﻿GUN&SLINGER by Nevyn Holmes
edited by Fiona Maeve Geist
layout by Sinta Posadas
Cover art by Sadia Bies
Interior art by Emma Harvey
Cultural & sensitivity consulting by Max Moctizuma

GUN&SLINGER is an RPG geared for short, episodic sessions about a weapon and a wanderer. A Maestro and two players (Gun and Slinger) set out into a dead planet mutated by a god's forgotten child and hunt strange bounties, investigate the world and unlock hidden powers. During play, they seek to learn the nature of what’s hunting the Slinger, figure out why the Gun is sentient and discover how the world died.
--------
Eons ago, the sky shattered and something ate the moon and stars. Leaving us with only our sun, small cluster of planets and a new twisted moon. Something, birthed from the sky-eater, fell to our planet and began to twist and warp it.

It was the end of our world before anyone living can remember.

Now, many generations later, the remnants of our people wander the twisted land and fight the bioluminescent night-crawling creatures searching our castles’ and cities’ ruins for ancient magic and technology to help us survive. The brave and hopeful work to keep our pocket-sized towns together and alive.

Now, many years after our stars were devoured, you find yourself searching the ruins with your new partner.
I hope you find what you’re looking for.

Safety Tools
GUN&SLINGER uses John Stavropoulos’ X-Card as its core safety tool, alongside Lines & Veils. Before playing, everyone involved should read this section to discuss safety and the content they want in the game. It’s important everyone’s on the same page, feels safe, and understands this game’s Open Table policy.

Lines are hard boundaries excluding specific content, no questions asked and can be anything you don’t want in your game experience.
Veils are softer limits—things the player is OK with included, provided it’s not explicitly described or happens “off-screen.” Veils are things to hand-wave or fade-to-black around, as if in a PG movie.	

Lines & Veils are a fantastic system allowing for a curated consensual experience for everyone involved’s comfort but is not always enough. To that end, you should also make use of the X-Card.

The X-Card is an optional tool (created by John Stavropoulos) that allows anyone in your game (including you) to edit out any content anyone is uncomfortable with during play. Since most RPGs are improvisational and we don't know what will happen until it happens, it's possible the game takes an unwanted direction with specific regard to content that’s included, not to prevent or reverse mechanical outcome. An X-Card is a simple tool to fix problems as they arise. 

To use, at the start of your game, simply say:
“I’d like your help. Your help to make this game fun for everyone. If anything makes anyone uncomfortable in any way… [ draw X on an index card ] …just lift this card up, or simply tap it [ place card at the center of the table ]. You don’t have to explain why. It doesn't matter why. When we lift or tap this card, we simply edit out anything X-Carded. And if there is ever an issue, anyone can call for a break and we can talk privately. I know it sounds funny but it will help us play amazing games together and usually, I’m the one who uses the X card to protect myself from all of you! Please help make this game fun for everyone. Thank you!"
For additional information consult: http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg

Acknowledgments
The world of G&S is home to a wide diversity of peoples and cultures. You, and everyone you meet, can be imagined however you want! Any and every expression of sexuality, culture, gender, ability, etc. is to be respected to the fullest extent. 

When you sit down to play GUN&SLINGER, you agree to punch fascists and stomp on bigotry. You will respect your fellow players and their needs, concerns, and traumas. At any point, for any reason, a player can veto narrative elements. Even if you spent something or drew cards, do not use my words to justify harming others.

Entertainment and safety above all.

Genre & Land
The GUN&SLINGER Team would like to acknowledge our participation in work within the Western genre, which was forged from American colonialism’s brutal expansion. It’s a terrible time leaving deep scars and repercussions across the nation and our pop culture that still reverberate today.

Our team members would like to thank the owners of the land we live on as we worked on our project such as the nations of the Kiikaapoi, Jumanos, Tawakoni, Wichita, Lipan Nde and Nʉmʉnʉʉ of Eastern Texas. As well as the Lənape Haki-nk of New Jersey, The Kiikaapoi, Peoria, Bodéwadmiké, Myaamia, and Oglala Sioux of Northern Illinois and the Neusiok and Coree of Eastern North Carolina.

Our dearest wishes are for our project to separate the Western genre from it's long history celebrating ideals of genocide and colonialism, bringing a more positive and creative energy for a healthier experience while still acknowledging associated issues. We’ve each worked diligently towards this goal and hope you all enjoy.

I want to be clear: while it pulls in a few genre tropes, GUN&SLINGER is not a traditional Western. They may be related but they are not identical. There are a few things it shares with the Western genre but it is about fundamentally different things.

This is not a game about taming wilderness or fighting back against “The Other.” While there are elements of fighting back against the world, it’s not to take other’s lands but defending against an invading force—The Twist—and discovering answers to the transformed world’s mysteries.

On the surface, it still shares Western’s themes of solitude, distance and difficult survival but similarities end there. This is a game about what we do to stay alive and how far we go helping our intimates in a world working to beat us down. The world itself is lush, not exclusively desert and has plentiful—though difficult to acquire—resources.

Keep all this in mind as you create, explore, and play in your own world of GUN&SLINGER.
--------
Agendas
Gun & Slinger:
* Put yourself in danger, search for what you want, leave people with stories to tell.
   * Gun: Be an extension of the Slinger's arm and an agent of the strange.
   * Slinger: Be the hammer that sparks the Gun and an agent for change.
Maestro:
* Use the Twist interestingly, create intrigue and drama, make the world threatening
Together:
* Do what’s most interesting, learn about the world, escalate imminent dangers
--------
Setting Elements
GUN&SLINGER takes place on a planet very different from our own. Eons after a cataclysmic event, people still struggle to survive.
There are no stars, only the sun and new, twisted moon. Castles, cities and townships’ remnants are half-buried in dirt and sand.

Ghosts wander the ruins and cracks. Golden Age magic and technology lie beneath it all, waiting to be exhumed and woken. Some people search for these historical pieces, others claim them.

