Dinos and Cowboys - Prep for session 2, and some OSE character generation

 From the number of hits for my last post, Cowboys & Dinosaurs are not people's jams. However, as I've only so much time (retirement may change that, may not) my blog posts tend to reflect my current gaming, especially when I am running the game. However, there will be a bonus paragraph or two on OSE as the Fantasy Group dad came over to hang out & wanted to generate an OSE character.

First, though, game prep for session 2. As we left our characters, they were heading back to Aurora. They had a name, Jack Slade, Molly's ex-husband, a no-good varmint of a man. They will hit town about an hour or so before sunset (and no idea how Molly & Volgol will get there - if they fly together, they will get there hours earlier. So, we'll just see how that works out) There are several places to visit as evening comes long:

1. Sheriff Shelton's office as they need to make a statement and check on things
2. Doc Calloway's to check on Spotted Horse
3. Find dinner
4. Find where to sleep at night (and while I worked up prices for people, entirely forgot about dino stables. I need to get that figured out before Monday's game. Herbivores will just eat a giant hay bale, but carnivorous dino, if it ate a 2-year-old steer (so a large one) would be in the $20 range per night as that is what a 2-year-old steer cost back then (so yay, my price lookups are actually useful). Meaning dinosaurs are expensive and complicated to own in town.
5. see what else is going on

Obviously, we need some high point of action for the session (though not all sessions always have that, I try to get something exciting and fun in). I actually have (so far) 12 points of things that may or may not happen for various things. I actually pulled a few from my initial weekly timeline (which itself was just a spaghetti on the wall of ideas to see what may stick) so if it gets slow, I can throw more stuff in there. 

There are of course several theories on how to run sessions and campaigns (just got the XDM Second Edition book and have read through that). I generally fall in the traditional 3 act: intro, confrontation, and resolution. Though for a campaign I like to leave things on a cliff-hanger, so there is usually a 4th act or reveal during the resolution to carry forward into the next session (after all, I do want them to want to come back!)

I have several smaller plot points but nothing big. And I do like to have at least 1 battle per session if possible, but I don't want it forced. I may add some additional encounters on the road back to Aurora: perhaps there are a couple extra henchmen still out there, and they saw the sheriff with the wagon & their fellow gang member. Perhaps start with a bang, so to speak.

One of the inspirations for this game is this guy here: Art Station link for Shaun Keenan. This could be Aurora's main street:

It was those images that started this whole shebang! Hopefully I can convey the light-hearted feels that the imagery gives me, though we do have gun fights and so far the death toll is 2 bad guys.

Anyway, back to the meta-plot. They do know these guys are hired by or work for Jack Slade. The over-arching plot should take at least 3-4 weeks as he won't even show up until the end of tomorrow's session most likely (and yes, I can do minor spoilers here as my group rarely reads the blog unless I email them the link. At least as far as I know)

There are about half a dozen or more plots that I'll spring on them, though I do want to keep track of the main thread even though there will be a lot of detours to where this may end. And actually - not even sure where this will end. I have a few ideas of course, but I am going to let each session help guide where things are going.

My final thoughts on this are that I sorely lack the ability to play NPCs very well. Sally and the sheriff I think have been pretty flat and 2 dimensional. I need to bring out actual personality to them. Sally should be easy: I am basing her off of Ellie May from the Beverly Hillbillies. She loves animals and I just need to see if I can get a bit of that accent in.

Makes you wonder how much the actress liked handling all the animals.

The sheriff I don't have anything specific in mind, so I need to figure something out.

I miss my Sunday Fantasy Trip games - those were face to face. Of course, Covid stopped those for 2 years but then we started back up again. But that faltered as the boys were not as interested as they had been before. I got Old School Essentials, thinking that game may appeal more them: old school, yes, but actual classes, levels and abilities tied to those classes, races and levels. More like the video games that are based off of RPGs. I even printed out the free basic rules for them and sent everyone dice sets as of course we need the polyhedral dice for this game! So far no takers.

