The Wild West is an old and well-explored setting. Despite the fact that the historical period it corresponds to only lasted for around fifty years, thousands upon thousands of stories have been set in America’s dry frontier as it expanded westward. Just like other mediums of storytelling, TTRPGs have a proud tradition of Western-theming, taking many different approaches tothe trappings that make a Western a Western.
In some ways, these games are similar to one another, but each of them has at least a little bit of something to set it apart, so saddle up, partner, as we get set to ride out west in some of the best wild west Tabletop Games out there.
Updated July 24, 2025, by Davis Collins:As noted at the end of this article’s original introduction, a lot of the games on this list are relatively similar to one another. There are some outliers, like Western Legends and Bang, but most of the items on this list are TTRPGs with relatively long-term commitments required to play them. We’ve come back to this list to expand it and make it a bit more diverse.
Deadwood 1876
Choose between teamwork and selfishness
This two-phase strategic game casts players as old-west outlaws and tasks them with burglary and murder as they struggle to balance teamwork and selfishness.
Deadwood is a simple but strategically interesting game about old west outlawhood. It comes in two phases. In the first phase, teams compete to collect the most gold by securing a variety of safes. The team with the most gold is the winner of the first phase, and, once that’s decided, the team’s members proceed to the final showdown where they must duel each other to the death for the final victory.
This game hasvery interesting social dynamics, with players forced to balance teamwork and the need to collect the most gold with the ultimate need to save their best resources for the final showdown. This makes for loads of interesting strategic choices, and all that conniving makes you really feel like a slimy old-west outlaw.
Deadlands Core Rulebook
You can’t do weird west much better than the weird west does
The definitive classic of Wild West TTRPGs and the origin of the term “Weird West,” this bizarre, steampunky fantasy take on the Old West carries traditional Western flavor mixed with and enhanced by paranormal strangeness and more than a tinge of supernatural horror.
Deadlands is probably the definitive Wild West TTRPG. This historical fantasy game is set in the “weird west,” an alternate history take on the wild west where strange paranormal forces lurk in the frontier. These forces unleash supernatural evils on ordinary people, but they also power steampunk technology that propels the inhabitants of the weird west to new technological heights.
The current edition of this game, published in 2021, is based on the Savage Worlds system, which is compatible with other Savage Worlds games, meaning you can mix this setting with other sourcebooks, and use the horror, fantasy, and sci-fi elements found within them to make your version of the weird west even weirder!
Colt Express: 10th Anniversary
The 3D train makes for a unique and cool gameboard
This product is the 10th-anniversary edition of the train-robbing, gun-slinging adventure game Colt Express, which casts the players as train robbers competing with each other to score the most loot.
Old West outlaws really are an untrustworthy bunch. Even when they take on a collaborative task like robbing a train, they can’t help but compete against each other, or, at least, that’s the vision offered by this game. Colt Express casts the players as train robbers. Players must use the cards in their hand to move around the train and move hazards, like the sheriff, in ways that disadvantage others and get them more gold.
The most special thing about this game, though, is its board. This game is played on a 7-car 3D model train. It looks really cool, and gives this game a sense of presence that not a lot of tabletop games can match. If you want to rob a train (in a board game) this product is for you.
Last Chance Saloon
About as immersive as a game can be
This fully scripted, immersive game brings six players through an engaging murder mystery, casting each of them as a complex and interesting character with a detailed background.
Though it lacks the mechanical complexity and narrative freedom of a full TTRPG, this game is, perhaps, the most immersive item on this list.In previous lists, we’ve recommended “escape room in a box” titles, which consist of a series of puzzles for players to go through. One adjacent concept to the escape room is the murder mystery dinner, and this product gives you the chance to experience that in your very own home.
It’s a complex experience. You’ll need to gather the right group for it, and it’s essentially a one-time thing, as after your first playthrough, you’ll know the ending. However, the experience is an extremely fulfilling one.
Shooting Iron: Wild West Roleplaying Game
Good for classic Wild West action
For those wanting a less weird Western experience, Shooting Iron is a non-supernatural game designed to recreate classic Western stories while being simple and easy to learn.
As stated above, the most well-known Wild West TTRPG is Deadlands, which is full of supernatural strangeness. However, not everyone who wants to play a Wild West game wants to involve the supernatural. If you’re looking for a well-crafted and easy-to-learn game for a realistic Western campaign, Shooting Iron has you covered.
This game’s simple, easily learned mechanics are grounded in a familiar d20 system reminiscent ofD&D, but designed to facilitate realistic western action and allow you to play as a number of classic Western character types. Shooting Iron is an exciting game that gives you everything you need to put yourself and your friends into a classic western story.
Grit and Bullets, 2nd Edition
Good for maintaining a gritty tone
Perhaps the “realism” you want doesn’t stop at the lack of supernatural elements. Perhaps you’re looking for a gritty and grounded experience, where characters are fragile and injuries can be devastating. If that’s the case, Grit and Bullets is the game you’re looking for.
The Wild West has an interesting relationship with realism. Westerns generally aspire to be gritty and bittersweet, which some would say makes them lean toward realism, but these stories are also defined by tropes and archetypal characters that play a massive role in making westerns westerns, and that often have little relationship with historical reality.