The Days & Nights
	Days are vibrant, the Last Sun feeds all the plant life it reaches. The green, rolling hills thrive, drinking up sunlight and waving in the breeze. Life unmarred by the Twist is beautiful and sustained. 
	The nights, though, are dim, illuminated only by the omnipresent pale blue moon. Twisted bioluminescent beasts wander and hunt, claimed by the Twist, their designs extrapolated to grotesque degrees. Whether extra appendages, constantly drooling thick ichor or additional, misplaced mouths and eyes, these hostile creatures are animated by the Twist’s strange new instinct. In a single word, they’re wrong.
	Much the moon touches twists over time and whatever the sky-eater left is claiming and reshaping things’ forms and life. Most travel by day whenever possible—even then there’s no guarantee of safety from the Twist.

The Lands & Graves of the Past
	Long ago, this planet pulsed with life. Neither you (nor anyone you know) was around but you see prior societies’ artifacts on your travels: castles choked by moss and ivy, hills reclaiming statues that once stood upon them, crumbling vaults and treasuries whose depths hide secrets and ancient magics, decaying infrastructure too advanced to operate. To some, the Golden Age ruins speak of potential. To others, they’re a warning.
	Eons since the death of the sky, the land may be beautiful but it no longer breathes the same life. Green, rolling hills are flecked with the past’s remnants and new civilizations’ marks from the last couple hundred years are sometimes built in and around the ruins. People live in these distant, civilized pockets surviving on whatever fertile land is available and cooperating as best they can to survive.
	The land isn’t all green hills and pleasant nature, though. There are forests (of trees and fungus), swamps of Twisted creatures and lakes of Twist-touched oil. There are massive canyons and tectonic rips that seem to scream. For, as much beauty as the world still holds, the Twist has claimed and shifted in equal, violent measure.

Technology & Peoples of the World
	Technology, infrastructure, transportation and the like are a mish-mash mix of steam-powered components, recovered and reverse-engineered magitech and ill-advised attempts at harnessing the Pale Moon’s power. 
	While imperfect, it helped feed stories of the peoples’ past greatness providing much-welcomed aid in the fight to transcend mere survival.
	Travel is by horse, cart, foot, and vehicle. Cobbled low-tech motorcycles and small kitbash cars zip from city to town to ruin and back. Repaired and up-cycled trains run on the last remaining rails people work to recover and improve.
	Old crafts are passed down parent to child, evolving as communal knowledge grows. Clothes are a mix of leather, metal and cloth. Armor looks medieval in some locales and modern in others. If you’re lucky, you might even find something magical.
	People farm, trade and craft. Townships do their best to maintain a pleasant relationship with their closest neighbors, knowing the dangerous Wilds between them and knowing they’ll only thrive through collaboration. Some mercenaries, bounty hunters and others hired-for-coin often make or protect runs between cities—provided the coin’s right, nothing’s really off the table.
	Based on remnants, it seems people routinely traveled off-planet evidenced by a few massive, crashed, reclaimed or hidden rockets. Presently space travel, even short distance to the sister planets, almost never happens. Most, even provided means, fear the sky. Even if you find someone able, the cost for them to be willing is very high. 

What is Magitech?
	Magical technology—Magitech—is a fusion of traditional technology (circuits, steam, electrical currents, massive machinery) with reclaimed Magical remnants. They’re more efficient or can do things in unusual ways. In G&S, it’s essentially a way to create interesting, anachronistic technology attributable to Magic and the long past Golden Age—it’s our equivalent of “a wizard did it!” Use it to make cool shit exist in your world!

Factions & Threats
	There are a few things that are, without a doubt, threats and antagonists to the world’s peoples. 
	Firstly: the Twist and all it’s claimed. Malevolent monsters, furious flora and troublesome titanic beings make the wilds dangerous. The Twist can influence everything anywhere and can even shape the world. It’s constantly working towards some unknowable goal for more see XX[a].
	The various independent assemblages beyond a township or city’s general populace. Bandits, mercenary companies and other freebooters prioritizing their needs before others. Some for money, others for fame and some simply like the thrill. There are as many of these groups as you need to fill out your world.
	There are the scholars, curiosities endlessly piqued by the Twist. They go to incredible lengths to study it attempting to decipher its cryptic, unknowable ways. Wizened elders, ecstatic apprentices and adventurous bookworms—the Twist interests all kinds. Though there haven’t been any major discoveries, the world’s scholars are unyielding in their hunt for knowledge.
	Not all Scholars study the Twist in isolation. Many study its effect on things to varying degrees. They take titles related to their specific objects of study, always appended with the suffix “-keeper”.
These titles are collectively agreed upon by scholarly society. Examples:
* Greenskeeper: Studies nature.
* Twistkeeper: Studies the Twist in-depth.
* Mindkeeper: Studies the Twist’s mental effects and general mental health.
	
Touchstones & Tone
There’s a lot of room to play in G&S’ setting. There are no provided cities, landmarks, or creatures: your world’s places, people, and possibilities are created collaboratively by everyone at the table and discovered through play. There are a few key aspects of the game world to keep in mind:
Touchstones:
* The beautiful and strange nature of Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind.
* The ancient civilizations’ remnants and Magic of The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of The Wild.
* Trigun’s alien landscapes, struggles with destructive nature and fighting for survival in harsh lands.
* Pitch Black’s horrifying darkness and violent monsters
* The alien flora and fauna of Subnautica, both massive and miniscule
* The Outer Wilds’ unsubtle existentialism and fireside guitar plucking.

	At its heart, G&S’ world is one of survival, mystery, and danger. Civilization has found stability in isolated pockets within a hostile landscape. Your game may only have one “major” city, you decide. Travel between locations is slow and arduous, people walk, ride horses, travel in carts, and even ride machines cobbled-together from weird magical remnants and janky technology. And, because I love them—and for no other reason—motorcycles exist.
	The world, in general, is pretty dangerous. The creatures that roam at night are far from the only threat. There are dangerous flora and fauna, remnant magical mechana are sometimes still alive and kickin’, there are actual ghosts of varying hostility and some people strike out as bandits or, even, ruthless shithead leaders. Everyone fights to stay alive.

