A weird western TTRPG about cowboy monster hunters

What is Weird Weird West?

• It's a Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) hack with bits of Forged in the Dark (FitD) thrown in for good measure. 
  • For fans of cinematic RPGs and narrative-focused story telling.
  • Very little focus on numbers or stats going up and down.
  • Heavy focus on characters making interesting decisions.
  • Just about everything the characters do comes with a consequence, and we play to see how they deal with those consequences.
• Light on setting, heavy on feel.
  • Make the weird 1800s your own.
  • Play Books, Moves, Descriptions and Art to spark the imagination, instead of a giant boring essay at the start of the rules.
• Light on rules, heavy on character impact: 
  • Entire rule book is about 35~ pages, including art.
  • 4 playbooks (the FIGHTER, the SNEAK, the THINKER and the WEIRDO)
  • 9 Backgrounds (informing character and initial equipment, like MEDICINE, VICE, OUTLAW or NATURE).
  • Each playbook comes with a WEIRD RUINATION, a power the character can unleash, that comes with a terrible cost...
  • Simple Trauma system, based on the FitD "Harm" system.
  • Character creation takes <5 minutes.
• Moves give you choices, not things to remember. 
  • No Moves about "adds +2 to X rolls", etc. 
  • Any time you roll the dice, you're pushing the story forward and making an interesting choice.
  • Lots of moves with huge potential for changing the narrative and story, based on player choice.
• Western tropes and themes.
  • Gun slingers, weird spell casters, obsessive scientists, daring rogues.
  • Core rules are written for 1800s American Wild West, but Moves are designed to be loose enough to be used in Space Westerns, Contemporary Westerns, etc. 
• A whole bunch of original art
  • Made by yours truly. 
  • Hand curated from ACTUAL museum collections of 1800s photography.
  • Hand edited to be weird and psychedelic. 

Online Playbooks (via Google Sheets)

Head over to this link right here to make a copy of a Google Sheet which has all 4 playbooks in it, allowing you to easily keep track of your characters in a digital format.

Pre-Game Info & Recommendations

• Recommended Players: 3-5 player characters and 1 GM
• Playtime: 2 to 4 hours per session
• Supports One-Shot Sessions: Yes
• Campaign Length: Minimum 2 or 3ish, maximum 10 or 11ish.

Praise for Weird Weird West

I super love your Weird West rpg [...] Results in some terrific game-play
- @noldorian

[...] started a campaign with this system and the first session went very well
- @FuturaLibre

a very promising and very savvy game which fills a big gap in the current PBTA space
- Itch user Benndak

Free Edition vs Full Edition

Download and play Weird Weird West now, for FREE!

In the free edition, you get:

• Full colour, 35 page, "Core Rules" PDF.
  • How to play the game, the Moves and full descriptions, loads of original art. Tables for example equipment, tons of examples of everything, 
• All four Playbooks, built via professional layout software, in black and white.
• 10 psychedelic and weird character portraits (5 masculine, 5 feminine) for you to use as character images, NPCs, etc. EACH featuring a completely unique and custom WEIRD VERSION of the portrait for when things get... not good.

Pay for the Full Edition, and as well as my undying appreciation and thanks, you'll also get:

• Full colour, 23 page "Running The Game" PDF.
  • Advice on how to run fiction-first, narrative-heavy, cinematic RPGs.
  • Example GM Moves, principles for running the game, advice on how to approach improv and game preparation.
  • A 4 page "Example of gameplay", written as a sort-of script, showcasing how you can run your own games.
  • 35 random tables covering 13 different topics to generate, such as "Villains", "Strange Landmarks & Weird Sites", "The Big Bad Monster", "Wanted Posters Around Town" and "Settlements & Outposts".
• All 4 playbooks in FULL colour.
• 40(!?) character portraits, each still including a custom WEIRD version, making for 80 individual, hand curated, hand edited portrait images in total.
• That's 50+ pages of content, 40 character portraits, 40 WEIRD character portraits and 4 fully laid-out playbacks in colour & black and white.

Weird Weird West On The Internet

Me talking about the game itself with my friends at Hot Dice Nerds!

• Weird Weird West 1 - Get to know the game
• Weird Weird West 2 - Playing the game

...and then a live streamed actual play with more of the Hot Dice Nerds!

• Weird Weird West SESSION ZERO
• Weird Weird West SESSION ONE
• Weird Weird West SESSION TWO
• Weird Weird West SESSION THREE

...plus

• A great actual play from the guys over at Dicey Cantina.

Relation to WolfEye Studios' "Weird West"

None! Weird West is fantastic, and I highly recommend giving it a go, but this game, Weird Weird West, is completely unrelated. They share a genre and a similar name, but that's about it.

Wishlist

Weird Weird West is released and playable RIGHT NOW, but time and resources permitting, I'd love to continue working on it. No guarantees, but a continued development roadmap includes (in no particular order)

• New character portraits
• Sample adventures
• Continued support and fixes for the game going forward.