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Final Showdowns & Shootouts
Adventure published!
Contest concludes with Rob Edwards' Judge, Jury & Executioner
July 13, 2010
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At long last, and with great jubilation, Hawgleg Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of the final winning entry in its Showdowns & Shootouts Adventure Writing Contest.
The final winning entry is "Judge, Jury & Executioner" by Rob Edwards. In this exciting adventure for use with the Gutshot rules system, two bounty hunters and a sheriff search a small town for the identity of an elusive gunslinger known as The Executioner.
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In addition to having the potential for bloody combat, this scenario
also features a new search/investigation mechanic and random NPC
actions that allow this to be played as a solo game.
As with all other adventures selected in this contest, it is available as a free PDF download from Hawgleg's Website.
"We're very excited to finally bring this contest to a close," said Gutshot co-creator Mike Mitchell. "It seems like it was the longest 'year-long' contest on record, and in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some people despaired that we would eve finish it. But, we did."
A Rough Couple of YearsThe Showdowns & Shootouts contest was announced in January 2007. It was originally intended to run for one year, and at first it seemed like that would be the case. The first adventure, "Ambush at Coyote Canyon" by Al Theobald, was published in April 2007. The second adventure was published in May, and the third in July.
"For a while, it looked like we were on track," Mitchell said. "But it quickly became apparent that this would take longer than we anticipated."
The contest published six adventures in the 2007, and then other matters really began to affect publication in 2008. The most devastating was Hurricane Ike, which hit in September of 2008. The hurricane caused significant damage to Mitchell's home in Houston, Texas, and the fallout had long reaching effects.
Coupled with other distractions, new projects and issues, the contest fell further behind schedule. Only four adventures were published in 2008. The last two were then significantly delayed.
"Honestly, there's no good excuse for the delays involved in the last three adventures," Mitchell said. "These were a lot of work to put out, and we just got sidetracked with other things and allowed the publication dates to keep slipping."
Production manager Paul Mauer agrees, but adds that another factor was also in play.
"To be fair to Mike, the last three adventures are really big and impressive," Paul said. "The 10th adventure includes a giant underground map pack. The 11th includes some really cool river tiles. And the last one includes a brand-new system so you can play this as a solo game. There is a lot of stuff in these games."
Other new material released in the course of the game includes new weapons, new vehicles, and a wealth of NPCs and supplements. All released free as downloadable PDFs.
"We're very proud of the high levels of quality material that came out of this contest," said Gutshot co-creator Mike Murphy. "Every single adventure is a rock solid and well crafted. That was one thing we really wanted to do with this contest. We wanted everything we published to be fully fleshed out and not just a sketchy one-sheet idea. In that regard, we all knocked this one out of the park."
Fun and excitingThe 12 adventures were selected from almost 50 submissions of varying length and complexity.
"There were so many good ideas to choose from, that it was actually hard to pick out what we thought was the best of the best," Murphy said. "Honestly, we could have published 30 or more adventures from the material that was submitted."
Once the selections were made, the Gutshot Posse had to massage the text and material so that it could be published.
"Some of the adventures were almost completely finished and ready to run," Mitchell said. "They just needed to be modified to fit into our standard format. Others were short ideas that needed to be fleshed out with more details."
Some of the new details included new weapons, new ammunition, and new vehicles (including a river raft and a donkey cart).
"In all cases, though, we selected adventures that would be easy to run in regards to figures and terrain, and most of all, that we thought would have a wide appeal and be lots of fun to play," Mitchell said.
And the Winners are...The final step of the contest will be for the winners to be determined and the prizes to be selected.
"We have already had a short talk about which ones we like best," Paul said. "Next we will vote and select the Grand Prize Winner."
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Publication History
April 26, 2007
Ambush at Coyote Canyon!
Al Theobald
May 25, 2007
Bullets for Breakfast!
Ross Edwards
July 20, 2007
1,000 Horses for Helen!
Carmen Cerra
Aug. 15, 2007
Hurrahin' the Sky Pilot!
Dan Hash
Oct. 4, 2007
Holed Up!
Lance Gamble
Oct. 14, 2007
Stand-Off at Muckhole!
Richard Nelson
Jan. 8, 2008
The Great Drygulch Bank Robbery!
Tom Reed
Feb. 25, 2008
A Flash of Lightning from a Clear Sky!
