Wild West Cthulhu - Mountain Men in frontier Idaho

[welsh]

Up the River of No Return, a desolate stretch of highland far to the north of the Oregon Trail, winter comes early. Mountain men gather at a small wood and stone trading post as a sudden snow falls, blanketing the land in a deathly stillness.

These are the last of the mountain men. Some continue to search for the elusive and rare beaver, or hunt other game for pelts, but there is little left of the fur trade and they continue out of force of habit rather than pecuniary gain, reluctant to give up a way of life. Some of the men have abandoned the fur trade to lead settlers coming over mountain passes once crossed by Lewis and Clark. Others lead prospectors looking for gold in these desolate mountains while a few trade with local Indians. Among those at the trading post are a small group of soldiers who are mapping and surveying the region, filling the empty spaces on the maps of America.

In a few decades, someone will establish the town of Challis not so far away from the trading post. But that time is still 20 years in the future.

In the middle 1850s, the beaver are virtually trapped out and the old fort is slowing falling into disrepair. It is a lonely outpost in a region of dense forests, rugged mountains, long winters and short summers, and desolation. Only a few souls travel so far into the wilderness.

To the east, the Mormons have abandoned their settlement at Lemhi Pass to return to the Great Salt Lake. They say they have left because of the threat of Indians. But perhaps the Mormons knew something else was in the air. The great fur companies have already left the region. Fall Hall, to the Southeast, will soon be abandoned. The Hudson Bay company has let Fort Boise turn ruin.

The mountain men are ever more distant from civilization.

Through the woods glide American Indians. Sometimes they pass the post in silence, their feet barely a whisper on the new fallen snow. Those that come into the post to trade tell of something moving through the dark woods.

Strange tracks in the snow.
Slaughtered animals.
An empty village.

The stillness haunts them. They talk of strangers in the forest.

Perhaps, offers one of the mountainmen, they are raiding Blackfoot indians. Or perhaps the Shoshone are at war with one another or with the Nez Perce.

But the Indians talk of a ghost, a monster. The hand of death is sweeping through this land.

They are afraid of something older and more sinister.

At night there is a howling unlike anything the small group has heard before.

The mountain men wait and listen, expecting something to come through the snow.

Black smoke rises over the trees, a wagon lies burning, the bodies of settlers slaughtered. Wolves circle nearby, but something else has been feeding on their corpses.

A miner, have mad, wanders into the post, telling fragments of a horror.

There is something in the dark woods.

And it is feeding.


- I am thinking of running a wild west adventure set in Idaho in the 1850s. We'll be using Wild West Cthulhu rules and a few supplements. This campaign will be the first of probably two parts. The first part will involve a group of mountain men at a trading post up in the highlands of Idaho, along the Salmon River (The River of No Return). Its a pretty barren and tough land, even now. There will be Indians and assorted wickedness.

If you want an idea of the game- think of Ravenous meets the [ur=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/]Thing[/url] meets Jeremiah Johnson and Death Hunt.

Note to historical purists- I will be playing a bit fast and loose with some of the history of the time, but not much. The Fur trade has come to a virtual end by this time and much of the business of mountain men is working as guides. The US government has sent out its Corps of Topographical Engineers and there are prospectors in the area, and its very desolate. The Indians are restless. Both Fort Boise and Fort Hall are being abandoned, and the Mormon camp at Fort Lemhi will be abandoned, if only in a few more years from when this story takes place. The layout of the fort was an actual fort, but in a different location.

Post if you are interested.

Cast will probably include-
A family that lives at the trading post
A group of explorers with the US Army Corp of Topographical Engineers.
http://www.topogs.org/
A number of prospectors looking for gold
A group of assorted mountain men
Local Indians.

More mountainman information-
http://www.42explore2.com/mtnmen.htm

[Mike]

Welsh,

If this game gets off the ground, I'll play a Mountain Man, if you'll have me. I love Jeremiah Johnson and CoC so this seems like a good fit.

Briefly, I'd be the grizzled old trapper in his forties who's still clinging tenaciuosly to a dying way of life and perhaps doing some guide work along the Oregon Trail on the side.

