Re: [DL] What is "Western"?

[Brett Dixon <balance@tubas.net>]

On Tuesday, May 27, 2003, at 12:34  AM, Aaron Chusid wrote:

> Silly question, I know, but as I get ready to GM my first ever DL 
> campaign (not having even played before), I want to have a better 
> feeling for what Western is.
> It's more than just Cowboy hats and horses and six shooters and 
> showdowns at high-noon; those are the decorations, not what really 
> makes it a western.
> What are the themes, the motifs, the elements, plot devices, character 
> traits, and so on that I should keep in mind to make the world, the 
> story, and the npc's *feel* western?

I've been thinking about this a lot myself as my HoE campaign is 
drawing to a close.

Western heroes are flawed.... Much like Greek Tragedy, most seem to 
have some sort of serious problem they can't deal with... Some fight 
addiction, some are compulsive loners, some need to be the best at 
whatever they do. They seem to accept this and glorify it, bearing it 
with a sort of pride. They can't live normal lives without being utter 
failures at it.

Even the rare wealthy Western hero has a great deal of respect for the 
working man, and very little for the white-collar types, bureaucracy, 
and similar. While men of action, they often seek guidance from men of 
faith, the women they love, or other sources.

But that's my opinion. I'm thinking of how I'd like to run a Weird West 
game if it comes up, and I want to accentuate characters if possible 
over combat and weirdness. I'm looking at stealing the suggestion of 
using multiple non-weird adventures between adventures with 
supernatural components, and I may steal the idea from HōL of having 
one question for each PC being 'Bent?' to describe just how that 
character is f'ed up.