However, the dad showed up at my house this morning versus our normal Sunda workout at his backyard gym (I met him at the gym if you may recall). We talked for a bit, and we really had the option of playing Death Test or the just came in yesterday To Death Do Us Part solo TFT game. Which I really got for me so I can play the Fantasy Trip. Assuming I get time! Or roll up a character for OSE. We chose OSE and he wanted to generate a Drow assassin. The dice and books came out, I went over some of the general differences of OSE vs TFT, and we started in.

His rolls actually worked out very well: the assassin's primary stat is dexterity, and he actually rolled a 17 for that stat! The rest of his rolls were pretty good as well: a 9 intelligence was his lowest score. Then taking into account the Drow, he lost a point but gained a dexterity point for 18. This gives him the 10% bonus on XP as well as a +3 for his AC and +3 for missile attacks. His constitution also gives him a +1 on hit points, so that is a good thing as an assassin uses a d4 for hit dice. I allow for re-rolling 1 and 2 for that, and after rolling a 2 about 7 times in a row, just gave him the 3, then the +1 for the constitution bonus. Guess we could have just done 3/4 and an even/odd roll, but I like rolling all the dice.

Dynin had 110 gold which he spent entirely on his equipment and armor. He will be desperate for a job! I have a few "official" character sheets for OSE and for some reason he picked the (to me) drab one, though it is straightforward and a form-fillable PDF, so that really helps. Then I made him his cheat sheet for the assassin, copying in the level and save charts, and the abilities a Drow has as well as the assassin skills. We're hoping that if the boys see that level of detail they may want to play again. Of course, the game has to be fun for them to play as well, but I think the mechanics of the various characters may help them enjoy it more.

The dad really liked the randomness of a lot of the character generation: TFT is entirely player defined, OSE has a lot more randomness to it. Why I'd roll the stats then pick a class or race that best uses those. If his kids come back, I may let them roll a 2nd set of stats then pick and choose if they have a specific character type in mind.

Yes, I could do the "heroic" roll-up: 4d6 and pick the top 3. And I may do that but honestly, I am not really a fan of that. I want to play a character that may have flaws and can't just win all the time. No fun there, but then again, I am also no longer a teenager. Though even then, because of Traveller and its random generation, I was used to playing characters that could get knocked out in a single punch. You avoided getting into fights in that case! And OSE is even more deadly than TFT: armor just makes you less likely to get hit - it is not a damage reducer. Level 1 characters are not likely to survive a hard fight with anything bigger than your average rat.

Dynin's character sheet. Think I'll do up the fun looking ones to see how that looks.

Anyway - longer block of text than normal as I had two things this evening. I suppose I could have made 2 posts. My next post will probably be mid-week with a session 2 recap. I may try & get a Traveller post of some sort in there as well. If nothing else, an opinionated puff piece. 

Cowboys and Dinos: Session 0/1

We had our first session Monday. There was some character finalization as only 2 of the 4 of us have the Apex rules (which does help in running the game as they can help remind me of things, particularly the dinosaur riding advantages). After finishing up the characters that were mostly already built, we made further adjustments. First, Hambone has a trait not defined in the rules but makes perfect sense in our context of the old West:

Barbering in the old West was more than a shave and a haircut. Basic surgery and doctorin' is a part of that. This trait allows the barber to heal at 1d4 + 1 per level taken to a max of 3. Note that normal "binding of wounds after combat" gives 1d4 healing points. 

The pterodactyl riding Molly switches out a trait for a trick on her flying dino:

Dino Trick: Dodging. Gives a +1 defense to the dino and rider.

Molly already had a high dexterity stat so was already hard to hit. Now she and Volgol are even more difficult to hit.

Finally, Jack Walking-Horse, the elder Indian, swapped out the default lithe ability built into the feral child class (we're playing Indians as feral child basically) and took an extra trait if I recall. Figuring a 60-odd year old, 6'8" Indian weighing in at about 300 pounds is probably no longer as lithe as he used to be. Though truth be told, I doubt any of us are! He does not get any of the dinosaur rider abilities as that is not his class but does ride his triceratops.

I probably need to get a copy of their character sheets at some point, but we should be okay. 

As always, I am nervous getting started running a new game. While I ran the Apex game before (and the first half went pretty well, but I bombed on the second half), I am not as familiar with the old West as the rest of the group is. And while this is not quite Utah (we moved from Nebraska) in 1885 or so, I do strive for some historical verisimilitude. Hence a lot of copy/paste in the game "bible" from various sources.

