First Impressions
Okay, I’ve been anxiously awaiting this game to hit my door and it’s been here for a little bit. I actually held off on reading the PDF until I had a copy of this secured and, well, everyone here knows I love me some Cairn and with We Deal In Lead, that really hasn’t changed at all.
We Deal In Lead by Colin Le Sueur and it’s essentially Stephen King’s The Dark Tower in RPG form but without trademarked or copyrighted works. Now you can be a Gunslinger in Roland Deschain’s Order. I recommend reading the books or listening to the audio versions to get a feel for what the game is like.
I’m going to get into the Good, The Bad & The Ugly with this one but full disclosure, I bought the game myself so this is a paid-for review…ish. This won’t be a full review yet, but mostly just first impressions.
The Good:
You have no idea how excited I was being a fan of the series by King. I’ve always thought there should be an RPG around this and here it was, Colin Le Sueur delivered and delivered in fine style. There’s enough in this book that’s familiar in reference to me and the mixture of Weird West and Fantasy is on point, it’s a nice balance and, being based in Cairn’s rules, it’s just enough rules to give you a framework while allowing the GM (Warden) to house rule it where it needs to be. So far, I’ve only found one thing I need to house rule and that’s the Oilskin Bag. Personally, I recommend loading that with the things that wouldn’t really take up space in your inventory anyway, that way you can treat it as carrying extras in one slot.
There’s also an original approach based in a few facts about the Old West. The aforementioned oilskin bag is essentially a Cowboy War Bag and, if you’re just not sure what that is, this article will give you the education you need. Another is the use of ammunition as currency. In case you hadn’t noticed We Deal In Lead is not just a title. In fact, the “shots” you buy at your local bar come from these types of days in the Old West when someone would walk into a bar and purchase a small drink for one round of ammo. This is why it’s known as a shot.
Not only is ammunition currency but it’s also something of use. While gold pieces are rare, they’re not the preferred currency but you also need them to survive. There’s also a solo-play aspect to the game meaning you can play this game yourself before deciding whether or not to present it to your group. If your group is already playing Cairn, then much of this will be familiar territory and, with a jam full of 12 different games, supplements and adventures, many of them free, you can also use these to easily whet the palettes of your players and find they’ll just get right into the game while seeing that there are no worlds that you can’t inhabit. In fact, the game’s tag line is a line straight out of the series by King, “There are other worlds than these.”
Combat is fast-paced and has to be thought through. It’s not wise to always draw down when you can de-escalate and possibly score in better ways. In fact, many actions have to be thought through. Delving into a cave or taking on multiple opponents can be rough on your character if you’re not careful.
Magic is also untrusted and dangerous in this game, lending more to the Sword & Sorcery genre…or would that be Gun & Boot genre? Point is, it’s fantasy, yes but it stays true to the source material which is a colossal plus for me.
The Biggest Good and my absolute favorite thing about this game, aside from it’s setting, lite rules and the ability to play a gunslinger that can literally go anywhere in worlds filled with danger, there’s a soundtrack! I’m not kidding, you buy this game and you will get a really awesome soundtrack by Of Sleeping Bears called Watch & Warrant.
The Bad:
Okay, let’s get this out of the way.
Yep, this is a thing in the book and, while I see this and skip it, this is really all there is to it. Bad, yes because, as the Warden, I will decide what to include and not in my game. It’s up to the player to determine whether or not the table is right for them. I’m in my mid-40s and everyone at my table are adults. We have yet to have need of parenting and since I’m no one’s parent at the table, Player Discretion Is Advised. This blurb gets skipped and thankfully, that’s all it is.
I listed this under “The Bad” but before I leave it to you to figure out whether or not these things are a dealbreaker for you, understand that these wheelchairs are canon thanks largely to the character Susannah Dean who is a double-amputee and thus, disabled. King’s series handles this pretty well because, though she can’t walk, Susannah does pull some moments of sheer badassery. You are not required to include a wheelchair or a disabled character in the game but the option is there. Again, Player Discretion Advised.
