high plains drifter
Hello everyone. Im Aaron, and I run the Cozeroth game, and play Xavier Relaford in TCQ. I've been considering a story to be written on this site, and I was wondering if anyone shared any interest in it. (notice I didnt use the word game, more on that later.)
I'd like to know if there is any interest in writing a story set in the post Civil War American West. The Post Civil war era west was a region in flux, famous or popular lawmen frequently moved from town to town. Cowboys moved huge herds to railheads, Indians migrated where they could. The people you might meet in a town one month, may be gone the next.
Whole towns sprang up, and disappeared, what this means to the story is no one would really have to make a commitment to the game, much longer than one episode at a time. Id like to have a central character, or two, but I could use rotating characters and writers for much of the rest.
The helpful chuck wagon cookie, whos handy with a shotgun, could come and go. The local sherrif may be gone for several months into indian country, and return conveniently in time for the next episode. The local working girl with a heart of gold, or a heart looking for gold, the chinese drifter who knows kung fu..... the possibilities are limitless.
I do have an old copy of the Boot Hill rules around here somewhere, to use when we have no other choice but to use rules.... but Id like to think they'd be largely unnecessary.
I dont know if it can work. I dont know if the headache would be worth the result. Anyone have any thoughts, or input? (dare I ask for interest?)
Comments
I have fond memories of the Boot Hill games I played in college. The GM and the one player whose character spoke Indian were both fluent in Russian, so our Indians spoke Russkie.
I am certainly interested in this little experiment. I could even resurrect my old character, Paco Sabana, El Sabandija.
The setting doesn't really interest me but the format sounds like what Darren and I are doing with The Faust Chronicles. This seems like the perfect forum to try something without a rulebook or with minimal rules.
--
Imagination is the seed of intelligence. Nourish it and watch it grow.
I've actually been wanting to get involved in a Western game for years. I have absolutely no time to commit right now as another full time character, but with the way you explain this, it looks like people can gallop in and out of the story. So there would be opportunities down the line to introduce a cameo or full time player.
Are you looking at setting it in a upstart town? Or focus it on the exploits of a couple of characters? Are you thinking white hats or black hats? :)
Just curious.
...also, keep in mind, there is rarely ever enough interest on just the boards to get a full line up (assuming you decide on a cast of 5 or more). And because of this, I do a lot of recruiting to help GMs out, by placing their game calls up on various recruiting sites. So if you decide to push forward with this, you can count on my support in the recruiting front.
The whole western Genre is almost set up for that kind of transitory cast. Seeing some of the troubles with finding 5 or more people who can all arrange their schedules to post regularly more than once or twice a week can be the biggest obstacle to building momentum in a story. Rules, and bogged down combats are another. I know, that Ive enjoyed writing for XR in TCQ as a guest star, and when that story is told, if real life has changed my schedule, I can step away from the story and take an episode off.
It seems to me that one, or two regular characters could carry the story, with a supporting cast. I havent given much thought to it, as far as campaign objectives or anything like that, but in the story Im picturing, it could very well be that black hats and white hats are both writing in a story. Like Angel Eyes, or Tucco from the Eastwood classics Fistful of Dollars. Characters could be gamblers, cowboys, lawmen, foriegners, native american, anything.
I guess Im not seeing a definite split between white hats and black. Less Roy Rogers, more Outlaw Josey Wales, or The Unforgiven. Morality questions in the old west were spotty at best, in reality. Famous and celebrated "heroes" like Kit Carson led army raids against indians. Billy the Kid was a pulp icon, but the reality of him was propably closer to a mass murderer, than Robin Hood. Thats not to say the story will be 'dark' or oppressive, just more realistic than the old "Singing Cowboy" classics.
I could see a story revolving around towns and locations, but those locations would be in flux, more than likely. (The Earp brothers started in Dodge City, Kansas, but ended up in Tombstone, Arizona.) Characters would be encouraged to drift, if a town or area started to bore them, riding off into the sunset so to speak once plot points are resolved. ("Think I'll head over into Wyoming Territory, heard there were some cattlemen there looking for hands.")
Why isn't the word 'phonetic' spelled the way it sounds?
Nice. I really like your thoughts on this. The migrating group idea. Could be a close knit family or childhood chums, anything like that.