# Tales of the Old West A historical Western TTRPG built on the Year Zero Engine. Risk Faith against Trouble, pursue a personal dream, and build a life in a town shaped by dangerous adventures and changing seasons. ## At a Glance Historical Western | GM-led | Year Zero dice pools | Faith and Trouble | Town campaigns | Free QuickDraw; paid core ## Why It Fits Choose Tales of the Old West when making a life in a frontier town sounds as interesting as surviving the next shootout. Faith and Trouble give immediate decisions weight, while seasonal play gives the group reasons to care about what happens after the adventure. ## Fit Facts - Prep: Medium - Price: Paid ## Facets - Genres: Historical, Western - Systems: Year Zero Engine - Mechanics: Campaign, Character Customization, Classless, Resource Management, Sandbox, Survival, Tactical Combat - Themes: Mature Themes - Decision tags: One-Shot Friendly, Rules Medium ## Scores - Complexity: 3/5 - New GM Fit: 2/5 - Roleplay Focus: 4/5 - Combat Focus: 3/5 - Tactical Depth: 4/5 - Campaign Depth: 5/5 ## Best For - Historical Western campaigns about a town and its people - Players who want personal ambitions, livelihoods, and recurring consequences - Groups comfortable with risky combat and seasonal bookkeeping ## Avoid If - You want supernatural Western horror or fantasy powers - Your GM needs fully scripted adventures with little adaptation - You dislike tracking resources, injuries, or community affairs ## Explorer Notes Tales of the Old West suits a group that wants a Western campaign to leave something behind: a reputation, a livelihood, and a town whose fortunes matter. Its strongest invitation is to make a life in the frontier, with dangerous gunfights forming one part of that life. Choose it when the players want personal ambitions and community decisions to carry consequences across many sessions. The core game is grounded in the historical American West rather than supernatural horror. Its familiar dice-pool foundation is approachable, but the full campaign adds economic, seasonal, and social procedures. A GM who enjoys preparing situations and responding to player decisions will get more from it than one looking for a tightly scripted sequence of adventures. ## What the game is Designed by Dave Semark and Matthew Tyler-Jones and published by [Effekt Publishing](https://www.effektpublishing.com/), Tales of the Old West is a standalone TTRPG set in the 1870s, with 1873 as its starting reference point. The designers' [backgrounds include historical interpretation and work on other TTRPGs](https://www.effektpublishing.com/home/who-are-we); Effekt also maintains magazine and actual-play podcasts. The book combines Western fiction with a commitment to the period's people and pressures. Characters can pursue work, property, relationships, and local influence. The central question is what they are prepared to risk to achieve their ambitions, and what their neighbors will think of the answer. ## Publication history and the current core The free QuickDraw introduction was available in 2024, and the full game ran a [Kickstarter campaign that year](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/effekt/tales-of-the-old-west). The core reached players in 2025; contemporary play reports and retail coverage distinguish the released book from the earlier preview. This profile covers that published core, not a future edition or an unreleased campaign. The [DriveThruRPG core rules](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/509937/tales-of-the-old-west-core-rules?affiliate_id=1659151) provide the paid digital starting point. Print copies are offered through the publisher's linked shop and retailers; regional stock and shipping vary. The approximately 300-page book is a complete game, so no separate Year Zero rulebook is required. ## What you need to play Bring the rules, character sheets, ordinary six-sided dice in two distinguishable colors, and a GM. One color identifies Trouble dice. Custom dice are unnecessary. The [official downloads page](https://www.effektpublishing.com/home/downloads) provides printable and form-fillable character sheets, business accounts, and a Town Charter. These supporting records matter most once a campaign begins tracking a home community and its enterprises. The free [QuickDraw rules and adventure](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/480951/tales-of-the-old-west-quickdraw?affiliate_id=1659151) offer a smaller commitment: introductory rules, five pregenerated characters, and The Last Cibolero, set around Carson's Folly in New Mexico. Its premise involves a friend's death and competing interests in the buffalo trade. It is a playable introduction, not the full campaign book. ## How the dice work Actions use a Year Zero Engine dice pool built from a character's relevant capabilities, with sixes indicating success. The important variation is the relationship between Faith and Trouble. Up to the first five dice in a pool are Trouble dice. Their