyfhskull): I’ve been wondering a while, will there be a ‘writer’s guideline’ for farwest contributions?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) Well, @Lyfhskull, we’ll be rolling out the Far West Society in November, which will include methods for contribution.

QUESTION (@GoldenElm): Should I presume the rules “srd” might roll out in that same period?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) No, the rules will not be freely released until 2012.

QUESTION (@Jason_Sunday): Do the pc’s start the game as weaklings like D&D or more powerful heroes like Mutants & Masterminds?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart) Yes. Depends on what you want, like Mutants & Masterminds the game has tiers and you can make a “starting” character at any of them.

QUESTION (@FowlSorcerous): Remind me – what’s the release date?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) Release of Ltd. Ed. game to backers is December. Commercial release isn’t until 2012. Fiction line starts December as well.

QUESTION (@JJDRexroad): When do you plan on expanding (or starting) the webseries?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) The webseries starts development in mid-2012. Not setting release yet.

QUESTION (@JJDRexroad): What is the Far West Society?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) Far West Society is community who get access to extra material and can contribute to canon.

QUESTION (@JustinDJacobson): Any plans yet for apparel and the like? (I want my Far West lunchbox!)

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) Yes, absolutely. Apparel, merchandise, etc.

QUESTION (@GoldenElm): Of the different alternate mediums you’re targeting with the product, which has proved the most challenging?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart) I can’t do music– but I can’t wait till you guys get to hear the score for the webseries currently underway. The music is as mash-up as the property. RPGs are old hat for us.

QUESTION (@Highmoon): Will #farwest be open (CC, OGL)? If so, what parts?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka)Yes — Creative Commons. More detail later.

QUESTION (@Lyfhskull): Is farwest ‘grid map’ combat, or more of a ‘storytelling’ combat style?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart)Storytelling, for sure. Wuxia meets gunflighting lends itself to descriptive combat.

QUESTION (@Jason_Sunday): Will we get to see a sample character any time soon?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart)Should be able to see sample characters by the end of November.

QUESTION (@Beckx): How about a 140-character preview of character creation steps in #farwest?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka)Choose rank. Determine abilities. Background. Occupation. Areas of Knowledge. Spirit. Aspects. Clan. Edges.

QUESTION (@GoldenElm): Wrapped your head around the Kickstarter total yet?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka)Didn’t have a chance before large chunks were going out the door to pay various dev costs.

QUESTION (@Jason_Sunday): The Odyssey System characters originally were suppose to fit on an index card. Does this still hold true?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) Largely, yes. Not as much description, but stats, sure.

QUESTION (@JJDRexroad): think you might do a yearbook for fun? to include more of the behind the scene stuff.

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) Hard enough to do one book, without doing another for “fun.”

QUESTION (@Jason_Sunday): Were the Kung Fu powers a challenge to model in the system?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart)Fun, not challenging. Coming up with good names, that’s the hard part.

QUESTION (@Lyfhskull): I know it’s still crazy early, but any plans for far west miniatures/figures?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka)We have discussed. No firm plans yet.

QUESTION (@Jason_Sunday): Will there be a “dark side of the force” Kung Fu style?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka)*A* style? No. MULTIPLE styles. In the hands of those with corrupt Spirit, all kung-fu is dark.

QUESTION (@Wordwill): Is there a story behind the core kernel of FAR WEST? Where did it all start?
QUESTION (@JJDRexroad): Story Arcs? Overall theme? I am very interested too. anything you can say on that?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart)Grand Theme: To protect civilization from the barbarian, you must pick up the Gun. Pick up the Gun and you become a barbarian. Specific story arcs will vary in what they convey, but then, you guys will end up having a big say in that.

QUESTION (@Jason_Sunday): Are the corrupt Spirit types playable? Would they be hunted down much like a Sith or Dark Sider in Star Wars?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka)Yes, corrupt Spirit is playable.

QUESTION (@Lyfhskull): Will war drudges be a playable race? Are there any non-human races in the world/playable?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart)No non-humans in setting. Iron Roy, the War Drudge with a Conscience, is unique. (Note: Iron Roy appears in this vignette on the site.

QUESTION (@JJDRexroad): Any other juicy tidbits on story, without giving the secrets away?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart)The first world event involves the return of a legendary band of heroes called the Peerless Seven. Final line up of the Seven will be partially determined by Far West Society.

QUESTION (@JJDRexroad): In the mashup, where in the world does it actually take place? Location, location, location.

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) FAR WEST is not our world. Fantasy world. Massively huge, endless frontier, two moons in sky. Different universe. Book map, which is only nearest eastern portion of Far West, is area 7200 miles across. A lot of “Here Be Dragons” on that map. Lot of space to fill in your own stuff.

QUESTION (@Lyfhskull): Speaking of dragons, are there lizards of unusual size(flight/elemental breath attacks?)

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka) Dragons are like komodo, but size (and SPEED) of tigers.

QUESTION (@Jason_Sunday): I know that there are “magic weapons” in the world. Are these weapons lost and need to be found (i.e. DnD)?

ANSWER: (@TSLuikart)Some are ancient, some are lost, some are being forged even today. Not “treasure”. Think wuxia genre.

QUESTION (@Jason_Sunday): What are the chances of seeing a web episodes for Far West with Felicia Day?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka)Would love to talk to Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton about appearing in the webseries.

QUESTION (@chrytonbain): How do you plan on releasing content past the core? digital downloads of adventures or will there be more print runs?

ANSWER: (@GMSkarka)There is FAR far more than just RPG coming out. But yes, future RPG releases (adventures, etc.) will probably be released digitally.

We had a great time doing the Twitter chat, and will definitely be doing them again in future. Keep an eye out on the official FAR WEST Twitter account () for announcements.