The Twist
	The Twist is the force crawling across the land, left behind and forgotten by whatever ate the sky. It touches, claims and mutates what it wants or, perhaps, needs. It’s hard to discern if it has a real goal, runs on instinct or, perhaps, something worse. The nature of its goals and how it manifests are discovered through play.
	It’s on every planet in this cluster, taking many forms. It possesses and manipulates anything: organic, inorganic, sapient or otherwise—it doesn’t matter. It takes and reshapes things to fit its desires whether a swarm of rats, a bandit leader or a monstrous human/venus fly trap hybrid, you decide.
	The Twist can also mess with the world’s other facets: it can inhabit or change any environmental feature. During setup, you’ll establish a few unique ways the Twist changed your world but there are two constants:
* The Twist is definitely related to the New Moon that The Thing That Ate The Sky left behind—there’s likely more to it than that.
* The Twist owns the night: there are novel, (largely) nocturnal bioluminescent flora and fauna. Not all are aggressive, terrible horrors—some are natural evolutions who soaked up the New Moon’s light.

Creatures & The Twist-Touched Wilds
	In play, you have free reign to create your own creatures and Twist manifestations as variable threats. The Twist and Twist-Touched should be difficult, interesting encounters keeping everyone on their toes. Thanks to how GUN&SLINGER works, Twist creatures don’t require stats and their appearance and abilities are infinitely flexible. They could be an entire species or type, singular unique creatures or, even, recurring baddies.
	Here are some manifestations I’ve used. Feel free to use them and don’t hesitate to make your own! Inventing a threat as a group can be good fun, too!
	The Gorilla-Fungus
This massive creature lives on the fungal forest’s outskirts. It’s massive, incredibly quick and transforms its bodily fungal growths into light, sturdy armor. It’s tougher to fight in the forest as the landscape’s familiar and it can instinctually get around faster.
	The Bandit & Helldog
A bandit leader possessed by The Twist granting various gifts that manifest as deep powers. This is less a Twist creature and more a person who made a deal with something they didn’t understand.
They have a pet helldog, a 4’-tall fiery hound summoned with an Artifact (a small purple coin). The dog has a lash-tongue and is almost impossible to outrun on foot.
--------
Exploration and Daily Life
	This is a game of exploration and mystery, so you’re gonna travel to many different places. Be sure to name everyone met and every town and outpost visited. Doing so helps build the world, further realizing it and providing places and people to return to!

When visiting a new town, name it and collaboratively answer:
* What’s the weather like?
* How are the roads?
* How do they stay afloat?

When you meet a new person, name them and collaboratively answer:
* What are their pronouns?
* What’s their worry?
* What’s their need?
--------
Doing Things & Resolution
	The Players & Maestro are participating in Go Fish notably modified to fit RPG structure.
	When a player wants to do something under pressure or with an uncertain outcome, the Maestro can request a Check. The Player then asks either the Maestro or the other Player if they have a particular card (“Hey, Gun, do you have any fives?”).
	The person who is asked must answer truthfully. If they have any cards of that value, they are handed to the petitioner. If not, the asker draws a card from the deck.
* If at any point someone’s hand contains a Pair (two cards of the same value) it is set face-down on the table in front of them. The Maestro does not make Pairs, keeping all of their Hand’s cards.
   * This area is called their Cache and Pairs remain here until used. Players may peek at their own Pairs whenever but not anyone else’s.
	After the player making the Check requests a card and either receives or draws one, the Maestro reveals the Check’s Difficulty and Cost (“This is an Easy check, doing it costs 4”), and then the Player either pays with a Pair, requests a Bargain or accepts Failure.

	A Check’s Cost—and occurrence—is the Maestro’s decision. The Maestro should rely on situational context and their judgment determining when a Check is appropriate. Some good heuristics for requesting a Check is when:
* The outcome is uncertain. 
* There’s immediate pressure.
* Failure or Mixed success provide interesting narrative outcomes.

Important notes about Pairs:
* A Pair has its single-card value (ex. a Pair of 10s is worth 10).
* The total value Paid is the Pair’s value plus your relevant Stat.
* You can exceed, rather than exactly pay, the Cost.

Two other actions happen with Checks: Aid and Bargain detailed in Basic Moves.
--------
How to Treat Stats
Your Stats are intentionally flexible and interpretive. While geared towards a few fairly obvious actions, they have a wide variety of uses. When determining which Stat a Check entails, first focus on how you’re accomplishing your task, working backwards to determine the applicable Stat.

If you don’t have a situationally relevant Stat—or you can’t agree which applies—make the Check without a modifying Stat.

When making a Check, always add your relevant Stat. IE: I spend a 3-Pair for a Check and my Light On My Toes stat is 2, so 2 (Stat) + 3 (Pair) brings my total to 5.


The Starting Stats and Examples of Use:
* Embodiment of Magic
   * The Gun’s relationship with Magic. How good are they at it? How much do they know? Usable for any Magic-adjacent Check.
* Sharp, for a Gun
   * How clever are you? How smart? How physically sharp? Primarily concerned with quick wits and knowledge but, if you want, can be taken literally.
* Just a Little Bit Mean
   * Are you an angry gun? Intimidating? Short-tempered? This covers all of those and anything else you can imagine!

