Ghosts of the Sierra Verde

Your past is not important.

You are a phantom.

Your boss died at the bottom of a box canyon, armed to the teeth.

You are in need of a job.

For use with “Fearsome Critters”, and “Loot” only.

Based on “Wolves Upon the Coast” by Luke Gearing.

With love to “In the Light of a Ghost Star” by Nate Treme, “bastards.” by Micah Anderson, and “The Vanilla Game” by Jared Sinclair.

Cowpokes

There are three Stats:

• Iron - measures physical ability and endurance.
• Reflexes - measures dextrous skill and deftness.
• Wits - measures mental prowess and acuity.

They are generated by rolling 3d6.

There are three Saves:

• Dodging - used to avoid peril. Equivalent to Iron or Reflexes.
• Physique - used to fight disease and the elements. Equivalent to Iron.
• True Grit - used to resist the Weird. Equivalent to Wits.

Cowpokes begin play:

• With 3d6 dollars worth of gear. Anything not spent is lost.
• With Hit Dice equivalent to Iron. These are rolled to determine how much Luck they have. All Hit Dice are d6s.
• Knowing 1d6/2 languages.

• A language can be ‘half known’ - enough to act as interpreter.
• All characters should share at least one ‘half known language’ - the speech of their late boss.
• Language slots can be ‘held in reserve’, although a cowpoke must declare they know a language the first time it is encountered. Some languages cannot be known this way.
• If a language is ‘known’ twice, the cowpoke is able to read and write in it.

• Sharing a small mule train with twelve hands - pilgrims who look to you for guidance. There is enough food and water for everyone to survive for four days. You have traveled two days from the home of your boss.

Gear

Arrows cost a nickel apiece. Five bullets cost a nickel. 

Encumbrance

Cowpokes may carry items equal to their Iron. 100 dollars count as an item.

Worn or wielded gear does not count towards this limit.

Cowpokes carrying over this amount are encumbered. They move at half-speed, and are liable to drop items and fall.

Cowpokes carrying double this are overburdened. They are exhausted by any sustained movement.

Beasts of burden may carry items equal to their Iron.

At any time, a cowpoke may declare what a provision is to add any piece of mundane gear to their inventory, as if it had always been there.

Resolution Tools

Tests

If cowpokes have a good plan or quality equipment, or attempting a trivial task, they succeed. Otherwise, an appropriate Stat may be tested. Players attempt to roll under their Stat on a variable number of d20s. Mundane tasks use d20. Challenging tasks use 2d20, taking the worst result. Hard tasks use 3d20, taking the worst result. Items or abilities which help (or hinder) should modify the number of dice rolled.

Saves

Saves are called for when danger is unavoidable - often as a consequence.

Dodging is used to avoid peril.

Physique is used to fight disease and the elements.

True Grit is used to resist the weird.

To save, a cowpoke must roll a d20 under their score. This roll may be modified.

Combat

Combat is conducted in rounds of 6 seconds. To determine order, all cowpokes draw from a standard deck of playing cards. The Judge does the same for the opponents. Cards are drawn randomly to determine who holds the initiative. This deck should be shuffled each round. Pilgrims and partners act with their bosses.

To make a standard attack, roll d20 under an appropriate Stat. Guns utilize Reflexes. All other weapons and unarmed attacks utilize Iron.

Before damage is rolled, a point of Cover may be sacrificed to negate a single strike. This only works for conventional strikes.

The damage rolled is subtracted from the Luck of the target. Max results trigger exploding damage, adding an additional die of the same size to the roll. Hitting 0 Luck exactly results in an injury. Falling below 0 Luck results in death.

Opponents

Opponents with 1-3 HD make one attack per round. Opponents with 4-6 HD make two attacks per round. Opponents with 7+ HD make three attacks per round.

Recuperation

Sleeping rough recovers 1 point of Luck per night’s rest. Resting in town recovers d6 points of Luck per day spent resting.

Reaction

If an opponent’s reaction towards the cowpokes is uncertain, roll 2d6 and consult the table below. Renown may modify this roll.

Morale

Allies and opponents alike must test morale in stressful situations.

To do so, roll d20 against their HD. Rolling under, their morale holds. Rolling over, they make a hasty retreat.

Test morale when allies or opponents suffer their first casualty or lose half of their number.

Pilgrims & Partners

For every $1000 of wealth owned, a cowpoke may attract and support 1 Partner who requires ½ share of all loot obtained.

Pilgrims are salaried trail hands. As many as can be paid may be hired. Non-combat pilgrims are normally two nickels a day, while hired guns charge according to their arms.

*Must test Morale to enter and stay in close range.

Renown

A cowpoke who makes a Roll for Renown gains the ability to change the fiction of the situation at hand, given they succeed their roll.

When making a Roll for Renown, cowpokes roll their d20 as per usual and add their Renown Die as a modifier, trying to roll under an appropriate stat. If the roll succeeds, their desired outcome plays out.

Should the roll fail, that cowpoke finds all Tests to be considered challenging for the remainder of the session.

All cowpokes begin play with a d20 Renown Die. This die reduces in size as the cowpokes grow in reputation - good or bad. Follow the dice chain below, remembering that the smaller the die, the more likely a cowpoke is recognized.

d20 > d12 > d10 > d8 > d6 > d3 > d4 > d2

Travel

Hexes are assumed to be 6 miles across.