Andrew Collins
June 8, 2008
Klaus Needs a Holiday
Carmen Cerra
Nov. 12, 2008
I Hit a Vein!
Dion Duran
May 4, 2009
White Water, Bloody Boulders!
Tom Reed
July 13, 2010
Judge, Jury & Executioner!
Rob Edwards
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After the top honors have been awarded, voting will open to the general public to select the Jury's Prize. Then two random drawings will be held to select the final prizes, selected from all contest entries and everyone who voted in the Juror's round.
"I've already started coding the system we will use to track votes," Mitchell said. "It should just take a few weeks to get it online. No. Really, this time I mean it. Just a few weeks."
Details about the voting process will be forthcoming, Mitchell said.
| Contest sponsors include (in alphabetical order): |
| Arnica, Montana Real Estate |
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| Knuckleduster |
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| Scale Creep Miniatures |
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| Whitewash City / Hotz Game Mats |
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Click on the sponsor's logo to visit their Website. |
Things I Learned from Watching Westerns
List 2
- Good guys wear white hats are good guys and bad guys wear black hats.
Unless of course it's a Spaghetti Western or modern, in which case anything goes.
- Pistols are deadly accurate at 150 yards, but can't hit a barn door at 5 yards.
This is particularly true if the bad guy's nameless goons are doing the shooting.
- Always wear a badge or carry a bible in an inside pocket, as they will stop bullets better than +1 armor.
This also works with watches and lockets, as long as they were given to you by a parent or sweetie.
- Only wrap the reins around a hitching rail once.
Yeah, yer horse won't wander off, especially if yuh kiss him goodnight on a regular basis.
- All laundry is done by chinese immigrants.
And they usually do a danged good job of it, too.
- Bad guys can only hit good guys in the arm or leg.
Unless you're a supporting character or have a brother to avenge you. If you've got a gunslinging brother, you're as good as dead.
- When you draw Aces and Eights in a poker hand, just fold and run (don't walk) away.
Them cards is just bad luck, especially if yuh got yer back to the door. C'mon Bill, what were yuh thinking?
- If a man doesn't have a gun but appears awfully confident when faced with a bad guy then the bad guy is about to be knifed.
Especially if he's got long sleeves or seems to be putting his hands too close to the back of his neck.
- Killing the Duke is not a good career move.
That is, of course, assuming you're dumb enough to even try it.
- A woman can fit an entire beauty salon in the back of a wagon.
Frontier women were resourceful-especially when it came to applying blush, eye shadow, lipstick, perfectly coiffed hair and nails on the open trail or out in the middle of nowhere.
- Even in the middle of the desert (or Monument Valley) you can always find plenty of trees to chop down to make a log cabin or a palisade around your fort.
And axes and saws, too, for that matter.
- Chuck wagons magically refill whiskey flasks every night.
That's why Cookie never seems to run out, now matter how many weeks the trail drive spends between towns.
- Colts should not be aimed (you´re sure to miss). Just shoot from the hip.
That always worked for the Duke... of course, you're not the Duke, are you, pilgrim?
- Forget water. Whiskey is the best way to slake your thirst.
A little rotgut is much more satisfying than a nice sip of cool water. Your horses, of course, prefer Beer.
- In a barfight, it´s impolite to throw someone on the floor. Drop him on a table instead to break his fall.
He'll thank yuh for it in the morning.
The saddle horn is made of the strongest stuff known to man.
You can tie a rope to it and easily yank out iron bars or solid timber buildings. - Percussion 'cap and ball' revolvers never existed.
The Colt .45 and Winchester '73 were manufactured, sold and in widespread use much earlier than historians would have us believe – probably from about the time of the Alamo or the Seminole war.
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I got me a head fulla learning over the years. From watching the Duke outdraw the badguys to watching them Maverick boys pull one outrageous con after another, I've surely been thoroughly schooled.
Of course, not everything I learned is exactly... shall we say, accurate? Here's another saddlebag fulla legends and lore picked up from a passel of Western movies and Oat Operas.
I want to extend a heap'o thanks and gratitude to muh buddies over at www.theminiaturespage.com for their assistance with this list. In particular, I wanna give a virtual tip o' the hat to these gents:
- FreddBloggs
- EagleSixFive
- vtsaogames
- Gamer With No Name
- Grelber
- buckTurgidson
- Farstar
- JammerMan
- ghostdog
- Pijlie
- arthur1815
- Mike Mitchell
11-1-2009
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