Deadlands Reloaded - Steaming South
This is the session log of our seventh Deadlands Reloaded session (February 1st, 2013).
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Onboard the steamship "North Pacific" from Seattle to Portland the posse settled down for a hopefully relaxing trip. It was not to be. Matt (the huckster) was pleased to see quite a few people gathering to play poker during the trip, but blew his Smarts roll to find a good table. Instead he landed in a game with a violent psychopath. The resulting shoot out was an excellent opportunity to test the duel rules, which turned out to work just fine: Matt was quicker on the draw and put a bullet in his opponent's heart. The onlookers all agreed that it was clearly self-defense and the "Renown" adventure card made sure people would be talking about Matt's lighting draw and cool head in the future.
As the evening drew on and most passengers retired to their cabins and berths, Tyler (the ex-Agent) and Toni (the muckraker) went on deck to get some fresh air. They witnessed one of the sailors lowering one of the boats and when they approached them, he became frantic and jumped into the boat. Before they could stop him he cast off and vanished into the night. The captain, quickly alarmed, was furious about the stolen boat. It dawned on the posse that a lone sailor fleeing from the ship was not a good sign, and when they learned that he had been seen with Agent Black on the pier, they began to search below decks for signs of sabotage.
And Hunter (the bounty hunter) did indeed find something: A barrel of dynamite attached to an infernal triggering device. In a dramatic action (first time to use these rules too), Tyler and Hunter got the contraption out of the barrel and through a porthole out into the sea where it exploded. The resulting blast almost capsized the North Pacific. Had it happened inside the ship next to the ghost rock boiler, the result would almost certainly have been fatal to ship, crew and all passengers.
The North Pacific steamed into Portland the next day and the captain promised the crew to take them on the next trip for free as a thank you for their help in saving the ship. The posse stayed in Portland only for the night, and chose not to follow up on some murders that had happened the nights before, despite a sizable reward being offered. Instead they stocked up on provisions and headed into the wilderness in search of the lost Klickitat.
Toni's memory of the valley War Eagle had shown her combined with Hunter's excellent survival skills to guarantee them a fairly quick search. They had to take shelter from a sudden, but short snowstorm once during which some large beats prowled about their camp. Tyler drove it away with a thrown stick of dynamite, without them properly laying eyes on the creature.
The next day the posse reached the Klickitat's hidden mountain valley. Gus' (the Blessed) Tongues miracle ensure easy communication, and although the Indians were very suspicious at first, Chris' presence and Gus' properly chosen word convinced them of the posse's good intentions. Their chieftain Storm Eagle invited them into the tribe's longhouse as guests.
During the ensuing conversation, when the posse tried to learn more about the Klickitat, their role as spiritual guardians of the land and about the Sasquatches, Gus - again with the help of the Tongues miracle - learned that the Klickitat were apparently without a shaman at this time. Storm Eagle deflected any attempts by the elders to bring someone called "Walks Alone at Dawn" into the talk. Before they could follow this up, the chief declared there had been enough talk for the day. The posse was invitied to sleep in the longhouse for the night; more could be talked and decided tomorrow.
No self-drawn maps were used in this session, but for the first time I used my gorgeous new Raisz landform maps for planning the travels and locations. While much actually much more recent than the late 1800s, the emphasis on natural landscape makes it easier to use them for the Deadlands setting.
Onboard the steamship "North Pacific" from Seattle to Portland the posse settled down for a hopefully relaxing trip. It was not to be. Matt (the huckster) was pleased to see quite a few people gathering to play poker during the trip, but blew his Smarts roll to find a good table. Instead he landed in a game with a violent psychopath. The resulting shoot out was an excellent opportunity to test the duel rules, which turned out to work just fine: Matt was quicker on the draw and put a bullet in his opponent's heart. The onlookers all agreed that it was clearly self-defense and the "Renown" adventure card made sure people would be talking about Matt's lighting draw and cool head in the future.
As the evening drew on and most passengers retired to their cabins and berths, Tyler (the ex-Agent) and Toni (the muckraker) went on deck to get some fresh air. They witnessed one of the sailors lowering one of the boats and when they approached them, he became frantic and jumped into the boat. Before they could stop him he cast off and vanished into the night. The captain, quickly alarmed, was furious about the stolen boat. It dawned on the posse that a lone sailor fleeing from the ship was not a good sign, and when they learned that he had been seen with Agent Black on the pier, they began to search below decks for signs of sabotage.
And Hunter (the bounty hunter) did indeed find something: A barrel of dynamite attached to an infernal triggering device. In a dramatic action (first time to use these rules too), Tyler and Hunter got the contraption out of the barrel and through a porthole out into the sea where it exploded. The resulting blast almost capsized the North Pacific. Had it happened inside the ship next to the ghost rock boiler, the result would almost certainly have been fatal to ship, crew and all passengers.
The North Pacific steamed into Portland the next day and the captain promised the crew to take them on the next trip for free as a thank you for their help in saving the ship. The posse stayed in Portland only for the night, and chose not to follow up on some murders that had happened the nights before, despite a sizable reward being offered. Instead they stocked up on provisions and headed into the wilderness in search of the lost Klickitat.
Toni's memory of the valley War Eagle had shown her combined with Hunter's excellent survival skills to guarantee them a fairly quick search. They had to take shelter from a sudden, but short snowstorm once during which some large beats prowled about their camp. Tyler drove it away with a thrown stick of dynamite, without them properly laying eyes on the creature.
The next day the posse reached the Klickitat's hidden mountain valley. Gus' (the Blessed) Tongues miracle ensure easy communication, and although the Indians were very suspicious at first, Chris' presence and Gus' properly chosen word convinced them of the posse's good intentions. Their chieftain Storm Eagle invited them into the tribe's longhouse as guests.
During the ensuing conversation, when the posse tried to learn more about the Klickitat, their role as spiritual guardians of the land and about the Sasquatches, Gus - again with the help of the Tongues miracle - learned that the Klickitat were apparently without a shaman at this time. Storm Eagle deflected any attempts by the elders to bring someone called "Walks Alone at Dawn" into the talk. Before they could follow this up, the chief declared there had been enough talk for the day. The posse was invitied to sleep in the longhouse for the night; more could be talked and decided tomorrow.
No self-drawn maps were used in this session, but for the first time I used my gorgeous new Raisz landform maps for planning the travels and locations. While much actually much more recent than the late 1800s, the emphasis on natural landscape makes it easier to use them for the Deadlands setting.