Re: [DL] my group the update (fear spoilers)

[Reemull <reemull@yahoo.co.uk>]

I've forgotten who exactly is in the posse and whether it is an
adventure of your own devising ir not, but here's how I would handle
it.  

I would calm things down and go off on a tangent for a bit and run a
side adventure for a while.  I personally would use the rel "white
hats" to confront the group, if you send the wilderness riders after
them it'll just end up in another blood bath.  I also tend to play the
Rangers and Pinks as being more stretched than conveniently having
people hidden in towns that your posse happen to mess up in.

First of all play the part of the innocent bystander and work out
whether the town would rate the actions of the PC's as better or worse
than the wilderness riders.  The Disputed Territories makes it awkward
for direct action, however I would let the press pick up on the event. 
Figure out how many witnesses there are to the event, the sheer number
of people witnessing the events provides more weight to the story.  I
would split the story into two, one for the more upper class believable
papers and another for the trashier ones.

The first could be a condemnation of the South, calling the attack of
the Confederates cowardly and sneaky.  The article could detail how an
elite group of Confederates appeared in town in disguise and proceeded
to attempt to assassinate the law enforcement to secure the area for
the Confederacy.  The elite troop were armed with state of the art
devices, however the stout heart and courage of the local law
enforcement fought them off.  The fact they were from the South is
confirmed beyond the shadow of a doubt by the confirmed sighting of the
group being led by a Texas Ranger.

The trashier papers could pick up the story concerning a group of
people that go about killing innocents (ok the wilderness riders maybe
weren't innocent - but this is 1870's sensationalism) and exhibit
abilities that could only come from Hell.  The group gets called the
"Devil's Own" and goes into great depth concerning the back magic
employed to kill and maim.  The article could state that one of the
group is a fake Ranger (as what true Ranger would hang about with such
a group) and uses a stolen badge to enforce his power.

Then you can work out what kind of reaction will be made concerning
these articles.  I can imagine the reaction from the South and the
Texas Rangers being rather quick.   Perhaps the PC Ranger gets
contacted by another Ranger to try to track down the "Devil's Own" only
to find out it is the PC's themselves.  Perhaps if they commit another
few acts that the tales of the "Devil's Own" actually forms a
nightmarish version of the PC's that can do all of the exaggerated
actions that people have come to believe from the articles.  This could
in turn eventually put the fear up.  

Perhaps instead of the black chip you put a chip into the pot.  When
one of the posse pulls it they hear of the actions of the "Devil's
Own".  Eventually when the posse have either committed a few such acts
or pulled the chip enough, they get to face their counterparts.

The other thing is that in the west you don't get to draw your gun and
shoot someone in cold blood.  The Ranger that killed John Wesley Hardin
by shooting him in the was taken to court over it (ok he got off
because Texas was happy that Hardin was dead by that's not the point). 
The duelling rules are there because if you drew first and shot first
then you could be in trouble - so you tried to get the other person to
attempt to draw first and then you had to draw and shoot quicker than
them.  If you could just draw and shoot without fear of reprisals this
whole ruleset is pointless.  I don't know if following the OK Corral
shootout there was some investigation - I think the film seemed to
suggest there was.  So the Rangers/Pinkertons/Deputies enforce the law
- but are not above it.  Otherwise people would be terrified of the
them - which i exactly the type of thing the Rangers and Pinks are
trying to avoid.

Cheers

Roy


		
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