Wild West Game Experiences

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by VariousRen

Hey everyone,

I'm currently working on a Wild West game, using premade characters and planned to last two sessions. The game is set during the gold rush of 1849 and I'm giving characters only guns that existed at that time period (ie. no cartridges, no repeating rifles, long reload times on everything, ect). There are no supernatural abilities, no meta game abilities (like luck), and combat skills for PC's range from 11 to 15.

This is my first game set in this time period, and I was wondering what some of the major differences between this and either a low tech or ultra tech game that I should be looking out for? In particular:

1. If the players get into combat how far should I be planning on having combat take place at (rifles have a 1/2D range of ~100 yards)?
   
2. How worried should I be about a single lucky shot putting a PC out of action for the entire campaign (it will take place over a few weeks of traveling in game)?
   
3. Are there any extra rules scattered through Martial Arts, High Tech, ect that are ideal for a game like this?
   
4. Anything else to be aware of from your experience?

If all goes well with this game I'm planning on making it one of my go-to introductions to GURPS, so I want to make sure I'm as prepared as possible.

1. If you force the situation you have explained above expect someone to build a bowman, then be ready to explain why the bow is so much better then your artificial period firearms (see 2 below).

2. You may want to check your dates and logic on repeating rifles and revolvers- the first percussion cap revolver was 1833
The first repeating rifle was either the Girandoni in 1779 or the Lagatz (sometime in the late 1700s), the thomson rifle was 1814, and colt had made a revolver rifle almost as soon as he had made his mass produced revolver. Browning was producing harmonica gun rifles in 1834.

So basically unless you are throwing historical accuracy out the window for gameability reasons, the repeating rifle predates the revolver.

3. If you go with a default assumption of body hits//never have bad guys target the head/vitals average ST and above PCs can expect to survive any single bullet wound, healing times as mentioned are going to be harsh. If you are using the random hit table, then an unfortunate roll could result in near instant death (from a head or vitals shot), doubly so without allowing luck.

4. Expect your PCs to at least inquire about armour- it may not fit the western setting very well, but mail or plate would actually have been pretty effective against those early 1800s weapons, if your PCs are routinely being shot and put out of commission for weeks of slow healing being the weirdo wearing mail or plate under his poncho will be preferable to another bullet wound.

[Anaraxes]

The Colt revolver rifle was from 1855, no? Were any of the others actually commonly employed (as opposed to just patents, prototypes, or rare oddballs)?

The black powder revolvers were common in the US from the 1830s onward. Colt Paterson, Walker, Dragoon. There were also the pepperbox styles. But AFAIK even newly designed rifles were still generally muzzleloaders even up to the American Civil War, when the Henry and Spencer show up.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

The Colt revolver rifle was from 1855, no? Were any of the others actually commonly employed (as opposed to just patents, prototypes, or rare oddballs)?

The black powder revolvers were common in the US from the 1830s onward. Colt Paterson, Walker, Dragoon. There were also the pepperbox styles. But AFAIK even newly designed rifles were still generally muzzleloaders even up to the American Civil War, when the Henry and Spencer show up.

I don't remember dates much so much as details. I do remember the Texas Rangers adopting revolvers because that was an important event that gave them the upper hand against the Comanche. Before it was actually the Comanche that had the advantage because of their better equestrianism, etc, and a saber isn't really enough better then a Comanche traditional hand weapon to make up for that.

This is of course in Texas. However now that I think about it the period of Texan sovereignty was about a decade or so before the conquest of California. So revolvers would have been available for several years already.

As for rifles from what I know there were very few repeaters of any kind(revolving or magazine) and those seemed to be experimental. The idea was old but their wouldn't have been enough actual models to introduce one to the game without a special explaination for the reason.

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

The Colt revolver rifle was from 1855, no? Were any of the others actually commonly employed (as opposed to just patents, prototypes, or rare oddballs)?

The black powder revolvers were common in the US from the 1830s onward. Colt Paterson, Walker, Dragoon. There were also the pepperbox styles. But AFAIK even newly designed rifles were still generally muzzleloaders even up to the American Civil War, when the Henry and Spencer show up.

The 'Colt revolver rifle' which was used by the american forces was made in 1855, colt was producing 'revolver rifles' almost as soon as he was producing revolvers (he actually bothered to get a patent on the 'colt revolving rifle' his early revolvers and revolver rifles did not have specific names because he did not bother patenting them and design could change significantly form gun to gun)- his named revolver rifle bears a lot of 'learned through trial and error' enhancements, like compromising some barrel length to put the revolver action well in front of the face.

