Andy Lingua
Before starting this review, I want to thank Games Omnivorous for sending us a copy of Frontier Scum. This is a Western-themed roleplaying game based on the Mörk Borg ruleset. It does not require the latter’s manual, as it contains its own mechanics. The author is Karl Druid, a prolific mind of content for roleplaying games of this type.
If you are interested in this manual, you can find it on the official store at a cost of € 30. If you notice aesthetic differences compared to the images included in this review, keep in mind that it is only because the copy I received is the exclusive one for those who supported the Kickstarter campaign (The Red Printing).
Review of Frontier Scum‘s Aesthetics
Browsing the pages of the manual it is immediately clear that this TTRPG chose a very different approach than that of Mörk Borg. The cure and the final yield are equally valuable but are reached with very different means.
Its layout is still variable, alternating a double and single column. The text, however, is much more dense, fully exploiting each of the 64 pages of the manual. Fortunately, the font is classic and clearly legible, a wise choice given the density of content.
Obviously, there are also illustrations, drawn using only the colour of the text (in this case the red). They are not many, but given their quality, they are more than enough to effectively transmit the western tones of the game. I found extremely fit those who present themselves as old advertising posters; these in particular have the ability to transmit sensations between the gloomy and the grotesque that give unique notes to the game mood.
I also want to spend a few words on the cover, definitely one of the most particular I’ve ever seen. It is made with double cardboard (for the front and the back of the manual), leaving the volume coast without protection. At first glance, it almost seems that a piece is missing, but the glance is truly remarkable when the manual is closed. In addition, this allows you to open it as much as you want and browse it without the possibility of damaging it.
The Far (and Acid) West
Every Night & every Morn
William Blake
Some to Misery are Born
Every Morn & every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night
This project was born from the idea of bringing all the hardness of the Far West to the gaming table but in acid sauce. The protagonists are outlaws who try to earn the day in this absurd world full of references to various key elements of the genre. However, I appreciated that in the introduction the author specifies that this manual must not turn into a means to spread the stereotypes and atrocities of the sources of inspiration.
The first 10 pages of the manual introduce the Last Frontier, the game setting. There is also a precious map that contains all the places proposed and the time necessary for travelling, giving an idea of the mutual positions.
We find the descriptions of corrupt and ruthless cities such as Covett City and Fort Gullet, the fetid swamp of Sunken Hill with its dark past, the dangerous forest of Carcass Country, icy lands, an arid desert and the inevitable canyons. These are classic places for the Western imagination, but each of them is characterized intriguingly. The author uses sought and evocative language, which highlights the most interesting aspects of each location. They automatically turn into precious narrative ideas to create immersive contexts in which to play. An example is the ruthless collective known as Incorporation, which burns the Carcass Country trees to maintain the monopoly on the timber trade; this is obviously only the tip of the iceberg and their work also heavily affects other aspects of the setting.
The Protagonists of the Stories
Like every good OSR, also Frontier Scum is full of random tables and we find the former in the section dedicated to the creation of the characters. The very first is the one dedicated to the choice of the name and nickname; After all, in a TTRPG with high mortality, it is necessary to be able to generate a protagonist in a few simple moves.
Rolling a d4 and subtracting the result of another d4, the four basic Abilities must then be generated:
- Grit: strength, prowess and resistance.
- Slick: aim, deception and agility.
- Wits: knowledge, intuition and persuasion.
- Luck: gamble and not be hit.
To better characterize the character, you must then roll on the tables dedicated to the reason why they are sought (with attached Head Money) and their distinctive Traits (physical and mental). These aspects do not have a direct mechanical impact, but they are very precious in characterizing the PC.
By choosing a Background, initial Skills and Equipment are defined. The latter is the poor stuff that could allow us to resist a few more days in the Last Frontier; we can always count on a few sips of water and if we have obtained very low characteristics, the game will console us with some extra silver pieces. Moreover, you can choose your hat freely, but don’t lose it; after all, in a Western setting, it always says a lot about the wearer. The Skills instead derive from past experiences and represent what we know how to do; there is no defined list and they can be created based on the context.
The character creation then ends with the random choice of the Mount and the Firearm. Here too the author wanted to underline two iconic aspects of the genre, characterizing them carefully.
Review of Frontier Scum Mechanics
As we will see now in this review, the Frontier Scum tests are very simple to solve. The character involved rolls a d20 and sums the proper Ability. To overcome the test, the result must exceed a threshold established by the narrator (6 for trivial tests, 12 for the standard and 18 for almost impossible ones, with the intermediate values that represent the whole spectrum of possibilities); however, a failure must be narrated so that it does not block the plot, but that it makes it progress in a different direction.
There are some circumstances, such as the tests that involve a Skill of our character, which allows you to pull twice and keep the result better; this is called Advantage. The progression of the characters, as in many other games of this type, is however horizontal, maintaining a very low level of power. This implies that at most 6 Skills can be possessed. They are learned when you get a natural 20 in a test, but when the character already owns 6, they must first give up one of them. Obviously, it should also be kept in mind that particularly adverse situations generate a Disadvantage, so two dice are rolled and the worst is held.
By obtaining a 20 on a dice you can also decide to obtain an Ace, which corresponds to the possibility of rerolling a test. But be careful: when any player gets a natural 1, everyone loses the accumulated Aces!
Combat and Wounds
In combat, as in the tests, the opponents do (almost) never roll dice. The protagonists have to react to hostile actions. The Abilities to be used are listed with a practical table that includes all possible cases. For example, shooting in the melee requires a Grit test to hit (or dodge, if the blow is received), while in normal circumstances a Firearm will never fail the target. All the other combat dynamics are identical to those of normal tests; the only difference is that at the beginning of each round, the initiative is rolled to understand if the characters or opponents act first.
There are also some negative conditions, which inflict damage over time (such as Poisoned) or make the character unpredictable (Drunk inverted two Abilities of the character). In general, however, many of them summarize with the Miserable condition, which prevents you from recovering health by resting; to recover, you need to find an adequate remedy for the circumstances that inflicted it. It is a very serious condition, as the ways to recover the forces outside the rest are very few (and often expensive). Having the opportunity to spend a night eating and drinking in good company is often the best solution.
The greatest moments of tension, however, are reached when a character suffers a blow that would bring their health to zero or below. At this point, they roll on a table with very varied results. The unfortunate could die instantly, have time for a last memorable action or resist the blow and even improve in something. After all, challenging your limits helps you to grow… if you survive.
Conclusions of the Frontier Scum Review
The manual then proposes a subsystem dedicated to hunting, the list of goods and services prices, random encounters in a saloon and the dynamics of the gambling. As if that were not enough, we also find a good amount of random tables, such as those dedicated to the looting of tombs or corpses, to famous outlaw head money and other useful content.
In the last twenty pages, Frontier Scum provides us with a pre-made adventure, perfect for discovering the possibilities of this roleplaying game. The title is Escape the Organ Rail and it makes us live an adrenaline escape from a train that otherwise would bring the characters to the gallows.
Finally, the author included a very useful summary of the rules; in two facades we have everything you need to run a session. Instead, the character sheet is not present. It can be downloaded for free from the official website together with other interesting content such as the horse sheet and third-party material.
To conclude this review, I can therefore recommend Frontier Scum to all players who are looking for a ruthless experience with strong Western tones. The elegant mechanics and the amazing style of the manual transport us into a world at times realistic, and at times weird. The thin border between life and death makes every choice important since it could be the last!
