# 2021-09-17 - World of Dusters ###### tags: `rpg` `cats` `pbta` `lasers & feelings` `western` ## CATS ### Concept #### The 'Wild West' Era (1880s) > [The map of the West](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/1880-map-arizona-13218107.jpg) has effectively been drawn; all that remains is to bring law and order to all. Bank, train and stagecoach robberies are still common as settlements grow faster than the law can effectively protect them. Repeating rifles and cartridge pistols are now common sights. > You have banded together for mutual protection as you travel the untamed Western frontier. The road is long, and your companions a bit rough, but the end of your trail seems within reach while in their company > In the summer of 1885, you saddle up and ride out of Texas, crossing into the Arizona Territories a week later. No matter what awaits you at the end of this trail, you know you’ll face it together... The probably-soon-to-be-ghost-town you've ended up in (for now) is **Eureka Spring**, right between [**Fort Grant**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Grant,_Arizona) and the [**San Carlos Apache Reserve (aka _Hell's Forty Acres_)**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Carlos_Apache_Indian_Reservation). It was a welcome reprieve from your time on the trail, until the local lawman and his thuggish deputies started giving you more attention (and trouble) than you were looking for. ### Aim > Your character is a competent and dangerous individual, capable of doing great things. Not necessarily "good" things, but things that people will remember and tell stories about. You may not be a knight in shining armor, but when you see the strong taking advantage of the weak, it's sometimes hard to not get involved. In **Eureka Springs**, you're starting to see just that. You're getting the feeling that you're going to end up to putting your thumb on the scales to even things out a bit. ### Tone To get the "western" feel, I'm thinking _gritty_, but not _grim_. **Seriousness**: Somewhere between sombre and jokefest, but not either of those. **Weirdness**: Not _surreal_, but maybe _occasionally supernatural_. I don't see the characters as being a part of the "weird;" they may even be unaware of it and surprised when it arises. **Genre**: Just do what comes to mind first. Stick to genre tropes when it's comfortable or convenient, but don't get hung up trying to be Clint Eastwood. ### Subject Matter Let's try not to have sex with anyone. At the very least let's keep that offscreen. ## Characters * **Jessie Vance** Wronged Solider out to make a name for himself > family backed the Union > served the Confederacy because he was at an academy in the South > wrongly accused of assisting deserters * **Harlan Claghorn** Secretive Cowboy intent on settling the West (for $) **DECEASED** > left a family behind back East; still thinks about them > last employer thinks he was double-crossed when natives attacked > helped Jessie out of a lop-sided shootout > wears a duster ## Locations * [**Eureka Spring**](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/e0dxdY) * [**Saloon**](https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/012/955/451/4k/munkhjin-otgonbayar-final2-00000.jpg?1537359682) * [**Sarah's homestead**](https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/039/683/186/large/erin-mcguire-lone-house-p-final-2-rs.jpg?1626633111) * [**Mine entrance**](https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/033/692/161/4k/louis-strongin-desert-mine-hrscreen-006.jpg?1610327565) ## NPCs * [**Boothe & Rosco**](https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/032/357/469/large/patrick-balou-coboy-recovered-recovered.jpg?1606216124) Sid's thugs > Mexican & Scottish * [**Sarah Moran**](https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/036/867/329/large/patricia-pria-side-kick-renderv2.jpg?1618851335) widowed homesteader **DECEASED** ## Monsters * [**Skinwalker and pack**](https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/008/468/387/large/bartlomiej-gawel-alpha.jpg?1512995414)