by RockyMountainNavy, 20 July 2026
“…the Acid Western differs from the Weird Western. Rather than the strange being a constant and undeniable presence of the setting, it acts as contrast to the everyday and mundane. It’s not uncommon for a story to begin somwhere completely ordinary and turn progressively bizarre. In fact it is to be expected.” – Frontier Scum, p. 12.
Such is the introduction to Frontier Scum: A Game About Helter-Skelter Gunfights in Guttermucked Streets and Dying 2d6 Days Later by Karl Druid. A second subtitle, “A game about wanted outlaws making their mark on a lost frontier” is perhaps a simpler, if not as thematic, description of this roleplaying game (RPG) published through Free League Workshop. So grab your six-shooter and saddle up for dark Western adventure.
Free League Publishing was kind enough to bootleg a copy of the new MORE RULEBOOK edition of Frontier Scum: Acid Western Roleplaying to myself through Brant “The Gentleman Rambler” of The Armchair Dragoons to allow a look-see. The ad copy certainly sounds interesting:
FRONTIER SCUM is a rules-lite Acid Western roleplaying game. A self-destructive, violent and LSD-infused take on Spaghetti Westerns, about wanted outlaws making their mark on an unreal Lost Frontier. Probably getting shot before having the chance to shoot. A rough-and-tumble world of insatiable greed where scum live one slug from the grave. Inspired by such things as El Topo, Dead Man, and Bone Tomahawk. (Free League website)
When Free League says, “rules-lite” what they ain’t telling y’all is that Frontier Scum uses a down-home game system inspired by Mörk Borg. That game, which first published in 2020, runs on a version of Dungeons & Dragons from WotC (the less kindly bout these parts call them “Rot-C”) that is stripped down like Lili von Shtupp in the Rock Ridge Saloon (“It’s true!”).
What set Mörk Borg apart from other RPGs when it first appeared was the layout that at least one blogger refers to as, “balls-to-the-wall skater magazine chaos.” Indeed, it was the stunning artwork and layout of Pirate Borg that introduced me to the Mörk Borg family of games back in 2023:
The first aspect of Pirate Borg that jumped out at me is the artwork. The game is written and illustrated by Luke Stratton, also known as Limithron, who is known for his pirate-themed battle maps. The illustrations—all of them from page one to the end—are incredible and highly evocative of the theme. It is a real shame that all I have in hand right now is the pdf version of the book (and some review material from Free League thanks to Brant at Armchair Dragoons) because the two-page spreads are B-EAU-TI-FUL. The artwork does the heavy lifting here; you don’t read the theme as much as you visually immerse yourself in it. Pirate Borg is so graphically beautiful I am very, very tempted to order a physical copy just so I can gaze upon it! (RockyMountainNavy Gamer, 19 September 2023)
My 2025 iteration of Mörk Borg was Black Powder and Brimstone, reviewed right here on The Armchair Dragoons.
Frontier Scum uses a somewhat similar helter-skelter layout as other Mörk Borg games but, in a certain nod to the theme, the entire book is in black and white and laid out much like a newsprint. Frontier Scum leans so heavily into the Old West theme that the deadtree version is a 68 page book with stitch binding and a heavy cardstock cover. Which is to say y’all need to skedaddle over to the Free League general store and score youself a proper book, not one of them-thar digi-tall makings.
Perhaps the best way to ‘splain to y’all what Frontier Scum be is to make a outlaw. It’s real simple and don’t take much ed-u-ma-cation to do, just follow the steps and tables in the law-book. I ain’t going to tell you all the secret sauce; for that you gotta ante-up for your own book, you hear?
- Abilities
- GRIT [0]
- SLICK [1]
- WITS [0]
- LUCK [-1]
- Hit Points [2]
- You are an outlaw scum with roundabout schemes and a wooden eye wanted dead or alive for the crime of wanton rustling.
- You was a oilfield grunt and good at fighting fires after, somehow, the oil field caught fire. You’s also good with dynamite, though you swear you had nuttin’ to do with that well exploding. You also learned all about them new-fangled bi-cycles but only because they killed your old horse. Folks recognize you with your custom stitched thick overalls (-1 damage) and that 10-inch drill bit you often use in a fight as well as that hand-cranked flashlight. Other than that you got just a canteen and 3 silver pieces in you pocket. After that bi-cycle-ass rode into your horse and broke its leg, you now have a Riding Horse [HP 6, Morale 6] that likes imported liquor with a brown coat and knowing eyes named Plunderous Wrench. You is a right-handed shootist with a revolver and the brim of your hat is oil-stained like your fingers. Not many people know your real name, Deadward R. Pyle, but just call you “Dead Bitsticker” for how many scum you holed with that drill bit.
Once you know who you is, it is then onto life—or death—in the Lost Frontier. When you has a problem, you pick up one of them fancy d20 bones and roll that plus one of you’s Abilities against a Difficulty Rating (12 is middling). If you have a skill then you can roll with Advantage (roll two d20, use highest). Each session, you also start with some Aces up your sleeve which you can lay on the table to reroll. If the bones is a natural 20 you also earn a Ace. But if somebody at the table rolls a 1 on their bone, y’all lose all your Aces.
You’s also going need to shoot. When it’s time to draw, pick up a smaller bone (d6) and roll that plus your SLICK to see who goes when. In most fighting, be it with hands or knives or guns, you check GRIT to hit or avoid gettin’ hit. There’s going be times the Game Marshal (GM) might call it a Tough Shot which means you check SLICK. If you bloodied really bad [no Hit Points] you don’t always go into the pine box right away; that all depend on a Death Check.
The Frontier Scum law-book don’t tell ya everything, but is has enough to help you wander the Lost Frontier. There’s law for medicine, hunting and fishing, dealing with others, saloons, even law for how to go on a Bender (what them folks back east call ‘Carousing’).
The MORE RULEBOOK version of Frontier Scum is not just a gazetteer of The Big Nothing and a law-book ‘plaining how to roll bones. It also includes a full adventure, “Escape the Organ Rail” that certainly was not written by that jaw-wagging newspaperman Mark Twain but will still get ya heart a-pumping; that is, until you bleed out.
Life is utterly mundane for most of the Lost Frontier’s inhabitants, without a semblance of the supernatural or fantastical. Ghouls and goblins are stories told around the fire, nothing more. Believing otherwise makes you a superstitious fool in the eyes of society. But weird is out there, and the PCs are more than likely to step right in it. – Frontier Scum, p. 12
And you will bleed out. In Frontier Scum you is a outlaw that is at the end of your rope. If ya ain’t careful, you a going to be swinging from a tree with that rope round you neck.
With Frontier Scum being so easy to make a character and the adventures don’t needing be complicated, this makes a good one-shot Derringer convention game. Folks can mosey up to the poker table, take a seat, and faster than the dealer can cut you a hand you roll bones and have a new outlaw. At that point, it’s up to the Game Marshal to describe the land around you, and your job is to describe how you act about.
Just be ready for a dragging in the weird mud.
The traditional Western celebrates the hero’s journey to freedom and empowerment. The Acid Western drags so-called heroes through the mudslop and guttermuck toward death—or worse. – frontierscum.com
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