"Thought this might be of interest to some, I ain't seen
the book myself yet to tell if it's worth buying.
RPG News: Knuckleduster
Releases The Cowtown Creator
Posted 2002-06-10 15:16:11 by
damonwhite "
Here's some information about this book for the list. I will start by
noting that this is a BIASED review, since I contributed the Deadlands material
to the Cowtown Creator. With that in mind, I think many Deadlands Marshals will
find the Cowtown Creator to be very useful. The author, Forrest Harris,
literally spent years compiling the information in the book, and most of the
material has a good historical basis that should help Marshals design believable
campaigns. I will now review the contents in some detail:
- Creator section – this section has templates to photocopy and fill in
about a number of potentially useful locations – e.g., town layout, cattle
drive, saloon, bank, store, and gambling hall. Headings are provided, and the
Marshall fills in the details. Subsequent sections of the book facilitate this
process.
- Town design – covers typical types of towns with actual historical
examples, including a sample cowtown map and legend
- Cattle business – covers cattle drives and relevant character types
- Saloon – includes several samples with maps, character types, information,
sample names, information about drinks, and stories/adventure hooks
- Dance Hall – similar to Saloon chapter
- Gambling Den – includes a sample map, information about popular games,
sample names, and gambling lore
- Stores – with prices of many common goods
- Chapters (some pretty brief) on Variety Theaters, Fancy Houses (houses of
ill repute), Hotels, Restaurants, Banks, Blacksmiths, Barber Shops, Livery
Stables, Stagecoach Offices, Train Depots, Telegraph Offices, Marshal’s
Office/Jails, Sheriff’s Office, Lawyers, and the Town Doctor (including a
section on medicine in 1870).
- Character Name Creator
- Random Encounters (from the 3rd edition Boot Hill game)
- Hell Comes to Cowtown – some ideas and lots of NPC characters for
"classic" Deadlands. I listed basic NPC Traits, Skills, Edges, and Hindrances
for most of the character types covered in the book (more than 50 in all).
Equipment is not included, as it is typically discussed in the chapter where
the character type is introduced. The stats are somewhat arbitrary, and above
average for most run-of-the-mill NPCs, but they will hopefully make encounters
more interesting. Shane was, of course, very gracious in granting Forrest
permission to include this material.
- Welcome to FUDGE City – a brief chapter with information on how to convert
from Deadlands to the FUDGE system, and a section on creating FUDGE
characters. If you’re not familiar with it, FUDGE is a generic role-playing
system that has a devoted (albeit fairly small) following, and Forrest really
likes the game.
- A chapter that is similar to "Hell Comes to Cowtown", but focused on
Deadlands d20 characters – there are more than 50 Deadlands d20 NPCs here.
Again, stats are arbitrary, and NPCs tend to be above average. When I wrote
the draft of this chapter, Forrest wasn’t sure if he’d get permission from
WotC to use the OGL, so I titled it "Using the Cowtown Creator with that Other
Really Popular System". He subsequently got permission (about 5 months later),
but decided to stick with avoiding mentioning D&D or the d20 system
(outside of Deadlands d20) by name. Once again, Shane graciously (and
immediately!) allowed Forrest to use Deadlands d20 material here.
So, is this book useful for Marshals? I have found it very useful in fleshing
out my Deadlands campaign, particularly when it comes to designing and
populating towns. The Deadlands overview material is pretty basic for an
experienced Marshal, but several folks have told me that they like having the
NPC stats available. I realize that there are a number of Deadlands books with
stats like this, but they tend to focus on more important characters. Some of
the maps, names, and stories/adventure hooks can be very useful. If you don’t
have Boot Hill and are looking for a random encounters table, this one may be
what you’re looking for (though there are no monsters or supernatural
creatures). There is certainly overlap between some of the material here and
material available in Deadlands books (e.g., price lists), but I think Forrest
has done a great job of putting together a lot of interesting and useful
material that is very relevant to Old West roleplaying. And no, I don’t get any
royalties from book sales, so I may have at least some credibility in
recommending this book.
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