Huckleberry is a dark and weird RPG set in an unforgiving Old West where the veil between reality and the Wyrd is frayed and worn thin. The Wyrd seeps into every crevice, corrupting and twisting the very fabric of reality. Can you survive the Wyrd Frontier?
Your bounty hunter character, a Maverick, has four attributes (Quick, Grit, Reckon, and Spirit) and nine skills, each represented by a die ranging from d6 to d12. You can increase these during character creation and over the course of play. You also have a d10 Wyrd die. To determine the result of an action, roll two dice, seeking a total of 10 or higher. Skill Checks use a skill and attribute die. Attribute Saves (reactions to terrifying events) use an attribute die and the Wyrd die. Your character may have Aversions or Indemnities that affect Saves and injuries.
For every +2 you roll above the required target number of 10, you gain an Ace (maximum four Aces per roll). You can immediately spend an Ace to Sweeten the Pot (gain information or benefit in the situation), or you can Sleeve (keep) the Ace to spend later for +2 on any roll. Circumstances may confer advantage (the check is Raised, increasing the die rolled by one increment) or disadvantage (the check is Busted, decreasing the die size). A roll of double-1 is Snake Eyes, an automatic failure and catastrophic complication.
Fights ("Scrapes") are a cinematic sequence of turns with minimal logistics; for instance, you track Ammo as "points," where each attack expends a point, and you can replenish points indefinitely with Reload actions. You get one Simple and one Complex Action per turn, and can get more actions by spending Sleeved Aces. Movement is abstract; all that matters is whether you're in attack range.
If an attack (a Skill Check) succeeds, the target makes an Attribute Save; Mavericks who fail a Save suffer an Ailment (such as Nicked, Branded, Wrassled, or Yellow), whereas NPCs suffer Inflictions (Bleedin', Blinded, Hobbled, Rattled, Stunned). Mavericks may also suffer an Injury, which has no mechanical effect but helps roleplaying. After six Injuries you are Laid Low and become open to the Wyrd's Corruption; you have only a few Sundowns left to live. The Trailboss (gamemaster) can offer a (literal) Deal with the Devil that lets you recover immediately, or a Sawbones can give recovery options that leave a Scar. After three Scars, your Maverick must retire, "choosing to lay down their guns and perhaps open a saloon or work a farm."
A Huckleberry game session, or Stretch, starts with the Mavericks in their home base, a Hole-in-the-Wall. They check the Bounty Board, choose an available Bounty and Lead, and set off on a Drive. Bounties you don't choose (Hostiles left uncaught, etc.) may have effects on the game setting. A Drive requires investigation and then one or more Ordeals (challenges), which include Hostiles (a long list ranging from Blinking Shrike and Bramblers through Poltergeists and Possessed Dolls to Stranglewood and Trapfloor Spider), environmental hazards (Stinging Dust Storm, Labyrinthine Canyons), and social perils like Town Ambush or card cheaters. Hostile NPCs take actions randomly determined by the flip of a playing card.
By capturing Bounties, you earn Chips, dollars forged from Wyrd silver. You spend Chips to purchase and customize your Kit and Caboodle (equipment). Six Stretches make up a Season. At the end of a Season, or in individual Stretches, the group chooses Pastime activities that can improve skills or invest in the Hole-in-the-Wall.
Learn more at the Huckleberry website and the BackerKit campaign page. Dave Thaumavore video review.
Maverick! This all-new Huckleberry Bundle presents Huckleberry, the mythic Wyrd West tabletop roleplaying game about tragic cowboys in a world doomed to calamity – unless you save it. Become a Maverick, a seasoned bounty hunter who rides out beyond civilization with a Big Iron on your hip. Your job: Hunt and slay monsters spawned by the chaotic force known as The Wyrd. The form you take, the weapons you wield, and the monsters you slay are up to you.
Arriving from a long, harsh trail through Early Access, Huckleberry rides in as a feature-complete cinematic weird-West RPG inspired by Westerns like Tombstone, Lonesome Dove, and The Sisters Brothers – folkloric dread out of Hellboy and Baltimore – and bone-chilling, monster-hunting RPGs like Haunted West and Vaesen. Easy to learn and to run, with player-driven sandbox flexibility, Huckleberry lets you build unique Maverick characters packing customized Big Iron, then saddle up to chase the monstrous Bounties you choose. Pack your digital saddlebag with the bargain-priced .PDF ebooks in this Huckleberry Bundle, then support the new Backerkit campaign in progress for the Huckleberry RPG hardcover rulebook.
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