This is my character that I rolled up specifically for the game. I retconned a bit of Morris’ end in Dracula and played off the statements that he seemed like a rough man who “hadn’t lived as he should” thus making him officially from The Drifted World, having found himself in our own world and trying to match the character I’m playing as much to the source as I could but that’s not really what this is all about. Yes, I put (gun/slinger) as his pronouns.
Anyone who knows me knows good and well that this pronoun nonsense does not appeal to me in the least and, if it’s one of those things that just must must must be included, expect straight up defiance to malicious compliance. Ironically, the first names and surnames page, I wouldn’t recommend rolling that randomly as all male and female names are mixed together. Bypass the die on this one and just pick a name or make one up.
The Ugly:
So far, there are really only two things that I found to be a bit annoying. If you look at the equipment and items section, there are no prices at all. This means you’re going to be bartering and haggling with your Warden as a player and, as a Warden, expect this to bog down the narrative-first game play. The simplest way around this is to copy the table and then make up a solid list of prices so that your game won’t be slowed to a session where nothing but shopping takes place. When I say there are no prices, I’m talking zero. Wanna know how much it costs to upgrade your weapon? Your Warden is going to have to make that up on the fly. Want to know how much a mule or horse costs? Same thing. Prices will be super inconsistent unless your Warden is taking extensive and clear notes. Granted, Wardens should be doing that anyway but it seems like a lot more work on the part of the Warden when it shouldn’t be. Bartering and haggling can still happen but having a place from which to start would greatly help.
The final thing is the chapter order. The Solo rules come up first but, before the tools for solo play come up, the adventure Swampwater Shootout, which is not a solo adventure, is stuck between The Solo Rules and The Excursion Generation Tables. That leads to a lot of confusion and the reason I hit an absolute wall on my part thinking that Swampwater Shootout was the solo mission. I’ve also made the colossal error of making the preamble to Quincey’s adventure linked to that adventure. I’ll be moving a few key characters over, assigning some brief motivations and hopefully, I can salvage Quincey’s story from the absolute mass of confusion that I’ve ignorantly steered it into.
Based On First Impressions: Pick Up or Pass?
I know for some, the stuff in the Bad and Ugly sections will be absolute dealbreakers for people, however, you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did and you don’t have to include anything in the game you’re not interested in. It’s still a great game with a great concept and anyone who is a fan of the series can now put themselves into the the world of that series via their character and play around in it. There are so many possibilities to link this to other games because, as previously stated, There Are Other Worlds Than These. Despite it’s flaws, it’s a recommend for me.
Suggestions:
Let’s get something resembling an economy going with some MSRP on items in terms of how many rounds it would cost me to resupply on rations, buy an item or perhaps even a section on possibly crafting items other than guns. Like I said before, these prices can be a basis for bartering or they can be set prices.
Let’s fix the chapter order! The Swampwater Shootout should probably be right before the index and let the Solo Rules and Excursion Generators/Random Tables section come before that.
The Red Right Hand seems like a mix of Randall Flagg (aka The Man In Black) and Roland Deschain as he’s described as an Immortal Gunslinger with red eyes, white hair and two fingers missing from his right hand who kills other Gunslingers on sight. Either Flagg, Walter O’Dim, etc has possessed Roland, possibly taken the form of Roland or it’s Roland turned to the dark side. I don’t know which. This is a character that needs an entry in the bestiary with a statblock. Thankfully, for now, there is a DIY Monster Generator at the back so yes, you can do this yourself for the time being.
Let’s add a few more monsters in there! I’m sure we haven’t covered all the threats that King wrote into the series that could be used without trouble but, again, the DIY Monster Generator is there so yes you can import and convert your favorite monsters from your favorite bestiaries into this game.
If you’re interested in picking up a copy here in the U.S, there’s the By Odin’s Beard Itch Page where you can get it in PDF or you can pick up a physical copy on Exalted Funeral’s Website for $35, PDF and Soundtrack included.
The Ravens Nest 
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