Some folks over at the Prismatic Wasteland Discord server decided to do a Secret Santa, but rather than physical gifts, we followed Explorers Design’s gift guide and played, wrote about, or designed supplements for one of our Santee’s published works. I pulled the Prismatic Wasteland himself.

When deciding what to write about, it seemed a little easy to just review Barkeep on the Borderlands, so I decided to do exactly that! But I also did something for the Boot Hill blog post, so that’s also here.

Barkeep on the Borderlands Review

Barkeep on the Borderlands is a barhopping, fantasy adventure amidst Mardi Gras-like festivities, including 20 detailed pubs and dynamic drinking rules.

What Drew My Interest?¹

I was really intrigued at first by the blog post about a pubcrawling procedure, which is probably what originally led me to getting the book. Procedure Perverts > Rules Lawyers, am I right? Anyway that really hooked me. Skullboy’s cover art is also sick. All the art is sick.

What Was the First Thing I Noticed?

The pubcrawling procedure felt so novel, and so did the sobriety die, a very clever use of the usage die mechanic². These mechanics looked like they would work really well together, so I was excited to use them.

Could I Easily Run This at the Table?

I could and I did! I easily slotted this into my 5e game. As a side note, I was delighted by how quickly my players understood usage dice. I had them play a different game where they found a spray bottle and one of them suggested using usage dice instead of “counting sprays”.

Because the adventure is basically a scavenger hunt, they were less likely to just fight everything they saw and resolved things with their words and the power of dance. This helped with not having to run so many combats (since we were doing 5e) and pull up or improvise stat blocks. I don’t think they actually fought anything at all.

From a player recap:

We get the REDACTED INGREDIENT after several rounds of karaoke and some spider climbing. Helewynn dances with a fop that’s giving “Eyes Wide Shut” meets the steerage dance scene from Titanic.

Do the Ideas Feel Exciting, Novel, or Well-Executed?

This being a compilation of many different creators, it was impressive that it felt so cohesive and had a clear vision that came together. The easter eggs and references that played off each other were wonderfully done.

What Was My Favorite Part?

The absolute chaos that can occur from the blackout rules. The surprise on everyone’s faces when they realized two of the characters (Buck and Helewynn) are just gone until the next morning because they left the others.

From a player recap:

In the morning, Blikz and Bartok find Helewynn swimming after ducks in river. Hungover Helewynn feasts³…, and we learn the Heir has put out Wanted posters for Helewynn and Buck that say “shoot on sight.”

They managed to save the lord and were knighted. Now they own a piece of land on the Marches and have made some bargains with the marauders on the frontier. We’ll see how that goes.

Which Part Needs Work?

For me, it may have been helpful to have some kind of index or something for the various characters and items that connect across the different pubs. Without it though, it does leave room to be delighted by the surprises that you come across when running the game.

Stuff Worth Stealing

The sobriety die and pubcrawling mechanic can easily be slotted into any game to add some more dimensions to carousing.

Conclusion

Anyway, you don’t need me to tell you to pick this game up, but I will anyway. Easily one of the best and (just as importantly) most versatile adventures to use for your games. Find it here.

Cowboy Coda

OK, here’s something completely different. I was working on a game based on Prismatic Wasteland’s Boot Hill blog post, and I haven’t tried it out yet, but here is the character creation:

Goal⁴

You need 5,000 dollars. Roll d66:

1. You owe money to ruthless creditors

1. Tax collectors for back taxes
2. The Warlocks of the Red Dust for your resurrection
3. Crookhollow Creek Speculators for a gold rush investment gone wrong
4. CanCare Medica for a treatment you underwent
5. The White Hand for an extortionate loan you took out and promptly lost or squandered
6. Lucky Stars Casino after a bad night of gambling

2. You need money to finance an endeavor

1. Emigration (arranged by the Copperhead gang) to another country where they have not heard of your crimes
2. Surgery for your long-term fatal illness by CanCare Medica
3. Healing for your fatal curse by the Warlocks of the Red Dust
4. College fund for your eldest child, estranged
5. Investment in the Cordillera Blanca Silver Mining Company
6. Buying back your family’s land

3. You want to go legit and start a business that no one else believes in

1. Acting company
2. Circus troupe
3. Orphanage
4. Cafe
5. Publishing company
6. Haberdasher / Milliner

4. You’re being extorted by someone who knows your crimes

1. They framed you for it
2. They are a corrupt government official
3. They are a well-protected witness
4. They are an influential member of the Church of the Exalted Doom Manifest (Doomers)
5. They are your ex-partner who betrayed you
6. They contracted you for the job and are disappointed at your failure or sloppy methods

