The Rules With No Name

A challenged character within 18 inches must accept or be hated and lose experience. Duellists may only pass, close or draw. Each rolls Fast Draw dice by class (Citizen 3 up to Legend 6), adjusted for wounds and facing, and the most 6s (then 5s, and so on) fires first; ties fire simultaneously. The exchange repeats until one falls, and the winner gets two immediate actions. A character may also declare a fast draw out of turn when an enemy in arc draws.

The character who rolls the most 6’s fires first, if both duellists roll the same number of 6’s, they fire simultaneously.

If 1s equal 6s, the shot hits but the gun is out of ammo. More 1s than 6s is a miss and out of ammo, needing a Reload action. Two or more extra 1s jams the gun, and a Fix gun roll clears it on 5-6, fails on 3-4 and destroys it on 1-2. Optional muzzle-loaders need a shared Reload card face up before their firing card can be returned. Shotguns are always out of ammo after firing.

If two or more 1’s than 6’s are rolled the gun is jammed, he misses and the gun must be fixed before he can fire again.

Firing round a corner exposes head and chest (plus arms depending on weapon), and the head is always visible unless ducked back. Hits on protected parts behind solid cover only force a duck back. Wooden walls are penetrated on 1-2. Brush gives -1 die, and other characters can block and take hits. Outdoors, a d6 must beat the total density of scrub and woods on the line of fire to get a clear shot at all.

If he is only behind something like a wooden building wall or fence, then throw for each shot that hits cover: 1, 2 - shot penetrates, target hit, subtract one from the damage dice

With deliberate fire, any 6 is a single hit, and the character may Aim first (+6 dice rifle, +4 pistol, if he acts again before the target moves); Citizens cannot fire deliberately. Blazing away adds dice (+1 breech-loader, +2 repeater, +3 pistol) and each 6 hits, up to 1, 2 or 3 hits by weapon. A shooter left with zero or fewer dice may still try a lucky shot: three dice needing two 6s.

Blazing away: Each 6 rolled gives him a hit on his target, except that breach loaders may only hit once, repeating rifles up to twice, and six shooters up to three times.

The locations are head, chest, right arm, left arm, belly and legs; effects range from graze through flesh and serious wounds to knocked down, knocked out or dead. Location matters: arm wounds stop shooting or reloading, belly and serious leg wounds stop movement, and leg flesh wounds cost a movement die. A deck or box of 36 shooting chits can replace the roll.

Either throw two dice, the first for location, and the second for effect, or draw a shooting chit

Pistol dice are 2 at point blank (2 inches), 3 close (6), 2 medium (9), 1 long (12) and -1 extreme (24). Rifle dice are 1, 2, 3, 2 out to 24 inches, then 0 in sight. The designer explains the drop at close range as the difficulty of tracking a moving target up close.

Perhaps I’d better justify my reducing the number of firing dice at closer ranges.

A Drunk (Deranged) figure throws each turn; on a 1 or 2 he throws again on a sub-table. Result 3 makes him stagger one die forward, turn in a random direction and fire at a randomly selected target, friend or foe, if one is available. Result 2 is the same but he fires at any enemy target that presents itself.

as 2 above, but must fire at a randomly selected target (friend or foe) if one is available.

Class modifies shooting and fighting dice (Citizen -1, Shootist +1, Legend +2), sets nerve and fast-draw dice (3-6) and decides which action cards a character can claim. Citizens must move the full rolled distance and cannot fire deliberately. Indians use Young Blood, Warrior and Mighty Warrior classes with extra action cards outside town.

Citizen: ordinary citizens who have never been in a gunfight and are likely to be in a state of considerable panic.

Character cards double as the Fate Deck activation cards. Wound and skill chits are stuck onto the card, and the deck built from a collection can be used to pick characters at random.

A good way to record damage to your character is to prepare a card for him, and when he takes a wound, simply attach the Shooting Chit to the card

Skills include Agile, Ambidextrous, Bossman, Brawler, Charmed, Crack shot, Deadeye, Drunk, Hard as nails, Lucky, Nerves of steel, Quick shot, Stealthy, Tough, True Grit, Wildman and Yellow. Asterisked skills can be gained twice for double effect. Skills are rolled, drawn from chits, or given by the GM to fit a model's look. Indians have their own list, including Mystic Warrior visions.

“Double” skills: those skills marked with an asterisk can be gained twice, the second time doubles the effect (Very Strong, Very Terrifying etc).

Backshooters and those who refuse challenges become hated, and when wounded a character rolls d6: a 1 means he fears his tormentor, a 6 that he hates him. Hatred gives +1 die against that foe, forces acceptance of his challenges and compels firing at him. Fear gives -1 die and a nerve test when challenged; surviving that challenge makes the character Fearless. A character with both hates or fears 'extremely' (+/-2 dice) once resolved.

Whenever a character is grazed or wounded by an opponent, throw a dice: a one means he now fears his tormentor, a six means he now hates him.

A covered character who is grazed or wounded, or whose cover stops a shot, ducks fully behind cover. He must then use an action to recover, and one action recovers from any number of wounds and duck backs. Shooting at a known lurker behind cover always hits the cover but still forces a duck back, so it serves as covering fire.

