Chekhov's Unused Peace-Makin’ Silver Single-Action Sixes

a 36 word TTRPG by @tiiimezombie

v1.1.0 | 2025-09-30

E'rythin' ends, drifter.

You've two remaining anchors, 
each summed in six words.

Ain't neither cut it? 
You fire one've'em sumbitches; 
end whatever vexes you. 
Six shots apiece, right?

Now, go getcha goddam closure, y'hear me?

[ Itchin' for something ace-high (rules, 200 word version) ]

You play a drifter, some poor has-been who's lost just about everything. Once a confident cowboy, now a drunk with a six-shooter. One foot in the grave and the other sliding in fast.

Today, they saw their train tracks ending. With a new perspective, they realize there's one final injustice they have a duty to correct, and on a killer time crunch to boot.

There's always been two things that kept them going through thick and thin. They'll need both, but will it be enough?

Picture them in your mind, geared for one last Job.
Define that Job as a goal and a target. Vengeance against a rival, glory in a tournament, whatever.
Outfit your drifter with two unrelated six word nouns (example: Chekhov's Unused Peace-Makin' Silver Single-Action Six-shooter). Write those Tools down.
Until they die, imagine another problem or opportunity that blocks progress on that Job. Make it personal. Make 'em sweat.
If either Tool directly solves the problem, they ultimately succeed (however messily).
If not, cross out one word from either Tool. They settle things, but it costs them. Their Tools reflect this.
Regardless of success, consequences from their actions should build new problems as they death march.

[ Even more jawing, please (rules, long-form) ]

They say your soul survives as long as other people remember you.
They say the only thing we truly have is each other.
They say nothing of us is original, we're the combined effort of everyone we've ever known.

The mark of a good film character is in strong connections to world and distinctive transmarks that stand out in an audience's mind.
A character that still has something to say, something to accomplish, should be allowed to live, no?
A good character death is as much about them as it is their world.

This is a game about connections.

This is a game about death.

I want you to imagine someone. Someone exceptional. Someone desperate.
It doesn't matter what genre you're thinking; the original idea was a washed-up cowboy. The kind who's 'too old for this kind of thing' when an eager hero wants them out of retirement.
Do they have a name, or are they just [Retired Hero].
I encourage spending time thinking about their look so you can connect with their vibe.
The example in the next section is a cyberpunk Edge Runner, and I imagined xem with a jetpacked form-fitting purple plated metal power-armor. "Wow, that sure is a long time for 'power armor'." Correct.
Your character needs two distinctive traits using six words each. These can be physical, mental, metaphorical, or what have you. If you were to pitch the character is super unique and memorable, they'd need these two major traits to start with.
Write those two features down. Hence,
1. Chekhov's
2. Unused
3. Peace-Makin’
4. Silver
5. Single-Action
6. Six-shooters
Now they need an overarching quest. Something that fits them, ties in with their traits, and more than likely too big for them to solve in one lifetime.
On their quest, they need to run into problems, solve them, and then run into new ones.
The first step for a reformed cowboy might be finding a horse.
Their next might be navigating a specific canyon pathway.
When that's done, they're collecting rumors for where their nemesis was last seen.
You're responsible for making meaningful obstacles for your hero. And to give them challenges they're ill-suited to solve, at least some of the time.
Let's go back to the first example challenge: finding a horse. Could either of those six-word traits help them through (as a binary yes/no)?
- If yes, congrats! Feel free to add complications into your narrative if it wasn't a great fit, this can help it feel fair to the story. A gun might not be your first choice to force open a door or "request" a horse, but it works and gives an interesting complication to bring up later.
- If no, don't worry! You "shoot" the problem down.
  Pay (cross out) one word from either of your character traits. This too solves the immediate problem and may have its own complications.
  It is a dramatic moment too, because you've lost something to get here. A gun might lose its connection to its history. A wedding ring may no longer bring comfort. Your character steps closer to death, cosmically.
After answering, narrate how everything resolves. Record complications if it helps. Then give them another problem.
Eventually, you'll nearly run out of 'bullets'. It must happen. It's up to you as to whether the quest even matters this late in the game.
If you've lost everything but the trait 'wife' or 'luck', is the quest still worth completing? Or do they leave their history behind for a new peaceful life?
I'm not picking sides.
Make them work for their absolution or they won't deserve it.

[ You're fixin' to but still yellow? (example) ]

Let's say you make a drifter, a hardened assassin for revenge on the man who killed xir family. You give xem "True Unmatched Catlike Preternatural Physical Finesse" and "My Dead Wife’s Steadfast Protective Faith". Xe isn't limited to given weaponry; xir whole body is a finely-tuned weapon. And xe's haunted by the past, only xir wife's hopeful support kept xem grounded.

Let's say you decide, after breaking into the tenth floor of an evil megacorp's office, your drifter encounters a high ranking manager - an old coworker from 4 careers back. And this hits xem hard - a representation of what xir life could have been if xe kept xir head down. It's a short conversation between the two, and you want your drifter to convince this woman to abandon her life here, especially given the CEO-targeted deathrun xe is undertaking. And the crux of this encounter: it's not something solvable by a battleharded body or another person's beliefs. It's down to your drifter's own beliefs.

Xe would fail here. The mananger might call security. Worse, she might pass on relevant information to someone more dangerous. Something in the drifter breaks, xe says something venomous and debilitating and leaves in a huff. What form does that take?

Dead Wife’s Steadfast Protective Faith - Xe is frustrated by interpersonal interactions and loses the personal connection with xir wife
My Wife’s Steadfast Protective Faith - Xe gets caught up in the grief and memories may start to haunt xem
My Dead Steadfast Protective Faith - Xe focuses only on what xe personally has left
My Dead Wife’s Protective Faith - Xe worries about help running out
My Dead Wife’s Steadfast Faith - Xe does't know if xir wife's belief actually did anything
My Dead Wife’s Steadfast Protective - Xe can only trust what xe still holds

And down the line, what is xe left with? Memories of xir wife? God? Xir own grit?

Play till you find out. And then keep playing.

This game's shout-outs:

Inspired by one Tumblr post about a Souls-like where a weapon description changes as you use it.
At the time of writing the rough draft months ago, I was scoping out how to hack Vincent Baker's Dogs in the Vineyard. TL;DR: Dogs uses aspects to give you dice to play with (ie if you're quick to anger you might get a handful of d4's instead of a singular d10). I was initially playing with a system to wager your aspects as denominations or dice steps, but this game is probably the cleanest implementation I'll be able to get.
Respect to Deric Bindel for There is a Hole in your Chest, as I think of that specific game every time I make short-form ttrpg's.