#anyway if you havent already you should absolutely pick up BXLLET CLIP

[rathayibacter]

Let’s Talk Aftermarkets!

so Ostermad’s excellent magazine BXLLET CLIP is out now, and I wanted to talk a bit about my contribution! i wrote three modular tools called Aftermarkets, designed to amplify or fill gaps in the original game. BXLLET’s only ten pages long, so i definitely left a lot on the cutting room floor when making it. Aftermarkets felt like a fun way to recycle some of those concepts!

for those who dont know, BXLLET is a post-apocalyptic cowboy game about violence, and the role it plays in helping the world rebuild. players are wandering vagrants who grow stronger the more bullets they carry, and can always kill with a single shot. the game’s then not about *whether* you can kill someone, but what’ll happen if you do.

when I was writing the Aftermarkets, I wanted to make sure they each contributed something to that core idea, either pushing games towards engaging with those ideas or putting wrinkles in the way they usually play out.

first up, we’ve got Bullet Rations, a guide for GMs on how to distribute bullets. the number of bullets available in a game has a huge influence on its tone, with less bullets pushing a session towards a quieter, more calculating state, and more offering the potential for frenetic hyperviolence. however, the base game never offered a ton of support around this. i wanted to make a system that would be easy to incorporate and give some more overt guidance around this for people new to the system, but that’s still backgrounded enough to allow for weirder games with different philosophies around bullets than mine. my favorite part of this system is that, since it puts a cap on the number of bullets available in any given session, and that cap is shared between PCs and NPCs, players looking to consolidate power are naturally gonna become more and more distrustful of everyone around them.

second up, Running Beasts! my personal favorite. Beasts are dangerous and mysterious, and can range anywhere from “weird post-apoc set dressing” to “major existential threat.” this Aftermarket’s designed to give GMs and players some handholds when telling stories about Beasts, keeping them serious and dangerous while also fleshing out why they do what they do and (hopefully) building some sympathy. my favorite part here is how many new ways it gives players to resolve an encounter with a Beast besides “kill it to death,” and how some of those solutions can carry serious consequences.

and lastly, there’s Shooting First. i was anxious about writing this one cuz i dont want BXLLET to turn into a game of tactical combat, but having some sharp, simple rules for resolving face-offs that also carry with them some devastating consequences felt very in-line with the game. i love how there’s some really heartbreaking stories you can tell with this one, and i cant wait to play with it myself.

thanks for reading! check these all out in BXLLET CLIP, alongside a bunch of other phenomenal modules from different ttrpg creators, as well as a fun interview between Ellie and myself!