The Scholar uses his mind and specialized knowledge to effect changes in the world and those around him. Examples of Scholar characters include a Doctor, a Steampunk style Inventor, or a Monster Hunting Priest.
This class, like the cleric in fantasy RPGs, brings healing and support spell-like abilities to the group. Depending on the Scholar’s area of specialization these abilities have some restrictions on their use, but also some additional benefits which make each version of the class a little bit different from the others.
Special thanks to Ode to Black Dougal …

I’m still thinking about a better title for this campaign and the (growing) set of rules that will go with it. I think “Swords of Cydonia” is a bit too obscure a title and perhaps something like “Knights of The Weird West” might be better. Any suggestions?
At any rate, here’s the next character class, and one that requires a few more rules to go with it. The Magician is somewhat like the Magic User in a more traditional Fantasy RPG, but I wanted to bring in …

I had previously written an article on Gunpowder & Firearms in Dungeons & Dragons in which I’d suggested rules such as “Exploding Dice” (any time you roll maximum damage you can roll again for additional damage) and Armor Penetration (reduce the AC bonus from armour by 4 points).
Reflecting on some of the comments (thanks Timeshadow and Zzarchov!) and some of my more recent thinking about how I want firearms to work in my game, I’m going to revise my earlier rules for Firearms with the following instead:
Firearms
Armor Penetration
Armor is less …

Initiative plays a more prominent role in a Western. The classic showdown at High Noon relies heavily on the speed of the draw determining which gun fighter will be the victor.
This was another place where wearing heavy armor seemed to work against the idea of being first to draw your pistol, run across the street, or make a melee attack. It’s also an other example of the dX system I’m moving a lot of rule mechanics over to, where the size of dice being rolled is modified rather than …

After working on the Firearm Rules for the new campaign I wanted to revisit the melee combat rules and make sure things were in place to handle a bar room brawl in the saloon, or a kung-fu showdown at High Noon.
Fortunately a couple of other bloggers, Zak S and The Rambling Bumblers, had some excellent articles on Lucky Number Kung Fu and Super-Simple Combat Maneuvers that look like they’ll work very well. Combined with the Fatigue Points rules from the Under the Burning Sun post I think this makes a …