Boot Hill - a call for interest

[Casimir]

I'm just curious if anyone here would be interested in a possible Boot Hill (3rd Ed.) play by post game / campaign. The Old West has always been a favorite genre of mine, and I've unfortunately never had enough players interested in my game group to really keep a game or campaign running.

If enough people show interest, I'd like to pursue putting together a game and see if it can progress to a campaign.

[Webhead]

I would be interested in a play-by-post Western, though I'm not familiar with the rules for Boot Hill. Never was able to own a copy myself. But I'm a big fan of Western movies and Western RPGs, so I think it could be a lot of fun.

[Deadone]

What would the posting times be? How many times a day,week?Would you use a dice server or do we roll our own?What would the timeline be?

[Webhead]

Yeah...what Deadone said!

[Casimir]

What would the posting times be? How many times a day,week?Would you use a dice server or do we roll our own?What would the timeline be?

Well - good points.

I've never run a play by post setup before - although I've been administering and mastering games for about 25 years. So I'll have a bit of a learning curve whereas that's concerned. But I can provide some ideas for now :

Posting Times : I'm an adult with a family, so I understand that sometimes life comes before games. Reasonable posting (to me) would be once a day or every couple of days or so - if the group can post more than that then we could of course speed things up.

Dice Rolls : I'd prefer to use a dice server if possible, simply because that seems to be the easiest method for the pbp setup. However - again, I'm flexible there... if nothing else we can dust off our old dice and just roll them.

Timeline / Period : Game start would be roughly around 1878 - 1879. This would allow for fairly widespread distribution of cartridge rifles and pistols as opposed to cap and ball (of course, if a player wants to use cap and ball, that's fine). I haven't decided as yet whether to use the "in game" campaign map / world or to use the real Old West - that depends on whether or not I can find accurate maps of the areas made during or representative of that time period of the Old West. If I can't, then I'll be using the campaign map and setting it up as closely to the Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, and surrounding territories as I can.

Whether or not I use a real map or the campaign map, the history will be the same as real US History - the Civil War has been over for about 3 to 4 years, indian migrations and reservation moves, gold and silver in the Rockies and Black Hills, etc.

Characters can be anything the player wants them to be, racial wise or career wise - the only thing to remember is that Boot Hill is not D&D, and when the bullets start flying, it's very easy to get killed. Being an outlaw only is fun when you are out in the bush and boonies and your reputation doesn't preceed you - otherwise you find yourself being hunted by posse's everywhere you go. Laws of the land at the time were varied, and in the territories in particular each town had their own set of laws - so while it may be legal to carry a gun openly on your belt in one town, it may not be in the next.

The game / campaign would have a "Spaghetti Western meets Open Range meets Unforgiven" type of flavor - with the primary influence of the three being Open Range. There'll definately be opportunities for gunfights and confrontations, but the focus will be more on story development and plot. I'll be intermixing real historical figures, rumors, and folklore with game figures, rumors and folklore. I'm a history buff, so I try to intermix as much actual lore, slang, terms of the times, and appearance as possible into my games (like, for example, you won't hear anyone say "Draw!"... slang of the time was "Pull" or "Skin" - like Kurt Russel's portrayal of Wyatt Earp when he said "You skin that smoke wagon and see what happens!").

For anyone who's interested but who doesn't have the game, I can provide all the information required to roll up characters so that you can participate.

Edit : One further bit of info - just because it's a "Western genre" game set in the Old West doesn't necessarily mean that all your opponents or antagonists will always be "human" either...

[korhal23]

I'm in. You sold me on the hint that it might be a Weird West kind of game.

[Casimir]

I'm in. You sold me on the hint that it might be a Weird West kind of game.

Cool - but be advised that this kind of thing would not be the norm, it would be the exception.

I don't want to, or mean to, burst any bubbles... I just want to be up front with everything from the beginning so everyone knows what to expect.

[korhal23]

Fair enough. I like me some normal westerns too. But I love Aces and Eights so much that it's my go-to system for wild west stuff.... so I was "meh" until you mentioned that (none of that is in Aces and Eights)

[Casimir]

So - could I then consider the following people interested in this game?

korhal23
webhead
deadone

[Deadone]

Yep!

[korhal23]

absolutely

[Webhead]

I am interested though I'm not entirely comfortable with a "daily" posting schedule. I would be more apt to play under a minimum "once every two" or "once every three" day posting limit simply because I am not always able to post everyday (especially weekends which are family/project/gaming days). Thus, if that precludes my participation, not a big deal, but if the group is inclined to go with a slightly looser schedule, I would still like to play.

Just let me know. Thanks.

[korhal23]

I'm good with whatever.

[Casimir]

Personally - I'm flexible. Since I'm looking to run a game, as far as I'm concerned it's more up to the consensus of the players involved as to the posting schedule. So if the rest of the players have no issues with an every other day / every 3 days schedule, that'll work for me too.

[Webhead]

Cool. I've already got a character concept, I just hope its not one that will overlap with anyone else's.