Under Western Skies: 2D6 Adventure on America's Frontier

The term “Wild West” conjures up images of square-jawed cowboys on horseback, watching over a cattle drive; steely-eyed lawmen facing down desperadoes; painted saloon girls carousing with rowdy guests; and stoic Native Americans watching their world slip away. The Wild West — that period of America’s history during its westward expansion in the latter half of the nineteenth century — was all that, and much more. Now, players using the 2D6 system can visit those thrilling (and often dangerous) days of yesteryear. Under Western Skies is an RPG supplement based on the Mongoose 1st Edition 2D6 OGL system (which is itself based on The Original Science-Fiction Roleplaying Game first published in the 1970s) and adapted to create heroes and adventures suitable for an Old West campaign.

This is a major upgrade of the original Under Western Skies rules, but is still designed to “get out of the way and let you play.” The rules still leave most of the creativity to the Referee offering only a framework to hang that creativity on. The rules contain the following goodies, some of them new:

• An expanded list of ten careers, using a familiar character generation system
• Native American nation creation
• equipment and weapon tables
• a selection of vehicles and animals, both wild and domestic
• an expanded town creation system that allows the Referee to decide the level of detail.
• A discussion of Newfangled Contraptions invented in the 19th century that had an impact on the 20th.
• And even a generation system for the cowboy’s boon companion, the horse!

Of course, there are rules to help you run the inevitable showdown at high noon, and determine what happens when you just as inevitably get sick or see that twister coming.

Under Western Skies. The West is as Wild as you make it.