1KM1KT Free RPG Community

Hey all, after seeing the great feedback Kyle got on Orchestra I thought I'd post a bit about my game in the hopes of getting more eyes and brains on the rules. First of all the blurb I use to describe the game:

Dinosaur Cowboys is a fast playing (30-60 minutes) skirmish game of competing posses composed of up to 5 members and 1 dinosaur. Each character in the posse can be customized to fulfill a different role and purchase weapons and equipment from the many options available. Combat takes place in the futuristic landscape of the year 2285, where a supervolcano erupted and changed the course of mankind forever.

Basically a tabletop game that pits 2-6 figures against each other using D12s as the basis for resolving combat and so forth. Plus it has dinosaurs and cowboys and lasers so that always fills me with childish glee.

The rulebook (PDF) is downloadable at: http://dinosaurcowboys.wordpress.com/rules/ or .

Some pictures from my playtests to give you an idea of the game.


In terms of rules the game is pretty far along. The rulebook is missing that final pass of formatting to really make it pop, as well as art (although in that regard).

What I'd really like is some help in reading over the rules and giving ideas for sections that need clarity or improvement.

And to ask a more concrete question: I've been trying to distinguish dinosaurs from cowboys in terms of movement and general behaviour in the game. Does anyone have ideas on this? I was thinking maybe going to random movement distance to represent their uncontrollable nature, or perhaps some kind of turning arc to represent their sluggishness.

Welcome to 1km1kt.net. Thank you for sharing your work with us!

The setting certainly reminds me of the comic series - better known as "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs".

I haven't had much chance to look over the document thoroughly. However, I can tell you right now that the formatting needs a major revision. Professional layout often relies on the CRAP principle - Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Placement.

There is a desperate lack of contrast in the document, which makes it difficult to read and find information. First of all - indent your paragraphs, it helps break up the page to reduce fatigue and draw the eyes to where they are needed. Headings, examples, and section breaks need to be really distinct from the body text. Simply making something bold, or a little underline and italic doesn't set it apart. Make these things a different font, and usually four to eight points larger than the other text to make them easy to spot. You use bold and the same font far too often, which kills the effect of making it stand out at all.

Take a look at one of my games - for example. Section headings are much bigger than normal font, and the same type is repeated. All examples are in a different format from that, yet we have the repetition with that.

A quick job reformatting will do a lot to make each section and element of the rules stand out, increasing clarity even without revision of the content itself. Most programs like Word and Open Office have a formats menu (F-12) that lets you create pre-set elements (chapter title, section element, example, etc.) so you just highlight and chose.

Most of the actual rules look OK, hopefully I'll find some time soon to give those a test.

Good luck with your gaming and design endeavors. We will be here if you need any further assistance.

Hey Aardvark thanks for the reply. Xenozoic Tales was definitely an inspiration, plus all the classics like Valley of Gwangi, Turok, The Lost World, etc.

I appreciate the suggestions on formatting. Currently I do use the header formatting in Open Office as it helps build the table of contents, but perhaps I need a larger difference between each section. I don't know how much I want to mix fonts though as I'm trying to keep the main headers in the font, but the remaining text variants of the standard font. I think it starts too look too inconsistent and jumbled with too many fonts? I'll try with larger sizes though, indent my paragraphs, and inject some contrast in there. I'm thinking maybe gray bordered boxes for examples so they stand out and make it easy to understand what's an example?

Do you think adding some artwork would help break up the monotony of the text, or maybe the formatting changes are enough? I'll take some time asap and implement the changes and post an example page here for review. Thanks!

I'm glad that helped.

Provided you aren't making rapid transitions between them, and three to five fonts works pretty well. Generally its sans-serif for headings/chapter titles, and serif for extended reading.

A lot of rules and technical documents are set up in two column format. It keeps lines shorter and quicker to scan. White space from gaps between paragraphs, indents, and headings will also help break it up.

Art is best used to illustrate a point or theme rather than simply breaking up blocks of text because they seem too long. Alignment and repetition - pictures should be near what they're emphasizing, and be connected to what is on the page.

Switching gears to movement and dinosaurs, one concept would be a terrain chart, or certain bonus move for each dinosaur type. A little micro-raptor will find its way through dense brush better than a person or a house sized critter. A medium sized Therapod might be a pretty good jumper, and can cross a crevasse or stream with a leap rather than wading through. Big things might not even notice shallow water. Of course, a giant bi-ped isn't going to run full speed in anything but the flattest terrain to avoid tripping and crushing itself. (One of the reasons why some paleontologists doubt T-Rex moved all that fast.)

Random movement adds chance and and an extra step to the turn, which isn't always appreciated. However, you do seem to be on to something - this could separate untrained dinosaurs from broken in ones, or alternately, temperamental critters from the loyal steeds.

I'm not sure how to implement it just yet, but some sort of animal intelligence or instinct rating might come into play. It might be a test to see if they keep following commands despite the presence of prey (thinks with its stomach), bravery to charge a human barricade, or simply if it understands to stop going in a certain direction. Though this might mean more in a campaign game where taming or being ambushed by dinosaurs is more likely to come up.

I do think that instincts could be handled simply. I've been working on a dino RPG with my son, and we came up with a few ideas that should be easily modifiable (just copy-pasting with my game's nomenclature).

