Ye Olde West.pdf

Ye Olde West

2 nd Edition

by Jimmy B

A game of modern myths

and legends from the Old West

2003 © James Bore

Table of Contents

1 PROLOGUE ....................................................................................1-4

2 THE SETTING ...............................................................................2-7

2.1 The World............................................................................................................ 2-7

2.2 Sample places and characters .......................................................................... 2-9

2.2.1 Desperation ................................................................................................ 2-9

2.2.2 Desolation.................................................................................................2-10

2.2.3 Besieged town ..........................................................................................2-12

2.2.4 Mugger’s Gorge.........................................................................................2-14

2.2.5 Indian Camp .............................................................................................2-14

2.2.6 Eagleton .................................................................................................... 2-15

2.2.7 Deadman’s Tree........................................................................................2-19

3 THE RULES ................................................................................. 3-20

3.1 Crossing into other Dreamscapes..................................................................3-24

3.1.1 Examples of other Dreamscapes ............................................................3-24

3.1.2 The Frontiers............................................................................................ 3-25

3.2 Optional extra rules......................................................................................... 3-26

3.2.1 ‘Grit point’ damage.................................................................................. 3-26

3.2.2 Keep Standing.......................................................................................... 3-26

3.2.3 Noon Duel rules ........................................................................................ 3-26

3.2.4 The Desperado Clause ............................................................................. 3-26

4 MAKING A COWBOY/GI RL OR INDIAN...................................... 4-27

4.1 Names ................................................................................................................4-27

4.1.1 Cowboy names..........................................................................................4-27

4.1.2 Indian names ............................................................................................4-28

4.2 Character type examples ................................................................................4-28

4.3 Statistics...........................................................................................................4-29

4.3.1 Sample situations ....................................................................................4-29

4.3.2 What do the scores mean? .....................................................................4-30

5 ADVANCING ................................................................................. 5-31

6 CHARACTER SHEET................................................................... 6-32

7 GLOSSARY .................................................................................. 7-33

1-2

1-3

1 Prologue

A man in a neat grey suit and bowler hat stood in the middle of the single

dusty road that ran through the town. Although town was possibly too

strong a word, it had a tavern, but that meant nothing, and a bank, which

again was fairly meaningless, they seemed to crop up out of nowhere these

days. It was all in all quite distressing, he had not seen a real city since he

came to the west to visit his sister, several years hence.

“Well my dear fellow, I believe that we have come to a stalemate here.” The

suited man’s voice was prim and cultured.

“I do believe that we have sir, would you be so kind as to prime your

pistol? The hour of noon is nearly upon us.” The man who answered him

was certainly not his equal in culture or civility, but was making an effort

all the same, his gruff tones forced into a comical mimicry of Eton English.

“You are firmly entrenched upon this unpleasant course of action then?”

“Oh look, that’s it, I’ve had enough. Your faked English nobility lark was

fun at first, and I’ll admit it leant credibility to your legend, but I’m not

going to play along any more, you understand?” The gruff tones gave in,

grasping desperately at their more familiar dialect.

“Well certainly. Shall we draw when this coin hits the fl oor?” From

somewhere inside his waistcoat the suited man had produced a large

silvery coin.

His opponent frowned slightly. “How do I know you won’t draw before

then?”

“You’d doubt the word of an English gentleman? For I do give you my word

sir, I swear upon my homeland’s sovereignty.”

“Very well then.” The coin was thrown up into the air, the eyes of the

cowboy turned upwards to face it, narrowing slightly at the sun. The

suited man’s hand blurred down to his hip and back.

There was a loud bang, and the cowboy fell forwards into the dust with a

slow topple, starting with a buckling of the knees and working up. A neat

hole was drilled in the very centre of his forehead, the exit wound slightly

larger and messier at the back of his head, and a pool of garish red

starting to spread around him.

“These Americans, so trusting.” The suited man blew across the muzzle of

a long-barrelled six shooter, before slipping it back into a hip holster

under his jacket, the line of the expensively tailored Oxford Street garment

unruffled by the large metal mass concealed beneath it.

1-4

He turned to look at the tavern with a calculating eye, loud honky-tonk

music drifted through the saloon doors. “I don’t know how they fill these

places, I really don’t.” He walked across the street, carefully stepping

around the spreading pool of blood, and disappeared into the dimness and

smoke through the doorway.

Ye Olde West is based on a mix of sources, essentially every cinematic action

and cowboy film cliché is played out. Hundreds of John Wayne look-alikes roam

the land, doling out justice according to their own morals, bandits are regularly

repelled from trains and coaches carrying gold or expensive hostages.

Somewhere out there three ex-Actors in bright black and white costumes strut

across the landscape, cutting through great swathes of evil despite the odds.

This is the mindscape of

the West. Australia had its

Dreamtime, England had

its legends of the fey, all

legends which still echo in

the minds of their nations,

no matter how little the

people of the nation may

know it.

Snakeboot Robert came backwards through the

saloon doors, his feet not even touching the

ground until he landed, rolling over his own

shoulder and coming up with a .45 revolver in

his hand, gleaming silver and with the hammer

already cocked. The doors swung back in, and

then opened again as a massive man came out,

his face flushed and furious, and frozen as he

spotted t he gun aimed directly for his face.

America had The West. Its

greatest legends were born

under the hot sun and

over the dry dust of

Hollywood film sets, but

that does not matter, they

are still legends, even if

the sunset that the hero

rides off into are fake, the

people who watch those

films believe, and they

have carried the legends

along with them. Everyone

from Wyatt Earp to

Calamity Jane, musicals,

films, plays, stories,

comics, everything that

has gone together to make

the romance and allure of

the old west.

“Now, I suggest that you just go back in there, sit

down, and finish your drink, and I’ll be on my

way, how does that sound?” Robert asked him.

The man just grunted in response.

Robert’s eyes flicked up towards his own head.

“And if you could throw my hat out to me as well,

I like that hat.”

The hat was flung through the door, spinning

past his ear and eventually being caught in

Robert’s spare hand. The massive man stood

while Robert replaced his hat on his head,

staring at the gun.

“Mighty big man hiding behind your gun, aren’t

you?” the huge man growled.

Robert grinned, still holding it. “Yeh, that I am.

Think you’re fast enough to get your own in

time?”

The Lone Ranger still rides

Silver somewhere out in

that limitless desert.

There’s even a giant

mechanical

spider

The huge man’s hand dropped down to his hip,

and hovered for a moment, considering. Then he

shook his head and turned back into the saloon.

1-5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: