RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Neerup Bent Billiard + Peterson's Wild Atlantic
Sunday, 14 July 2019
Designing an RPG? You Need to Consider D&D First!
When designing a ttrpg you can either choose to ignore D&D or you can choose to consider it carefully in contrast to your design. The former has always ended in failure, so ignore Dungeons & Dragons at your peril.
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Neerup Bent Billiard + Peterson's Wild Atlantic
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Neerup Bent Billiard + Peterson's Wild Atlantic
Friday, 12 July 2019
DCC Campaign Update: That Demon Will Need a Cyborg Ass if He Survives This
In our last session, the PCs had managed to recover the last of the five power rings needed to purify the Crown of Creation. But they were stuck 20 levels deep in the Realm of Blood & Fire, and had to find their way out.
Now:
-"So everyone was together except the Ratfucker Wizard.."
"Who was on the ship.."
"...and the Trans-Warrior.."
"Who was lost in the Deep Neutral Zone, yes."
-"Ratfucker Wizard, do a Fortitude save."
"17."
"...really? Oh. Shit. I was expecting you to fail. Um.. I'll get back to you."
-"Trans-warrior, you're trapped in the Deep Neutral Zone."
"Help??"
"Do you have any way to get out?"
"Um... what about my sword? Can it do something?"
"What about it?"
"It's the Sword of Neutrality. And we're in the Neutral Zone."
"Oh! OK... your sword is glowing more than usual in that case."
-"Catboy drinks a potion of Invisibility and then goes to the next room."
"OK, you see there's some Archdemons there."
"He goes back!"
"What? No! Go on! What's the point of having drunk the potion of Invisibility if you can't go on??"
"No!"
"Go on and do it!"
"If you were cool you'd do it!"
-"Heidi should have done this instead of Catboy."
"Well, he should have done this without drinking the Invisibility Potion, because he'd attack everything in his path anyways."
-Facing the Archdemons, Invisible Catboy puts the sleep rune in Roman's hand.
"Here use this.."
"What is this..ohhh"
"God damn it, he wasn't supposed to look at it and fall asleep!"
-"So if I miss my shot, there's a chance I'll hit Minocles, or a chance I'll hit one of the other two Archdemons?"
"Yes."
"I like those odds!"
-"you guys get 2xp."
"Oh come on! I almost died!"
"That's because you charged right into the demons. Anyone who didn't do something stupid was fine."
"Roman even had a little nap!"
-The Trans-mutant is in the neutral zone. Suddenly, the Lords of Neutrality appear!
"Hello."
"Hello?"
"We have taken a moderate interest in your sword."
"Oh no."
"What is your name?"
"Omthal the Neutral."
"Ha! He's trying to suck up to the Lords of Neutrality!"
-"Is he Trans-Neutral?"
"No, that's Heidi."
-"What is your favorite Ice Cream?"
"...vanilla?"
"That is an acceptable answer. We would also have accepted 'wintergreen' or 'unflavored'."
-"We shall give you three choices: The first is that you give us the sword. The second is that you swear loyalty to us and become our champion. The third is that you do nothing and we go away."
-"Congratulations on becoming a Champion of Neutrality."
"Yay!"
"No, the right response is 'meh'; you have much to learn!"
"Do I?"
"You are improving."
-The Ratfucker Wizard, who made his saving throw, finds that the closet he was in with his rat is filling up with some kind of poison gas.
"I cast magic shield!"
"OK, it fails, and wouldn't have protected you against poison gas anyways. Now you pass out."
"So the trans-warrior gets to become a Champion of Neutrality, and the wizard got a nap."
-The main party keeps slogging through the Realm of Blood & Fire; now joined by the Trans-Warrior, who was sent there by the Lords of Neutrality.
"He's an archdemon, so I shoot him in the balls."
-"I'm sorry the ratfucker wizard is missing all the XP farming."
"I cry in Level 1."
-"Heidi rushes forward into a room full of blood zombies."
"I wait for the others."
"They are already following you in."
"Yeah, the rest of the party gave up on trying to stop you and just follow you wherever you charge."
"Good!"
-"Should we really waste our bullets on these guys?"
"Dude, I have six full clips!"
-"Are these 1xp zombies or 2xp zombies?"
"Probably depends on our initiative roll."
-The Trans-mutant warrior is taken down by a demon.
"He's 1xp from leveling!"
"He was one day from retiring!"
"Highway to the danger zone!"
