From Introduction:
Deathwish is an adaptation of Dust Devils, the Truly Gritty Old West Role-Playing Game. You will need the Dust Devils print edition or PDF edition to use this game expansion.
The game also requires a standard deck of playing cards and a handful of poker chips or other tokens.
Preliminary Briefing
This game expansion is a role-playing game of espionage in the tradition of Ian Fleming’s famous character James Bond and other spy thrillers popular in movies and novels. Players portray super spies, secret agents and even devious masterminds who play a complicated, high-stakes spy game.
Much like its parent game, DUST DEVILS, this game focuses on a crucial character-centric issue. In DUST DEVILS, that issue is the Devil — will your character “shoot or give up the gun?” That is, will the Devil get the best of him, or will the character overcome his own faults to be a man the Old West can respect and admire?
Deathwish emphasizes a slightly different theme. Here, the issue is “How far will you go for queen and country?” Contrary to the James Bond film title, spies do not “only live twice.” Espionage is dangerous business. This game examines how far an agent is willing to go to risk his own safety for some greater motivation. Deathwish provides a mechanic for that ultimate moment — when the agent must choose between his mission and his own life.