Boot Hill (role-playing game)
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 Boot Hill Second Edition Cover |
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| Designer | Brian Blume and Gary Gygax |
|---|---|
| Publisher | TSR, Inc. |
| Publication date | 1975 |
| Genre(s) | Western |
Boot Hill is a western role-playing game designed by Brian Blume and Gary Gygax. First published in 1975, Boot Hill was TSR's third role-playing game, not long after Dungeons and Dragons and Empire of the Petal Throne.[1]
Contents |
[edit] System
Boot Hill has been both praised and criticised for focusing on gunfighting.[citation needed] The first edition was specifically marketed as a miniatures combat game, but even in the later editions, most of the rules are combat resolution, with relatively little setting or social interaction rules. Combat could be short and deadly, with death often coming from a single gunshot. Boot Hill had no character levels per se, but attributes could be raised over time, and in no game of Boot Hill do player characters truly have an advantage over non-player characters in strict observation of the rules. There were also no non-human enemies, or alignment rules, as in Dungeons and Dragons, making the difference between the "good guys" and "bad guys" a matter of interpretation or choice.[2]
It was one of the first games to only (or mostly) use ten-sided dice, either summed, such as 2d10 for characteristics, or as percentile dice, for skill resolution.
[edit] Publications
- 1st edition, printed in 1975, 34 pages, no ISBN.
- 2nd edition, printed in 1979, ISBN 0-394-51875-6.
- 3rd edition, printed in 1990, ISBN 0-88038-976-1.
Boot Hill, 2nd Edition was supported by a referee's screen and five 32 page adventure modules:
- Referee's Screen and Mini-Module, ISBN 0-394-52590-6.
- Mad Mesa (BH1), printed in 1981, ISBN 0-935696-71-7, and 1982, ISBN 0-394-52705-4. Written to be playable solitaire, as a gamebook, or as a multiplayer module.
- Lost Conquistador Mine (BH2), printed in 1982, ISBN 0-394-52594-9.
- Ballots and Bullets (BH3), 1982, ISBN 0-394-53067-5.
- Burned Bush Wells (BH4), 1984, ISBN 0-394-53466-2.
- Range War! (BH5), 1984, ISBN 0-88038-105-1.
TSR also released a three-figure pack of gunslinger miniatures for Boot Hill. [1]
[edit] See also
- Boot Hill - the Wild West cemetery, original meaning of the term
[edit] References
- ^ "The History of TSR". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2008-10-04. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wizards.com%2Fdnd%2FDnDArchives_History.asp&date=2008-10-04. Retrieved 2005-08-20.
- ^ Beddow, Dominic (Dec/Jan 1979/1980). "Open Box" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 16): 23–24.
- Pope, Thomas. The Stuff of Legends - TSR: Boot Hill
[edit] External links
- Boot Hill - TSR's Wild West RPG Krakow RPGs has a complete bibliography with cover photos.
- Boot Hill, 2nd Edition - Review from the Museum of Roleplaying Games.
- Ride, Cowboy, Ride - The Forgotten Boot Hill - Review from GameGrene
- Boot Hill - Demian's Gamebook Web Page, mostly on the solitaire module, Mad Mesa.
