It's been a long ride on a rough trail, but this year when the Gutshot posse ponies up to OwlCon in Houston, Texas, their saddlebags will be bustin' at the seams with a brand-new book – Gutshot: Showdowns & Shootouts Adventures. OwlCon will be held February 10-12, 2017, at Rice University.
Those of you who've been keepin' up with us might recognize that the title of this book shares a name with the adventure writing contest we held a few years ago, said Hawgleg co-founder Mike Mitchell. That ain't no accident. This book is a collection of those adventures, plus a little new material.
For those of you who don't know, Hawgleg Publishing ran a contest where players sent in scenarios and character lists – the Hawgleg crew expanded them into full-fledged adventure modules and posted them online at their website for free download. And they're going to remain there.
Which raises an important question.
Now, you might be wondering, what is in this book and why should you plunk down yer hard-earned money for something you can download for free? asked Hawgleg partner, Paul "Mad Dog" Mauer. Well, quite frankly maybe you shouldn't. A lot of this is already online. We did make a few changes to the book, though. We added a few maps, made a few minor updates and slightly reworded some of the new rules. Nothing major, to be honest. And then we took it over to Miss Mona's parlor and had her make it pretty.
And to make things even more complicated, there are actually two versions of this book. One in color and another in black-and-white. Other than that, the two 108-page books are identical in content. But, of course, price is not identical. The color version of the book is $30 USD and the black-and-white version is $20 USD.
We made the color version primarily as an archive and a gift for the contributors. Each one of them will receive at least one free copy. We ordered a few extra copies just in case anyone else feels like their bookcase could use a little class, Mitchell said with a smile.
Ole "Mad Dog" chimed in at that point. My bookcase doesn't need that much class. I'm quite happy with the black-and-white edition.
So that's it, folks: Don't go blowing your beer money on the expensive color edition – even though it is really cool, Mitchell said. If you're on a modest budget, spring for the black-and-white version. And if you're as poor as I was back in my college days, for heaven's sake just download the free PDFs.
If you do opt to put it all between two covers, here's the skinny on what's inside Gutshot: Showdowns & Shootouts Adventures:
- 108 pages
- 8.5 x 11 inches (both versions have a full-color, laminated cover)
- Twelve Wild West scenarios for a variety of group sizes and players (there's even a rip-roarin' solo adventure)
- 154 fully Developed Characters & NPCs
- Three New Specialties
- Two New Vehicles
- New mechanics for handling swimming and whitewater rapids
- New templates and rules for fighting in the dark
- A new equipment list
Check out some sample pages – or download the free PDFs of the individual adventures – here.
This is one of the strangest marketing problems I've ever faced, Mitchell admitted. On the one hand, we would really love for you guys to buy these books. But on the other hand, when we started the contest, we promised to keep that material online for free forever. And that's just what we're going to do. It's there to stay. We're not going to take it down. But we don't want someone to buy S&S and feel like they've been ripped off.
Paul agreed.
I'd rather not sell any books at all than have someone buy it and then find out later that most of it's online for free. That's why there's multiple warnings on the book, and we'll post them on our shopping cart, as well.
Gutshot: Showdowns & Shootouts Adventures will be for sale at OwlCon in Houston, Texas (February 10-13). About a week later, the print copies will be for sale at hawgleg.com. And shortly after that, they should be available from DrivethruRPG.com.
Gutshot: Showdowns & Shootouts Adventures is not a stand-alone game. To play these adventures, you will need a copy of the Gutshot Core Rule Book.
