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Wild West RPGs - who knows one of them?

MisterStone

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Just out of curiosity, is it possible to properly simulate a quick-draw duel with revolvers in a turn-based strategy game?

Personally, I'd probably like a WW RPG more of the setting were mixed with something else, such as horror, post Apoc, etc.
 

JarlFrank

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MisterStone said:
Just out of curiosity, is it possible to properly simulate a quick-draw duel with revolvers in a turn-based strategy game?

Personally, I'd probably like a WW RPG more of the setting were mixed with something else, such as horror, post Apoc, etc.

There's a pen and paper RPG where it's mixed with magic a bit, more in the psyonic style, all that kind of Nazi mysticism and such stuff, and all these secret projects made by Allies, Soviets and Nazis alike. I'd really like something like this for the PC.
 

denizsi

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Outlaws and Desperados are by far the best western games I've played.

I still hear the bandits' cries "Come out Marshall! Don't be a fool marshall! Hey Marshall, Mr. Law-Man!" The game also had an outstanding musical score; it was worth buying for that alone.
 

taxacaria

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Ladonna said:
Gun was ported to PC.

Is that a decent port ?

Ladonna : subj. Another War said:
I actually bought this game....I know, I was desperate. Its a shame, with a better combat system it might have been fairly good. Pity it didn't have a little more work done on the game itself.
That's right. I believe the devs runned out of money - the game has potential, but serves the standard Hollywood cliché of evil nazi/russian dumbfucks, so the European WW2 plot is very incredible. It has some good dialogue, and I've enjoyed some jokes about the movie "Casablanca" etc. The combat system is one of the most sucking ones I've ever seen, and the main reason for my bad rating. Soon after release the homepage went off-line, so I don't think is has been a commercial success. And as far as I know there is no patch at all.
 
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Is that a decent port ?

Only if you don't mind shoddy, terrible controls, bad performance, unsatisfying, fiddly gunfighting and that hilarious thing where the terrain refuses to load in time for you to reach it and you run over invisible ground for five minutes.
 

Gambler

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What is the appeal of SF, Fantasy or WW2 then?
You can put pretty much anything in SF or fantasy RPG, so it depends on the type of the setting. Usually, SF has "cool" technologies, while fantasy has magic. Yes, usually technologies in computer games are very unimaginative, as is magic, but that's more of a problem with concrete developer rather than setting as a whole.

WW2, if you ask me, has absolutely no appeal as a setting for an RPG.

lands with not that much civilization, deserts, forests, the wild Indians, and all that kind of stuff.
Didn't post-apocalyptic RPGs do that already? Fallout 2 even had pseudo-Indians.

Anyway, the problem with wild west is that there isn't much you can do about it as a setting for an RPG. What kind of equipment would the character have? What will he do? How do you implement a train robbery in an interesting and interactive fashion? For a shooter wild west perfect, but I have hard time imagining how all that western stuff would work within the popular framework of skills and quests.
 

LCJr.

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Gambler said:
Anyway, the problem with wild west is that there isn't much you can do about it as a setting for an RPG. What kind of equipment would the character have? What will he do? How do you implement a train robbery in an interesting and interactive fashion? For a shooter wild west perfect, but I have hard time imagining how all that western stuff would work within the popular framework of skills and quests.

I fail to see how a wild west setting has any less options than any other.

Equipment would hopefully be accurate for the period. Instead of a wizard enchanting swords you could have a gunsmith that improves your Colt.

What would you're character do? Probably follow one of your typical western archetypes. Lawman, outlaw, cowboy, cattleman, prospecter, traveling salesman, etc...

How would you implement a train robbery? About the same way as any other robbery in a crpg. The bank robbery in Arcanum wasn't really anything special. Offhand I can't think of any crpg that's done crime well.

Skills? About the same as any other crpg. Weapons, social, rogue, survival, crafting, etc...

Quests? Again pretty much the same way you do any other crpg. The vast majority of crpg quests aren't setting dependant. They will have props that depend on the setting but the general quests could be used in any setting.

About the only problematic part I see would be racism if you want to go heavy on social commentary. It's fine in a fantasy game where it's half orcs being discrimated against but I'm not sure many developers would want to touch real race issues.
 

Zomg

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If anyone can remember me blathering about an RPG where the gameplay is significantly derived from SimCity, that idea came from daydreaming about how to do a Deadwood RPG where you play a "city father" analog. I think a western would be great for either a boomtown single location setting or a road story with gameplay in the travelling like RoA, where they evoke some of those McMurtry books where he dramatizes everyone dying of thirst and infected arrow wounds.
 

