Im a big fan of a lot of games (Which is why I have this website honestly), that goes double for games with unique settings and very few are as unique as Gunslinger Knights. It’s a game that is a bit weird but wholly wonderful. Part post-apocalypse, part 1980s cartoon, part Arthurian legend, it holds something for everyone who has even the slightest inclination for high octane fun.

The Elevator Pitch

Gunslinger Knights is a game about dimension hopping Arthurian Knights traveling across a medieval world on magical motorcycles fighting for a pacifist people against necromantic agents of chaos who have started to invade a world destroyed by a magical apocalypse. I know that sounds like a lot (and it is in some cases) but it plays a lot more fluid than you might imagine. As well, the Cypher system allows for some amazing scene setting and introduction of incredible moments, which we will talk about and I may write a whole article on what you should be stealing from Cypher if you’re not playing it!

What is Gunslinger Knights?

Let’s start with a quick overview of the plot line. Our player characters are knights from Castle True, an interdimensional realm that’s the last solace of a people whose world was destroyed. They have made a vow to protect a new land (Called Sancara) from a threat called “The Crawling Deep”. In this duty, the knights wield their blessed weapons and drive their crafted steeds across Sancara, upholding their vows to protect these peaceful people.

They utilize two magical artifacts (The Dreamed Blade and The Silvered Throne) that keep the castle safe and above a place called “The Stair Across Souls” (a literal interdimensional highway where you can drive your bike across the stars to new dimensions). These two artifacts are used in the creation of Knights Blessed Weapons (the guns hand forged for each knight with a sliver of power from the Dreamed Blade) and their Crafted Steeds, which are made from a sliver of power from the Silvered Throned. These two artifacts lend magical power to these two items that each knight has forged to their specification. This is one of the cooler aspects of the game, where each character gets to fully customize their weapon and motorcycle with unique abilities. They even grow with the characters, advancing as they do with better and better abilities.

The stories tend to be focused on knightly quests, fighting huge chaos monsters, saving villages from hordes of lesser monsters and of course, the search for powerful artifacts (including a Grail, because you have to have a GRAIL!). Beginning adventures tend to be the knights escorting Sancarans across their blasted plains to deliver life saving food or medicine to distant villages. Knights tend to battle the Crawling Deep wherever the Sancarans gather. Sancarans are also more or less defenseless, swearing off all kinds of violence since their people survived as close to an apocalypse as you can have while still having some kind of surviving population. They have seen the horrors of war and want nothing more to do with it. This is also why the Knights have sworn to protect them, seeing this oath as something similar to theirs for keeping people safe from outside entities pushing into different dimensions.

There is also a horror angle for those looking for such things in their games with the introduction of a collection of beings known as the “Veen”. These creatures are kind of a cross between a Mindflyer and Lich. They have a telepathic language that makes them wholly alien to anyone else who doesn’t and their skill of necromancy is top notch, making themselves immortal deathless creatures who can command the dead and flesh like no other. They also have a kind of “alien” like tendency to steal livestock and people for their vile experiments trying to understand people and things via ripping them apart. They also need fuel for their necromantic armies so this gives the knights a very easy black and white kind of threat. They range in power from some more dangerous early game menaces who can throw waves of squishy packs of creatures at them to being able to craft city sized nightmares that can fill the end game with every kind of horror you can imagine to throw at your players. I personally have always enjoyed villains who can play a longer game, but can craft new threats to constantly invent new problems for your players to solve. Some even have lich like powers where if they die they will come back into being some place else ready to strike again once they have recovered.

