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Weird, Wild, Wuxia West

Weird, Wild, Wuxia West

result to your Skill number and count your successes Bad Medicine Weird, Wild, Wuxia West based on whether your action is governed by Guns or Channelin’ , spirits or the primal elements is risky You are ragged group of drifters in a world of six-guns, Instinct: business, as is working with imperfect and unreliable sorcery, and dinosaurs. Inspirations include For Blood, count the technology. You can only do superhuman/supernatu- Westerns, Wuxia, Kung Fu (the tv series) and Shaun dice OVER your Skill ral acts directly related to your Calling or a technologi- Keenan’s Dinosaurs of the Wild West. Hell, you can number. cal item you possess. You get only one die unless you even some in there. W4 was written For Iron, count the have done the same thing in the fiction before (expert) by RL Vieira (www.patreon.com/redram) and is based dice UNDER your Skill and/or spend a turn training or setting up (prepared). on Ray Otus’ Sorcerers and Sellswords. This game is number. You can prepare a qi or tech effect ahead of time and licensced under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. 0 = It goes wrong. The keep it ready indefinitely, as long as nothing would Create a Drifter Boss says how things get worse. ruin your concentration or setup. You can push for big Choose a skill number between 2 and 5. A low num- 1 = You barely manage. The Boss adds a complica- effects (if it fits with your Calling), but keep in mind that ber means you’ll be better at Blood (sorcery, knives tion, harm, or cost. any backlash could be equally dramatic! and swords, unarmed , primal powers, dealing 2 = You do it well. Cashing In with spirits and animals, wilderness survival) a high 3 = A critical success! The Boss gives you a bonus You die only when it feels right to you. In the mean- number means you’ll be better at Iron (, re- effect. time, the Boss can push you and your posse to the pairing and operating machines and gadgets, dealing Each die you roll ON your Skill number, gives you an limit, inflicting complications, harms, or costs when with authority, persuasion, gambling) Insight. you fail: Dazed, Limping, Bleeding, Starving, Chilled to Choose your style: Cheerful, dangerous, drunken, Ask the Boss a question for each insight and you will the Bone, etc. These all matter in the fiction. If you are flashy, grizzled, handsome, inexorable, savage, se- get an honest answer. Some good questions: What Bleeding, for instance, you will be easier to track! rene, sneaky, tormented, volatile are they really feeling? Who is behind this? How Being the Boss Choose your Calling: Anthracite Alchemist, Autom- could I get them to ____? What should I be on the Ask questions and build on the answers. “Have aton, DeadEye, Dino Wrangler, Duelist, Engineer, lookout for? What is the best way to _____? What is any of you ever run into the Robot Barons before? Gambler, Hired , The Law, Scout, Sorcerer, Sha- really going on here? After hearing the answer, you What happened?” Or, “What do most folks not know man,Skinwalker, Wandering Monk can change your action if you want to, then roll again. about the Great Salt Flats?” Their answers are true Why are you a drifter? Staying one step ahead of (Yes, you can use this to get out of a bad roll! And, and now part of the story! the Law, Go where I’m needed, Fighting inner/outer as long as you are rolling on your number, and the Foreshadow threats. Except when responding to a , Looking for an enemy/loved one, Don’t let Boss has information to share, you can repeat this failure (0-successes), always show signs of something anything tie me down, Prove that I’m the best, Looking insight-change action-roll again cycle.) bad that is about to happen before it happens. Then for that one good place, Seeking redemption You can use your turn to help or hinder another’s ask the characters what they do. Example: “As you Introduce your character with a , Asian or action. try and sneak up on the band of desperadoes, a dark Native name. Say how you do it and roll 1d6 to see if you succeed. shadow falls across your path. What do you do?” Choose gender and ethnicity. (Was your “how” Blood or Iron?) If you do, add a die to Call for a roll when things are rarin’ with possi- Roll the Bones that character’s next roll or take one away – except a bility. Always play to find out what happens; don’t When you do something dangerous, roll 1d6 to player never rolls less than one die! Failure can have pre-plan the outcomes. Be a fan of the characters find out how it goes. Roll +1d6 if you are an expert the opposite effect (If you fail at helping, you hinder, when they succeed; use their failures to push the story and +1d6 if you are prepared. and vice versa). Also, the Boss may disallow helps forward and make their lives interesting. The situation (The Boss tells you how many dice to roll, based on and hinders if they don’t make sense, especially if always changes after a roll, for good, bad or weird. your character and the situation.)Sample Compare each die players try to stack them. file 4W Dictionary street people