Western

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One of the more peculiarly popular setting aesthetics: Something resembling the American West from the years 1865 (the end of the Civil War) to 1914 (the beginning of World War 1).

The thing is, for most of the 20th century, the historic "Wild West" was the logical place to set what we now call an "Action" movie, for several reasons. The genre was very influential, and riffs on the Western in a different setting followed in the 1950s.

Notable Variants

The first were probably either the Space Western, or the Samurai Western, depending on how you count. The (1950 made) Samurai films of Akira Kurosawa were very western inflected, and several wound up being remade as traditional Westerns ("A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Magnificent Seven", among many others), which means the Samurai Western has claim of priority in film. On the other hand, the sci-fi magazines and comics of the pulp era loved raygun westerns because they were easy to write and advertise, but since Science Fiction is expensive to film, the first cited example is either the initial pitch for Star Trek (which Gene Roddenberry described as "Wagon Train to the stars"), or 1977's Star Wars. That being said, Horror-themed works set in the "old West" period have a long history as well, with some "Horror Western" films dating back to the 1940s.

Notable Trappings

There are plenty of trappings that will get a work not set in North America west of the Mississippi River between the years 1865 and 1914 called "Western"-adjacent. The more of the following you have, and the more direct the equivalents of thereof, the more likely you are to be called a "Space Western", "Fantasy Western", "Weird Western", or what have you.

• Very low population density. The most distinguishing feature of the historic West, there were vast ranges of territory where the nearest person could be miles away, which had several implications:
  • The Law was mainly limited to towns, which were frequently quite far from one another if they weren't on a train-line. Thus, a Sheriff or Rancher, if he couldn't find local support, was more or less on his own.
• As an indirect consequence of the above, Bandits.
  • If the work doesn't center around a larger conflict, expect either bandits or "evil banker" types employing them as the main bad-guys.
• Handguns (particularly Revolvers and concealed weapons)
• Quickdraw shooting.
• Saloons.
  • If the rating allows, prostitutes as the only female company available.
• Bounty Hunters.
• Sand and dirt. (While the actual American West can be fairly green, particularly in the mountains, most people picture a lot of dirt when they picture a Western.)
• Cows. Cattle ranging was one of the main businesses of the historical period covered by the Western, and so cows were no
• Horses, with a side option for donkeys and mules. Historically, the only way of getting around besides the railroad or stagecoach was a horse.
• The main form of farming being animal related is also a frequent feature.
• Stagecoaches.
• Railroads. In particular, somebody arriving at a station meeting a "welcoming" committee (who may try to kill him or run him out of town) is a common scene in both direct Westerns and Western-inflected works.
• More rare in post-1960 Westerns: Native Americans.
  • Historically-set Westerns have plenty of American Indians, historically. It's just that, by the 1960s, most writers decided it was a better idea to center around subjects that weren't so likely to be read as making their protagonists "the real bad guys". Thus, most post-1970 westerns center purely on White vs. White conflict, or have protagonists who are sympathetic with the Indians, with a smattering of works centered on Black characters (most notably Blazing Saddles). (Historically speaking, there were plenty of black cowboys, but this was ignored by most writers and producers historically, and frequently still is in the present day.)
  • Bonus points if the setting has both "friendly trader" and "hostile barbarian" tribes of Native American equivalents (see: Jawas and Tuskan Raiders in Star Wars).

/tg/ Relevence

Oh, you're wondering what /tg/ relevance this has? Well, just to start with, with RPGs we have:

• Deadlands
• Spellslinger
• Dogs in the Vineyard
• Pathfinder's Gunslinger class.
• Werewolf: The Wild West.

Then there are actual board games set in the period (MANY railroad games, just to start with.)