Wild West Hero

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

Most town officials would want the railroad to come through...brings a lot of business and tax dollars. Now, if these guys were up to something shady, they might not like it so much...

 

The Mexicans might be smuggling guns to the local Indians, or maybe they're smuggling guns back into Mexico. Either way, they could be paying off the town officials, which might make them decide that a railroad would bring undue attention to their little scheme. That could solve two problems at once.

 

Whatever you do decide to do, it looks like you've got a pretty nice setup already. All you have to do is throw out a hook for one of your little subplots that are brewing, and let the PCs follow it for a while, building tension and escalading events. If that starts to get too slow, throw out a hook for another subplot. There's a lot going on in this sleepy little town, and the PCs could find themselves juggling all kinds of stuff, waiting for this powder keg to go off....

[steriaca]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

Some things to think about...

 

1) The Evil Town Owner: He owns aporxamently 49% of the town, and looks greedly at the other 51%. Sometimes hiers outlaws to scair people into selling. Also not above kidnaping the beutiful daughter of a land owner and threating to kill her in a rather nasty way if the owners don't sell (then ties her to some train tracks anyways).

 

2) The Crooked Sherif.

[Seraphim]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

Thank you again Captain.

 

i have decided to make everything look like the sheriff is crooked but in the long run he will be their greatest ally. His deceased son on the other hand didn't die and has joined the notorious blackeyed gang.

 

Running first adventure tonight

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

just an oddball note on this topic, the first train robbery didnt happen in the wild west, it happened in the wilds of Indiana. and was almost thwarted by a group of Pinkertons who were travelling aboard on the way to an assignment elsewhere

[The Monster]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

Two thoughts spring to my mind just now:

 

One: There has got to be a good reason the town leaders don't want a railroad. As alread mentioned, it means revenue - tax and serivces, employment, etc. - and possibility of making connections for ambitious folks. Some possibilities spring to mind:

-- they're on the payola of a rival road, not necessarily one which plans to build there, but just wants to block the other(s)

-- Religious reasons. Not necessarily (but can be) an evil cult, may be as simple as insulating the town from outside vices (gambling, prostitutes, etc.) This could also do interesting things with the role of sheriff...

-- Personal reasons. One or more of the town elite have some vendetta against the incoming road manager (what did he do to deserve it?), and just cant' stand to see him profit by anything.

-- Business reasons. Some may see it as a threat to their (overpriced monopoly) business; the railroad would bring in competition.

-- Sabotage. Perhaps a rival town (an old feud over which ought to be the county seat? which has rights to a spring?) is trying to convince the railroad to go through their town instead, and is willing to subvert and sabotage the PCs' town to do it.

 

Two (and unrelated to One): remember it's a dangerous environment. I wager there could be some interesting scenes built around trying to survive in the desert (heat, snakes, coyotes, etc.), mountains (cold, bears, coyotes, etc.), or jsut about anywhere - chances of getting lost, Indian attack, paranoid prospectors, coyotes, and so forth. (One hook to put this stuff into motion might be to give the PCs a connection to the railroad survey party. looking for the best route through the area - could be a PC is the surveyor, or could be recruited as guards or guides.) One of my fond GM memories was an (unplanned) session where the PCs were trapped in the mountains in a snowstorm, and ended up eating their horses to survive (and some expensive horses they were, too!).

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

Coyotes are picturesque and all, but they're not much bigger than a fox. If one attacked me, I'd beat it down with a boot, rather than use a bullet.

 

Of course, they might make the horses nervous, and probably would make cows nervous (like everything else), so they can cause some trouble for the unwary Western adventurer.

[Seraphim]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

sorry everyone i have been away for a while been extremely ill. Just starting to recover hope to be posting starting soon

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

Sorry to hear that, Seraphim. Hope you're feeling better soon. I'd like to hear how your game is turning out.

[TheImperialKhan]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

For 4th Edition but it still might be useful to you.

 

http://geocities.com/blademaster01757/westernarms.html

[Amoeba Man]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

I recently saw the movie Tombstone and may try and convince my brother, a fan of the movie as well, to play a western themed hero game.