step out of your way. accident became conscious. You are hard to hurt but This list is meant to suggest narrative possibilities. It is Drunken - You’ve got the shakes, but nothing a shot of don’t heal naturally and can survive in environments not meant to be prescriptive or complete. Players may rotgut won’t straighten out - people tend to underesti- that would kill flesh and blood. interpret the styles/callings by their own lights. mate or overlook you. Hired gun - Ronin/mercenary/gunslinger; expert with Game Terms Flashy – It’s never enough just to win - you have to do a weapon or two of choice, you aint above selling your Expert – Being an expert comes from your Calling and it in style. services to the right bidder. Style. A duelist is an expert at dueling. A drunken du- Grizzled -- You’ve seen it all and have the scars to Deadeye - With either a Winchester or a thrown knife elist will be underestimated by their enemies--until it’s prove it. You’re experience makes you wise or at least you always hit what you aim at, long as it’s in range. too late. It means you are skilled at something, have cynical. Dino Wrangler - Expert at training and riding dino- studied/practiced it. Inexorable – You’re like a locomotive. Once you’re set saurs, specialize in one type of dino: predator, herbi- Prepared – When you spend a turn describing how on a track and have a full head of steam behind you, vore or winged. you are setting up for an action, you are prepared. get out of your way. Duelist - Whether with a six-gun or a katana, you have Risky – An action is risky if failure could mean losing Savage - You have a wild and unpredictable aspect. perfected the art of the fast draw. face, taking harm, missing an opportunity, etc. Use of Others will avoid confrontation or asking too many Engineer - Whether working on machines powered by Primal Powers is always risky. questions. steam and hydrogen or djinn (endjinns?) and efreet, Primal Powers – Anything supernatural/superhuman Serene - You’re like a still pool of water - the outside you can operate it, fix it or sabotage it. that your character can do. It must be directly related world cannot disturb your calm. Gambler - Master’s of misdirection, your greatest to your Calling. It’s the core of some Callings, but any Sneaky – Your goals are easier to accomplish when asset is Lady Luck. On any try you can choose to reroll Calling has the potential to harness such powers. For no one is watching. You can often go unnoticed and all die and hope for a better outcome. instance, a deadeye might use his instincts to shoot use distractions. Scout - Skills in wilderness survival and tracking; something they can’t see or a duelist might use gravity Tormented -- You’re haunted by something that hap- always aware of your surroundings and unlikely to be defying leaps to get advantage in battle. pened in your past - you’re either running away from bushwhacked. Backlash – Happens when Primal Powers go awry. your pain or toward redemption. Shaman - Local medicine man practicing magic of the The Boss may do things like change the target of the Volatile - You’re temper is like a powder-keg - short animal kind. spell (ricochet), “mark” the caster for a future doom, and explosive. Sorcerer - Masters of Old Sorcery from Beyond the blow stuff up (including treasure or innocent bystand- Callings Sea; capable of major supernatural powers, but always ers), or even warp reality for a scene (e.g. the sun is Anthracite Alchemist - After a lifetime wasted trying at a cost. obscured plunging the land into darkness, gravity goes to transmute coal to diamonds you’ve turned your Skinwalker - you can shift into the shape of one type awry causing anything not bolted down to float a few talents to Destruction. You always carry Bituminous of animal, e.g., wolf, bear, coyote, eagle, otter, salmon. feet above the ground). Emulsions with you: a few vials of Liquid Coal that Your human shape always has some mark that identi- Styles burn long and hot and two Igneous Incendiaries, fist fies your animal type. The Law - Law-abiding folks will respect you, outlaws Cheerful - You never say ‘die’ - you always see the sized lumps of coal that glow when you hold them and will distrust or despise you; you bring Order and severe silver lining to the dark clouds roiling on the horizon. can be thrown as explosive artillery. Given a day or justice to these lawless territories. You’re more often lucky than right. so, and the right ingredients, you can make a new Bitu- Wandering Monk - A student of weaponless fighting Comely – You are charismatic and well knit. You know minous Emulsion to replace a used one but you never and mind over body. Capable of feats most folks think how to get someone’s eye and use their attentions to carry more than a few at a time due to their volatility impossible. your advantage. when near one another. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Dangerous – Your body language screams that you Automaton - Part mechanical, part magic, you were www.patreon.com/redram are as deadly as a rattler. WhenSample you walk down the created for another purpose but by some unintended file