* I’ve Been Around
   * How much have you travelled? Been a lot of places, learned a lot of things? Consider this a measure of worldly knowledge—wisdom concerning the world’s workings and ability to find things. It’s even used for reading people.
* Good in a Fight
   * Maybe you’re more brawn than brain. Usable for a fist-fight or perhaps intimidation—maybe even sizing someone up?
* Light on my Toes
   * How fast are you? How good at sneaking? This could even cover maintaining footing or balancing on shaky ground.
--------
Simplified Check Steps/Example Resolution:
1. The Slinger says they attempt sneaking past someone.
2. The Maestro decides this requires a Check, meaning the Slinger must “Go Fish!”
3. The Slinger asks the Maestro or the Gun if they have a card—but they don’t.
4. The Slinger draws from the Deck, completing a Pair and placing it in their Cache.
5. The Maestro says the Check is Hard, setting its Cost at 11.
6. The Slinger pays with a 7-Pair adding their Light On Your Feet 2 for a total of 9.
7. The Gun aids by Paying a Single 2, tying their total with the Cost.
8. The Maestro takes the normal success, moving the narrative forward.
--------
--------
Basic Moves, Face Moves and a Couple Notes
Recovering from Damage
	Players heal up, restock and regain ½ of all used Twist and Connection if they’re in a safe place when a session ends—not if you end on an intense cliffhanger like amidst a shootout. As a heuristic: camping somewhere relatively safe means you’ll heal.
	You can also recover using items, paying a doctor or with an extended rest. Just remember: time moves ever forward!
	Giving Aid
Players can Aid each other once per Check by describing how they are assisting and paying a Single from their Hand, adding it to the total Paid.
	Blind Pay
To Blind Pay, both Players place a Single from their Hand face-down obscuring their respective cards before simultaneously revealing and combining their value. A Blind Pay’s difficulty is calculated as follows: the Maestro sets a difficulty based on the ranges below and flips the Deck’s top card—the Modifier—adding it to the Blind Pay’s total.
	Blind Pays are always used when Players attempt to shoot something but the Maestro can always call for one for simultaneous actions by the Gun & Slinger.
	The order of play:
1. The Maestro declares a Blind Pay and sets its difficulty
2. The Maestro flips the Deck’s top card—the Modifier Card
3. The players submit a single face-down from their hand, trying, combined, to exceed the difficulty without ‘busting’ (a total greater than 21).

Example of Play:
The Duo wants to shoot a Twist-Spider rushing from the treeline. The Maestro takes the situation into account (the spider’s fast, it’s dark) stating the difficulty is Medium (meaning the Duo needs a 16 total between their cards and the Modifier Card without exceeding 21). The Maestro flips the deck’s top card, revealing a 5 which is added to whatever the Duo plays. Accounting for this, each plays a face-down Single from their hand and simultaneously flip them—a  5 and a 6. 5+6+5(Modifier)=16. They just made it, and they blast the Twist-Spider out of the air!
	

Every Blind Pay has a set Difficulty based on the action’s context. If the total of the players’ and Modifier Card ties or exceeds the Difficulty, the action is successful. If the total exceeds 21, however, the action ‘busts’ and fails.
        Easy:14  Medium: 16  Hard: 18
* In Blind Pays, Face cards are worth 10.
* Aces are worth either 1 or 11, determined after the reveal.
* One player may choose to add their relevant Stats to a Blind Pay after revealing the cards.
* Scoring 21 Exactly is Pure Success as with Aces.

In a GM-less game, Blind Pays work similarly. The deck’s top card is flipped to determine the Difficulty, then another is flipped as Modifier to the player’s total. Instead of setting the Difficulty the first revealed card subtracts its value from 21 to derive the target. (With a 10, 21-10=11, the Duo must total 11-21)

Example of Maestro-Less Play:
The Duo wants to shoot a Twist-Spider rushing from the treeline. One flips the deck’s top card revealing a 3, setting the difficulty: a total of 18-21. They then flip the deck’s top card: a 5 which is added to whatever the Duo plays. Accounting for this, each player plays a Single face-down then flip them simultaneously. A 7 and Ace. 7+Ace+5(Modifier)=23 OR 13. They either Bust or Fail, failing to shoot the spider either way—which lunges at them!
	
	Bargains
If a player lacks Pairs, can’t pay a Check’s Cost—or doesn’t wish to in order to retain Pairs for future Checks or for narrative reasons—it becomes a Bargain.
1. If the player has a Face Card to give the Maestro, the check is a baseline success.
   * If they cannot or don’t want to, it becomes a Blind Pay resulting in Failure or Limited Success with complications. A Bargain’s Blind Pay is never a standard Success—it always comes with complications.

--------
Face Moves.
                        Face Cards do not Pair.
* King: A symbol of luck used to succeed any Check including the other player’s.
* Queen: Thrive in every environment and can be Paired with any (non-face) Single matching it to produce a Pair.
* Jack: Know a good deal when they see it, play one any time to draw 3 cards.
* Aces: Always good to have up your sleeve, paying with one is a Major Success with an extra effect from this list:
   * You gain extra insight, pose a question to the table and collaboratively answer.
   * You gain or maintain the upper hand, determined collectively.
   * Your result improves remarkably, describe how.
--------
When your Hand is empty, draw 3 from the Deck.
--------
Combat & Action
	Combat and GUN&SLINGER’s other action scenes don’t follow a strict, turn-based format. Instead, it uses the “theatre of the mind” where combat and action are played out following actions and responses’ flow, allowing decision-making based on what’s sensible within the present fiction rather than worrying about movement speed and initiative.

	As players take actions, the situation changes and evolves. Characters present react to outcomes dictated by their own goals. For example, players in a tense saloon may attack a bandit. Outcome dependent, the bandit could go down before counter-attacking or someone across the room may step in if they miss.

	As with other scenes, the Maestro and Players should freely discuss ongoing combat and action direction. If you’re unsure of what happens next, talk it out!
--------
Harm for the Slinger
Whenever the Slinger fails to avoid a hit, they mark 1 Scrape. If all their Scrapes are marked and they’re hit, they invent and write down a situationally appropriate Major Injury. Exceeding 2 Major Injuries is fatal.
--------
Shooting, Killing, and Other Violent Acts
Violence may be simple to enact and reliably terminates conversations but there’s always another way to solve problems with the world’s residents. It’s important to remember violence is enacted against a person whose world you’re exploring. Always consider other options—you gain next to nothing harming someone or something.

When committing an act of violence always be prepared for consequences.

The Gun cannot be fired unless both Gun and Slinger agree to shoot. Before firing, both draw a card (making any new pairs). Shooting is always a Blind Pay.