Duck backs are an important feature of these rules; you can use the duck back rule to pin and neutralise your opponents and provide realistic covering fire for your friends.

A character tests when 'hurt real bad' (Citizen any wound, Gunman two, Shootist three, Legend three including a serious one), when half his friends go down, or at the GM's call. He rolls 3-6 dice by class, -1 per flesh wound, -2 per serious wound and +1 if his side is winning. With no 6 he must hide, run or surrender.

He must throw at least one 6, otherwise he has lost his nerve, and starting on his next turn, must hide, run or surrender, as appropriate.

At the start, characters can be grouped under a leader, and only the leader's card goes into the deck. It can move the whole group as a body until the first shot, when the other cards are shuffled in. The Bossman skill (Warleader for Indians) adds nerve dice to his side, +3 within 6 inches, but his failure gives friends -3.

When a leaders card is drawn it can either be used to allow him to make an action as normal, or to allow the whole group to move in the same direction as a body.

The GM runs bystanders, adjudicates which body parts cover protects, may add fumble events on four or more 1s, decides whether rear approaches are noticed, and may modify dice as appropriate. A GM can also run tough Legends against a group of players.

In addition, you might like to feature bystanders: non-participants whose actions are controlled by the gamesmaster.

Shooting, fighting, nerve and fast draw all roll a number of d6 set by class and modifiers, and success is rolling 6s. Location and effect tables and simple d6 checks fill in the rest.

You will need something to note your characters’ wounds down on and plenty of ordinary six sided dice!

Cover is -1 die, firing a pistol after moving -1, a rifle after moving -2, and two pistols or off-hand -3. A head wound or flesh wound on the firing arm is -1, and each serious wound -2. Backshooting is +3 and a knocked-down target +2. Class modifiers are Citizen -1, Shootist +1 and Legend +2. The same dice-adding approach applies to fighting, nerve and fast draw.

Modifiers: add or subtract the following NUMBER OF DICE rolled by the character

Inept riders move the product of 2d6 straight ahead. Poor riders roll up to 6 dice, while Good and Expert riders roll up to 3 dice two or three times with 45-degree turns in between. Collisions, combat, jumps, trampling, wounds and triple 6s force a loss-of-control roll (fail on 1-3), leading to bucking, rearing or bolting. Mounted firing loses dice per movement die thrown, and riders can trample, strike passing blows or rescue comrades.

Inept: always throws two dice, multiplies them together, and moves that distance straight ahead, he may then turn through up to 45 degrees.

The character picks a direction at the start and moves straight, with only small detours, ending facing the way he moved. Gunmen and better may move any distance up to the roll (minimum 3 inches); once gunplay starts, Citizens must move the full roll. Three 1s (two for Citizens) means the character falls over. Reposition allows a free 2-inch move.

Move: throw three dice, this is the maximum distance in inches that he can move, he may set off in any direction at the beginning of his move, but must move in a straight line

A Citizen who fires at an opponent becomes a Gunman; a Gunman who kills an armed man becomes a Shootist. A Shootist who kills or seriously wounds three armed men in one fight, or kills a Legend, becomes a Legend. Shootists gain a skill per fight with a kill and Legends per fight with a wound. Backshooting and refusing challenges forfeit experience (except for Evil characters), and seriously wounded characters miss gunfights.

Characters do not receive promotion to the next class during a game, they have to wait for their next gunfight.

As each character card is drawn, the model is placed at least 6 inches from all enemies and closer to the nearest friend than the nearest enemy. When the Joker appears play begins, and later characters enter as their cards come up.

As soon as the Joker is drawn, the game starts, with those characters who have not yet appeared being placed on the table as above when their cards are drawn.

A drawn action card is placed face up. The next player to draw a character card of at least that class takes it into his hand. It can then give a free turn to any of his characters of that class or higher at any time, even partway through someone else's turn. When several are played at once the superior card goes first, with Indian cards taking priority outside town. Optionally more sets can be added for big games.

He can use each action card to give a free turn to any of his characters of a class at least as high as that on the card at any time; even part way through someone else’s turn.

The deck holds one card per character, four class action cards (Citizen, Gunman, Shootist, Legend) and a Joker. A drawn character card gives that character one action and is discarded. The Joker reshuffles all discards, and any held action cards must be played immediately or discarded back into the deck.

The Fate Deck is used to determine which character takes a turn. A card (or chit or whatever) is turned, then: If it is a character card, that character immediately takes a turn

A wounded character must spend an action recovering before acting, and a knocked-down one must Get up. A knocked-out character must roll a 6 each turn to come round. Each serious wound costs a movement die and -2 firing dice. Wounds are recorded by sticking chits onto the character card.

Knocked out characters must attempt to throw a 6 each time they have a turn, until they succeed they may make no actions.

The Fighting Chart gives attack and defence dice and an effect table for each weapon (fist, pistol, clubbed rifle, Bowie knife, tomahawk and so on). Each uncancelled 6 rolls d6 for effect, from knocked down to terrible wound. If the defender rolls more 6s, the attacker is knocked down. Modifiers include side -2 and rear -4 attacks, wounds and class.

The attacker rolls the number of dice indicated on the fighting chart below, each 6 rolled is a potential hit. The defender then also rolls the number of dice indicated on the fighting chart, each 6 rolled cancels one of the attackers hits.