5. You want to buy or build a home

1. Cattle ranch
2. Modest farm
3. Townhouse
4. Mansion
5. Hermitage
6. Houseboat

6. You promised to help someone

1. Your sibling. They have been kidnapped and are being held for ransom
2. Your ex-spouse. They have mounting medical debts
3. Your parent. They have a chronic condition that requires expensive medicine
4. Your very young children. You don’t want them to end up like you
5. Your best friend. They owe money to the wrong people. Roll for their creditors above
6. Your family. Separated by long distance, they need money to rejoin you and start a new life

Traits

Roll every die (d4, d6, d8, d100, d12, d20) for your traits.

1. d4 hat
2. d6 overclothes
3. d8 reputation
4. d100 trinket
5. d12 bounty
6. d20 connection to the buckaroo on your left

d4 Hat

1. Black
2. White
3. Brown
4. Tan

d6 Overclothes

1. Duster
2. Denim Jacket
3. Leather Jacket
4. Poncho
5. Hide
6. Animal Skin Vest

This is not added to your inventory. You can also be assumed to own footwear, gloves, and something to hide your face. Choose what those are or bring them up on the spot when necessary in the fiction.

Any additional outfit not worn takes up 2 slots (bulky) and may consist of shirts, shoes, gloves, bandannas, hats, and so on.

