[DL] Spaghetti Weestern Sundays

["Ben Rasmussen" <nyddoybdyle@hotmail.com>]

Well, another sunday come and gone, and this time it was a slaughter. This
session ended with a total posse kill. They put up a valient fight, but
several bad choices along the way left the posse high and dry.

Like usual, this does contain spoilers for the adventure in F&B, so read at
your own risk!




SPOILERS







Technically we played last sunday but not much happend. The session 2
sundays ago ended with a cliffhanger where Johnny the ranger just stepped
out of the church to encounter Bouchard. Things went south quickly when
Johnny decided to open fire and charge. Grove did back him up some, but Max
and Rupert snuck out of the church through the back and tried to sneak to
the entrance to the compound.

Johnny was doing alright when he took cover behind a well, but made the
critical mistake of ignoring a bandit who had a clear shot at him. 3 aiming
actions later and Johnny was down due to Windloss. Grove was fairing better
as he was immune to gunfire thanks to Shield of Faith, but he was limited to
whackin' the bandits upside the head and most kept running from him,
especially bouchard who barricaded himself in a building. When one of the
bandits took the unconcious Johnny hostate, Grove was forced to surrender.

That was is it for the Previous Sunday.

This sunday, things kick off with Johnny and Grove being tied up and
escorted back into the Church. Max and Rupert are still on the loose, but
most of the bandits are searching the compound. Inside the church, Bouchard
tries to get the location of Widcliffs gold from Grove and Johnny pipes up
that Widcliff is now supernatural evil. Bouchard doesn't belive him and
warns him to shut up and threatens his life. Johnny keeps annoying Bouchard
who tells a bandit to take him outside and shoot him. Bouchard also
discovers the open entrance to the underground catacombes and has a Bandit
inspecting it.

Outside, Max is spotted by a Bandit while Rupert makes it to the horses and
it looks like he might get away.
This sunday another Player also joined, Arturo the Mexican Bandito. Big and
dumb as a box of rocks, he wields 2 of 'dem revolver shotguns from Law Dogs.
Like a 6d6 6 shot weapon is going to save anyone's bacon. Oh, and Bouchard
killed his brother.

Everything goes to hell at once. Grove decides to try and save Johnny's
life. While Bouchard's back is turned, Grove rushes the bandit taking Johnny
outside and knocks him down. Johnny makes an impossible deftness roll and
grabs a gun from the bandits holster and rolls outside.

Max opens fire on a bandit and Arturo kicks in the doors to the mission and
cuts another bandit down right in front of Rupert.

Long fight short, Johnny almost takes a shotgun blast but plays dead. Max's
bandit gets wounded and flees into a building, and Grove manages to avoid
being shot 6 times and pumled by 2 other Bandits. Of 9 bandits, 5 end up in
the church with Grove, 2 are hiding in other buildings, 1 is dead and 1 is
dying.

Bouchard is drawin' a bead on Grove to finish him off when the bandit that
was inspecting the catacomb entrance turns and shoots at Bouchard. The rest
of the bandits gun that one down. I was being nice as a GM and trying to
save Grove, but the look on the posse's face when they realized that the
bandits were subcuming to Widcliffs power was priceless. It was a mix of
'yippie we're saved! Go widcliff!!' and 'oh, crap, we're all going to die!'

Max, Rupert and the Mexican meet and exchange 'greetings' but one escaped
bandit fires on them. I was hoping to drive them into cover, but instead
they charge the Bandit and cut him down. There is gunfire heard from the a
building where another bandit fled, but it isn't directed at the posse. They
put two and two together and figure Widcliff just got another sacrifice. 2
more to go.

Things are dragging, and this adventure has gone on for too long so I decide
to just cut to the chase. Widcliff apears in the church, rising out of the
opening to the catacombs at the pulpit. It's a classic. Bouchard opens fire
and the rest of his bandits panic. Too bad they barricaded themselves in.

Arturo heads to the church only to get to the well and notice something
crawling out of it. The zombies attack. Areturo throws one or two back in
and cuts another down with the shotgun. Max and Rupert rush to help him.
After a round or two, Rupert is stunned and a Zombie drags him off. Arturo
flees the well area and tries to hide behind a building.

Johnny finaly free's himself from his ropes and rushes to help Rupert.  Max
fails a Guts check when he finaly catches sight of the zombies, goes weak in
the knees, and flee's to the horses.

The bandits in the church open fire on zombies in the courtyard while one
tosses open the doors and escape. When the zombies get close enough for the
remaining bandits to see both of them faint dead away. Grove get's partialy
free and dashes into the church proper (he had been stashed in a
confessional) to see Bouchard shooting at Widcliff and not hurting him. He
grabs his sword and tries to help. A Scrutinze roll tips off Grove that
Bouchard is acting funny and no longer shooting directly at Widcliff.
Bouchard is also putting distance between himself and Grove.

Arturo shows up at a window to the church and see's the fight. He opens up
at Bouchard and blows most of his head away in 1 shot.