Thanks,

Mike

[welsh]

Hey Mike-

Not a problem. I can send you the Wild West Cthulhu rules if you're interested. We'll talk about character creation.

Character creation sheets can be found here-
http://www.pegasus.de/fileadmin/_downlo ... ldWest.pdf

I usually allow players 110 points for character stats.
Also, for the sake of this game, we're going to reverse Education and Intelligence ratings. So where you'd get 20 skill points per education, we're only allow 10. Instead, you'll be getting 20 skill points for intelligence rather than just 10.

Note also that the Wild West rules allows bonuses based on origins. If your mountain man a half-breed? A mexican? A Chinaman?

For a Hunter/Trapper type, the main skills are Bargain, Hide, Knife, Listen, Forage, Natural History, Rifle, Sneak, Track and Trap.

In arming your person, there are more guns available to your character than under the Cthulhu wild west rules. I can send you an attachment with those. For instance, your character might prefer a plains rifle, flintlock, but in 1849, he might have also gone with the Sharp's 1849 rifle. Alternatively, he could have gone with one of the early 12 gauge rifles, or even the rifles that use revolving cylinders.

[Caporegime]

Hi, I'm relatively knew to these forums and have recently joined Mr. Handy's 'Space Oddity' game, now I'm looking for another one! If there's a space I was thinking of playing one of the prospectors, but although I'm comfortable with the CoC rules, I've never played, and don't own the wild west supplement, so I might need some help on the character creation. Most of the skills on the sheet are self explanatory but others like 'Grit', 'Spit' and 'Tipple' have me a bit flummoxed.

[welsh]

Hey bud-

No worries, pm me your email address and I'll send you a copy of the rules. I will try to get a pdf kept here, but if not, I have a copy, as well as an assortment of some really odd weapons.

Prospector skills are really, climb, demolition, geology, jump, forage, natural history, navigate, spot hidden. But given that your character is really also exploring- Explorer skills- Climb, dodge, first aid, history, jump, legend & Lore, Navigation, other language, Swim, Archeology and Anthropology.

But I would make a point of having some weapon skills.

[welsh]

For more discussion- http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewtop ... =39&t=1520

General thought about character creation-

Those interested in playing, please note the characters I have already suggested in both threads. I will be giving some basic backgrounds and occupations tomorrow or Friday. Still a little busy these days, but I would like to kick this into gear.

One thing I highly encourage- before you actually roll up a character or spend your skill points, map out who your character might be. For instance, a character who is an escaped slave who is working as a mountain man, might have an interesting history. A mountain man might also be a spy for a fur company. A prospector might also have an outlaw past. A mountain man might also be working as a bounty hunter. A soldier might also be a naturalist and an artist. Female characters are welcomed. An Indian wife might have learned much of the skills of trapping and might have become a fierce warrior in her own.

So I would draft up a character that you would like to be and PM me this person and we'll figure the person's background. As these are characters who are probably at least in their mid 30s and who have lots of real world experience, skill points will need to be allotted for realism. So, first think about your character and then we'll figure out the skills. The more detailed the history, the better.

[mikc]

I would love to play an Indian (despite what you just did to my other Indian in Lure!)

Not sure I'd have time to co-Keeper or do much with the rules except offer my opinion, though.

mik

[welsh]

I think I am fine to keep the game for now.

I am actually traveling out west for two weeks so this game won't start until the first week of June, earliest. In the meantime, however, you guys can start thinking up characters. We can also do pre-gens.

The basic group would include-

- Owner of the Trading post, his Indian wife, two sons and maybe a daughter.
- a group of the Army Corp of Topographical Engineers, who are wintering at the post. This would include a Major, a Captain, a sergeant, a naturalist, an artist, and a couple of scouts (mountain men/soldiers).
- Prospectors- this would be a small group 1 mountain man, two prospectors
- Semi-resident Indians. This is a small group that lives just outside the trading post. They would include a young woman and an old man.
- 2-6 other mountain men/traders

Not all these folks would necessarily be at the Trading post when the adventure starts, but the trading post would be one of the centrally located areas. In addition there might be a few indian encampments close by, perhaps a small group of prospectors living off the camp. Perhaps a couple of settlers who got snowed in on the way west.

