Fistful of Lead: Wasteland Warriors

Hey gang. with all the Post Apoc goodness on here of late, I wanted to let you in on what I have mentioned before.

The Baron wrote a supremely fun set of skirmish/gang Old West game called Fistful of Lead. Its simple and fun. It has lots of flavor, plays to a conclusion, and is amazing fun, and can play with 8 or even 12 people at a time. Go buy it. Its cheap. $6.00. It has a great system behind it that can be used for many genres.

Which brings me to Fistful of Lead: Wasteland Warriors. While I dont feel as strongly about Wild West gaming as the Baron does, I have always loved that FoL seemed infinitely customizable because the system was rock solid underneath. So as you can see on the Lead Addict blog, I love Post Apoc gaming. So what could be closer to the dusty anything goes environment of the fictional Wild West than the shanties and wastelands of the PA? Thus was born FoL:WW. A few questions have been asked on the yahoo group : fistfuloflead@yahoogroups.com. So I thought I would cast a wider net and fill everyone in.

FoL:Wasteland Warriors is my and the Baron's take on the Post Apoc. Its equal parts The Road (what could be more soul crushing and thought provoking for a father), the Book of Eli (old people cannibals and blind ass kickers, I'll have some), Fallout 3(just play it), and Gamma World (its like a warm blanket on a cold winter night). Its not self serious, but you can play it gritty, or you can play it Wazoooo! and Gonzo. and the sweet spot is somewhere in between. We are using all of the foundational mechanics of FoL, but are adding a bunch of weapons(automatics and heavy weapons, to experimental and high-tech), mutations and Mutants, Robots, and all of the fun you want for a small gang skirmish game in the PA. We are also refining the rules for FoL:WW based on umpteen playtests of the Wild West Game and Wasteland Warriors. These are the Basic Rules. And they represent what the current Fistful of Lead rules are now. Simple, fun, short and sweet. And you can play only those rules and have a great time. They are a complete set of rules. And it doesn't matter if you play them at 6mm, 15mm, or 28mm. So for all you nuts out there playing 6mm single mounted skirmish, you can. My collection is 28mm. But I am starting on my 15mm collection next thanks to the great figs by Khurusan.

 I also wanted to add some of the funner Roleplaying aspects the Baron and I fondly remeber from our Gamma World days. So we are adding a whole second section of Advanced rules that includes Full Random Gang Generation System, Random Mutation Charts, Vehicle Rules, Random Equipment, Loot and Weapon Charts, A Bestiary, Random Events and Encounter Charts, Scenarios, and Campaign Rules. Its a major expansion to an already great game.



Mr Roper. Slum Lord and Arms Dealer.



So where are we with all this? How close to publishing? Well the Basic Rules were 1 playtest away from being completed. So they are done and ready. We need to format and do the art. But that is doable pretty quick if we will just do it. Think D&D Basic two column format with integral art work. The Advanced rules are about half done. Mainly just need to get them all on the same sheet of paper.

I would hope that we would have a draft ready to be finalized by Spring Recruits. We'll see. Life has a way of getting in the way of our fun. We have not decided on a price yet, but we want to keep it reasonable. We are just some guys who game a lot and this is just an extra thing. We aren't trying to sell minis. For us, a good set of rules is worth its weight in gold, but we also want it to be accessible. So affordable is key. I'll keep you guys updated as we go.

After this I will probably do a campaign sandbox book. I can't seem to get those GM genes out of me so my campaign world and all of its factions will show up as a sandbox campaign for those of you who like that sort of thing. Nothing is funner than secret alliances and double crosses in a mini game. I don't want to bog down the rules with that stuff though. I never liked that in rule books. And as a sandbox, it will have to have some more random encounter, loot and bestiary charts and maps.

After that, well I think we have to take FoL to the stars. We will have worked out most of the high tech weaponry by then. The Baron is heading the other dierction and is working on a Horse and Musket version, and then hopefully a Dark Ages version. If only we could win the lottery so we could write wargame rules, pay sculptors and artists and have a game company.

Stay tuned folks. Updates in between trying to get French done for Black Powder, A new huge Undead army for 15mm Hail Caesar!, and other fun stuff.