Overall: This is a great alteration of the core Tiny Dungeon system. It fleshes out a lot of aspects while still keeping the core system easy to learn and use. Ultimately I feel this is an improvement over the original system and hope the Gallant Knight Games does similiar 'Advanced' series for their other products that are based on TD2e. I also hope they come out with a Hardcover 8x11 size book (not a fan of the smaller size that TD2e came in), the formatting of the PDF suggests this won't be an option however.

Here is a quick pro/con list

pro: formatting is more aestetically pleasing

pro: Artwork is a lot better (than TD2e)

pro: Conversion rules are given which is a plus

pro: Special effects actions are nice

pro: leveling system expanded

con: the bookmarks for the pdf are disorganized

con: PCs start with a mastered weapon (same in TD2e but I don't agree with it - I house rule no mastered weapons at start)

con: post level 8 xp expenditure options feel lacking

neither: Attack test allows for more damage to be dealt on either side - likewise Armor Class has been implemented to lower incoming damage possibly negating it entirely

neither: Initiative is done a little differently - hard to say if better or worse

neither: Classes have been devised and traits have been organized within classes restricting their usage (can be seen as good or bad)

This supplement delivers in what it offers.

There is a good variety of options for creating the dragon character you wish to build, as well as a good mixture of powerful and interesting traits and abilities that can allow you to shape your dragon however you want, and even personalize them even more.

There are some writing mistakes here and there, but all the important stuff is present and easy to understand, so you and your friends, and/or your GM, can quickly pick it up.

Some of the best 5E mechanics anywhere, particularly the injury rules. And the focus on low-down-dirty-scoundrels is welcome, and well presented.

I think this might possibly be one of the best designed RPGS I have had the chance to read. The system is easy to learn which is helpful in keeping the interest of persons new to role playing. The character creation is simple, but diverse. It also is more open so that player characters may be more personalized therefor more realistic.

I am very excited to play this RPG. Well done!

The exansion to the rules are welcomed and enhance the game to a deeper level. But we got the game for its simplicity and the limited options. Sadly, many of the rules expansion have been put to one side in lieu of our own rules which just make the game ours. I guess Tiny Frontiers has developed a set of house rules we all enjoy that perhaps someone else playing the core rules might not. Still an awesome product, though not as well received in my household as the initial release.

I needed something small and easily accessible by my family. Tiny Frontiers achieved this and we have had so much fun. Its a combination on the theme and the mechanics that sold my family on Tiny Frontiers and the related resources. What makes this even more accessible is the A5 hard copy of the rules that we can pass around (PDFs work well but just lacks that hard copy feel that ages over time and plays).

I was part of the development team with Christopher Grey. Highcaster offers extensive player agency, combined with a brand new expansive world and lore for that angency to thrive on.

(this review is based on reading the rules and my experience with the Year Zero Engine but I am looking forward to start the first games)

Generally speaking, I am a big fan of "easy to get in and start playing" rules. Free leagues has developped the Year Zero engine which perfectly serves this purpose. My experience with it is the Alien rules that I find extremely fun to run as a GM.

Pros:

• very easy to create a character
• very easy to read
• very cinematographic in its philosophy
• the mechanics support very well pulp movie type of actions (push your luck, catches, hero dice)
• almost zero crunch (might be a con for people who prefer a lot of hardcore detail and character progression)
• a full section with a number of tables for ideas about adventures, settings, baddies and their motivations
• content gives me all the basic tools I need to adapt super easily any existing Pulp adventure
• NPC stats and combat are super easy
• very easy to teach, you can probably cover 80% of the rules with the character sheet
• contains 3 adventures that I find interesting. As a first guess they should take each 3 sessions of 3-4 hours
• Just reading the book makes you want to start playing. That's a big plus!
• Last but not least, I can recruit easily players interested in one shots while playing other meatier systems

Cons:

• may not be as much handguided and granular as with other heavier set of rules
• players who are focused on character development might want to look elsewhere
• a (bit) of virtue signalling that, as an adult who embraces the world's complexity, I find tiring
• not much in terms of cool art and pictures (but it's ok, the text is light and super readable)

I also own in Pulp gaming: Hollow earth expedition, Savage World Adventure Edition. I like both sets. The difference being maybe that it takes more investment from my players and it is not always easy to find people committed to play the type of games you like.

In short: I have very little time left for my hobby but with this book, even if it is not covering every single section or questions one can have about the setting, I feel armed and ready to start Pulp adventures for my group.