Hunter: Will move towards closest detected dinosaur (ignore family members) with a lower Attack strength.
Stalker: Will hide in terrain. When forced out of terrain, will move towards nearest terrain they can hide in.
Pack Hunter: Will stalk prey until total pack Attack strength is at least twice the target's Attack strength.
Scavenger: Will move towards any detected carcass and eat. Will stalk carcass if a dinosaur with a greater Attack strength is currently eating the carcass.
Herd: When any member of the Herd is threatened the Herd will form a protective circle (larger dinos on the outside, smaller dinos on the inside). "Fight" dinosaurs will stay and defend, "Flight" dinos will move away from the threat with the largest Attack strength, maintaining formation.

As a side note, Attack strength is figured from Size, Damage, and Hunger. Hungrier dinosaurs will take more risks.

As a side note I do have the OpenOffice available for download, so if anyone was feeling really generous they could make an example pass at formatting The fonts involved are (for the title page) and (for the existing headers.

I like the thought behind primal vs. trained dinosaurs, with one concern that implementing it might force players to keep a rider mounted on the dinosaur, whereas right now they can use either method with equal success. Maybe a slightly smaller bonus if the dinosaur is mounted, so then it's less of an obvious "I need a rider or my dino will go insane!". Or maybe even the option to purchase tougher, faster "primal" versions that can't be ridden, compared to "domesticated" versions that are softer but can transport humans.

Hmm how about a separate stat just for dinosaurs that replaces their Bravery value. It would be called Instinct, and a new "Instinct Test" would be used under certain circumstances. Basically roll D12 if it's >= Instinct value the test fails and XYZ happens (similar to Bravery Test mechanically). The causes of an Instinct Test would be based on situations like you mentioned Aardvark such as taking a bunch of damage, trying to charge, etc. A rider would provide a -1 Instinct value while mounted, to reduce the chances of "going beserk".
If the test is failed the results could be Fleeing, Stunned, Attacking, etc. I do want dinosaurs to still be semi-domesticated, so the "lurking behaviour" (for lack of a better term) outlined in your post GSLamb might be too extreme. I don't think a dinosaur raised from birth would automatically revert to stalking prey just because it's rider got off, for example. I might roll some of those ideas into the Instinct Test results though.

What do you guys think of a mechanic like that? It further helps differentiate them, is fairly similar to the existing mechanics, and could add a lot of fun scenarios where dinosaurs do unexpected things.

I like the "domesticated" vs "primal" differentation. Domesticated dinosaurs could have a higher Instinct value (trained not to react) but primal dinosaurs would have a slight bump to damage or -1 to MMC.

What about using the Cowboy's Bravery value instead of the Dino's Instinct when mounted?

You could also simplify instincts to Fight or Flight.

The more I think about it the more I like that split too. It would allow people to bring sort of a wild version that isn't meant to be ridden or a more traditional mount.
I would just add a "Trained? [ X ]" checkbox in the name space on the roster sheet, similar in presentation to the "Yeehaw!" ability for the Leader. Trained would give certain flat benefits, and the statline presented in the book would be for Untrained Dinosaurs. Something like "If Trained -2 HP, +1 MV, +1 MMC, +X Instinct, rider can attack while mounted". The last point would be because Untrained Dinosaurs can be ridden, but you can't really attack while onboard since it's more "hold on for dear life!".
I think the stat Instinct needs to be reworded though...any suggestions? Since a higher value is better, and a Trained Dinosaur would have a higher value, Instinct doesn't really work since you would think an Untrained Dinosaur would have more Instinct. Maybe Handling? Then it's like trying to roll a "Handling Test" (boy that REALLY sounds like Car Wars) to make the Dinosaur do something, and Trained Dinosaurs would be better at this. Or Tameness, Discipline, Brains, Control, Obedience...okay now I'm just pulling words out of the thesaurus.

Alternatively I could keep the Trained idea but leave the stat as Bravery, and just have custom results for a Dinosaur that fails a Bravery Test. Mainly because I don't know how many cases a person would want to test. Would a Handling Test (for lack of a better term) be done when the Dinosaur is about to Charge? When it has an effect applied (like Slowed)? When it gets hit in close combat? When someone shoots it?
Perhaps Dinosaurs do away with Bravery and fleeing at all, and instead a Handling Test is needed at the start of EVERY Activation. If it's failed the Dinosaur does it's own thing (harkening back to your "natural instincts" chart), otherwise it can be moved as normal. The downside is that makes dinosaurs a bit more of a liability, but is a bit more realistic since a rider would spur the dinosaur a certain way.

Funny how a seemingly small change can turn out so big!

The stat-line option is perfect.

I think the Bravery/Instinct/??? problem is more to do with the English language. I just cannot accept that a domesticated animal has more "bravery" or "instinct" than a feral one. If you ignore the name, however, the mechanic fits perfectly.

And I agree that the current name doesn't make sense (especially Instinct, I think Bravery is arguable since it could also represent training). If the stat was called Discipline then I could see a Trained Dinosaur having more of it than an Untrained Dinosaur. The results of failing a Discipline Test could be (I'm trying to keep it at a D6):

1: Dinosaur Flees away from the nearest enemy. Perform a Trample attack against anyone in the way.
2: Dinosaur moves towards the nearest enemy, unless already in close combat. Perform a Trample attack against anyone in the way.
3: Dinosaur is Slowed (can only move 1/2" and can't Run or Charge) but otherwise can move normally.
4: Dinosaur is Stunned (can't perform an Action Phase)
5: Dinosaur bucks any passengers off. Place them adjacent to the Dinosaur.
6: Dinosaur attacks the nearest entity, regardless of whether it's friend or foe.

I'm still waffling on having a table at all, but without it there isn't much of a point in having Discipline compared to just a plain Bravery Test.