Klaus Needs a Holiday!
New Showdowns & Shootouts Adventure online
June 8, 2008

Download the winning adventure at the
Showdowns & Shootouts Winners Page

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and Klaus, the village blacksmith, is getting ready to deliver a wagon full of toys to the good girls and boys... unless Cole Black and his meanies stop him!

It’s not quite Christmas in July, but ole Klaus is ridin’ into town with a bunch of goodies for all the good boys and girls in Hawgleg’s latest Showdowns & Shootouts Adventure Writing Contest.

Previous winner Carmen Cerra is back again with another action-packed adventure, this time celebrating the holidays with gifts of hot lead!

“Carmen really outdid himself on this one,” said Gutshot co-creator Mike Mitchell. “He successfully balances a little whimsy with some down-and-dirty action. In other words, even though the names and location are a bit punny, that doesn’t diminish the fact that this submission was well crafted and potentially deadly.”

The adventure focuses on Klaus Kringowski, the barrel-chested blacksmith with a laugh as big as his belly. All through the year, Klaus tinkers with wood and metal to make ingenious toys for the good girls and boys. Every Christmas he loads up his mule cart - pulled by trusty old Rudy - and delivers 'em throughout the county. It's become a tradition that spreads a little joy into the hard lives of the solid frontier folk in them parts, and it's just one of the reasons Klaus is beloved by everyone… except Cole Black and his no-good band of thugs who are gonna do their dangdest to make sure that Christmas ain't gonna come this year!

"How could we resist a plot like that?" Mitchell asked. "It was like Carmen took a classic Rankin-Bass Christmas show and turned it into a Western!"

Not that a pistol-packin' Santa is all this thing's got going for it, he added.

"I like the changes and additions you made," Carmen wrote in an e-mail after reading the final version. "'Cole Black kicks puppies and the  sound of crying children is music to his ears.' HA! That's one mean hombre.  I also love good old reliable Rudy - an animal with intelligence - if I may - a smart ass :)  And new  specialties! You just filled this one scenario chock full of goodies and fun. I  shall enjoy playing your improved version."

This adventure includes beta drafts of two new Specialties (Strong-as-an-Ox and Teamster) and the draft for a new Vehicle (a mule cart).

"In earlier adventures we included beta material for non-lethal rocksalt loads for shotguns and the Fight-to-the-Death Specialty," said Hawgleg battle master Paul "Mad Dog" Mauer. "But this time we went 'hawg wild' and included more new stuff than ever before."

The material is beta, though, and the authors caution players to watch for the final, definitive versions of these items that will appear in upcoming Gutshot expansions and in online errata sheets.

Thanks to our sponsors and previous winners

The contest deadline has been extended until the judges publish the 12th adventure, which hopefully won't take as long as this one did.

"I hate to offer up yet another apology for being tardy," Mitchell said, "but the truth is we had a lot of business and other distractions in the past few months that put us farther behind schedule. Some of these, like the Arnica Real Estate acquisition, ya'll know about. But there are a few other surprises in store, as well."

As with previous winners, Carmen is eligible to win part of the more than $500 in prizes, graciously provided by the contest sponsors:

• Arnica Real Estate
• Knuckleduster
• Scale Creep Miniatures
• Whitewash City
• Hotz Game Mats 

The adventure is available for free download from the contest Winner's Page: www.hawgleg.com/2007_contest_winner.asp So far, the winner's circle includes: Al Theobald, Ross Edwards, Carmen Cerra, Dan Hash, Lance Gamble, Richard Nelson, Tom Reed and Andrew Collins and Carmen Cerra. In addition to the indescribable thrill and glory of having their names attached to a Hawgleg product, each winner will receive a limited edition ‘La Vaquera’ miniature. Finally, all winners will be eligible to be considered for the Judges’ and Jury’s Prizes with a combined value of more than $500. Check out the full prize list on the Contest Page.

Contest deadline extended until a winner is selected.

Special thanks to this adventure's featured sponsor:
Knuckleduster