Anyway, I made some changes to the introduction as the old Indian and old white guy are riding dinosaurs not known for speed. Leaving us only Molly in the saloon. We have our traditional western saloon, with a piano player in the corner accompanied by a guitar player. I'll take a quite copy from the document:

While putting back an afternoon whiskey at the Short Branch Saloon, the double-doors are banged wide open as Sally “the Deaf” Harris barrels through them. Running up to the bar, she asks the barkeep, Jeff Reid, where the sheriff is. Wiping a glass with his rag, he points to the corner where, feet propped up on the round table in front, Sheriff Aaron Shelton sits. His hat low over his eyes, he seems oblivious as Sally dashes over.

“Sheriff!” she almost yells, “the mail is late!” Now everyone in the saloon just groans at this loud announcement, and the interested stares go back to their mugs and cards. The characters watch as Sheriff Shelton, feet still propped up, hat still over his eyes, asks, “And just how late Sally? And why the emergency?”

Sally, obviously struggling to keep still, responds. “Spotted Horse was on today’s run from the station. He is never, ever late! And it is two hours past time! We need to round up a posse and find him! The mail is at stake!” Belatedly she adds, “And Spotted Horse may be hurt!”

With a sigh, the sheriff gets his boots off the table, raises his hat and stands up, stretching. “Okay, I’ll need a posse to help backtrack the express route.Beer on me afterwards, and if there is something a-goin on, regular hazard pay. Do I have any takers?”

Meanwhile, Sally has darted back to the door and, putting her fingers in her mouth, whistles. Daisy, her ornithomimus, runs up and quick as a flash, she is mounted and racing off to the sheriff’s down the street.

Sally rushes out, yelling a quick hello and goodbye to her uncle Heimlich, the banker, as she darts out and in a fluid motion jumps on Daisy and rides out. Meanwhile, Molly climbs the ladders to the converter water tower, where Volgol is resting. Getting her mount saddled and ready, with ponderous flaps of giant wings the pterodactyl takes off and quickly passes over Sally riding hell-bent to the north along the pony express trail. 

Meanwhile, Jack & Hambone are meandering along the trail, waiting to catch a glimpse of Jack's nephew by his new wife's side riding on his new mount, Spotted Lilly. They were wondering why the Indian, Spotted Horse, was late when a shadow passed over them. Molly had flown the miles between Aurora and about halfway to the express station fairly quickly. Doing a fancy dismount while Volgol flew as slow and close to the ground as he could, Molly makes a graceful running dismount and starts to tell what is happening. Sally eventually caught up and explained that the mail was missing. And oh yes, so was Spotted Horse. A posse was a bit behind them. Molly manages the come trick so she gets back on her flying beast and heads back to a higher vantage. 

Jack noticed tracks and what appeared to be a scuffle leading to the east. Some arrows were scattered about that appeared to be Lakota arrows. Upon closer inspection, they could tell these were just crude approximations of actual Indian arrows. While Utah was not known for Lakato, apparently in my alt-history with dinosaurs there are some reservations several days travel away (and in what direction I'll have to determine eventually!)  As they traced this route, Molly flew overhead, scouting out ahead. They noticed that the horses were shod, indicating these were not Indians. Further on, they rested a bit in an arroyo, letting Milly the triceratops (Jack's steed), Daisy (Molly's some-sort-of-raptor-that-is-fast) ride, and Puddin, Hambone's ankylosaurus drink up. Molly noticed some smoke ahead and tried to signal the rest of the part. "Much wiggling of fingers and hands" I think was the translation made. Regardless, they decided to go on foot a bit futher. About this time a shot rang out: Volgol was being shot at! Fortuately a good miss, though Molly had her pterodactyl perform as if he had been shot, spiraling down. She failed her dismount as this was under duress, but did manage her saving roll. So her dismount was not quite as facile as earlier.

Splitting up, they present 3 different targets to the white men dressed as Indians. Spotted Horse is tied up next to them. Our heroes get the 1st shot: I gave them initiative as the bad guys were scanning he sky for that flying varmint. The battle was pretty short: 2 dead bad guys, one badly wounded and surrendered, and none of our heroes hurt at all. 