In the Saddle

Trails mar the land between points of rest and respite. Long trains of mules and ponies go where roads are not, weaving their way into the unruly places of the world, searching holes in the ground for untold riches. Carriages are bound to those few roads that cut through the landscape, means of egress from here to there. Great engines belt out clouds of steam along steel rails, carrying goods and people to major stops along the coast.

Means of transport have a default movement which is modified by the weather.

Values given in parenthesis are for Wilderness travel. If traveling through rough weather, halve this number again.

Value is the amount received from fences for stolen merchandise - triple this to pay for a new one. This is in addition to the value of any goods carried.

Weather

Weather conditions persist for 1d6 days. Cowpokes know of a storm 1 day before it arrives.

If the Weather is on top of the Posse, decrease the number of hexes traveled a day by the first value listed in the Weather chart. If it is ‘adjacent’ - 1 direction distant - subtract the second value. Otherwise, ignore the weather.

Storms

Posses in a storm have a 30% chance of scattering per day. Scattered posses lose any loose supplies, and have a 40% chance of their horses spooking before being calmed by available hands. All encounters on the trail are ignored.

Becoming Lost

Cowpokes may see into adjacent hexes. Mountains are visible from 4 hexes away. Weather conditions may hamper visibility.

When no landmark can be seen, cowpokes have a 2-in-6 chance of becoming lost if they have no Guide. Hide any map and continue play without reference to it, until they are able to re-establish their location. Movement is in a random direction.

There is a 4-in-6 chance of becoming lost during a storm. 

Trail Encounters

Unless conditions are poor or there is a subterranean element, encounters on Plains or the Desert are spotted at a distance of a hex. Reaction should be used for unknown groups.

If the curvature of the trail is unknown, Trail encounters are spotted at 3d6*10’.

The tables below can be used where no regional encounter table has been prepared, although results will need modification. By default, there is a 1-in-6 chance of an encounter each day.

Traders, Posses, and Bandits on the Trails use Good Horses. Upon the Plains, any means can be found.

Outlaws use Good, Fair, and Excellent Horses.

On the Plains, 2d20 Scouts appear. In the Desert, they number 2d10.

Trail Combat

Trail combat is conducted in Turns of 1 minute each.

Gunfire and monsters may attack Means directly. Cowpokes must instead rely on fire or jumping.

Melee attacks against Means automatically hit. Ranged weapons treat them as challenging targets - to account for firing at a moving object. Hand weapons deal no damage - gunfire and the strength of monsters is sufficient to deal damage normally.

Fire deals d6 damage. If a 1 is rolled, the fire reduces in size - roll one dice less next round. If a 6 is rolled, the fire has increased in size - now roll 2d6 for damage.

Commandeering 

Cowpokes may leap from one means of travel to another as part of commandeering. This requires a 2d20 Reflexes test. Riders automatically succeed. Combat is then held upon the Means. Note that this means 10 ‘normal’ Rounds of combat happen per trail Turn.

Falling 

Those flung from the saddle, or caught by gunfire, risk falling. Cowpokes must roll under their Luck on a d100 to avoid falling. Falling from a height of 10’ nets d6 damage to Luck, 20’ nets 2d6 damage, 30’ 3d6, etc. 

Up the Mountains

On a clear day, a cowpoke can see near the entirety of the Sierra Verde from the top of Mount Cogburn - from Lucre County all the way to the Tupelo Territory. At that height, the struggles of the lands below seem almost insignificant - petty, even. These hills are charnel houses, filled with the bones of hapless fools thought conquerors. By wit and grit alone may some see those lands below again and participate in that endless dance.  

Travel

Horses Ridden to Death have a 2-in-6 chance of dying each day, and are useless by the end of the journey.

Encounters

Each day, an Encounter roll should be made on a chart prepared for the area.

In the case of an Encounter, consider if either party is aware of the other - light and sound being major factors. Unaware posses are surprised 2-in-6 of the time.

If a posse is surprised, encounters begin with posses d6*10’ away. Otherwise, 2d6*10’. Both posses can be surprised.

On the Rails

Running from the East to the West, steel rails carry the powers that be across vast distances. They scheme upon the backs of their steam-powered behemoths. Riches beyond imagining line their pockets and fill reinforced safes in private cars. When they have finally bled this land dry, who will care for their great railway?

Timekeeping

Time is measured in 10 minute intervals - Turns.

Each turn, there is a 1-in-6 chance of an Encounter, using a prepared Encounter table for the train.

Most major actions take 10 minutes - searching for valuables, cracking safes, moving crates, etc.

After combat or an hour’s exploration, most posses require a Turn of rest - those pushing beyond this take a penalty of 2 to any d20 rolls made until they rest for two Turns.

Movement

Cautious movement allows for 240’ to be covered in a single Turn. This allows for inventorying, fleecing, and calming tensions.

Those abandoning caution could quadruple this, but are guaranteed to miss valuables, stumble into ambushes, and cause a panic.

Encounters

In the case of an Encounter, consider if either party is aware of the other - light and sound being major factors. Unaware posses are surprised 2-in-6 of the time.

If a posse is surprised, encounters begin with posses d6*10’ away. Otherwise, 2d6*10’. Both posses can be surprised.

Postscript

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.