Boot Hill Wild West Role-Playing Game (3rd Edition)

From Wizards of the Coast

Straight off the wagon trail, TSR Boot Hill Wild West Role-Playing Game (3rd Edition) has moseyed back into print via print on demand through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, thanks to Wizards of the Coast. There is three option available to consumers. First option is Multiple File Formats, which is not said, but one can assume is a PDF and epub for $9.99. The second option is a print copy in the form of a Softcover Color Book (Standard Heavyweight) at $19.99. The third option is specially priced at $21.99, and regularly $29.98, combines the Multiple File Formats and Softcover Color Book (Standard Heavyweight) option. Links to purchase can be found at the end of this article.

Wizards of the Coast has been slowly releasing classic TSR products in digital format and print on demand for a while. Though for casual roleplayers this release is one of the most significant to date. TSR Boot Hill Wild West Role-Playing Game (3rd Edition) has been long out of print. If you were one of the lucky ones to purchase this back in the day, you would have seen this game rise in value over the years. If one wanted to purchase this book in the aftermarket, it was no easy task. Copies of Boot Hill didn’t appear in the marketplace very often. When they did the sticker price was usually more than the casual enthusiast could afford. Those that were purchased found their way into acid-free protective bags and placed in collections, never to be cracked open and laid out on the gaming table to be enjoyed as intended. With this release from Wizards of the Coast a new generation and a former generation who missed out the first time can once again don their spurs and wear their ten-gallon hats at the gaming table at an affordable price.

So what is Boot Hill?

Boot Hill is a roleplaying game set in the American Wild West. Players can step into the boots of various western themed personas. Be it black hat wearing outlaws robbing stagecoaches and banks, righteous lawmen looking to restore law and order to frontier towns, Native Americans on the warpath, or any other western themed persona your players can come up with. The rulebook features rules for gunfights, brawls, creating campaigns, and historical background on the era.

The version of Boot Hill that Wizards of the Coast released is the third edition of the game. The first edition of Boot Hill was first published by TSR in 1975 and written by Brian Blume and Gary Gygax. It was “Boot Hill — Rules for ‘Wild West’ Gunfights and Campaigns with Miniatures Figures on a Man-to-Man Scale” published in trade paperback. The first version saw two printings; the second coming in 1977. The second version of Boot Hill is the most commonly known of the three. It was printed in 1979 and came as a box set. Inside the box contained a rulebook, double-sided map, counters, percentile dice and a crayon. A second printing was published in 1984 with different cover artwork. Finally in 1990 TSR revised Boot Hill and published this edition in a softcover.

With the release of the rulebook, one can only hope that the five adventure supplements and referee screen with mini-module produced for the during the 2nd edition production run are just around the bend. For those are just as difficult to acquire in the aftermarket for their lack of appearance in the market and high selling price.

Available to purchase at:
DriveThruRPG & RPGNow

$9.99 – Multiple File Formats
$19.99 – Softcover Color Book (Standard Heavyweight)
$21.99 – Multiple File Formats + Softcover Color Book (Standard Heavyweight)

~ Stephen Pennisi

Follow Stephen on Twitter at @DadsAngry 
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