Browning harmonica rifle was full production 1834-1842

Girandoni rifle was the Austrian army rifle from 1780-1815, and was part of the Lewis and Clark expidition. They were retired in 1815 for being too complicated for an average soldier to work and maintain, as well as being expensive to produce, but were well regarded for their superior ability to lay down fire at range (which basically says 'PC weapon of choice' all over it)


Side note: Revolver rifles were actually made FIRST in the late 1500s, but they were comparatively more expensive and difficult to use(safely) compared to muzzle loading rifles, as well as requiring careful use of wax to load them (or else the powder would get wet and fail to fire). For the most part any weapon from the time period was an 'oddball' 'one shot'- no assembly lines existed and generally shops were 1-3 man deals that did all of the work themselves (see the browning harmonica gun above- browning stopped because he got elected chief justice and was too busy with his 'day job' to keep up with orders for his firearms)

[VariousRen]

Originally Posted by starslayer

2. You may want to check your dates and logic on repeating rifles and revolvers- the first percussion cap revolver was 1833
The first repeating rifle was either the Girandoni in 1779 or the Lagatz (sometime in the late 1700s), the thomson rifle was 1814, and colt had made a revolver rifle almost as soon as he had made his mass produced revolver. Browning was producing harmonica gun rifles in 1834.

So basically unless you are throwing historical accuracy out the window for gameability reasons, the repeating rifle predates the revolver.

I don't consider myself knowledgeable about the time period or guns in general, but high tech is giving significantly later dates than those. For example, the Colt M1848 (developed one year before my game is set) on page 93 as Colt's "first truly successful revolver" and doesn't fire all-in-one ammo. It also lists the Volcanic Repeating Rifle (developed 1855, 6 years after my game is set) as "one of the first level-action repeating firearms" on page 109.

If high tech is wrong or incomplete and there were other mass produced firearms that fit the bill I'd love to read through the source material and I can tweak my game to match.

[Polydamas]

If your players are used to forgiving genres, it might be a good idea to run a test combat or two to demonstrate that being shot once is bad news, taking cover is important, and so on. Old habits can be hard to shake, and it sounds like you don't want to work through two or three parties until the players stop being tenderfeet.

Edit: Here is a famous fictional description of the problem from the 1990s, when the Knights of the Dinner Table tried Cattlepunk http://www.kodtweb.com/2016/06/10/the-wild-riled-west/

Originally Posted by VariousRen

1. How worried should I be about a single lucky shot putting a PC out of action for the entire campaign (it will take place over a few weeks of traveling in game)?

It sounds like you already made that choice when you wrote your character creation guide. If you want the PCs to be the guys who have long serial adventures, its a good idea to give them advantages like Luck and Serendipity. If you want them to be random people who might die from the first rock thrown in the riot or might survive untouched, then don't.

High points can somewhat mitigate this, but by default GURPS is like real life- sometimes the professional boxer is sucker-punched from behind, falls badly, and dies.

Stories, whether academic histories or the pulpiest novel, tend to be about people who have the bad luck of getting into trouble and the ability and good luck to get out of it. The guys who drop out along the way, or die from being kicked by a horse or drinking unclean water, tend to be pushed to the side.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

If your players are used to forgiving genres, it might be a good idea to run a test combat or two to demonstrate that being shot once is bad news, taking cover is important, and so on. Old habits can be hard to shake, and it sounds like you don't want to work through two or three parties until the players stop being tenderfeet.

Edit: Here is a famous fictional description of the problem from the 1990s, when the Knights of the Dinner Table tried Cattlepunk http://www.kodtweb.com/2016/06/10/the-wild-riled-west/


It sounds like you already made that choice when you wrote your character creation guide. If you want the PCs to be the guys who have long serial adventures, its a good idea to give them advantages like Luck and Serendipity. If you want them to be random people who might die from the first rock thrown in the riot or might survive untouched, then don't.

High points can somewhat mitigate this, but by default GURPS is like real life- sometimes the professional boxer is sucker-punched from behind, falls badly, and dies.

Stories, whether academic histories or the pulpiest novel, tend to be about people who have the bad luck of getting into trouble and the ability and good luck to get out of it. The guys who drop out along the way, or die from being kicked by a horse or drinking unclean water, tend to be pushed to the side.

Oregon Trail often kills people off by mundane things like that doesn't it?

[Tallor]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Oregon Trail often kills people off by mundane things like that doesn't it?

But that's because you don't have medicine for even common diseases. :P

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Tallor

But that's because you don't have medicine for even common diseases. :P

Wouldn't that be relevant in a California-mining setting? It is true that you are near settlements so whatever local cures are available are available. But that was a time when nobody could count on efficient medicine. Moreover what counted as state-of-the-art then wouldn't be reaching California in large enough batches to supply the influx of population.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Oregon Trail often kills people off by mundane things like that doesn't it?

It does, but I seem to remember playing a family not just an individual, and a tolerance for "it takes two or three tries to get through and survive" like in Fighting Fantasy and Chose your Own Adventure and other gamebooks. That was traditional in early D&D (with a pool of wandering adventurers in town to replace the fallen), but I don't think it is what VariousRen wants.

Troupe-style play (where each player plays one soldier in each squad of the platoon, or a wizard, a guard, and a villager so any one character being killed, captured, crippled, or sent away for an extended period is no big deal) can work, but ditto.