ones become dangerous when the player pushes a roll; spending Faith enables that second attempt and can also reduce Trouble. The designers explain this risk economy in their [2024 rules interview](https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/2024/09/29/qa-matthew-tyler-jones-tales-of-the-old-west/). Faith is a character's source of resolve, not a requirement to practice a particular religion. It can express trust in oneself, family, companions, or the land. Spending it creates a practical choice between improving this result, containing its consequences, and keeping something in reserve for the next crisis. ## Characters, ambitions, and advancement Archetypes provide an accessible route into character creation, while the lifepath option builds a history through earlier circumstances and work. These starting guides do not lock advancement into rigid classes. Skills, talents, assets, and relationships help distinguish people who might otherwise share a profession. A character's Big Dream gives the GM a concrete ambition to engage. It is worth choosing a dream that creates decisions for the whole table: earning enough to purchase a business, protecting a family, or becoming someone the town trusts. Discuss why the characters will remain involved in one another's lives before the first job starts. ## Gunfights and their costs Conflict uses fast and slow actions, making the order of drawing, aiming, firing, and moving important. Weapons, ammunition, cover, and injuries give violence weight. The [QuickDraw review at Reviews from R'lyeh](https://rlyehreviews.blogspot.com/2024/08/quick-start-saturday-tales-of-old-west.html) describes both physical and social conflict procedures, including duels and critical injuries. This is a reason to discuss tactics before shots are fired. Having a capable character does not make an exposed position safe, and a victory can still leave the group with consequences to manage. For table selection, the appeal is consequential combat inside a broader campaign rather than an expectation of a balanced fight every session. ## Town life and the campaign rhythm The core's [official preview](https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/pdf_previews/509937-sample.pdf) shows dedicated sections on property, reputation, compadres, town creation, and the Turn of the Season. The home town becomes a recurring campaign concern alongside individual characters. Returning from an adventure means returning to people, work, and commitments that can change. Trent Swindells' [campaign-based review](https://www.trentjswindells.com/blog/tales-of-the-old-west-review) describes the seasonal structure as a rewarding connection between adventures and community growth. He also finds the bookkeeping and loosely sketched campaign material demanding. Our practical recommendation is to start with one shared local concern and introduce the larger economic procedures once everyone understands what they are tracking and why. ## Adventures and other support The core includes a New Mexico campaign framework and the introductory adventure Patience is a Virtue. These have different jobs: the framework supplies an area and ongoing pressures, while the adventure offers a more immediate starting situation. The Last Cibolero in QuickDraw gives another entry point. The Campfire Tales line adds shorter adventures. [The Las Vegas Legacy](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/537796/the-las-vegas-legacy?affiliate_id=1659151), for example, follows a bounty whose circumstances can change the characters' response. Its [official preview](https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/pdf_previews/537796-sample.pdf) explains that the early Campfire Tales grew out of actual-play scenarios and can be adapted beyond their New Mexico locations. They supplement the core rather than replace it. Effekt offers a [Made in the Old West third-party license and compatibility logo](https://www.effektpublishing.com/home/made-in-the-old-west-license). That supports further creations, but does not by itself establish a large third-party catalog. The publisher's [media page](https://www.effektpublishing.com/home/media) is a useful source of interviews, explanations, and actual play. ## Online and solo play An [official Foundry VTT system](https://foundryvtt.com/packages/talesoftheoldwest) supports the game, with a separate [premium core-rules module](https://foundryvtt.com/packages/totow-corerules) from Effekt. The latter adds book content, characters, tables, and scenes; installing the system alone does not provide that paid content. Check the listings for compatibility with your Foundry version. The publisher has discussed the Lone Rider solo rules, including in its [Into the Birch Basement episode](https://www.effektpodcast.org/285/transcript). We did not verify a currently obtainable finished solo release during this review. The table-fit fields therefore describe the GM-led core and do not promise a complete solo