Rupert comes to as the zombie tries to drag him into the catacombes, and
with Johnny's help, puts the zombie down. Johnny loots a bandit for more
guns. Max comes to his senses and gets the courage to head back into the
fray.

Grove charges widcliff and smites him, only to barely hurt him. Widcliff
bolts of doom Grove and even with Shield of Faith, Grove goes down and dies
(though he did draw a joker to come back harrowed!).

The zombies pick up the two unconcious bandits and drag them to widcliff. 2
more sacrifices coming up. Johnny and Max make a mad dash to the church, but
get held up outside by 3 zombies. Arturo, at the prompting of Johnny, kills
1 of the sacrificial bandits. A second shot disarms Widcliff. Johnny finaly
gets inside the church and kills the second bandit. Widcliff flees into the
catacombes.

Meanwhile, Rupert, who's been alone gets attacked by another zombie and the
posse discovers that wounds to the gut's don't stop zombies. Rupert is
fighting 1 & 1/2 zombies, and holds his own for a long long time.

Max almost succeeds in killing another but I score a hit and poor max with
his 1 wind goes down. The zombie turns Max into a buffet. Johnny dashes
outside the church and tries to save Max but it's too late. Arturo dashes
into the church and down into the catacombes, after widcliff.

Johnny rushes to Ruperts aid, but Ruperts luck only lasts so long. At 4
wounds to the guts, a single hit ends Ruperts short life. Johnny curses his
lack of any medical skill and bolts into the catacombes from the building
he's in.

Underground, Arturo catches up to Widcliff and unloads 3 shotgun rounds into
him only to discover it doesn't really slow him up much. Arturo's player is
obviously not use to 'horror' genre as he's getting ticked off that Widcliff
won't die. Oh, and down the hallway he can hear another zombie dragging a
body (a quick head count reveales that damn, there were still bandits
alive!).

Arturo does manage to grapple with Widcliff and buy a bunch of time, trying
once or twice to stab him with his own knife. Widcliff's one vulnerability
is the knife. A single wound and he's dead and it's over. I chip like there
is no tomorrow. The posse still doesn't know how to kill Widcliff. I think
they might pull it off, but things aren't looking good.

Widcliff spends a bunch of actions to raise the dead and Bouchard is back!
He shows up to help Widcliff and draws a bead on Arturo. Did I mention
Arturo is cursed? He goes bust on a dodge roll and takes a bullet to the
head. While not dead, he is now pretty wounded and was forced to stop
grappling Widcliff and drop the knife. Arturo recovers and cuts Bouchard
down again.

Johnny finaly shows up and pumps several rifle rounds into Widcliff and
Arturo helps with his final 3 shotgun rounds. The zombie with the sacrifice
shows up and it's coming down to do or die time. Arturo has exactly 3
shotgun rounds left. 1 goes into the sacrificial bandit and he debates
cutting Johnny down and eating the last bullet.  Funny how often this
solution comes up.

I chip Widcliffs initiative and get a bunch of cards. Healing up some,
Widcliff tries to Spook the the posse, but neither flee. Possession hasn't
been working on the big dumb mexican, so Widcliff targets Johnny. Out of
chips, Johnny fails a spirit check by 2 and it's game over. Johnny opens
fire on Arturo and retreat. Wounded but not dead, Arturo tries to take a
regenerating Widcliff back to the alter in the pentagram. He doesn't make it
as Johnny cuts him down in his tracks.

Johnny, the only survivor, becomes the final sacrifice. The Mission at
Peublo Viejo becomes a deadland and a dark cloud hangs over the posse.

So, what did  I learn from all this?

When dealing with groups of badguys, let them all go on the same action
card. It took me 2 turns to figure this all out, and dang those were long
turns. Much quicker this way.

That no matter how tough I think a given PC is, a lucky shot will ruin their
day.

My players run towards gunfire! I still can't figure this one out, but they
seem drawn to it like moths to flame.

Give the PC's a chance to heal. Unless of course you want them to die, then
keep hitting them till they fall over.

My Posse deserves more chips then I gave them. I need to find some way to
remember to hand them out. I think they died due to lack of chippage.

I need to work on not punishing the whole group for the actions of a single
player. Hard to call and see at the time, but it seems that a few of the
posse's down falls this adventure was usually due to the actions of a single
player rather then the whole posse.

The fear level of an area makes a world of difference.

Giving zombies 1 level of armor is cruel.

Black magic is evil.



---
... armchair philosophers? Where are they supposed to do it? "Descarte leapt
across the ditch as the bullets buzzed past his ears like angry wasps - 'If
all I can know is the product of my own perceptions,' he thought as he
punched another Hussar in the throat, 'then all I can say with any
confidence is "I think, therefore I am." ' Turning, he grabbed the Prussian
colonel's cap and wrenched down over his ears, tossing him back into the
trench now filled with twisted corpses."  --Radical Athority (rpg.net)