Suggestions for running Gunslinger Knights

1. Always include weaker swarms of enemies with bigger threats
   1. The PCs will all have ranged weapons with good ranges. Anytime they drive up on bigger threats (who usually Melee) they will have a good chance of chewing them up before they can even attack. It’s recommended to shield larger enemies with swarms of little enemies. It also makes the players fill significantly more powerful when they can lay out several of the smaller enemies a turn.
2. The PCs Crafted Steeds aren’t invincible 2. Make sure when area damages hit PCs that they bikes take some damage too. Repairing steeds and finding parts outside of Castle True means they will need to visit other landmarks held by the Knights. It’s also a skill a lot of players will take, giving them good chances to use it.
3. Plan some 80s action movie sequences to give your players chances to do some crazy motorcycle action 3. The setting is kind of strange to have this blend of tech and old medieval setting. Give your players a chance to jump over stone walls with hay carts left at an angle or have them drive where most people wouldn’t consider. All PCs are skilled bike riders and some are incredibly skilled depending on what foci they take. Make sure to lean into it as it is one of the exciting parts of the game.
4. Have NPCs treat your PCs with more reverence than you may normally give them 4. The player characters are the few surviving knights of an order who have made an oath to protect the people. NPC Sancarans should be in general awe and treat them like the hero’s they need to be. I usually lean into the almost Warhammer 40k treatment of Space Marines. When they arrive in castle true, people should take their bikes and begin working on them with holy reverence. Make sure to have NPCs offer them small meals or gifts when they go out of their way to help the people. They are heavy metal saviors coming to a world who thought they were lost. Play that up.
5. Split your time with your PCs helping Sancarans with their issues and exploring the world that was. 5. The player’s primary job should be keeping Sancara safe from the chaos and monsters always around the next corner. The world is always and constantly in threat from these monsters. Make sure the PCs feel stretched thin from time to time. They should be looking for ways of stopping this threat in a larger picture but not lose track of the individuals whose lives they have changed in charging in to save them. 6. This is a really tricky balance, so don’t go overboard in either direction, but as much as they are searching the old world for answers, they should be equally as aware of the threats facing the people every day.
6. Make the Sancarans worth saving. 7. One of the things your players may get frustrated with is the Sancarans not wanting to take up arms against the threats they now face. They take their oath deadly seriously and most are willing to die to keep it. That can get tiring for some PCs who are bristling with weapons and are walking bits of devastation. One of the things I have tried to do when running this is ensure to show how thankful the Sancarans are for their new knights. Having festivals, food, drink, etc for the knights and treating them like the hero’s they are. I also try to play up some places where the PCs travel that have been touched by the “last war”. Showing them graveyards that span miles, twisted and destroyed places where food does not grow and animals are too afraid to dwell. The Sancarans have seen a war where mad Magi could unmake continents and rain down death in ways that’s almost indescribable. That kind of horror is lasting and traumatic.
7. Allow the knights small victories and show them making lasting change 8. In a game of constant battles, sometimes the Knights should be able to see what they have paid for in their blood and pain. Let the knights help establish strongholds for some cities. Allowing them to see new children brought into this world begins to amount to something important because they saved them from a Horror. Have the Sancarans erect statues of fallen knights who died protecting them. Have cities expand and build new resources for your knights to be able to use or be offered. These kinds of things show that what they are doing is making a difference. This is vital, otherwise this setting can feel so utterly hopeless.

What Shines the Brightest

Some of the brighter spots of the source book are the details laid out about Sancara (and it’s history) and it’s people are very well developed. The collection of powers for the PCs holy weapons and steeds really leans into the feel of the game and honestly were some of the most exciting powers my PCs got to use during their adventures. Every creature mentioned has a good image to go along with it, this makes it super easy to put into online games or make handouts to show your players when encoutering new and terrifying creatures.

Some rougher spots

Not all powers are made equal. One power quickly became the central focus where everyone rushed for it because of how wildly powerful it was called “Knights Grace”. Some powers may need to be tweaked or refined just a bit to be a tad more balanced, but otherwise, nothing that came across entirely game breaking but some became wildly useful in nearly every circumstance. Another thing I wish they had done a little bit more on was discussing and showing some aspects of magic in the world. There are always questions of how much a character can do with “Basics of Magic”. I believe this has been left open to allow the GM to tell whatever story he wants with it, but i’d love some more guidance on it.

Final Thoughts

The Gunslinger Knights setting at first can sound so silly and cartoonish on its surface but I promise you, if you dig into the story and get your hands on the deeper elements of the game, it has the ability to be as dramatic and heartfelt as any other game out there. Ultimately, players want a game where they can become powerful and be heroes and there is absolutely no shortage of that in this game. Cypher also offers the GM the ability to ensure that drama is not only encouraged but rewarded with in-game currencies for upping that drama and encouraging it at every corner. GM intrusions allow the GM to finally get those cinematic moments without making the players feel like they are being punished or that they had a choice removed from them. Instead they will begin to seek those moments because of how Cypher rewards them for it. I talked a bit about this in my Old Gods of Appalachia review and I will do a Cypher deep dive and what you perhaps should take from it in general for all of your games going forward.

I cannot recommend this game setting enough, it has quickly become one of my favorites and I hope you give it a chance at your tables to see if its the game for you.

Where to Purchase

• Preview Game (Free) - PDF - DriveThruRPG
• Full Game - PDF - DriveThruRPG
• Physical Book - Monte Cook Games

Final Words

I hope everyone has a great new year, here is to new games, new friends and more chances to tell stories to our friends to help them find stories that change lives!

-D