-"The demon trips and falls face first in front of vizi."
"Oh my!"
-"I shove my Holy M16 into his ass!"
"You succeed and do your regular damage plus 1d4 ass damage."
-"That demon will need a cyborg ass if he survives this."
-"I take the Sword of Neutrality and give it to Vizi."
"I trust that he'll use it better than the Trans-Mutant Warrior."
"Yeah but watch out, he's a badass now, he can summon the Lords of Neutrality."
"But not now, that hit left him a vegetable."
"Isn't that just the ultimate level of Neutrality?"
-The party finally finds an exit to the material plane, and fly back to the ship.
"So now what do we do?"
"We have to cast the rings into the sun. But there's a catch.."
"Do you mean, someone has to be cast into the sun with the rings?"
"Yes."
"Wait, does it have to be you, Roman?"
"No. It can be any pure-strain human, elf or dwarf."
"Everyone is looking at the Sky-cleric."
-Catboy opens the closet to check on the Ratfucker Wizard, only to find that The Man is in the closet, and fires on Catboy with his chaos-bullet gun!
"He rolls and even though he's at point-blank range, the bullet doesn't hit you. Instead it seems to vanish. The Man scream 'nooo'!"
"Holy fuck, he misfired again!"
-"Vizi sunders The Man's gun, and hits him so hard he gives The Man brain damage. The Man teleports away."
"Vizi, you get 2xp. Catboy, you get 3xp."
"Why does he get more than me?"
"Well, Catboy was the one obvious target whose life was in danger. Also, he's only being hunted by The Man because some dude from my Youtube channel keeps asking if I've killed the Catboy yet. So I kind of owe him one."
-"Catboy gets the Chaos Bullets. Oh, wait... I can't use them. I love Anema and it would probably be bad if I accidentally killed the Spirit of the Sun. I give them to Heidi."
"Yeah but Heidi loves Bill. He might kill him!"
"Is that a problem?"
-"computer, analyze treatment for trans-mutant warrior."
"COMPUTER SUGGESTS IV PROBE"
"Ohh.. Vizi is suddenly feeling really sick too!"
-"Vizi is turning into the Milo Yiannopoulos of the Last Sun."
-"Catboy texts The Man: Who did you kill now, your mom? See you next time!"
-In the end, the party calls up Krishnan, who brings with him an elven monk ready to sacrifice himself to the sun.
"Catboy was hoping Krishnan would just sacrifice himself!"
-"So, if we're going into the Sun, none of us should go there who have Patrons, right?"
"None of us have Patrons, right Trans-Mutant?"
"...right..."
"OK, cool."
-"Couldn't Korean Jesus detect if the trans-mutant has a Patron Bond?"
"No, his bond is too Neutral."
-"Korean Jesus is opening the portal to the center of the sun.. oh wait, first I have to give you all sunglasses."
"Right, that will help."
-"Is it done?"
"Yes."
"I don't feel anything..."
"Why the fuck would you feel anything, Vizi?!"
"No, I mean I literally don't feel anything! I've been pumping this vaporizer directly into my armor's air supply!"
-The rings having been sacrificed to the Sun, supposedly the corruption has ended. But the Cleric's powers have not yet returned. The party gets ready to travel to the Crown of Creation.
"Here, take a vial of my Jesus-blood, just in case."
"Wait, Republican Jesus, you just had a vial of your blood on you?"
"Yeah, man. I don't know why I have it or when I filled it, but I'm sure it's still good."
-"When the party arrives at the Crown of creation, the Trans-mutant warrior hears very bland whispers in his head saying 'invoke neutrality!!'"
"I try to invoke neutrality."
"You fail, and the voices say 'OK, nevermind'."
-"G.O.D. is finally restored in manifest corporeal form... and he looks like a dim English bald guy."
-"G.O.D.'s operating in Safety Mode. He can't fix everything, but at least he probably won't make things worse."
-"I could probably fix him..."
"No, Catboy!"
"But I'm lucky!"
"You're not going to fix G.O.D. by pawing at the keyboard!"
-"Hey! You save universe, good for you!"
"What is that? Where's that voice coming from?"
"Its seemingly coming from nowhere."
"It is me, Nikos!"
"Where are you?"
"I am in Trans-Spatial Rhombus. I like it here!"
"Is Lenny there?"
"Yeah, hi guys!"
"Can Lenny come back?"
"OK, sure I send Lenny back!"
-"Nikos will grant whole party one wish. But ALL in party who are still alive must agree. Also, wish is slightly cursed."
-"Do we have to make the wish now?"
"No! You make at any time. Only all of you must agree! If only one is left alive, then he can wish what he like."
-"So this could be like, a wish tontine, where the last one alive gets it?"
-"I think we should wish that the sky-nazi didn't have any accent at all!"
"I would agree with that, I hate people with dumb accents, my friends."
"Shut up, Zeke!"
-"I'm going to have to stay here to make sure G.O.D. doesn't crash, and to get him working better. G.O.D., recognize me as an ancient and assign A-1 Command clearance."
"Approved!"
"So... you're basically G.O.D. now?"
"No. I'm G.O.D.'s programmer."
-"you guys, are we absolutely sure that Roman isn't a daemon?"
"No, he's really an Ancient."
"Oh, that's OK then, I'm sure an Ancient won't go all megalomaniacal with absolute power and make things worse..."
"Oh, shit."
-Leaving Roman behind in the Crown of Creation, but taking Lenny the Cannibal Saint back with them, the party returns to the sun.
"Hey, Lenny, can heal us?"
"Sure! From the time I was in the supernal triangle I'm super full of Saint power!"
"Can you restore Bill, Lenny?"
"OK."
"Wait!! Um, can I talk to you alone, Lenny?"
"What about, Catboy?"
"Um... cannibalism."
"Oh, OK sure!"
-Catboy is desperately trying to convince Lenny not to bring Bill back.
"But it would be super mean to just leave Bill like that! I'm not used to excluding people... normally I'm the one who gets excluded."
"Why would we exclude you, Lenny?"
"Well... because I'm socially awkward?... oh, and a cannibal."
-Catboy fails to convince Lenny, and Lenny uses up most of his super-saint power to bring Bill back from rat form.
"Welcome back, Bill!"
"Bill has too many ResponsiBILLities to stay away!"
-"we should take the sunstaff with us."
"But if something happened to it, we would never be able to get back to the Crown of Creation."
"Shut up, Zeke!"
"Yeah, stop using reason!"
-"Taking the sunstaff would fit the recklessness of our party."
-"Let's decide in the morning, and all get some rest."
"Yeah, and level up!"
That's it for this session. Where will the PCs go from here, after having saved the universe yet again? Find out next time!
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Masonic Meerschaum + Elizabethan Mixture
Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Livestream: Beware the Cult of Game Designers!
Here it is, in full:
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Raleigh Hawkbill + Image Virginia
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Raleigh Hawkbill + Image Virginia
Sunday, 7 July 2019
RPGPundit Livestream Tonight!
Tonight, at 7:30pm CST, I'll be doing a livestream on my Youtube Channel. Consider yourself warned, and come check it out if you dare.
I'll be talking about the importance of Rule Zero in RPGs, and also about pretty well any subject my audience wants to talk about!
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Mastro de Paja Rhodesian + Image Virginia
I'll be talking about the importance of Rule Zero in RPGs, and also about pretty well any subject my audience wants to talk about!
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Mastro de Paja Rhodesian + Image Virginia
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
Thralls of the Jade Queen!
The Jade Queen is the ruler of the high-tech extradimensional plane known as the Jade Realm. She has been, for thousands of years, on account of never having produced an heir. She has always chosen her consorts from creatures of the material plane, rather than her own kind.
Now, your PCs have found themselves very suddenly the victims of an extra-planar kidnapping, as they are recruited by the bureaucracy of the Jade Realm to participate in "The Games", a multi-day contest of blood sport. The winner of the Games will get to become the Queen's new consort and live out their natural lives in undeniable luxury.
To survive, they'll either have to find a way to escape the Jade Realm, to win the Games, or to take down the whole system. But along the way they'll need to deal with scheming courtiers, an extremely unusual cast of fellow prisoner-contestants, and a vast conspiracy that has tremendous implications for the Jade Realm's future!
RPGPundit Presents #83: Thralls of the Jade Queen is a gonzo-style adventure for your OSR game, easily adaptable to any OSR system or other fantasy game. Its extraplanar side-trip nature makes it easy to integrate into any ongoing campaign, and its sandbox style gives the players a wide berth of options of how they handle the very unusual situation they find themselves in.
You can pick up Thralls of the Jade Queen from DTRPG, or from the Precis Intermedia Webstore, either way for just $2.99!
And while you're at it, be sure to pick up the rest of the great supplements in the RPGPundit Presents series:
RPGPundit Presents #1: DungeonChef!