Baseline: attacking (with the Gun or otherwise) is Medium difficulty (5-8) but, situation dependent, can be easier or harder. When players are attacked, they must pass Checks with the same baseline to avoid being hit.
A single hit defeats a regular enemy, but those the Twist touch, or those protected by armor or other means may take more. When defeating an enemy with gunfire, the Gun draws a card; otherwise, the Slinger draws.
--------
Death
	In a Twist-marred world, Death isn’t always final. If you’re really attached to your characters and their collaborative story, maybe you strike a bargain with something beyond your understanding to return. Every time you’re Twisted somehow—until you’re no longer yourself! These should be so sufficiently major and impactful that you’re unsure if you want to strike the deal. Resurrection is never as simple as a hand wave or snap of the fingers.
	When the Slinger returns from the dead, they permanently mark 1 of their Twist track’s points. This can never be cleared: so use red and scratch it up making sure you remember. Additionally, the table must decide how the Twist physically transforms you. This isn’t necessarily negative but should be strange and noticeable without effort disguising it.
Some examples:
* A transformed eye with stars inside
* Cat-like ears, twitching at every noise
	* A marked arm with a growing curse
* Backwards-bent legs, ready to spring
--------
Trade & Favors
Getting hung up on tracking the minutiae of dollars and donuts can really slow down play and disperse focus: GUN&SLINGER isn’t about that! You always have sufficient money to remain fed and hydrated—don’t worry about it—but finding a place to sleep or securing transportation may be a bit difficult. For anything beyond that, you’ll need to trade something of value or do a Favor.
	Favors
You can almost always get what you want (or need) in exchange for a Favor. Everyone has something they need done, whether cleaning the barn or guarding a caravan and would prefer a Favor to cash.
	You can always offer a Favor instead of money or goods. Depending on the task you may not need to do it now and, depending on who you’re asking, they may wait to define it, holding it over your head. Favors are a major I.O.U and reneging one, or any agreement, is a big deal.
--------
Tools & Trinkets
Almost any kind of adventuring gear imaginable is found in G&S. Rope, horse feed, rations, etc can be purchased, traded for or otherwise earned. 
Tools are mundane items anyone can buy or make. Trinkets are special, often magical, equipment. They’re not always rare and their power varies but they’re almost always unique with potentially only a few in existence.

Here’s a small list of examples usable during your adventure. As always, freely invent your own!
* Rope, anchors, camping materials
* Rations, cooking supplies, gasoline
* A beast to ride, motorized transport
* Repair tools, smithing materials
* Armor, magical boons
* Just, like, a really cool lighter
* A beast summoning coin
* An unbreakable rope
* A Twist oriented compass
* A truth revealing eyeglass
* A ghost translator
* A runestone that unlocks doors
* A small wooden game-piece that speaks
--------
Beginning Your Journey
--------
Pre-game Prep:
1. The Maestro & Players review Prompt questions establishing some backstory and setting information.
2. The Maestro & Players discuss what long and short term aspects they’re interested in exploring together.
3. The Maestro uses these answers and rulebook to outline a scenario for the Players to adventure through.

Preparing Players:
4. One Player selects the Slinger, the other the Gun.
5. Players print and fill out their respective Character Sheets, writing in their Stats and choosing unique ability.

Preparing the Table:
6. Remove the Jokers, then shuffle and cut a standard 52-card deck.
7. Place the Jokers face-up in the Maestro’s Cache.
8. The Maestro deals each Player a 5-card Hand, then draws their own.
   1. Players place any Pairs face-down in their Cache.
9. The remaining deck sits face-down in the middle of the play area where everyone can reach.
--------
Setup Questions & Prompts
*For the Table
    *The Twist continues to be an omnipresent, slow, world-changing force claiming and transforming whatever it wants. Besides the Night-Beasts, what new and hostile force was introduced in the last decade? How has it changed daily life?
    *In the last few years, the ancient force of Magic has begun reappearing, in what form? Is it common? How is it used? 
    *The Twist recently destroyed the region’s largest city. What was its name? Purpose? What has its destruction changed?
    *What major landmarks remain? What’s their importance? Everyone creates at least one.
    *The Gun is magical, sentient and speaks—how common is this? Can objects besides Guns speak? How do people typically react?
    *People occasionally find simple stone relics: orbs, spheres and pyramids with glowing inlays. What’s their nature? How do they feel? What is their theoretical higher purpose? 

*For the Slinger
    *In the last few months something awoke and now hunts you. What? Have you seen it? Are you aware?
    *The Twist marked you, changing you physically. How are you marked? What new ability does it grant? How must you care for it?
    *You have a Trinket from the home you no longer have. What is it—and what does it do? What does it mean to you?
    *What are you seeking? What do you fear?

*For the Gun
    *You have not always been in this cold steel and gunpowder body. Who—or what—were you previously? What do you remember? How does your body feel?
    *You may be a weapon but you’re more than that. Besides violence, what else are you a tool for?
    *You’re directly connected to Magic’s global, flowing lines and fields. How can only you use them to affect your surroundings?
    *What do you want more than anything else? What do you fear?

*For the Gun & the Slinger
    *Where was the Gun found? How long have you wandered together?
    *What do you two disagree about?
    *How does sharing each other’s thoughts feel?
    *You are each-others’ line to The Other, to a world outside of your own.
	* For the Gun, the Slinger is a lifeline in the physical world.
	* For the Slinger, the Gun is an ethereal magnifying glass.
    *What’s being connected to something so alien like?
--------
Once you’ve finished fleshing out your world, you should collectively discuss your adventure’s focus. Do you wish to defeat The Thing That Hunts? Cure the Twist? Restore the Gun’s original body? These, and more, are all doabe! But G&S isn’t designed for endless play and you should have a tangible end-goal. Feel free to explore the world, tell stories, go on side-quests or even tackle those other suggestions! The end-goal’s point is keeping players on the same page for the game’s focus and, as they progress, to let them know as the end approaches.

If you finish one goal but wish to continue, take a break and return for a “Season 2” adventure! Let time pass, picking up days, weeks or, even years later!
--------
The Player Characters
--------
The Gun
You are trapped in a body other than your own: cold, furious steel of violence and judgement. It is not your home, and you may dislike it, but you occupy it. You’re tied to a Slinger, a wanderer seeking something. Perhaps they’ll help you find your own desires.