A discussion between Jack and the remaining bandit did not immediately yield results, until Hambone's loud check for ant hills, and Jack's comments about stirring up the nest a good deal, lead him to give out the name of one Jack Slade. Who, it turns out, is Molly's ex-husband. A no-good man who hurts and kills people. 

About this time Sheriff Shelton shows up with his posse. They had headed towards the gun shots. Hoisting the mail and dead bodies on the wagon, the sheriff asked Jack, Molly & Hambone to come to town to make their statements. Sally goes back with the sheriff, her duties to the mail being one of her big priorities. 

And that's where we ended up. A few things:

• yep, a bit nervous running the game. I can run Traveller & TFT w/o worrying too much as I really know those systems and always play in "my" worlds, so I don't have to worry about canon overly much. And two of the players are big old west aficionados and I don't want to disappoint them.
• I think started at 3rd level with traits is working well: I am using a good chunk of various backgrounds to help flesh out the game, so giving XP for that sort of thing I think I like.
• I would still prefer face to face gaming as I could draw out the battlefields and we'd have a better consensus of where people are in relationship to each other. For small battles like this it is okay using theater of the mind. I just need a more visual way for myself (and I could of course use Google draw and use that to move things around as per my experiment with TFT when the plague started. I still may do that again)
• having 2 players with relatively slow (but massive) mounts and a flying player is a bit complicated to mesh well. Apparently, pterodactyls are pretty fast and can cover vast distances. We're making it work I hope as the main point of this game is cowboys (or Indians) on dinosaurs.

Overall, I think it went pretty well. I just need to work through some things for the next session. And roll up a doctor for Aurora. But again, I have a lot of material from the players and from just poking around, so I've got some ideas for handling next week's game as our group meanders back into Aurora.

Hambone Hewiggans

Jack Looking Horse

Molly Slade

and if you've read this far, wow. But I actually had session 1 (maybe a second depending on how things played out) outlined below. While I don't think I railroaded anyone, it was a pretty close match. I've been reading the XDM book and need to re-read the planning part. I do have a lot of alternatives for what may happen. Long term there is just the initial plot based on this 1st session. Next session though there will be at least a couple of other plots we can follow up on (I have a dozen+ things I can toss out depending on where things are going, some basically 1 shots, others that may take a few sessions). Anyway, my initial game plan for session 1:

1. Meet in saloon with Sally (introduction)

2. Sheriff rounds up a posse - gold piece for a day’s work

3. About halfway to the express station, blood and mixed tracks

1. Search rolls?

2. If everyone else fails, Sally should succeed as she has beneficial traits and knows the route. Or J’s Indian if he shows up about then

4. J’s character shows up riding his triceratop: it was his nephew making the route and he was going to meet him halfway or so.

5. Scott’s character - flying overhead? Had seen a fight between a lone rider and Lakota Indians. At the bar to begin with?

6. Danny’s character is probably with Jonny’s. Thinking maybe start with Molly at the tavern and she starts flying the route and sees the others near where this happened?

7. Tracks lead to the east - mostly desert scrubland. Some scattered arrows that can be recognized as Lakota arrows. Scuff marks. Looking closely, may notice that they are really not Lakota but were made to look like it.

8. East leads past arroyo - bit of water, animals drink up. Tracks lead north from there. Grandson is also leaving marks that the grandfather can read if no one else (automatic). Critical success = indications that things are not as they seem?

9. Encounters en route

1. find Quick Foot, Spotted Horse’s gallimimus dinosaur. On inspection find bullet wounds. Further inspection human blood as well?

2. Additional signs of foot traffic: horses mostly

3. Random table of encounters

10. There are signs of a camp ahead - smoke. Check for stealth/surprise?

11. Campsite has the express rider (need stats for Spotted Horse? Level 1 dinosaur rider, the bags of mail scattered about, and what looks to be Lakota Indians. If they listen, though, English is being spoken.