RPGPundit Presents #2: The Goetia (usable for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #3: High-Tech Weapons
RPGPundit Presents #5: The Child-Eaters (an adventure scenario for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #17: The Hunters (an adventure for Lion & Dragon!)
Currently Smoking: Mastro De Paja Rhodesian + Image Virginia
Now, your PCs have found themselves very suddenly the victims of an extra-planar kidnapping, as they are recruited by the bureaucracy of the Jade Realm to participate in "The Games", a multi-day contest of blood sport. The winner of the Games will get to become the Queen's new consort and live out their natural lives in undeniable luxury.
To survive, they'll either have to find a way to escape the Jade Realm, to win the Games, or to take down the whole system. But along the way they'll need to deal with scheming courtiers, an extremely unusual cast of fellow prisoner-contestants, and a vast conspiracy that has tremendous implications for the Jade Realm's future!
RPGPundit Presents #83: Thralls of the Jade Queen is a gonzo-style adventure for your OSR game, easily adaptable to any OSR system or other fantasy game. Its extraplanar side-trip nature makes it easy to integrate into any ongoing campaign, and its sandbox style gives the players a wide berth of options of how they handle the very unusual situation they find themselves in.
You can pick up Thralls of the Jade Queen from DTRPG, or from the Precis Intermedia Webstore, either way for just $2.99!
And while you're at it, be sure to pick up the rest of the great supplements in the RPGPundit Presents series:
RPGPundit Presents #1: DungeonChef!
RPGPundit Presents #2: The Goetia (usable for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #3: High-Tech Weapons
RPGPundit Presents #5: The Child-Eaters (an adventure scenario for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #6: The Distinguished Wizard's Guide to Pipes and Pipeweed
RPGPundit Presents #7: The Medieval-Authentic Vancian Wizard's Spellbook
RPGPundit Presents #8: Three Medieval-Authentic Grimoires (usable for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #9: The Book of the Art of Hours (usable for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #7: The Medieval-Authentic Vancian Wizard's Spellbook
RPGPundit Presents #8: Three Medieval-Authentic Grimoires (usable for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #9: The Book of the Art of Hours (usable for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #12: Two More Medieval-Authentic Magical Grimoires (Usable for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #14: The Secret Order of the Red Lady (an adventure for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #17: The Hunters (an adventure for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #18: Advanced Medieval-Authentic Astrology (a supplement for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #21: Hecate's Tomb (an adventure for Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #28: The Midnight Duke (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #35: 30 Courtly Events and Intrigues (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #38: 20 Medieval-Authentic Sinister Supernatural Encounters (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #40: The Tower of the Mad Astrologer (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #43: The Dragon Egg (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #48: 3 Occult Killer Antagonists (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #52: The Ladystone (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #54: Medieval College Adventures (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #56: The Thing From the Cave (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #58: Expanded Prior History Tables (compatible with Lion & Dragon!)
RPGPundit Presents #60: Medieval-Authentic Enchantment Magic (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #62: Medieval-Authentic Glamour Magic (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #63: Medieval-Authentic Folk-Magic Spells (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #65: The Defilers (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #66: 3 More Occult Killer Antagonists (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #68: The Cult of the Saints (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #69: The Path of Trees (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #71: The Reivers (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #72: The Cymri Davey (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #76: Fire Demons of Croyland (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
RPGPundit Presents #78: Medieval Authentic City Guide - Ipswich (compatible with Lion & Dragon)
Stay tuned for more next week!
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Mastro De Paja Rhodesian + Image Virginia
Tuesday, 2 July 2019
Cyberpunk Is "Problematic" But Not For The Reasons SJWs Think
In today's video, I explain my problem with Cyberpunk's "humanity" mechanics, and with other RPGs' meta-mechanics. Check it out!
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Poker + Gawith's St.James' Flake
Monday, 1 July 2019
Wild West Campaign: The Dodge City War
It had been close to a year of game time from the last adventure. The Adjudicators had crushed the power of the Cowboys forever, and then went their separate ways. Now, Kid Taylor had settled in Berkeley where he was studying medicine. Crazy Miller was traveling all across the wild west with Miss Scarlet. And Other Miller had brought his family back with him to Dodge City where he'd decided to retire from the life of a shootist and open a barber shop.
