Re: [DL] Texas Rangers

[Munch Wolf <munchwolf@yahoo.com>]

--- Munch Wolf wrote:
> If Rangers didn't have badges, what credintials did
> they show to prove they were Rangers?  Aka, what's
> to stop a Posse member from wandering around 
> claiming to be a Ranger when he's not?

--- Bryce <SandChigg@rocketmail.com> wrote:
> I would say real Rangers would be the main
> deterrent.  The CSA is under
> Martial Law at the moment, and impersonation of a
> Ranger is likely a hanging offense.  At the least.  

--- "Mr. Christopher McGlothlin, M.Ed."
<sosentinel@adelphia.net> wrote:
>          Kudos to Munch (or is it "Mr. Wolf"?:-) )
> for asking the 
> CS$1,000,000 Question! That's my other reason for
> giving Rangers badges for 
> good and all. It just doesn't make sense for an
> organization with national 
> jurisdiction *not* to have some kind of ID (though I
> think the LeMat 
> Undertaker will say 'Ranger' louder and better than
> the Badge ever will.;-) ).

It's Munch, and there's a reason I asked the question.
 It's a bit of a long story, but I'll try to make it
short ... One of the players in my group has decided
his character is convinced he is a Ranger.  Now mind
you this character is a Tinhorn mining equipment
salesman from Pennsylviania (and Sweetrock employee).

Several sessions back I had a mini's battle using the
High Noon rules.  The idea was for the players to take
on the main villains in an epic battle.  The heroes
had a Texas Ranger on their side (who they had worked
with before), and evidence was brought forth of the
bad guys badness (they killed the mayor and hung her
outside their ranch as a warning to the town, amongst
other acts).  He formed a posse (aka the players and a
bunch of townsfolk), and deputized them to help him
take out the bad-folk.  It was a fun battle, and the
good guys won after taking some casualties (including
my first player kill ... but then, he was tired of the
game and did stupid stuff, like charge into the
villain's house with no backup anywhere nearby,
knowing there was a werewolf right there).  

Several sessions pass by with no mention by Bart (the
player) about wanting his character to be a Ranger,
until right in the middle of the last session.  He
handed me a TYPED note which was a letter his
character was going to send to the
villain-of-the-week.  In it he explained wanting to
talk to her, and that he was a Texas Ranger.

I explained he wasn't a Ranger, which he countered by
saying since he was Deputized for the battle by a
Ranger, that his character would think he was a
Ranger.  I then asked if the rest of the party were
Rangers, to which he said no, because they weren't
qualified.  I had him look at his character sheet to
see if he had any skills (like LAW) which would be
considered qualifications, and he didn't.  For the
rest of the session, every 5 minutes, he mentioned his
character thought he was a Texas Ranger, and kept
trying to arrest people.  For the most part I ignored
him as I didn't want to deal with this surprise at the
moment.

Now, this is where the story gets long, so I'll try to
shorten it.  The character has a very confusing
backstory due to a mysterious past.  Despite being a
northerner, he had a southern counterpart who owned
half the town their in.  His 'twin' (same name and
all), disappeared a year ago.  Everyone in the town
pretty much considers him loopy.  He's the only one
who's seen the ghost of his dead wife (who he has no
memory of), and several supernatural events seem to
happen when he's around.

Had he come to me between sessions, I would have been
willing to work with him on becoming a Ranger.  The
fact that he had planned on springing the surprise the
middle of the session didn't sit well with me.

I'm curious, if he continues this trend of insisting
he's a Ranger, what would Rangers do when they show up
(he ended the previous session by sending them a
telegram asking for them to send assistance).  I'm
thinking considering his crazy actions, they would
probably send him to an insane asylum, or they could
try him as a terrorist (he has threatened people with
dynamite within town limits before, and blew up a
train ... granted, it was the Night Train).  Overall
it's not looking pretty.

So far he has kept his claims about being a Ranger low
key (mostly OOC, or when facing villains).  I'm
thinking my best bet right now is to send a Ranger to
arrest him, use the player's paranoia against him
(make him think the Ranger is an abomination), and
trick him into killing the Ranger.  At that point he
would become a definite outlaw and I'ld feel sending
the Confed army after him appropriate.  What is
everyone else's take?

-Munch "Yes, this is the short version" Wolf

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