








Chapter One:    Introduction





     The desire to make-believe - to pretend - begins in each of us at an 
early age. In childhood, make-believe games with parents are very simple 
and are often drawn from fairy tales - a father pretending to be the wicked 
wolf in pursuit of the three little pigs.  These games of pretend become more 
complicated and formalized as children grow and begin interacting with other 
children of the same age.  Such games of make-believe let us learn and 
experience what it is like to be other people or things - at least as we 
imagine them to be.  There are no rules in these childhood games. Instead, 
everyone agrees to play within a certain made-up universe which works the
same way for everyone involved in the game.  If someone refuses to play 
accordingly - for example, refusing to fall down and play dead after being 
"shot" - the game breaks down as the players become upset and angry.  Such a 
world of make-believe works only as long as all who are involved in the game 
agree to what the rules are.

     There is still the desire in all of us to make-believe, often expressing 
itself in the form of daydreams - such as being Jesse James.  Since you picked up this book,
you are most likely wondering what "role playing in the world of Gun Slingers" 
is all about.  It is just another world of make-believe, except that the rules 
are all included in this book.  The Gun Slingers Game allows you become an 
outlaw of your own creation.  All you need to play are these rules, a table to 
sit at, and some pencils, paper, dice, and markers.  The locations, people, 
and incidents will be visualized in your mind.  The game can be played by as 
few as two people and by as many as seven.  The action will be described 
verbally by the Game Master, and the plots will be resolved by the quick 
thinking of the players, the abilities of the characters they are pretending 
to be, and some luck (which is represented by the use of dice).

     The Gun Slingers Game is much like an improvisational theater piece in 
which the actor, who in real life are probably nothing like the characters 
they portray, have created their characters out of their heads and the 
director has written the script, but only as a loose outline of what is to 
happen.  The director knows the story line and tells the actors bits and 
pieces of it, allowing them to react to the situations he presents as their 
characters would.  The director creates the script as an outline for the 
actors' actions.  The actors play only the major parts of the heroes while all 
the villains and minor parts are played by the director.  An improvisational 
piece is flexible for it allows the actors through the choices they make to 
alter the plot lines of the script.  Only when the whole script has been acted 
out will the actors and director know how things come out in the end.  A stage 
play, however, is much more formally structured than a role playing game.

     In this game, the actors in the play are called Player Characters - the
characters the players are pretending to be.  The director is called the Game 
Master (usually abbreviated as GM).  The players will act out the parts of the 
heroes, and the GM will handle all the villains and minor characters (called 
Non-Player Characters, or NPCs).  The GM creates the script, presents the 
situation to the players, portrays all secondary characters, and acts as the 
final arbiter on the rules of the game - that is, the rules all have agreed to 
play by.

     This book contains a good deal of information, both about the games rules 
and also general information about the world of Gun Slingers.  The person 
who ends up being Game Master (whether continuously or for only one session) 
has the final say about how these rules are to be used and interpreted.  If 
the Game Master (abbreviated GM from now on) wishes to simplify the rules, he 
may do so; if he wishes to make them more complicated, he may do that as well.  
As long as he is consistent with his rulings and interpretations and his 
players generally agree with his decisions, all will be well.  If each of the 
people in a group playing the game take turns being GM, then all should agree 
how to interpret these rules to their mutual satisfaction.


     These rules are presented in an organized format designed to help them be
more easily accessible.  It is helpful, but not essential, for each player to 
own a copy of this book.  It is essential for the GM to own a copy.

The Dice

     One type of die are used in this game: a ten-sided die, which may be new 
to you.  This type of die may be found at any reputable hobby store that 
carries adventure games.

     The ten-sided die has numerals printed on it.  By rolling the die, you 
will get a number from 1 to 0, which equals 10.  Two of these ten-siders are 
often rolled together to generate a number from 1 to 100.  This is done by 
rolling the two dice and reading them in sequence, first the colored die for 
the 10's and then the other for the single unit.  Thus, if you are using a red 
die (for the 10's) and a white die (for the single unit), a roll of 6 on the 
red die and a 7 on the white die would be read as 67.  A red 2 and a white 0 
would be 20.  A red 0 and white 4 is 04, or simply 4.  A red 0 and white 0, 
however is not 0, but 100.  If you roll the two ten-siders a few times and
read them, you will easily get the hang of it.  It will help speed play if 
more than one set of ten-siders are available for the GM and the players.

Character Record Sheet

     This is a sheet of paper on which all the important information about the
character being played is written down.  In Chapter 2 the use of the Character
Record Sheet is fully explained.

Glossary of Terms

     The following terms are used throughout this book and it will speed you
understanding of the game to read them through first:

Adventure: A role playing session; it may consist of only one session or many
sessions together.  It is a generic role playing term.

Character: A persona who appears in the game, either created by a player of 
the GM.

Characteristic: Measures a character's physical and mental being; the five
categories measure and Strength (abbreviated STR), Agility (AGI), 
Concentration (CON), Intelligence (INT), and Charisma (CHA).  These are 
explained fully in Chapter 2.