[Philulhu]

Hi Welsh,

I'd be interested in playing the young Indian woman looking after her ailing father (assuming Mik hasn't bagged her first), or even the daughter of the storekeeper.

Cheers,

Philulhu.

PS. Hi Caporegime!

Hey Phil-

In this case your character would be pretty young. I have an idea for a woman- the daughter of an old "mystic"/wise man who rarely talks to her. He keeps a secret he is unwilling to share. Her mother has been dead since she was a child and she has been taking care of the old man. He's worried. Something is in the air. But its something he has been waiting his entire life to experience. But is he strong enough for the challenge?

You want to draft the woman up? Write up the history and we'll work out the details.

[mikc]

I could play the father - but do I have to be ailing?!
I imagined a prime-of-life seventyish wise old head, probably with loads of shamanic knowledge and Cthulhu Mythos points ...
Well, I leave the details to our Keeper's discretion but will roll myself a native elder character up and post it when Welsh is ready.

[Philulhu]

Really father, I have told you before to stay by the fire and not to get too excited.

[sub]I'm sorry, he does rather have a tendency to ramble on... ...[/sub]

[Mike]

Welsh,

I'm going to withdraw my request to play a character in your game. I'm contemplating "Keeping" a game here instead, 1890's is where I'm leaning at the moment. I did not want you to think I was flaking out on you, I'd just rather run one game than play in several. Thanks for all you do here.

Mike

[ryanaudino]

Hi Welsh,

If there are still spaces, I'd be interested in playing one of the topographical engineers -- specifically the naturalist or the artist. I don't know anything at all about the Wild West Cthulhu rules, though. Could you send me some information if/when this campaign gets off the ground?

[jtull_84]

I'd be interested in playing a Topo, love the movie Ravenous and would like to play a professional soldier who is somewhat of a screw up.

[Caporegime]

Hey Welsh, I've PM'd you a character sheet for one of the prospectors.

[welsh]

Hey Folks-

thanks for your interest. With board back up, and back from vacation, I hope to kick this thing going. I am thinking of using some of your suggestions and making pregens for the others. WIll update you about that. If you have ideas, great.

For character creation- start with about 110 points for primary stats. We are flipping Int and Edu for calculating skill points- still college is rather thin, intelligence is more important and a lot of you guys have learned by being "out in the field already." This fits into how I like to develop characters. More richer the history, the more skill/occupation points your character will start. As our story is in the 1850s, just as the traffic on the Oregon trail is about to ebb for the Civil War and the age of fur trapping has already gone, most of your characters will already be in their 30s and 40s.

Capo- I will check your pregen and give you some ideas.

Jtull- If you want to come up with a character great. We will play with the experience points/skill points. The Topos are both explorers and prospectors but also soldiers. My rule of thumb is to have characters with experience, so the richer your history, the more the skill points you start with.

Ryan- -Lots of places. SO you're more than welcome to join.

Mike- the game will be pretty easy, so you might want to reconsider.

@Philulhu- I actually had a pre-gen in mind- the daughter of an Indian mystic who hangs out at the camp.

[Philulhu]

Hi Welsh,

that's fine with me. Can you PM me the stats so I know what i'm letting myself in for?

Cheers,

Phil.

[Mi-Go Agent]

I've been a little late about it, but I'd like to join. I already have an idea for a Mountain Man character that I would like to play, although his Secret is something I would like to run by you through P.M. first.

[welsh]

@Mi-Go, sounds good. Shoot me a Pm when you can.

@Phil- Stats are easy to do. The character would get 110 to start, you can distribute as you like. We can talk about the skills set later. I'll shoot you a brief character description.

[welsh]

ALso note-

Here is a webpage with weapons of the Mountain men

http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/mu ... /guns.html

But note that our adventure is occurring in the mid-to-late 1850s, and there has been an improvement in weapons at this time, including spencer rifles.
For those who need more info on weapons/etc.
Shoot me a pm with an email address so I can send you attachments.