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.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.
“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.
- 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.
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| Hambone Hewiggans |
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| Jack Looking Horse |
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| Molly Slade |
Meet in saloon with Sally (introduction)
Sheriff rounds up a posse - gold piece for a day’s work
About halfway to the express station, blood and mixed tracks
Search rolls?
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
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.
Scott’s character - flying overhead? Had seen a fight between a lone rider and Lakota Indians. At the bar to begin with?
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?
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.
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?
Encounters en route
find Quick Foot, Spotted Horse’s gallimimus dinosaur. On inspection find bullet wounds. Further inspection human blood as well?
Additional signs of foot traffic: horses mostly
Random table of encounters
There are signs of a camp ahead - smoke. Check for stealth/surprise?
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.
Closer view shows that these are actually not Indians, but white men dressed as Indians.
4 men (stats for fighting as the basic Nazi NPC in the book)
If they can keep any of them alive, check for who they are
One may mention Jack Slade (long term goal is to <well, my players may read this so cutting that out>
If they are there before the sheriff, what happens next?
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.
Killing dinosaurs is not a capital offense; stealing the mail is not either.
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