It's my birthday, I'm 51, and the 51st game down on the project list is...
The Game: Duster
The Publisher: Occupied Hex Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one
Duster (actually I think it's meant to be in all-caps, but I don't know why, so I'm not gonna do that) is a post-apocalyptic Western sort of thing. I actually think it's very nicely put together. The text is very readable, both in terms of visibility and in language - it's familiar without being annoyingly chatty, and the first 80 pages or so are all the players would need to know, while the following 190-some pages are setting and history of the world, but all meant for the GM. I can get behind that.
The system is a pretty simple "roll a d6 and check against a stat" kind of thing; the only immediate wonkiness is that 1s count as 0 and 6s count as 7 (because you subtract or add 1 to the roll, respectively). I suspect it'd make more sense in play. A few little permutations; spending luck to reroll and the like, but in terms of mechanical complexity I'd put it lighter than D&D, crunchier than Fate.
So let's make a character! The first step is choosing a specialty (basically a class). There are a bunch, all themed around the profession or role you'd play in this world, and I have to say a bunch of them pass the Chupp Test for me. I think we're gonna go with Outrider. They're basically messengers and word-carriers, but since literacy is not at all common, generally you memorize the message. I'm gonna say my guy is a shade more literate than most people (like, he actually knows how the alphabet works and could sound out words given some time and good light), so he does little doodles on his coat to help him remember a message. The result is that his coat is a weird patchwork of charcoal and ink drawings.
Right, so that gives me the Horsemanship talent. I get +1 to my Emotional energy (base attribute, basically). I get to pick Coordination or Intuition to have a Skill bonus...which means what, exactly? Oh, it means I'm "keen" in that Skill, which just means I get to roll two dice and take the better one. I'll be keen in Intuition, I think. I get an Old Mule as a starting item. Is that literally an animal? Yes it is! I get either Horse Ally or Beast Friend as a Gift; I'll take Horse Ally (does that mean I get a horse?).
I get to roll once for items on the Consumables and Melee Weapons tables, and doing so, I get...a pair of 6s! That means a can of push and a wicked piece of metal on a chair. I can dig it.
OK, now there's a list of things to do. I get 12 HP, that's easy. I get 1d6 Luck points...6 again! Noice. I have to pick which is my dominant hand; I'll be a righty. I also get 1d6 "ghost hand", which shows how irradiated I am to start. Don't want a 6 here! Nope, got a 4, that's OK.
I get my Horsemanship Talent through Skilled, which means I and people allied with me don't have to make a roll to get on the horse. Again, do I have a horse? Doesn't seem that way. That seems a bit silly.
Well, anyway, I get 3XP to spend. I can level up my Horsemanship Talent, or I could unlock a new Talent and level it or Horsemanship up one, or I could be keen in another Skill. Well, I think I want another Talent. I think I'll take Sneak at Novice, which means I can understand hobo pictographs. And then I'll spend the last point to raise my HP to 13.
I need a name and a description. I'll roll on the "weird appearance" table and see what I get. Ooh, a mutation: the irises of my eyes have no color. Hmm. Wonder if that means they're black, or if they're pink like an albino's would be. Let's assume the latter. My guy is call "Redeye", for obvious reasons. Redeye can see just fine, his eyes just look almost bloody. He's in his early 30s, he's balding but he keeps his hat on most of the time. He's got an impressive mustache that grows wild very quickly, though his beard never seems to keep up.
I get to make another inventory roll, too. Two doses of annadote, I'm good with that! ("Antidote," you see.) I get some other stuff, too - bed roll, pack, food and water - but the fillable PDF text boxes aren't formatted right so I can't write that in. Ah, well.
That'll do it, anyhow. Redeye is ready to jump on his trusty...mule. He really should have a horse. I think I'd make horses standard equipment if I was going to run this.
