Lost Souls & Midian

(Mods, feel free to put this wherever it is better suited.)

Blood River
http://pics.livejournal.com/counterearth/pic/0001pb4x.jpg

1860

Seven years after Judge Cheney was abducted and sacrificed at the Trono de Sombras, his nephew Augustus Cheney has taken hold of the town of Blood River as mayor. Butch Dobbs, a former member of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, has been named sheriff of Blood River, amid controversy of his criminal past. Civil War is brewing, and a new slave trade has begun outside the city limits.

Character Creation

http://www.irony.com/mailroll.html

Character’s start with 2D4 plus 10 point to buy skills, apply to hit points, purchase extra traits, or save them for a rainy day.

Weapons
Firing Rate:
Speed:
Accuracy:
DMG:
HP:
Dodge:
Shock:
Movement: 5/7
Honor: 50%
Reputation: 10%
Card Playing/Cheating:
Money: $30

Skills that everyone gets.
Dive for cover: +3 to dodge lose turn or initiative
Western Saddle
Basic education (some reading and writing)

Showdown
Attack round rules

“Whenever you get into a row be sure and not shoot too quick. Take time. I’ve known many a feller slip up for shootin in a hurry.” -- Wild Bill Hickok

Pre-round skills applied, such as Focus and Jump the Gun.

D10 roll for initiative, adding or subtracting modifiers.

Initiative winners choose their attack form (and what they’re aiming for). D20’s are used for attack rolls. Use the following chart as a guide. The chart is used for natural, unmodified rolls.
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Attacker adds modifiers and rolls damage if hit is successful.

Attacker may choose to forfeit shot for aiming. Each round of aiming adds plusses to hit. 1st round, +1. 2nd round, +2, and so on.

Target may choose to defend. The defender rolls a D20 and must get roll equal to or higher that the attack roll. Dodge bonuses and skills are applied to this figure. Unless otherwise stated by individual dodge skills, a defender may dodge one attack per round if they wish to make an action during their turn, and a defender may dodge two attacks if they forfeit their own action.

The Town of Blood River
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SKILLS

"Shooting at a man who is returning the compliment means going into action with the greatest speed of which a man's muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick shooting involves." -- Wyatt Earp

Gunfighting
Jump the gun – free shot once per day
Quickdraw - +1 to speed
Trick shot - +3 to non-lethal target shooting (not including shooting a weapon from an opponent’s hand.), +1 accuracy
Two Guns – use two guns -2 draw
Eagle’s Eye - +1 to aim
Steady Hands - +1 to shoot
Shoot from Horse
Sidestep (double cost) +1 to dodge, no turn loss
Glare - -1 to opponents draw or accuracy
Fan the Hammer (double cost) – 1 shot first round, 2 second, 3 on the third round
Quickload: -1 round to load gun

Fighting
Knife
Tomahawk/Pick Axe
Bow and Arrow
Brawling
Use barricades and natural defenses
Martial Arts
Injun Fury
Steely Eyed - -1 to opponent’s attack

Social
Mercantile and Bartering
Fightin’ Words – intimidate
Indian Languages
War Paint -1 to enemy’s speed
Bullshit

Physical
Roping
Horsmanship
Weaponsmith
Move Silently
Wolf ears
Swimming
Prospecting
Shadow Stealth
Eavesdrop
Feats of Strength
Stuntman
Quickfoot (double cost) increase movement.
Grit – Retest for shock, and if failed, ignore 1 point of shock. (Similar to Midian’s “Take it Like a Man” skill.)

Mental
Tend to wounds – heal 1 point per day, stop bleeding
Reading and Writing
Tracking
Camping
Indian Lore
Animal Kinship
Plant Knowledge
Weather Sense
Direction Sense
Cull the Herd – detect weakness
Intuition
Awareness
Tombstone memory skills
Focus – A quick meditative skill used before a gunfight. Only usable during a pre-fight “staredown”. Modified attack roll for that round considered natural. (example: D20 roll of 19, with a +1 from Steady Hands = a natural 20).