That was when Crazy Miller and Kid Taylor got a telegram (or rather, Kid did and Crazy happened to be in the area); it was from Charlie Bassett, calling for them to come to Kansas City as quick as he could, he needed them.
They took the train immediately, such was their sense of loyalty to Dodge's former sheriff. Along the way, as they traveled across the country, they found the train took on two more passengers: Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson, who had received the same telegram.
On arriving at Kansas City, they asked around for Bassett, and in response they were told that "the Senator" could be found on a given corner in the downtown area. It turned out that he was known as The Senator because Bassett had used his savings to open an establishment called Senate Saloon.
With Bassett was another Dodge City old-timer, Luke Short. Short had been an acquaintance of the PCs in Dodge, and became a friend in Tombstone when he'd briefly been part-owner of the Oriental Saloon. Then he'd returned to Dodge with Frank Harris and they'd bought the famous Long Branch Saloon.
Things had been going relatively well in Dodge, until the sudden resignation of the town Mayor required a snap election and the corpulent former town marshal Larry Deger presented himself as a candidate. Deger had been one of the group in Dodge City known as the "Better People", who had long campaigned against the the cabal of Saloon Owners and scoundrels known as "the Gang". Now most of the Gang were long gone, and Deger was ready to take power. Frank Harris ran against him, but Deger won by a mere 71 votes.
Deger immediately went for revenge. With his new office and control of city council, he passed ordinances prohibiting gambling and prostitution on Front Street, and sent his new Marshal Bridges to raid the Long Branch, where a brief firefight broke out. Luke Short managed to cause a light graze to one of Bridge's deputies before being convinced to surrender. Harris paid a $2000 bond for Luke, and two days later the Marshal (on Deger's orders) used Deger's new Vagrancy Law to kick Luke out of town. Luke Short went to Kansas City and came to see his old friend (and Deger's old enemy) Charlie Bassett, and Bassett called on the other former famous Lawmen of Dodge City to come to their aid.
The group decided that they would come riding into Dodge as the "Dodge City Peace Commission" and basically throw their weight and fame around to intimidate Deger and his second-rate lawmen into surrendering to their demands: that the recently-passed ordinances be rescinded, that Luke Short be cleared to return to Dodge, and that the Long Branch no longer be targeted by the corrupt town government.
They all set off, except for Kid Taylor and Miss Scarlet, who went all the way to Dodge by train. Miss Scarlet to wait for the others in town, and Kid Taylor to try to talk to his father-in-law, Judge Wright (one of the Better People) to get him to make Deger stand down.
When the duo arrived in town, they went straight to see Other Miller. The Peace Commission figured that Other Miller (along with Frank Harris, and Texas Jack Vermillion who was also in town) would all join their cause. Other Miller had claimed to be retired, but just the other day some young yahoo had come gunning for him, trying to gain his fame by killing one of Wyatt Earp's Immortals. Other Miller shot him through the gun hand like it was nothing.
Now, when Kid & Scarlet came to see Other Miller, he immediately agreed to help the Peace Commission. However, he pointed out that since coming to town he'd been "playing nice" with Deger, and figured he'd probably be able to be more use to the group by giving the impression of being a neutral party. Of course, if things came down to gunplay, they would count on him.
The next day, the Peace Commission rode into town to much fanfare, made some speeches denouncing Deger, and holed up in the Long Branch Saloon. Deger was furious and sent Sheriff Bridges to order all of them to get out of Dodge by sunset. Of course, they completely ignored the command, and laughed at Deger's men, who were too few and too scared to try to enforce it.
Judge Wright, meanwhile, had begun to suspect Kid Taylor's visit wasn't just 'business and family'. He knew Taylor had been in Kansas City, which happened to be where the whole Peace Commission (composed of many of the same men Kid Taylor had rode all through Arizona murdering Cowboys with) came from just a day later. He interrogated Kid, who had not really been prepared with a good cover story. Kid denied any knowledge of the Peace Commission, and ended up claiming he was involved in trying to fund a business deal to bring electric lights (which had just started to come into the market that same year) to Berkeley. Wright asked him who he was trying to get funds from in KC, and a few hours later when he confirmed the name Kid gave him was made up, he confronted Kid all over again. Caught in a spiraling web of his own lies, ended up making up a story about trying to borrow money from Irish mobsters; in the process he gave the impression he was in dire financial straights. He didn't count on Wright deciding he'd call up his contacts in KC to threaten the local Irish mob to "back off Kid Taylor". There would be some very confused Irish Mobsters in Kansas City in the next few days.
