We Deal in Lead is Now Available!
You look to those closest to you, fellow gunslingers of the Order of the King. The arduous trek across the bleached desert is over and now you stand before a slip door. Though tested, the fellowship of your Order stands true.
You grasp the worn sandalwood grip of your artefact gun and twist open the door. You gasp as the sharp sea air hits your lungs. Gulls caw and the foam sprays your face like a baptism. You step through to another reality.
After all, there are other worlds than these.
Stand true, Gunslinger
We Deal in Lead is a 88-page, full colour weird west wanders TTRPG by Colin Le Sueur for 1 or more players. Streamlined rules, fast character creation, and gameplay built on exploration and player choice.
Features:
- Set in a strange post-apocalyptic world eerily close to ours, where the borders of time and space wear thin
- You are Gunslingers, mythic champions holding off the forces of chaos with lead and grit
- Combat and exploration gameplay designed for 1 or more players, including solo or group play
- Streamlined d20 roll-under rules based on Cairn, Into the Odd, and Knave
- Hard-hitting gunslinger combat with new gun mechanics
- Includes an introductory Gunslinger adventure: Swampwater Shootout
- Generate a random adventure with the excursion generator or consult the oracle for solo play
- Compatible with other Cairn adventures and settings; journey with your gunslingers into other genres and times
- Recruit heroes from other worlds to join your quest, even those fallen to death; death is just another door, after all
- Keep the bonds of fellowship strong within your Gunslinger Order and your aim will remain true
- Wilderness survival and exploration through a world that has moved on — the known and unknown lands are dangerously unpredictable
- Friend and train beast companions to act as your eyes, ears, or fangs, including hawks, wolves, and bumblers
Itchfunding
Itchfunding is an alternative to typical crowdfunding methods like Kickstarter and is more flexible and less stressful for creators. Unlike Kickstarter, there’s no hard endpoint for the campaign or risk the funding will fail. The campaign remains open and the book remains in development until the funding goals are met.
You aren’t funding a final product (though you will get a release PDF and physical copy, if you choose that level of support), but you’re funding the development and progress of We Deal in Lead.
We Deal in Lead is in active development. When you purchase it, you get the Ashcan Version, the latest and greatest version currently available, and any subsequent updates. Any payments you make go toward improving the book with art and editing.
When we hit each funding goal, the PDF will be updated with the result (the first milestone is the cover).
Update (26 Oct 2022):
We Deal in Lead Itchfunding has now closed. The hardcover is now available.
UNLOCKED - £250 - Cover art by Goran Gligović
Goran does amazing work and his style fits perfectly with the theme and feeling of We Deal in Lead.
If the project hits £250, I’ll commission him to do a full-colour A5 cover.
UNLOCKED - £500 - Editing by Fiona Maeve Geist
If the project hits £500 I’ll also be able to commission an editor to bring a professional and critical eye to the game to help unlock its true potential!
I’m delighted to announce that Fiona Maeve Geist will be coming on board as a developmental editor. She’s worked on some amazing projects (if you’re like me, you’ve got loads of the books she’s edited) so I can’t wait to see how she’ll shape the book!
UNLOCKED - £750 - Additional interior art
I’ve got a long list of amazing artists that I’d love to commission for this project and if we hit £750, I’ll make that a reality!
UNLOCKED - £1000 - Physical release upgrade
If we manage to hit £1000, I’ll upgrade the physical release with better paper and colours. Full details to be decided!
UNLOCKED - £2000 - Upgrade zine to hardcover
UNLOCKED - Thanks to the staggering response, I’ve decided to expand the original goals. If we hit £2000, I’ll upgrade the physical zine release to a full-colour hardcover release!
If unlocked, everyone who’s supported at the Physical Release level will now get the hardcover version.
UNLOCKED - £2500 - Upgrade to sewn hardcover
If we unlock the hardcover goal, the next goal is to improve the quality of the hardcover with a sewn binding and fancy endpaper colour.
Having a sewn binding is the ultimate in quality, so I really hope we hit this goal!
