Bullets & Bourbon: A Few Updates More

Art by HodagRPG

It’s been a slower week for the Bullets & Bourbon: Reloaded campaign fundraising-wise, but I am happy to report that as of Monday, February 13th we are at $721.97, which gets us nearly three-quarters of the way there. I’m not exactly sure where the 97 cents came from, but they say don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and I don’t intend to (a horse bit me once as a child and it’s not an experience I intend on recreating in my adult life).

As far as the work on my end is concerned: the editing is complete and all that remains to finalize is one last piece of artwork, which I’m really looking forward to seeing and including in the game. Hopefully that will be ready by the end of the week and I can get the document off to the printers and begin organizing everything for distribution.

The super secret “stretch goal” I alluded to last week has come to fruition! HodagRPG created the most excellent illustration you see on the right, which will serve as the front of a bookmark that will be coming with each printed copy of Bullets & Bourbon: Reloaded.

The game was originally conceived as a drinking game, but as I worked on newer versions the booze-based rules were phased out. I recreated them for this version of the ruleset and will be including them on the backs of the bookmarks. If you decide to use them, just be responsible and don’t climb back on that horse until you’ve sobered up!

It was also brought to my attention by a dear friend that Bullets & Bourbon was mentioned in a Gizmodo article! I didn’t expect my dinky little game to actually get a mention in a legit publication, but here we are! Also that article brings attention to a lot of cool-looking projects, so take a few minutes and check it out!

The Jefferson County Telegraph, Vol. 2

Zine Month 2023 is going strong and I’ve run into a few more projects that have caught my eye. As with last week I wanted to share them and do what I can to give them a little signal boost. The games are listed in no particular order and their titles double as links to their crowdfunding pages.

1- Horse and Rider by Edith Firkin

The creator of a cowboy game promoting a game about riding horses? Who would have thought? Thematic similarities aside, what really drew my attention to Horse and Rider is that it’s a two-player game. While my girlfriend has dabbled in TTRPGs in the past, the mechanical complexity of a lot of games and the fact that there’s often a table of 5-6 people all talking at the same time has kept her from exploring the hobby more fully. A two-person game would allow us to play together, eliminating a lot of those barriers.

Horse and Rider will be funding for another three weeks. Check it out on Crowdfundr.

2- Swamp Troll Witch(es) by Luke Simonds

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is one of my favorite video games of all time and as I was reading through the description of Swamp Troll Witch(es) I was reminded of the twin sisters who brew potions in Woodfall Swamp. It also makes me think of Nanny Ogg from the ever-excellent Discworld series, and you can’t go wrong with that! The idea of playing this game as either a solo journaling adventure (something I haven’t done very much in my gaming “career”) or as a group game is very interesting to me - I like the flexibility. And finally the artwork on the game’s page is just fantastic!

Swamp Troll Witch(es) will be funding for another 17 days. Check it out on Crowdfundr.

3- Echoes in My Hull by Matthew Woodyard

Years ago I bought a tarot deck for my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. Why? Because no epic adventure is complete without the inclusion of a Deck of Many Things! Or so I thought. Anyway, this year I’ll finally have another use for my deck thanks to Matthew Woodyard’s Echoes in My Hull. This science-fiction journaling game utilizes a tarot deck, providing players with a ton of potential scenarios to react to and record. Again, I’m hardly a journaling/solo play expert, but I did have a lot of fun playing Thousand Year Old Vampire and I’m expecting to enjoy this game as well. Oh and did I mention that you’re the ship?

Echoes in My Hull is already funded, but will be collecting money for another 9 days. Check it out on Crowdfundr.

4- Necro Mech Synthesis! by Thick Thief Games

Honestly I only had to see the artwork to be sucked into the world presented by this game. Necro Mech Synthesis is just plain weird, but in a way that I really like. Ghost-possessed bone mechs fighting non-Euclidean angels? Sign me up! If you’re a fan of Lancer definitely give this game a look - it’s clear that Lancer was an inspiration in not just thematic content, but mechanics as well.

Necro Mech Synthesis will be funding for another two weeks. Check it out on Crowdfundr.

5- Hive of the Crawling Creeps by Friendly Ghost

Looking for gross little… bugs? Monsters? Abominations unto God? Look no further! Friendly Ghost’s Hive of the Crawling Creeps provides you with a repository of nasty little critters that you can plug and play into just about any game. It’s system neutral, so you’re free to plop these little Cronenbergian freaks in whatever games you’ve got going on. I’ve got an idea for a Weird West game that could use a bunch of uncomfortable looking bug monsters already!

Hive of the Crawling Creeps is already halfway to its goal. Check it out on itch.io.