 

Sorry to hear you've been ill Seraphim. I hope you get well soon, and I look forward to hearing how your game went.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Wild West Hero

 

I really enjoy the western genre, even if I have never actually run a game in the setting. I've been a western buff since I was a kid and have the conventions hardwired into a part of my psyche... I grew up on spaghetti westeerns and Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads and Trailsongs (which, BTW, can provide wondeful inspirations for characters and games, and make great background music). Added to my basic affinity for reenactment and my familys penchant for gun-nuthood, and I find myself with a couple of thoughts to add to the thread...

 

Blackpowder guns,for the most part, need a little adjustment to the usual rules to represent reality. I start with giving them Jammed 15-, adjusted up or down a pip depending on maintainace, with Side Effects (the gun explodes (1hex AoE)if jammed roll is failed by more than 2). I usually make them Reduced Penetration, but also give them a small damage boost with Reduced by Range to make them more effective at pointblank. Then I allow for overloading for 1 or 2 DC's, at the cost of lowering the Jammed roll (and possibility of explosion) by the same amount.

If you look at books like the TimeLife Old West series, you can find some great pics from the period. One thing that consistently apparent is that most of the bodies of outlaws taken by lawmen tend to be shot freaking FULL of holes. I figure that most range rovers will be wearing heavy leathers and rough canvas that will impart around 2 def. with reduced pen, it means that a lot of shots will hit but fail to do any body. If you factor this as "wounds that aren't serious enough to impair function or threaten life" then it works out rather well. Most of the semi legendary gunsligers of the time either conducted most firefights at point blank, or resorted to long arms in the field.

 

Movies I always recommend for the genre include Silverado and Young Guns (both good representations of group Western Hero Campaigns), most of the old Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood westerns, and Unforgiven.

 

I like the idea of using some of the vast repository of western superstitious folklore to conceal a more "realistic" threat. Of course, I also like including lovecraftian and lost worlds style elements so, I'm biased. Brotherhood of the Wolf has some neat ideas that could be ganked quite cleanly, tho set across the planet and goodly time before the Western Era.

[CourtFool]

Reviving an old thread

 

The Quick and the Dead was on today so I go to thinking about Western Hero. Specifically, I was thinking about quick draws and duals. First, I want to make sure I understand correctly how things are suppose to work.

 

In the event of a dual, wouldn't combat start in Phase 12? That means everyone with a SPD above 1 would get an action.

 

Highest DEX goes first (including Lightning Reflexes, Hipshot and Hurry). Ties result in a skill vs.skill DEX check (not including Lightning Reflexes, Hipshot and Hurry). No thought is given to SPD.

 

Use Fast Draw to draw your weapon as a 0 Phase action, but since no one is really doing anything else there is no point not to go ahead and use a ½ Phase action to draw. Since DEX determines who goes first, Fast Draw, which would seem the single most important skill here, is all but useless.

 

Nothing is really specifically addressed about PRE which I think is a great idea. You give the guy a 'look' and he gets nervous – drawing early or too late.

 

What about situations where someone has a bead on the hero (held action) and the hero draws and fires before the guy with the bead can get the shot off? How do you simulate that? Can you? What about when the villain reaches for his gun (did that mean he actually went first?) and the hero guns him down?

 

I think Fast Draw should be the most important determining factor in who draws first followed by SPD and then DEX. SPD may not be much of a factor in a less cinematic campaign where everyone pretty much has a 4 but in a highly cinematic campaign where a 5 may be allowed it should play a vital role. Especially if someone had to pay 20 points for it.

[zornwil]

Re: Reviving an old thread

 

CourtFool, as a thought, if you allow actions in DEX order BUT you do so breaking it into half phases by DEX order, then this allows Fast Draw to matter a lot more. Probably better to state by example - let's say you have just 2 characters, Bart and Ringo. Bart is DEX 17 but has Fast Draw, while Ringo is DEX 23 with no Fast Draw. If you call off ONLY the first half phase in DEX order, Ringo spends that whole time drawing. Bart, on the other hand, draws AND shoots. Of course that's not orthodox rules, but it's a suggestion to better back up what you're discussing.

 

As to the held action you indicate, I thought there was something in the rules that addressed situations that are similar, such as the mook holding a hostage and why a hero can't just barge in and zap him without worry simply because the hero's DEX is way higher. But I looked and didn't see anything, this may have been a board discussion. I think at least you can invoke the SFX/common sense "rules" and indicate that anyone who has a Hold and Set gets their action off at the top of the Phase regardless of DEX.