The Devil's Brand

YOU’RE AN OUTLAW RIDING WITH A GANG ACROSS THE WILD WEST, robbing, stealing, lying, and killing to keep your belly fed and vices satiated. Maybe you only kill those who have it coming; maybe you don’t.

WHATEVER LIFE YOU ONCE HAD IS LONG GONE. Your home these days is around lonesome campfires and in tumbledown hideouts.

YOU PLY YOUR TRADE ACROSS THE FRONTIER: thick-brambled forests, abandoned army forts, narrow slot canyons, boomtown back-alley mazes, dilapidated mines, pitch-black caves, and even the iron guts of held up locomotive trains.

ON DICE: You'll need a d20, d12, d8, and d4.

These minimalist, low-prep rules put a trope-filled Wild West spin on old-school dungeon delving of the single-session “five room” variety. The goal: low complexity for players and low overhead for GMs.

FAMILIAR OSR ROOTS WITHOUT BEING A BORING RETREAD OR STRICT RETROCLONE. Classless and deadly. Randomized advancement. No attack rolls. Weaponized clothing. Gold-for-XP… with no XP. Only gold, greenbacks, and silver dollars.

OUTLAW JOBS, HEISTS, & EXPEDITIONS – AND SQUANDERING ILL-GOTTEN GAINS. No complex faction gameplay, base building, or hex-crawl travel across the iconic landscapes of the American West. This is not a game about sidekicks, henchmen, NPC allies, or suspiciously intelligent animal companions. This is a desperate line of work, and the Outlaws’ Gang is on their own.

THESE JOBS RACE BY IN MINUTES, not hours, watches, or days. Food or water is rarely a concern, and there’s hardly a chance for long rests.

ADVENTURES PROCEED SCENE BY SCENE, roughly analogous to clearing a dungeon room-by-room. Kickoff the adventure at the precipice of the action and watch the sense of alarm, urgency, and danger grow with every step.

NO HORSE, STAGECOACH, OR COVERED WAGON? Nope. Travel is hand-waved. Horses and wagons remain off camera. The Gang proceeds by foot to the inevitable shootout to come.