Section8

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I'm honestly surprised, well no, not really, that Western settings are completely overlooked. I would have thought Deadwood alone would be enough to make them en vogue. Maybe Wild Wild West killed it for everyone.

As for WW2, I think its a bit more difficult to carve an RPG from. What I would love to see though would be an X-Com style strategy/tactical game that's part Indiana Jones and part Rocket Ranger. A bit of archaeological intrigue, nazis, occult artifacts, flying wings, etc. What's not to like?
 

SkeleTony

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Aug 17, 2006
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The problem with doing a good wild west RPG is the environment/setting. Fantasy and sci-fi RPGs can have everything from lush jungles and boggy swamps to sprawling cities and arctic islands.

Wild west has dirt/dust and tumbleweeds. Some cacti here and there and maybe a canyon. All very 'brown'.
 

taxacaria

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SkeleTony said:
Wild west has dirt/dust and tumbleweeds. Some cacti here and there and maybe a canyon. All very 'brown'.
Ever seen "Breakheart Pass"? Wild West with mountains, snow etc.
You can use an earlier scenery from 17th or 18th century - and you have lots of possibilities to place an RPG in a wide range of scenarios and environments.
You could play the role of a Red Indian, a trapper, a settler, a snake oil peddler... :D
 

cutterjohn

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taxacaria said:
I'm looking for a Wild West RPG, at least with some Red Indians in it.
Any recommendation?
I don't know of any, but word has it that Josh Ritter (the Minions of Mirth) guy REALLY likes the "Wild West" and, apparently, wants to make a "Wild West" RPG some day...
 

Kingston

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SkeleTony said:
The problem with doing a good wild west RPG is the environment/setting. Fantasy and sci-fi RPGs can have everything from lush jungles and boggy swamps to sprawling cities and arctic islands.

Wild west has dirt/dust and tumbleweeds. Some cacti here and there and maybe a canyon. All very 'brown'.

Err, no. The wild west wasn't one big desert.
 

LCJr.

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SkeleTony said:
The problem with doing a good wild west RPG is the environment/setting. Fantasy and sci-fi RPGs can have everything from lush jungles and boggy swamps to sprawling cities and arctic islands.

Wild west has dirt/dust and tumbleweeds. Some cacti here and there and maybe a canyon. All very 'brown'.

You've obviously never been to the southwest. Lot of red rock and tans, greys, blues, etc... And you'd be amazed at the amount of green vegetation even in the middle of the desert. Just about everything has thorns and/or is poisonous though. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/region ... ndex.shtml
Quite a few mountain ranges and buttes. It's pretty country.

It's more like everything from the great plains to the deserts to the rain forests of WA state(or Californias giant redwoods) and everything in between. Places like Flagstaff, AZ you can literally have a morning a swim then drive up Mt. Humphries for some skiing.

MisterStone said:
Just out of curiosity, is it possible to properly simulate a quick-draw duel with revolvers in a turn-based strategy game?
TSR tried to do it with Boot Hill. Boot Hill was labeled as an RPG but was more of a set of miniature rules like the early versions of D&D.

All you need is the proper stats, a small random element plus some modifiers based on weapons used i.e. a shortbarreled revolver would be faster to draw but less accurate vs. an accurate but slow to draw buntline.
 

BigWeather

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Section8 said:
I'm honestly surprised, well no, not really, that Western settings are completely overlooked. I would have thought Deadwood alone would be enough to make them en vogue. Maybe Wild Wild West killed it for everyone.

The movie or the game?

Secion8 said:
As for WW2, I think its a bit more difficult to carve an RPG from. What I would love to see though would be an X-Com style strategy/tactical game that's part Indiana Jones and part Rocket Ranger. A bit of archaeological intrigue, nazis, occult artifacts, flying wings, etc. What's not to like?

Heck, just IJ would rock, regardless of the Rocket Ranger part. And Raiders of the Lost Ark even had a flying wing! :D
 

aries202

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Some of the screenshots etc. from Arcanum reminds me of the old West in the US(A) during its heydau in the 1870's-1890's. (I think?). If you go the tech route, I think you actually can learn how to use small firearms (pistols, revolvers etc.) But this is just a part of the game, I know.

I know there's an adventure game called Wild Wild West adventure that it sort of fun, and likewise there is another adventure game called Al Emmo & the Lost Dutchman's Mine, which is sort of fun, too.

