Cowboys & Clichés

Keep a pistol by your side: something wicked this way rides

Seven gunslingers, determined to save a doomed town — or die trying. Seven actors, voicing the characters of “Cowboys & Clichés,” the hit streaming tabletop campaign. Two enthusiastic GMs. Five award nominations. Three hundred thousand adoring fans. And behind the curtain, one big secret...

Cowboys & Clichés is a LARP about a team of actors playing a tabletop game where the stakes are higher than anyone expected.

Long Description

Rootin’, tootin’, toil ‘n shootin’,
Fire burn and bandits lootin’,
Cooking pot and can o’ beans,
Wide-brim hat and denim jeans,
Ford the river, aim ahead,
Hesitate, and you’ll be dead,
Keep a pistol by your side: something wicked this way rides

The year is 1874. On the western frontier, in the town of Grace, the mood is grim. The Red River bandits will return soon, backed by forces even more sinister. Right now, seven hired guns are the only thing standing between this town and complete destruction. Clean those guns, check those booby traps, patch up that barricade. Night is about to fall, and not everyone will live to see tomorrow.

It started as a sort of joke, but Cowboys & Clichés has become one of this year’s hottest podcasts. Run by a group of professional performers, this streaming tabletop campaign tells the story of an adventuring party in the Old West, using dice rolls and character sheets.

Twenty episodes ago, you were seven scoundrels, watching your own backs and shooting at every shadow that shivered in the night. Now, you’re the Seven Amigos, a team of hardened gunfighters who trust each other with their lives. But the season finale records tonight, and the biggest challenge is yet to come.

Ask any fan, though, and they’ll tell you that C&C isn’t about the cliffhangers, or the fights. It’s about the people, that charming cast of misfits who feel larger than life, with something supernatural brewing just below the surface. Of course, that designation might describe the players as well...

In this LARP, you’ll be playing an actor, who is themselves playing a gunslinger character in a tabletop game. Most of the action will take place around the game table, though not everything (or everyone) is what it seems.

System: Expect a hybrid of LARP and tabletop, as you play the players in a tabletop campaign. The mechanics are extremely simple, designed to focus on roleplaying, using a combination of single dice rolls and character catchphrases. Players with no prior tabletop RPG experience should fit in just fine. This game is designed to work equally well as an introduction to LARP for tabletop players vs. as an introduction to tabletop for LARPers

Setting: Cowboys & Clichés takes place in the same universe as Space Quest!, and uses the same tabletop mechanics. But no knowledge of the other game is necessary or important, and you don’t need to worry about major spoilers. And unlike Space Quest!, this is a shorter game that takes place entirely around a single table.

Gender stuff: All characters have been written (and will be cast) with no gender in mind. That said, the “Wild West” was exceptional in US history for the number of LGBT people who made a name for themselves on the frontier. We didn’t write any heavy romance or gender-specific plot into the game, but players can assume that both their actor character and gunslinger character will be accepted by the others for whatever gender expression or sexuality you play them as.