Mark Hunt has found his niche in the gaming industry by making retro-clones of the the 1981 Basic Dungeons & Dragons to fit other genres, notably his take on TSR's old GangBusters, but also the western genre in his game - and the subject of this review - Tall Tales.

As a retro clone, it has the usual 6 Abilities (e.g. Strength and Wisdom), and not much has changed there. There are 6 initial classes to choose from, and these classes are a curious mix. They are all genre appropriate, but the inclusion of 2 classes over perhaps more the more genre appropriate staples is a little head-scratching and has me confused over what kind of game Mr. Hunt envisioned.

To be precise, there are 4 classes that are practically a given for an RPG of western flare: Gunslinger (filling the role of fighter), Desperado (filling the role of thief), Mountain Man (basically a Ranger from AD&D complete with animal side-kick), and Brave (which despite the name is closer to a B/X cleric than a warrior) which is nice nod to the American Indian. A lot of other games shy away from their inclusion in character choices. The other two classes are perplexing.

One is Singing Cowboy, fulfilling the function of a AD&D bard, but with the addition of horse side-kick which able to perform minor tricks. Campfire songs were a thing, but the inclusion of the wonder-horse draws obvious parallels to Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. This inclusion of the Singing Cowboy feels more like parody than a serious inclusion. The other class is Snake Oil Salesman (SOS), which again, is in-genre, but here's the thing....the SOS's elixirs actually work. In essence, the SOS is an alchemist making magic potions. There are no other examples or mentions of magic anywhere in the book. As I mentioned, I'm not sure what game Mr. Hunt wanted to make. A serious western genre, a parody, or a fantasy-western?

A supplement released 3 additional classes: Gambler, Preacher, and Lawman, but I have not reviewed it.

The rest of the book is pretty standard RPG fare. Combat, gear, town creation, loot tables (which show the D&D pedigree) and the like. The NPC opponents section has another curious inclusion. Not one stat for Indians (although they are in the encounter tables), but there are stats for berserkers. Huh? None of it is really worthy of mention.

The Nitty Gritty Total Page Count: 96 Pages Character Creation: 17 Pages Game Mechanics: 5 Pages Everything Else: 74 Pages

Judgement: Despite my confusion at the given character classes, if you love Basic D&D, then you really owe it to yourself to pick this up on .pdf (it's only a buck ninety-nine!). It's a fun read and it wears it parentage proudly.

Dust Devils Revenged (DDR) had an original version published in 2002, and just called Dust Devils. This review covers the expanded Revenged version.

DDR at its core - and in my opinion - is the unofficial RPG for both The Searchers and Unforgiven. It is a western RPG about deeply troubled people finding their way through life and succeeding or failing based on the internal devils that drive them. This is not to say there is a supernatural element to this game. There is not. It's a straight historical western game. The devils here are metaphorical; the inner torment, sins, prejudices, and haunted pasts that propel the characters forward into action. More on this in a moment.

It is important to know that the primary mechanic of DDR for task resolution of any kind (social or physical or combat) is to essentially play rounds of poker with actual playing cards. There are no dice used.

Characters are defined by 4 Scores (Hand, Eye, Guts, and Heart) and each is tied to the suite of a deck of cards and are numerically rated. Next they are defined by a pair of Traits, which are short descriptive phrases to invoke wild west flavor, personality, and an implied set of talents (eg Meaner than a Rattlesnake, or Diamond Smile). Players create theses themselves. Similarly, the characters are given a Past and Present invented by the players and represent who the characters were and what they do now - and could represent actual jobs or roles in society (eg Past: Town Drunk. Present: Saw Bones) and imply a set of skills and knowledge the characters can draw upon.

Finally, we come to where the player creates a Devil for the character. The Devil is the heart of DDR. It is the darkness in everyone's souls that we justify or hide. Letting the Devil out to play or fighting to keep it under control affects everything in game. It might be as simple and barbaric as Violence is the answer to everything or philosophical and disturbing like God will forgive my sins. One is a basic darkness the character will struggle with, while the other justifies any action, no matter how evil.

Back to task resolution, all these defining elements of a character have numerical values which represent how many playing cards are dealt to the player during conflicts. It can be only 2 or 3 cards, or a dozen or more, but they must craft as best possible a winning 5 card poker hand. This includes the GM. The winner gets there way. It is of course more complicated than that, especially as regards the Devil, but you get the jist.

Beyond character creation and the rules themselves there is a nice GM advice section and an example - not exactly scenario or adventure - set-up to run players through. The author advises against linear plots, or plotting at all really, and instead present tension filled situations as a basis for springboarding action. There is also a wonderful little section discussing cinema westerns versus historical reality and how both are part of DDR.

Finally, the book rounds out with a few alternate settings (eg Samurai) and how the mechanics of DDR could be applied, but these aren't much more than suggestions and hardly informative enough.

The Nitty Gritty Total Page Count: 70 Pages Character Creation: 6 Pages Game Mechanics: 12 Pages Everything Else: 52 Pages

Judgement: Despite the page count, Dust Devils Revenged is so far the best rules-light western RPG I've played or run. It is highly evocative, simple and elegant in rule, and perfectly captures the old west that I imagine in my head. I recommend it.

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.

I've quite enjoyed LWRPG so far. For me, it hits that sweet spot between Risus, and PDQ to B/X D&D. It provides enough tactical options to give it variety and crunch, while still being open ended enough for players to create their own abilities and talents. Characters are relatively low-powered and the system does not handle cross-genre characters well...a Peasant Hero can be just as powerful as any Last Sons of Krypton.

(Graphic) Design is nice, and the art is whimsical, which fits me just fine, but can give the appearance of a children's game, or possibly something suited just for comedy. The rules by no means gives this impression.

All the examples given in the book (abilities, attacks, a rather decent list of monsters, and sample adventure) are all for fantasy, but the rules are really for any genre (though like most universal RPGs, Super Heroes would give it some fits and require some rule hacks).

I reduced the rating by one star because although suited for really any genre, all examples are for fantasy, and it lacks any kind of discussion (outside of one paragraph) of adapting the system to those other genres. No vehicle rules, for example, make it problematical to run sci-fi games; My own personal house-rule so far is to treat vehicles as 'piloted' adversaries (ie Monsters) of which there are plenty of examples and a construction system for making them.

I expect genre books sometime in the future might address any perceived issues I might have.

All in all, a good purchase and one I'm glad I made.

A massive adventure or a mini-campaign - however you want to look at it - done right. It's complete with a detailed plot and depth not usually found in e-adventures.

The best of the 3rd party Savage Worlds products.

Caveat: I work for PEG/GWG - so some may view my opinion as biased.