Being a Gun is strange. It’s almost isolating, being unable to affect the world normally like when you had a body. You can move things, and speak, but it’s still strange.
As The Gun, you’re an extension of the Slinger’s arm, executor of your joined wills and tied to the world’s remaining magic in a manner that makes you capable of manipulating it for your own ends.
You are in a body deigned to bring death and pain. Will you merge wholly or become something new?

You can interact with the world through the Ethereal Plane of Magic.
You may lack arms and legs but you aren’t completely helpless without the Slinger. Being bound to Magic, you can see the Ethereal Plane of Magic’s leylines and energies that manage to survive here.
Using it you can interact with mundane and supernatural things simply by focusing on your sense and vision. You can talk to inanimate objects, move physical things and gauge peoples’ emotions.

You can also move by Blinking which is not always accurate.
To Blink, flip the deck’s top card: its value determines how many feet you can teleport.

Your connection to Magic
Unlike the Slinger, you are a being wholly connected to the world’s Magical remnants—not the Twist. Your Connection’s nature and what you can do with Magic are shaped by Runes carved into you. A Rune of Tricks and Treason could allow cheating at cards, while a Rune of Protection and Peace could block a bullet mid-air.
Connection is used when working any sort of Magic and is not limited to your Abilities. Anything you’d like to do, provided it’s connected to your Runes, is accomplished spending Connection. Not every action done with Connection requires a check but the Maestro may request one for something more involved or acting unnoticed.

You regain Connection by:
* Resting: Regain ½ Connection
* Spending a Single: Regain its Value

Your Connection’s Strength
While you can work Magic, your powers aren’t limitless—at least not at first. You begin with Limited Magical strength growing stronger as you accumulate advancements.

Here are the levels, along with their capabilities:
* Limited: Basic Magic for very simple things.
   * Unlock a door, create a distraction, overload an electronic device, extinguish a light
* Complex: Complicated Magic of greater scope.
   * Create an effective illusion, operate tech or magic devices, see the unseen.
* Substantial: The strongest, permits larger scale, complex Magic but is more likely to require a Check.
   * Catch a falling building, Blink people out of harm’s way, Blink alongside the Slinger.

You can perform magic beyond your current Connection Strength by spending 2 extra Connection per additional Strength level.

Your spirit provides you a unique pull on Magic.
Choose an Ability (costs 1 Connection).
An Agent of Trickery: You invert the world with your Connection
Pick a random card from the deck, causing chaos. Higher card values are beneficial, lower values turn the chaos against you. If a face card is drawn, put it at the bottom and redraw.
An Agent of Fury - You channel your rage, birthing flame where you choose.
Pick a random card from the deck. The card’s value is a pool you divide between targets and distance (in feet). Targets nominated begin to supernaturally heat. If flammable, they ignite If a face card is drawn, put it at the bottom and redraw.
An Agent of Peace - You surround someone, or something, with your protective magic.
Pick a random card from the deck. Its value is how many seconds the (visible) target is shielded from any damage. If a face card is drawn, put it at the bottom and redraw. 

Character Sheet:
What is your name? ________  What are your pronouns? ________ 
What is your form?________
(Assign 2, 1, and 0 to your stats. You add your Stat value to the value of what you pay for Costs and Checks)
Embodiment of Magic
Sharp, for a Gun
Just a Little Bit Mean
You cannot be fired unless you and the Slinger agree
Connection: ○○○○○○○○○○ || Strength: Limited >  Complex > Substantial
There is a rune on your barrell that shapes your Connection. What is it?
        A Rune of Fury and Fire……………………….. A Rune of Tricks and Treason
        A Rune of Protection and Peace…………….  A Rune of Presence and Prosperity
        A Rune of Guidance and Guile……………… A Rune of Strength and Service
--------
The Slinger[d]
You are a wanderer without a home, seeking something in the Twisted world. At some point, the Twist marked you granting supernatural abilities and strange senses. You must be careful with these abilities, lest you succumb to the Twist’s thrall. 

Being marked, you’re hunted by a strange, horrifying creature the Twist designed. You may not know initially, but The Thing That Hunts is after you and you alone. 
You are torn between the strange and the mundane. Will you give in to unknowable powers before finding answers?

Your Twist-Touched Nature
        You start relatively clean, with manageable Twist marks on your soul but, much as you’d like to maintain that, it’s simply unlikely. You use Twist to protect yourself, utilize your Words and activate special abilities.

* When your Twist track fills you lose yourself to the Twist, never to be freed. You transform into a monster, leaving the Gun for someone else. This is, functionally, permanent death.
* You can remove marked Twist by:
   * Resting removes ½ your Twist.
   * Performing Selfless acts removes 1 Twist.
   * Spending 2 Braids removes 1 Twist.

Being marked by the Twist changed you, physically and psychically—how does your mark manifest?
You have a sense that others don’t. What is it?
         A Sense for Weather, A Sense for Magic, A Sense for Evil

An ancient word is etched into your mind. What is it?
This is a word that reflects, predicts, and aids you that is used by gaining 1 Twist. The use’s form is mutable and determined when used.
A Word of Guidance, A Word of Hiding, A Word of Courage, A Word of Fear, A Word of Rage, A Word of Hope

You can pull on your ties to the Twist to perform strange Magical feats.
Choose one move. Using it adds 1 Twist.
A Lucky One - You call upon the Twist to act as Lady Luck, pushing things just a bit further when things are rough.
        When placing yourself in danger, you may pay with two mismatched Cards from your Hand, their total is a pool of points to improve checks until exhausted or danger passes.
Now You Don’t - You pull the Twist close, gathering it and shifting your form into something unseen.
	Pick a random card from the deck, its value is the number of minutes you can turn invisible for—you still make noise. If you draw a face card, put it at the bottom and redraw.
Desperate Gambit - You make a bet with the Twist. If you win, you’ll gain power.
	You and the Maestro (or other Player) each place a card from your Hand face-down, then reveal them. If yours has a higher value, you succeed at the current check and draw a card. Both spent cards are put in the discard pile.