My 9-year-old wanted to try tabletop RPGs, so I picked up this one to have a game with as little as possible in between the player and the fun. It’s pretty great.

There’s enough crunch for rolling dice to be satisfying, but they more serve the game rather than drive it. It’s a breeze to modify on the fly (my kid made an anthropomorphic animal, so poof we’re playing in that kind of setting now rather than a traditional fantasy setting). Prepping adventures is very quick, as statting enemies is just “pick their hit points and a couple abilities that make sense.” Combats move quickly, and can be easily scaled for an appropriate challenge.

We’re playing a weekly game with my wife, child, and mother-in-law. My wife doesn’t like learning lots of rules, my kid doesn’t like doing arithmetic, and my MIL has some neurological difficulties due to a series of concussions. I’d recommend Tiny Dungeon for any of those cases.

TL;DR: Enough rules to be satisfying, but light enough that they get out of the way of story and role-playing.

Tiny Gunslingers - playtest review.

Yesterday night I did a one-shot using https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/116132/SS--The-Gatling-Decision played with https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/280858/Tiny-Gunslingers

Caveats: I specified from the start that this would be a one shot so nobody (included me) should put it too much of an effort: we had a free night from my main campaign (one of the players was missing for two weeks) and I just wanted to throw together something.

I own 3-4 other TinyD6 titles (acquired via a Bundle of Holding offer), but I wanted something with zero "unrealistic" elements to see how the system works in more mundane circumstances.

The adventure is a bit "railroaded" but I think it was very well suited for my own needs. I don't want to give any spoilers, let's just say that we managed to complete 2/3rds of it and it featured both a brawl and an extended shooting battle.

Nobody at the table had ever used TinyD6 before that, and this was apparent from some of the choices in designing the characters (e.g. Tiny Gunslinger has separate mechanics for playing duels, which are modeled by using a sort of blackjack card game... some of the traits/advantages work only in duels, though, and considering you only have 3 of these at the start you better be sure that there will be duels or you risk to waste precious character traits for something that will be useless the rest of the time).

Finally, I can manage tactical fights but I really shine in devising investigative scenarios and providing interesting NPCs to interact with. Neither of those were really applicable there.

Having said all this, I do not think I liked TinyD6 very much (and I suspect all the players would agree). The system is very streamlined, so it plays fast. I tend to prefer lighter systems nowadays, so I am fine with that, actually.

What I am not fine with though, is:

A - PCs (and NPCs) feel very interchangeable: you have 3 traits, 1 broad proficiency in weapon classes and 1 weapon specialization. (In our case nobody had any skill in brawling/melee/unarmed combat and therefore... see B below).

B - TinyD6 started as a super-simplified D&D clone. So everyone has a variable level of HPs (PCs start with six). Weapons do all the same amount of damage (see also C, though). In the Saloon brawl scene even if I gave only 2HP to all NPCs we still had to go through a lot of undecisive rounds due to the high number of failures in scoring a hit.

C - I tried to prepare for this so I read a few threads about TinyD6: lots of people advocate an easy and fast way to make damage variable while still preserving "game balance". In the rules any kind of weapon always does 1 point of damage, this house rule guarantees that if you actually score, at least 70% of the time you get 1 point of damage, 2 points in no more than 20% of the cases, and 3 points on a particularly lucky case (~3%). When we actually started using guns, this made combat much more decisive instead of having to grind it out for hours.

D - I am always starved for time so I could have prepared myself a bit better, probably... but I doubt it would have made a big difference (considering that I did not expect to deviate from the written adventure). I did invest a couple of bucks to get nicer train deckplans: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/151326/1880s-Train-Car-Map-Set (the game was played online, I always try to get nice maps for these).

Conclusions

I am really not happy with the system (take also in account that even if TinyGunslinger was sold as a "complete game" you better get a copy of TinyDungeons in any case or you have to invent lots of stuff, like stats for bears, horses and... average humans, too).

I appreciate that after this playtest everything would work better (my players would know how to better design their characters, I would get more accustomed to the mechanics and could start adding my own personal touches...) but I wasn't particularly impressed either by the system "per se" or by how it was used to model "old west" stories.

POD Please? lol this phrase gets overused, but I really think it applys here.

This is one of the best options I have seen from White Box. I actually had the PDF printed from Staples into a small, spiral-bound zine. I only do this for the books I love as it costs about $30.

One of my groups runs DDX, but heavily modde from other games. This book is essential to my DDX, OSR homebrew. White Box is a great system. I have the original White Box the author put out a decade or so ago. Dark Dungeons X has that skill and feat system that feels a little like 3e. Which is why I went with that. I hear there is a kickstarter for a better quality White Box game. If you're reading this, you probably already missed that.