But a full fledged rpg set in the wild west area in the US ? I don't know of any, except many for Desperado 1+2, but these games are more action adventures than rpgs, imo.
 

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MisterStone said:
is it possible to properly simulate a quick-draw duel with revolvers in a turn-based strategy game?

I'm not sure if this is what you mean... maybe something like Fallout's "Sequence"?
 

HanoverF

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ViolentOpposition said:
MisterStone said:
is it possible to properly simulate a quick-draw duel with revolvers in a turn-based strategy game?

I'm not sure if this is what you mean... maybe something like Fallout's "Sequence"?


In a rpg I was thinking a modified dialogue type encounter (wait, draw, move, signal ambush) at each phase your stats and preparation determins your success.

If its like Obivion I'm sure it would be some stupid minigame when you have to time a button press where two bars are intersecting before you get insta killed by your opponent.
 

Gambler

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LCJr. said:
Equipment would hopefully be accurate for the period. Instead of a wizard enchanting swords you could have a gunsmith that improves your Colt.
The problem is that most of the modern RPGs are based on completely unrealistic equipment. It's not really noticeable in sci-fin or fantasy games, but in a western game that would be immediately obvious.

Say good-bye to armor. Say good-bye to performance-enhancing stuff. Heck, even health potions would look completely retarded in a western setting. Mind you, it's not really the problem of the setting - it's more of a problem with design of modern RPGs. But it still is a problem.

How would you implement a train robbery? About the same way as any other robbery in a crpg.
Trains move, though.

Skills? About the same as any other crpg. Weapons, social, rogue, survival, crafting, etc...
Skill progression. In an average RPG you become more, and more powerful as the game goes. Why? Because you completely suck at everything in the beginning, and because you have hitpoints. Now, imagine a quickdraw duel where shooters miss half the time, and it takes 6 shots to kill someone.

Quests? Again pretty much the same way you do any other crpg. The vast majority of crpg quests aren't setting dependant.
Well, yes, but many of them suck too much to be put into a semi-realistic setting. Overall, wild west is much closer to our everyday life than usual fantasy and sci-fi settings are. You can't put masked dungeons and artifacts into western setting and expect players to buy it.
 

JarlFrank

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Gambler said:
Skills? About the same as any other crpg. Weapons, social, rogue, survival, crafting, etc...
Skill progression. In an average RPG you become more, and more powerful as the game goes. Why? Because you completely suck at everything in the beginning, and because you have hitpoints. Now, imagine a quickdraw duel where shooters miss half the time, and it takes 6 shots to kill someone.

Actually, in reality it could be that none of them hit his contrahent and they both survived the duel, because of the relative inaccuracy of guns back then. Shooting your whole barrel at the contrahent was not very uncommon, too.

Still, if you completely suck at shooting and the one you are dueling with does not, you draw, shoot, miss, he shoots back and you are dead. It's that simple. Don't do such duels if you're not skilled. Unskilled NPCs would also never accept a duel, because they know it would be their death.
Would you challenge somebody to a quickdraw duel if you completely suck at handling guns? I think not.
 

Elwro

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MisterStone said:
Just out of curiosity, is it possible to properly simulate a quick-draw duel with revolvers in a turn-based strategy game?
I don't know about the "properly" bit, but there was a great Necromunda scenario called "Shootout", which had something in common with quick-draw duels, I think. But between gangs.
 

Vault Dweller

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MisterStone said:
Just out of curiosity, is it possible to properly simulate a quick-draw duel with revolvers in a turn-based strategy game?
Why not? Use Speed as one of the Stats to determine the initiative and sequence, so even if someone starts a fight, if your speed is higher you can shoot first. Also, I'd add an interrupt feature based on "reaction" or maybe the weapon skill, allowing you to interrupt someone's attack and shoot once without aiming (i.e. you can't use aimed attacks).
 

mytgroo

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The game was called Boot Hill . I don't think they ever turned it into a computer game. But, it wouldn't be too hard if they can make something like TOEE from D&D. It was a mildly enjoyable game. The problem is that if you messed up, you died very quickly.

Wild west roleplaying games are basically gunfight games with dice. You can do various shootout type scenarios, rob a train, rob a bank, rescue a maiden from the railroad tracks, visit the saloon, visit the cat house, listen to the bible thumper, rustle some cattle, dig for gold in the hills, wander around in the woods Yosemite, make moonshine, anything that can happen in a spaghetti western, cowboys vs. indians, appalachian family feud, or goldrush setting would fit.
 

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