Character Sheet:
What is your name? ________  What are your pronouns? ________ 
What is your look?________      How has the Twist marked you?_______
(Assign 2, 1, and 0 to your stats. You add your Stat value to the value of what you pay for Costs and Checks)
I've Been Around
Good in a Fight
Light on my Toes

You have a trinket from when you left home. What is it? What does it do? Why is it important to you?
Scrapes: ○○○
Twist: ○○○○○
--------
Character and Player Advancement
Braids are representations of character and player growth, a physical object your experiences created combining Twist, Magic, and knowledge. With focus they can give you strength or material goods by integrating them into your body. Some wear them like a badge of honor, others keep them half-mindedly hooked onto their bags or sell them to Braidkeepers for a pretty chunk of change.
Where do you keep them? What form do they take?

You gain Braids by acting according to your Agendas and Runes, completing noteworthy tasks, doing cool shit and failing checks. 
* You always gain a Braid when failing a check.
* The Maestro may give you Braids as they see fit. (If GM-less, give each-other Braids when characters lean into their Runes and Agendas).
At the end of a session, answer the following together and mark a Braid for each yes:
* Did you barely make it out alive?
* Did your legend grow?
* Did you create avoidable trouble for yourself?
* Did you learn the world’s deeper secrets?

Spend Braids to:
* 5 Braids to:
   * Create a new Trinket or Tool
      * Where’s it from? What does it do? How does it change you?
   * Declare a new fact about the world
* 10 Braids:
   * Give yourself a new stat, starting at 0.
      * How does it reflect you changing? What does it mean?
   * Grant yourself a new Ability, Move, or other Character-specific capability.
      * Either select one from the character’s list or create a new one. 
* 15 Braids:
   * Raise a stat by 1 (maximum 3).
      * How was that aspect strengthened?

The Gun spends Braids to:
Strengthen their Connection. Advancement costs are:
* Limited to Complex: 10 Braids
* Complex to Substantial: 15 Braids
Gain a new Rune.
* The cost is current Runes + 2.

The Slinger spends Braids to:
Gain a new sense.
* The cost is curren Senses + 2.
Raise their Twist Capacity
* The cost is current Capacity + 3.
Remove Twist Marks
* 2 Braids per Mark.
Discover a new Word etched in their mind
* The cost is current Words + 1.
--------
The Maestro’s Toolkit
--------
The Maestro’s Principles
As the Maestro, you play the world, while created with the players, you control its reaction. The world is a harsh, unforgiving place—but you’re not. React appropriately for the shared game’s tone, act on foreshadowing. Be the players’ fan as you create danger, excitement and drama. Fuel this using tension and tough decisions, keeping players on their toes.

You don’t need to come up with everything yourself, however! Treat the game as a conversation and feel free to work with players to make decisions, determine the next fictional step considering questions’ answers you share about the world. By sharing worldly authorship with your players you’ll collaboratively create something unique and memorable—something games like this are uniquely suited for: so lean in!

Peel Back the Curtain
You don’t need to keep secrets from your players. By treating your games like a TV show, sometimes use the “camera” to show things characters can’t see. Instead of narrating what’s happening to them “on screen,” pull back to show what’s going on elsewhere. Show the Twist claiming something as foreshadowing, a bandit leader preparing for war or, even, people they’ve saved celebrating as the duo camps en route to their next destination.
This directing mixes things up, making the world more real—a very powerful tool!

Giving Players New Toys
Character progression shouldn’t only rely on Braids. Freely provide new (mundane or magical) equipment, or even helpful artifacts: tombs can contain ancient artifacts, shops sell trinkets or enemy gear can be scavenged! Review the earlier Tools & Trinkets for examples of unique magical items players can find or make with Braids!
--------
Declaring Difficulty & Cost
Difficulty in GUN&SLINGER ranges 3-12—higher values are harder. The Difficulty is also the Cost.When declaring a Check’s Cost consider context! Here are example Difficulties and Costs:
* Simple (3-4): Convincing a neutral party to offer simple aid, evading quickdraws, knocking down a door.
* Involved (5-8): Maintaining footing on shaky ground, evading hip fire, disarming a simple trap.
* Complicated (9-12): Sneaking past someone actively seeking you, evading aimed attacks, climbing something slippery.
--------
The Cards and You
As the Maestro, you do not make pairs. Cards remain in your Hand, used as Singles to make moves and mix up the current scene. As the Maestro, you’re mainly reacting to the players—detailing NPC or Monster responses to Player actions.

When playing a card from your Hand, be proactive not reactive. You’re introducing something new by shaking things up with novel elements, shifting who has the upper hand or other twists!

Like the Players, you always Go Fish before making your move.
The Card played reflects the new element’s intensity. At your discretion, this translates to a Check Players must overcome or simply heightens a scene’s intensity.

The Gun & Slinger are talking down a bandit with a hostage. The Maestro has a 10 in hand and wants to mix the scene up because it’s sluggish or they’ve got a fun idea. The Maestro plays a quick round of Go Fish before paying their 10, introducing a new character and creating a standoff dictating a Cost of at least 10 to deal with depending Player on response.
--------
Maestro Face Moves
As with Players, Face cards are used differently. For the Maestro, they’re spent as singles with unique moves based on the card’s Suite and Face, as follows:

The move you make:
* Kings: Separate the Gun and Slinger.
* Queens: The Gun & Slinger lose something valuable.
* Jacks:  Someone receives a Major Injury.
* Aces: Immediately raise the stakes

How you do it:
* Hearts: The Environment
* Diamonds: The Twist
* Spades: The Antagonist
* Clubs: Dealer’s Choice

With a King of Hearts, the environment separates the Gun & Slinger.
With an Ace of Clubs, I raise the stakes however I want.
With a Jack of Diamonds, The Twist horribly wounds someone in the scene.
--------
The Thing That Hunts
        Something connected to The Twist hunts the duo. The Thing That Hunts, a constant threat and antagonist, creates pressure and raises the stakes simply by being present in the rules. During setup, you’ll roughly sketch its nature and expand upon it through play.
Almost everything about this entity is unique to your game but it always connects the Slinger, Gun, and Twist somehow. It isn’t strictly the Twist’s agent but it’s always malicious. It’s a threat and should feel like one. 