d8 Reputation

1. Ambitious
2. Boor
3. Dangerous
4. Charismatic
5. Honest
6. Loafer
7. Oddball
8. Respected

d100 Trinket

1. Novelty Snuffbox (Shaped like an alligator, filled with the ashes of a loved one)
2. Three ID booklets (Same picture, different names)
3. Fake Ruby Necklace (Stolen from someone you accidentally killed)
4. Bottle Opener (Made from the metal of a decommissioned steamship you once lived on)
5. Cigar, Uncut (Gifted by your best friend before they disappeared the night before their wedding)
6. Bandana (Purchased at a theme park you visited as a child, decorated with a cartoon)
7. Dog Tags (Taken off the first person who died in your arms)
8. Religious Book (Family heirloom, hollowed out)
9. Train Ticket (For a trip never taken to visit someone you decided not to marry)
10. Two Glass Cups (Decorated with a strawberry print, replacements for your ex-roommate’s glasses which you broke)
11. Loose Papers (Covered in sketches and notes of an cryptid you once saw at a distance)
12. Spool of Thread (Purchased to repair a coat the buttons of which always go missing)
13. Fountain Pen (Found in the jacket pocket of a long dead traveler)
14. Ring (From a happy marriage, given willingly)
15. Packet of Seeds (Your favorite fruit)
16. Rusted Horseshoes (From a horse long dead)
17. Shot Glass (From a bar that no longer exists)
18. Conch Shell (From a beach that no longer exists)
19. Daguerrotype (Photo from your last vacation)
20. Pocket Watch (Stolen from a parent)
21. Penny Dreadful Comic (Purchased long ago with your sibling who you’ve lost touch with)
22. Tickets to a Circus (Past date, you meant to go to it with your parent)
23. Candle (Burned-down)
24. Dried Flowers (Preserved in resin)
25. Gator Skull (Of the gator who killed your mentor)
26. Antique Coin (From a nation-state that no longer exists)
27. Ocarina (Poorly-made, permanently out of tune)
28. Academic Achievement Medal
29. Bookmark (Made of bamboo)
30. Deck of Divination Cards (Always pulls the Tower when you draw for yourself)
31. Figurine of a God (Long forgotten)
32. A Single Chess Piece (From a game you lost)
33. Pack of Gum (Discontinued)
34. Pack of Cigarettes (Lucky one sticking out)
35. Playing Cards (Trick deck)
36. Lock of Hair (From a missing loved one)
37. Jar of Teeth (Yours, mostly)
38. Lucky Rabbit Foot
39. Marble (Taken from a kid you bullied when you were young)
40. Hand mirror (Heirloom)
41. Empty glass bottle (From the bar you used to go to with your mentor)
42. Prism (Refracts rainbows from light, but it’s missing blue)
43. Dice Set (Loaded)
44. Harmonica (Borrowed from a sibling who stopped playing)
45. Bundle of Incense (Pungent)
46. Taxidermied Squirrel (Gifted by a former friend, now enemy)
47. Friendship Bracelet (From a friend whose face you’ve long since forgotten)
48. Ripped Bridle (From your first horse)
49. Restaurant Reward Card (One more punch until you get a free sandwich)
50. Prayer Book with a Heretical Working Scrawled Inside
51. Banjo (Sized for a child, but still playable)
52. Chewing Tobacco (You promised to quit)
53. Binoculars (Found in an abandoned caravan)
54. Sheriff’s Badge (Caked in blood, belonged to a parent)
55. Rancher’s Gloves (Worn on the last honest job you had)
56. Single Glove (Embroidered or stamped with a distinctive mark, given by a lover as they disappeared from your life)
57. Comb (Used to brush your child’s hair)
58. Treasure Map (Stolen off a pair of corpses who died entwined in a struggle)
59. Pomade (Purchased for when you had to attend a fancy party)
60. Perfume (Purchased for when you had to attend a fancy date)
61. Shaving Kit (Stolen secretly from a barbershop)
62. Fishing Rod (Found)
63. Herbalist Kit (Assembled over years, includes random herbs)
64. Weeping Statuette (Weeps crystals every full moon)
65. Golden Disc (Etched with an arcane symbol you’ve not been able to interpret)
66. Pouch of Sand (Recovered from a graveyard)
67. Golden Spurs (Cherished)
68. Magnifying Glass (Formerly paired with an encyclopedia)
69. Daguerrotype (Photo of a cryptid, blurry)
70. Daguerrotype (Photo of a ghost, blurry)
71. Brass knuckles (Bloodied)
72. Bundle of Dead Letters (Found in an overturned postal wagon)
73. Mortar and Pestle (Owned by a mentor)
74. Wolfsbane
75. String of Garlic
76. Oversized Crucifix (Silver, valuable, gifted by a kind monastic who gave you refuge)
77. Teapot
78. Flowers Pressed in a Book (Found in the empty home of an elderly person who once gave you refuge)
79. Portable Camera with Flash Powder (You stole it from the inventor)
80. Heavy Steel Orb (Found in a crater)
81. Quilt Square (Torn off your cousin’s quilt)
82. Corn Cob Pipe (Hand-made by you)
83. Egg Timer (Shaped like a big)
84. Incandescent Light Bulb
85. Potted Cactus (Name it. It is your faithful companion)
86. Security Blanket
87. Bundle of Pencils
88. Jar of Pickled Limes
89. Jar of Face Paint
90. Pair of Bunny Slippers
91. Empty Picture Frame (Shattered, no picture, inscription to you from a loved one written inside)
92. Silver Spoon (Made for an infant)
93. Toy Soldier
94. Etiquette Manual (Filled with your notes)
95. Scorched Doorknob (Only remaining piece of your previous home, destroyed in a fire)
96. Cameo (White on pink)
97. Case of Buttons (Different sizes)
98. Diary (Written in a foreign language you don’t recognize)
99. Mummified Hand (In a pine box, stolen from an abbey)
100. Dragon Scale (Iridescent)

d12 Bounty

Refer to the d100 result above. Make note of the resulting number. This is your starting bounty price. Modify it with the table below:

There’s a bounty on your head. Whether you did the crime or whether it was justified is up to you.

d20 Connection to the Character on my Left

1. Blood relation
2. In-law
3. Childhood friends
4. Carousing / drinking buddies
5. Colleagues / Fellow enthusiasts
6. Retrieved something for me I wanted
7. Stopped me from doing something foolish
8. Helped me escape
9. Saved my life
10. Helped me save face
11. Kept a secret for me
12. I owe them
13. Defended a friend of mine
14. We fought alongside each other
15. I admire them for their skills
16. Caught me committing a crime
17. Former rivals
18. We fought on opposite sides of a conflict
19. Former customer
20. I lost a bet to them

Here are some of my favorite Prismatic Wasteland posts:

• Apolitical RPGs Do Not Exist. Probably the first post that I saw. “Don’t Wake Daddy is anti-authoritarian.”
• Of Mysteries, Monsters and Mosquitillos. A dig deep into the murky past of D&D and a forgotten monster rediscovered.
• Shopping, Listing, Picking and Gambling. Ways to get starting load-outs. I’m a sucker for a method that makes you roll every die (see above).
• Encounter Checklist. Very useful!
• The XP Bowl and XP Bubbles. Novel way to mark XP and advance.
• The Keep on the Borderlands is Full of Lies.
• Overloading the Damage Die. Combining to-hit with damage rolls. Pretty fun.