Cards
Cheating
Bluffing - push players into folding
Card tricks / Sleight of hand - +1 to cheating
Peeking - see another player’s cards
Deck Stacking - +1 to cheating when user of this skill is the dealer
Watch Like a Hawk - +1 to see if another play is cheating
Poker face - -1 to opponent

Other Skills
Lucky Bastard - 1 reroll per day
Musical Instrument
Survival
Demolitions

Cards

“It’s immoral to let a sucker keep his money.” -- “Canada Bill” Jones

Traits

Each character starts with two traits. Choose or roll from the following list. Or create your own with GM input.

Players may also purchase extra traits at character creation for two skill points.

One Foot in the Grave OR At Death’s Door: -1 to social skills, Focus skill
With this trait, the character has been given, by a doctor or shaman, so many months to live due to disease or curse. Many people live past their estimated survival times, and a character with this trait may live to ripe old age. One with this trait can be self-destructive or feel immortal with supposed foreknowledge of their fate.

Forgettable
Unforgettable
Wanted Poster Face
Born Leader
Lawful
Shaky Gun
Bullshit Artist, Flannel Mouth
Snake Oil Salesman
Deadly
Fierce
Widowmaker
Mountain Man
Yellow
Undertaker’s Brow
Good
Bad
Ugly
Cheat, Bilk, Chisel
Curly Wolf - dangerous man
Card Sharp
Odd Stick - Eccentric person
First Water

Health, Shock and Bleeding to Death
Each character starts with 20 hit points. Characters heal at the rate of 1 point per 2 days with normal rest.

For hits over 15 (natural or modified), characters will need to make a shock roll, which is like a dodge roll; try and match or roll over the attack number. If successful, the battle round continues normally. If failed, a -2 penalty is applied to all actions and skills. This applies to every applicable hit that round and thereafter.

Bleeding to death in the street? For every 5 points of damage, 1 extra point will be lost at the end of each round.

Deal with the Devil
Death and Dying

"Out West, you lived a long time. Even horse thieves had to hang five minutes longer than anywhere else." -- Anonymous
At zero hit points a character is unconscious. They hang on Death’s door until they surpass their hit points in negative. Example: Jimmy Black has 23 hit points and is shot down, shotgun shells doing 28 points of damage.

After which, the GM may choose to let the character play a game of poker or blackjack on the lonesome road to Hades against the Devil himself. Characters should be prepared for a mean game, and they may lose more than their life.

Currency and Trade
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"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure." - Mark Twain

Banknotes from across the country are accepted at the stores in Blood River and surrounding towns, but trade goods are preferred in the wilderness. Here’s a very short list of handy items.

Spy glass or Binoculars: $35
Rifle barrel site: $50 (+1 range)
Rifle scope: $75 (+3 range)
Fine saddle: $230
Room price: $2.50 a week
Double barrel shotgun: $50
Tonic: $2 (20% chance of healing 1D4 hit points. Usually causes nausea.)
Newspaper: $.2
Ammo: $3-$6
Tobacco lb: $2
Whiskey

Bricklayer $ 1.53/day
Firemen $ 1.33/day
Farm Labor $ 0.88/day

Product Price
Cotton Sheeting (Yard) $ .082
Sugar (Pounds) $ .096
Clothing
Bought a new tailored coat in 1866 for $40 cowboy hat, belt, boots, yellow-black handed down coat, patched trousers, ropes
$9.00 pants
$1.00 shirt
$.98 shoes
$7.50 pistol
$25.00 Rifle and ammunition
Coffee $.07– .25 per pound, bacon, trout, broiled steaks, lima beans, potatoes, prunes, bread, fresh water, soda water, milk and eggs from nearby ranches, pies, fish, elk meat, biscuits, raisins and gingerbread were sent, beer from local brewery, $1.50 gallon of wine, apricots for $.25 a dozen, flour $4.75/barrel, sugar $.04/per pound

Guns

Guns can be characters of their own. Blood River characters can choose to have generic “six guns” or use weapons from old west history. Anachronisms are acceptable within limits. Here are generalized stats for range, accuracy and damage.