Damphir is my favorite class/race option. More monsters (Children of the Night) and spells (Sorcery most foul) also add more options and a nice flavor. I'm can't wait to look into some of the Ravenloft stuff from 3e to add to this!

Reanimated are great. A great expansion on the Frankenstine Monster tropes.

The curse modifier chart on p 23 is forever in my games!

5 stars! This module gets used at lots of games.

Tiny Gunslingers is a role-playing game and belongs to the TinyD6 game line and as such is completely compatible with the other TinyD6 games and genres. So if you want to mix your western with magic, sci-fi, horror, and so on, it's got you covered.

I will not review the TinyD6 game system per se, but rather just the rules as presented here.

Basically, characters are still created by assigning a series of traits, of which there are 19 new ones focused on the Old West, along with the usual assortment from the other books. There are no stats such as Strength or Intelligence, nor skills. There are no races or classes (both called Heritages in TinyD6 terminology). Characters are entirely defined by their traits which give them a mechanical advantage in certain circumstances, and can replicate such things normally covered by stats or skills in other RPGs.

There is a well done mechanism for resolving shoot-outs/duels using a version of the classic card game Black Jack. A lot of games attempt to mechanically draw out the rising tension before someone yells "Draw!" and the bullets start flying. Most are too complex and time consuming. TinyGunslingers answers the problem with an elegant solution that also increases the lethality of a duel over regular combat. A nice touch!

Another addition is the use of Grit and Bounty which mechanically seems incomplete. Grit allows you to perform extra special actions, and the only way to regain Grit is by getting Bounty from capturing/killing criminals/bad guys. Characters may never have more than 3 Grit, but there is no limit to Bounty. There is a mysterious sentence that states since one may only have 3 Grit, extra Grit better be shared with the posse. How? There is nothing in the rules to clarify what that means or how to go about it.

The game is only 36 pages in a digest format and if you believed that this makes the game too short and thematically incomplete, you'd be right. Tiny Gunslingers was meant as a bonus mini-game for those supporting the author's Patreon endeavor. As such it does not include any information about how the Old West was, real or imaginary outside of some perfunctory paragraphs about a fictional location. To further muddy the waters, the Enemies section nearly exclusively provides examples of sci-fi western threats. I don't fault it for the missing or genre-inappropriate information as it was never meant to be a complete western source-book...except...for one criminal lack of discussion...

Indians.

There are no rules or commentary presented in the book that address Indians, Indian culture, Indians as characters, and so on outside of a single sample NPC. In fact, on a random enemy table that presents threats to characters such as bears, other gunslingers, or angry railroad workers, hostile Indians are omitted. There is on the other hand a rather sanctimonious paragraph that scolds the reader about not causing real mental health issues by engaging in pretend colonialism. Perhaps that is why the game is devoid of discussion of Indians for fear of offending someone? The tragedy of the American Indian should not be forgotten and it should be treated with sensitivity, but the solution to possible offense and stereotypes is omission? That seems perhaps even more racially insensitive than a negative inclusion. I believe this to be a serious misstep on the author's part. There are several blank pages at the rear of the book and I would like to see a revised version at some point address Indians in those available pages.

The Nitty Gritty Total Page Count: 36 Pages Character Creation: 11 Pages Game Mechanics: 9 Pages Everything Else: 16 Pages

Judgement: In the end, I love Tiny Gunslingers. Although it is a stand alone game, I cannot recommend it as a stand alone game unless you already have a good understanding of the old west. There is too much missing. As an addition to the TinyD6 line, I think it is a great vehicle for exploring genre-blending worlds. If you have Tiny Frontiers, Dungeon, or any of the others, this is a must-have.

Excellent additions for Univeral and/or Hammer-style Gothic horror for S&W White Box / White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game or other similiar OSR products. Like all White Box material, it's easily portable to other systems or hackable for your own ends. I'm looking forward to running a horror-themed White Box FMAG campaign with this as the primary supplement.

A lot of fun and easy to learn. My players enjoyed this card game so much they wound up playing it more than the rpg. Really nice for downtime and it can be fun just to reference to in game.

I've played and ran a few campaigns for this game and I really enjoy it, and my friends really liked it. The only drawback we found was advancing a level didn't seem to pay off, only every other level do you get a new feature. Would like to see that element changed up, honestly. Other than that, this is a super fun system.