Huckleberry RPG Review

Or how the Wild West got Weird.

Howdy folks!

If you’re familiar with my newsletter, welcome back! For those just joining us, the Ars Fabula newsletter aims to provide inspiration and advice that you can take back to your table. In reviewing this tabletop RPG I hope to bring my readers a new style of content and get their minds buzzing. I hope this review excites you for a really unique, new, Indie RPG, or inspires you with ideas you can run in your home game.

First, a bit of a disclaimer.

This game is currently in Early Access and available on DrivethruRPG, so if you like what you see and wish to follow the development of the game you can visit www.huckleberryrpg.com. I was provided an early access review copy of the game, but I will in no way allow that to affect my review. Any design or clarification notes I had will be addressed in the game’s development according to Game Designer Steven Alexander. Not that the game needs much help, Huckleberry is already a bounty of great gaming I can’t wait to share with my table. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!

“The Pullman Ranch had been the talk of the town for the past week. Strange mutilations and transfigurations of Doc Pullman’s cattle had caused great distress when it came time to drive the heifers out to pasture. The terror in their eyes had them frozen to their stalls, waiting and watching for which one of them would be next. You had been hired on from the Silver Tap Saloon’s bounty board with a hefty promise of 10 Chips and here you were, the evening after, lying in wait under a loose pile of hay. The stench of it filling your nostrils and hopefully covering your scent. Silence governs the ranch, save for the breeze swishing through the tall grasses of the fields. You fight sleep as the full moon rises high. You’re not sure when you nodded off but the blood curdling howl that woke you up sent an icy shiver through your body. It’s time. You prepare your bolt action hunting rifle, a memento from your mentor and a reliable Big Iron set to kill whatever Wyrd crosses your path. It’s not long before you hear the bellows and bleats coming from the heifers and their calves. They sense the danger too, but nothing is moving in the gleam of the moon, the barn a faded dark red in the silver light. That is, until you see it. Silhouetted in the moonlight the creature is some 7 or eight feet tall, bristling with a coat of brown fur, with long claws set to tear apart its prey. Tonight is going to be a long one. While you prepared for a fight, you didn’t prepare for this particular fight but you nervously fish through your pack for a few silver bullets. Regardless of how well you prepared, you know it’s up to you to put it six feet under. Just as you take aim its muzzle sniffs the air, and you become well aware that you are now on the menu.”

Huckleberry thrusts players into an inhospitable land where reality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Wyrd bleeds into the desert lands bringing horrors, based on the myths of the American Old-West, to bear against players who embody larger than life weird West heroes. If you’re a fan of the TV shows Supernatural or Westworld you are sure to enjoy the flavor Huckleberry brings to the table. Set in a time after the American Civil war, where thousands of people are drawn into caves in the earth and transported to the Fifth World. This land holds the abandoned ruins of ancient civilizations which lie among the hills and valleys of a desert world infected with the reality warping Wyrd. This setting provides a heavily customizable and dangerous landscape to develop mysteries and horrors for your players, called Mavericks, to thwart. Additionally, special attention has been given throughout the game regarding the naming of key aspects which reinforces the Western theme. Unique threats are aplenty in Huckleberry as you tussle with outlaws, werewolves and the elements in a story-focused game. The gameplay is punchy and focuses on the drama without so much crunch. Just about all the rules serve the narrative and focus on making things feel cinematic. This is sure to give your table great roleplay moments.

I would be remiss to not comment on the Huckleberry team’s dedication to respecting the stories and different cultures of Indigenous Peoples who often become caricatures within traditional Wild West media. Their work with the Amah Mutsun Tribe and Sensitivity Editor, Maitreyi Viswanathan, should be commended as the themes and threats within Huckleberry have retained a great Weird Wild West feel without copping out to using Indigenous People’s Cultures as a crutch, or worse, as a source of villainy. I think many games either outright avoid this situation by excluding Indigenous Peoples or do a disservice to the vibrant Indigenous Cultures who still fight for their freedoms today.