mode. ## Running it and choosing a campaign length The introductory material gives a manageable way to try the game in an evening or two. A longer campaign is where the town, personal dreams, and recurring relationships have room to develop. Keep the initial cast small enough that the players can remember what each person wants. Plan for moderate preparation and substantial improvisation in open campaign play. Before each session, identify the immediate problem, who benefits if it remains unresolved, and what changes after the players intervene. Prepare consequences rather than a single correct route. This is our running advice, not a claim that the book prescribes that exact method. ## Reception and limitations The available review sample is encouraging but limited. Reviews from R'lyeh praises QuickDraw as an effective introduction. Swindells, writing after repeated play, values the Faith economy and town development but flags gaps in rules explanation and the work needed to turn campaign prompts into sessions. These are attributed observations, not a claim of universal consensus or our own playtest. DriveThruRPG's core page was identifiable, but its rating and review counts could not be inspected reliably. No numerical user score or award claim is attached here. ## Where it works best - A group that wants historical Western characters with livelihoods and continuing relationships. - Players who enjoy spending scarce resources to influence risky outcomes. - A campaign in which local decisions change a shared home over time. - A GM comfortable turning a setting and its pressures into playable situations. ## Where it may frustrate your group - The full campaign asks for more tracking than the basic dice mechanic suggests. - Open situations require the group to choose priorities and the GM to respond. - Gunfights can derail plans through lasting injuries or death. - Groups seeking supernatural Western adventures will need a different premise. ## Content and safety The core explicitly addresses colonial expansion, the treatment of Native American communities, slavery's aftermath, exploitation, and violence. Its content guidance calls for discussion and adjustment when material becomes uncomfortable. Agree which historical pressures belong in your game and which remain outside play; portraying the period does not require acting out every form of cruelty associated with it. ## Best starting path Start with QuickDraw and its pregenerated characters, then decide together whether to invest in a continuing town campaign. Buy the core when the group wants character creation, seasonal play, and broader setting support. Add the Foundry content only if that is how you intend to run the game. ## Research notes Last checked October 15, 2026. This is a researched reference and table-fit assessment, not a hands-on play report. Sources include the linked publisher overview, creator biographies, downloads and media; the core and QuickDraw previews; the designer interview; the two attributed reviews; The Las Vegas Legacy preview; the third-party license; the solo-rules discussion; and the official Foundry system and core-module listings. Availability can vary by region. Exact player limits, setup time, and character-creation duration were not established, so those numerical fields are left unspecified. - [Publisher overview](https://www.effektpublishing.com/) - [Creator biographies](https://www.effektpublishing.com/home/who-are-we) - [Core preview](https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/pdf_previews/509937-sample.pdf) - [QuickDraw preview](https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/pdf_previews/480951-sample.pdf) - [Designer interview](https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/2024/09/29/qa-matthew-tyler-jones-tales-of-the-old-west/) - [QuickDraw review](https://rlyehreviews.blogspot.com/2024/08/quick-start-saturday-tales-of-old-west.html) - [Campaign review](https://www.trentjswindells.com/blog/tales-of-the-old-west-review) - [Downloads](https://www.effektpublishing.com/home/downloads) - [The Las Vegas Legacy preview](https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/pdf_previews/537796-sample.pdf) - [Third-party license](https://www.effektpublishing.com/home/made-in-the-old-west-license) - [Solo development discussion](https://www.effektpodcast.org/285/transcript) - [Foundry system](https://foundryvtt.com/packages/talesoftheoldwest) - [Foundry core module](https://foundryvtt.com/packages/totow-corerules) - [2024 crowdfunding campaign](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/effekt/tales-of-the-old-west) ## Links - Explorer page: https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/tales-of-the-old-west - Agent JSON: https://www.ttrpg-games.com/api/games/tales-of-the-old-west.json - Publisher or official site: https://www.effektpublishing.com/ - Reviews or retailer page: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/509937/tales-of-the-old-west-core-rules?affiliate_id=1659151