The Ranger is an iconic character class for a Western RPG. While the Fighting Man represents a wider variety of character types with a focus on martial training, the Ranger is more experienced with the Wilderness, and his abilities reflect his rough living background.
This is another character class who’s special abilities use the dX dice step system I’ll be covering in a future post. The notation +1 dice means the size of the dice being rolled goes up 1 step rather than rolling another dice of that type.
Ranger
Cowboy, Explorer, Hunter
Hit …

Here is the list of Equipment starting characters in the upcoming Swords of Cydonia campaign will be able to purchase from.
It also includes the damage and number of shots for non-standard weapons like firearms. I had to try and balance historical accuracy with keeping the game somewhat balanced and from drifting into “too heavy” territory with unnecessary levels of detail about firearms.
With real six-shooters and rifles you’d be balancing issues like range, reliability, number of shots, power, availability of ammunition, kickback, smoke, etc. For this game I just want to …

Here is another one of the classes for Swords of Cydonia. It’s pretty close to the regular Fighting Man, with a couple of minor tweaks reflecting how any class can use any weapon, although not always as effectively as the Fighting Man. The class also allows players to choose an area of speciality, and make multiple attacks against enemies under 1 Hit Dice.
Fighting Man
Bounty Hunter, Gun Fighter, Soldier
Hit Dice: d8
Armor: Any
Weapons: Roll up to d10 damage for weapons
Martial Training: Make a number of attacks per round equal to character level …

In thinking about the different character classes for Swords of Cydonia (still wondering about that title) and mixing in various cultures so that a party of adventurers might include a Cowboy, a Shaolin Monk, an Apache Medicine Man, and a former Buffalo Soldier it left me wondering what to do about the real historical issue of Racism in the Wild West. In the late 1800s this group of characters would almost certainly not have banded together, and most would receive an icy welcome at best in many frontier towns.
I …

One of the goals of the upcoming Swords of Cydonia campaign is to break with my usual conventions for playing D&D and explore some other sources of inspiration, like the Western, and game material I haven’t made much use of before. While looking through my AD&D books for ideas I realized The Monk class was always something I disregarded as being “out of genre”. I also realized that Muse’s video for Knights of Cydonia not only has martial arts, but a few quick shots of a guy who looks like …