As penance, Wright told Kid that he'd join up as one of Deger's deputies and help try to put an end to the Dodge City Peace Commission.
That night Deger, Marshal Bridges, and his deputies (including Kid Taylor) gathered to try to figure out how to stop the Peace Commission. Deger sent Kid Taylor to the Long Branch to issue new demands; Kid just went over there, said hey to everyone, had a drink, and came back explaining that they were refusing to hear any demands. Deger was furious, but then Kid said something that triggered an idea in Deger's head. He ran off to bring together the city council.
Things seemed to be going pretty well for the peace commission, except that night Texas Jack Vermillion got into an argument with a gambler at the Long Branch. He'd accused the gambler of being a cheat, the gambler confronted him, and Texas Jack, ever the hothead, drew quickly and shot the gambler dead, right through the eye. He drunkenly declared that from now on he'd be known as "Shoot Your Eye Out Vermillion".
This was obviously a huge misstep for the Peace Commission. The impression they were just a bunch of violent thugs was going to be hard to lose with them having a shooting right in the Long Branch! Jack would be arrested if he hung around, so the "Peace Commissioners" told him to flee, and he did.
Luckily for the Peace Commission, that night Deger was making a misstep of his own. By next morning, it was revealed that Deger had decided to double down: Dodge was the only town in Kansas that had been ignoring the State Prohibition Law. Now, Deger's council just passed a resolution to enforce that law, and were threatening to shut down all the remaining Saloons in town.
This was quite a problem, and Kid Taylor quickly learned that even the rest of the Better People were not really on board. Making Dodge a Dry Town right on the edge of the Cattle Drive season was going to cost a lot of business. Kid Taylor tried to convince his father-in-law to put pressure on Deger, but Wright made it clear that the rest of the Better People were likely to back his play.
In his role as "neutral observer" Other Miller also tried to convince Deger that his plan was a mistake, pointing out that he might win this "Dodge City War", but he'd lose the larger prize when the townspeople turned on him in the next election. Deger made his position clear: he would back down from enforcing prohibition if the Peace Commission, including Luke Short, left town. He wasn't willing to concede anything else. Meanwhile, he let Other Miller know that he was going to hire a dozen armed men to join the current Dodge lawmen in mowing down everyone in the Long Branch if he had to.
Other Miller reported back to the Long Branch. The Commission was trying to think of a solution that wouldn't involve a shootout that would have them all on the wrong side of the law. They knew they needed someone to pressure the rest of the Better People to turn on Deger, but the state government was bound to take Deger's side, and no other group in or around Dodge seemed powerful enough to exert pressure. That is, until Other Miller mentioned the Santa Fe Railroad. If the cattle barons were unhappy at Dodge going dry, the Railroad would be pliable to moving their staging area for the cattle drive from Dodge to Cimarron. Bat Masterson pointed out that he'd once fought a rail war for the Santa Fe line, and he had a lot of friends there, so he headed out to send some telegrams.
A railroad representative arrived by that afternoon, and Kid Taylor happened on the rail man talking to Deger. When Kid spoke to Deger, Deger tried to claim that nothing of consequence was spoken of, but Kid immediately realized that Deger was lying. He rushed to the rail man and convinced him to talk to Judge Wright, who informed the rest of the better people.
The armed deputies were in front of the Long Branch, waiting (nervously) for the order to move in and try to arrest a half-dozen of the greatest living shootists in the west. Luckily, at that moment Judge Wright arrived and told the men to stand down. They were ready to deal.
In the end, the Better People overruled Deger, and agreed that they'd rescind the enforcement of prohibition and would let the Long Branch operate undisturbed, but would continue to enforce against gambling and prostitution. And Luke Short could stay. Luke was mighty grateful to the Peace Commission, though he admitted that he knew which way the wind was blowing in Dodge. He planned to sell his share of the Long Branch; eventually, he'd move down to Fort Worth Texas, where he'd become owner of the White Elephant Saloon, making him the only man in the West to have had a stake in the three most famous saloons in the history of the Wild West (the Long Branch, the Oriental and the White Elephant).
Before they all went their separate ways, the Dodge City Peace Commission sat for a commemorative photograph, which would become famous in western history:
Crazy Miller also proposed to Miss Scarlet, and his old friend and former preacher Bill Tilghman married them before leaving Dodge. Once again, the PCs went their separate ways.
