How to describe Frontier Scum (2022)? You would be forgiven for thinking it is a Western RPG like Boot Hill, or perhaps a Weird West game like Deadlands. But it is not. It claims to be an Acid Western, which is a film subgenre that I am not terribly familiar with. I think the best way to put it is that Frontier Scum is not set in the historical American West, but rather in the emotional landscape of that time and place. Sometimes that can be weird, but mostly it is ugly, dirty and violent.

The game is Mork Borg-ish. That applies to both system, attitude and, to an extent, aesthetic. Filter Johan Nohr’s design work through 19th century newspaper ads and you’ve got the basic feel. There are tables galore (my favorite is the Wanted table: 1-2 is dead or alive, 3 is dead, 4 is alive) of course, all of which carry a good deal of the game’s world building and humor. It very much seems like watching a Western through a distorted lens.

There are some fun little rules tweaks, too. No armor, or course, but when you’re hit, you can negate damage by having your hat knocked off instead. There’s also Aces, which characters get at the start of a session and on a roll of a natural 20. They can be spent to re-roll a result. Fun thing: if anyone rolls a 1, everyone loses their accumulated Aces. Ha! Another favorite: if you’re Miserable (lacking food, water or sleep) you can’t heal from resting unless you down some of Dr. Panache’s Certified Healthful Bitters. There’s more stuff like that, too, packing a fairly small space of book.

There’s a sizable adventure too, “Escape the Organ Trail,” which has you breaking out of a prison train. It…this is where it really starts to feel like Mork Borg, honestly, as there are mutants galore and the train is powered by a giant heart. It doesn’t fall into the accepted tropes of the Weird West, though and feels surreal, horrible and perhaps a touch metaphorical? Regardless, as a whole, Frontier Scum is an instant classic for me.