Supplements

Now Live! Quill Quest: Outlaw's Tale

Lucas Asher

Feb 9, 2024 • 3 min read

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Note: I'm publishing this post a few days early. I try to release on Mondays. However, when publishing on DriveThruRPG, there's normally a couple days delay between uploading the project and when it is cleared to be made public, particularly as a new seller. I uploaded the product on Thursday, thinking it would be made public in time for Monday's blog post... only for it to go public faster than I expected. To make sure everyone has access, and so that purchasers can actually read about the historical inspiration of the product, I'm pushing this post out on Friday, 2/9, and there won't be a Monday 2/12 post as that is when this was supposed to go live.

My newest product is now available for download on Itch.io and DriveThruRPG. The product is Pay-What-You-Want on both sites, but any amount you're willing to pay is hugely appreciated – your purchases support the upkeep of the site and allow me to continue sharing my homebrew publicly.

This product expands on the system I reviewed last week (definitely go back and read that if you're new to the blog). Quill Quest builds out a "campaign mode" storyline for Quill, a letter-writing, single-player RPG. The product will average 5 letters, though there are a total of 8 different scenarios, allowing for the ability to replay the game with an entirely different story and outcome – even more than Quill naturally allows you, by giving you the chance to have different letter focuses.

Please note that the core game, Quill, is required for building characters but is also Pay-What-You-Want. You can find the core game on DriveThruRPG or Itch.io.

Historical Inspiration

The story of Quill Quest is inspired by any number of reported raids from the American West. I intentionally allowed the player to pick their target, giving a lot of flexibility in terms of inspiration. It could be a bank robbery, like the James-Younger gang's raid on Northfield, MN; it could be a stagecoach robbery, like the stagecoach robberies of Black Bart; or it could be something completely original.

The core letter recipients, however, are generally based on real figures or combinations of real figures. Judge Brenner is loosely based on Sheriff Johnny Behan, who was allegedly in league with the gang of outlaws that formed the opposition to Wyatt Earp in Tombstone and who was known for his corruption. Joe Blackwood, the gunslinger whose loyalty to your cause is dubious, is inspired by Wild Bill Hickok, who variously served as both an outlaw and a marshal.

Missouri Thom is an original invention; outlaws in the Wild West did not have a steering authority figure and were, generally speaking, a rather disparate group. However, Thom is included for the sake of guiding and initiating the narrative. The Widow Madge is likewise not a particularly specific individual but is instead meant as a stand-in for the incredibly important and often overlooked role that women played in the settlement of the frontier, both criminal and law-abiding. Sheriff Jones is also not inspired by a specific sheriff, but is generally meant as a stand-in for the Western trope of the doggedly pursuing marshal; if I were to pick a specific individual to cite as inspiration, I'd likely choose Wyatt Earp.

Final Words

This is a short post because the bulk of the writing on the product is simply in the product. Please head over to Itch.io or DriveThruRPG to download Quill Quest: the Outlaw's Tale – it is pay-what-you-want, so feel free to check it out for free and then go back and donate whatever you think is fair if you enjoy the product. And let me know your thoughts, either in reviews or in comments on this post! If people enjoy this, I'd definitely be interested in making additional Quill Quest products down the line.

Thank you again for supporting Veritas Tabletop!