Old West Style Adventure Path in the Mana Wastes

We are currently running the Skull & Shackles AP and last night I picked the wrong playlist for my bg music and clint eastwood came on. My players were like "Woah first pirates now cowboys?" Lol. Even though they were joking I think an Oldwest Outlaw/Cowboy adventure path in the mana wastes or somewhere like that would be cool who's with me?

I agree that it would be fun. Kind of been wanting to do a wild west game for a while now but not sure if I can get people into like Aces & Eights.

A pathfinder Manna Wastes Western (MWW) might really be a lot of fun, though I think the Wastes are a bit on the small side.

I'm not sure how well a whole Adventure Path in the Mana Wastes would work out and I don't expect one for a long while. But if Paizo made it, I'd cheerfully buy it just to see how they figured it out.

I do think with party buy-in you could get a pretty sweet campaign set there in any case. Lots of gunslingers, fighters, rogues, non-casting rangers, barbarians, and the like. The western almost writes itself.

But an adventure path that says "No spellcasters" is way narrower than the "No paladins" of Skull and Shackles. I know I've DMed for a lot of people I could never convince to play in that.

Cheers!
Landon

What would be cool would be something that incorporated several different themes during the course of the AP: Old West/Spaghetti Western, Seven Samurai/Yojimbo Japanese style adventure, Mad Max/Gamma World post-apocalyptic adventuring. Maybe even some sort of ancient Egyptian (via Nex/Geb) mashup, too.

As for the no-spellcasters, there's no reason you couldn't have them; magic works in the Mana Wastes; just not predictably.

But an adventure path that says "No spellcasters" is way narrower than the "No paladins" of Skull and Shackles. I know I've DMed for a lot of people I could never convince to play in that.

Have you ever noticed that when you come up with an idea for something along those lines those people tend to be the ones who suddenly refuse to play anything else? Seems an odd trend I've noticed in gaming groups.

Well I've designed a homebrew archetype for magus called the Shootist that specializes in using revolvers as his weapon of choice, even granting ability to wield 2 revolvers and still perform spell combat. Instead of a spell book, this archetype features spell cards that resemble a poker card deck with ornate numbers, icons and borders that hide spell descriptions for casting within them.

The class was especially designed for use in a possible Old West styled campaign. I was thinking of creating temporal anamoly that leads to an old west style campaign in existing medievil fantasy realm. Even considered designing a one-shot to be published in Rite's Adventure Quarterly for this archetype.

I'd have no intentions of creating a no spellcaster setting, as I like fantasy-esque Old West with witches, oracles, paladins, clerics, wizards, sorcerers, inquisitors - all being spellcasters ideal for use in such a setting. A gunsmith alchemist would be especially fitting as well. If I wanted to play no magic Old West, I'd go with Aces & Eights. If I ran an Old West (PF) game, why would I not include spellcasters?

I set part of my last campaign in the Mana Wastes. Invented a port on the seacoast for it and ran a railway line from that to Alkenstar so there could be a train running though the perilous mutant-haunted wastelands. And you could shoot them from the train too.

I'm not sure how well a whole Adventure Path in the Mana Wastes would work out and I don't expect one for a long while. But if Paizo made it, I'd cheerfully buy it just to see how they figured it out.

I do think with party buy-in you could get a pretty sweet campaign set there in any case. Lots of gunslingers, fighters, rogues, non-casting rangers, barbarians, and the like. The western almost writes itself.

But an adventure path that says "No spellcasters" is way narrower than the "No paladins" of Skull and Shackles. I know I've DMed for a lot of people I could never convince to play in that.

Cheers!
Landon

Maybe a one-shot for the Mana Wastes?

Also, are Paladins actually banned from Skull and Shackles, or is that just a popular houserule?

As for the no-spellcasters, there's no reason you couldn't have them; magic works in the Mana Wastes; just not predictably.

Well, I mean, you could, but playing a caster where "magic, when it works at all, seems to writhe with a chaotic life of its own" doesn't seem like a great idea.

That isn't to say I haven't run games in settings like that, but that's not what people are looking for when they play a caster in Pathfinder and its not what the classes are designed assuming. If I were running an Iron Heroes campaign in Golarion, I'd set it there and love it. I just wouldn't try to sell a Pathfinder Adventure Path there.

Have you ever noticed that when you come up with an idea for something along those lines those people tend to be the ones who suddenly refuse to play anything else? Seems an odd trend I've noticed in gaming groups.

Thankfully not too much. I do know a number of players that refuse to play anything but spellcasters, though.

Maybe a one-shot for the Mana Wastes?

Well, like I said, I'd cheerfully buy the Adventure Path if Paizo decided it was worth producing. I'd also grab a Mana Wastes (and/or Alkenstar) Campaign Setting book.

I like the area a lot and I'd run a no-magic (or bad-magic) campaign there, I just don't think it's necessarily a great place to set an Adventure Path.

Also, are Paladins actually banned from Skull and Shackles, or is that just a popular houserule?

Well, not explicitly banned in the rules, but Paizo folks have mentioned several times they don't expect paladins to work well with the path.

It's a similar situation you'd have in the Mana Wastes. Sure, you can play a wizard, you just have to be prepared for what you signed up for.

Cheers!
Landon