12. Closer view shows that these are actually not Indians, but white men dressed as Indians.

13. 4 men (stats for fighting as the basic Nazi NPC in the book)

14. If they can keep any of them alive, check for who they are

15. One may mention Jack Slade (long term goal is to <well, my players may read this so cutting that out>

16. If they are there before the sheriff, what happens next?

17. Sheriff will get there with the posse, offer reward to the trio. Sally will be checking on Spotted Horse and his dino, who has bled out and died next to the bereaving Pawnee.

18. Killing dinosaurs is not a capital offense; stealing the mail is not either. 

Painting the sewers

Archon has managed an early delivery on a Kickstarter project! Of course, they do everything in-house in Poland. The sewer set finally showed up, and while I can't (yet!) paint as well as what they do there, I can get something that looks pretty good.

who let that Goblin shaman into the sewers?

First, the before and after pictures. The translucent sewer water also includes the walkway next to them. 

I connect a few of them together, then using painters tape, cover up the water. By connecting them it makes for an easier paint job as I only have 1 thing to spray paint in.This was round 2 so I am re-using the tape where possible (hey, I'm the one who made Sir Caffeine's tower from a coffee container - I like to recycle things. Eventually with practice I may even get good at it!)

Spray paint and let dry...and yes, that is some shipping paper. Sadly, not recyclable after spray painting on it but at least it is getting a second (and third, fourth) use as I can use it to keep from painting anything else.

Peel of the tape and it actually looks pretty good.

Now do some of my cheap wash (Wal-Mart black acrylic paint watered way down) I also did the walls with the same wash. When it dries, the splotchiness, at least to me, looks like water stains. Which technically it really is as it is just watered-down paint.

Again, let it dry. I also noticed that I did not get the paint all the way down on some of the edges - reusing tape may be getting too cheap! But I'll correct that with the 1st dry brushing, as the 1st layer is a just a lighter shade of the same grey used in the base coat (which is just spray paint, not a specific mini paint company spray which costs 10x as much. And for rocks, the $3 can works just as well for me at least).

Some crude dry brush (I am still not great at this except by happy accident!) and then some green for slime (Naga green - for this final bit I did actually use a "real" mini paint as for some reason I have a few vials of naga green!)

And there we have it - perfect home for a sewer mermaid! Okay, I do have more appropriate creatures for the apparently ever-present sewers that fantasy cities seem to have.

The only issue I have with the sewer set is that the translucent plastic is more brittle than the normal stuff they use. Clipping it off the sprues requires a bit more attention, and you will have to file it down as it does leave little spurs. Or else my clippers are getting dull! But overall, I am really happy with this set. 

Now just 2 more sprues to work on! And the 3 big boxes of stretch goals. And the other rooms I bought...

Solo Traveller - In Jump To Llamma

 With the traditional dimming of the lights, we left normal space and entered that oddity of jump space. All external systems went dark, and the external monitors now showed a simulated starfield. As the No Refunds was not really set up as a passenger ship, and her Ladyship needed her own stateroom, I had moved all my stuff out and set up temporary quarters with the doctor. The Engineers were already bunking together. It was a bit crowded, but we would at least have the credits applied.

I went and buzzed on Lady Khou's door, and her bodyguard answered. He was a huge Vargr, scarred and to me at least, terrifying. He growled something at me, and I took a step back. I heard her Ladyship's voice from the back, and he stepped aside, gesturing for me to come in.

Not really a lot of passenger space!

The stateroom had already been set up with some Vargr hangings against the walls. I did not recognize any of them, but they looked old and somehow impressive. I introduced myself to Lady Khou, and after some chitchat, I learned that the bodyguard's name was a series of growls I could not pronounce but translated out close enough to Gouck, which at least I could pronounce. Apparently Gouck spoke little Anglic (something I learned later: he could understand it just fine but chose to play ignorant as people will say a lot more when they think the person present cannot understand them). I gave them a couple of choices for the celebratory dinner and left them to their own devices as I prepped the big meal. 

A few hours later, and the crew and our two special guests were eating at the table. Unlike most Imperial designed ships. the No Refund has a spacious dining and common area. I think the designers realized that a lot of time would be spent here and having more space would help. After the meal, Captain Laux broke out some Vargr wine I did not know he had. Turns out Oeg had been saving it for a special occasion, and while the 2nd engineer did not look too happy about the use of his private collection, her Ladyship seemed quite appreciative. We found that they were indeed looking to establish a conclave of Vargr in the League, and this sight-seeing trip was to sound out how the various systems and people may accommodate them. 

