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While the game does have a "dealer" (GM), who sets up events, when it comes time to actually narrate how conflicts are resolved, whoever has the highest hand at the table, PC or GM, becomes the narrator of the outcome (although they are constrained by the results of the other hands).Īt the same time, while the game can be collaborative when it comes to telling the story, the actual story itself can often involve conflicts between characters, and so "PvP" (player vs. The poker mechanic isn't Dust Devils' only departure from traditional RPGs. A character's "devil" is a key part of that process: if they embrace their devil they get extra cards, but if they try to fight against it they instead lose cards (although in exchange they earn a poker chip instead, which can redeemed for future extra cards). Instead, this is a game for Western movies like Unforgiven, where the characters struggle against their dark side to try and find redemption.ĭust Devils accomplishes this by using a rules light system where all conflict is resolved by building poker hands. This is not the RPG for a group that want's to play as a sheriff and his shining deputies, coming to rescue a town from bandits, natives, or whatever else. Just as in many Western stories, Dust Devils is very much about characters who wrestle with their metaphorical devils. If you want a Western game with actual devils, you should check out Deadlands instead. Just to clear one thing up first, while "Dust Devils" is a game about devils, it's not the fantasy kind. but with even its 3rd edition being more than 30 years old, it's probably safe to say this game won't immediately appeal to many modern gamers. This is not to say that Boot Hill is a bad game. However, this version was released shortly after AD&D 2nd Edition was released, and that game's design heavily influenced Boot Hill's. Then, in 1990, TSR released a 3rd edition of the game, and this version actually added rules for things like social interactions and non-combat encounters. but (just as with early D&D) it was essentially just about fighting. There were detailed rules for those fights, so (for instance) a shotgun fired at close range was mechanically more deadly in other systems. Thus, even after going through both a revision and a second edition, Boot Hill remained essentially just a game about fighting in the Wild West. The entire genre had just only just evolved as an offshoot of miniature wargames, and so their focus was almost exclusively on combat. although "role-playing game" held a very different meaning back then. The very next year TSR released their first Western-themed role-playing game. Dungeons and Dragons was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studios Rules (better known as TSR).