Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier

Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier is an American role-playing game based on the American Old West. The game was written by Brian Jelke, David S. Kenzer, Jennifer Kenzer, Jolly R. Blackburn, Mark Plemmons and Steve Johansson, and published by Kenzer & Company in 2007.

Setting
The game is set in an alternative historical version of the old west - the West That Never Was. In the game, significant moments in American history have had some small changes with new nations, businesses and a slightly more advanced arms technology.

System
Unlike most other role playing games, Aces & Eights uses a running timeline where each action takes some number of .1 seconds instead of an abstracted length of time referred to as a round or turn. This system and it accompanying modifiers takes a little getting used to, and the authors recommend in big bright red letters to play the skirmish rules first to get a feel for the game.

Other motifs include the use of playing cards and poker chips in the game system. While playing cards have been used before in role playing games, in the Ace & Eights system, the cards are supplemental to the dice in a combat system using what is referred to as a 'shot clock'. This shot clock determines both the possibility of a gunshot and its location.