UNLOCKED - £2750 - Even more interior art
Why not take the opportunity to commission more artists and get even more cool interior art?
UNLOCKED - £3000 - Colourful endpapers
After we fill the hardcover with even more art, why not make the endpapers a bit more colourful?
UNLOCKED - £3250 - Digital soundtrack
What’s Western without a rousing and atmospheric soundtrack?
If we hit £3250 I’ll commission a 6-track EP Spaghetti Western/synth soundtrack.
Ashcan Version
Your purchase gets you the Ashcan PDF version of We Deal in Lead and any and all updates. This is the core game but without art or layout.
10 September 2022 (v1.0, Release)
Complete:
- Cover
- Logo
- Character creation example
- Soundtrack (Watch & Warrant)
- Combat example
- Bestiary
- Interior art
- Character sheet
- Integration with other adventures/settings
- Layout
Physical Release
Purchasing the Physical Release reward gets you access to the PDF as well as a hardcover printed copy of We Deal in Lead when it goes to print, shipped from shop.byodinsbeardrpg.com.
Ships to the UK, US, Canada, and the EU. Shipping costs will be collected separately at a later date.
Due to the unpredictable nature of crowdfunding and worldwide paper shortages/shipping delays this may not be for some time.
Soundtrack
Of Sleeping Bears has done an amazing job with Watch & Warrant, the companion 6 track EP for We Deal in Lead.
- High Moon
- The Ghost Town of Lud
- Ash & Brimstone
- Rest for the Wicked
- A New Frontier
- Broken Order
All 6 tracks are included with the Ashcan PDF and Physical Edition.
Album art by Kim Diaz Holm.
Retailers
I’m currently taking retailer pre-orders for We Deal in Lead (hardcover), so if you’re a retailer (online or bricks and mortar), email me at [email protected] to arrange a wholesale order.
Retail price is £30 GBP / $35 USD.
Social Media Links
You can find Colin (@ByOdinsBeardRPG) on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Or you can find our store at shop.byodinsbeardrpg.com.
Art Assets
The primary art & promotional assets for We Deal in Lead can be found here.
Team Members
Colin Le Sueur (@byodinsbeardrpg) - Writer/Designer
Fiona Maeve Geist - Editor
Kim Diaz Holm (@DenUngeHerrHolm), Amita Sevellaraja (@volapardus), Perplexing Ruins (@perplexingruins), Felipe da Silva Faria (@FELIPEMUKY), Colin Le Sueur (@byodinsbeardrpg), Evangeline Gallagher (@egallagher_art), Carlos Castilho - Interior Illustrations
Goran Gligović (@GoranGligovic) - Cover Illustrator
Andriy Lukin (@andriylukin) - Logo Designer
Of Sleeping Bears (Bandcamp) - Soundtrack Composer
From Colin
The tales of the Gunslinger and the Dark Tower have lived inside my head since I first read the novels in high school. A broken world, the last gunslinger in his quest to find the meaning of existence, his motley band of fellow gunslingers. There they stayed, locked away, every so often bubbling up to the surface. I’ve been searching for a way to translate the worlds of the Dark Tower into a faithful, exciting, engaging TTRPG and I think I’ve cracked it.
We Deal in Lead is the Dark Tower filtered through my personal roleplaying experience, using the excellent and modular Cairn system. Make the broken world your own and forge new adventures. Stand true, gunslingers!
What People Are Saying
ModernModron (@modernmodron), artist and designer:
Absolutely dripping in flavor, We Deal in Lead feels ripe to create a dark fiction environment. I particularly like the rules for the order/ breaking the order and it sets up a great narrative arc leading out of a major loss, which is fantastic.
Follow Up
If you have additional questions, would like to schedule an interview, or have any other questions please feel free to reach out via email: [email protected]
Print:
https://shop.byodinsbeardrpg.com/products/we-deal-in-lead
PDF:
Itch.io: https://byodinsbeardrpg.itch.io/we-deal-in-lead
DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/408506/We-Deal-in-Lead