Here are some examples taken during play:
* A massive, imminent storm chasing the players. It floods them out of hiding and burns their surroundings. Is there something deeper, in the eye of this storm?
* A lone motorcycle rider with a long-gun at their side. The motorcycle screams and rips through the land, relentlessly chasing the Slinger.
* A humanoid titan whose back sprouts with several arachnid-leg appendages. It threw a train from its tracks and shattered ancient trees as it walked.
* The ill-fated previous Gun & Slinger, fused at the arm and claimed by The Twist. It aims to destroy or convert the current Duo.
--------
The Jokers 
The Jokers represent what’s hunting the players and are powerful and strange and dangerous. They are Twist incarnate. When a Joker is played it brings The Thing That Hunts into the current scene. Like Face Cards, Jokers are used as singles—The Thing That Hunts can appear twice per session. The Thing That Hunts’s nature and presentation are mutable but it’s always an imminent threat and a source of concern, if not fear.

Think of Jokers as a pacing tool—they serve as an obvious, omnipresent threat and fantastic source of tension. By no means are you required to use them every session; instead, bring “the big monster” in for impactful or interesting moments. At times, I’ve found it’s good to use one Joker to foreshadow instead of directly bringing the threat into a scene. For example, a storm builds on the horizon, growing ever closer, playing the second Joker when it bears down on top of them.

The Thing That Hunts is like a TV Show’s Big Bad Threat: if it shows up every episode, it’s increasingly harder to make the major threat actually mean anything to the audience.

It’s another tool—and a very strong one at that—so use it mindfully! 
--------
Scenarios & Starting Points
--------
The Tracks through Bloombog Forest
The town’s train takes a round trip to the other side of Bloombog Forest and you must catch the next ride. Thing is, it’s full—but the mercenary train guard offers you a deal: help and they’ll take you. You’ll be outside the train with the four of them and warding off anything making the trip more difficult. “We do this all the time,” the largest says, “nothing but Spider-Dogs ever really attacks.”

You agree, but your stomach has a sinking feeling as you take your position up top while the train lurches into gear, slowly gaining speed making the multi-mile journey through the forest of hundred-foot-tall trees shrouding who-knows-what from the sun.

Before starting, answer the following:
* What are the 4 Mercenaries’ names? What do they wield?
* How long before something goes wrong?
* Aside from being attacked by a swarm, what else causes trouble?
* What, other than passengers, is risked should the train not make its destination?
* How long is the journey?
* What’s the weather entering Bloombog Forest?

--------
The Bunker in Gods’ Rest
Gods’ Rest, a mile-wide, perfectly flat circle of obsidian ground to the south is many stories’ source. All who’ve tried to enter the central shed door failed—repelled by magic or fear. Any adventurer hearing of it finds themselves pulled to it—answering untold technology and artifacts’ irresistible call. You’re one of the latest to find yourself at the unbreakable, black stone circle’s edge. You’re going to be the first to enter and learn the secrets of God’s Rest.

Before starting, answer the following:
* What keeps people from entering?
* How does approaching feel?
* What kind of secrets are likely found a few floors down in the research labs?
* What sort of Twist-touched horrors are found inside?
* What in here will aid others?
* What is here that will aid yourselves?

--------
The Ghosts of Castle Cybernectrum
In the plains and scarred lands lies a—remarkably, surprisingly—intact castle. Which, in these times, simply means “noticeably less-destroyed.” This castle, Cybernectrum, houses dozens of Ghosts. Historically the Castle Ghosts were fairly friendly with neighboring townships, but when a Twistkeeper took up residence and began experimenting on the local Twist and Magic, the Ghosts began raging and transforming.

The closest village’s people sent you to investigate and, arriving, you realized the Ghosts are being horrifically affected—likely by the Keeper’s experiments. Can you stop their latest massive experiment, aiding the Ghosts before it’s too late?

Before starting, answer the following:
* Is this the Duo’s first time dealing with Ghosts?
* What’s the Keeper’s latest experiment’s hypothesis?
* How is the local area affected?
* What happens if the Duo fails?
* What additional threats are present?
* What kind of deal did the Keeper and Twist strike?

--------
A Haunted Task
The Ghosts residing in town are more than happy to provide shelter and directions but, in exchange, they need help with a few totally normal, absolutely regular chores. There is nothing about them that is, in any way, strange or part of an unknowable truth.

They’re all completely normal things like sweeping floors, delivering mail, feeding the Elder-Cat, and maintaining the seals keeping The Beyond-Sparks at bay. It might be worth noting, though, that the seals haven’t been maintained since the last non-ghost arrived over a decade ago and signs have started showing...

Before starting, answer the following:
* Is this the Duo’s first time dealing with Ghosts?
* What’s the town’s name? The Elder-Cat’s?
* What’s it like being in a (literal) Ghost town?
* How are these Ghosts different?
* What’s the town’s secret problem? 
* What happens if the seals break? What horrors made themselves known in the past year’s failed maintenance?

--------
Options & Expansions:
Playing G&S in other settings and other optional rules

Letting Gun Shapeshift
You know what’s cooler than a magical gun? A magical gun that shapeshifts into a sword, key or a different gun. At character creation, if everyone is interested in this mechanic, the Gun chooses a second form they can shift to by spending 2 Connection.
Each additional form costs 10 Braids.
Their abilities all work, while a Melee weapon they can still fire an energy blast as in their gun form.

Maestro-less play
        If you’d like to play 2 Player G&S without the Maestro, make the following changes:
* When making a Check, a player flips the Deck’s top 3 cards. The other selects one setting the Check’s Difficulty.
* If this reveals a Face Card it must be chosen and players act as if the Maestro played it. Collaboratively determine what it means, changing the scene’s course accordingly!
[a]This should be the page The Twist section starts
[b]BASIC MOVES PAGE
[c]Spread should be ART ON LEFT PAGE, this sub-section on right
[d]Spread should be SLINGER ART LEFT PAGE, This sub-section on the right
[e]Will: You've been able to fit the moves off to the side like in the Gun sheet thumbnail, so just do that here instead of having a spot to write 'em!
[f]TOOLS & TRINKETS PAGE