Cowboys with Big Hearts

2023 Origins Award for Excellence in Game Design and Quality for 2D Art & Illustration (art director Brennen Reece)

Cowboys With Big Hearts is a roleplaying game for 2-6 players and about 2-3 hours about the myth of the west, and in true spaghetti western fashion there will be sun-bleached suffering and stroboscopic carnage.

But there's a twist— instead of a playing tough, competent character, you play a chuckaboo on death's doorstep. This will be their last ride, no matter what, and all you can hope for is to make it count. The stakes are high and justice calls—do they have what it takes to right an outrageous wrong? No, they do not...

but they are going to fight like hell to make it right just the same.
 

A PROMISE MADE IS A DEBT UNPAID

1900. Sunny Slope, Arizona Territory.

We came here to die, but here we are strapping on our barking irons with a bunch of other pox-ridden, busted up wrecks. It is a puzzlement.

What could compel a posse of diseased chuckaboos on death’s front porch to saddle up for one last hard desert ride? Well, it’s a complicated ball of yarn, but at this end—the end we are holding in our sweaty hands—is an outrage, and at the other end of the string is the Death brothers.

We’re going to find the Death brothers and have a serious conversation about right and wrong if it’s the last thing we do.

Which it will be.

What's Included?

The printed edition is a 47 page, 6x9" booklet game that includes the rules for the game and an alternate setting for replayability.

Printable handouts for play are available free online.

Requirements

• Participants: 2-6 players
• Time: 2-3 hours
• Things you need: some pencils, a coin and the printed handouts.

Content warning:

Adult language, death, chronic illness, drug abuse, violence, horror