If your table is looking for a more grounded, gritty, realistic experience, Grit and Bullets is designed to facilitate that. In this game, things go wrong, injuries matter, and being shot screws you up for a long time. The game does a good job balancing this realism with simplicity, and avoids being bogged down by its mechanics even as it does a great job feeling raw and deadly.
Western Legends
Strive to become a legend!
This Western tabletop game with RPG elements casts players in the role of aspiring “legends” of the Old West, having them compete to gain renown by accomplishing impressive feats.
Western Legends is a tabletop game that casts its players in the role of personages competing for renown in the Old West. They gain this renown by accomplishing a variety of goals.
Over the course of the game, they are required to choose whether to operate as an upstanding citizen or an outlaw, with both options having their own benefits and drawbacks. They work to accomplish impressive feats within their chosen role, until, eventually, the player who has built the most powerful legend for themselves wins.
Bang 4th Edition
Who’s the Outlaw?
This hidden identity game casts players as sheriffs, deputies, outlaws, and renegades and charges them with identifying and eliminating players of the opposing types while facing off against a variety of western threats.
Bang! isa hidden identity tabletop card game. Each player is assigned a role: There’s a sheriff, a renegade, one or more outlaws, and possibly some deputies. The sheriff’s identity is public, but everyone else’s role is secret, and the game tasks the sheriff with identifying his allies and enemies, while outlaws and renegades work to eliminate him and each other.
This is a simple, smooth game whose hidden identity mechanics nevertheless give it great roleplay potential. At the start, every player will be trying to get the sheriff to think they’re a deputy, even as the outlaws seek to identify each other and the renegade schemes to eliminate them all.
Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos in the Wild West
The Wild West Meets Cthulhu
Perfect for those looking for a horror experience, Down Darker Trails is the Western setting for Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu horror RPG. Though not a standalone RPG in its own right, this book gives you everything you need to build Western characters and adventures for a Call of Cthulhu game.
We’ve taken a moment to explore some more grounded and realistic western titles, but now it’s time to get back to the strange and magical. In fact, this is the weirdest game yet. Not just Deadlands weird. Even weirder, all the way to theCthulhu mythos. Conceived by legendary horror author H P Lovecraft, the Cthulhu mythos is a world defined by its supremely powerful terrors, and the helplessness and insignificance of humanity in the face of their absolute, world-ending might.
Though the Wild West feels like a very different setting than the strange New England towns in which most of Lovecraft’s stories take place, the two periods are only around a decade apart. As a result, it’s not that hard to make Cthulhu work in a western setting. It’s just a matter of scooping up all those horrors from New England and plopping them down on the American frontier.
Haunted West
Full of social commentary
Set firmly in the aftermath of the Civil War, this variant on the weird west places a special emphasis on real history, despite its supernatural elements, and the relationship between its events and the strange happenings of its fictional world.
From R. Talsorian Games, the creators of Cyberpunk Red, Haunted West represents an alternate take on the “weird west” concept. Many of the games on this list have been defined by their relationship with realism, be they dark and gritty or strange and otherworldly. In a sense, this game is also defined by its realism, but of a more social sort.
Thisgame is full of supernatural horror,and its mechanics are not especially brutal or gritty, but it deals fearlessly with many of the darkest social realities of the real-life Wild West, which more upbeat and cinematic games avoid acknowledging. Those who can’t stand “politics” in their games will want to skip this one, but those who find a dash of political commentary in their entertainment appealing will get a lot out of Haunted West.
Dracula’s America: Shadows of the West
It’ll win the battle with boredom every time
Dracula’s America takes place in the Wild West of an alternate history version of America, where Dracula (yes, as in the vampire) has become President of the United States. This skirmish wargame places players up against a variety of gothic monsters as they fight to survive the supernatural threats that have come to plague the nation as a result.
This game takes place in an alternate historygrounded in early vampire fiction. In the aftermath of the civil war, Count Dracula assassinated president Lincoln, enthralled the Senate, and took America under his control. Under this regime, a wide variety of horrific creatures are wreaking havoc, and many are fleeing west to escape the vampire’s influence, only to find his reach extends farther than they can run. This is a skirmish wargame with TTRPG elements, where each player controls a posse of Western adventurers.
Unlike many such games, this game is meant to be played over the course of a longer campaign, lasting many sessions, which takes place over the course of your posse’s career. The result is a long-term storytelling experience similar to a TTRPG, but with wargame mechanics. If you’re a wargamer who’s thirsty for longer, deeper stories, or if this game’s absolutely bonkers premise is as appealing to you as it is to us, this game is for you.
FAQ
What is considered the Wild West?
Like many things in history, the exact boundaries of the “Wild West” are fuzzy. Generally, it refers to the American western frontier during the late 19th century, the period where the United States of America was in the process of expanding westward across what is now the continental United States. Precisely when it began and ended is debatable, as is the case with many historical time periods.
Why is it called the Wild West?
The relative lack of centralized authority and law enforcement made the western frontier a far less orderly place than the already-incorporated areas of the United States. That lack of order made it “wild” compared to the more developed east.
