I was thinking, in the standard fantasy role-playing game we have attribute like strength, agility, intelligence etc. Now I'm making a rpg which is loosely based on wild west but with a big emphasis on aspects like freedom an independence. What would be the attributes in such a world?

Tolerance (as in tolerance to alcohol)

Charisma (As in charisma with the ladies)

Horse Riding (as in riding horses)

U(se)o(f)P(arenthesis)(As in writing things like this)

Brilliant. I can't stop laughing.

all the standards id say. strength- effects melee damage and carry capacity, intelligence- effects picking locks and your ability to read books and skill books (it was common for people in the wild west to not read and write i think) endurance- effects max health and resistance to heavy bleeding and snake venom. luck- effects loot depending on what system you go with, in quickdraw showdowns you can get lucky if you have high luck stat(enemy has a heart attack or your tobbaco tin in your pocket stops the bullet killing you LOL) and melee critical hits (no criticals for guns since headshot=instakill) agility- effects sprinting duration, roll speed and weapon switching speed.(3 things for agility and luck since they are minor)

Marksmanship (as in precision shooting with guns).

How about duelling? (as in, shooting someone in a duel)

Great thread OP.

Perception could be one, meaning having great vision (aiming your gun zooms your vision farther), your shots are more accurate, you know when enemies are near, it`s hard to be critically hit, etc

Nerve. Your tolerance to slipping into insanity. The desert heat might not say, give your hallucination visions, If you keep killing, having a low Nerve could give you panic attacks and breakdowns. Having a high nerve would improve your chances being outnumbered.

Agility. Running farther and faster, higher critical hits, being able to control your horse better (not getting thrown off) your sneak abilities are improved, silently killing with knives is increased.

Speechcraft. Being able to avoid dangerous situations with persuasion, bribery, haggling, and trading skills improved slightly. Can understand more languages, leading to alternate routes of success, or failure. Can join more than 1 posse.

marksmanship should be skill based not stat based. weapons should be able to be upgraded though. (like in GUN, good game)

Spittoon Proficiency

i like this one, but not the other two mechanics your perception attribute effects. (enemies appearing on your compass like in fallout or skyrim is OP, shooting accuracy should be dependant on skill only)

By knowing nearby enemies, I mean you can hear their footsteps and voices from farther away. I would never include a compass that shows enemies if I made an RPG.

I`d take the more accurate shots out and put being able to keep your gun steady under Nerve.

Dangit, now I want to make a Western RPG.

now this is just awesome! could also make the player damage direction indicator more reliable (i think thats what its called?- when you get shot red appears on screen telling you the direction)

i also like your nerve attribute idea. its kinda like the sanity system in call of cthulhu:dcote

and hey, awesome name. FF5?

This is also a good idea.

And, I really see no point in a Strength attribute in a world dominated by guns. Maybe, just include a big guns skill that allows you to carry bigger weapons or a perk that allows you to carry 2 large rifle guns plus a pistol. Normally youd be able to carry a knife, pistol and 1 large rifle or shotgun.

EDIT: Yup, favorite FF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKXwj7ZrHIc

Card playing (as in, umm...)

Attributes =/= Skills

Even card playing could go under a skill "Gambling" and having a higher intellegence could put odds in your favour (card counting, anticipating good cards, higher chance to cheat)

Most of what you're saing would be more like skills. What do you think about these?
Purse - how much money you have, you can spend them to gain an item that would come in handy at the moment. Gain points after looting, thanks to bounties and so on
Reputation - For being famous, can be used to create a bond with an npc or introduce a new one
Shadow - kind of the opposite of rep, used to have secret info on someone, run into a back alley etc.
Nerve - basically what Galuf wrote, I must say, I like the idea quite a bit
Code (freedom) - For sticking to the code, these points would be gained to activate special abilities everybody chooses at the beginning. The game master would gain similar ones for players who don't stick to it.

Everything from speechcraft to shooting would be skills. So what do you think about these?

So what do you think of such a set of attributes? Is it too strange?

Which one of those attributes determinate physical capability?
In my PnP RPG I'm working on, I have Attributes which then are linked to Skills. So skills benefit for having good attributes.

The skill could be called fitness.

What you're saying is the usual, but I wanted to do it differently, make the attributes something completely different from the skills, or the other way around.

Spam (As in nom nom snack time)

When you say attribute I assume that to be something that belongs to a Skill category, like Flirtation (attribute) belongs to the Silver-Tongue category (skill)
Or even Wheel (att) belongs to Car (skill thing)?

Attributes should be governed by the Skill which is governed by the amount of XP pumped into it, closed example would be kinda how Skyrim does it XP > Speech (skill) > Haggling (att)

Fitness would be a good skill, which could have attributes like: Jumping, Sprinting and Stamina under it