Sagas and Six-guns by Robert Buckey

What happens when you mix Viking culture, as written in the Sagas, with the American Old West? You get Sagas & Six-guns.

Sagas & Six-guns is a new setting book for Savage Worlds written by Robert Buckley and published by Gallant Knight Games. It is available on DriveThruRPG, either in PDF or print-on-demand. Since I had a strong inkling that I was going to like the book, I ordered a hardback.

The book opens with creating a character. Characters can be any of your usual Old West tropes, along with several fantasy options including Valkyries (trapped on Midgard), Runesmith Engineers (weird scientists) and three types of magic-user (essentially the Viking equivalents of priests, witches, and bards).

It then gives quick coverage of the world, including the major kingdoms, cities, and organizations. There is enough here to get started, but it really is just a framework, and obviously designed to be filled in by the players or later supplements.

Also included are a selection Norse monsters that occupy the setting, including how some are ‘updated’ to the Wild West.

Finally, the book includes a host of adventure ideas, including one longer campaign. None of these are fleshed out, so game masters will need to do some work on them.

All-and-all, I think it is a lovely work. There isn’t a huge amount of artwork, but what is there is very nice. A map would have been a nice inclusion, as we get a good amount of discussion about the relationship of the various kingdoms, but only a bit on their geographical position. Also, the book could really have used one more proof-read. The mistakes aren’t terrible, but there are enough to be noticeable. 

While comparisons with Deadlands are inevitable, especially since this game uses the Savage Worlds system, I think the two can be thought of as complementary. It would be very easy to combine elements from either setting into the other if it were desired. 

So if anyone is looking for a fresh take on a weird west setting, I recommend giving this one a look.  I suspect there will be more material available for Sagas & Six-guns in the future. 

Be aware though - you will need the Savage Worlds book in order to play the game.