"Honestly, Hendar has been our best choice so far. Though there is no technology base to speak of, we'd import what we need. The planet is mostly empty. But we're still looking and getting a feel for what the natives think." She had an aristocratic voice that, while quiet, still managed to carry well. She had dressed up for the dinner, and while we had no ship uniform, most of the crew were also dressed better than I normally saw them. Even Lando, our chief engineer, managed to get out of the coveralls he normally wore and was wearing a somewhat threadbare yet still presentable suit. I almost did not recognize Ewo: I had never seen here wearing jewelry before, and those little orbs glinting from her ears with the gold chains made her seem almost regal as well. 

The rest of the week went well until the 5th day, 2 days before we were going to drop out of jump space. Gouck came up to me while I was in the commons area, working on my journal. He handed me a page that Lady Khou had written, asking me to come to her cabin. Putting up the tablet I followed the hulking Vargr (I really did not know Vargr could get that large!) and entered her cabin.

"It seems that I am missing a certain legal document," she said without preamble. While my jaw did not drop, I was a bit shocked: this was a classic case of theft on a closed ship. I stammered a bit and told her that "we need to see the captain and bring this to his attention." 

Not long after, there was a general ship meeting in the commons, the captain sitting at the top of the table. Her Ladyship was next to him, and Gouck was behind her, arms crossed and a deeper scowl than normal on his muzzle.

"It seems that we have some sort of theft on the No Refunds. That is entirely unacceptable. As we are all gathered here now, I want everyone's story for the last day."

Neither the captain nor Lady Khou mentioned what was stolen, and beyond them and me, only Gouck knew what was missing.

So, in rolling for what happened in jump, something from a passenger cabin was stolen. At this point, I need to come up with a plan, and actually what really happened. Did something actually get stolen, is this some sort of test of the crew, or something else entirely. And honestly, this is where solo role playing gets a bit predictable as it is all in my head without bumping into other people's ideas.

Going to first make it a 50/50 thing: even it is something actually missing, odd it is some sort of test. And a 6 - this is some sort of test the captain is putting the crew through with Lady Khou. Back to our wheels within wheels.  I just need to figure out what sort of test this is: probably a loyalty test of sorts. I'll just have to think about it.

As to the large Vargr, Mongoose did make a variety of types of Vargr. While I personally don't like it, it does add a bit of flair to the stock Vargr. Mongoose added several subspecies, one of which is the Urzaeng. These get a +1 to strength and dexterity but a -2 to intelligence. The Classic book does not separate out sub-species. I think Traveller was well ahead of its time in many ways by generally not making differences between genders and things like that (though the Aslan do have a large sexual dimorphism, most races, notably Humanity, makes no differences based on gender). Anyway, I digress as normal! Going with the bodyguard is Urzaeng. Though I've yet to roll up characters.

And I'll think about this test - going to play the deeper game as per the previous solo post: wheels within wheels. I'm just lazy when it comes to the solo game. Had I been running this for a group, I would have more concrete ideas. And so perhaps I'll try & treat it that way. 

Wanted posters

 If I print these out, I do have parchment-style paper so I can remove the background. But as we're playing online, guess images are all we need. I miss playing at the table!

I started adding a bibliography of where I get some of the images. Late to that party, but at least there is a token effort.

One of the players has an interesting & funny background - if I get his permission I'll have to post it as it is done in the first person and manages to bring all three players together. And give a few more NPCs that may eventually make their debut in the game. All the players have their backgrounds, though this one was written in the 1st person so that helps set the mood even more!

I recently discovered filters in GIMP after installing a plug-in to get clouds in my worlds (see this post for an example). Started with an image the player gave me:

then applied a few filters until I found one I liked for a wanted poster:

Though the black & white one is probably a better fit, I used a different one.

He thought it funny as did I. Though the ranger that posted the wanted poster is hundreds of miles away to the south. He may eventually make a trip up to Nebraska but at the moment seems like Hawbones is good to go.