Pistols and Revolvers
DMG:
.22 D4
9mm D6
.38 D6
.44 D8
.50 D10

Firing Rate:
1/1, 3/2

Load Rate:
2 Rounds

Range: Accuracy:
5 yards 0
6-8 yards -2
9-12 yards -4
13-16 yards -6

Speed:
0 (based on average six-shooter)

Shotguns
DMG:
D8 to D12

Firing Rate:
1/1

Load Rate:
2 Rounds

Range: Accuracy:
5 yards 0
6-8 yards -5
9-12 yards -7
13-16 yards -9

Speed:
-2

Rifles

DMG:
.22 D4
9mm D6
.38 D6
.44 D8
.50 D10

Firing Rate:
1/1, 3/2

Load Rate:
2 Rounds

Range: Accuracy:
5-10 yards 0
11-20 yards -1
21-75 yards -2
76-150 yards -5
200 yards -8
(scopes increase range)

Speed:
-2

A few gun examples:

Tipping and Lawden 4-barrel pistol
Firing Rate: 1/1 for four shots, one round load
Speed: +2
Accuracy: -2
DMG: D4

Colt Derringers
Firing Rate: 1/1 for one shot, one round load
Speed: +2
Accuracy: -2
DMG: D4 +2

Volcanic Pistol
Firing Rate: 1/2 for eight shots, 3 round load
Speed: -2
Accuracy: -4
DMG: D8 +3

Leige 9mm Pinfire
Firing Rate: 3/2 for six shots, 3 round load
Speed: -3
Accuracy: -3
DMG: D6 +1 (+D4 +2 knife)

Lefaucheux 20-round Pinfire Revolver
Firing Rate: 3/2 for twenty shots, 5 round load
Speed: -1
Accuracy: -1
DMG: D4 +2

Allen and Wheelock Center Hammer Army Revolver
Firing Rate: 3/2 for six shots, 2 round load
Speed: -1
Accuracy: -1
DMG: D8

Colt Revolvers
Remington Revolvers
Firing Rate: 3/2 for six shots, 2 round load
Speed: -1
Accuracy: -1
DMG: D6 - D8

Harpoon Gun
Firing Rate: 1/2 for one shot, 5 round load
Speed: -9
Accuracy: -5
DMG: 3D10

Unique Names

Female First
Chastity
Edwinna
Lenora
Savannah
Adah
Lucretia
Belle

Male First Last Male Nicknames
*formatting being fixed

Old campaign - Saturday, February 5, 1853

The stagecoach is robbed and burned at Angels Landing. Angels Landing is a canyon mouth overlook, below which flash floods race in the wet months. It is also famous for bandit ambushes. Cookie and Sonny Larson are killed. Along with the players, Butch Dobbs, a hunter, survives.

With the horses dead, the players are forced to make their way to Blood River on foot. Butch Dobbs knows the way and takes the lead. On the way there:

A rifle shot echoes through the plain. It’s a rancher protecting his land. Butch Dobbs pulls out his rifle and kills him from three-hundred yards.

Buzzards circle high above. The players come across a US Post rider, dead and horseless. He had been there for only a few days. No apparent cause of death. His satchel is empty. (closer inspection reveals a map hidden in his boot. It is a map with Blood River and a railroad route circling past it.)

Players reach Blood River in a thick storm. The muddy streets swallow boots as streams of rainwater rush down. The first saloon you come across, Butch Dobbs goes up to a post and curses at a poster. He tears it down and may explain if prodded. He claims that a man matching his description is on the poster “Lucky Barney Creeker”, a man wanted for robbery, rape and murder. Butch swears it isn’t him, but suggests that he’ll be leaving as soon as he dries off and buys a horse.

Rogue River

Pinkerton National Detective Agency
The agency's logo, an eye embellished with the words "We Never Sleep"

Strike breakers and special agents

President Franklin Pierce 1853
Son died in train wreck

But the most violent renewal of the storm stemmed from the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and reopened the question of slavery in the West. This measure, the handiwork of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, grew in part out of his desire to promote a railroad from Chicago to California through Nebraska. Already Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, advocate of a southern transcontinental route, had persuaded Pierce to send James Gadsden to Mexico to buy land for a southern railroad. He purchased the area now comprising southern Arizona and part of southern New Mexico for $10,000,000.
Douglas's proposal, to organize western territories through which a railroad might run, caused extreme trouble. Douglas provided in his bills that the residents of the new territories could decide the slavery question for themselves. The result was a rush into Kansas, as southerners and northerners vied for control of the territory. Shooting broke out, and "bleeding Kansas" became a prelude to the Civil War.