The Core Game Mechanics

A game of Huckleberry revolves around three big mechanics that bring the actions of Mavericks, or their foes, to life. The Skill Check, Attribute Save and Ante Up are used to essentially determine all outcomes in the game. If a Maverick wishes to do something specific that may have a chance of failure, the Trailboss or gamemaster will ask for a Skill Check using a specific attribute and skill. For this, each player will need to have two sets of standard polyhedral die at their disposal as it’s possible to need to roll two of the same dice. This, of course, can be achieved by rolling the die, recording the first result and rolling again or using an online die roller. A result of 10 or higher is a success and the differentiating checks give Players the opportunity to improvise how their Maverick achieves success or fails. When the Trailboss determines a dangerous event or wants a hostile to act they’ll ask the afflicted Maverick for an Attribute Save. The player will roll the Maverick’s required attribute along with the Wyrd die to determine the outcome; and you guessed it, a result of a 10 or higher sees the Maverick to relative safety. These two simple mechanics are given higher stakes with an Ante Up. The Trailboss of the game, aside from the regular set of polyhedral die, needs to have a standard deck of playing cards at their disposal. The Ante Up is the draw of a card from the deck to, most often, determine what attribute an effect or a hostile is challenging in a given moment. However, the Ante Up isn’t all about bringing the pain to the Mavericks. If an Ace is revealed, that affected player is given a Sleeved Ace token as a limited resource to use. Each player may only have up to four Sleeved Aces at a time. In this way, Players are encouraged to either immediately return the Ace token to “Sweeten the Pot” and add special benefits to their roll or use it later with other Sleeved Aces to give their Maverick an edge on a check. This adds a level of fluidity to the game with the Players pushing their luck sometimes if they know an Ace is left in a quickly thinning deck. When all cards from the deck are expended the discard pile is reshuffled so Players aren’t stuck forever hoarding their Sleeved Ace tokens for later use. Within these mechanics I really appreciate the simplicity of a 10 being the benchmark for a check as it takes a lot of stress off the Trailboss, and everyone at the table can celebrate the successes quicker or succumb to the forces of the Wyrd without needing much calculation.

Crafting Your Maverick

Perhaps one of the coolest aspects to me is the possibilities in character creation. While all characters in Huckleberry are human, there are plenty of ways you can mold them, from the mundane to the utterly supernatural. Firstly, character creation begins with assigning a die to each key attribute from d6, d8, d10 and d12. Once you become familiar the four different attributes, Quick, Grit, Reckon and Spirit, you can assign each die in one of 24 unique orders based on the character idea you have in mind. From there Huckleberry provides 11 Blood Traits representing your heritage, 12 Flesh Traits which describe different physical traits granting boons against challenges, 12 Dispositions or personality traits reflecting how they handle themselves, and 12 Callings or job-like talents your Maverick has learned in life. This combination of multiple traits fleshes out your character and provides easy roleplay prompts for Players to pick up on and determine how their Mavericks interact with the world and overcome its challenges.

By my count, there are some 456,192 possible unique characters one can craft using these simple choices!

Character creation itself, however, is a quick endeavor as Huckleberry provides a step-by-step guide to take the pressure off. As they grow in notoriety and experience, Mavericks can gain Legend Traits based on how they use their time in between Drives giving Players options to aim for. Robust character creation, a straightforward weapon system for your Big Irons, and a simple method for attaining unique Kit to round out your standard Caboodle, all ensure your Maverick is locked and loaded against the horrors of the Wyrd and Wild West.

Work-Life Balance

Now that your Maverick is ready to hit the trail and you know the basics of how to resolve conflict, what happens next? This is something I think Huckleberry shines at. The game prescribes a striking balance between being out in the wilds on a Drive to rustle up the key to a Bounty and being at your Hole-In-The-Wall reveling in your success with Pastimes or licking your wounds trying to get some Doctorin’. Steven Alexander and his team have a keen understanding of how lacking many other games can be when it comes to Player Characters spending time in between great quests. Often this in-between is a last-minute thought, but Huckleberry uses the Maverick’s Pastime as a way to grow the characters, produce better weapons, get the help you need, or simply gamble away your hard-earned chips. While combat is quick, the lasting effects from Ailments, Afflictions, Injuries, and even Death have repercussions that follow the Mavericks home and feel somewhat realistic while maintaining a good roleplay environment. I greatly appreciate that the Huckleberry team has worked to take a holistic approach to the Maverick’s time spent. It makes me feel more in-touch with my Maverick and gives me plenty of opportunities to improvise and even affect the world around my character in ways that often get handwaved by other games. 

Overall, this game is pretty easy to pick up, and the minimum requirements to play can easily be achieved through online die rollers and even online decks of cards.  The character sheet is not overwhelming to navigate and once Players get a rhythm for how they will be solving problems and dodging the Wyrd, the game takes on another layer of conversation. The Trailboss and Mavericks work out what’s happening through dynamic roleplay more often than scouring their character sheet to see what they “can do.” Huckleberry is a game that sticks to its guns throughout with brutal and evocative illustrations by George Sellas and a stellar layout and graphic design by Nathan D. Paoletta. I think Huckleberry is a cool “Roleplay Forward” RPG with a lot of good flavors, a little crunch, and plenty of player options. Steven Alexander is joined by Leah Alexander and Jeff Baker in writing, editing and producing a unique and punchy Indie RPG. This is the type of work that inspires me and my writing here on the Ars Fabula newsletter and I would happily recommend you give Huckleberry a fair shake.

Once again, this game is currently in Early Access and available on DrivethruRPG, for those ready to dive in at a fair price point of $19.99 for the PDF. However, if you like what you see and want to follow the development of the game or get a chance to play it with other fans, you can visit www.huckleberryrpg.com.

Thank you for joining me in this Review of Huckleberry by Steven Alexander, I’d love to hear from you! Have you tried Huckleberry or heard of it before? What do you like or dislike about this Indie RPG?