Terra the Gunslinger
 Terra the Gunslinger cover |
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| Designer(s) | Jun'ichi Inoue, F.E.A.R. |
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| Publisher(s) | Enterbrain, Game Field |
| Publication date | 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Western Steampunk |
| System(s) | Custom |
Terra the Gunslinger (テラ:ザ・ガンスリンガー) is a Japanese western steampunk tabletop role-playing game.
Setting
The game takes place in Terra, a fictional continent modeled after North America during the American Old West. Its theme is frontier spirit. The setting is fictitious, but actual historical Americans also appear as non-player characters. They include Thomas Alva Edison, Nikola Tesla, Jesse James and Belle Starr. There are guns and steampunk items representing lost technologies (for example, phlogiston generators or aetheric drives). Players face monsters called the Dark. Player characters may be automata, bounty hunters, gunslingers, preachers, saloon girls, steam-mages, U.S. marshals and other archetypes as they ride the transcontinental railroad on their way to the far western frontier.
Another roleplaying game, Tenra War pits Terra against the setting of Tenra Bansho.
System
As in the Tokyo NOVA role-playing game (as well as the American game Castle Falkenstein), playing cards are used instead of dice. The suits of cards correspond to four abilities: Spade (♠) is spirit, heart (♥) is hope, club (♣) is cool, and diamond (♦) is desire. The card motif is meant to bring to mind a game of poker, as often seen in western movies.
Other information
On a trip to Japan, noted game designer Greg Stafford noted that he liked the look of Terra the Gunslinger.[1]
