Salutations from the Sure Shootin' Princess

Stagecoach Mary

A little while ago, David Rollins discussed running Death Frost Doom and other LotFP adventures in a Wild Western setting. He also talked about a few rules regarding money and guns.

I've always wanted a solid Western RPG with some twisted magical elements. So I whipped up a few house rules for LotFP. I've yet to put them all to the test, so feel free to use them in your own Weird West game and let me know how they work!

Before starting, it is important to note that the United States in the late 1800's was a place of racism, genocide, and sexism, and Hollywood's depiction of the era glorifies these. Do not perpetuate racist or sexist behavior. Do not encourage or tolerate players perpetuating racist or sexist behavior. If you think you or your players can't handle this then either don't play during this time period or don't play at all. Educate yourself with the film Reel Injun before playing. Read up on the genre and the history behind it.

Character Creation

Calamity Jane

Obviously there were no documented Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings running around in the American Southwest, so I suggest removing them.

Fighters, Specialists, Magic-Users, and Clerics are all fair game.

Ability Scores:

Much like Deadlands, Ability Scores can be determined with playing cards for that extra flavor. The player draws eight cards from the deck of 52. Out of the eight cards, the player chooses six of them to assign to their abilities. All 2's must be chosen.

Here's a handy chart to determine what you got:

Playing Card	Modifier	Ability Score
2	-3	3
3-4	-2	4-5
5-7	-1	6-8
8-10	0	9-12
J-Q	+1	13-15
K	+2	16-17
A	+3	18

 Suits help determine the Ability Score themselves.

Suit	Order
♣	1
♦	2
♥	3
♠	4

In some situations, clubs determine the lowest number, diamonds and hearts are the middle, and spades are the highest. For example, a 6 of Hearts yields a modifier of -1 and an ability score of 7. This will happen when you draw 5-7 and J-Q

For 3-4 and K, clubs and diamonds are low, hearts and spades are high. For example a King of Diamonds is a +2 with a score of 16.

Skills:

Bushcraft, Climbing, Languages, Search, Sleight of Hand, Sneak Attack, Stealth, and Tinkering all work well in the Ol' West.

I suggest getting rid of Open Doors and Architecture, and adding Traps (detecting and setting more complicated ones), Stories (or Lore) and Medicine.
 

Arizona Scout, 1880s

Other Optional Rules

-Following Logan's House of Rules:

• Flesh/Grit as Health à la Corpathiüm keeps combat nice and dangerous.
• d8 weapons, muskets, and bows are Hard AB, smaller weapons and pistols are Fast.
• Take away PARRY from the Combat Maneuvers and add QUICK DRAW: Before combat, add +2 to initiative, but -4 to attack. This only works for the first attack or when drawing a new weapon.
• Dying, Encumbrance, and learning new skills all work pretty swell.

-Use poker chips as Experience Points. (10 chips to for level 1, 20 for level 2, etc.) Reward them to players when they secure their loot ($200 worth = 1 chip) and role-play well. Players can also have the option to cash in 3 chips to re-roll a single dice roll. The second roll must be taken.
-Include the Jokers in determining the ability scores. Jokers count as redraws and must be chosen. This ability is special to your character's back story in some way.