Characteristic Value: A number ranging from 1 to 15 that indicates an overall
degree of excellence in a specific characteristic, with 1 being considered 
poor and 15 superb.

Damage Points: Measures the amount of damage a character can take before he
dies.  Damage Points are figured by adding the characters Strength, Agility, 
and Constitution together.  This figure is the most your character can take 
in damage before he dies.

Difficulty Level: A number ranging from 10 to 130 that is used to measure how
easy or difficult a task will be to complete.  A 130 represents an extremely 
difficult task and a 10 represents a particularly easy task.  All tasks begin 
with a difficulty of 70, which may be modified higher or lower by the GM to 
reflect the ease or difficulty of the task being attempted.  There are 
guidelines in the rules to aid the GM in deciding on the proper modifiers.  
There is none lower than 10 or higher than 130.

Game Master: The person who is in overall charge of the play of a game.  He 
creates the adventures the characters will undertake, acts as rules referee, 
controls the Non-Player Characters, and makes sure every player has a good 
time.

Game Session: One evening's play of the Gun Slingers Game; one get-together.

Generation Points: Points which represent the experiences of a character in 
his life prior to becoming a Player Character.  They are spent during the 
Character Creation (see Chapter 2) to purchase Characteristic Values, Skills, 
and Skill Bonuses.  They are never used in play after the character has been 
created.

Non-Player Character: A character created by the GM and played by him only. 
Abbreviated in the game as NPC.

Player: The person pretending to be a character in the game.

Player Character: A character created by one particular player and played only 
by him.

Roll Modifier: Defines how experienced a character is with a Skill or 
Characteristic when used in a task.  The Roll Modifier is added to the dice 
roll to increase the chances of making the roll.  Each particular skill has a 
simple formula given in Chapter 3 for determining this modifier.

Run: A generic term in role playing.  When used as a noun, it means the same 
as a Game Session; when used as a verb, it means "play" - to run a character 
or an adventure means to play that character or adventure.

Skill Bonus: A value from 1 to 15 which measures how adept or experienced a
character is with a skill.

Skill Points: Points accumulated by a character after a mission that indicate 
his growth through his experiences.  These points are spent to increase the 
character's Skill Bonuses, Characteristic Values, and buy new Skills.

Skills: Specialized training for characters in specific physical and mental 
studies which are used during adventures to complete certain tasks.


Static Action Modifier: A positive or negative number which is added to or
subtracted from the Difficulty Level to reflect greater than average ease or 
difficulty. A positive modifier reflects the greater ease; a negative 
modifier reflects greater difficulty.  All modifiers in the game are applied 
to the Difficulty Level.  The GM decides on any modifiers that apply to a task 
and announces the final Difficulty Level to the player making the dice roll.

Task: A specific attempt to use a Skill or Characteristic that requires a dice 
roll by the player or GM to determine its success.

Game Concepts

     When a character is created, he has five basic Characteristics (Strength,
Agility, Concentration, Intelligence, and Charisma).  The character will also 
be given skills which are based on the characteristics (the process is 
explained in Chapter 2).

     During a game, a player announces what he wishes his character to do.  
The GM decides whether this task falls under the heading of a skill or 
characteristic. Typical tasks include firing a gun, riding a horse, seducing a 
woman, playing poker, and so forth.  The GM or the player then rolls D100 to 
determine if the task succeeded and to what extent it was successful.

     The central concept of the game is the Difficulty Level - an element 
which must be thoroughly understood by both the players and the GM.  It is a 
number, ranging from 10 to 130, which is used to measure the ease of 
difficulty of performing a task.  The higher the Difficulty Level, the harder 
the task, and the lower the Difficulty Level, the easier the task is to 
accomplish; thus a task with a Difficulty Level of 80 is much harder to 
perform than a task with a Difficulty Level of 30.  All tasks start with a 
Difficulty Level of 70, and the GM adds to this number to indicate the task is
harder to accomplish or subtracts from it to decrease the difficulty of the 
task.  The Difficulty Level may never be lower than 10 or higher than 130.  
The GM may apply whatever positive or negative modifiers to the Difficulty 
Level he feels are appropriate to the situation.

     The Roll Modifier defines how advanced or experienced a character is with 
the skill or characteristic being used in the task.  The more experienced the 
character is, the higher the Roll Modifier.

     If the character possesses the skill under which the task falls, the GM 
uses the Roll Modifier for that skill (which is recorded on the Character 
Record Sheet).  If the character does not have the skill is question, the GM 
uses the characteristic(s) associated with that skill, but with the Skill 
Bonus at 0 (there is also a -3 Static Action Modifier since the character is 
not trained in that skill).  If the task does not fall under any particular 
skill, the GM decides which characteristic is being used, and its value 
becomes the Roll Modifier.

     Once the Difficulty Level is determined, the GM or player makes a D100 
roll to find out whether the task succeeded or failed.  Then add the Roll 
Modifier to the dice roll.  To be successful, the dice roll plus the Roll 
Modifier must be greater than or equal to the Difficulty Level.  If the dice 
roll plus the Roll Modifier is less than the Difficulty Level, then whatever 
was attempted has failed.
