[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
RE: [DL] Group Antics
If you're looking for some story ideas to teach your
posse that their actions can have consequences here are a few story
threads that come to mind...
The shot man is the son of a wealthy family back east
(Northern or Southern depending on the flavor of your campaign) His father gets
word that his son has been shot (or heaven forbid killed) and he's demanding
answers. Money talks, from the east could come Pinkertons, US Marshals or Texas
Rangers to find out who the woman was that shot his son and why. They could
approach it solely in an investigative role, not hunting for their heads, but if
they got belligerent with any of those three groups, they wouldn't be long for
this world. Even if they did play nice with the law, the father would learn
their identities, then hire other, less savory types, to do the dirty
work.
If the shot man was a criminal, perhaps he's the
younger brother of a vicious outlaw. He takes the killing/wounding/humiliating
of his brother as a personal insult, bringing the wrath of his gang down upon
the posse's head. "I'm the only one wit gets to shoot my
kin..."
The shot man has a friend with the local paper, he
tells his story, how some crazy woman shot him for asking what he did to deserve
to have a gun in his back. The reporter has dreams of a budding dime novel
career and really embellishes the story, painting the shooter as a crazed
madwoman who hunts the west looking for the slightest reason to shot a man in
the back. Try and come up with a catchy name for her in the article, even
if its nothing like her real name. Have the article catch the imagination of the
public, when the posse rolls into a new town, have most of the town already
heard about their exploits.
Word spreads about how violent these people are... have
the normal town folk cross the street to avoid them, have kids watch terrified
from behind the skirts of their mothers, have outlaws and lowlifes welcome them
as one of their own. Jack up the prices in some stores, in others have a
terrified merchant offer the posse the contents of his till in return for not
shooting him. If they continue to be mean, if they continue to generate fear,
raise the local fear level temporarily.
None of these are all that original, but I hope it
gives you a few ideas. If the posse is overly violent you don't want to scale up
the violence to meet them. Play it subtle at first, if that doesn't work, don't
be afraid to have the local law take them in, or drive them out of town. The
local sheriff could just ask them to leave because violence seems to follow in
their wake. In the old west you didn't necessarily have to brake the law to get
driven out of town.
-Nic