OSR Review & Commentary On Wretched Country second edition Rpg By The Red Room

 Wretched Country second edition hit the shelves at the Red Room & it's a great Old West style of OSR game. And Wretched Country has all of the tools that a DM and his or her players need to get into the middle of a Wretched West game. 

"Welcome to the gritty world of Wretched Country, a place where the lines of morality blur and heroes are few and far between. This is the second edition of our venture into the wild frontier of the Western genre. Inspired by the raw, lawless world depicted in spaghetti Westerns, Wretched Country allows players to immerse themselves in the roles of anti-hero characters, roving the expansive plains and lawless towns of the Old West. While the great American cowboy tales hold a special place, we’ve taken our cues from the European take on the genre, one already teeming with a cast of roughened rogues and desperate outcasts."

"In order to navigate the treacherous terrain of second edition Wretched Country, you will need the core rule book for the Wretched system, Wretched Role-Playing Game. It provides the backbone for the game, laying out the key rules, mechanics, and structure that define the Wretchedverse experience. However, Wretched Country is adaptable and versatile, and it can be meshed with another set of rules (280 pages)"

So about four days ago The Red Room sent me a copy of  Wretched Country second edition. And though I've been reading through Wretched Country and wanting to run it. The weather last night changed everyone's plans with flash floods and rain. Lots and lots of rain. No matter  Wretched Country second edition does quite a few a few things right for an OSR style Old Western game. Why? Because Wretched Country second edition favors the outlaw and antiheroes; "As you may already know the Wretched system rewards characters for selfish actions, underlining the gritty, survival-of-the-fittest ethos that's inherent to the setting. It's a world where trust is hard-earned, alliances are fleeting, and everyone is out for themselves. But since we have added Virtues to our Wretched alignment, you can opt to play this in traditional white-hat American Western mode. This book also introduces a mini-campaign setting, Hellstone. This ominous locale, steeped in legend and strife, serves as backdrop for Western adventures and weird-West scenarios alike. So saddle up, strap on your six-shooter, and immerse yourself in the world of Wretched Country, where the only law is survival and fortune favours the bold. It's time to write your own tale in the annals of the Wild West's most wretched outlaws" 
The whole cloth system of Wretched Country is centered around the anti heroes & outlaws of the  Spaghetti Western gerne; "From approximately 1964 through 1978, Spaghetti Westerns reinvigorated the waning popularity of the Western genre across Europe, sparking a revival that lasted nearly fifteen years." 
And all of the systems within Wretched Country second edition are central around the American West of the  Spaghetti Western campaign in spades from both the American Indian and the Western settler. And let me tell you this is an adult Western with a bent towards the Weird! 
The usual virtue and vices system  of character creation has been enhanced for  Wretched Country second edition & incorporates many of the innovations from the  Wretched Darkness rpg. What Wretched Country does is present a very deadly and twisted depiction of the West where the supernatural is both alive and very well defined. 
We've got two hundred and eighty pages of well done OSR adult gaming on par with some of the better Kickstarter games in the OSR. The editing is solid, the PC classes well done, the campaign world of the OSR oozes from the pages, and even the A.I. artwork is actually well done. 
Magick here in  Wretched Country second edition really steps up the shamanic character class and it's realibility. And it does this with a whole cloth newer shamanisitc version of the Wretched style magic system. Then there's the 'Wanted' level and much more. Everything within  Wretched Country second edition is molded around the Wild West as a living and viable campaign settting. 
And no plae is this more evident then within Hellstone the campaign setting town in  Wretched Country second edition:"
Located just 50 miles from the Mexican border, Hellstone emerged as a perilous frontier town in the mid-1860s. From its very inception, it harbored an air of danger, perpetuated in part by the presence of corrupt and inept sheriffs who failed to establish law and order." And Hellstone has a full array of interesting NPC's, locations, adventure hooks. and more. Wretched Crountry has a full line of adventure points and places with every rank and file of Old Western NPC and PC options available. Wretched Country Second edition has the intricate web of nefarious adversaries and factions, and  an array of plot hooks and game mastering hints.Along with a boat load new and very tightly packed material for both itself and other Wretchedverse rpg's. I highly recommend Wretched Country second edition!