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Quiete + Argento Latakia
That was when Crazy Miller and Kid Taylor got a telegram (or rather, Kid did and Crazy happened to be in the area); it was from Charlie Bassett, calling for them to come to Kansas City as quick as he could, he needed them.
They took the train immediately, such was their sense of loyalty to Dodge's former sheriff. Along the way, as they traveled across the country, they found the train took on two more passengers: Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson, who had received the same telegram.
On arriving at Kansas City, they asked around for Bassett, and in response they were told that "the Senator" could be found on a given corner in the downtown area. It turned out that he was known as The Senator because Bassett had used his savings to open an establishment called Senate Saloon.
With Bassett was another Dodge City old-timer, Luke Short. Short had been an acquaintance of the PCs in Dodge, and became a friend in Tombstone when he'd briefly been part-owner of the Oriental Saloon. Then he'd returned to Dodge with Frank Harris and they'd bought the famous Long Branch Saloon.
Things had been going relatively well in Dodge, until the sudden resignation of the town Mayor required a snap election and the corpulent former town marshal Larry Deger presented himself as a candidate. Deger had been one of the group in Dodge City known as the "Better People", who had long campaigned against the the cabal of Saloon Owners and scoundrels known as "the Gang". Now most of the Gang were long gone, and Deger was ready to take power. Frank Harris ran against him, but Deger won by a mere 71 votes.
Deger immediately went for revenge. With his new office and control of city council, he passed ordinances prohibiting gambling and prostitution on Front Street, and sent his new Marshal Bridges to raid the Long Branch, where a brief firefight broke out. Luke Short managed to cause a light graze to one of Bridge's deputies before being convinced to surrender. Harris paid a $2000 bond for Luke, and two days later the Marshal (on Deger's orders) used Deger's new Vagrancy Law to kick Luke out of town. Luke Short went to Kansas City and came to see his old friend (and Deger's old enemy) Charlie Bassett, and Bassett called on the other former famous Lawmen of Dodge City to come to their aid.
The group decided that they would come riding into Dodge as the "Dodge City Peace Commission" and basically throw their weight and fame around to intimidate Deger and his second-rate lawmen into surrendering to their demands: that the recently-passed ordinances be rescinded, that Luke Short be cleared to return to Dodge, and that the Long Branch no longer be targeted by the corrupt town government.
They all set off, except for Kid Taylor and Miss Scarlet, who went all the way to Dodge by train. Miss Scarlet to wait for the others in town, and Kid Taylor to try to talk to his father-in-law, Judge Wright (one of the Better People) to get him to make Deger stand down.
When the duo arrived in town, they went straight to see Other Miller. The Peace Commission figured that Other Miller (along with Frank Harris, and Texas Jack Vermillion who was also in town) would all join their cause. Other Miller had claimed to be retired, but just the other day some young yahoo had come gunning for him, trying to gain his fame by killing one of Wyatt Earp's Immortals. Other Miller shot him through the gun hand like it was nothing.
Now, when Kid & Scarlet came to see Other Miller, he immediately agreed to help the Peace Commission. However, he pointed out that since coming to town he'd been "playing nice" with Deger, and figured he'd probably be able to be more use to the group by giving the impression of being a neutral party. Of course, if things came down to gunplay, they would count on him.
The next day, the Peace Commission rode into town to much fanfare, made some speeches denouncing Deger, and holed up in the Long Branch Saloon. Deger was furious and sent Sheriff Bridges to order all of them to get out of Dodge by sunset. Of course, they completely ignored the command, and laughed at Deger's men, who were too few and too scared to try to enforce it.
Judge Wright, meanwhile, had begun to suspect Kid Taylor's visit wasn't just 'business and family'. He knew Taylor had been in Kansas City, which happened to be where the whole Peace Commission (composed of many of the same men Kid Taylor had rode all through Arizona murdering Cowboys with) came from just a day later. He interrogated Kid, who had not really been prepared with a good cover story. Kid denied any knowledge of the Peace Commission, and ended up claiming he was involved in trying to fund a business deal to bring electric lights (which had just started to come into the market that same year) to Berkeley. Wright asked him who he was trying to get funds from in KC, and a few hours later when he confirmed the name Kid gave him was made up, he confronted Kid all over again. Caught in a spiraling web of his own lies, ended up making up a story about trying to borrow money from Irish mobsters; in the process he gave the impression he was in dire financial straights. He didn't count on Wright deciding he'd call up his contacts in KC to threaten the local Irish mob to "back off Kid Taylor". There would be some very confused Irish Mobsters in Kansas City in the next few days.