Second set of NPC cards - a Kung Fu like (70's TV show) martial artist who may be trying to help the Chinese immigrants, a deputy, the Ranger and now I can't recall who Roger Rose is other than I liked the image. As a raider, guess he may be an NPC that could be exploring the potential ruins in the Spikes. Because I just got some Mayan coins and want to use them so perhaps an oddly misplaced Mayan city of some sort. I checked my bible and he is not in there. So obviously I liked the picture and wrapped a story around him. Now to write part of it up. He could end up a patron or something - other than the old Traveller 76 Patrons, I've never really used patrons much in a game. I need to really start doing that more. I think when I start using cults or guilds that may come into play a bit more as the characters may have to get stuff or do things to progress in the cult or guild. Which reminds me that I really need to read some of those books I keep getting!

Anyway, I feel that the game is going to be starting sooner rather than later. Pretty ready for the 1st couple of sessions with plenty of fall-back options. I'll hopefully be able to read the room and make adjustments on the fly so that everyone has a good time.

Cowboys And Dinosaurs - NPC sheets

It is tough to keep track of NPCs, PCs and how they all interact. I keep reading a lot about how to manage this sort of thing and have yet to actually find something that works for me. I am currently reading the XDM book that I backed on Kickstarter, and there are some good ideas in there (and a few I've learned pretty much by playing and listening). 

I've started a character relationship graph, though it already got pretty busy. It shows the relationships of the NPCs to the players (and is still a work in progress). I also need to dig back through for the various villains to have their motivations and reasons they are doing things. Fortunately, my experiment for having the players create some NPCs and things really helps: I'm incorporating a good deal of that and so there will already be some knowledge of people, places and things.

I am also creating small character cards that I will probably print out to have handy: while most of what I do is digital, a good paper copy and file system to organize things really helps me out. It worked really well in it's preliminary form when running a Fantasy Trip game: I had the NPCs handy and any stats/skills/spells or whatever was pretty handy. I may expand on these cards a bit to have some basic characteristic (speaks softly, has a lisp, limps and looks down a lot) to help give the NPCs a bit more uniqueness. I started that but did not do it consistently. Not that I am ever consistent!

As per the last post, I've also added land barons. Digging into real-world people, I've added a land baron that will eventually probably interact with at least one of the players as his cattle are encroaching on tribal lands where he is raising triceratops. The stuff in parenthesis was changed to fit the game world.

John Simpson Chisum, Cattle Baron

John Simpson Chisum (August 16, 1824 – December 22, 1884) was a wealthy cattle baron in the American West in the mid-to-late 19th century. He was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, and moved with his family to the (Republic of Texas) Nebraska in 1837, later finding work as a building contractor. He also served as county clerk in Lamar County. He was of Scottish, English, and Welsh descent.

In 1854, Chisum became engaged in the cattle business and became one of the first to send his herds to (New Mexico Territory) western Nebraska Territory. He obtained land along the Bliss River by right of occupancy and eventually became the owner of a large ranch in the Bosque Grande, about 20 miles north of Dos Diablos, with over 100,000 head of cattle. In 1866-67, Chisum formed a partnership with cattlemen Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving to assemble and drive herds of cattle for sale to the United States Army in Fort Sumner and Santa Fe, New Mexico, to provide cattle to miners in Colorado as well as provide cattle to the Bell Ranch, Bliss Springs, Copper Peak and Harmony.

A gambler, Chisum frequently played poker with Sheriff Shelton.

Technically he died in 1884, a year before this. Hawbones was actually successful in pulling the tooth. This was before he knew of anything else going on between Chisum & Jack.

And thank goodness for various web image searches: finding plenty of cowboy art to use as, other than the dinos, this is basically an old West game. Though I am finding fun images to use. There will be a guitar-playing drifter in the saloon. And I am adding the same bookstore from the previous Apex game. While I've told one of the players as we both love world-building, unless the others read my blog (and they don't except when I post the game recaps and give them the link as far as I know) wonder if they will pick up on that. They do know I keep a lot of things between games. Sort of like there are a lot of movies that are in the same universe even if not directly linked. Some directors do things like that, and I find it fun to sneak in characters and places from other games. They do know about Heimlich at any rate.

My game "bible" is getting fairly long - embedding it here if anyone is interested.