Re: [DL] Cattle Barons - Marshal looking for help

[Frempath2@netscape.net]

I grew up in ranch country, north central nebraska.
Currently you can run about 400 head per person.  Now thats assuming you have at least 2 folks to start with.  But current ranching is far more mechanized than than that of 125 years ago.  One example would be that for setting up winter hay a crew of 1 to 4 is all that is needed, in the last quarter of the 19th century it took over a dozen men and over 20 horses to accomplish the same chore.  I would put the hired hand to cattle ratio in the 1/80 range.  

Now then one other thing to consider is the size of the ranch.  This can be related to the amount of land/grass it takes to raise 1 cow.  In some places in the mid west and east you can feed several cows on an acre, about 43,000 square feet for our European friends, but where I grew up it took about 5 acres to feed 1 cow and farther into the rockies or high desert, it could take up to 10 or 20 acres of grassland to feed 1 cow.  To cover this kind of ground there are satalite ranches which serve the herds out away from the main ranch.  Now most folks are comfortable in describing farms in acres, but you probably need to start thinking in sections, thats 640 acres , or 1 square mile.  One ranch I can think of was over 360 sections.  That would be a ranch 60 miles by 60 miles, or 100km by 100km for the metric bunch.  So think big.

g'day 
frempath





deadlands@gamerz.net wrote:
>
> So I think I'm finally getting my campaign started
> next saturday.  For my first adventure I'm keeping the
> supernatural to a minimun (I have one NPC MS involved)
> and the idea I was going to run involved feuding
> cattle barons.  The problem is I really don't know
> anything about cattle barons.  Assuming two ranches,
> one much larger than the other, what would be a good
> number of cows on each ranch?  How many helpers would
> each ranch have?  Where would the helpers live? 
> Finally if you were to dispose of several dead cows
> without anyone finding out, what is the easiest way?
> 
> I've seen some old movies and it appears that the
> helpers live in the ranch house, which works for me. 
> The only other experience I have is listening to
> stories about a friend of a friend who is a pig farmer
> (yes, I live in Indiana).  It was just 2 people, and
> they had about 200 pigs ... and in a tragic accident,
> about 80 of them got buried in the septic system. 
> Cows are a bit bigger ... so the situation doesn't
> help me much.
> 
> Other notes, less important, when was the first
> milking machine invented ... yes I know dairy cows are
> different than range cows ... I'm just looking for a
> non-weapon MS invention for my MS.
> 
> Basic plot of the adventure:
> 
> Story so far:  Since his father became ill, Morgan's
> Cattle ranch has been run by his eldest son, Jake. 
> Jake unfortunately has a gambling problem which has
> significantly drained the family coffers.  The
> family's lawyer, Bob Firsttobekilledguy (name to be
> changed later), is getting suspicious. 
> 
> Meanwhile the only other local rival, McCreary's
> Ranch, a significantly smaller company, is also
> suffering from money problems.  They've come up with a
> rather underhanded solution to fix their problem. 
> Papa McCreary has hired Typhoid Mary (name to change
> later), a harrowed who enjoys spreading diseases, to
> wipe out a significant portion of Morgan's herd.  Why?
>  When it comes time for market, McCreary's cows will
> be worth more, and or easier to sell with a decrease
> in the local competition.  
> 
> After the dastardly deed is done Typh M leaves (to
> reappear in later adventures), and Jake Morgan is up a
> creak.  Jake knows McCreary was behind it, and didn't
> have a solution until his friend Martin the MS shows
> his a handy dandy invention which can remove the brand
> off a cow.  Morgan raids McCreary's farm, stealing an
> equal ammount of cows as had died, and set about
> re-branding them.
> 
> 
> Where the adventure starts:
> 
> The PCs already know each other and have a reason for
> being together (will be worked out in character
> creation).  They are also waiting for Bob
> Firsttobekilledguy to show up.  Bob has hired some
> out-of-town types (the players) to investigate Jake
> Morgan.  He knows something is going on, but not what.
> 
> Unfortunately as he is heading to the salon to meet
> the players, a bank robber occurs.  Bob, and the local
> Sherif both die in the gun fight outside the bank. 
> The players have the option of joining in to test out
> the combat system, but the robbers will most likely
> get away.  The robbers work for Jake Morgan and were
> really there to kill Bob and the Sherif, but to make
> it look less suspicious (the sherif was on the take,
> but was upping his price to much).  The players
> recognise Dead Bob and if they search his briefcase
> will find some clues, but no real lead as to what they
> were to be hired for.
> 
> Let the players mull for a bit.
> 
> Later that day, or next day Jake offers an invite to
> hire the players.  He knew about the meeting, and
> wants to know what the players know.  If they decline
> the job (just regular ranch hand positions), McCreary
> comes in with an offer, only because he knew Jake
> wanted them, and he needs help getting his cattle
> back.  McCreary already has the deputy on his side,
> and he's trying to put together a posse to take on
> Morgan.
> 
> Players do some investigating stuff.
> 
> Within a few days, the players should be on one side
> or another.  If they haven't already figured out
> what's happened and have found their own creative
> solution then we move to the big gunfight finale. 
> McCreary and his Posse try to take on Morgan's group
> at Morgan's ranch.  This gives the posse a forum to
> say what's going on .. or to blast things.
> 
> 
> As you can see, details are still needed.  I can fudge
> by saying only some of Morgans helpers are around at
> the end fight, but it would be nice to have an
> estimation of how many helpers he'd have.  It would
> also be nice to figure out how many cows were involved
> and how big the ranches would be.  It would also be
> nice if I received some feedback on the idea ... is it
> too confusing?  Too combat heavy?  Too combat light? 
> I'm trying to make it a one session event, but it
> might stretch to two.
> 
> -Munch "Thanks for help" Wolf
> 
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