As penance, Wright told Kid that he'd join up as one of Deger's deputies and help try to put an end to the Dodge City Peace Commission.
That night Deger, Marshal Bridges, and his deputies (including Kid Taylor) gathered to try to figure out how to stop the Peace Commission. Deger sent Kid Taylor to the Long Branch to issue new demands; Kid just went over there, said hey to everyone, had a drink, and came back explaining that they were refusing to hear any demands. Deger was furious, but then Kid said something that triggered an idea in Deger's head. He ran off to bring together the city council.
Things seemed to be going pretty well for the peace commission, except that night Texas Jack Vermillion got into an argument with a gambler at the Long Branch. He'd accused the gambler of being a cheat, the gambler confronted him, and Texas Jack, ever the hothead, drew quickly and shot the gambler dead, right through the eye. He drunkenly declared that from now on he'd be known as "Shoot Your Eye Out Vermillion".
This was obviously a huge misstep for the Peace Commission. The impression they were just a bunch of violent thugs was going to be hard to lose with them having a shooting right in the Long Branch! Jack would be arrested if he hung around, so the "Peace Commissioners" told him to flee, and he did.
Luckily for the Peace Commission, that night Deger was making a misstep of his own. By next morning, it was revealed that Deger had decided to double down: Dodge was the only town in Kansas that had been ignoring the State Prohibition Law. Now, Deger's council just passed a resolution to enforce that law, and were threatening to shut down all the remaining Saloons in town.
This was quite a problem, and Kid Taylor quickly learned that even the rest of the Better People were not really on board. Making Dodge a Dry Town right on the edge of the Cattle Drive season was going to cost a lot of business. Kid Taylor tried to convince his father-in-law to put pressure on Deger, but Wright made it clear that the rest of the Better People were likely to back his play.
In his role as "neutral observer" Other Miller also tried to convince Deger that his plan was a mistake, pointing out that he might win this "Dodge City War", but he'd lose the larger prize when the townspeople turned on him in the next election. Deger made his position clear: he would back down from enforcing prohibition if the Peace Commission, including Luke Short, left town. He wasn't willing to concede anything else. Meanwhile, he let Other Miller know that he was going to hire a dozen armed men to join the current Dodge lawmen in mowing down everyone in the Long Branch if he had to.
Other Miller reported back to the Long Branch. The Commission was trying to think of a solution that wouldn't involve a shootout that would have them all on the wrong side of the law. They knew they needed someone to pressure the rest of the Better People to turn on Deger, but the state government was bound to take Deger's side, and no other group in or around Dodge seemed powerful enough to exert pressure. That is, until Other Miller mentioned the Santa Fe Railroad. If the cattle barons were unhappy at Dodge going dry, the Railroad would be pliable to moving their staging area for the cattle drive from Dodge to Cimarron. Bat Masterson pointed out that he'd once fought a rail war for the Santa Fe line, and he had a lot of friends there, so he headed out to send some telegrams.
A railroad representative arrived by that afternoon, and Kid Taylor happened on the rail man talking to Deger. When Kid spoke to Deger, Deger tried to claim that nothing of consequence was spoken of, but Kid immediately realized that Deger was lying. He rushed to the rail man and convinced him to talk to Judge Wright, who informed the rest of the better people.
The armed deputies were in front of the Long Branch, waiting (nervously) for the order to move in and try to arrest a half-dozen of the greatest living shootists in the west. Luckily, at that moment Judge Wright arrived and told the men to stand down. They were ready to deal.
In the end, the Better People overruled Deger, and agreed that they'd rescind the enforcement of prohibition and would let the Long Branch operate undisturbed, but would continue to enforce against gambling and prostitution. And Luke Short could stay. Luke was mighty grateful to the Peace Commission, though he admitted that he knew which way the wind was blowing in Dodge. He planned to sell his share of the Long Branch; eventually, he'd move down to Fort Worth Texas, where he'd become owner of the White Elephant Saloon, making him the only man in the West to have had a stake in the three most famous saloons in the history of the Wild West (the Long Branch, the Oriental and the White Elephant).
Before they all went their separate ways, the Dodge City Peace Commission sat for a commemorative photograph, which would become famous in western history:
Crazy Miller also proposed to Miss Scarlet, and his old friend and former preacher Bill Tilghman married them before leaving Dodge. Once again, the PCs went their separate ways.
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