Colonial American Games: Musket and Tomahawk

pnewman · 05-12-2013, 10:44 AM

I ran a game set in Albany, New York and surrounding areas in 1702 AD, with the addition of alchemy. It was sort of the Queen Annes War version of Last of Mohicans meets Indiana Jones meets actual history meets pulp action. I called in GURPS: Drums Along the Mohawk. 175+ point characters.

One thing you'll need to watch for is the brutality of muskets. 4d6 p++ can kill easily and maim more easily, that's why I added the alchemy. I found that the interaction between cultures was key - not just native American vs European, but native vs native, european vs european, slavery and the african influence, the fact that New York City (nee New Amsterdam a generation before) could semi-plausibly have seafarers from all over the world., etc.

The characters worked for a Dutch patroon, a van Renselear. I had a former privateer (pirate) who'd sailed with Captain Kidd, an alchemist who'd just been thrown out of Oxford after things went boom, a european american bow weapon master who'd been raised by the Mohawks after his family was killed in the Schenectady massacre, and even a samurai (he was the 38th Ronin of the '37 Ronin' fame - in this reality the rival lord who had contrived their leaders death had been put up to it by a dutch merchant and the PC was sent abroad to track him down - either that or the other 37 Ronin needed to get rid of him before his lack of subtlety ruined their plan and made it up to get rid of him....)

05-12-2013, 10:44 AM	#30
pnewman Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Anchorage, Alaska	Re: Colonial American Games: Musket and Tomahawk I ran a game set in Albany, New York and surrounding areas in 1702 AD, with the addition of alchemy. It was sort of the Queen Annes War version of Last of Mohicans meets Indiana Jones meets actual history meets pulp action. I called in GURPS: Drums Along the Mohawk. 175+ point characters. One thing you'll need to watch for is the brutality of muskets. 4d6 p++ can kill easily and maim more easily, that's why I added the alchemy. I found that the interaction between cultures was key - not just native American vs European, but native vs native, european vs european, slavery and the african influence, the fact that New York City (nee New Amsterdam a generation before) could semi-plausibly have seafarers from all over the world., etc. The characters worked for a Dutch patroon, a van Renselear. I had a former privateer (pirate) who'd sailed with Captain Kidd, an alchemist who'd just been thrown out of Oxford after things went boom, a european american bow weapon master who'd been raised by the Mohawks after his family was killed in the Schenectady massacre, and even a samurai (he was the 38th Ronin of the '37 Ronin' fame - in this reality the rival lord who had contrived their leaders death had been put up to it by a dutch merchant and the PC was sent abroad to track him down - either that or the other 37 Ronin needed to get rid of him before his lack of subtlety ruined their plan and made it up to get rid of him....)